Episode 117 Week 7 Mentoring, In-person Battle (2)
After school.
When we arrived at the arena, Dang Gyu-yeong was waiting, leaning against the stands.
“hello.”
“Oh— you’re here—”
Dang Gyu-yeong responded to my greeting by waving his hand, then pointed to the stadium with his finger.
“Go play one game first. The other kids are already in.”
“Yes, senior.”
This week’s allocation is a total of 3 games.
The first of these matches will be played without any mentor intervention.
[Crystal] This rule was first released this week, so it is unfamiliar to most students.
Although Lee Soo-dok briefly explained it, seeing is believing. Rather than spending all day talking about it, it is faster to experience it for yourself.
Additionally, the academic side wants to maintain a minimum level of equity between students who participate in mentoring and those who do not.
Once a mentor gets inside, he or she can start by telling you everything from beginning to end, such as what’s inside, where to go, and how to strategize, so regardless of skill, it’s bound to be an unfair match.
So, even though giving advice and training tailored to each individual comes later, I want to draw the starting line at the same place.
I scanned my student ID on the terminal and waited, and a match was made right away.
[Kim Ho 513 points] vs [Cha Hyun-joo 510 points]
As I stepped into the teleportation magic circle, my vision changed completely, and the next moment, I was standing in the middle of a forest filled with dense vegetation.
The location of the ‘sanctuary’ was immediately apparent without the need to look for it.
A giant tree that stands tall and proud.
The tree was covered in a mystical light.
And where is the crystal?
‘I have to go look for it now.’
It’ll be hidden somewhere in this forest, and whoever finds it first gets priority for charging.
The game opponent, Cha Hyun-joo, was nowhere to be seen.
But just like me, somewhere across the forest, preparations were being made, and the countdown had begun.
[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyun-joo 100%]
[Crystal 0%]
I immediately kicked off the ground and started running.
In exactly one direction without wandering around.
‘If it’s a forest terrain, it should be around there.’
There are pretty much set places where crystals can be found.
Among them, I am heading towards the place where the intuition of the old man leads me.
As I run at full throttle, the trees whizz by before my eyes.
Soon, a small open space appeared, and in the center, on something like a makeshift altar, there was a crystal the size of a palm.
I quickly picked it up, put it in my uniform front pocket, and started running.
– Whaaaaa!
Two flashes of light flew towards me, accompanied by a sharp piercing sound.
I twist my body slightly to avoid the blows and see that they are two very thin and small knives.
And where the knife had come from, there was a female student standing there.
The mask covered the lower part of the face, making it difficult to see the overall outline, but the two eyes that were revealed were glaring at me with a fierce look as if they were going to kill me.
Cha Hyun-joo said, nodding to the crystal I had stuck in my front pocket.
“Put that down.”
“If you were me, would you put it down?”
Cha Hyun-joo’s hands seemed to be blurring, and then two more streaks of light struck her.
– Wedge!
As I leaned forward, the daggers narrowly missed me.
If you mess up, you’re the type to start by throwing a knife.
I turned around and started running.
A tree with a mystical light, towards the sanctuary.
Daggers kept flying from behind, and a voice full of murderous intent.
“Stand there.”
“If you were me, would you stand?”
I would rather speed things up.
How many times did I run and dodge like that?
– Wheein—!
A pillar of light emanating from the sanctuary illuminated me like a spotlight.
And the crystal in the front pocket of the shirt began to fill with a mysterious light.
Because you have entered within range of the sanctuary, the sanctuary and the crystal are connected and charged.
[Crystal 1%]
[Crystal 2%]
… … .
However, the charging speed is much slower than when Lee Su-dok demonstrated it in the classroom.
At that time, I intentionally set it to fast for the sake of example, and this connection should be maintained for at least several minutes.
And of course, he had to run away from Cha Hyun-joo all this time to protect Krystal.
‘It would be nice if it could just be stored in the inventory.’
Unfortunately, the inventory is treated as an isolated space from the outside world, so the connection is lost.
It is completely impossible to charge.
Also, to teach a lesson to those foolish enough to try such tricks, the crystal is enchanted with teleportation magic.
The moment you try to put it in your inventory, the crystal flies away to another location.
After that, you lose the advantage of having secured the crystal and have to start over from the beginning.
So, I’ll keep this in my front pocket.
– Whaaaaa!
I leaned my body to avoid the flying dagger again.
Cha Hyun-joo clicks her tongue briefly.
“Tsk.”
Perhaps because he thought throwing was not the answer, he quickly approached us, holding a dagger in each hand.
I pointed at Cha Hyun-joo with my finger.
[Windforce]
[Twister]
-Wheww—
A whirlwind of physical force pinned Cha Hyun-joo down in one place.
I desperately try to resist by moving my body, but all I can do is flinch a little.
Then, as if using some kind of movement skill, the body that had been tied to one place suddenly escapes.
But by the time Cha Hyun-joo had barely escaped the whirlwind, I had already gotten within arm’s reach of her.
– Boom!
The compressed air exploded and Cha Hyun-joo’s new body flew away across the forest.
I catch a glimpse of her as she disappears from sight and briefly check the scoreboard.
[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyun-joo 98%]
[Crystal 31%]
– Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Cha Hyun-joo rushes in at a frightening speed, throwing knives indiscriminately.
He casts [Twister] again, but notices the signs of a tornado and quickly dodges away.
‘The response speed is excellent.’
Cha Hyun-joo clung to him closely and swung two daggers alternately.
I dodged the first dagger and blocked the second blade with my roots.
And the first dagger that followed was swung, lightly hitting Cha Hyun-joo’s wrist and changing its trajectory.
However, Cha Hyun-joo seemed to have anticipated that I would dodge and strike back, and very smoothly retrieved the dagger and connected with the next attack.
‘That’s pretty good.’
Dual daggers are a more difficult weapon to use than you might think.
To be able to move your body as freely as I do, you need to put in effort, but to some extent, you need to be born with it.
This is a part where you can get a glimpse of Cha Hyun-joo’s talent.
Of course, talent is talent, and a game is a game.
‘There’s no mercy.’
There’s a sub-quest this week too.
I continued to pretend to hang on precariously, but then suddenly took a big step forward and stuck out my roots.
Then, a short metal spear was exquisitely inserted between the trajectories of the two daggers, interlocking them.
– Kagakak,
We stood still, our spears and daggers facing each other.
But isn’t that it?
I was swinging the root with one hand.
He raised his empty hands, holding nothing in them, and showed them to me with a sparkle.
“What is this?”
“Ugh… … !”
Cha Hyun-joo’s eyes opened wide as if she had a feeling what would happen next.
And I tried to react quickly, but the compressed air exploded faster than I could.
– Boom!
Cha Hyun-joo’s body flew away again in a parabolic arc.
This time I used a bit more wind force, so I think the flying distance would have been a bit longer.
[Kim Ho 100%] vs [Cha Hyun-joo 96%]
[Crystal 57%]
‘It seems like it’s already over.’
They clashed and exchanged blows twice at close range, both of which resulted in Cha Hyun-joo flying far away.
It seemed like I almost gave it my all, so it’s going to be the same no matter how many more times I hit it.
… … I thought so, but it wasn’t that.
– Whaaaaa!
Another flash of light flies in.
I tried to dodge as I had been doing until now, but I felt a strange sense of discomfort and moved significantly to the side.
And it soon turned out to be the right choice.
– Phew!
A ray of light passed by me and pierced through the tree behind me.
If I had thrown the knife like before, it should have sunk deep, but this time, a hole the size of a fist was created.
– Wedge wedge—!
This time, three beams of light rushed toward me.
If you look closely, the shape of the flying projectile is quite different from that of a dagger.
It is thin, long, and has a pointed tip.
‘arrow.’
It is also an arrow filled with mana.
Cha Hyun-joo’s main class was an archer.
I guess he’s the type of person who intentionally hides his skills like me.
However, he must have been hiding it well by pretending to be a thief with two daggers up until now, but the reason he suddenly took out a bow is,
‘You seem very angry.’
It is assumed that anger has overcome reason.
If you get hit by Windforce and get blown away twice, you’ll be really upset.
– Wedge wedge wedge—!
Each and every flying arrow was filled with emotion.
Since he hasn’t even shown himself, it seems like he’s changed his goals for this match a bit.
From stealing the crystal to rendering me incapacitated.
It’s not completely off the mark, since defeating the opponent is also included in the victory conditions.
– Wedge wedge wedge—!
Of course, that would also have to be done to suit me.
I continued to cast the thief’s step to maintain speed, and changed direction slightly to dodge the arrows.
I would like to go catch Cha Hyun-joo and blow her up again, but if I do that and leave the range of the sanctuary, my connection with the crystal will be lost.
[Crystal 72%]
Since I’ve charged quite a bit, I’ll just keep running around like this.
Did he read my mind?
The barrage of arrows that had been pouring down subsided for a moment,
– Kiririririk—!
A bunch of arrows were fired at once.
The sound of the cracks is also clearly different from before.
As before, he kept his thieving pace and dodged the arrows in a zigzag pattern.
– Kiriririk—!
But the arrows that should have passed me and lodged in a nearby tree bent in the middle and came after me again.
‘You even know how to use guided missiles.’
That’s also a fairly advanced skill.
– Kiriririk—!
Cha Hyun-joo additionally launches more missiles.
It appears that they intend to continue increasing the number of guided missiles until it becomes unavoidable.
‘I guess I’ll just scatter them and go.’
I gathered the wind at my fingertips, then turned my body around and linked Twister and Windforce.
The whirlwind spread in the opposite direction, greatly altering the trajectories of the pursuing arrows.
You can hear the trees rustling here and there.
But at that moment,
‘Oh, this?’
A very thin arrow shoots straight towards my chin, piercing through the whirlwind I created.
It was a move to secretly fire a missile while distracting the target.
‘This was really good.’
I admired it in my heart, and swung it at the root, filling it with mana.
– Thud—!
Even though it was shot secretly, the force contained in the arrow was unusual, and the impact was so strong that it made my hand go numb.
Perhaps if my skills had been a little lower, my palm would have been torn.
I moved the root to my other hand for a moment and shook off the cold hand.
Distortion almost occurred.
It seems like there are a lot of hidden gems among this year’s first-year students.
‘But that’s it.’
[Crystal 100%]
Unfortunately, the charging is already finished.
– Paaaaat—!
The crystal emitted a bright light as if to signal that victory had been decided.
The results then appear on the scoreboard.
[Kim Ho Win] vs [Cha Hyun Joo Loses]
I waved my hand brightly in the direction where Cha Hyun-joo was.
“Then thank you for your hard work~”
– Wedge—!
Cha Hyun-joo continued firing arrows until the moment I went out using the teleportation magic circle.
