Episode 96 Week 6 Mentoring, Strategy Battle (3)
Goblins rushing out through the hole.
It’s a small number compared to the main gate, but it’s still a significant number.
He goes straight to the statue of the goddess without even giving us a glance.
I asked Song Cheon-hye in a calm tone.
“Should I go and stop it?”
“Hurry up, hurry up.”
I walked slowly towards the wall and cast Windforce.
A gust of wind with physical force blasts at the guys who are running excitedly towards the statue of the goddess.
“Keruk?”
“Huh?”
Goblins just stand there, hesitating as if they were blocked by a transparent wall.
The closer I get, the more I am forced to back away.
The power of Windforce is also reduced due to the limitations of close combat, but as the distance gets closer, its original power is gradually exerted.
They kept pushing the goblins back, pushing them back, gathering them with brooms and dustpans like they were collecting trash, and shoving them into the hole in the road.
“Keep going!”
There were some guys who threw the wooden spears and other items they had in their hands as if they were going crazy, but it wasn’t worth avoiding.
If you just maintain Windforce, you will fly, but then lose strength and fall to the ground.
I picked it up and threw it lightly. It flew quickly and landed with a deep crash.
Song Cheon-hye was busy defending the main gate, but she was still observing the situation here. When she saw this series of scenes, her expression was filled with disbelief.
“How is that… … .”
Although the hole in the wall is narrow compared to the main door, it’s hard to believe that it was blocked so easily.
‘Anyway, this part is now resolved.’
The problem was on Song Cheon-hye’s side.
I would catch and throw the goblins whenever one or two would escape, but that role was left vacant as I went to block the newly opened hole.
“Keep going!”
“ah!”
Just as I had feared, another goblin luckily dodged the lightning baptism and passed by Song Cheon-hye.
He runs to the statue of the goddess without being disturbed by anyone and starts hitting the rocks in his hands.
[Goddess Statue 98%]
[Goddess Statue 96%]
[Goddess Statue 93%]
“Ugh.”
A hummingbird of thunder flew from Song Cheon-hye’s hand.
A single beam of light crosses the temple and strikes the goblin.
– Phage,
‘You’ve leveled up.’
From E-class to D-class.
It seems like you’ve been practicing magic consistently in the meantime.
But rank wasn’t important right now.
Anyway, it’s likely that it will fall to a level worse than F-class due to the short-range restrictions.
“Huh?”
Even though the D-class hummingbird was directly hit, the goblin shook its body as if it was ticklish and continued to hit the rock.
Instead, sending the hummingbird away had the opposite effect.
Because the attention was distracted, the defense at the main gate became more lax.
The goblins that had been passing by one or two at a time ran past Song Cheon-hye in groups of four or five this time.
“Oh, no.”
“Kikki kick!”
“Keeeek!”
Wooden spears and stone slingers fly at the statue of the goddess, and those who get close swing the daggers or hatchets they are holding in their hands.
As the attacks concentrated, the health gauge quickly decreased.
[Statue of Goddess 83%]
[Goddess Statue 75%]
[Goddess Statue 67%]
“Ugh.”
Song Cheon-hye kicked the ground, perhaps because she felt she couldn’t take it anymore.
A single ray of lightning strikes the statue in an instant, and lightning magic sweeps away the goblins.
– Crackle!!
Most of them were turned to charcoal, but the few who survived paid no attention and continued to beat the statue of the goddess.
This blind persistence is also largely influenced by Dang Gyu-yeong’s command.
[Goddess Statue 51%]
[Goddess Statue 45%]
In addition, as Song Cheon-hye left her seat, a group of goblins near the main gate poured in.
Green waves covered the statue like waves.
‘It’s over.’
Song Cheon-hye gritted her teeth and fired lightning magic in all directions, but numbers were no match for her.
Especially in a situation where he was only targeting the statue of the goddess and not himself, there was no answer.
[Goddess Statue 0%]
Eventually, with a loud crack, a huge crack opened across the statue, causing it to collapse, splitting into several pieces.
[5:03 remaining]
[The statue of the goddess has been destroyed.]
As soon as the message indicating that the defense had failed was displayed, everything, including the broken debris and monsters, evaporated into dust.
The next moment, as if to ask when the battle had ever taken place, a restored statue of the goddess was erected in the same spot.
This means that the dungeon itself has been initialized.
Soon, Dang Gyu-yeong appeared from nowhere and landed quietly nearby.
And then he opened a teleportation portal outside and said:
“Kwak Ji-cheol and Hong Yeon-hwa, come in. While you wait, review what you just did.”
“Yes, senior.”
* * *
Coming out of the dungeon, I relayed Dang Gyu-yeong’s words to Gwak Ji-cheol, who was the first person I noticed.
“Come in.”
“I get it.”
Hong Yeon-hwa really didn’t want to be paired up with Kwak Ji-cheol, so she kept her distance and treated him like an invisible person, but since her mentor had teamed them up, she had no choice.
The two reluctantly entered the dungeon together, their eyes met, and they growled at each other.
“Just try to mess around.”
“That’s what I want to say.”
The two people disappeared,
Song Cheon-hye closed her eyes and fell into thought.
It seemed like he was replaying the battle as Dang Gyu-yeong had instructed.
I left him alone enough to have plenty of time without interruption.
After a while, Song Cheon-hye opened her eyes and asked me.
“I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Did you know the wall would break through? It was clearly an emergency, but you were so calm.”
‘Of course I knew.’
I’ve tried everything from the old temple to the defense.
I have memorized everything from A to Z about how it is done.
However, since I couldn’t say ‘I did it so many times that I memorized it all’, I came up with another reason.
“I was mentally prepared. It was so smooth that I thought it was suspicious. I can’t say for sure that the wall was broken through, but I think there must have been something else.”
In any case, if something seems too easy, you should be a little skeptical.
Even if I had never done a temple defense before, I probably would have handled it similarly.
Song Cheon-hye nodded in understanding.
“I see. I didn’t think about that. But, wasn’t it too passive after that?”
The fact that the side hole was blocked so easily means that there was still room for other actions, so why did they just sit back and watch until the statue was destroyed?
He gives me an inquisitive look.
I answered nonchalantly.
“I didn’t interfere on purpose this time.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to see how you deal with it. I was also curious about what your limits are.”
If you were defending the main gate and you lost one or two goblins, what would you do if I didn’t help you?
How many can you handle?
I tried the possibility.
It was to figure out which of Song Cheon-hye’s shortcomings should be covered in the future.
“I understand your intentions, but I wish you had focused a little more on the defense part. You need to gather other information, but you failed too early.”
The ‘other information that needs to be collected’ that Song Cheon-hye is talking about refers to information such as how many more goblins will appear in the future, whether other monsters may appear, and whether another wall will be breached.
Since I have done a lot of defense of the old and new temples, I knew it all and there was no need for it.
But this is also something that cannot be said as it is, so I just beat around the bush.
“There will be many more opportunities in the future, so if you keep trying, it will all work out.”
And these words seemed to have touched Song Cheon-hye’s heart.
I can see your expression has become displeased.
He speaks to me in a tone that is half admonishing, half persuasive.
“I think that’s a complacent attitude. No matter how many opportunities there are, shouldn’t you do your best every single time? He said that more opportunities come to those who are faithful at every moment.”
“I think I’ve heard something similar before… … Was it my grandfather?”
Thinking back, I remember that when I abstained from the placement test, I quoted a saying from my grandfather, Lord Ure.
Song Cheon-hye was about to continue nagging, but then stopped for a moment.
He blinks a few times and asks again.
“… … Do you remember?”
“Because it wasn’t a wrong statement.”
“I thought you would just let it go in one ear and forget about it.”
“How could that be? He’s not just anyone else, he’s the Thunder King. I can’t just ignore that.”
“… … Hmm, ahem. I see. You know a thing or two.”
The corners of Song Cheon-hye’s mouth slightly rose.
It seems that the Thunder King is not only his grandfather but also his role model, so of course he would feel good if others recognized and acknowledged him.
The attitude that was about to become strict quickly softens.
Now was the perfect time to steer the conversation back in a productive direction.
So I quickly got lucky.
“Anyway, I admit that I participated passively because it was my first challenge. There’s nothing I can do about the past, so let’s discuss how to proceed in the future.”
“Yes, I think that would be good too.”
“If I shed one or two goblins at a time and repeat this several times, will it help to some extent?”
If we look back at the reasons for the failure, it started with Song Cheon-hye missing a goblin due to lack of control, and from there, the snowball rolled on and the main gate was completely breached.
Besides, this was my first challenge, so I was unfamiliar with it.
If you do it several times and get used to it, you will definitely get better.
Song Cheon-hye thought for a moment and then gave an honest answer.
“You can reduce it further. But it seems difficult to not miss a single one in 10 minutes.”
“Then I’ll do my best, but I’ll make sure to stop it from spilling.”
“Just doing that much would be enough.”
In addition, we discussed in advance several other emergency situations, such as when the main gate is completely breached, etc.
Song Cheon-hye nodded her head in satisfaction.
“We’re able to communicate well today. I wish you could do this on a regular basis.”
“You’re quite cooperative today, too? Last time, I barely managed to get you to do it by pushing in your wish list.”
“I don’t put my personal feelings into the performance evaluation. And I helped you a lot last time, too.”
The ‘last’ incident that I had Song Cheon-hye do using the wish ticket (cow) I got from the bet was to arrange a friendly match between Go Hyun-woo and Han So-mi.
Later, when I heard that the two had sparred a few times, I thought things had gone well.
If I had given away so much candy and it didn’t work out, I would have felt like I was missing out a bit.
“Yeah, you helped me out a lot. But I have another wish, you know?”
“Why, why?”
“We took off one sticker. We won 1-0.”
“It wasn’t you who took it. It was Hong Yeon-hwa who took it.”
“Yeah, we were a pair~”
If you’re going to get married, I hope you find a good match~
Song Cheon-hye trembled in anger.
“Again, do it again, I bet.”
“You don’t like it? It’s not fun because you only win. It should have some tension.”
“Wow, you really look ugly.”
While they were lightly teasing each other,
The portal opened and Hong Yeon-hwa and Kwak Ji-cheol walked out.
Those who failed looked like us, but stayed in the dungeon for longer.
That means it lasted that long.
‘It’s advantageous from the start.’
When it comes to controlling a limited space like a temple, fire and earth magic are more advantageous than lightning magic.
If Hong Yeon-hwa continuously deals damage to a wide area with her fire magic, and if Gwak Ji-cheol builds a wall around the statue of the goddess with earth magic or summons a golem, it will be much easier to defend than us.
Of course, they would have failed too if they hadn’t solved the latter part.
In any case, it was clear that they were ahead of us, and it seemed like they were aware of that fact.
“… … .”
Hong Yeon-hwa glanced at Song Cheon-hye as she passed by.
It was clear that he intended to keep a blank expression, but without realizing it, one corner of his mouth twisted up strangely.
He really can’t control his facial expressions.
The unintentional provocation worked.
Song Cheon-hye’s forehead seemed to be swollen and sinewy.
Soon, Song Cheon-hye spoke in a small voice that only I could hear, but her tone was much colder than before.
“… … I hope we win this one.”
