WOOOOOM......
Facing the formidable opponent named Hwayeon,
Gang Jaeho transformed into a massive bear with a tense expression and thought to himself.
‘Sure enough, that woman is my natural enemy.’
But.
Even so, to blatantly send her straight at him like this—
“That’s a bit too obvious, you know.”
“......?”
In that moment,
STEP, STEP......
From behind the bear,
a man walked up with a relaxed look on his face.
“Ha ha, long time no see, Hwayeon!”
“......You are?”
The person who appeared as if to stand by Gang Jaeho’s side
was a warrior who, now that all of the Association’s elites were gone, was one of the contenders for strongest in the Association,
and the [Intermediate Spearman] of the Eastern Branch—
“Uncle Yunchang......”
“So Jaeho gets to be ‘big bro’ while I’m just ‘uncle,’ huh?”
It was Heo Yunchang.
“......I thought you’d be guarding the rear, Uncle.”
“Ah, did you now?”
Heo Yunchang belonged to the Eastern Branch, where the [Architect] was stationed.
As a spear master, he was better than anyone at defending a given area.
Because of that,
whenever there was a battle like this, he usually took on the role of escort, guarding the Awakeners in the rear.
‘I figured by now he’d be bickering away with the assassin guy......’
And yet, that man
was standing out here on the very front line of this battlefield.
“No, honestly, under normal circumstances I would have done exactly that.”
Heo Yunchang scratched his head, then let out a sigh as he spoke.
“But a certain someone said he’d handle that side himself and asked me to take this one instead.”
“......?”
“Up until not long ago, I didn’t even know what the guy looked like, but now I’m at the point where I can’t say no to his orders anymore...... Well, anyway!”
He gripped his spear with both hands,
swung it around SWISH SWISH through the air, and said,
“To be honest, I don’t really think I can beat you, Hwayeon. I’m actually pretty good at being honest with myself, you know.”
“......”
“But the thing is.”
Beside him,
—GRRRK......
the massive bear stood there, baring its claws.
“If it’s two-on-one...... that sounds like something we can at least give a decent shot at, don’t you think?”
“......Heh.”
At those words,
Jung Hwayeon let out a faint laugh as she spoke.
“Two-on-one makes it doable, huh.”
Her hand moved lightly, and
“That’s a huge misconception, Uncle.”
“......Oh, really?”
FWOOOOOOM!
A fierce wave of heat
turned the entire battlefield upside down.
*****
‘Whew! That’s nice and toasty.’
An incredible heat that melted even the piled-up snow.
Standing in the middle of the strongest wide-area magic among all humans in Gyeonggi Province, Heo Yunchang thought to himself,
‘But...... there’s a reason I was picked as her opponent, you know.’
The Association was already very familiar with Jung Hwayeon’s firepower by reputation.
So when speculation arose that she was highly likely to target Gang Jaeho,
the first name brought up as her counter
was none other than Heo Yunchang.
The reason was simple.
[Skill – Vacuum Spear]
[By violently thrusting your spear, you create a vacuum in the surrounding area.]
Exactly because.
He had this Skill.
FWAM!
When he thrust his spear,
a massive hole was opened in the curtain of flames that had been sweeping across the entire battlefield.
“......What!?”
When Heo Yunchang and Gang Jaeho hurled their bodies through that opening,
Jung Hwayeon’s expression twisted slightly,
as if she hadn’t expected anyone to be able to pierce through her own magic and come at her.
No matter how powerful the flames were,
Heo Yunchang could punch a hole right through the middle of them.
“......All the same!”
FWOOSH!
Facing the approaching Heo Yunchang,
Jung Hwayeon continued to fling magic at him.
Heo Yunchang, for his part,
kept using [Vacuum Spear] to punch through that magic as he pressed forward.
‘A duel between a mage and a warrior...... is actually pretty simple.’
If Heo Yunchang could somehow just manage to close in on Jung Hwayeon,
then no matter how powerful her firepower was, she wouldn’t be able to avoid his spear.
On the other hand,
even though Heo Yunchang could pierce her curtain of flames,
the number of times he could use that Skill wasn’t infinite.
It was entirely possible for Heo Yunchang to be intercepted before he could get close.
The conclusion was simple.
Either he succeeded in closing the distance,
or he failed.
That was the only difference.
‘If there’s a variable......’
—GROOOOAR!
it would be
the countless other monsters existing on this battlefield.
“We’ll take care of these ones!”
Fortunately,
the Expedition Force’s Awakeners were blocking the interference from the other monsters.
Heo Yunchang kept sprinting toward Jung Hwayeon.
“......Ha, you really are stupid.”
Just as Heo Yunchang was about to thrust his spear,
Jung Hwayeon began to backpedal, retreating from him.
Normally,
no matter how powerful a mage is, they’re bound to be slower than a warrior with overwhelming physical capabilities.
But......
‘......Huh. I just can’t seem to close the distance!’
As he chased after the fleeing Jung Hwayeon,
Heo Yunchang felt the gap between them stubbornly refuse to shrink.
It wasn’t that Jung Hwayeon was incredibly fast
or anything like that.
If anything, it was the opposite.
‘I got slower.’
Heo Yunchang looked down at the ground.
Thickly piled, frozen snow.
And the huge ice masses jutting up all over the place.
This environment made it so that, no matter how much of an Awakener you were, you couldn’t move around freely.
Meanwhile—
[Frozen Soul, Belsnickel]
[When a Belsnickel clings to a soul, that soul becomes immune to all penalties caused by the cold and gains access to all the extraordinary abilities that soul itself possesses.]
they.
Were completely unaffected by the harshness of this environment.
At that moment,
—GRRRN......!
the massive bear running beside Heo Yunchang,
Gang Jaeho, slammed his hand down onto the ground.
[Rapid Growth]
As Jung Hwayeon kept fleeing and showering magic toward Heo Yunchang,
a thick tree # Nоvеlight # root sprouted beneath her feet.
Moving as if it had a will of its own,
the tree root tried to grab hold of her ankle.
But.
“Pointless!”
FWOOSH!
At a simple little flick of Jung Hwayeon’s finger,
the tree root burned away and vanished.
From then on, the flow of battle
was a repetition of that same pattern.
The two of them dashing forward, trying to close the distance to the enemy.
Jung Hwayeon leisurely running away while continually piling up damage on them.
CRRRACK......
FWOOSH!
After burning away yet another tree root that had burst up through the ice,
Jung Hwayeon smiled with a mocking curl of her lips and said,
“Hey, are you an idiot or something?”
“......”
“You know you’re not going to be able to pin my ankle with that...... so why keep wasting your magic on something meaningless?”
Ignoring Jung Hwayeon’s words,
Gang Jaeho and Heo Yunchang silently continued to close the distance between them and her.
And then,
at the end of this long battle......
FWOOSH......
“......Guh!”
the one to gain the upper hand first
was Jung Hwayeon.
*****
No matter how much he opened a path with Vacuum Spear,
it was impossible to nullify all damage.
“Huff...... huff......”
The two of them, who had been chasing after her,
were now scorched all over their bodies,
looking like they were on the verge of burning to death.
“......Looks like it’s about time to wrap this up.”
Thinking that the fight was just about over,
Jung Hwayeon slowed the pace of her backward steps.
“Whew...... that was hard work. You two were really a shame, you know. If you’d just had a bit more strength, you might have actually caught up to me.”
“......”
“Heh...... but don’t worry too much. It’s not like we’re strangers, so I won’t kill you.”
She smiled as she stroked her own face and opened her mouth.
“The two of you are going to become my brothers and sisters.”
“......Brothers, huh.”
“Especially your ability, Jaeho. There’s a lot of ways we can use that...... I’m sure you’ll work very hard for the sake of our homeland.”
“Well, I appreciate how highly you rate me, at least.”
At those words of hers,
“It’s just that I only have one older brother, so I don’t like that part.”
the two of them
threw themselves forward one last time.
“......Like I said, you’re stupid.”
Underneath her words, spoken with a sigh as she backpedaled—
KRAK......
a single tree root burst up through the ice.
“I didn’t think you were like this, Jaeho...... Guess you don’t have any capacity to learn, huh?”
Without even bothering to avoid that root,
she simply pointed a finger down toward her feet.
FWOOSH!
Powerful flames heated the ground beneath her feet.
She then tried to lightly step away, but......
......CRUNCH!
“......Huh?”
From beneath her feet,
she felt something strange.
*****
Feeling that strange sensation under her sole,
Jung Hwayeon lowered her head.
And when she saw what lay beneath her foot—
“How, how?”
it was the very same tree root
she had been sure had already been reduced to ash by her flames.
“......Whew, this is killing me!”
Gang Jaeho, who had been in the form of a bear,
said,
“Your magic really is my natural enemy, Hwayeon. But the thing is......”
As if he no longer had the strength to maintain that form,
he reverted to his human appearance and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“To send you so blatantly to snipe me like this, that’s just way too obvious.”
The fact that she would come
was something he had been able to predict long ago.
“And I’m...... not the same me I used to be, either.”
“Wh-what......!?”
The reason he’d stepped up regardless
was because of what he now had.
Not long ago,
Gang Jaeho had experienced a sense of astonishment he had never felt once in his entire life.
‘Parched land suddenly turned rich and fertile...... and every tree on the earth was singing pure bliss.’
A scene a certain man had shown him,
so wondrous that even thinking back on it now, it was hard to believe.
And.
That sight had not simply ended with surprising him.
As the land’s life force filled to overflowing,
he was able to produce food faster than ever before
and feed countless people.
[You have achieved an Achievement!]
That was,
something more than worthy of being called an Achievement.
[People so starved they might drop dead any moment from hunger!]
[By bestowing sweet fruit upon them, you have succeeded in saving many lives!]
[This is an exceedingly rare Achievement for a combat-class Druid, and among humans in particular it is the very first such Achievement.]
[By succeeding in saving many lives, you have brought a great change upon the world!]
[A reward is given to the main actor behind that change.]
[Title – Relief Druid]
[Trait – Verdant Guardian]
What he obtained as a reward for that Achievement
was the title Relief Druid, which granted an enormous bonus in food production,
and a single Trait.
[Verdant Guardian]
[Once per day, you may temporarily summon a wood-attribute creature that possesses [All Damage Resistance (Advanced)] and [All Element Resistance (Advanced)].]
It was a powerful strength
he never could have gained through his own power alone;
he had barely been able to obtain it thanks to someone’s help, by saving the lives of countless people.
‘It’s a Trait I only got recently, so it’s hard to really make good use of it......’
But its potential......
defied imagination.
“Why...... won’t this burn!”
FWOOOOSH!!!
Even as the powerful mage Jung Hwayeon continued to spew flames,
that thick tree root
did not burn,
did not break,
and held its ground, solid and unmoving.
“......It’s definitely strong power, but it’s hard to use.”
“Wh-what......!?”
“The real problem, especially, is that it grows way slower than other trees. It’s slow enough that even a newly awakened Awakener could easily avoid it if they wanted to. So I’ve found it really hard to figure out how to use it.”
“......!”
Indeed.
The tree root that had been creeping toward her ankle
was extremely slow.
She could easily have dodged it if she’d wanted to.
However......
“Unless, of course...... like you, Hwayeon, instead of bothering to dodge, someone just insists on burning it away every time.”
“......!”
Even as they were trying to close the distance as much as possible,
Gang Jaeho had been deliberately spending his magic
to summon ordinary trees under her feet.
‘For this exact moment.’
So that she
wouldn’t feel any threat whatsoever from the tree roots he summoned.
“This is impossible......!”
“I mean, I think it’s impossible too, honestly.”
Gang Jaeho collapsed to the ground, his body exhausted,
scrubbed his sweat-soaked hair with his fingers, and said,
“If it hadn’t been for that man...... there’s no way I’d ever have gotten a ridiculous power like this.”
“That man......?”
In that moment,
a massive shadow settled over Jung Hwayeon’s head as she floundered.
Sensing that, Jung Hwayeon lifted her face upward.
SMACK!
What she saw
was nothing but the massive spear shaft
swinging down toward her head.
\*****
“Back then, you were the kind of guy who’d grovel endlessly in front of anyone stronger than you, weren’t you, Junggu?”
“......I suppose I was, in a way.”
Meanwhile.
The man who had once been the Association’s strongman and commanded all its warriors,
[Intermediate Knight Lv.28]
Park Sanghyun stood in front of Junggu.
Junggu scratched his head with a small hand axe and said,
“Mm, but.”
“Hm?”
“I know you’re not really Sanghyun, but...... that whole idea was something he’d really been thinking all along, wasn’t it?”
In the eyes of the Association’s people,
Park Junggu was certainly a strong fighter,
but the mainstream evaluation was that he was a little behind compared to the guild’s five executives.
“Seems I must have made Sanghyun misunderstand something about me.”
......But.
That was only other people’s perception, nothing more.
“The reason I treated you people politely wasn’t because you were stronger than me. Who’s actually stronger is something you only know once you actually fight. That’s my philosophy.”
“......Heh.”
At those words,
Park Sanghyun let out a gentlemanly laugh as he spoke.
“Then why were you always so humble with me? Watching someone like you, who always acted so tough, wag his tail like you had ten of them...... it was quite a sight, you know.”
“......”
“Why? Because I was older? Or because, before Doomsday, I was so much more impressive a man than you, who wasn’t anything special? Which excuse are you going to give me?”
“Well, the reason’s simple.”
Even at Sanghyun’s provocation,
Junggu lightly laughed as if it didn’t bother him in the slightest and said,
“The Chair personally came to me and begged me not to challenge the executives.”
“......What?”
In that instant,
the face hidden inside the helmet twisted just a little.
“The reason the Chair went out of his way to come find me and ask me that was...... What was it again......? Ah! Right, that’s it.”
As if he’d just now remembered,
Park Junggu rubbed his chin and pulled a playful face.
“If the Central Association’s executives lose to leaders from other branches, their positions might be shaken! So please don’t challenge the executives, or something like that!”
“......”
“Ka-ha-ha...... Since it was a favor from the Chair himself, I had no choice but to hold back. But now I can finally say it out loud and feel refreshed!”
While the knight’s face was twisting up inside his helmet,
Junggu lifted his massive axe in one hand and said,
“Sanghyun, no...... Sanghyun.”
He pointed the edge of that axe blade
straight at his enemy.
“What kind of punk weaker than me thinks he gets to talk down to his elder?”
“......Ha ha!”
Park Sanghyun’s longsword and Park Junggu’s giant axe
swung out at the same time.
