GRRRRK.
Cha Hyeonju glared at us, grinding her teeth.
“Y-You little bastards, in a pair.......”
But even while trembling with rage, she couldn’t bring herself to make an easy decision.
Whichever way she chose, it was a one-way trip to hell.
On top of that, Song Cheonhye and I took turns tossing in a word apiece.
“Hyeonju, this is not the time to stand there spacing out!”
“You’re an archer, you need to avoid close combat!”
“You’re not actually thinking of trading blows with us up close, are you?!”
“I don’t think that would be a good choice!”
But if she widened the distance from us?
The farther she moved, the more [Concussion Mark] would take effect.
Eom Jeongtae was stuck in a similar dilemma.
We kindly spared him a few words too.
“Jeongtae, you’re a melee class, so right now, huh?”
“You need to protect the back line!”
“If this keeps up, Hyeonju’s going to get taken out!”
“You need to come stop us, fast!”
Unexpectedly, Eom Jeongtae didn’t deliberate for long before he kicked off the ground.
“......”
The more he chased after us, the higher the odds that he’d get hit by the concussion effect too.
But if he stayed put, just like I said, Cha Hyeonju was going to get wrecked.
He’d judged that taking the risk was better than leaving her alone.
“Tch.”
At that, Cha Hyeonju clicked her tongue low under her breath and activated a movement skill, taking backsteps even as she drew her bowstring.
THWANG-THWANG-THWANG! THWANG-THWANG!
Mana arrows came flying in a wild barrage.
As the distance closed, they became harder and harder to dodge, but we kept pushing forward, slipping through the gaps in their trajectories.
And of course, we kept running our mouths too.
“Hyeonju, pick up the pace!”
“At this rate, we’re going to catch you!”
Cha Hyeonju’s face flushed bright red, veins bulging across her forehead.
But just as she tried to kick harder into her speed and keep backstepping—
“......Ngh!”
She suddenly stopped in place and staggered, unable to keep her balance.
It looked like the effect of [Concussion Mark] had finally kicked in.
I glanced behind her.
Eom Jeongtae’s speed had slowed sharply as well.
Needless to say, there was no chance we were letting an opening like that go.
Song Cheonhye closed the remaining distance in a few long strides and scattered lightning magic at her.
BZZZZZZZT!
Still, maybe because she had every intention of not going down so easily as a prospect, Cha Hyeonju swayed on her feet but still pulled out some kind of strip of cloth and swung it.
Auxiliary defensive gear.
[Cha Hyeonju 100%]
[Cha Hyeonju 97%]
It seemed to absorb a good portion of the damage. For a direct hit at this range, the damage was pretty minor.
That said, it can’t be all-purpose.
Judging by how she immediately put it away again, it seemed to have usage restrictions.
And Song Cheonhye’s offense was only just beginning.
Two hummingbird-like birds shot in from different directions and struck Cha Hyeonju in the arm and thigh.
BZZZT!
Cha Hyeonju immediately cleansed them with a debuff-removal skill, but then another streak of frost came flying in and exploded.
[Frost-White Shot]
BOOM!
As that happened, I asked Song Cheonhye,
“Do you think that one’ll come off with [Purification], or not?”
“I think it probably will.”
“Then please reveal the correct answer!”
FWAAASH!
Cha Hyeonju cast [Purification] right after that, but her upper body remained frozen solid.
Because [Diamond Freeze] had applied a non-removable effect.
I put on a regretful expression and said,
“Wrong. It doesn’t come off.”
“Oh no, I got it wrong.”
Song Cheonhye made a matching look of regret.
But there was an uncontrollable smile hanging at the corner of her mouth.
After all, how could she not enjoy seeing the other side get hit with the exact same thing that had made her so furious when it happened to her?
Cha Hyeonju, meanwhile, looked like Song Cheonhye’s enjoyment was only making her temper rise even more.
“Stop screwing around with people—!”
“We’re not playing with you. We’ll finish this quickly.”
BZZZZZZZT.
Ever since we’d started the close-quarters exchange, electricity had been slowly gathering above Cha Hyeonju’s head, forming a cloud.
At the same time, I was compressing wind over my hand, preparing [Destructive Gale].
Either one would hit hard if it landed.
If both hit at once?
Cha Hyeonju seemed to realize the same thing. She hurriedly aimed her bow at us and tried to activate a skill.
Nine times out of ten, it was her trump card, the one she’d been keeping hidden.
The mana arrow gathered a dazzling light—
FWSSSS......
Then it simply faded and scattered.
Canceled by the [Concussion Mark] effect.
Its cooldown had probably multiplied several times over too.
“......Huh.”
By this point, it looked like Cha Hyeonju’s brain had stopped working properly.
Every time she tried to do anything, it got blocked or canceled, so that was only natural.
Her face, which had been full of venom, turned blank with confusion for a moment, and then she glared at us again, trying to spit out something vicious.
But the instant she opened her mouth, the skills we’d prepared activated.
BZZZZZZZT—
The lightning cloud, which had grown massive in the meantime, shook violently and dropped a pillar of lightning as thick as a person’s body.
KWAAAAANG—!
At the same time, I thrust my hand forward, and the wind compressed to its absolute limit swept across the space ahead.
KRAAAAAASH—!
A pair of near-finisher-level skills, one right after the other.
For an archer with a fragile body, it was far too brutal a trial.
Cha Hyeonju immediately lost combat capability and was ejected from the arena.
[Cha Hyeonju -%]
Song Cheonhye stared at that sight with eyes that said it felt unbelievably good.
It made sense.
We’d just handed back, from beginning to end, exactly what had been done to her in the first match.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!
Next, we twisted aside to dodge the sword energy rushing at us and turned toward Eom Jeongtae.
Then we took turns scolding him too.
“Jeongtae, what are you doing coming over after it’s already over?”
“Now it’s two against one.”
His expressionless face twitched for an instant, but he still didn’t open his mouth and only swung his sword.
SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH!
“Let’s finish him off quickly too.”
“Let’s.”
At the same time, we shot forward.
*****
From the beginning, Eom Jeongtae was an opponent Song Cheonhye could have beaten even by herself.
A warrior-class fighter getting pushed around by a mage in close combat.
He did seem strong enough to deserve a 900-point rating, but he felt just a little lacking for the true prospect / Discipline Committee line.
And once the two of us started hammering away at Eom Jeongtae together, the match ended even faster.
[Kim Ho Song Cheonhye Win]
vs
[Eom Jeongtae Cha Hyeonju Lose]
When I glanced at the scoreboard and then looked at Song Cheonhye, she was covering her mouth while her shoulders trembled faintly.
The more she thought back on what had just happened, the more laughter seemed to bubble up.
So I said to her,
“Looks like you had fun.”
“......No, I didn’t.”
“You were practically having the time of your life.”
“I just did my best. Same as always.”
“You should admit what deserves admitting. Be honest. It was fun, wasn’t it?”
When I said it in that quiet tone, the corners of Song Cheonhye’s mouth trembled.
After clearing her throat a few times, she tipped her chin up.
“It was a little fun. And......I guess it did feel refreshing too.”
“See? Isn’t it nice when you’re honest? You worked hard.”
“You too.”
Song Cheonhye answered with the rarest of things—a smile tugging at her lips.
Then, after seeming to hesitate for a moment, she stopped me as I headed toward the teleportation magic circle.
“Um, hey.”
“What?”
“Well.......”
Song Cheonhye hesitated again, then gathered her courage and continued.
“The pair....... Do you want to keep going?”
“One more match?”
“Yes. I feel like our teamwork is unexpectedly good....... And like I said just now, it was fun too.”
For me, as long as they handled the basics, it honestly didn’t matter who I fought the three matches with.
The problem was that because of the suffering built into the Super-Duper Hardcore challenge, I couldn’t pair up with Hong Yeonhwa or Song Cheonhye anymore.
So I politely declined.
“Sorry, but not this time. I already decided I’d do the third match with Seo Ye-in.”
“Ah....... Then it can’t be helped. A promise is a promise.”
But unlike her matter-of-fact tone, Song Cheonhye looked deeply disappointed.
Normally, she would have snapped her head away and said something like, I was just saying it, okay?
The fact that she didn’t seemed to mean she’d actually been looking forward to it.
So I gave her a line with as much sincerity as I could manage.
“Let’s team up often. There’ll be plenty of chances in the future. Whether it’s PvP or raid battles.”
“It’s fine. You don’t have to say nice things just to be nice.”
“I actually do think our teamwork is pretty good. And it’s fun too.”
“......Really?”
“I don’t say things I don’t mean.”
Song Cheonhye looked at me like that was the last answer she’d expected.
Then she spoke again, still looking a little dazed.
“Then....... next time, ask me first.”
“No reason I can’t.”
“Ah, and the training......?”
“We’ll start that again soon too. For now, send me a message after the third match is over.”
“Okay. I will.”
A smile rose on Song Cheonhye’s lips again.
*****
When I stepped out of the arena, I saw someone waving this way from the spectator seats.
“Kim-hyung!”
It was Go Hyeonwoo, Han Somi, and Seo Ye-in.
I’d sent them a message beforehand and briefly explained the challenge.
Since I unavoidably had to do two of the matches separately, I’d told the three of them to rotate pairs among themselves.
I waved back and walked over toward the seats.
“Did it go well for you?”
“We won them all!”
Han Somi answered with a bright grin.
In contrast, Seo Ye-in looked like she was about to collapse at any second.
“......Very tired.”
“What happened to you?”
“......Got drained.”
It looked like Han Somi had put her through hell during their PvP match.
I could roughly imagine what had happened.
The moment the match started, Han Somi must have launched herself out and flown all over the place, while Seo Ye-in dragged herself after her and tried to support her.
I let out a bitter laugh and asked,
“If you’re that tired, do you want to rest a bit before match three?”
Shake, shake.
Unexpectedly, Seo Ye-in shook her head.
Then she slowly rose from her seat.
“Quick finish.”
“Well, this is a surprise. I thought you’d instantly go full Kim Ho pillow.”
“Rest all at once.”
Since she was already at the arena, she wanted to finish everything in one go and rest comfortably afterward.
I nodded in satisfaction.
“A very admirable mindset. Shall we go, then?”
“Yes.”
Before long, we took turns scanning our student IDs at the terminal.
[Kim Ho 930 points Seo Ye-in 904 points]
While we stood there waiting and staring at the arena, I opened my mouth.
“Actually, I took a pretty tough challenge.”
“A tough one?”
“Yeah. Something called Super-Duper Hardcore.”
“......Super-Duper.”
Her gray eyes widened a little.
Then she started trying to edge away while pretending otherwise, probably worried the sparks were going to fly over onto her.
Not ordinary sparks, either. Super-Duper sparks.
I grabbed Seo Ye-in by the arm before she could run any farther.
“I’m not saying I’m going to dump it on you, so don’t worry. At least not right now.”
“......? Okay.”
“To continue, because of Super-Duper Hardcore, I’ve got ten locks on me.”
“......Ten.”
Seo Ye-in lifted her eyes again, clearly startled.
I whined exaggeratedly at her like I was suffering to death.
“That means I’ve gotten a whole lot weaker. If I fight like this, I feel like I’d lose even to Byeongcheol.”
“......”
“So I’d like you to do a little more work for me.”
Seo Ye-in stared at my face for a while, then gave a small nod.
Then light projected into the air, and the hologram Fast-Luckless appeared. The two of them spoke one line each in turn.
“......Understood.”
“I’ll make sure you don’t have to lift a finger.”
