[3]
[2]
[1]
[Start!]
[Statue of the Goddess: 100%]
[Remaining Ti: 9:57]
As soon as the battle strategy began, Song Cheon-hye deployed her magic on the ground.
She had good success with the Lightning Field in previous attempts, so there was no reason not to use the sa tactic.
Electric currents flowed across the floor and they ford a large magic circle that began to fill with intricate symbols.
As soon as the goblins reached the main gate and stepped onto the floor,
Fizzzzzz, fizzzzzz!
Keruk.
Kiig!
Their bodies emitted wild sparks.
Waves of electric currents poured down on those who continued to advance regardless.
Song Cheon-hye emitted bursts of lightning magic which burned every approaching goblin to a crisp.
She is clearly improving.
Perhaps because it was their third attempt, the coordination of her magic felt more natural and her accuracy had slightly increased.
Rumble,
anwhile, I waited near the side wall and when the wall collapsed and a breach opened, I used Wind Force to close it.
Its all smooth sailing up to this point.
[Remaining Ti: 4:53]
Grrr
Just over five minutes passed, and as expected, the Beheader Goblin appeared.
However, this ti Song Cheon-hyes response was slightly different.
Ill finish this quickly. Cover .
Lets do it.
She didnt wait for the creature to approach the main gate; instead, she charged forward while swinging a thick bolt of lightning.
Grrrrr?
When the Beheader Goblin crossed its cleaver to block, a loud clash sound ensued.
As a result, the Beheader Goblin managed to block the attack but the aftermath of the collision forced its arm that was holding the cleaver to the side.
The lightning struck directly into the chest of the staggered creature.
Rumble, bang!
Yet, knowing that there was still a long way to go before the goblin could be felled, Song Cheon-hye swiftly cast the next spell.
She relentlessly pushed forward and didnt give the Beheader Goblin any chance to catch its breath.
Swift and decisive.
It was an improvisational move, but certainly worth considering.
The main obstacle in this defense was the Beheader Goblin.
If she could focus her firepower early on to take it down, all that would remain would be the F-rank goblins who were hardly worth a punch.
Not a bad idea.
However, Song Cheon-hye overlooked one fact unfortunately.
Grrr
The Beheader Goblin was tougher than most goblins.
Being a close-range boss with exceptional resilience, it did not easily fall despite Song Cheon-hye almost unilaterally inflicting damage.
This ant that the fight which was intended to be quick and decisive was dragging on.
Krrrk!
Krk!
This also ant that the main gate was completely exposed to the enemys attacks.
The Lightning Field was maintained, slowly dealing damage and hindering movent, but the goblins that crossed beyond the range of the magic circle entered the temple without any interference.
What choice do I have?
It was up to to provide support.
Whether Song Cheon-hyes decision was right or wrong, it was my role as her partner to fill the gap created by it as much as possible.
Providing feedback and refining strategies would have to wait until after the challenge was over.
I abandoned the side defenses and approached the statue of the goddess.
When I unleashed Wind Force over a wide area, the goblins rolled across the temple floor like fallen leaves.
This alone had bought us quite a bit of ti in previous attempts.
However
Theres no way our senior would just stand by and watch.
As soon as I thought that, the goblins who must have received new orders from Dang Gyu-young moved in an organized manner.
They surrounded the statue of the goddess at a safe distance and then,
Krrrk.
Krk! Kck!
began to throw stones and spears they had brought along.
I imdiately conjured a counter-wind to knock down the projectiles, but a few still managed to weakly hamr at the statue of the goddess.
[Statue of the Goddess: 93%]
[Statue of the Goddess: 91%]
I knew this would happen.
I briefly glanced toward a corner of the temple.
Though I couldnt see Dang Gyu-youngs figure, I felt like she was probably sticking out her tongue and teasing about now.
Dang Gyu-young had her own reputation to maintain as a ntor; she couldnt just let whirl around and dominate with Wind Force alone.
Thus, she had analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of my skill and devised a thod to exploit its weaknesses.
Due to the [Close Range] rule being in effect, even the most powerful magic significantly weakens once it exceeds a certain distance.
Dang Gyu-young used this to her advantage and spread the goblins wide so I couldnt cover everything by myself.
As a result, I ended up allowing so of the long-range attacks from all directions.
Each ti a stone tapped the goddess statue, the health gauge slowly decreased.
[Statue of the Goddess: 84%]
[Statue of the Goddess: 81%]
Kieek!
Krrruk.
To make matters worse, goblins continued to swarm in through the gaping breach in the side wall and the main gate.
As more attacks focused on the goddess statue, the rate at which its health diminished accelerated.
[Statue of the Goddess: 77%]
[Statue of the Goddess: 73%]
[Statue of the Goddess: 68%]
The situation was rapidly deteriorating, yet I remained calm throughout.
Panicking wouldnt change anything.
Nor had my task changed.
My role was still to protect the goddess statue and buy ti.
As long as Song Cheon-hye could join before the statue was completely destroyed, there was still a chance of winning.
It seems shes almost got him.
Rumble!
When I turned my gaze towards the main gate, indeed, the Beheader Goblin was almost beaten to death.
From the mont it appeared until now, the goblin had been relentlessly bombarded by Song Cheon-hyes attacks and its entire body was in tatters.
Just a few more solid hits should do it.
Kraaaaah!
Sure enough, the last pattern of the Beheader Goblin erged, as if to prove that its life was hanging by a thread.
It roared loudly into the air and then, with the cleaver in its hand, it pulled its arm back with all its might and hurled its entire body forward.
Ah.
Song Cheon-hye flinched for a mont and tried to respond, but unfortunately, her reaction was a beat too slow.
By the ti she hastily unleashed her lightning magic, the cleaver had already left the Beheader Goblins hand.
I told you to watch it carefully and block it.
It was a swift and utter failure.
Song Cheon-hye could only watch helplessly as the spinning cleaver drifted further away.
anwhile, I who was stationed near the statue of the goddess watched the approaching cleaver that was glowing blue and thought to myself,
I really need to make this work this ti.
After all the effort, it seed only right to earn so reward now to boost her future efficiency.
I trudged toward the path of the blue light.
Just as the cleaver was about to whiz past overhead, I compressed air at my fingertips and flicked it upwards.
Because of this, the cleavers straight trajectory curved slightly upward,
Crunch!
Instead of breaking the waist of the goddess statue, the head was cleanly sliced off.
The sound of the goddess of wars head hitting the ground was like breaking porcelain.
[Statue of the Goddess: 32%]
[Statue of the Goddess: 17%]
Though the health dropped by 15% in one go, it wasnt a complete defense failure.
After all, the goddess statue wouldnt die from being decapitated.
Although it had the downside of looking very ugly
Im sorry, Ill finish this quickly.
In truth, I wasnt really sorry since the dungeon would reset anyway and the head would grow back.
Turning my attention back to Song Cheon-hye,
I found that she was still in a state of shock.
It seed she was quite shaken by this another failure.
I gently pushed her aside using Wind Force.
Whish
In her dazed state, Song Cheon-hye moved half a step in the direction of the wind.
The next mont, the Beheader Goblins fist swung through the air where her face had just been.
Since it threw away its cleaver, its hands were empty so it swung a fist instead but my tily support caused its attack to miss.
Grrr
Ha.
It was then that Song Cheon-hye who was startled seed to co back to her senses.
She quickly grasped the situation in a few seconds.
The statue whose waist should have broken had only lost its head and the goblins and the Beheader Goblin that would have disappeared with a reset were still there.
Realizing that it wasnt over yet, life returned to her eyes.
Lets focus. Were almost there.
Ah! Y-Yes!
Song Cheon-hye narrowly dodged another punch from the Beheader Goblin that ca flying at her.
And she stretched out her hand before currents of electricity started streaming through it.
Fzzzzzt-fzzt-fzzt!
The Beheader Goblins body turned into black ash and scattered.
Imdiately afterward, Song Cheon-hye turned her back and just like a bolt of lightning, she streaked across the temple.
The next mont, she landed near the statue of the goddess and released bursts of lightning that swept away the goblins in an instant.
While using Wind Force to push away the goblins, I spoke to Song Cheon-hye.
Waatch, it and Block it.
I-Im still not used to it.
Were already on our third attempt though?
Its only the second ti I fought the Beheader Goblin like this.
That makes sense. Then youll succeed next ti, right?
Of, of course.
Fizzzzzzzzz!
Waves of lightning surged again before engulfing the goblins.
As Song Cheon-hye frantically cleared the area around the statue,
[Statue of the Goddess: 15%]
[Remaining Ti: 0:00]
Finally, all 10 minutes were used up.
The temple that was previously swarming with goblins was instantly cleared as if washed clean and the dungeon reset.
The strategy battle was a success.
[Goddess Statue Health 15/100% = 75 points]
[Goblins Killed: 84 = 42 points]
[Strong Enemy Killed = 100 points]
[Clear Bonus = 300 points]
[Total Score: 517 points]
However, the joy of success was short-lived.
Song Cheon-hyes eyes as she looked at the score were not quite satisfied.
By her standards as an elite, allowing the goddess statue to be reduced to the brink of destruction was akin to failing.
Knowing that this failing was the result of her own judgnt made it all the more unsatisfactory.
She murmured in a slightly subdued voice,
. Rushing things wont work.
It holds up better than expected, doesnt it? The Beheader Goblin.
Yes, we will play defensively as usual.
With that, we embarked on our fourth attempt.
To summarize the key events, Song Cheon-hye once again missed catching the cleaver by a hairs breadth.
With no other choice, I ended up handling the cleaver myself and instead of the goddess statues neck, an arm was severed this ti.
Perhaps because she was embarrassed that she had failed after boasting that she would of course block it, Song Cheon-hye couldnt look in the eye even after the strategy battle was over and she sneakily averted her gaze.
Still, looking solely at the results, the fourth attempt was also a success.
Thanks to our defensive strategy, we were able to preserve more of the goddess statues health.
We planned to continue improving our record little by little in a similar manner.
We decided to limit our challenge attempts in the strategy battles to twice daily,
And afterward, each of us took turns practicing close combat sparring with Dang Gyu-young like the previous week.
I too honed my Wind Force and Twister skills against the goblins that Dang Gyu-young herded towards .
***
The next day.
After classes as usual, everyone was about to go their separate ways when there was a commotion outside the classroom.
Peeking out, I caught a glimpse of red hair among the passing students.
Whispers caught my ear one by one.
Hong Yeon-hwa has co?
Why is Hong Yeon-hwa in our class?
She must be here to see soone.
But, who?
That soone was .
I knew this because Hong Yeon-hwas gaze was fixed precisely on .
Finally.
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