The result of an A-rank mana bullet, an S-rank Explosive Round boosted by [Amplification], the rank bonus from marksmanship, and—lastly—Park Nari’s buff added on top.
When the blue explosion died down and the dust cleared, no one was left there.
[Side Quest: Finals Week 17–18](In Progress....)
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(6/20 people)
The kill count going up made it certain.
A four-person party had been cleanly deleted by a single mortar shot.
“...!”
Even Seo Ye-in looked like she hadn’t expected that much power—her eyes lifting slightly.
And on top of that, I asked in an arrogant tone.
“Do you feel the ‘power’?”
“Overflowing power...!”
“Let’s keep this montum and teach those nasty Group C brats a lesson.”
“Teach them a lesson.”
Seo Ye-in clenched her fist.
anwhile, even though the Group C party had been wiped out, the crystal was left sitting there all by itself.
Still connected to the sanctuary by a shining pillar.
aning it was still charging.
‘This is killing two birds with one stone.’
We take out the competitors and steal the crystal too.
And if you include the side quest on top of that, it’s three birds with one stone.
FWAASH!
Soon, the crystal flared brightly once, like it was announcing the charge was complete.
Park Nari flicked her eyes up at the sky, and Chaemi let out a sharp cry—
“KIIIII—!”
—and dove fast toward the sanctuary.
Like it was snatching prey, it grabbed the crystal, flew back our way, and tossed it with a thud.
“Grrrng.”
Beomi walked over toward the crystal in a slow, lazy saunter.
I thought it was going to pick it up and bring it back, but no.
It stared down at it with eyes full of curiosity, then tapped and rolled it around with its front paw.
‘A cat’s a cat.’
Even if it grew to the size of a mountain, instinct was still instinct.
It had looked bored for a while now, so I decided to just let it play.
“Huh? Over there....”
When I turned my head toward where Park Nari was pointing, two students had appeared at another sanctuary.
A guy and a girl.
And the girl looked familiar.
‘Those two I saw at the start.’
The one who’d been running her mouth with an axe, got smacked by , and got chased off.
Looks like she waited out her downti outside and re-entered.
Unfortunately for her, she was about to get chased out again.
‘Bad luck. Of all places, you picked that one.’
The sanctuary those two arrived at.
That place was packed with Seo Ye-in’s [Capricious Trap]s.
The gray eyes watching them glittered with anticipation.
“...Thump-thump.”
And they didn’t disappoint.
While they were walking toward the stone cairn with an empty crystal held out, a ss of wooden vines burst up from under the boy’s feet and wrapped him tight.
—!!
He flailed in panic, but it didn’t look like he could get free easily.
The girl panicked too, swinging her axe to cut the vines—
but while she was cutting a few strands, she stepped on another trap.
This ti, a massive electric current surged up from under her feet.
PZZZTZZZTZZZT—!
So powerful the whole area flashed bright for a mont.
The result was obvious.
She fell straight into a combat-incapable state and got ejected.
‘Yeah, you should’ve been more careful.’
If you step on a trap, you should assu there are more around you.
Maybe her brain just stopped working because she panicked, but still.
A rifle muzzle aid at the boy, still alone and struggling.
“Finish.”
THOOM—!
And the fired mana bullet slamd into the center of his forehead.
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(7/20 people)
The kill count only went up by one, because I hadn’t contributed to the traps.
The mortar and the sniper rifle had gotten the Explosive Round boost.
It was a little disappointing, but there’d be plenty of chances later.
Chaemi retrieved the second crystal and dropped it over to our side.
For a while, no more custors showed up, so we chatted about this and that.
Then Park Nari tossed out a question.
“During winter break... what are you gonna do?”
“I’m going to the Dang Family with my sister, and with her.”
‘Her’ was obviously Seo Ye-in.
When Dang Gyu-young ca up, Seo Ye-in added a word.
“Good Kkyu-Kkyu.”
“When did you two get that close?”
“Fight and make up.”
Co to think of it, she’d said they clashed in the team PvP match.
That was probably when the talk about going to the main family together ca up too.
I nodded, then looked back at Park Nari.
“Anyway, that’s how it is.”
“Ah....”
“What about you? What are you doing over break?”
“I’m... Geosanryong.”
“Going to see it?”
“Mhm... and train there too....”
Near the Erald Magic Tower, there was a mountain.
A famous peak in the world of , and a high mountain at that.
And there’s a Geosanryong there?
‘That is Geosanryong.’
So far back nobody even knew when, it had existed there in the shape of a mountain.
It almost never moved.
Its temperant was fairly gentle and neutral, so it periodically interacted with the Erald Magic Tower and allied forces.
And one part of that interaction was climbing the “geosan.”
Since it was a dragon’s body, it was overflowing with the energy of nature—creating an optimal environnt for training related classes.
‘You can’t just walk in, though.’
If you compare it to a person, it was like so bug crawling on their back out of nowhere—why would they just let that be?
It might suddenly bite, or burrow into their body.
That’s why countless guardians and dragon-tooth soldiers protected the mountain, and only a very limited number of people were granted access.
And it looked like Park Nari had gotten that chance.
‘She’s a promising prospect, after all.’
She’d entered with a ton of expectations from the Nature Club, and she’d put up pretty good results this year.
Even among all the fierce prospects and disciplinary committee club types, she was upper-mid tier.
From the club’s perspective, it made sense they’d want to back her even harder.
So even though she was just about to beco a second-year, she got the opportunity.
‘Soday I should go too.’
I shot a glance at my staff.
Deep-Rooted Crow Tree.
It was S rank, and it still had one upgrade slot left.
‘What you add at the end is what matters.’
That’s what decides whether it becos EX rank in the end.
That’s why I’d set strict criteria—and if it was an item Geosanryong had, it would fit that criteria in a lot of ways.
How I’d find it and how I’d ask for it... I’d have to think about that later.
FWAASH—!
Just then, bright light swelled in the corner of my vision.
Another party had shown up and was charging a crystal.
Three people: a knight, an archer, and a mage.
“......”
We exchanged looks and moved imdiately.
Seo Ye-in adjusted the mortar.
Park Nari and I layered on [Amplification] and buffs.
THOOM—
With a clear firing sound, a blue shell shot up into the air.
But by pure coincidence, the mage who’d been staring blankly at the sky turned their body this way.
...!?
They spotted the shell, frowned like they were trying to figure out what it was—then their eyes went wide as they sensed danger.
They shouted urgently and threw their body, but the other party mbers didn’t react in ti.
KWAAANG—!
They got swallowed by the blue explosion.
Seo Ye-in imdiately swapped to the sniper rifle.
She aid and pulled the trigger.
TWOOM—!
The mage had been staggering from the aftershock of the blast, only just managing to get back on their feet.
Even so, they sensed the incoming bullet with superhuman reflexes and tried to dodge.
But the mana bullet vanished with a blink when it was about halfway there—
and then slamd into the back of their head.
[Space Fold] had activated.
The mage spun around with a loud, ssy twist as they crashed down, wriggled on the ground, then went limp.
“...Performance art.”
After her short review, Seo Ye-in moved the mortar sowhere else.
Because custors had shown up at another sanctuary.
After getting everything ready, she pulled the trigger.
THOOM—
The mortar launched another blue shell into the air.
*****
After spending a long ti working as fisherman who hooked people like that...
we managed to get a full six crystals.
[Side Quest: Finals Week 17–18](In Progress....)
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(19/20 people)
Since we’d taken down multiple parties ranging from two to four people, Objective 1 was basically complete.
Of course, there was no need to cut it off the second we hit 20.
The more you exceed it by, the stronger the reward got.
‘But custors are starting to thin out.’
The volcanic zone was huge and there were tons of sanctuaries, so it wasn’t like Group C had to charge around here.
And we’d caught everyone who did co.
I thought about waiting just a little longer, but—
KUUURRRR......
The volcano rumbled low, and vibrations ca up through the ground.
aning it was about to beco active again.
‘Then nobody’s going to co around here anymore.’
The point of finals was to do what you had to do even in an extre environnt where fireballs poured down.
The participants would realize that soon enough.
But right now, since it was still early, everyone had this vague fear—so most of them would probably play defensively or try to return to their main base.
‘And it’s almost respawn ti, too.’
The ones we’d been taking down would re-enter, and they’d tell Jeong Jin-myeong what happened.
That would crank up everyone’s wariness, making them even less likely to co near here.
In every way, cutting it off here was the smart move.
So I said to Seo Ye-in and Park Nari,
“Let’s head back for now.”
“Yeah....”
We’d hand over the crystals at the main base and grab a quick al.
Soon, we started sprinting again, pushing our speed like when we ca.
KWAKWAKWAAANG—!
Behind us, the volcano started erupting again.
It spewed fireballs and volcanic ash, and the ground shook violently like nonstop earthquakes.
Chaemi, flying overhead, twisted sharply to the side in a hurry—
“Pii-eek?”
—and a fireball barely grazed past.
They kept raining down in front of us too, endlessly trying to block our path.
“Grrrng.”
Beomi grumbled like it was annoyed, but it vaulted over them like acrobatics or detoured around them.
anwhile, Seo Ye-in and I did nothing.
PANG!
Another fireball flew in and stabbed right into us, but the wind wrapped around us like armor swept the flas away.
[Sylphid Armor] was in effect.
‘And I’ve got ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) Elental Resistance too.’
For reasons like that, a volcanic eruption to wasn’t much different from a rain shower.
I moved forward in total calm.
Even so, my eyes kept sweeping the surroundings nonstop.
‘If there’s anything on the way, I should grab it.’
Sure enough, when I examined a tree off to the side, sothing was glittering near its base.
An empty crystal.
I snatched it and hurried on.
After going a bit further, a lava river cut across our path.
It was overflowing and spilling out from the eruption.
And in a crack between rocks almost covered in lava, I spotted sothing else glinting.
So I asked my party for a second.
“Hold on.”
Then I waded right across the lava, grabbed the empty crystal, and ca back.
Watching that, Park Nari and Beomi had question marks popping up all over their heads.
“...??”
“...Grrrng?”
They kept looking back and forth between my face and my legs like they were asking if it wasn’t hot.
Instead of explaining, I turned my back and said,
“Let’s go.”
“...O-okay....”
Park Nari climbed back onto Beomi with a dazed expression.
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