Seo Ye-in and Song Cheonhye both looked a little flustered.
Hong Yeonhwa’s skill level was roughly on par with theirs, yet the mont the match began, they had been helplessly dismantled.
To the two of them, I spoke as if urging them on.
“Co on, co on, get moving. If you give ti, that only helps .”
Right now, [Diamond Freeze] and [Chain Explosion] were on cooldown.
Of course, that ant they would eventually co back up, and then the combo would be available again.
As for Seo Ye-in and Song Cheonhye, they probably hadn’t even figured out what kind of skills or traits those were, let alone co up with a counterasure.
Once it landed, they would have no choice but to take it.
Which ant the best possible decision they could make right now was—
Finish this before the cooldowns are over.
Soon, the two exchanged a glance and moved.
At the sa ti Seo Ye-in leveled her mana gun at , Song Cheonhye kicked off the ground while gathering crackling electricity in both hands.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!
Mana bullets poured down in a storm.
There were more shots aid at where I would dodge than there were shots aid directly at hitting .
The idea was obvious: restrict my movents and make it easier for her teammate to land a blow.
And in response to that setup, Song Cheonhye was closing the distance even faster.
Gathering electricity, she ford several small clouds, then hurled them this way.
The clouds settled into position around , then began dropping small bolts of lightning.
RUMBLE, RUMBLE-RUMBLE!
And Song Cheonhye herself pushed in right on top of , swinging thick bolts of lightning as she ca.
Their teamwork isn’t bad.
Especially considering it had been thrown together on the spot.
Still nowhere near enough to hit , though.
Wrapped in Sylphid Armor, I stepped through [Featherstep] like I was tap-dancing.
After letting the lightning and mana bullets pass by, I closed straight in on Song Cheonhye and placed a hand on her stomach.
BOOM!
Struck by Wind Force, Song Cheonhye went flying backward.
She recovered her posture midair, landed, and ca charging right back—
then abruptly stopped.
“......!”
“What, not coming any closer?”
A blue circle was spreading out from beneath my feet.
She had just watched Hong Yeonhwa get flattened into a pancake puppy.
There was no way she wanted to beco a flattened hedgehog herself.
“......”
After exchanging another look with Seo Ye-in, she kept circling around the blue ring instead and began casting lightning magic from the outside.
So she really wasn’t planning to enter.
The second match was easy.
All three opponents there had been close-range classes, so they had no choice but to fight inside the sanctuary (not).
Seo Ye-in, on the other hand, was purely long-range.
And Song Cheonhye was an all-rounder mage who could move freely between close and long range.
In a situation like this, all she had to do was stay back and keep spamming spells.
Which is why I took out Hong Yeonhwa first.
Not only were they a long-range artillery mage, a huge number of their spells were zone-control or area-of-effect types.
Unlike the attacks from the other two, those weren’t things I could just dodge or block.
Back when I could get away with trusting only [Elental Resistance] and tanking through it, that was one thing—but by around A-rank, there was a chance so of it would start breaking through, even if only a little.
RUMBLE, KRAK-KRAK!
Song Cheonhye kept trying to hit , then seed to belatedly realize the sa thing.
Soon, she said sothing to Seo Ye-in.
“There’s sothing I want to try. Please keep the pressure on.”
“......Understood.”
Then she raised both hands above her head and began wildly discharging electricity, gathering it all together in one place.
BZZZZZZZT—!
What took shape was a massive bolt of lightning, larger than Song Cheonhye herself.
Whether it hit directly or not, if it ca down, it would set off a huge electrical explosion.
Enough to completely blanket the inside of the blue circle.
Which ant the choices left to were two.
Move out of [Pulverize Zone], or stand there and take it.
—Or that’s what you think, anyway.
Unfortunately for them, I still had a third option.
Soon, Song Cheonhye swung her arms with all her strength, and the gigantic bolt ca flying toward the very center of the blue ring.
BZZZZZZZT—!
I stared at it like I had no answer at all, then lightly raised my staff in front of .
It looked similar to the motion for casting [Ihwa Grafting], but the skill I actually used was sothing else.
[Dipper-Shifting Star-Transposition]
The giant lightning bolt coiled around the tip of my staff.
Then I turned and hurled it straight toward Seo Ye-in.
“......!”
BZZZZZZZT—!
An electrical explosion went off, and my vision turned white.
The result was clearly not what Song Cheonhye had intended, and she looked thoroughly rattled.
“No, why did that—”
“That isn’t what matters right now.”
What mattered was that I had used ★Blink★ to get behind you.
Realizing my intent, Song Cheonhye tried to dodge, but Wind Force exploded first.
BOOM!
And shoved the target straight into the blue circle.
Naturally, [Pulverize Zone] had less than a second left before activation.
Maybe deciding it was too late to get out, Song Cheonhye hunched down and squeezed her eyes shut.
But right then, a chunk of cotton-candy-like cloud ca flying in from sowhere.
And then an activation phrase followed.
“Fluffy fluffy.”
BOOM!
Like a smoke bomb going off, white cloud spread out in an instant and blanketed the whole area.
Fluffy Cloud Fluffy Fluffy Bracelet.
An A -rank item specialized in magic defense.
In particular, its imbued skill, [Fluffy Fluffy], had the effect of drastically increasing area and defense for a short ti.
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!
Thanks to that, Song Cheonhye took [Pulverize Zone] head-on and ca out unhard.
She looked at Seo Ye-in with surprise in her eyes, as if she hadn’t expected this much support even from a temporary ally.
“......Thank you.”
“Mm.”
I was satisfied too, so I praised her.
“That save just now was excellent. That’s how teamwork is supposed to look.”
“......”
Instead of answering, Seo Ye-in looked away.
Apparently her sulk ter was still maxed out.
I could deal with that later, so I looked at Song Cheonhye and said,
“I naturally assud you’d use ★Blink★ to get out.”
“......I was going to?”
“With your eyes squeezed shut like that?”
“......”
Apparently she couldn’t think of a good coback, because Song Cheonhye shut her mouth.
Both cheeks gradually turned redder and redder.
I shook my head and let out a heavy sigh.
“This is truly lantable. To think you made such a big show of saying you’d ‘show your skills’ and then perford like this......”
“No, I just got flustered and couldn’t use it! Do you know how much I practiced?”
“Then shall I give you one more chance?”
“......How?”
In response to Song Cheonhye’s question, I cast [Pulverize Zone] again.
A small blue circle, just large enough for one person to stand inside, appeared.
“Go stand there.”
“Why should I?”
“You said you wanted another chance. If you don’t want it, fine.”
“......I’ll go, okay.”
Song Cheonhye obediently stepped into the blue circle.
She looked at as if asking what she was supposed to do now, so I answered.
“If you get out with ★Blink★ before it activates, I’ll acknowledge it.”
“That much is easy. I’ll do it.”
Soon, Song Cheonhye focused her mind and began chanting ★Blink★.
As I watched, I used Wind Force to give her a slight push.
WHOOO—
“Ah, ah.”
She staggered, barely managing to regain her balance.
Then she glared at in disbelief.
“Why are you interfering?”
“Did I ever say I’d leave you alone?”
“You didn’t, but what kind of move is this, doing it now? That’s cheap.”
“Indeed, there is so rit to that argunt.”
I nodded and continued,
“In a real fight, the opponent wouldn’t politely say, ‘I’m about to interfere!’ before doing it—but this isn’t a real fight.”
“.......”
“If your practice wasn’t enough, then there’s nothing to be done.”
“No, why do you keep steering it in that direction?”
“You’re the one complaining over a little breeze.”
At that, Song ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Cheonhye flared up and shouted,
“Go ahead and interfere! Blow wind, throw ice, whatever!”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure!”
“Very well. Show .”
Still huffing, Song Cheonhye went back and stood in the center of the blue circle.
She quickly regained her composure and resud her chant.
And just as ★Blink★ was about to manifest—
You told to interfere, didn’t you?
You even said you were sure.
I held out Crow Tree and spoke the activation phrase.
“Caw?”
“......Huh?”
Song Cheonhye looked around in confusion.
She had definitely used ★Blink★, but apparently it felt like she hadn’t moved even a tiny bit.
Then she noticed the blue circle still beneath her feet and realized she truly hadn’t gone anywhere.
And just as she opened her mouth to say sothing—
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!
Formless pressure crushed Song Cheonhye flat.
Watching a flattened hedgehog being made, Seo Ye-in and I each offered a short comnt.
“Pathetic.”
“......Pathetic.”
Her skill had improved at least sowhat over winter break, but apparently her resistance to taunting was still at zero.
Soon, I turned to face Seo Ye-in.
“Now you’re the only one left.”
“.......”
Seo Ye-in aid her gun at .
But then, after thinking of sothing, she lowered the mana gun and put it away in her inventory entirely.
That didn’t an she intended to give up.
Not when she was gripping the Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot in one hand.
“I’m going to scold you.”
“In close combat?”
“Clang.”
“Excellent. Co on, then.”
“.......”
Seo Ye-in approached, stepping through [Featherstep].
The mont I entered her range, she swung the pot with all her might.
WHOOM—!
She was putting an unusual amount of emotion into it today.
So, leaning my body this way and that as I dodged, I asked,
“I don’t get it. Is this really sothing worth being that angry over?”
“It is.”
“Why is that?”
WHOOM!
The pot swept past with a tearing whistle through the air.
Seo Ye-in answered with a dissatisfied look.
“You keep sending far away.”
“Sending you far away?”
“Our house.”
“So because I went to Ruby Mage Tower by myself after that?”
WHOOM!
The pot flew in again as if confirming it.
“You sent to the class next door.”
“But you sleep anyway. Does it really matter that our classes are different?”
“It matters.”
“Why?”
“Proper sleep impossible.”
When I was around, she had slept deeply whether Lee Sudok glared at her or not, but without there, apparently she didn’t feel secure enough.
“I get it, but what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can pressure the principal over sothing like this.”
“Sad second year.......”
“We can just stay together after class. And at night you can sleep using Kim Ho pillow too.”
Even so, Seo Ye-in still kept swinging the pot at with dissatisfaction.
WHOOM—!
“Not enough.”
“What isn’t?”
“Ti alone together.”
“On that point, I agree.”
Back in the early part of first year, I had mostly spent ti with just Seo Ye-in, whereas now it was common for there to be three of us by default, or even four or five moving around together.
“That said, it would also be ridiculous to ditch the others now. So what’s the solution?”
As Seo Ye-in thought it over, an exclamation mark practically popped over her head.
“......Wish ticket.”
“You did get one from the Dang family. Back when you did Challenge Austerity.”
“Mm.”
“How are you planning to use it?”
“Downtown.”
“I was going to take you there even without using a wish ticket.”
Shake shake.
At this point, I could pretty much tell what she wanted.
“You want it to be just the two of us?”
“Mm.”
“You don’t like going around as a group?”
“I like it.”
“But going with just the two of us is even better?”
“That is so.”
“Understood. We’ll set a date.”
Only then did Seo Ye-in seem to calm down a little, finally stopping the nonstop pot barrage.
Then I said to her,
“We’ve talked enough. Shall we decide the match now?”
“......Forfeit?”
“Absolutely not.”
If that happened, my quest defeat count wouldn’t go up.
At this point, there were only two ways out of here.
Either she beat —
or she beca a flattened sloth.
Seo Ye-in slowly backed away, avoiding the blue circle forming beneath her feet.
“Help.......”
But the ones who might have helped her—Song Cheonhye and Hong Yeonhwa—were already gone.
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