How the Hell Was the Hero Party Composed...? After the Concert
After the concert ended, Inugami Tenri—no, Cheon Yu-ri—followed a similar path to her senior magical girl.
Just like any other awakener, she checked the tower's status updates. Realizing it was too late to just crash without finishing her rounds, she decided to wrap up her gate patrol too.
Back before the tower appeared, she never would've entertained such a lax idea of "I'll just batch-process them later~." But the environment now allowed her to circle the gates ahead of time, before monsters even spawned.
Of course, diving into combat while her condition was shaky was a risky call... but she'd adapted to late-night server ops anyway, so she was still fresh. ...And so, deploying as Blade Fang, she ran smack into a sudden catastrophe.
A wall of despair.
It happened while Blade Fang was checking out her first gate of the day before heading in.
'A new restriction.'
Yu-ri was inspecting the gate up close before entry, gauging how the changes applied.
'Good thing I climbed the tower.'
Her climb sat at floor 6. Dongtan to Seoul was a decent haul, but it'd paid off for her combat power boost.
Right as she went to unlock the info...
"...Ngh!"
Her dog ears perked straight up. Yu-ri yanked her gaze from the message and swung her sword.
Clang! Not the sharp ring of metal on metal—a dull thud, familiar to any awakener facing gates. Incredibly tough, shredding steel like paper, but most monster flesh wasn't metal anyway.
'When did it sneak up?!'
Yu-ri leaped back on instinct, swapping positions in shock. She hadn't been slacking. Even while steadily clearing gates before otherworld dissolution, leaks were inevitable. Gates opened off-schedule sometimes, or scouting missed them outright.
So she'd cranked her mana sensing to max while scouting timed gates... but this one? Zero warning.
Thud—thud—
Her tensed gaze locked on the monster strolling casually toward her. Build like a burly adult male. That unnatural "monster" vibe, distinct from awakeners. Muscled body furred over, with a cute dog head that didn't match. If Seol-hee saw it, she'd go, "Kobold? Nah, too big?" then default to "It's different from isekai ones lol."
'Something's off.'
As Yu-ri sensed the relaxed gait's unease, it extended its left hand toward her. Fingers locked on like a gun barrel—
Its middle fingernail rocketed out like a bullet.
'That was what I knocked away?'
Shocked by the bizarre attack, Yu-ri's sword elegantly deflected the nail. She'd reacted to the ambush; no way she'd eat one head-on.
...Or so she thought. The enemy figured the same.
Whoosh—
Wind split as it charged her front—where her focus lingered on the nail—with its bulk. A hefty right fist, glowing red, rocketed out.
"...Uh?!"
A perfect strike into her motion gap. Spotting it a half-beat late, Yu-ri blocked desperately with her off-hand.
No time for anything else.
"Kyaa!"
The heavy impact wrenched a scream from her as she gouged a trench in the ground, skidding back. The kobold-thing pursued relentlessly.
But this time, Yu-ri countered. Two reasons.
'Not that strong or fast.'
She'd panicked and screamed, but no real damage or disorientation. Calmer now, she read its moves better.
"Hyaap!"
Fwaaah—!
Kiai with her swing, the sword bathed in golden light. Her signature spell as Blade Fang: Fang. The blade that diced tough monsters like tofu would cleave fist and body alike.
...If it landed clean.
"Grrr."
Next instant, a mocking growl. The kobold's wrist twisted minutely.
Scraaaape!
"Eh...?"
What followed baffled Yu-ri. Red light ground against Fang's edge mercilessly. The fist that should've met head-on slid off the back of the hand.
Left hook rocketed in on a short arc.
Thud!
"Kyaaak!"
Like she'd fallen for a magician's trick, she ate the hit. Damage minimal—magical girl costume shrugged off this much. Specs were overwhelmingly superior.
But it didn't matter.
"Ngh...!"
It moved like it knew her reads—dodges, counters flowing seamlessly.
"Kyaaaak!"
When she couldn't evade, it slipped past, punching gaps.
"Wh-why?!"
Every time she swore she had it, her sword missed by a paper's width. Her vaunted defenses chipped away.
Pure one-sided beatdown and mauling. Like a bear trapped in a hunter's net, getting hunted by the one who could pulp it in one hit.
"Ugh... Kyat!"
Clang—thud!
Cumulative hits maxed her costume's protection. Sword flew; she slammed into a rock.
A brutally pathetic defeat.
* * *
"It wasn't clear, but through the haze, I definitely heard a voice. Not just Nureungi's—it was that monster talking."
"...Unbelievable."
Hearing Tenri's defeat story, I instinctively pinched my brow.
Guess it's confirmed now.
"Just checking, but Nureungi. Anything on talking?"
"...Meong. It did 'converse,' meong."
"Yeah, figures. Martial arts and language. Great."
If inferior physicals and mana got one-sidedly demolished in close quarters, one reason: skill gap.
From her description, sword aura—no, fist, so fist aura? I'd suspected since first seeing Tenri's state.
No doubt that kobold-ish thing mastered martial arts built around abilities. Fist aura meant high mastery. Language sealed it.
"Intelligent being."
This wasn't a dumb monster. By isekai terms, one of us—"people."
Tower shift's doing? Or inevitable? Either way, gates entered a new phase.
"Yeah. Government guy's jaw dropped earlier."
"Messy for them."
Rampaging beasts were disasters. Intelligent ones? Whole other league. No friendly gestures either—straight ambush.
If not unique, and hostile sapients kept coming... long-term, worse than shamachi hordes.
"Wanna hunt it down."
Capture or kill, we needed intel. Sapient or not, it messed up my junior. Invaded our world swinging first. No room for complaints.
"Geukbing-senpai."
"Hm?"
As I mulled kill or spare, Tenri spoke up.
"I'm... weak, right?"
Voice super down. Revisiting her utter thrashing without landing a hit? Brutal. Especially against a mindless monster—totally different feel.
Reverse sweep, basically. Losing to superior body and mana? Natural-ish.
But the opposite? Soul-crushing. Direction of self-loathing all wrong. Worse for spec-one-trick magical girls. Even racial buffs couldn't cope.
"You're not weak."
Senpai care time.
"No need to comfort me..."
"Means you can get stronger."
Cut her gloom, stated firmly. No lie.
Magical girls structurally hard to be weak. Other awakeners seeing her crushed like this? "What a noob!" body-twitching.
"Can I... get stronger?"
"Yup."
Tower climbs alone did it. Though she meant elsewhere.
"In a way, great for learning technique. From what I saw, ability-based martial arts eat tons of body-building time?"
High physicals make control hard, but perspective shifts it.
Ultimate technique or soul insight? Still body tech—foundation needed.
Training doesn't equal practice. Link 'em max, but split unavoidable.
"But magical girls start complete."
Pure focus on the art. My time-efficiency pitch lit a spark in her eyes.
"...Geukbing-senpai uses swords, right?"
"Mm. Main weapon, yeah."
Next words...
Oh crap. This flow?
"Th-then, senpai. Please! Teach me the sword!"
...Oh crap. Big problem.
She loves juniors so much—why this? Swordsmanship, see.
Confidence shaky. I'm a brute-force type.
"Basics? Anytime."
But senpai dodging a junior's plea? Impossible.
Sigh. Watching, mage tower lord, witch? Time hero and peerless joined the duo's laughs...
* * *
Anyway, thus today's stream.
"Blade Fang junior's tutoring broadcast!"
"Wooo~"
"Follow-up articles already out—what's with the late news."
Slowpokes... even on info.
"Didn't expect to start today either."
Bantering with chat, Tenri covered.
Fair. We'd planned a break for cleanup... but circumstances aligned for today-start.
Who knew that kobold-thing got squashed already? Government tip-off: fleeing monster met Lee Woo-jin uncle, got telekinesis-smashed.
Classic martial artist bad-matchup for TK, sure. Kinda sus, but...
Tenri's "next time I'll win with sword!" deflated seeing it dead. No need dwelling.
Nearly canceled rare junior tutoring? Nah... turned stream content now.
"Anyway, no warm-up or low-chat today."
Brushed past chat WWE, positioned with Tenri.
Spot: Sobaeksan rocky zone, our go-to training ground. Sword practice spots galore.
"As discussed, basics only. Women's basic martial art branch, Earth Sword..."
"...Pardon?"
"Eh? Why the freakout?"
Wrong incantation? Recalled old one hastily.
Hadn't even chanted. What's the issue?
"Um, Geukbing-senpai. What's martial arts?"
"That was it."
Thought I'd mentioned before.
"Party had a wuxia novelist, remember?"
"Right, that."
No, even rotten viewers acting brand-new? Why the shock now?
"Obvious, right? Who else writes wuxia in medieval-land?"
~ Brief commotion.
Tsk-tsk'd chat into submission, refocused on junior.