The Day of the Dragon
I've gotten much better at fighting!
"Whoaaa!"
—Hoot.
—Groooar!
Three days.
For three whole days, I fought boss monsters summoned by Master's illusion technique. On the first day, it was a magical boy. On the second day, a giant spider. And on the third day... today—
"Jeolmi, help meee!"
—Hoooooot!
Craaaash!
It was a stone statue.
The statues, which looked like they were based on chess pieces, were a mix of black and white. The boss was the one wearing a crown.
Just how powerful is Master to be able to create things like this with a skill?
A statue with the lower body of a horse slammed its giant axe into the ground, making it hard to even stand.
I wobbled and stumbled... but then Jeolmi flew over and used his wind to help me regain my balance.
"Phew... Huff... Bombe! Charge!"
Though it was only our third training session, my growth was clear. I could now face a monster without crying.
I felt myself growing numb to it as I gained more experience facing boss monsters. When I met the magical boy, I wasn't nearly as scared as when I faced the Armored Triceratops.
Well, I still cried, of course.
But anyway, following Master's training, a desire to win quickly began to override my fear.
—Groooar!
Another ability that had improved was the speed at which I transferred mana to Bombe and Jeolmi. Thanks to my Seolan, transferring mana without any loss was easy, but increasing the speed of the transfer had been difficult.
But as I scrambled to survive every time a crisis hit, it gradually became easier...
Bombe charged forward, wrapping himself in a blizzard powered by my mana. His brilliantly glowing blue shield expanded, transforming into a massive tower shield.
Crash! Bam! The pawn statues holding small daggers were helplessly crushed under Bombe's charge.
"Jeolmi, now!"
—Hoot!
Bombe was a Vanguard through and through. He had a shield, and he was huge. Anyone could see he was perfect for the Vanguard position.
Then what about Jeolmi?
—Hoooooot!
Thwip-thwip-thwip! As Jeolmi spread his wings, his blue feathers sharpened and shot toward the statues holding staffs.
The feathers, honed to a razor-sharp edge by the power of the Myriad Frost, embedded themselves deeply into the statues' bodies. Beyond just piercing them, they even began to freeze the surrounding stone.
At first, I thought he was a Striker. Considering the power Jeolmi had shown so far, the Striker position suited him well.
"Hah! Skadi!"
I flipped my palms toward the sky, and two small versions of Skadi materialized. It was a technique I developed after seeing the giant spider spew out smaller spiders.
Whoosh! As the two Skadi swords shot through the air, Jeolmi flew alongside them, guiding them with wind currents. The two staff-wielding statues were pierced by the swords and crumbled into pieces.
The spots where the Skadi swords pierced were the exact locations where Jeolmi had embedded his feathers.
When I explained the different positions to Jeolmi, he shook his head at the word 'Striker,' as if he had a more suitable role in mind.
"Nice!"
Jeolmi was smart, and agile. Come to think of it, it was Jeolmi who guided the Skadi swords I fired.
A Seeker.
Jeolmi instinctively knew that he was better suited for the Seeker role.
"Now, the remaining enemies are...!"
The horse-bodied statue swinging the giant axe, the crowned statue standing quietly at the very back with a massive greatsword, and—
"Bombe! Quick, over here!"
Clang! Bombe blocked the attack of a statue wearing a tiara and thrusting a rapier. I wondered why a thin-bladed rapier made such a heavy impact sound.
—Groan!
Bombe held his shield forward and firmly planted his hind legs. Whirrr— the kinetic energy accumulated from all the impacts gathered in the shield, condensing into mana.
"Good!"
Boom! A shockwave erupted along with a blizzard, engulfing the tiara statue. It didn't shatter, but frost coated its surface, freezing it in place.
Jeolmi, who had already flown in, embedded feathers between the statue's joints, and Bombe finished it off by shattering it with a swipe of his forepaw.
"...!"
Thud. Thud. It was then.
The King began to move.
The King statue was unimaginably massive—about twice Bombe's size. It slowly stepped forward, menacingly brandishing its greatsword.
Crunch! The horse-bodied statue underneath the greatsword was crushed. The King advanced slowly, destroying everything in its path as if determined to leave nothing standing before it.
*Gulp...*
Bombe and Jeolmi gathered around me first. Normally, Jeolmi would act autonomously because I would panic during battle, but now that I was keeping my cool, my summons relied on my orders.
"Whew... I'll go first!"
The first one to step up against the approaching King was none other than me! I slowly brought my hand to my mouth and puckered my lips.
"Huuuu—"
I had recently created the art called Skadi, but the essence of my power was my breath. While it didn't deal explosive physical damage like the art—
Fwoooooosh!
I could easily freeze things so solid they couldn't even budge...!
The cold air spreading with my mana coated the King's entire body in blue ice. *Creak, groan...* While it was impossible to stop it completely, I could slow it down significantly.
"Bombe! Now!"
—Groan!
Bombe triggered an explosion beneath his feet and leaped. Jeolmi assisted with his wind, helping Bombe glide swiftly through the air.
—Roaaar!
Bombe enlarged his shield once more, braced it with his paws, and slammed into the King's head. Crash! A mist of snow erupted from the impact point.
Being a stone statue, the King didn't seem to care about getting hit in the head and prepared to swing its sword. But just then, Jeolmi spread his wings wide and swept downward along the King's body.
Crack! Jeolmi manipulated the cold air and blizzard I had exhaled, whipping up a tempest that trapped the King inside a vortex of wind.
"Huuup...!"
I immediately raised both hands high into the air! A massive chunk of mana drained from deep within me, manifesting a colossal Skadi in the sky.
It was just like gathering a Spirit Bomb...!
I created a greatsword larger than a semi-truck and swung my arms forward. Jeolmi didn't even need to guide its trajectory.
Because it was just that huge.
Rumbleeee! The greatsword tore up the ground as it advanced, completely crushing the King's chest as it passed through.
With that, the King statue crumbled, and the illusions created by Master gradually dissolved back into mana and vanished.
"You're improving quickly."
"Pant... Wheeze..."
I had gotten the hang of it, but there were still many areas where I fell short. First of all... stamina! They said even Hunters with healer classes had physical abilities far superior to ordinary people... So why was I like this?!
I didn't even feel like it was improving. Shouldn't my stamina gradually build up if I was active and working hard...?
"Your qi has accumulated a lot, too..."
...Instead, just as Master said, my mana pool had grown rapidly. The amount of mana I had now was about 1.5 times what I had when I first awakened.
Master referred to mana as 'qi.' I guess in the older generation of Hunter society, Korea used to call mana 'qi' due to Chinese influence.
"We should be able to do *that* tomorrow..."
Master smiled in a somewhat unsettling way.
—Hoot...
Jeolmi definitely agreed.
Grandpa Yong-su's villa.
I collapsed onto the sofa without even washing up. Ugh... I can't move.
"Haha, Shiro. You should wash up first."
"I'm too tired... *sniff*..."
"Did you say you fought a boss created by Hunter Il-hwan?"
"Yeees..."
"Our Shiro is so cool~"
Se-eun took off her coat and plopped down right next to me. She ruffled my hair messily, but I didn't mind it.
"Tomorrow will be the last day, right?"
"Y-yes, it is."
Thinking about what Se-eun said, the training schedule with the external guest coaches was only four days long.
And once those four days were over, we would get a three-day break for youth protection regulations.
"Hehe... I just have to hold out for one more day... Oh, by the way, what's the deal between Woo-rin and you, Se-eun?"
I had wanted to ask sooner, but I kept forgetting because the training was so exhausting. The relationship between Woo-rin and Se-eun...!
Grandpa, who was quietly stirring his coffee, flinched and stopped. Well... I suppose it must be quite a shock to him.
"Woo-rin? Well, he's been famous since he was a kid~ When I first became a Hunter and was active, I ran into him from time to time."
"Why?"
"Is my dad an ordinary person? I went around with him for Hunter activities and attended events. There was also the middle school Hunter gifted academy."
"Ooh..."
"He seemed to follow me around a lot back then. So I just think of him as a cute younger brother~ Why do you ask all of a sudden?"
"O-oh, it's nothing."
A shadow fell over Grandpa's face in real-time.
So Se-eun has no idea how Woo-rin feels... Are the people in this family just naturally dense when it comes to people liking them?
Or maybe Grandpa knows how Yeon-hwa feels but is just pretending not to notice. Either way, from my perspective, it was all highly entertaining.
Hehe.
"Let's wash up and go to sleep first, Shiro! You have training tomorrow."
"Okay~"
"Make sure to study thirty English vocabulary words before you sleep."
"Noooo!!"
Please, no...
"Everyone, focus. Hunter Il-hwan has something he wants to show us today."
The next day.
Unlike the past three days, where we immediately gathered by position to train, the director gathered everyone in one place.
My master...? He's not going to make me do something in front of everyone, is he...?
"Shiro, come forward."
Ah... I shouldn't have thought about it. Why do my bad feelings always turn out to be right?
"Coming..."
As I slowly walked forward, Master walked in from the outside. In his hands was...
'The dragon orb?'
He was holding my dragon orb. I was sure I had left it at Grandpa's house in Seoul, so how did Master bring it here so quickly?
"Summon your friend."
"Huh?"
I hurriedly took the dragon orb he handed me. As expected, the abundant mana wrapping around me felt quite nice.
It was filled with cold energy, too.
"R-right now?"
But right now, I only have the dragon orb... Of course, I could create a familiar with just the orb, but I had been waiting until I found some good snow, so I was a bit hesitant.
"I wanted to make one when I found some good snow..."
"You don't have to worry about that."
"Mister Jong-woo?"
I jumped in surprise. Mister Jong-woo was walking over, his dress shoes clicking against the floor. Why was he here?
"Your mana capacity has certainly grown, Miss Shiro."
"Y-yes, it has."
"It's truly an unprecedented rate of growth. I've never seen mana increase so rapidly... At any rate, I rushed over with the dragon orb after receiving Hunter Il-hwan's call."
"Why...?"
"Isn't it for your new familiar, Miss Shiro? Hunter Il-hwan insisted it had to be today."
"Hmm...? Today?"
"March 3rd of the lunar calendar. It is the day closest to the Dragon King, and the Day of the Dragon—the Jin Day."
The Dragon King...?
The Day of the Dragon...?