Ch 62
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 62
Main examiner Kim Dae-chan gave greetings along with a brief briefing related to the examination, and the bus departed immediately.
‘Should I have just taken my own car?’
Although the examiners didn't specifically tell us to stay quiet, the atmosphere is quite heavy since no one is talking.
I can understand the examinees being tense before the examination, but even the examiners aren't talking among themselves.
Still, it's fortunate that today's portal to attack is at Mount Gwanak, which isn't too far from the association.
After driving for about 40 minutes, we arrived at Mount Gwanak, and after climbing the mountain for about 10 minutes, we finally reached the portal entrance.
"Let's go in right away."
Led by main examiner Kim Dae-chan, the examiners entered first, and I followed into the portal.
As the peculiar dizziness that comes with portal entry subsided, a bright yellow sand desert came into view.
I've experienced desert-type portals about twice before, and they're quite tricky since monsters often hide in the sand and launch surprise attacks.
Of course, like other terrains, I can spread Qi to detect monster movements, but to spread Qi into the sand requires increasing the density of internal energy, which narrows the search range.
Moreover, since this is an A-grade 10-person portal, the interior will be vast, the monsters will be strong, and there will be many of them, so it'll probably take some time.
Perhaps because we got a tricky terrain, the examinees' expressions didn’t look good.
The examiners are all frowning too, except for Kim Dae-chan.
"As I mentioned during the briefing earlier, for convenience until the attack is finished, we'll speak casually. Everyone gather around."
Kim Dae-chan called people together and assigned positions.
Even though it's an examination, since it's a 10-person portal, the examiners don't just sit around twiddling their thumbs but participate in combat together.
The examinees are two male magician, one female martial artist, one male archer, and me as a swordsman - five in total.
The examiners are all male, with swordsman Kim Dae-chan and spearman Hyun-sik, while the rest are all mages.
With five mages and one archer, we have excellent firepower, but we're lacking in close-combat positions.
My assigned role is vanguard.
Of course, I'm not alone - there are three of us including one martial artist and Hyun-sik.
Unusually, Kim Dae-chan took the rear guard position.
Given the desert portal's characteristics where surprise attacks are possible, rear guard is important, but normally the most skilled S-rank Kim Dae-chan should take the vanguard position.
‘Is it because this is an examination?’
If Kim Dae-chan finishes everything, the examination would be meaningless.
Anyway, since Kim Dae-chan is an S-rank Hunter, he could move to the front quickly even from the rear.
"Let's move."
Following Kim Dae-chan's instruction, we started moving while I spread internal energy forward.
We've been walking for about 20 minutes, but there's not even a trace of monsters.
I heard that monsters from A-grade portals have some intelligence, so maybe they're waiting for us to get tired.
Even though it's desert terrain, the sun is beating down intensely, so Hyun-sik and the martial artist next to me are sweating profusely.
I'm fine since I achieved immunity to cold and heat, when I reached the transcendent level and am unaffected by temperature, but looking back, Kim Dae-chan seems fine like me while the magician look quite troubled.
It would be better to search quickly, so I used a bit more internal energy to expand the range.
I felt life reactions from a sand dune about 500 meters ahead diagonally, so I raised my hand to stop everyone.
"Shin-hyeok?"
"Let's head toward that sand dune over there. There seem to be monsters there."
"Huh? I don't see anything."
"I don't see anything either."
"Vanguard, why did you stop?"
Kim Dae-chan from the rear approached.
"Kang Shin-hyeok says there seem to be monsters at that sand dune over there, but we can't see anything..."
"Weren't you a swordsman? If it's that dune over there, even magic scan wouldn't reach. What's your basis?"
‘Kim Dae-chan couldn't detect it either?’
He's supposedly S-rank and I even told him the location... This is disappointing.
"I detected it by spreading magic."
"Magic detection? You don't look like it, but you're quite the braggart. That's probably 500 meters away - what magic are you sending there?"
"Are you sure? Given the environment, everyone seems tired, so there doesn't seem to be any reason to go all the way to the dune."
The female martial artist is being sarcastic, and Hyun-sik also has a negative opinion.
‘Haha... I miss Seon-hwa and Lee Seol.’
Those two would believe me even if I said shit could be used to make soybean paste.
"Let's go check it out."
Although he added that he'd deduct points if there were no monsters, leader Kim Dae-chan took my side, so we changed direction.
"Why are we going this difficult route when there's flat ground?"
"The swordsman in front said there would be monsters if we go this way."
"Even with magic scan, you can't detect them if they're hiding in the sand, so how would a swordsman know?"
Since the path is rough, the magician behind are complaining, making my back quite uncomfortable.
‘If the monsters ran away, I'd get severely criticized, but fortunately that won't happen.’
As we got closer to about 100 meters, the monsters discovered us and started approaching.
Looking at their reaction now, it doesn't seem like they were deliberately running away to waste time.
"They're coming!"
"What's com... Oh? It was real."
Right after I gave the warning and drew my sword, car-sized red scorpions emerged, bursting upward.
Red Giant Scorpions.
Their exoskeletons are quite hard and they have some magic resistance, making them rather troublesome monsters.
Like scorpions, their tails contain poison, and this poison is quite deadly - if you're hit and don't receive detoxification magic within 10 minutes, it's 100% fatal.
Four of them revealed themselves in total.
"Magician prepare magic. Vanguard, don't let them get close to the magician - each take on the one nearest to your position, and I'll handle the center."
Kim Dae-chan, who was in the rear but somehow came to the front, gave instructions.
"Then I'll take the right side."
As soon as I answered, I charged right in, and the creature raised its pincers the size of a human torso and struck down at me.
THUD! THUD!
Since it kept striking down consecutively, sand scattered in all directions.
The poison is one thing, but its strength seems quite good too.
As expected of an A-grade monster, its speed is also fast for its size, though it doesn't meet my standards, so dodging isn't too difficult.
‘It's definitely slower than Ogres and slightly faster than Trolls?’
Taking advantage of the gap when it lifted its pincers again, I quickly charged and created sword energy to cut its joints.
SLICE!
Even though I cut the joints which felt softer than the shell, there was still some resistance.
I tried to put more force to cut through completely, but it swung its tail and pulled back.
THUD!
KRWAAAAAAT!
It's letting out a screech while dangling one pincer - I didn't know scorpions made sounds.
Naturally, I don't know what it means, but it seems quite angry.
Glancing back, the magicians are earnestly chanting spells.
It seems like the magic will be ready if I wait a bit, but remembering the vice principal's advice that handling it alone would add more points, I charged again.
It tried to strike down with its intact pincer, but this time I didn't dodge and met it head-on with my sword.
SWOOSH! THUNK!
Unlike before, even though it wasn't a joint, the pincer was cut off without any resistance and fell to the ground.
‘This time it's Sword Force, not sword energy.’
The tail came flying next, but I cut through that too and closed in on it.
KRWAAAAAT!
It tried to back away in pain and confusion, but I didn't give it a chance and split its body vertically.
It split with a cracking sound, and since it's large, quite a lot of blood splattered.
After wiping off what splattered on my face with my clothes, I looked at the other Hunters - they're fighting well enough, but no one has finished like me yet.
Kim Dae-chan also cut off both pincers and the tail, but hasn't delivered the killing blow yet.
It seems like he's doing that on purpose to test the magicians, so I shouldn't go over there.
Between Hyun-sik and the martial artist, the martial artist seems to be struggling more.
There's the difference in experience between examinee and examiner, but martial artists fundamentally don't have good compatibility with monsters with strong exoskeletons.
‘She doesn't seem to be able to use Aura yet.’
Although I'm not pleased remembering her earlier sarcasm, I can't not help for such a petty reason, so I joined the martial artist's side.
SWOOSH! THUNK!
Just as the tail was flying toward the martial artist's back, I cut it off.
Since all its attention was focused on the martial artist, I could approach much more easily than before.
"You two over there, magic is ready so step back."
An examiner from the rear shouted.
I was just about to finish it, so it's a bit disappointing, but the magicians needed a chance to shine too, so I withdrew without delay.
"Frost Prison!"
White frost began falling from above the Giant Scorpion, instantly covering the monster and freezing it solid.
Although they have magic resistance, they're vulnerable to freezing magic, so it was an excellent choice.
CRACK!
The martial artist approached and struck with her knuckles, shattering it along with the ice.
At a glance, it looks like a good finish, but that's actually point deduction.
‘It was already dead from freezing, so she's just lowering the corpse value unnecessarily.’
The other sides were all finished too.
Where Hyun-sik was, they used lightning magic so it was charred black, and Kim Dae-chan's side was frozen solid with freezing magic just like ours.
The examinees generally have satisfied expressions, but the only archer's expression isn't good.
‘He seems to have aimed at the monster on Hyun-sik's side, but not a single arrow is stuck in its body.’
There are about ten arrows fallen nearby, so he wasn't just standing around watching, and it probably provided some harassment, but it doesn't seem to have been much help.
‘The Giant Scorpion's shell is too thick for an archer's arrows to penetrate anyway, so the compatibility was bad.’
"Thank you for helping. And I'm sorry about earlier. I never thought there would be a Hunter who could detect monsters from that distance..."
The martial artist who was being sarcastic earlier apologized.
"It's fine."
‘I was going to say 'Well, staying quiet would at least get you average results,' but I might cause trouble and negatively affect the examination.’
Since there were no serious injuries, we just gathered the corpses and resumed the attack.
Like before, I spread internal energy to find monsters, and since there's precedent, everyone seems to trust my words, so the attack proceeded very smoothly.
For three hours, we wandered around and caught nearly 100 monsters.
But the sky was still blue.
From the second battle onward, we've been taking 5 to 10 minute breaks after each fight, but since this is a desert without even an oasis or a single patch of shade, not only the examinees but even the other examiners except Kim Dae-chan show clear signs of fatigue.
"Shin-hyeok, are there no monsters around here either?"
"Ah, yes. I don't particularly feel anything right now."
I've been moving while continuously spreading internal energy wanting to finish early, but there are no life form reactions.
Considering the level and number of monsters we've dealt with so far, no matter how much it's a 10-person portal, there shouldn't be many left...
‘I promised to treat Teacher Hong and Teacher Kim to dinner today, but I'm getting a bit anxious that we might be late.’
"If we go to the bottom of that hill ahead, we should be able to avoid the sunlight a bit. Let's go there and rest a little."
Looking at where Kim Dae-chan pointed, there's a very high sand dune with a bit of shade underneath.
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone started running, ignoring formation.
I guess the shade isn't enough space for everyone to sit.’
I understand wanting to rest somewhere even a little cooler, but wouldn't running make your body heat up and be even hotter?
‘Plus they broke formation, so those people will probably get points deducted.’
Since I'm not affected by heat anyway, I don't need to insist on shade, and I hate point deductions, so I maintained regular speed.
‘People really... When monsters could suddenly appear... Huh?’
I feel a very faint life reaction in the internal energy I spread ahead.
‘Are those the people running ahead... No, wait. If they were people, they wouldn't be detected so faintly.’
"Those going ahead, stop! There's something in that direction...!"
I immediately warned loudly, but it was too late.
A huge white monster that burst out of the sand swallowed the martial artist who was in front whole and disappeared back into the sand.