Battle Survival (3)
“……”
“……”
We fell into a brief silence between us.
Heavy tension lingered in the air.
Blades of wind carried strands of hair across the faces of both.
Clear and sharp, Lee Siwoo’s gaze pierced through the mess of his hair.
His eyes—steady, dense, and impossible to blink away—locked onto mine in an instant.
Our stares tangled like thorns.
Lee Siwoo’s face stayed rigid, cold as ever, yet the faintest trace of emotion showed.
Confusion, frustration, something deeper swirled beneath that mask.
“Now that you’ve said it out loud, it’s pointless, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. I’ve been dying to see your skill up close, Jinhyuk.”
We could have talked it out, but the situation left no room for reason.
What Lee Siwoo wanted wasn’t laughter and empty words—it was blades that could test our true strength.
“Honestly, sparring with you is a little daunting.”
Should I run?
Would I even make it if I did right now?
I thought it over for a second, but the idea was ridiculous.
Lee Siwoo wasn’t the type to let an opponent walk away that easily.
If I spoke that way, I’d be lying to a classmate from middle school.
One clean stroke and my back would be split open.
Even if I tried, Lee Siwoo and the mid-tier thug Kim Useong were in entirely different leagues.
Lee Siwoo wasn’t just the top student at Union Academy—the cradle of geniuses, the best of the best.
Of course, if we were talking pure sword technique, Baek Yurin would outshine him, but we’ll set that aside for now.
I let out a heavy sigh deep in my chest.
I’d expected to face Lee Siwoo eventually, but not like this—right now, in the middle of a real fight.
If we were clashing in a trap-filled area, I could have prepared.
But fighting him head-on like this? I doubt I can win.
I accepted it straight away.
The gap between us was too vast to bridge.
Still, it didn’t matter.
We didn’t need to fight to victory.
“Alright, Siwoo.”
I gripped the bow tight and took slow, deliberate steps, guiding him slightly toward the minefield I’d set.
Approach from this side, and he’d step on one.
Considering his personality, he’d come straight at me head-on.
Then—boom!
“Let’s do as you said. Face to face.”
“Sure.”
I drew the bowstring in a rush.
Four arrows rested on the string.
I aimed straight at him, but Lee Siwoo didn’t budge.
Only now did I fire. Pa-papap! The four arrows sliced through the wind and slammed toward Lee Siwoo with perfect accuracy.
But.
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Lee Siwoo’s figure vanished.
The arrows buried themselves with a sharp crack into three trees behind him.
Cloud Steps.
One of the movement skills I remembered from the game.
An instant teleport that closed the distance in a single bound.
What the—?
How fast is that?
I didn’t even have time to reload.
While my eyes blinked in disbelief, Lee Siwoo had closed the distance to almost nose-to-nose.
It was like lightning.
Chasing him with my own eyes felt impossible.
He was far faster than during the training evaluation.
Months? Only months had passed, and he’d grown like this?
He really went straight at me.
He’s planning to draw before I can fire again, isn’t he?
But Lee Siwoo.
If he charged straight, he’d still have to step on the explosive mine I’d buried right in front of him.
Perfect. That direction—gotcha!
Lee Siwoo, who had been rushing like lightning, suddenly stepped on the mine.
A sharp click.
Kwaaah! Aaaaang! The explosion roared right in my ears.
Rocks and branches exploded outward in every direction, dirt and dust billowed up in a thick cloud.
I hadn’t expected mines because I didn’t know how Kim Useong’s group fought.
Yet here was Lee Siwoo…
“……A mine. I did hear something like an explosion earlier.”
As if nothing had happened, he spoke calmly.
Even after stepping on a mine, he looked perfectly fine.
I glanced at his status.
A faint purple veil of protection wrapped around him.
Protective Gangqi.
In the instant he stepped on it, he’d formed a mana shield to neutralize the shock.
In such a short time?
Other students would have been helpless.
Lee Siwoo really was one of the top geniuses in the story.
He could react so quickly.
Well…
That was exactly what I’d predicted.
Of course he’d block it.
The important part now was that the mine had halted his feet and the protective gangqi had absorbed some impact to his ankle.
That meant…
It was time to take the next step.
“Lee Siwoo!”
I deliberately called his name.
His eyes snapped back to me.
I pulled the practice sword from its sheath in a hurry.
A faint purple sword qi surged up my blade.
I charged at Lee Siwoo like a madman.
I wasn’t going to use the bow anymore.
After all, arrows couldn’t pierce that protective gangqi.
The sword, though… I could break through it. Or rather, I could break through with mere contact.
“……”
Lee Siwoo watched me with quiet eyes.
He angled his practice sword and concentrated a thick amount of mana.
Deep purple light rippled along the edge like steam.
In his stance, ready for a horizontal slash, Lee Siwoo swung his blade at me.
Sword Qi Projection.
He was definitely trying to use it.
Perfect. Right now!
I immediately activated the Subspace Ring.
Why the subspace ring out of nowhere?
Remember the promise I made earlier?
In the real world, unlike the game, I could use this ring in all kinds of ways.
Just like this.
“……?”
Instantly, one of Lee Siwoo’s feet sank into the ground.
Like a person who’d stepped into a sticky swamp.
Right beneath him, cracks had split the earth, and his foot had vanished into the abyss.
Since only one foot suddenly dropped, no matter how composed Lee Siwoo was, he couldn’t possibly maintain balance.
“What the—?”
Gaps!
That was why his foot had sunk in—because I’d used the subspace ring.
With this ring, I could open and close a portal within a six-meter radius.
In other words, I’d created a trapdoor leading into the subspace right under his foot and dropped him straight through.
Of course, the portal opened slowly, so I needed to disrupt his movement and draw his attention.
That’s why I’d provoked him.
Take this!
I was already right in front of him when I swung the sword.
His balance had been wrecked by the sinking foot—could Lee Siwoo even block it?
“……This cheap trick won’t work on me, Jinhyuk.”
Clang!
The sound of steel rang out as swords clashed.
Flames exploded from the impact of our sword qi.
Even though he’d lost balance, Lee Siwoo naturally swung his blade and blocked my strike.
With that kind of cheap trick, he couldn’t possibly eat a true hit.
I would have been helpless without it.
“You dropped your foot. Did you activate some kind of ability?”
“Who knows!”
But listen, Siwoo.
My goal had already been achieved.
All I wanted was to face you with swords like this!
“I heard you don’t have any abilities……”
Lee Siwoo paused mid-sentence.
The dull mask on his face cracked just a little.
Confusion flickered in his eyes.
Because he’d activated the relic embedded in his body.
The Tears of the Moon.
A relic that absorbed and released mana.
Now, with us facing each other blade to blade, what would happen if he used it?
The answer was simple—it would devour all of Lee Siwoo’s sword qi.
“You? How? My sword qi?”
The moment the sword qi vanished, Lee Siwoo couldn’t steady his panicked heart and immediately retreated.
Because the mine had already damaged his ankle, he couldn’t use Cloud Steps.
I didn’t miss that opening.
I inhaled deeply, channeling mana, and swung the sword with everything I had.
Sword Qi Projection.
Powered by my mana plus his mana plus a 1.5x boost for full power release.
No matter how strong he was, stopping it would be almost impossible.
Especially since Lee Siwoo had just lost his mana for a moment and felt drained.
It was nearly impossible to block a full-powered Sword Qi Projection in that state.
“Ugh!”
Lee Siwoo jolted at the sudden attack and scrambled to raise his sword.
He stumbled backward while blocking, inching farther and farther.
The force of the released sword qi was so intense that Lee Siwoo had no choice but to be pushed back four meters.
But that wasn’t everything.
Lee Siwoo used the Four-Liang-Swaying-a-Thousand-Jin technique to deflect the sword qi sideways.
Some trees fell with a crack from the deflected force, yet Lee Siwoo took not a scratch.
It had been my all-out attack.
And still… no true hit.
Lee Siwoo really wasn’t the male protagonist after all.
But.
“……”
Crack, clink, thwack!
A crack spiderwebbed across Lee Siwoo’s practice sword.
Finally, with a sharp dang!, it split cleanly in half.
A training sword simply couldn’t withstand my mana-enhanced, 1.5x Sword Qi Projection.
If it had been a sword on Lee Siwoo’s level, it wouldn’t have broken.
But right now, what he was holding was just mass-produced equipment for academy students.
Hoo. Lucky, the guy’s sword broke.
Yeah.
My real goal wasn’t to knock Lee Siwoo down.
How could I ever beat a talented male protagonist like him?
I just needed to break the sword and subtly show that I was still holding back—making it impossible to fight without a sword.
“……”
Lee Siwoo stared silently at the broken sword.
Continuing to fight would only be disadvantageous for him.
Of course, if we fought again, I’d win 100%.
But you don’t know that, do you? No?
“How is it, Siwoo?”
I lowered my voice to a cool, flat tone, as if I’d already won.
I looked drained—on the verge of collapse—but I kept up the calm act.
Still catching my breath, I spoke quietly.
“This should be enough.”
“……”
“I have no idea what you’re thinking, though.”
“……”
I sheathed my sword like I was done.
I gave Lee Siwoo a quick, slightly tense glance.
Is he about to attack?
He wouldn’t swing wildly just because the sword was in its sheath, would he?
He wasn’t about to start a rematch when the fight wasn’t over yet.
You had a cool head, Siwoo.
Lucky for me, Lee Siwoo just looked at me with quiet eyes.
Good. I’d planted the idea that I was finished.
He wouldn’t feel like starting trouble when the sword was broken anyway.
Given his personality, the chance was low.
If I knew Lee Siwoo, then yes, definitely.
Well, Kang Daehan might not have held back so easily.
He wasn’t blinded by jealousy right now, was he?
He didn’t want this fight to end completely, either.
……But if he keeps pushing anyway, that’s a huge problem.
I had no stamina, no mana left, nothing.
Honestly, I just wanted to collapse right here.
Even if it was just Lee Siwoo with one hand, I couldn’t win.
Honestly, if he fought me one-handed, I’d get completely battered.
Lee Siwoo, please don’t fight me. Please just let it go.
So I had deliberately shown a strong front.
Would you really want to keep fighting someone who can use unknown abilities and Sword Qi Projection?
You wouldn’t.
You’d be embarrassed if you dropped out now.
“……Jinhyuk. Was the bow you used earlier fake?”
No?
After spending ten years digging into the bow?
Did you think my bow skills looked fake?
“……The way you swung your sword was all an act?”
Sloppy?
Hey, that’s harsh.
I gave it my all.