Giving Everything for the Midterms (1)
The creature was fast and merciless.
Without giving Junhyuk even a moment to recover, it seized him by the hair and drove its fists down in a relentless barrage.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
It struck as if determined to shatter his skull outright.
“Kyaaak!”
“Yeom Junhyuk!”
Sowon let out a piercing scream at the brutal assault, and I shouted his name in desperation, but the creature paid us no mind at all.
It knew who was strongest among us. By crushing him first, in the most overwhelming fashion possible, it meant to seize the advantage in both momentum and position.
Hair still clenched in its grip, Junhyuk’s eyes had gone vacant; he offered no reaction. Blood streamed freely from his head.
“Stop…!”
Sowon snapped back to her senses and began chanting, desperate to save him. In an instant a massive crimson formula flared to life, then—
BOOM!
A violent explosion hurled the creature off Junhyuk. I wasted not a second, racing forward and pressing my hand to his forehead.
A soft fluorescent glow, like the light of fireflies, bloomed from my palm.
“Junhyuk. Snap out of it!”
I had to heal him as much as possible before the creature could strike again. Eyes closed, I mapped the extent of his injuries and poured everything into the recovery.
Serena was already at my side, twin daggers in hand, scanning the surroundings.
“Forget everything else and focus on healing. If it comes for us, I’ll handle it.”
She spoke with her back to me, yet I could almost see the grim resolve on her face.
“Thank you.”
Everyone was fighting as if ready to die; I had to do my part as well.
Then another thunderous blast rattled my eardrums.
Boom!
This time the sound came from Sowon’s direction.
The creature that had been relying on fists and feet had suddenly turned magic against her.
“Kh…!”
Shock flashed across Sowon’s face as she hastily raised a defensive formula, barely intercepting the bombardment. But the attack did not end there.
Shrrrk!
Dozens of blazing iron chains shot toward her at terrifying speed. Flames died where she had stood as she teleported clear—
“Hah!”
—yet the creature’s pursuit was faster still.
The searing chains were about to coil around her entire body and brand her alive when—
“Philin! Sorry—I’ll be right back!”
Serena shot toward the creature like lightning. In the same instant her twin blades flashed, unleashing a burst of light.
Both wrists of the shadow monster controlling the chains were severed clean through and dropped to the ground. It had been that close.
“Got it!”
“It’s over!”
While Serena spun and pressed the attack after cutting off the creature’s hands, I rushed to Sowon and checked her condition.
“Are you okay?”
“…Yes. It’s nothing.”
“Your arms are completely burned! What if they scar?!”
So proud, even now. Even a glancing touch had left her skin riddled with burns. Had Serena been a fraction slower, Sowon would have been left in a truly horrific state.
“Early-stage burns I can fix in no time. Just hold still a moment.”
“Junhyuk-ssi is in worse shape…”
“Then get better faster so you can protect him!”
Even in the middle of this she was fretting over romance. I barked at her for worrying about Junhyuk, then immediately poured recovery magic into her. The burns covering her body closed over at a rapid pace.
And then—
“What the hell is this bastard…?”
Serena halted mid-assault and staggered back, face blank with disbelief.
No wonder. The creature she had been carving to the brink of death had suddenly cast recovery magic on itself, erasing every last bit of damage it had taken.
Reset to zero.
The shadow monster grinned, an ugly, mocking smile.
I, Sowon, and Serena all stared, so dumbfounded that laughter almost slipped out.
“Martial strength, magic, and self-healing on top of that?”
“This is just ridiculous.”
Curses rose unbidden. Yet there was no time to feel empty-handed.
“Let’s see you heal this!”
Serena redoubled her speed, weaving in front of and behind the creature, scoring its body again and again with her daggers.
The creature simply watched her for a moment—then
Clang!
summoned a pair of daggers of its own and blocked her entire dance of blades.
Serena’s face twisted in pure shock as her killing stroke was turned aside.
“It can use dagger arts too?”
I had never thought the detail particularly important, yet I remembered Serena proudly declaring that she belonged to the rare “Elf Assassin” clan—elves specialized in close combat and assassination rather than the magic most of their kind favored.
How did this monster possess even that rare combat technique?
While we reeled, the tide of battle reversed. Wielding the twin daggers at a speed the eye could not follow, the creature drove Serena back. She gritted her teeth and tried to weather the storm, but she could not match the pace.
“Aah!”
Cuts opened across her body; she screamed as her blood sprayed in every direction.
The creature planted a foot on her chest and began to drive its dagger slowly into her throat, intent on finishing her. But—
“Don’t you dare, you bastard!”
Ting! A bright metallic ring, and the dagger was knocked away right in front of her throat.
“I’m not dying like this. So get that foot off me, you shadow freak!”
Serena roared with pure fury, kicked the creature off her, and rose to her feet. The eyes she fixed on the shadow monster were so fierce it was impossible to believe she had just been a breath from death.
She was strong.
I had to support her from behind!
“Serena! Let me heal those wounds!”
“Forget it. Save Yeom Junhyuk first. He’ll be far more useful than I am.”
“But you’re bleeding way too much!”
“We have to stay alive first!”
Even as she shouted, blood poured freely from her entire body. I froze, unable to bring myself to leave her and go to Junhyuk.
Seeing me locked in place, Serena offered a small smile and urged me again.
“Sorry. I lost my temper.”
“No, that’s fine, but…”
“My attack power can match Yeom Junhyuk’s, but my durability is garbage. To take that thing down, we’re going to need someone who can tank hits.”
“……”
“So get him up. Fast. That’s how all of us survive.”
Faced with her grim request, I could only nod.
Even Sowon, usually so fox-like, was already weaving another formula, placing herself between the creature and me as my shield.
“Please save Junhyuk-ssi. We’ll buy you as much time as you need.”
Was this the weight a combat medic felt on a battlefield? I bit my lip, nodded once more, and sprinted back to Junhyuk.
While I poured everything into healing him, the rear filled with explosions, screams, the clash of blades, and that sickening wet sound of steel cutting flesh.
I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to ignore it all, committing every scrap of strength to the recovery magic.
You idiot, get up already. Those two are about to die!
Junhyuk’s recovery came first; I had no room to watch my surroundings and threw everything into the spell. Had the shadow monster struck me then, I would have taken a fatal wound or simply died.
The thought had barely formed when I noticed something odd about its attack pattern.
Why isn’t it going for the healer first?
No matter how powerful it was, it faced four of us. And if a healer was trying to bring a combat-incapable fighter back into the fray…
Eliminating the healer first would be the most advantageous, most rational tactic for a side outnumbered.
Yet I had never once been targeted by the shadow monster.
Was it simply stupid? Or…
“Kh…”
“You’re awake?”
Just then Junhyuk pressed a hand to his head and forced himself upright. Having nearly died, he was clearly far from peak condition.
“Philin.”
“What.”
“You’re bleeding.”
Still half-dazed, I thought, and was about to snort a retort—when something hot truly trickled across the bridge of my nose.
“Huh?”
The moment I tried to wipe it with my uniform sleeve, a crushing wave of dizziness hit me.
“Philin…? Philin!”
Junhyuk’s voice receded into the distance as blood poured uncontrollably from my nose. I tried to stem it with both hands, with my sleeve—nothing worked.
I dimly recalled a lecture warning that overusing recovery magic placed severe strain on the caster’s body. This had to be it.
“Philin, Philin! Stay with me!”
Junhyuk called my name in raw panic, frantically wiping the endless stream of blood with his own clothes.
I lifted a trembling hand and pressed my sleeve to his forehead.
“You’re… bleeding too… and you’re worrying about me…”
I meant to scold him for fretting over someone else, but the words would not come out cleanly. The world spun. I wanted nothing more than to lie down and rest.
Junhyuk shook my shoulders, nearly wailing.
“Philin! Open your eyes! Hey!”
My gaze must have been completely unfocused; I probably looked one breath from death.
Still, I had just enough strength left to wipe the blood from his forehead.
“Hey… don’t worry. I’m still… fine.”
“Stop talking nonsense and quit using recovery magic already!”
I shook my head slowly, then gripped the fabric of his shoulder with everything I had left and forced myself upright.
Looking past him at the two still locked in desperate combat and the shadow monster facing them, I spoke.
“Just one more time. I have to use recovery magic one more time.”
I had figured out how to break it. Time to run a little experiment.