Chapter 110
Chapter 110
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 110
Chapter Title: Sword Dance: Link
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The sharp crack of gunfire echoed, and at the same moment, the blue mana orbs summoned by the twin-tailed girl churned violently.
Dozens of bullets tore through the mana orbs wildly.
*Plop, patter!*
Soon, the now-still mana orbs spat out dozens of magic-engineering bullets, which fell at the twin-tailed girl's feet.
She glared at the rooftop of a nearby building.
“…Archery Club.”
Those armed with bows or guns.
They were the Archery Club of Lion's Castle, the ones who so readily targeted living, breathing humans.
“Didn’t expect you hotshots lately to be chasing after the heels of some freshmen?”
“You know damn well why. You’ve been camping here because you know they’re close to us.”
“We knew they were close. But we didn’t know you’d stoop to running errands for them. You’re people, not dogs, right?”
The twin-tailed girl spewed profanities.
But the Archery Club members didn’t even blink.
What did a few harsh words matter when they endured daily torture at the hands of first-year Kang Jae-hyeok?
‘Could even this be something Jae-hyeok guided?’
Composure and endurance.
The Archery Club members’ bodies trembled slightly as they felt the core virtues of marksmanship fulfilled.
They realized they had grown in many ways since meeting Kang Jae-hyeok.
Smiling with satisfaction, they aimed their gun barrels at the twin-tailed girl’s chest.
“Keep flapping your gums. Your carefully laid plans went up in smoke, so you’ve gotta vent somehow.”
Their experience getting wrecked by the Noble Club had been huge.
The moment the Archery Club heard the roads near the shooting range were under emergency construction, they suspected something and patrolled the area.
And this was the result.
They had spotted Cha Da-hee and Park Hae-rin in danger and extended a helping hand just in time.
There were eight of them.
They even held the advantageous high ground, while the twin-tailed girl and her crew numbered only four.
Anyone could see they had the upper hand.
But.
“What do you mean up in smoke? I can just bulldoze through variables like you with brute force.”
The twin-tailed girl didn’t see the current situation as a crisis.
Her skill was already complete.
*Boom!!*
The two blue mana orbs, which had maintained their form even after being riddled with dozens of bullets, exploded.
[Sonic Boom]
The massive explosion shoved the air aside, creating a pressure wave.
“Ugh!”
Unable to withstand the supersonic pressure wave, the Archery Club members clutched their ears and collapsed.
The guns and bows they had aimed at the twin-tailed girl lost their target.
*Thud!*
The twin-tailed girl didn’t miss the opening and moved.
Using the dissipating remnants of the mana orbs as footholds, she leaped straight to the rooftop in one bound.
“The Archery Club is basically a one-man show by No Jun-yeop. What’s the point of nobodies like you trying to surround me?”
*Slash slash slash!*
The Archery Club members’ bodies bruised where her sharp greaves slashed.
If they had been real combat weapons instead of magic-engineering ones for sparring, limbs would have been torn off.
Na Gaeun.
The twin-tailed girl was someone barely placed in second-year Class A.
She was clearly top-tier among second-years.
Moreover, the mana operation technique she wielded had the property of whipping the air.
Targets didn’t just suffer external wounds—their internals were shaken up too.
“Keuk…!”
“Aaagh!”
As Na Gaeun’s allies reached the rooftop, the Archery Club members’ position worsened.
The moment they allowed the enemy close, their combat power dropped sharply.
Blind firing without proper aim slashed their accuracy.
*Bang!*
A stray shot hit a water tank, which burst, turning the rooftop into chaos.
The Archery Club members, swept by the torrent, had their barrels veer even further off-target.
The silver lining was…
“Kyaa!”
Na Gaeun’s group got swept up in the torrent too.
Some of them suffered setbacks as the distance they’d closed against the Archery Club opened back up.
*Bang bang bang bang!*
The girls toppled backward, struck by blind bullets and arrows.
‘Why won’t they go down?’
Na Gaeun, shielding herself behind a nearby Archery Club member, grew a bit flustered.
Even accounting for their sparring-use magic-engineering weapons, her attack power was formidable.
She detonated mana the instant she struck, which normally sent foes crumpling one after another.
Yet the Archery Club members refused to drop.
They sprang back up like weeds, even as blood poured from mouths and noses.
Some even slithered away like eels, dodging attacks.
“You guys are weirdly quick and tough, huh?”
“You’re just slow and weak.”
“Look at you acting all high and mighty. Did you all pop some drugs or what?”
Na Gaeun’s temples throbbed as her breathing grew ragged.
Somehow, the hitters were more winded than the hit.
While Na Gaeun’s crew lay sprawled like starfish, gasping, all the Archery Club members were already back on their feet.
“You really doping or something?”
Buff potions did exist.
But they were so rare that even active players hesitated to use them in boss raids.
Some puny club kids doping?
“No way.”
“Exactly. You’re just weak—why can’t you get that through your heads?”
The Archery Club members’ eyes welled up as they taunted her.
It hit them that all those daily lightning beatings from Kang Jae-hyeok had paid off—joy mixed with sorrow.
Na Gaeun’s crew went on high alert as tears glistened in their eyes.
“The kids are acting way off. Must’ve scored some cheap drugs somewhere.”
“They look dangerous—smash their legs so they can’t get up.”
“Hey, you idiots! Smash their legs? Should we switch to live rounds too?”
“W-what? Live rounds!?”
The brutal exchange brought the fight to a temporary lull.
Kids or not, they were Players.
They knew crossing that ‘line’ could spell disaster, so they cooled off.
‘Damn it. Didn’t expect the Archery Club without No Jun-yeop to be this tenacious.’
‘Nice mental fortitude holding out.’
As Na Gaeun’s group hesitated, the Archery Club members sighed inwardly in relief.
All eight were one step from passing out, truth be told.
Twice the numbers?
Against Na Gaeun’s crew, including one Class A, it meant little.
They’d endured purely on the stamina and mentality honed by Jae-hyeok’s tortures.
But even that was nearing its limit.
‘Please leave. Just back off now.’
The Archery Club members prayed in unison like chanting a spell.
“…Can’t back off when we’ve come this far.”
Na Gaeun ignored their prayers.
Park Hae-rin and Cha Da-hee.
A chance to snag both top priorities at once.
Seize this properly, and they might get dispatched to Guardian Guild next semester—no need to wait till third year.
‘Almost there.’
Stroking her aching right eye beneath the eyepatch, she summoned a blue orb onto her palm.
She meant to deploy her first skill [Sonic Boom] again.
“Shit.”
The Archery Club members, who’d bluffed nonchalance till the end, paled.
Some took a step back.
Instinctive.
No chance of winning—brain’s order to flee kicked in.
But no one actually ran.
All raised their leaden arms into firing stances.
“Why go this far for freshmen you’ve only known a few months?”
Na Gaeun couldn’t comprehend them trembling yet fighting to the last.
She wasn’t alone.
Most wouldn’t get the Archery Club’s attitude.
Players had long forgotten they were meant to help those in dire straits.
“Is one of them No Jun-yeop’s girlfriend or something? Whatever—distance is close now, so watch you don’t get hurt bad.”
*Boom!!*
The mana orb exploded, unleashing Sonic Boom.
Blood poured from the already ragged Archery Club members’ ears.
Practically spurting.
Untreated, it could cause permanent hearing loss—a serious injury.
Yet.
*Bang! Bang bang bang bang bang!*
They chose counterattack over potions.
They sprayed bullets and arrows wildly to stop Na Gaeun—who’d downed them—from leaping off the roof toward Da-hee and Hae-rin.
“You morons! Why go this fa—!”
Na Gaeun, who’d taken a bullet to the fibula and crumpled, stood with bloodshot eyes.
Panicking at the thought of losing her targets, she pulled out two skull rings.
Mana-forged bombs.
“This is on you! Don’t blame me if you’re deaf for life!”
The instant she snarled and hurled the rings.
*Step.*
Someone stepped onto the rooftop.
A girl with catlike huge eyes—Park Hae-rin.
The kid who’d ditched her shield mid-fight, collapsed retching.
The pitiful one who’d clung to Cha Da-hee’s ankle, face pale turning blue—now back in the fray.
Still shieldless.
In her hand was just a single sword.
“What’re you gonna do, showing up now?”
Na Gaeun shot Park Hae-rin a look of disgust.
She loathed people oblivious to their place.
It mirrored her past self.
“Fine. If you’re delivering yourself, I’m—”
Na Gaeun’s scoff cut short.
Park Hae-rin had started dancing.
Too noble and beautiful for calling her crazy.
“Link.”
-Sword Dance representing memories unfolds.
*Flash!*
When she first awakened her first skill.
The memory Park Hae-rin recalled back then was just her father’s faint affection.
Now, it was every moment since meeting Kang Jae-hyeok.
-Give it up! A shield-bearer must stand firm—shaking around like that is pathetic!
The Sword Dance that hadn’t lasted long in her memory-less childhood.
After halting midway to her father’s scolding and getting forcibly sealed, it now chained several times over.
“Ah…”
The Archery Club members, on the verge of blackout, got swept in light streams from her body and invigorated.
For some reason, recalling moments with Kang Jae-hyeok gave them strength to leap back up.
“What…? Impossible…!”
Na Gaeun denied the unbelievable reality.
To halt Hae-rin, who seemed to be casting magic, she flung the skull rings.
But Park Hae-rin being here meant,
“Don’t touch my friend!”
Cha Da-hee was too.
Her slender straight sword snatched Na Gaeun’s rings and flung them far.
*Boom!!*
The rings exploded pointlessly midair, spewing thick poison mist.
But it couldn’t breach Hae-rin’s ongoing Sword Dance light, scattering every which way.
Not mere light, but something sacred.
As everyone naturally thought of Silla,
*Slash!*
At Sword Dance’s finale, Hae-rin reached Na Gaeun and cut her down.
[Reinhardt's Crown Prince ‘Lord’ gazes warmly upon you, who has finally taken one step forward.]