027. Misunderstanding (2)
027. Misunderstanding (2)
Instructor Baek Seol-hee explained how the training worked for my benefit, since I hadn't participated in joint training yet.
"Joint training takes place here in this virtual space, where we summon phantoms of Demonized Humans and have you engage them."
'Oh.'
So there was a space like this in the back of the training ground.
My eyes went wide as I looked around the facility.
An area about the size of a soccer field was encased in a semi-transparent rectangular barrier.
"Even if you're injured here, no real harm is done. However, even though the pain is mitigated, you will still feel it—so this training is still quite dangerous. Non-Hunters could even die of shock."
Still, it did make sense—Demonized Humans were the ideal opponents for practicing personal combat in preparation for sparring against other groups.
"The five of you will enter as one party. Cadet Kang Do-hee, who has shown the best results in training so far, will act as party leader."
After saying that, Baek Seol-hee gave me a meaningful look.
'Kang Do-hee as... party leader?'
I frowned.
'No way in hell she can pull that off.'
Kang Do-hee was a frontline vanguard.
Her job was to push ahead of everyone else and carve a path for her party members.
Since she had to do burst damage at melee range with no weapons, her field of vision was unavoidably narrow.
'Besides, the girl hates parties. She solos everything.'
I had no clue how she'd even managed joint training up until now.
"The Demonized Human opposition will be the same as yesterday: one A-Rank Demonized Human and ten B-Rank Demonized Humans."
At that, Shin Se-hee's face stiffened, and she spoke up to the instructor.
"Instructor, Do-hee and I are currently wearing Mana-Restriction Magic Tools, aren't we?"
"And what of it."
"If we could use our Mana freely, that would be one thing—but there is simply no way we can handle that number while wearing shackles like these..."
"Jin Yu-ha is joining you starting today, isn't he?"
Baek Seol-hee replied with a blank expression.
"There are no changes to the parameters. Enter."
*
We stepped inside the training ground.
Hummm—
A flow of Mana stirred in the empty air opposite us.
It coalesced into a slime-like, gelatinous mass, then took the shape of humans with no eyes, nose, or mouth.
Eleven featureless humans in total.
They each gripped weapons and leveled them at us.
I scrutinized the weapons in their hands.
'Ha. They brought out some annoying bastards. Is this on purpose?'
Ten B-Rank Demonized Humans held long-range and mid-range weapons—whips, spears, bows.
The single A-Rank Demonized Human was armed with a sword.
Instructor Baek Seol-hee had been consistently watching me train with my sword, so she had a good idea of my strength.
Even with Shin Se-hee's and Kang Do-hee's ankles shackled,
she would have gauged that I wouldn't lose a one-on-one against any ordinary opponent.
'So she tailored this to make it harder for me to handle them solo.'
I weighed the enemies and drew Moonlight from my hip.
Shing—
A real blade, not a wooden sword, for the first time in a while.
The grip felt exceptionally good, as always.
'...First, let's see how Kang Do-hee takes command.'
As I waited for Kang Do-hee's orders,
her voice came through the earpiece with perfect clarity.
[ Everyone, prepare for battle. ]
Kang Do-hee clenched and unclenched her fists, lowering her stance toward the enemy.
Then she coiled tension into her thighs, ready to spring forward.
[ ...Engage! ]
Boom!
She launched herself forward the instant she said the word.
I waited for the next order... but nothing followed.
'Huh? That's the whole combat command?'
I turned around with a dumbfounded look.
Shin Se-hee was preparing a spell like nothing was unusual.
And the two quota students were biting their lips as they readied their skills.
'Ha. Don't tell me...'
I was so utterly at a loss I just opened my mouth.
* * *
Even as Kang Do-hee charged toward the Demonized Human phantoms, she couldn't hide her unease.
Her body felt so much heavier than usual.
With her Mana restricted by the Magic Tool, her body felt like it wasn't her own—like the unfamiliar body of a stranger.
'I'm uneasy.'
She was uneasy.
Of course, with the instructor watching closely, the probability that Jin Yu-ha would reveal his true colors was infinitely low.
But right now, when her body wasn't in peak condition, that unease had grown.
Kang Do-hee extended her fist toward the Demonized Human in front of her, just as she always did.
She was slow.
Ordinarily, her first punch should have instantly taken down one of them before the fight even properly began.
Whoosh—!
But the enemy evaded her strike far too easily and retreated backward.
It was nothing but a B-Rank Demonized Human.
Kang Do-hee gritted her teeth.
In that moment, an arrow flew toward her from the side.
Fwip—!!
Kang Do-hee threw herself sideways to dodge it.
Whoosh—!!
Chak!
This time, a whip.
"Damn it."
She felt like she was being driven in a hunt.
Healing and support skills came in from the quota students behind her, but she could barely even feel them.
With her Mana restricted, all Kang Do-hee could do was evade enemy attacks.
The one stroke of luck was that after dodging attacks for a while,
a rain of fire, unleashed by Shin Se-hee, poured down from overhead.
But the sight before her eyes made her bite her lip anyway.
Only yesterday, the barrage of magic Shin Se-hee had rained down on them had thrown the enemy into chaos—but now,
against the weakened attack, the enemies took the hits to the body as if they felt nothing, or swatted the flames aside with their bare hands.
'What the hell am I even supposed to do...!'
Worrying about Jin Yu-ha had already complicated her mind enough.
She wanted to rip the Magic Tool off her wrist this very second.
SWISH—!
The whip lashed toward her from the side again.
Snap! Clench—
Kang Do-hee caught the whip in her bare hand and yanked the wielder toward her.
The Demonized Human came hurtling in.
Crunch—!!!
Kang Do-hee drove her fist into the Demonized Human's head.
The head shattered, and the phantom vanished.
'Ah, son of a—!'
The spear-wielder who'd been hiding behind the whip-wielder hurled its spear straight at her.
She had no time left to dodge.
"This stupid training can just—"
She was about to fumble at her wrist and rip the Magic Tool off. Right then—
SHNK—!
The spear that had been flying toward her was cut cleanly in half.
Ting—!
Clatter—
Her head turned to the side.
"Hey. I know I said I wouldn't talk to you, so sorry about this—but Kang Do-hee, what the hell are you doing?"
"...What?"
"The party leader isn't giving any orders?"
Jin Yu-ha raised one eyebrow as he asked.
"Get a grip. Kang Do-hee."
"..."
"Tch. I'm taking over command from here on out. This is too frustrating to watch."
* * *
Seriously, what was she doing.
Fuck.
This was so suffocating I was about to die.
The joint training was a total mess.
Kang Do-hee charged in, and the rest of them just joined the fight on their own recognizance.
Shin Se-hee vaguely fired off magic at the enemies,
and the two quota students focused their healing and buffs on Kang Do-hee.
Yeah. Now I finally understood why, even though Kang Do-hee had been the party leader up until yesterday,
none of them had complained about joint training until now.
Special Admission cadets.
People with abilities that stood apart from ordinary students.
Kang Do-hee and Shin Se-hee had only put on the Mana-Restriction Magic Tools for the first time today.
'Until now, orders simply weren't necessary.'
Kang Do-hee would just go in, rampage through the Demonized Humans, and sow chaos.
In the meantime, Shin Se-hee would wipe out the B-Rank Demonized Humans with area attacks.
Then, taking advantage of the confusion, Kang Do-hee would cut down the A-Rank Demonized Human.
The quota students would have just needed to keep buffs and healing on Kang Do-hee whenever their skill cooldowns came up.
But the moment the Special Admission students' hands and feet were shackled
and their performance dipped to the level of ordinary students,
this party's weaknesses became glaringly obvious.
'At this rate, there isn't a single group we can beat.'
I flicked a glance at Baek Seol-hee.
She was nodding to herself.
In other words, she had already predicted this would happen.
She was probably hoping we'd identify the problem ourselves and fix it.
"I was trying to respect Kang Do-hee's command if I could help it, but you know... there is no command?"
I narrowed my eyes and examined our party members' stats.
'Judging by Kang Do-hee's body movements, I'd say her stats have dropped about two stars' worth. So Kang Do-hee is three-star. Count Shin Se-hee as two-star.'
I ran a simulation in my head and threw my body toward Kang Do-hee, who was still standing there in a daze.
SHNK—!
I cut down the spear that was heading for her.
"Tch. I'm taking over command from here on out. This is too frustrating to watch."
I seized command authority from Kang Do-hee.
I pressed the earpiece in my ear and spoke.
[ Kang Do-hee, Shin Se-hee, Kim So-hun, Kim Cheol-hyeon. I'm giving the tactical orders from here on. ]
Ahhh. That cool, heavy sensation.
It's been three weeks.
Yeah. Time to go back to being a Velvetsra Player.
I made my assessment, factoring in the enemies' capabilities against our party's abilities.
[ First, Shin Se-hee. Explosion on the swordsman in twelve seconds. ]
[ Kang Do-hee. Now back up three steps. I said back up! You're not backing up?! ]
[ Tch. Kim Cheol-hyeon. Heal on Kang Do-hee. ]
[ Kim So-hun, in three seconds, buff me. ]
Ting—!
I issued commands while deflecting the sword being swung at Kang Do-hee.
At first, when I started giving orders out of nowhere, they were all clearly thrown off—
but since the commands gave each of them a clearly defined job, the quota students were the first to respond.
Then Shin Se-hee.
Kang Do-hee was the last to start following my orders.
[ First, we're taking out the archer bastard. We should eliminate the long-range fighter fast. Shin Se-hee. In ten seconds, put up a wall of fire to his right to restrict his movement. ]
[ Kang Do-hee, come in behind me. Six seconds after I lock blades with the spearman, you go straight into a Fist Strike on the archer. ]
[ Kim So-hun. Heal on me in nine seconds. ]
I was a light spender in Velvetsra.
Velvetsra was an easy game—a game you could clear without spending money.
But that didn't mean there wasn't competition for record clear-speed rankings and tier placement.
A free-to-play, light-spender Player.
The ability I had honed to survive, by whatever means, among all those bloated Wallet Warriors—despite only buying the monthly subscription—
'Strategy.'
Memorizing every monster and Demonized Human type by heart.
Making precise calculations of my limited characters' skills, stats, and cooldowns down to the second.
And mastering attack patterns through endless retries.
Those were my weapons as a Velvetsra Player.
Sure, even with all that, the wall of VIP Rank whales who splurged cash without limit was too high—I never quite managed to engrave my name on the rankings board.
But I got right up to that point.
Honestly, reaching that level with just a monthly subscription is impressive enough to deserve praise.
Which means—there's no way I could just stand here and watch this idiotic excuse for command.
This is worse than just running auto-play.
[ Kang Do-hee, duck in two seconds. Or your head comes off. ]
Kang Do-hee ducked her head, fast—and Moonlight swept through the air just above her.
SHNK—!!
Another phantom vanished before our eyes.
Now all that was left was the A-Rank Demonized Human. Just the one swordsman.
"Hey, Kang Do-hee."
I looked at Kang Do-hee, who was standing beside me with a dazed expression, and spoke.
"Why are you so tense today?"
"Tense? Me...?"
"Yeah. You look real ugly. Hey. Let's take it easy. Relax. It's just training."
I laughed lightly and ruffled her hair.
"Only one of them left. Let's take him out fast and get some rest. I've been training all day; I'm wiped out."
I was the first to launch myself at the swordsman.
And Kang Do-hee, with a dazed expression, just stared at Jin Yu-ha's back as he pulled ahead of her.