036. Sparring (6)
036. Sparring (6)
And so, a week passed.
The day of Lee Yu-ri and Jin Yu-ha's public sparring.
The murmur of the crowd filled the massive hall.
"Hey, do we really have to watch this match? We should've just rested."
"......Yeah. They're not even doing the semifinals. They said it's straight to the finals."
"What......!? Why?"
"To avoid being a joke. With the winner already decided, what's the point of trying hard here except to get beaten up by those bitches and become a spectacle? So I heard both teams just forfeited."
"That's true, I came because I was curious about how amazing Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog are. I don't really care about the sparring results."
As if proving those words right, the audience was sparsely scattered despite it being a public sparring match.
Since observing the sparring wasn't mandatory, many had banded together and left to rest, saying they needed to recover from the three weeks of basic training fatigue.
Even so, the remaining third were those curious about the strength of Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog.
And those curious about the rumored male quota student.
Hoooh─
Lee Yu-ri calmed her pounding heart with a deep breath.
'Up ahead, Jin Yu-ha will appear.'
They'd even eaten separately, deciding to focus on their own training,
so she hadn't seen his face for the past week.
She was well aware of the rumors currently circulating about Jin Yu-ha.
The current situation: he was dismissed as a quota student, with all attention focused solely on the special admission cadets.
She didn't like this one bit.
'That's why my role is important.'
The man she would face as her opponent.
Proving herself to Jin Yu-ha was important, but at the same time, she wanted to show everyone else.
Just how incredible he was.
'I can't let myself be overshadowed by Fighting Dog and Cheonhwa either.'
Of course, she knew their power was restricted, but they were still people who had already shown outstanding prowess.
A nervous sweat seeped from Lee Yu-ri's hands, which had to hold them off.
Just then.
"Let the public sparring begin!"
The signal announcing the match between Jin Yu-ha's party and Lee Yu-ri's party sounded.
* * *
As I climbed onto the sparring stage, I checked my skills.
I had a total of four skills.
[ One Slash, Two Halves ], [ Quick Draw ], [ Sword Dance ], [ New Moon ]
Among them, One Slash, Two Halves was convenient to use, but it wouldn't work on Lee Yu-ri.
New Moon's efficiency was maximized under night conditions, so it wasn't suitable for the current situation.
Ultimately, the strongest and fastest of my skills was, after all,
'Quick Draw'
the very skill that had finished off the Blood Goblin in a single stroke.
'If I use Quick Draw, with a bit of luck, I might be able to take out Lee Yu-ri in one shot.'
However, it came with what you might call a limitation.
Using Quick Draw forced me to return the sword to its scabbard afterward.
That process wasn't quick, and I'd be defenseless during it.
In our party without a Tank, even if I got lucky and caught Lee Yu-ri with that skill, I'd just fall to their spearman Damage Dealer.
'And Lee Yu-ri has two pretty decent Supports and a Healer stuck to her for focused care. So this skill is a gamble. If it doesn't work, I'm out. Let's scrap it, as expected.'
While I was organizing my thoughts,
our party and Lee Yu-ri's party ascended the sparring stage.
She didn't smile even when she saw me, glaring at us with a serious face the whole time.
Her face, which I hadn't seen in a long while, looked a little thinner.
'Tch, did she just fill up on water again because we weren't eating together?'
I had to treat Lee Yu-ri to the full Velvet course next time.
"Sparring start!"
With the referee's voice as the signal.
Hah—
I kicked off the ground and rushed straight for Lee Yu-ri.
Among my various skills, the one I chose for my first attack was none other than.
"Sword Dance."
Swish—
As if my hand and sword were connected, the tip of the blade drew a soft line through the air.
The sword light melted into the empty space in a smooth curve, enveloping Lee Yu-ri like a gentle breeze.
In response, she raised her shield to block my sword.
Clang─!
Clang─!
Clang─!
A sharp noise erupted as sword and shield clashed.
She seemed to be trying to somehow deflect my sword with her shield, but I didn't let her.
Instead, I hammered her shield even more fiercely, driving in a wild flurry.
Sword Dance.
Not a single-use skill, but a sustained one.
This skill could continue until my Mana ran out.
Clang─!
Clang...!
Clang......!
As the sustained skill clashed against a suitable opponent capable of receiving my sword,
the flow of my swinging blade began to appear slow.
It felt like I was gradually becoming absorbed into the sword, like drawing a straight line with my eyes closed alone.
Suddenly, a realization dawned within that stretched-out time.
The Mana enveloping the sword, and the flow of Mana guiding it.
I felt like I understood a little of what a skill truly was.
'Ah, skills aren't just automatically used by spending Mana.'
Skills, like my Swordsmanship Specialization or physical body, were something I'd obtained suddenly.
This was similar in nature.
When you use a skill, your body follows the compulsive flow of Mana—that was the current situation.
Could I really call this my own strength?
'......No, that's wrong.'
At this rate, I'm just being dragged around by the sword like a puppet on strings.
'I have to pull this technique with my own will.'
I observed the movement and flow of Mana, swinging my sword while gradually mixing my will into it.
*
Lee Yu-ri, who had been blocking Jin Yu-ha's sword with her shield, was overcome by a strange feeling.
At first, it had simply been a flashy barrage of sword strikes.
But at some point, his sword began to change, little by little.
Smooth, agile, dazzling, and beautiful.
It seemed to embody a flower, or perhaps resembled a forlornly falling leaf.
Could a sword meant to spill blood truly be this beautiful?
Even knowing that a fatal poison lurked within that beauty,
the dance-like movements almost made her resent her own shield for blocking his sword.
She just wanted to keep watching this sword.
Thoughts of elevating Jin Yu-ha, or holding back Kang Do-hee and Cheonhwa, gradually faded away,
and she felt as if she were being entranced by the blade.
[ Captain!!! ]
If it hadn't been for the voice reaching her ears then, she might have danced with him for who knows how long.
'Oh no!'
Lee Yu-ri felt shame at having let herself be mesmerized and distracted by his sword for a moment.
'I have to use Taunt......!'
Otherwise, Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog might sweep away all her party members at any second.
Lee Yu-ri immediately drew a short dagger and began striking her shield.
But,
Bang—! Clang!
Bang—! Clang!
Bang—! Clang!
The sound of the shield being struck in time with her own rhythm.
His Sword Dance accelerated, and the blade began to move even more dazzlingly.
Whenever Lee Yu-ri's dagger struck the shield, Jin Yu-ha's sword simultaneously struck her shield.
Certainly, a discordant note intruding into the Mana wavelength was disruptive.
"......Even so."
Lee Yu-ri bit her lip tightly.
Bang—! Clang!
"It's no use!!"
Lee Yu-ri drew up even more Mana and activated her Taunt skill.
* * *
"Whoa....... What's that, why is his sword pretty?"
"Damn, that's fucking sexy."
"Waaah─. It's pretty."
The women who had been waiting for Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog's performance let out exclamations from the audience seats as they watched Jin Yu-ha's sword.
However, those who had initially been spouting various impressions about Jin Yu-ha's sword soon fell silent.
"......."
Even the sound of breathing stilled as if everyone were holding their breath, and a heavy silence filled the sparring hall.
Everyone watching was spellbound.
The sword, which had started merely flashy, had gradually begun to change its form.
The change wasn't dramatic, but it was weighty enough to steal the cadets' gazes.
Like the wind,
like water.
So incredibly natural and fluid.
It created the illusion that while everyone else was locked in frantic combat,
time flowed slowly only for that one man.
There was a beauty to it that drew every eye and made faces flush.
"Heup. Haa─!"
At last, a female cadet who had been holding her breath broke the silence with an exhale.
In an instant, all eyes turned to her.
"Uh, uht!?"
Face reddening, she fretted over what to say about breaking the mood,
then suddenly, as if she'd just realized something, she spoke.
"Hey, wait a sec. But didn't they say that guy was a quota student?"
And that single remark thrown by the cadet spread ripples like a pebble cast into a calm lake.
Disbelief spread instantly through the surroundings.
"Shit, I forgot for a second. She's right, he's a quota student, isn't he?"
"......If that's a quota student, then what am I?"
"Uh....... I don't think we can ignore that. I don't know much about swords, but isn't that something not just anyone can pull off?"
"Ignore it? Stop spewing bullshit, please."
"Can you block that?"
"Ah, no....... I can't block it. How would you even block something like that. That Tank is something else!"
"Why the hell did he enter through the quota system?"
Just as Lee Yu-ri intended, Jin Yu-ha's sword delivered a shock to everyone observing the sparring.
Even someone who knew nothing about swords could feel that Jin Yu-ha's swordsmanship was extraordinary.
After all, the vast majority of people here had gone through rough hunter lives.
Which meant they'd seen a sword swung at least once or twice, whether from a party member or during their hunter work.
They had never seen or heard of movements that filled the sparring stage as dazzlingly as fluttering flower petals.
Baffled, incredulous laughter burst out here and there.
"They said we just had to watch out for Kang Do-hee and Cheonhwa."
"Who's the bastard that spread the bullshit rumor there was nothing to see?"
"Oh wow. This is insane. Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog are totally buried. He's the only one I can see. His face is fucking handsome too."
Cadets who didn't use swords felt how incredible that swordplay was,
and were horrified when they belatedly realized the cadet named Jin Yu-ha was a quota student, but.
"......This is absurd."
For the high-level sword users among them,
and the instructors who didn't yet know Jin Yu-ha, it was on an entirely different level.
Horror.
Disbelief.
Shock.
A stark difference in class.
Or perhaps, a sword that indirectly let them experience the depth of that immeasurable potential.
No one here could do what that man did.
'It's not just a flashy sword. That is......! And that's a quota student? What the hell kind of guy is he!'
Just as one female cadet who used a sword trembled bodily, feeling a mere fragment of his ability—
"......Hey! Over there! Look over there!"
The friend beside her tapped her arm repeatedly.
"Huh? Wh-where?"
She turned her gaze.
Kang Do-hee came into view.
Living up to her name, she was displaying a divine level of skill.
With her eyes completely closed, she was fighting the spearman right next to her.
'Huh? But why......?'
Contrary to expectations, were the restrictions on the special admission cadets quite severe?
Of course, seeing her fight with fists and feet while giving up her sight was impressive,
but the battle was quite evenly matched, which didn't suit the words usually used to describe her.
'If anything, Kang Do-hee seems to be getting pushed back a little......? But, where's Cheonhwa......?'
"Over there! Look over there, I said!"
The place her friend was pointing at with a finger.
While everyone was distracted by Jin Yu-ha's sword, exactly like that.
Cheonhwa was visible there, subduing the Healers and Supports with punches.
"Huh? Why isn't she using magic again....... What's with the punching!?"
In that instant, Lee Yu-ri realized the skills that had been coming at her had stopped.
With a flustered face, she whipped her head around to look behind her.
There, Cheonhwa was finishing off the three Supports and Healers with a bright, innocent smile.
"Wh-when did....... Cheonhwa get over there......!"
Just then, Jin Yu-ha's voice pierced clearly into Lee Yu-ri's ears.
"Mission success."