057. Tutorial Boss Battle (3)
057. Tutorial Boss Battle (3)
The woman who had charged at Choi A-ram first and collapsed with her abdomen pierced.
Kim Su-hyeon.
Twitch.
Her eyebrows quivered.
'Where am I right now.......'
"Ugh—."
At that moment, she let out a groan at the terrible pain in her stomach.
Hummm—
"Please don't touch the wound. It'll get worse."
A clear, gentle voice.
Kim Su-hyeon shifted her gaze toward its owner.
There was a girl with an angelic appearance, her long straight hair flowing down.
"......Cheonhwa?"
"Yes, the Healers are working on you."
She looked around. Healers with familiar faces were treating her.
"......You're the one who saved us. Thank you."
"Mm, I'm not the one you should be thanking."
Grrrrr—
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
A rough howl from a short distance away, and the sound of sharp metal ringing out rhythmically.
Kim Su-hyeon jerked her head around.
'......Monsters!?'
Her eyes flew wide open.
An unbelievable scene was unfolding before her.
A horde of monstrous creatures charging at a single girl.
"......That one is definitely......."
Kim Su-hyeon remembered that face.
Earlier this morning, the underclassman Tank who had arrogantly refused her offer to join her squad during Live Gate Training.
She was standing firm with a single shield thrust forward, as if intent on handling the monster horde alone.
A newly admitted first-year cadet was facing those countless monsters by herself—so what in the world were her upperclassmen doing?
Kim Su-hyeon's face crumpled hard as she scanned her surroundings.
"Wow, that ability is seriously insane."
"Right? Is it even possible for a Tank to hold aggro at that scale?"
"She's dodging all the attacks, too."
But the people around her were chattering in calm voices, as if they had no intention of joining the fight.
"What the hell are you all—!"
Just as she was about to snap at them.
Boom—!
Thud-thud-thud—
This time, the sound of something bursting.
Followed by the sound of something dropping onto the ground.
"That's...... Fighting Dog."
"Ha, all I ever heard was 'she's strong, she's strong.' But damn, she just swings without a weapon and those dog heads burst open."
"Shit, seeing it in person is even more ridiculous. ......I better not mess with her from now on."
A sharp-featured girl with red hair flying was punching the monsters.
And wherever her fist landed, the monsters' heads exploded, scattering brain matter.
"......Insane."
Kim Su-hyeon could only stare wide-eyed.
The difference in rank.
She felt it.
She had known they were both A-Rank Hunters, but this girl was displaying a level of skill on a completely different plane from her own.
She felt as if the pride she'd held as an A-Rank Hunter was shattering to pieces.
'Even if hunter ranks are determined by the number of cleared subjugation gates...... a gap this big.......'
Having been fairly proud of her own ability, she bit down hard on her lip.
Fine, even if she cut them a hundred miles of slack, this much she could understand.
Cheonhwa and Fighting Dog.
These two had been famous even before entering the academy.
She could simply accept that their skill hadn't been exaggerated—it had been understated.
And the Tank's unexpected skill—well, it wasn't unheard of for someone to enter the academy and suddenly show off a talent they'd been hiding, so she could understand that too.
But, there was one person.
One person was mixed in there who had no business being there.
'......Im Ga-eul?'
A girl with green hair in a single braid, who could only smile an idiot's grin and go hehe, who never did anything else.
Her physical ability, her Mana, and her skills were all terribly lacking, and she was a moron who couldn't even voice a single opinion of her own.
"Ga-eul sunbae! Acceleration one more time!"
"Okay......!"
But now, she was mixed in with those exceptional hunters, supporting them perfectly.
Once her skill settled onto the Tank and the Damage Dealer,
the Tank dodged attacks from multiple enemies at point-blank range without even having to raise her shield.
And the Damage Dealer's movements grew sharper, sweeping the monsters away as if grinding them through a blender.
Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
The sound of monsters bursting out rang one after another,
and before long, they were all cleared out.
"......."
"......."
"......."
At the sight, everyone stood with distant expressions, mouths hanging open.
Then, Kim Su-hyeon's face stiffened.
'......Now that I think about it, that vermin—! The Demonized Human!'
She wasn't the only one with that thought, because the murmuring around her grew louder.
"Th-that crazy bitch—!"
"Hey, shit, seriously, isn't this dangerous!?"
"If this keeps up, aren't we all going to die......?"
She turned her gaze forward.
Choi A-ram's head was bowed deeply.
Twitch—
Twitch—
Her appearance now was clearly abnormal.
Muscles writhed and bulged across her entire body, and her body was thumping as if in intermittent convulsions.
'Signs of demonization mutation!'
She raised her head toward the sky and screamed.
"......Kraaaaaaaaugh—!"
Not a human voice—a horrifying shriek that boomed through the training ground.
In that moment, as everyone's tension skyrocketed.
Shin Se-hee watched Jin Yu-ha and tilted her head.
'......He's smiling right now......?'
* * *
'Ugh, I feel like I'm gonna die.......'
I forced down the surge of nausea rising in my throat.
To cram in as much damage as possible, I'd scraped my Mana reserves to the bottom with all kinds of skills and swung my sword.
On top of that, I threw in Quick Draw for the last hit, so now my head was really spinning.
Honestly, I deserve some praise.
I faced a boss that's supposed to be tackled by an entire party all by myself.
"......Kraaaaaaaaugh—!"
Choi A-ram, who had suddenly bowed her head deeply, now threw her head back as if in a spasm and let out that shriek.
It was clearly an abnormal sign,
but I actually lifted the corners of my mouth in satisfaction.
'......It worked!'
Since the game and reality were different, this was honestly a gamble, but thankfully this part played out exactly like the original scenario.
'Well, if it hadn't worked, I would've just brought my party members and done an actual raid.'
But if I'd done that, some of the upperclassmen in this enclosed space would've taken serious damage from her area attack.
The tutorial boss, Choi A-ram, actually had more patterns than you'd expect.
Lasers shooting from her fingers.
A physical charge attack with her enhanced body.
And an area attack that spreads demonic energy across the floor like a field effect.
'But she's a tutorial boss, so she staggers fast.'
That's why, if you hit her with burst damage right from the start and put her into stagger,
you could see just the first pattern, the laser, and skip every other pattern after that.
What I'd just done was something even a clueless Vel-newbie who'd played Velvetsra a few times would know to do.
Tutorial Boss Skip!
Well, no matter how unexpected the place where this girl caused trouble,
still, she's only a tutorial boss. Struggling here would be a bit lame.
You ask if this is a dangerous situation right now?
No way.
Heh—
Choi A-ram had her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking as she let out a low laugh.
"Kuahahahaha! Kuahahahahahahak—!"
Choi A-ram spread both arms and laughed maniacally, as if letting out all the exhilaration of liberation.
Two sharp horns had sprouted from her transformed forehead.
And the pink of her pupils had swapped with the whites of her eyes, radiating a dangerously unhinged aura that anyone could see.
Hahhh—
Choi A-ram let out a languid sigh.
"Jin Yu-ha! It's dangerous!"
At that moment, my party members, having finished off the monsters, gathered around me.
Lee Yu-ri raised her shield and blocked my front,
Kang Do-hee took a stance beside me, ready to spring out.
And right behind me, Im Ga-eul clutched a Magic Stone and readied a skill.
"......We have to attack now, while she's in an unstable state. Jin Yu-ha, give the order quickly!"
Kang Do-hee's face was stiff, her voice rigid.
'Hmm, I'm really grateful you all assembled and everything.......'
I scratched my cheek.
'It's already all over, though.'
"Mm, let's leave her."
I said in a calm voice.
"......What!?"
They turned toward me with dumbfounded expressions, as if asking what the hell that meant.
"Just watch carefully."
I pointed with my finger at the girl in the middle of demonizing in real time.
"That's what happens to a human who becomes a Demonized Human."
'Even if it's a trash game, there's no phase two for the tutorial boss.'
This girl's only role was to warn you that later bosses had phases, and to show you the fate of a human who became a Demonized Human.
For a good while, Pink Brat, drunk on her own power, laughed a chuuni laugh.
Then, suddenly, her face hardened. And she covered her mouth with her hands.
Bleurgh.
It looked like she tried to hold it back somehow.
"Cough—!"
With a cough, dark-red blood spurted through the gaps in her fingers.
She looked down at her own hand with trembling eyes.
"......Wh-what is this......."
Bleeaaargh—
She braced herself against the floor and vomited up a bucketload of blood.
The blood pooled beneath her.
'Eugh, seeing it in real life, it's disgusting as hell.'
I frowned at the grotesque sight.
In the original game, scenes like this were rendered cute with SD characters.
"Th-this can't be....... Impossible......."
She muttered as if she couldn't believe it.
Then her horns. Thump. Thump.
Both of them dropped to the ground.
"N-no......."
Choi A-ram's eyes trembled as if an earthquake were passing through them.
And her body slowly withered.
The strength draining out of her was visible to the naked eye.
Whish-whish-whish—
Pink hair fell from her head.
Her pink hair had been stripped clean away.
'Should I call her Baldy now?'
She touched her body here and there, as if unable to comprehend it.
"NoooOOOOOOOOO—!!"
Splash—
Just like that, so futilely, the tutorial boss,
Choi A-ram, collapsed face-first into a pool of her own blood right there on the spot.
"Um, everyone......."
I turned to my party members with a sheepish expression.
"Good work?"
They all stood there with vacant expressions, mouths hanging open.
"......."
"......."
"......."