Special Evaluation (2)
Special Evaluation (2)
-This will limit your mana.
The black bracelets distributed by Jaden, who stood beside Baek Woo-jin.
The moment they put them on, an indescribable pressure settled over them.
-This armor is designed to break once a certain amount of damage accumulates.
Striking jet-black plate armor.
They would fight wearing it.
-If your armor is destroyed, you lose. But you don't need to mention the mana restriction. A real monster wouldn't tell you its weak points.
Baek Woo-jin's next words drew the attention of every first-year professor invited to this surprising space.
-A special allowance will be paid for each student. It won't be a disappointing sum, so feel free to look forward to it.
A special allowance.
In other words—a bonus!!
'The fact that those two are on the same team is a little annoying, but....'
Kang Han-na grinned and lowered her visor.
She'd shown her face purely to intimidate the students, and with that goal achieved, it was time to greedily devour the meal laid out before her.
Hwooosh—!!
Kang Han-na kicked off the ground and charged the four of them.
She felt no shame about launching a surprise attack on students far younger than herself.
'Bonus!!'
Fired up by her determination to move into a new house next year, she was about to throw a punch when—
"Gahk?!"
Im Gyeong-su, who had raised his shield in a panic, suddenly toppled backward, and a pure-white beast leaped out in front of him.
Jet-black gauntlet met black glove.
――!!
Mana crashed against mana, the roaring impact shaking the surrounding air.
'...This kid really is a monster.'
Kang Han-na grimaced, looking at Baek Ha-na, who held her ground without giving an inch against her punch. Sure, her mana was restricted, but that didn't mean she was weaker than a first-year.
But the moment their fists connected, Kang Han-na knew deep in her gut that something was wrong.
Hwoosh—!!
"Kuh...?!"
Kang Han-na dodged Baek Ha-na's kick, giving her no time to reset her stance, and retreated to open the distance. But.
"Ah, you shit...!!"
Boom—!!
Baek Ha-na closed the gap in an instant and threw a punch. Kang Han-na barely blocked it with both arms crossed and went tumbling loudly across the floor.
"This little bitch...!!"
Using the momentum of her roll, Kang Han-na sprang to her feet in one motion. She glared at Baek Ha-na, who was already right in front of her, and activated her ability.
Crrrack—!!
Cracks formed on the floor as Kang Han-na vanished. Baek Ha-na, mid-charge, went flying backward.
"Gaah...!!"
"Ha-na?!"
Baek Ha-na tumbled across the floor and barely stopped in front of Im Gyeong-su. Lee Na-young frantically started rifling through her bag.
"I-I'll...."
"Don't move."
Na Ju-hee grabbed Im Gyeong-su's shoulder as he tried to stagger toward the rising Baek Ha-na.
"...Nothing changes if you or I jump in. Best thing we can do is stay put and protect her."
Maybe during their first clash with Kang Han-na, that might have worked.
But the move that had just sent Baek Ha-na flying was invisible to the eye.
"Ha-na, th-this!"
"Im Gyeong-su. You give it to her."
"Uh, yeah."
At Na Ju-hee's words, Im Gyeong-su took the potion from Lee Na-young's hand and held it out to Baek Ha-na, who had gotten to her feet.
Baek Ha-na quietly accepted it, popped the cap, and downed it in one go.
Kang Han-na had been watching the whole sequence from where she originally stood, arms crossed. She clicked her tongue softly.
'...This is kind of ugly.'
An enhancement-type, not even a supernatural-type, getting pushed by a student and forced to use her ability—if word got around to the other professors, she'd be a laughingstock for ages.
'No, no. Anyone else would've done the same thing.'
A student who was a top-seat candidate from the start turned out to be hiding her strength all along. The situation practically read like the title of a novel.
The moment their fists first met, she'd noticed immediately from the stinging in her mana-wrapped hand. Baek Ha-na had been suppressing her mana.
At minimum, third-year level by supernatural-type standards. Measured against enhancement-type or transformation-type students, she looked capable of overwhelming even those about to graduate.
'So this is totally justified.'
With her mana restricted, she was only about second-year level. Covering that gap meant she had no choice but to use her ability.
Still, Kang Han-na had just enough self-awareness as a professor to rack her brain for the least disgraceful route. She reached the conclusion that there was only one option.
'Subdue her without hurting her as much as possible.'
She'd already used her ability, so she might as well use it to finish things as cleanly as possible. If she activated her ability and still looked evenly matched, that would be the truly ugly outcome.
'Still, a straight approach probably won't cut it...?'
When she'd activated Swiftness, Baek Ha-na's eyes had definitely tracked her feet. The proof was that just before her foot struck Baek Ha-na's abdomen, she'd seen the mana spread across her body draw together to guard the impact point.
The sheer quantity of mana alone was annoying enough, but her control in handling it was top-tier. Enough to make her genuinely doubt whether this kid was really a first-year.
"Seems like you're mostly recovered. Shall we go again?"
Before using her ability, she would've just charged in. Now, even with a bonus on the line, the last shred of professorial pride she had wouldn't allow it, so she gave Ha-na time.
"Thank... you."
"Uh, ahem! Sure."
At Baek Ha-na's honest expression of thanks, a corner of Kang Han-na's conscience prickled. She made a mental note to buy her something tasty later.
"Here I come."
Kang Han-na put power into her legs, and the floor split beneath her.
She kicked off the ground and dashed, but instead of lunging straight for Baek Ha-na, she circled the huddled students, who were bunched up like frightened herbivores.
'Creepy....'
Unlike the other students, who couldn't track her at all, Baek Ha-na's eyes followed her precisely each time she passed in front of her.
'Yeah, a simple rush definitely won't work.'
Head-on brute force might be fine, but her goal was to subdue the students without injury, so she decided to add another tool to her approach.
Wooong.
Mana gathered in Kang Han-na's hand.
'Good.'
The moment Baek Ha-na's eyes locked onto the mana collecting in her right hand, Kang Han-na changed direction and lunged straight for her. She thrust out her right hand as if to throw a punch but held it open.
Flaaash—!!
"Aagh?!"
"Eek...!!"
"Whaaaa!!"
Blinding light exploded outward, swallowing the students.
Kang Han-na confirmed that Baek Ha-na's eyelids had dropped shut, then smoothly decelerated and came to a stop beside her.
'Exploiting a weakness is never cheap, kid.'
Without a flicker of hesitation, Kang Han-na's hand clamped down hard on Baek Ha-na's drooping tail.
"All right. Now—"
――!!
An impact to the head broke her stance in an instant.
Boom—!!
A follow-up blow slammed into her abdomen, and Kang Han-na had no choice but to roll across the floor.
"You little shit...."
The searing pain made her face crumple. Kang Han-na barely swallowed the curse that crawled up her tongue.
'I grabbed her tail, and she just smacked me like it was nothing?'
She could accept the flashbang not working. But acting completely unbothered after having her tail grabbed—that was a lot harder to make sense of.
'Then yesterday's finals were....'
Kang Han-na gritted her teeth under Baek Ha-na's stare. The girl looked down at her, both eyes wide open and perfectly fine. She tried to push herself up. But.
"...?"
Her body was sinking lower, as if she'd stepped into a swamp.
"Wh-what is this?!"
The solid floor had turned soft and squishy, swallowing her body. Startled, Kang Han-na thrashed, and her eyes happened to land on her own abdomen.
Where the sleek, jet-black steel armor should have been, there was a gaping hole.
"N-no!!"
Only then did Kang Han-na realize: Baek Ha-na's last attack had destroyed her armor. And this sinking sensation was the process of being removed from the arena because she'd lost.
"Invalid!! This is invalid, I'm telling you!! Hey!!"
Kang Han-na yelled, and Baek Ha-na flinched, quietly averting her eyes.
At that reaction, Kang Han-na's mouth, hidden beneath her helmet, fell open.
"I knew it!! In the exam, huh? You—"
Clang—!!
An empty potion bottle flew through the air and smacked into Kang Han-na's helmet.
"...?"
"...."
Stunned speechless by the sheer absurdity of it, Kang Han-na's words caught in her throat. Noticing the other three still hadn't recovered their sight, Baek Ha-na quickly dashed toward Kang Han-na. And then—
"...I'm sorry."
She placed her foot on Kang Han-na's helmet and pressed down firmly.
Gurgurgle—!!
Whether that actually did the trick or not.
"You, you rotten sonuva—mmph!!"
Kang Han-na, who'd gathered her wits too late, tried to shout something, but her head slipped into the floor before the rest of her body. Moments later, she was completely swallowed up and gone.
"What do I do...."
After Kang Han-na vanished, the wide room was filled for a long while with the groaning of the four remaining students.