Combat Arts Training (2)
"This is too easy. They're just goblins."
"I'll handle it. Or did you want to?"
"Doesn't matter who does it."
Inside the training grounds, Arthas slowly drew his sword.
Annelise stopped him.
"Hold on. No need to rush."
"Why?"
"Let me ask you one thing. Do you... like Oh Na-ho?"
"...Why are you asking that all of a sudden?"
"Because you've been avoiding me."
She wasn't wrong. Ever since meeting Oh Na-ho, Arthas had been quietly steering clear of women — of people, more accurately. He'd come to realize there were those who suffered because of him, something he had never known before.
Annelise, however, seemed to have taken it the wrong way.
"I wasn't specifically avoiding you. Dealing with people is just exhausting, so I've been keeping to myself."
"The student council president?"
"...If there's something you want as a student, say it."
Only then did the corner of Annelise's mouth curl, as if that were the answer she'd been waiting for.
"Hmm. There is one thing."
"What is it?"
"There's a place I'd like to go with you this weekend."
"If this is a date, find someone else."
"No. I'd prefer it was you."
"Not even worth hearing."
Arthas moved to ignore her and walk on — then his feet stopped.
"Oh Na-ho. She's connected to the Grand Cathedral somehow, isn't she? More precisely... to our Holy God."
"...What are you talking about."
"Heh. You're a terrible liar, Mr. Student Council President."
"Let's deal with that first."
"Fine. Class is class, after all."
With that, Annelise swept her hand through the air. Sharply honed icicles bloomed in countless numbers across empty space, then rained down on the goblins charging toward them with guttural cries.
Thwip-thwip-thwip-thwuck!
"Ingah... kieeeek!!"
"Ghk...!!"
Snap!
She flicked her fingers, and the icicles exploded in every direction. An alarm rang through the training grounds, announcing that Combat Arts Stage 1 had been cleared.
Excellent, Annelise. But why did you drag it out?
"I was having a tactical discussion with Arthas, sir."
Understood. Total combat time is one hour. Push as far as you can.
"Yes, sir."
With that brief reply, the two of them focused.
Krrrk-krrrk-krrrk! Crunch, crack!!
Monsters were mowed down in droves under their combined assault. In a mere ten minutes they reached Stage 10, and a warning alarm blared.
This is exactly like the game.
Combat Arts training — the only sequence implemented without a skip button.
The first boss monster was...
"GRAAAAAAH!!"
An ogre. The ringleader of the green-skinned monsters known as Greenskins. Five meters tall, with a club half as thick as it was tall. And... true to an adult game, something dangled visibly beneath its leather loincloth. A thing of a size that put any human to shame.
Ugh... they even implemented that...?
Annelise inside the training grounds was thinking the same thing.
"...Did they really need to go that far?"
"On the battlefield, monsters raping humans is a common occurrence. You can't afford to be psychologically shaken by something as trivial as genitalia."
"I know. I was just saying."
Annelise pouted at Arthas's deadpan reply. He hadn't been this cold before. Something had changed since he met Oh Na-ho.
Especially toward women.
That fox-faced bitch had clearly pulled something. Trying to steal Arthas, who was supposed to be hers.
Not a chance.
She was the proud princess of the Crystal Citadel, the future of Mother Russia. She wasn't about to sit still after being humiliated by some orphan girl. At the very least, making Arthas hers would make her feel a little better.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
While she was thinking, the ogre's massive frame began closing in.
Pretty big.
A bulk that put the bears she'd hunted for sport back in Russia to shame. But a crushed skull and a shattered heart would kill it all the same.
"Freeze its legs. I'll finish it."
"Do I look like some helpless girl who just sits around waiting for help, like that orphan Oh Na-ho?"
"...What?"
Leaving a frowning Arthas behind, Annelise charged forward. An ice storm whipped up around her in an instant. The temperature inside the training grounds plummeted as a sudden freeze set in.
"Gruk?"
But the ogre, with its famously thick hide, got little more than a dusting of frost on its skin. Sneering, it swung its club at the approaching human female.
Whoooosh!
"Slow as hell."
Annelise's mocking laugh rang out behind the vicious rush of wind. She slipped into the ogre's blind spot, hidden by its own club, and stretched her hand forward. The moment her frost-laced, snow-white fingers touched the ogre's hide—
"Gruk?"
CRACK-CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!!
A blue ice flower bloomed, using the ogre's body as its skeleton. Given the creature's size, a considerable amount of mana drained out of her, but Annelise pretended it was nothing.
"Heh. All that swagger for something this pathetic."
Then she showed off her handiwork to Arthas, practically preening.
"See? Completely different from that girl who just moans like a pervert all day, right?"
"...Annelise."
"Oh Na-ho's just a pretty face—"
"It's not over yet."
"What? All I have to do is flick my fingers and— uh?"
CRACK-SHATTER!!
The ice flower crumbled into powder in an instant. A panicked Annelise hurriedly flicked her fingers, but it was already too late. The ogre abandoned its burst-open arm and swung the club in its remaining hand at her.
"GRARARAK!! Human, die!!"
"Kh... a brain-dead monster like you!!"
Annelise's mana surged, forming a shield of ice. This thick ice wall had been invincible even back in her homeland...
"Ah?"
CRAAASH!
The ice shield split apart in a single blow of overwhelming force. Just as the ogre's club was about to smash Annelise's skull, Arthas's sword slid smoothly from its sheath.
Shing.
A slash of platinum light tore across the snowflake-strewn training grounds. The ogre's right arm went flying into the air.
"GRAAAAGH!!"
Several more slashes followed, carving the ogre's body apart. Sharp sword strikes that sheared through thick, tough hide in a single stroke. By the time Arthas's blade returned to its sheath, nothing remained of the ogre but scraps of meat.
"...Damn it. I could've... I could've taken it myself."
Annelise's hollow cry echoed through the training grounds.
Arthas — Chapter 1: PASSED
Annelise — Chapter 1, Stage 10: FAILED
Next training session, you will be grouped by similar performance. Return.
Arthas left the trembling, fist-clenching Annelise behind and returned first. She came back shortly after, and a gaze burning with fury locked onto me.
Wait... this bitch? Why is she looking at me like that?
This was her fault from start to finish. If she'd had the chance, she should've finished it immediately. She got cocky and ate a counterattack. I didn't back down. I glared right back.
"...Hmph."
"Hmph yourself."
Then Park Ji-bo called Team 2. Han Jin-hyeok and I stood at the entrance.
"Uh... l-let's do our best."
"Yeah."
Looking at his face, I remembered. This was the guy who'd left a love letter in my desk last time. Of course, I still had no intention of accepting it.
I'm not gay.
My body might be getting more and more pickled in female pleasure, but my mind was still intact. I wasn't about to get shaken by some guy. That's what I'm saying.
"You remember the monsters roughly, right? Don't drag it out like Annelise. Let's finish them fast."
"Ah... yeah. Let's do this, Na-ho."
"...Sure."
"I-I'll give it my all!"
He wasn't some psycho, and he was being this openly friendly — it felt weird to ice him out, so I gave him a small smile. I slipped the earpiece Park Ji-bo had given me into my ear and entered the training grounds.
Team 2 training, begin.
A brief voice, and my vision shifted. The highland plateau I'd seen from outside unfurled before my eyes. Dry wind. Weeds drifting forlornly.
Whoa... that's actually cool.
While I was staring in wonder, Han Jin-hyeok stepped in front of me.
"Stay behind me, Na-ho. I'll protect you, I swear."
This time I didn't answer. I just started drawing up my mana. He looked a little embarrassed and settled into a stance, sword in hand.
"Kerrrk!"
"Kerk!!"
Stage 1 of Chapter 1. Two goblins came charging toward us. Child-sized bodies packed with dense muscle. The violet eyes unique to otherworldly monsters locked onto Han Jin-hyeok and me.
"Kerrrrk!!"
"Human female!!"
"Rape!!"
They came running with rusty knives — god knows where they'd gotten those. But... something was off.
"Wait..."
Through mana-focused eyes, I could see it even from a distance: their groins were already bulging. And those glowing violet pupils were looking at me, and me alone.
What the hell is this.
These are just augmented-reality monsters, right? I hid my disgust and drew up my mana. Spheres of platinum light — the same as Arthas's — rose around me.
"S-stay behind me, Na-ho!!"
"Watch the front. You take the right, I'll take the left."
"Ah, o-okay!!"
I prodded Han Jin-hyeok, who was looking back at me with monsters right in front of him, then fired platinum mana orbs at the goblins charging toward us, drool streaming from their mouths.
KABOOM!!
Heh. That's more like it. Who the hell do you think you are, eyeing my body?
Anyway, using mana felt pretty good. Like putting on clothes that actually fit.
"Han Jin-hyeok, let's move fast."
"Got it."
Han Jin-hyeok snapped out of it at the sound of the exploding mana orbs, and together we punched through stage after stage. Chapter 1 was mostly goblin and orc packs.
Stage 4 Cleared!
Stage 7 Cleared!
Stage 9 Cleared!
His decent tanking stacked with my firepower, and it was over in a blink.
And then the final Stage 10. The ogre announced its encore with heavy, booming footsteps.
"GRARARARARAK!!!!"
"Uh... N-Na-ho?"
"...I know. Just ignore it."
"...Okay."
The orcs and goblins so far had all come out hard too. But at least those bastards had bodies somewhat close to human. The ogre, though...
"Hah... filthy horndog."
A massive gun barrel of a thing was jutting out long and thick from its groin. A physiological revulsion, I guess you'd call it...
I immediately honed my mana to a sharp edge and sent it airborne.
Let's try it Annelise's way.
Platinum icicles overturned the sky in an instant. I launched every last one at the charging ogre.
"GRARARAK!! Human woman!!!"
CRACK-CRUSH!!
I hadn't actually expected it to work, to be fair. That thick club — the one in its hand, I mean — smashed every last icicle to pieces. The ensuing explosion did shatter the club too, but... the ogre came charging on like it didn't even care, a force of nature.
Thankfully, Han Jin-hyeok shot forward immediately.
"This bastard dares to look at Na-ho!!!"
"..."
Shield in his left hand, sword in his right. You could call it a ten out of ten on the gay scale, but when your skills aren't there, that's the correct play. And Han Jin-hyeok, by the book, drew aggro and went to deflect the attac—
"Grak!! Out of the way, human!!"
"I'll protect Na-ho!!!"
WHAM!!
"GAAAH!!"
"GRARARAK!!"
Amazingly, the human-versus-ogre body slam ended in a human loss. This bastard Han Jin-hyeok... he charged out so confidently I thought he had something.
Why the hell would you body-check an ogre...
And so I was left alone in the back. The ogre came walking toward me, its massive cock swinging.
Is this even okay to show to students?
"Gruk, human female, tasty, female!"
"Shit..."
Is it this realistic because it's augmented reality? I backed up slowly, gathering every scrap of mana I could. Mana orbs wouldn't even scratch hide that tough. I needed one shot.
"Grak, my cock, human female, fuck, grararak."
Is that thing smiling<|eos|>