Intrusion (2)
Intrusion (2)
Scores for the first-year tower entry are evaluated based on points earned by defeating monsters and cadets.
Because of this, those assigned high scores often become common targets.
Examples include boss monsters, which appear only once, and high-ranking cadets.
Whether you can actually catch them is a separate matter, but the points you'd gain if you did are a sure thing.
Daera's situation was no different.
She was active right from the start, aiming for the boss monster that was set to appear.
That plan had worked to some extent.
A boss monster appeared in the middle of the forest.
As previously announced, it was a 5th-Rank entity, looking like a building-sized centipede that could freely swim through the ground.
Due to that trait, it was difficult to subjugate regardless of its strength.
On top of that, even though we managed to track it, cadets swarmed in from every direction, causing total chaos.
Still, it was catchable.
Daera had pushed through the other cadets' interference and nearly finished off the boss monster.
It would have been so, if not for that single arrow that suddenly plowed in from afar, wrapped in a storm.
It wasn't an attack aimed at Daera. The arrow, having ducked and weaved along its path, bored into the ground and struck the almost-dead boss—a last hit.
And with that, the boss monster died. Torn to shreds by the storm.
It meant someone had snatched the kill Daera had done all the work for and just bolted.
Who was the culprit?
'Found you.'
There was no need to rack her brains.
A long-range snipe with an arrow. The storm-like wind output accompanying the arrow. The meticulous control that struck the target precisely without any wasted energy.
'Lee Ha-sol...!'
There was no way Daera, who had spent so much time clashing with Lee Ha-sol since admission, wouldn't know.
'Hehehe, found you...!'
Daera twisted her lips into a smirk as she looked down at the ground that had naturally filled itself in among the underbrush.
Lee Ha-sol had a knack for running away.
Tracking her was a pain. Skilled at covering her tracks—wherever she'd learned it—and good at sowing confusion along her path.
Most cadets probably hit a wall right at the start of the trail, and even those who latched on would have fallen behind, unable to distinguish the false leads.
'Who do you think I am?'
But Daera was different.
Daera had surpassed the level of a master when it came to tracking.
After all, she'd survived that hell by learning how to shake off pursuers and how to track the monsters she was going to eat.
No matter how well Lee Ha-sol ran, she wasn't better at fleeing than Daera.
The Gale might help with escape, but Daera had the Heavenly Thunder too.
Covered in dust, Daera laughed "heh heh" and raised her arm.
Lightning sparked from her blue eyes, coiling around her dark blue prosthetic arm. Crackle! The lightning swelled further.
Amplified output. At the same time, the lightning, Harmonized for easier handling, shot up into the sky. It seeped into the dark night sky.
- Rumble!
The sky flickered for a very brief moment. At that familiar, welcome sound, Daera grinned.
It was a flashy reaction, but it didn't matter. She just had to finish it before more cadets gathered.
'If we fight, I win.'
Lee Ha-sol was the current Top Seat of the 122nd Cohort. Daera was in the upper ranks, but she'd stalled there because of written exam issues.
But that didn't mean Daera would lose in a contest of pure force. In fact, Daera was confident she would never lose in a fight.
'Come out! Or you can just end it right there if you want!'
The sky flickered continuously. Lightning flashes were clearly visible between the clouds. Daera clenched her fist tight and brought her arm down.
The bolt of lightning that had been churning the clouds fell.
- Crash!
The lightning struck the exact spot she'd targeted on the ground.
And it wasn't just any lightning—it was Heavenly Thunder. The nearby trees, dirt, and everything else were enveloped by the beam of light and vanished without a trace.
'She blocked it.'
Kurrr! The ground's surface flew up and the wind shook. Daera frowned at the air currents swirling with dust.
'Well, I guess hoping to finish it in one shot is a bit greedy, no matter how high the output is.'
Even if the Heavenly Thunder's output lived up to its reputation, Lee Ha-sol's Gale was equally absurd in terms of raw power.
She could raise the output even further with an Expansion Ability, but the telltale signs were so blatant it was completely unusable as a surprise attack.
'I'll just barrage her and pin her down this way.'
The sky flashed again. If once wasn't enough, she'd do it continuously. And now, she'd add her Expansion Ability to the bombardment while charging in directly.
The distance is too short for a snipe. Judging that, Daera wreathed her hand in Heavenly Thunder and kicked off the ground toward the wind.
- Zzzap!
She'd tried to kick off. Just before she did, lightning energy shot up her spine and pricked the back of her neck. An instinctive warning flooded her head.
'This is...'
It wasn't the first time she'd experienced this. The instinct and sixth-sense judgment granted by Heavenly Thunder.
Daera didn't hesitate. She jumped not toward the ground, but into the sky. It wasn't a rational decision, but she'd never suffered a loss following this warning.
- Kaboom—!
"Heok."
The wind that had been stirring within the ground exploded. The gentle currents that had been stirring the dust turned into a raging torrent.
Krrergh! The ground that came into contact with the torrent was shaved away. No, calling it pulverization felt more accurate.
The expanding torrent swept up the monsters. The tip of a leg merely brushed it, and the body was sucked right into the current.
That was it.
She couldn't even see the process of them being ground down. Countless finely sharpened microscopic blades were cleaving and pulverizing any matter they touched into the smallest possible units.
"Uh-uhh..."
Daera, having risen into the sky, gaped. Whooong! The torrent shuddered, then split open as if its center were parting.
Lee Ha-sol stood revealed within the eye of the storm. Daera gulped.
'Wh- what's with that girl?'
Those weren't the gentle, pale green eyes she usually saw.
Her normally soft gaze was as vicious as a well-honed butcher's knife. A cold, blue light was positively dripping with killing intent.
Reflecting that intent, the wind itself was terrifying. Setting aside sheer output, the killing intent was expressed through the wind, ruthlessly tearing apart everything around them without discrimination.
"You... you... what's wrong with you...?"
Faced with an aura that felt like it could casually chew up and kill several people, Daera flitted her eyes around nervously.
'Is she pissed because I ambushed her? Really? Over just that?'
She couldn't understand why Lee Ha-sol was angry—agitated enough to practically drip killing intent. And wasn't Daera the one who should be angry here anyway, having had her last hit stolen?
"I mean... it's just an exam. Is it really right to glare at a friend like that...? How about we calm down first...?"
The thought crossed her mind, but before that, it seemed more important to calm Lee Ha-sol down, since she looked like she might commit murder even inside the tower.
When Daera raised both hands to signal her to calm down, Lee Ha-sol, who had been steadying her ragged breathing, ground her teeth.
"What the hell, seriously, what's wrong with you!"
As the glare in her eyes deepened, Daera flinched and backed away in surprise.
"What did I even do wrong! I'm the one who got the last hit stolen in the first place! Huh? I'm the one who should be angry here...!"
"You crazy bitch... who do you think you're dropping lightning on right now?"
"Cr- crazy? No, you're the crazy one. What are you supposed to do in an exam ground they set up for exactly this...?"
Heart pounding with a sense of injustice, Daera looked down.
Honestly, she felt a bit scared having a staring contest with that vicious glare, but feeling like she'd lose somehow, she glared back wide-eyed.
"Huh?"
She finally saw it. Something pure white, buried between Lee Ha-sol's breasts, that she hadn't noticed because she was startled by the torrent and the killing intent.
It was hair. Whose was it? Kind of really small, isn't it? Amidst the thought, that distinctive color and atmosphere popped into her head.
"...Junior Disciple?"
A tiny murmur.
It was definitely not within hearing range, and the sound was being swallowed by the torrent, yet the head that had been squirming between her breasts poked out.
As the head tilted back, the face was revealed.
A beauty so exquisite even a painting could never capture it.
It was Lee Ha-yul.
"What the fuck."
Daera's brain came to a screeching halt.
.
.
.
"What the hell is this. Why are you a kid again, Junior Disciple."
Daera blinked.
They'd moved to a burrowed pit some distance away. Lee Ha-yul, sitting across from her, looked even smaller than his already small frame, as if he'd regressed in age even further.
Shockingly, this was a familiar occurrence.
"And why are you even here in the first place? Isn't this the first-year tower entry area?"
That part was even more surprising. Lee Ha-yul, who should be in the second-year space, was in the first-year space.
When she asked that question, Lee Ha-yul made a troubled expression.
"My necklace is missing, so it's hard to answer right now. Don't make me talk."
"What. Where'd he leave his necklace, then."
Lee Ha-sol, who had been glaring at Daera, spoke. She pointed at the spot on Lee Ha-yul's chest where the necklace normally rested.
Sure enough, the artifact he always wore around his neck was gone. Daera tilted her head.
"His winged garment's gone, too. Did he leave all his artifacts behind...?"
"That's why I said don't ask."
"Ah, jeez. I'm just thinking out loud."
Daera, who had been clutching her confused head, frowned at the repeated nitpicking. At that, Lee Ha-sol let out a scoffing "hmph."
"Says the person who just dropped lightning on a kid out of nowhere..."
"Hey, that's—! You're just twisting it!"
Feeling wronged, Daera flailed both arms around.
"In the Tower of Growth! How was I supposed to know you had Junior Disciple in your arms! How could I possibly predict that!"
She was certain no one could have predicted it. In fact, whoever predicted that would be treated as a crazy bastard full of grandiose delusions.
At that long-winded excuse, Lee Ha-sol narrowed her eyes, then gently covered Lee Ha-yul's ears with both hands.
"Ugh, you're loud. Why are you shouting in front of a kid?"
"Gyaaak...!"
Daera let out a stifled shriek and clutched her head. The surging feeling of injustice made her feel like her chest was going to burst.
But looking at the results alone, she really had dropped lightning right onto a regressed Lee Ha-yul, so she had no comeback.
What if Lee Ha-sol's response had been slower? Lee Ha-yul, whose combat power would have been reduced along with his regression, would have taken a direct hit from the Heavenly Thunder...
'Uh.'
A sudden thought struck Daera, and she stopped her shrieking.
"...Junior Disciple."
"I said I can't talk."
"No, wait. This is important."
She frowned and sifted through her memories. Faced with that serious expression, Lee Ha-sol also stopped her snapping.
Lee Ha-yul regressing in age wasn't something to be surprised about. It had happened a few times now.
Daera hadn't been present at all of those scenes, but she'd heard that in those cases, before he regressed, there was a common reason.
"...Junior Disciple, were you hurt badly?"
A near-death state.
As Daera narrowed her eyes languidly, Lee Ha-yul's shoulders flinched.
"......."
Lee Ha-sol's eyes also trembled slightly.
It was because, before Lee Ha-yul had regressed, she had witnessed a state that couldn't even remotely be described by something as simple as 'badly hurt.'
Lee Ha-sol's gaze naturally lowered as well.
Feeling the languid stares on his face and the top of his head, Lee Ha-yul broke out in a cold sweat and pursed his lips, then turned his body and buried his face in Lee Ha-sol's chest.
His face disappeared, buried in her chest.
"Really, you're running away from this?"
"...Hoo."
Daera was dumbfounded, while Lee Ha-sol swallowed a sigh and placed a hand atop the head of Lee Ha-yul nestled in her arms.
"Really, you're just letting him get away with this?"
"What, should I press someone who's hurting?"
"When you say it like that, it makes me the bad guy..."
"From the moment you dropped lightning on him, you already..."
"Agh! That's enough of that!"
"Hmph."
Having glared at Daera, Lee Ha-sol shifted Lee Ha-yul more comfortably in her arms. Watching this, Daera, who had been tearing at her hair, stretched out both arms.
"Huh? What for?"
At the sudden gesture, Lee Ha-sol tilted her head. Daera tilted her head, too.
"What do you mean 'what for'? Thanks for protecting Junior Disciple all this time. I'll hold him now."
"...Why would I?"
"Huh?"
Once again, the two of them tilted their heads.
An odd silence lingered in the pit.
.
.
.
Inside the Tower of Growth. Day and night existed even in the area where the first-years were progressing through their tower entry schedule.
The sun rose in the morning, bringing light; when night fell, the sun set and darkness came.
An obvious phenomenon was at play—which meant no other bizarre phenomena were happening.
"Hey, am I the only one seeing that?"
A small, improvised base.
A cadet inspecting a supply weapon with its edge completely gone pointed up at the sky. Following the gesture, another cadet who looked up narrowed their eyes.
"...I see it, too."
The dark sky. In one specific spot, a darkness clearly distinct from the night sky was visible.
It was definitely the same black color, but it was completely different. There was no mistaking it. Dozens of distinct shades of black were fluttering within that hole.
"Is it a gimmick? But there was no mention of anything like that in the briefing..."
Before they could even finish speaking, something flowed out from within the pitch-black darkness.
- Thud!
Something dropped nearby.
- Grrrr...
No, a monster. The cadets' faces stiffened at the massive frame distinguishable even in the darkness and the fierce aura that dyed its surroundings in an instant.
"...What now, in the dead of night?"
- Kraaaaaaah!
The monster charged. The terrified cadets grabbed the weapons they had set aside.
The battle began. The cadets were pushed back overwhelmingly.
"......"
There was a being inside the hole where the monster had fallen from, looking down at the scene with a bleak expression.
It was the Vice Headmaster, Venus, who had already been filling in several such holes.
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