Tower of Growth (2)
Tower of Growth (2)
Three figures cut through the dense forest. One of them spoke up urgently.
It was Loreine, a Support Major cadet with a detection-type unique ability.
"Moving."
"Running?"
"No, the pace is slow. Feels like they're leading us."
The one who answered was Kim Hyun, a Combat Major cadet. He ran a hand over the sword at his hip as he walked.
"Leading us, huh... Probably set a trap, then."
"Could be."
Kim Hyun's party was a trio, formed on the spot to hunt down the Special Admission Cadet, Lee Ha-yul.
Competition between cadets was permitted inside the Tower. But that didn't preclude cooperation.
They could join hands as the situation demanded.
Combat Majors Kim Hyun and Raven, along with Support Major and detection-type Loreine—each had their own reasons for forming this party.
None of them were after Lee Ha-yul with ill intent.
Kim Hyun was simply curious about Lee Ha-yul's skill as a swordsman. He genuinely wanted to test himself against the widely talked-about Special Admission Cadet. When the chance came, he took it.
Raven and Loreine were after the points they'd earn for taking down the Special Admission Cadet.
A massive haul of 1,000 points. That was equivalent to taking down the Top Seat twice. Even split among the three of them, it came to over 300 points each. There was no reason not to try.
"Lucky for us... Looks like we found him first."
Loreine was a detection-type ability user, yes, but stumbling onto the Special Admission Cadet's trail had been pure chance.
Detection-type unique abilities weren't that convenient.
Every use drained a significant amount of mental energy, and the effect was even worse in an environment with mana concentration this high.
Strictly speaking, they hadn't found him through a detection ability at all. They'd simply followed traces left on nearby trees and ground, working their way up the trail.
Call it luck. Kim Hyun's party had been hunting the Special Admission Cadet.
"Right ahead."
At Loreine's words, the other two tensed and tightened their grips on their weapons.
They stepped into a clearing beyond the brush.
* * *
I'd finished harmonizing my senses.
The moment before battle. I wasn't especially tense, fortunately.
Professor Atra's teaching—to cool your mind to stillness—had paid off.
- Rustle
The presences I'd been tracking entered the clearing. Lee Ha-yul turned his head in their direction.
This time, he gauged them by their mana. It was still an unfamiliar exercise, but his mana affinity let him sense the nature and quantity of an opponent's mana.
'One's mana is comparatively weak—a Support Major, maybe. The other two look like Combat Majors. Skilled ones, at that.'
He couldn't discern the finer details. Even this much could be a misjudgment.
As Lee Ha-yul stayed silent, the three who'd entered the clearing gripped their weapons.
'.....'
His eyes were closed, but Kim Hyun—standing at the front—was certain the man was fully aware of him.
Beside him, Raven adjusted his grip on his spear and spoke first.
"Combat Major, Raven. No hard feelings. Three-on-one might sound a bit off, but—I wanted to fight you."
"Support Major. Loreine."
"Combat Major, Kim Hyun. I'd like to hear your name."
Kim Hyun gave his name as a matter of courtesy and drew his sword. It was the form he'd always observed when sparring back at the family estate.
He was the son of a clan that could fairly be called distinguished. Observing proper courtesies before a spar was simply standard procedure.
The moment those words left his mouth, Raven—who'd been aiming his spear beside him—whipped his head toward Kim Hyun with a horrified look. The kind of look you'd give a madman.
"Hey. Hey."
"?"
Kim Hyun tilted his head at the bewilderment in his friend's voice—then his shoulders jolted. Lee Ha-yul. Among the rumors about him, the one concerning his 'speech' was particularly well-known.
"...My apologies. That was rude of me."
"......"
Lee Ha-yul hadn't witnessed the little comedy, but he understood the situation well enough. Thanks to his smartwatch, he rarely felt inconvenienced in daily life—so this just left him faintly awkward.
He nodded quietly and drew his sword.
A signal that the talking was over.
- Shing
Lee Ha-yul drew the sword at his hip. At the clear, resonating ring of the blade, Kim Hyun inwardly marveled.
It was an ordinary standard-issue sword. Nothing special about it—but the disciplined posture as the blade left the sheath spoke volumes.
Well-trained. This didn't look like the stance of a superhuman less than a month past his awakening.
Kim Hyun pulled his tension taut and gripped his sword. He struck his inner core, drawing forth mana.
'I won't let my guard down.'
The sparring matches Lee Ha-yul had fought were already widely known. Even accounting for his opponents' carelessness, this was a cadet who'd already claimed victory over a Combat Major.
He was already a superhuman in all but name. A faint competitive fire kindled. That was a natural emotion for anyone who called himself a swordsman.
Just as Kim Hyun drew a deep breath and prepared to charge, Lee Ha-yul raised one hand and pointed at him.
'What's this?'
A sudden gesture.
An instant before the question could fully form, a chilling instinct made Kim Hyun snap his sword up. Aura wreathed the blade at the same moment.
- Boom!
'Mana Strike.'
His instinct was right. A slashing projectile of ferocious force came hurtling at him, gouging the earth as it flew. Too late to dodge. He wrenched his sword up to block.
- CRRRRRAAASH!
"Ngh...!"
The strike carved away chunks of his aura, and Kim Hyun's eyes flew wide.
Using magic. He'd heard the rumors, of course.
But—chantless. This fast. And he hadn't imagined power on this level for a second.
Crrrrk. His legs dragged across the ground as he was pushed back—and then his feet left the earth entirely.
- Slam!
Kim Hyun's form went flying far into the distance. The blast of wind that followed in the strike's wake swept over Raven and Loreine.
Raven's ponytail whipped violently.
"Shit."
The fight had begun. As the mana strike plowed forward, casually smashing through several trees, Raven spat a curse and charged.
Lowest-grade magic: Mana Strike. Even Raven, who'd never formally studied magic, knew that much.
It had just taken him a moment to process it, because the power was on an entirely different plane.
Aura coiled around the sharp spearhead. A snap of the wrist, and the spear shot out. Textbook spear art.
- Clang!
As if it were the most natural thing in the world, a sword interposed itself in the spear's path. A blade likewise wrapped in aura blocked the spear, and the two weapons locked.
- Clank! Clang! Crrrrk...!
Spear and sword hammered against each other in rapid succession. Aura shaved away with each impact.
'The hell is this.'
Spear art—the way of the spear. Sword art—the way of the sword.
Raven also came from a family of considerable renown, and he'd already proven his talent by securing admission to Siyoram.
He was confident in his spear art. He'd been gripping a spear and putting it to use since he was a child. He could proudly say his life had been lived alongside the spear.
His spear was being blocked by a sword. He wasn't talking about some abstract debate over which weapon had the advantage—his spear art, his own skill, was being stopped by swordsmanship.
A spear thrust that was direct yet always ready to shift trajectories was being parried by fluid, graceful sword work.
- Swoosh
He wasn't being completely overwhelmed. In this exchange, the advantage lay with Raven.
The spearhead swept the sword aside and thrust forward. Lee Ha-yul twisted his head. The spearpoint barely grazed his cheek.
That pattern repeated throughout their brief clash.
But that wasn't the problem.
- CrrrrrrK!
Weapons collided, shaving away at each other. Before the weapons themselves could break, the aura layered over them was ground down first.
...His own aura was being ground down. Raven's face fell into shock.
Spear art. Honestly, not being able to dominate was a shock in itself. Sure, talent, he got it. He'd also heard that Lee Ha-yul substituted his vision with a detection type—but the feeling of failing to overwhelm a blind man with spear art was something hard to put into words.
Aura intensity. He was losing. He'd glimpsed it earlier. When their auras clashed, his own aura was the one wearing down faster.
What did that mean?
It meant his twenty years of accumulated mana, his years of training in aura techniques—they were losing to Lee Ha-yul's mana and aura work, built over barely a month.
'Hoo boy...'
This is insane. Raven let out a hollow laugh and twisted the spear shaft. The sword tracked the shifting spear trajectory and stayed with it.
Just as Lee Ha-yul was about to follow through, he twisted at the waist. A sharp sword-point grazed past his collar by a hair. Loreine had slipped in from the flank and swung.
Lee Ha-yul pulled back and reset his grip on his sword. Two-on-one. Kim Hyun, sent flying by the mana strike, would rejoin them soon.
'Raven.'
This was a little tough. With his senses still unreliable, his responses were clumsy. In fact, in those few moments, cuts had already opened up here and there across his body.
He couldn't see it, but according to the original work's description, red particles were supposed to be streaming from him.
A spear and a sword. The reach difference made it awkward to respond. Moreover, Raven handled his spear so well that he never allowed the gap to close, even for a moment. Getting inside his range was a struggle in itself.
'Loreine.'
Support Major. Still, she could handle a sword—combat scenarios must have been anticipated. If it were one-on-one, he could finish this quickly. But Raven wouldn't give him the chance.
'Kim Hyun.'
The leader of the group. The one who'd asked his name and apologized. Likely the strongest of the three.
Raven was already taxing enough. If all three came at him at once, handling it with a sword alone would be difficult.
With a sword alone.
He forced mana through the hilt in his grip. The blade shivered, drinking in an immense quantity of aura. Clenching his teeth, he swung the sword in a wide arc to the front.
The mana he'd gained from the elixir. His reserves were now ample enough to make real combat feasible.
On top of that, a portion still remained unabsorbed. Even now, that unprocessed amount was resonating inside him.
- CRRRRAAASH!
Scattered aura swept across the space before him. Raven pulled back, and Loreine—too slow to dodge—suffered small cuts along his arm.
"Kuh."
He'd created distance. Lee Ha-yul steadied his breathing and stretched his senses outward.
Beyond the gouged earth left by the mana strike, Kim Hyun was charging back, his expression hardened.
'Three-on-one.'
The tactical situation was unfavorable. The other two, confirming Kim Hyun's return, adjusted their pace and positioned themselves.
They seemed to be planning to surround him in a triangular formation.
Lee Ha-yul soothed the mana within his body and took a deep breath. The pure mana moved according to its owner's will without the slightest resistance.
Kim Hyun closed in from the front. Pristine aura coiled over his sword. The blade traced a clean arc.
Swordsmanship worthy of admiration.
Watching him, Lee Ha-yul lifted his leg and drove it into the ground.
- CRASH!
The earth around Lee Ha-yul's foot heaved, and thick walls of soil surged upward in rapid succession.
'Magic!'
Once again—chantless, and cast at high speed with no discernible tell. Kim Hyun let out an inward breath of admiration and swung his sword. A clean horizontal line was scored across the top of the earth wall.
'Mana Strike.'
A slash that had cleanly bisected the earth wall came rushing at him. Parallel casting. Kim Hyun's sword rose to intercept the mana strike.
- CRRRRRRK...!
This time, he'd factored in the magic. So instead of being sent flying helplessly, he was able to push back.
Power far beyond what lowest-grade implied. Still, he could block at least this much. Thinking so, he forced more aura into his blade.
But Kim Hyun had miscalculated.
'Mana Strike.'
Lowest-grade magic wasn't prized for its raw power. It was prized for being highly mana-efficient, capable of being spammed.
More strikes came flying—three of them this time. Kim Hyun recoiled and threw himself clear.
Three slashes gouged the ground. The gashes looked like the claw marks of some enormous beast, and a cold shiver ran down his spine.
The moment right after casting—a window of vulnerability. Raven and Loreine aimed for it, striking from each flank.
Lee Ha-yul calmly tightened his grip on his sword. Mana stirred within him once more.
Boom! This time, without a stomp, the earth surged up in front of Raven, blocking his path.
'Is a mana strike coming?'
Raven agonized internally. He'd just witnessed that combination. Raise the earth, and right as you're about to break through—a mana slash flies in.
A moment's hesitation. In that gap, Lee Ha-yul spun and drove his foot into the ground toward Loreine instead.
Loreine clenched his teeth and thrust his sword in with both hands. The sharp blade split the wind.
He could feel it clearly. The sundered wind brushed against his ears.
The thrusting sword. He felt the aura blazing along its edge.
Lee Ha-yul exhaled and sharpened his senses to a razor's edge. Abruptly, a trickle of blood ran from his nose.
The ongoing battle had heightened his senses to an extreme degree. Still clumsy, yes—but by now, they'd reached a level worth using.
A strange sensation.
He couldn't see a thing, and yet he could feel.
It was nothing short of wondrous—that the world could be perceived through nothing more than sound, the outlines of mana, and the textures that met his skin.
He extended his sword to meet hers.
The blades tangled. Ah? A small sound of wonder escaped Loreine.
He hadn't simply deflected her. Across her blade, Lee Ha-yul's sword flowed—smooth as water, with effortless, natural grace.
- Clang!
Discordance. The trajectory shifted in an instant and struck the sword upward. The weapon left her hand. Both arms flew wide open.
Spinning through the air, his sword sailed into the sky. Loreine watched his blade hover there, like a bird in flight.
'What...'
The gap in talent. She could feel it starkly. She was part of the Ipchun Class. She wasn't personally acquainted with Lee Ha-yul, but she'd witnessed his ability firsthand in sparring matches.
His victory in a spar against a Combat Major. A match that had shifted the subtly skeptical gazes cast his way, Special Admission or not.
Yes, he'd seized it by striking through carelessness—but that wasn't grounds to dismiss his skill.
Still, at that time, his level had been roughly on par with Loreine's. And Loreine was a Support Major, not a combat specialist, to begin with.
Back then, they'd been roughly equal. So naturally, she'd thought she had a chance. Three against one. She'd assumed they would win handily.
Now, she'd been subdued in practically a single exchange. The reality of it hadn't fully registered.
In the middle of that thought, something cold drove into her forehead.
Crunch! The blade rammed in—not gently, but roughly, like splitting a watermelon.
'One.'
Lee Ha-yul coolly counted inside his head.
* * *