The Newbie's Burden
This is exactly why newbies are...
While Lee Seokhyun was wasting time with a professor over course registration, Mi Juran was using magical communication to contact her kingdom. -You placed fourth. "Yes, Father." -A very good start. When I was first born, all I had was a tiny room, but look at me now. Through constant growth, I unified the continent and established a kingdom. Yet here you are, already in fourth place, so there's absolutely no need to rush. "Thank you for the kind words."
The person on the other end was none other than her father, Mirad, the King of Mudanard. After offering more words of encouragement, he shifted to a more serious tone. -So, are you really planning to go through with that? "You mean the Ungbak?" -Yes. I'm worried it might be too dangerous an attempt. "But I have no choice." -I trust you'll handle it well.
After ending the transmission with Mirad's final words, Mi Juran prepared to head into the mountains. The mountain guardian bear, Ungbak. Originally, she hadn't intended to hunt it, but Lee Seokhyun had completely changed her mind.
The top five ranks had been understandable, and she'd naturally assumed the representative speech would come from one of them. But when some nobody she'd never seen or heard of suddenly popped up, took sixth place, and became the representative speaker, Mi Juran instinctively realized just how complacent she'd been living until now.
Why didn't I ever think about climbing from below?
She'd considered the constant shuffling within the top five, but never once imagined being pushed out of the top ranks entirely. But what if there weren't just one person like Lee Seokhyun? What if there were countless others with hidden potential she didn't know about?
Even while holding fourth place, the chilling tension of possibly being overtaken at any moment ran down her spine. That anxiety had driven her forward, ultimately pushing her into this reckless attempt.
Father said I could take it slow, but...
As the sole princess of the Mudanard Kingdom and a fierce competitor for the throne, she didn't want to show any weakness this early. There was a jackpot item practically guaranteed if she could just take it down. She couldn't afford to sit on her hands.
I'm wearing chainmail, and the axe is dwarven-made. That's more than enough to handle it.
Mudanard's typical combat style involved light armor and heavy weapons, so it wasn't a bad matchup against the Ungbak. Considering she'd dodge everything possible and land powerful strikes, it could even be called ideal. She was already imagining herself standing over the defeated Ungbak, claiming its spoils.
I can do this. I can definitely do this.
Impatience and tension. These two things clouded her judgment and made her body move hastily.
Found it...
It took well over three hours before she finally spotted the Ungbak. Normally, she should have rested briefly before challenging it, but with her mind completely clouded, she ended up standing before the creature with no real plan.
"For the glory of Mudanard!!! El Rataaaaaaaa!!!"
That was her first mistake, and her worst one.
"Guooooooooh!!!"
She had overlooked two critical things. First, the Ungbak's five senses, sharpened from hunting wild animals, had already detected her presence. Second, its combat sense was far superior to anything she'd imagined.
"Huh?"
There was no way the Ungbak could miss an axe being swung with both hands while she literally shouted, "I'm right here!"
Swoosh—Boom!
When the axe that had only sliced through the air embedded itself in the ground and refused to budge, the Ungbak raised its paw high.
I'm going to die.
Mi Juran regretted not wearing her helmet to avoid obstructing her vision. That swing wasn't a simple strike. Even if she reinforced herself with mana, it wasn't something she could block. The Ungbak roared again, fueled by rage at being ambushed and joy at the prospect of an imminent meal.
"Guooooooooh!"
So this is how I die. So pointlessly, so emptily. In that brief moment, as a montage of her life flashed before her eyes and she tried to close them—
"Get a grip!"
Whirrrrrrr.
Spiderweb-like threads wrapped around her body and the embedded axe, yanking both backward. The moment she hit the ground, Mi Juran released the axe and rolled to execute a stable landing. When she finally regained her senses, a familiar voice reached her ears.
"What the hell do you mean 'in good shape'? I was stuck carrying a complete beginner who doesn't even know the patterns..."
"Uh... uhh...?"
"Focus properly. I don't do good newbie care."
First-year, sixth place. Representative speaker.
"L-Lee Seokhyun?"
He was glaring at her with an extremely displeased expression. It was the face of someone looking at a massive nuisance, and it left Mi Juran completely speechless. The quirky demeanor he'd shown during the speech was gone, replaced only by sharp intensity. She couldn't utter a single word.
At first, it had seemed good. No, he'd thought it was good.
Wait, am I crazy? Even if it's difficult, why go out of my way to find someone else when I could just do it alone?
Mi Juran had been the perfect fit for the conditions he'd wanted just moments ago. A main character, a martial arts major with steep early-game growth. On paper, it looked great. But there was one fatal flaw.
She's way too much of a newbie.
She didn't just lack pattern knowledge—she was completely clueless. The reason he'd quietly watched her first charge was because he'd assumed she had some countermeasure prepared.
After shouting during the first charge to draw attention, isn't it common sense to pretend to attack from the front, rotate clockwise, and swing the axe to land a solid hit?
Now he had to party with an axe-wielding close-range fighter who didn't even know something this basic! Just how much hand-holding would it take before she could function like a real person?
I urgently fired spider threads at the last second, yanking both Mi Juran and her axe toward me before she died.
Why do I have to clean up after people here too?
The horrifying possibility that he might have to lead clueless kids again—just like in the Ant Cave—slowly rose to the surface.
"Mi Juran, listen carefully. The Ungbak is an intelligent animal, so it knows it was ambushed and won't carelessly come this far."
Whether she was paying attention or not, I shared what I knew and explained the strategy for defeating the Ungbak. Since things had come this far, teaming up to take it down was now inevitable. It was an unavoidable choice. I'd have preferred to send her away, but she clearly wouldn't listen.
Especially because of her main skill.
Mi Juran's main skill, Predator of Victory, was an overpowered ability that raised stats and skill proficiency upon winning battles against strong opponents. Because of that skill, it was absolutely beneficial for her to rush ahead aggressively in the early game. Still, coming after an Ungbak with zero plan? It was a good thing I'd arrived quickly, or I would've been stuck dealing with a corpse.
"See how it's standing still, sniffing around? It's trying to locate you by scent right now. At the same time, it's slowly shifting toward open ground to prepare for any ambush."
"Uh... huh?"
"You didn't even know that?"
If you had no choice but to attempt an unreasonable raid, basic research on habits and patterns was essential. Yet a total rookie who didn't even know that was trying to freeload on my bus? It was genuinely infuriating.
I mentally removed Mi Juran from my plan of sticking close to the main characters to snatch up the benefits. There had never been any honey for newbies in the first place.
Since there are only two of us, United Will won't activate anyway. I'll have to calculate everything thoroughly and fight accordingly.
United Will required at least twenty people to activate, so that was impossible. That left only one option: clearing the Ungbak together with Mi Juran.
"Listen closely to everything I say from now on. Don't make a single decision on your own. Leave everything to me, or you'll die just like before. You know I saved your life, right? Consider it repaying that debt and just nod quietly. Got it?"
Overwhelmed by the barrage of words, Mi Juran nodded without resistance. She'd even seen her life flash before her eyes—what could possibly register right now? She had no other options anyway.
"I'll draw its attention first. The Ungbak sets its top priority on whatever enemy is directly in front of it. So while I'm out front engaging it, you hide your presence as much as possible, then throw that axe and plant it in its back. Simple, right? Just stay calm, wait for an opening, and fling the axe. Understand?"
I repeated the instructions once normally, then once more in simpler terms, before immediately charging toward the Ungbak. Now that I knew someone else was after it, I couldn't afford to take my time. If more people joined in, the share of loot would shrink, and that would mean nothing but loss.
"Guooooooooh!!!"
"I want to cry too!"
If you overthought the Ungbak, it was a spiritual beast that also served as a mountain guardian. If you underestimated it, it was just a talented circus bear. Provided you ignored the fact that it viewed humans as food, possessed stubborn vitality, and was extremely ferocious.
Boom!
The Ungbak has a habit of alternating left and right paws when swinging. It probably developed naturally to make its attacks flow smoothly, which makes predicting its next move easy.
I dodged the left paw swing by shifting left, created distance from the right paw, then quickly wrapped spider threads around its waist and neck. One layer wasn't enough, but if I kept circling clockwise while adding more, I could create something as strong as a sturdy rope. But that wasn't the real goal.
"Uwooooooh!!!"
As the Ungbak turned to chase me, its back was now exposed to Mi Juran—this exact moment!
"Now!"
"Uh... uh!"
I signaled for Mi Juran to throw the axe, but the moment I heard her stupid battle cry, I knew it was over.
Clunk, roll roll roll, ting, cling.
The axe that fell near the Ungbak with a clear ringing sound failed to do anything at all and simply collapsed onto the ground. No matter how nervous or close to death she'd been, this was on another level. I hadn't expected much and had only told her to aim for the back, but if she couldn't even hit that, what was the point?
"Hey, Mi Juran!"
"S-s-sorry..."
"Forget it! Just stay there quietly and watch!"
I should've just asked for the axe from the beginning instead of having her throw it.
"Uwooooooh!"
"I want to cry even louder."
I dodged the Ungbak's right paw swing and retrieved the axe that had fallen to the ground. Thanks to my body and mind training, the dwarven compressed steel axe felt as light as a feather.
"I'll just do this alone."
It was time to begin the official newbie training course.