23
Chapter 23
The three of them had finished their preparations, having eaten plenty of dessert for brunch before entering the tower.
As Joohyun thought about entering the tower,
[Welcome.]
[Currently accessible floors are displayed.]
[1st Floor]
[2nd Floor]
[3rd Floor]
[4th Floor]
"Enter 4th Floor."
[Please select the Magical Girl to accompany you into the tower!]
[Lee Yuna]
[Park Mina]
Mina's name had been added to the Magical Girl selection slot.
'Can I take both of them?'
The Tutorial Tower was originally a place you could only enter alone.
Because of that, the system might be set up to only allow one person to be brought along.
'That would be annoying.'
It could cause problems for building actual combat experience.
Entering the tower was restricted to once a day, making it an issue.
'But I can't let them use magic outside, either.'
Making them practice magic outside would definitely blow their identity, so that wasn't an option.
'Well, let's just try selecting them first.'
He had nothing to lose.
The moment Joohyun thought about selecting them both,
Mina's name also turned a deep blue.
'Ooh.'
Just like Yuna, Mina was successfully selected to be brought along.
'Is there no limit on the number of people?'
There wasn't any sort of participant limit window, so that could be the case.
But it was still too early to be sure.
A party size limit might pop up later on.
'Still, if there really is no limit.......'
From the 10th Floor onwards, you could form a party of up to four to enter.
If he could bring four or more Magical Girls, he wouldn't need to party up with other Awakeners.
That meant he could monopolize all the rewards.
On top of that, taking four or more people would make clearing the tower much easier.
'But come to think of it, I'm the only Awakener here, right?'
Technically speaking, Joohyun was the sole Awakener.
Yuna and Mina were merely Magical Girls under a contract via Joohyun's ability.
Strictly speaking, they weren't classified as Awakeners.
If Joohyun alone was treated as an Awakener, allowing him to bring Magical Girls without any limits,
that was an incredibly broken ability.
'It's too early to jump to conclusions, I'll find out later.'
Having organized his thoughts like that, Joohyun entered the tower.
When he opened his eyes, he was inside the tower, as always.
Underneath a sun blazing like lava.
The figures of the three people appeared upon the scorching hot desert.
"Uwah, it's so hot!"
"......It'll be impossible to move."
"I told you it was going to be hot."
Since they had triggered their transformation before entering the tower, the two were dressed in their Magical Girl outfits.
Anyone could tell these weren't clothes suited for a desert.
The garments were made of materials with absolutely zero ventilation.
"Is there really no such thing as a desert-exclusive costume, please?"
Panting, Yuna fanned herself repeatedly with her hands.
Drops of sweat fell one by one onto the sand.
Though the fallen sweat quickly evaporated the moment it hit the heated sand.
"......I agree."
Mina was in an even worse state than Yuna.
Mina was wearing a tight-fitting latex outfit.
It was only natural that her clothes had even less ventilation than Yuna's.
Her black clothes absorbed the heat, yet didn't absorb any sweat, practically turning the inside of Mina's outfit into a steam sauna.
Staggering along, Mina's silhouette looked as if she would turn sluggish and melt away like ice cream at any moment.
"Ack! A proper Magical Girl must overcome any bad weather! What can you achieve with such a weak mindset!"
He said that triumphantly, but Joohyun was just as hot.
It would be weird if he wasn't hot when he was covered in incredibly thick, soft natural down feathers.
If you lifted his fur, he'd surely be drenched in sweat underneath.
"Ugh...... What is this, the military?"
"......Give me some magic that can change this bad weather."
The two grumbled at Joohyun's words as they walked for a few minutes.
"Where are the monsters, anyway!"
"......Please, I just want to finish this quickly and go back."
Their whole bodies were covered in sweat, and it began to drip down through their clothes.
Joohyun was also panting, feeling parched.
'Argh! Where are they!'
Just as Joohyun was also starting to feel annoyed,
"Mya."
A monster finally revealed itself in front of the three of them.
Yuna's and Mina's gazes naturally shifted downwards.
It was about the same size as Joohyun.
It had crumbly, yellowish-brown skin.
A huge face that hardly looked human, with a very short torso and limbs.
It somewhat resembled a squirrel.
It was a creature characterized by large ears that perked up like a rabbit's.
Additionally, it was holding something that looked like a sharp-tipped straw in one hand.
Befitting a monster inhabiting the desert, its body was made of sand.
Its Identity was a Sand Dwarf.
It was a monster that lived on the 4th Floor.
[Defeat all the Sand Dwarves! 0/15]
"Mya-!"
Seeing the three of them, the Sand Dwarf jumped in place and screamed.
The way it hopped around looked cute, but they shouldn't be fooled by its appearance.
"Everyone, prepare for battle! They'll be swarming us in a bit."
The reason it was screaming and hopping around like that was to call its pack.
It was a form of communication.
Knowing this fact, Joohyun warned the two of them.
Yuna and Mina tightened their grips on their staves and went into a state of alert.
Joohyun, who had been on the ground, also hopped up on Yuna's shoulder and looked around.
Swoosh-!
It was then.
The surrounding sand slowly got sucked downwards, and soon Sand Dwarves started to appear from there.
All of them holding sticks in one hand.
As soon as the Sand Dwarves revealed themselves, they stared at Joohyun's group.
Unlike their cute appearance, they had the eyes of beasts searching for prey.
"Watch out for what they're holding. Those guys drink human blood."
The thing that looked like a straw was, in fact, a real straw.
The reason the tip was sharp was so the straw could easily pierce even hard objects.
According to the information passed down so far, the Trait of the Sand Dwarf was like this.
Living in this hot desert, they lacked moisture.
No matter if their bodies were made of sand, it would be nonsensical if living creatures didn't need water.
Every lifeform naturally needs water.
Anyway.
The Sand Dwarves couldn't properly find the moisture necessary for survival.
So they carried around large straws and started sucking on anything that had even a little bit of moisture.
Plants, animals—none were exceptions.
The Sand Dwarves were satisfied as long as they could quench their parched throats.
'For the two of them to practice Magic, there are no better targets than these guys.'
Joohyun smirked as he looked at the Sand Dwarves staring at him.
Was that the starting point?
The Sand Dwarves suddenly started screaming and hopping around.
Then they charged at Joohyun's group with the sharp ends of their straws raised.
Swift movements coming from their small frames.
Even so, they weren't impossible to track.
Besides, the two had already sparred with Suhyun.
Because of that, the Sand Dwarves were merely at a cute level.
"Fireball!"
"Thunder Burst!"
They used Magic after distancing themselves a bit so they wouldn't get caught in each other's Magic.
And then.
The Sand Dwarves that had been pouncing towards the two were blocked by the Magic.
"Myaa-!"
The Sand Dwarves hit by the Magic screamed, but only for a moment.
"Mya?"
Realizing their condition was better than expected, the Sand Dwarves looked at Yuna and Mina.
"Huh?"
"......Huh."
Only then did the two realize something was wrong.
"Myaa-!"
Confirming it was fine, one Sand Dwarf raised its straw and pointed at the two of them.
"Myaaa-!"
The surrounding Sand Dwarves let out a Roar and charged at the two again.
"Uwaah! Don't come closer!"
"......Run away."
The situation had completely reversed.
The two began to run so they wouldn't get caught by the Sand Dwarves.
"Hey, you idiots! What are you doing running away!"
Joohyun yelled fiercely at the two, but they barely listened.
"But, CEO, you saw it too! Magic doesn't work at all!"
"......Right, we can't beat that!"
The two had immediately lost their will to fight after seeing their Magic fail.
Joohyun sighed as he watched them.
"Those guys are sand-attribute! They're the ones with the worst compatibility against you. So think a little about how you can defeat them."
Compatibility was something that had to exist.
No matter how powerful the Magic one used, compatibility couldn't be ignored.
That didn't mean they couldn't win, though.
There was bound to be a way for everything.
"I don't know? We don't have time to think about that right now!"
"A way......."
Yuna just ran while looking straight ahead, as if she couldn't think of anything.
Mina looked like she was pondering over something.
'Should I give her a little hint.'
Right now, it seemed like Mina could figure it out on her own.
"For Electricity, use speed, and for fire, use heat."
"......Ah!"
When Joohyun said that.
Mina stopped her fleeing footsteps.
Then, she looked at the Sand Dwarves running towards them.
'Oho? She understood even though I only said that much?'
As expected from the disciple of a genius Scientist, her brain seemed to be extraordinary.
Mina took a breath and then raised her staff at the guy running towards her.
"Lightning Chain."
As she murmured that, her staff transformed into the shape of a Chain.
Bzzzt-!
A Chain sparking with strong Electricity.
One of the Sand Dwarves pounced towards Mina.
"......Lightning Dash!"
Mina's Silhouette disappeared in an instant.
"Myaa-!"
In the place where a blue afterimage was left behind, only the Sand Dwarf's Death Cry echoed.
Moving at the speed of lightning while wielding a whip, a technique combining two Magics.
There was no way it could survive being hit at lightning speed by a whip imbued with powerful Mana.
Especially in this tutorial stage.
[Defeat all the Sand Dwarves! 1/15]
"That's it!"
Joohyun smirked as he looked at Mina, who had immediately understood his words.
"Very well done!"
At Joohyun's praise, Mina turned around, smiled Contentedly, and gave a thumbs up.
"......This is nothing."
With that, she launched another attack against the monsters approaching her.
Watching this, Yuna was fidgeting nervously.
"What's wrong?"
The moment Joohyun asked.
A large number of Sand Dwarves rushed at Yuna, who looked like an easy target.
"Uh......?"
As they attacked from all sides, a panicked Yuna didn't know what to do.
"Fireball-!"
Joohyun's Fireball split into two branches, hitting the Sand Dwarves approaching from both sides.
"Tch!"
Joohyun clicked his tongue.
Because two of them, undefeated by the Fireball, were still rushing forward.
At that moment.
Crackle-!
Mina took care of the two approaching ones.
With the sound of a Spark flying, they let out a Death Cry and scattered into sand.
"......Are you two okay?"
Joohyun and Yuna nodded, and after confirming they were Safe, Mina moved again.
And Yuna, who was standing blankly, looked at Joohyun and spoke.
"CEO....... How did you do that just now?"
"......You mean the Fireball? There's no law saying a Fireball must fly as a single mass, right? So I just wondered what it would be like if it split into several pieces from one."
"I guess so......."
Yuna made a dissatisfied expression, but she couldn't help it.
'I only know the theory; I can't use it perfectly yet either.'
According to Joohyun's Calculation, it should have split into four branches instead of two.
Just because he learned the theory didn't mean he could immediately apply it to actual combat.
'I'll need some Magic practice myself.'
Joohyun let out a deep sigh while thinking that.
Looking at Joohyun, Yuna slightly puffed out her cheeks.
"Anyway, I'll teach you that properly later. Forget about that for now, and think about what skill you should use to defeat the Remaining guys."
"Yes, understood!"
Yuna held her head, agonizing over what to do.
Seeing her lost in thought with an anxious and Deathly Pale expression, it seemed it would take a while for her to think of something.
Meanwhile, the Sand Dwarves were charging towards Yuna.
Joohyun kept defending her, but there was a limit.
The clear time was also important.
'I should just tell her for now.'
"First, try doing it the way I tell you."
When Joohyun said that, Yuna waved her hands in refusal.
"No! I feel like I can figure it out in just a bit!"
"Ugh! I'll tell you this time, so from next time onwards, think for yourself about how you can use its Application!
"No! I can do it by myself too!"
"Tsk! Accountant Yuna, calm down! Look over there. Mina is also tired now!"
Looking at where Joohyun pointed, Mina, who was suffering from near Depletion, was panting heavily.
"Are you going to drive your colleague into a deadly situation?"
At Joohyun's question, Yuna squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.
"......Understood."
Yuna let out a dissatisfied sigh and accepted it, as if she had no other choice.
Joohyun told her what he was thinking, and Yuna nodded, aiming her staff.
A Sand Dwarf pounced on Yuna as she did so.
And then.
"Fire Storm!"
Simultaneously with Yuna's shout, a Fire Storm of blazing heat began to swirl violently.
How many seconds had it swirled like that?
"Myaa......."
The Sand Dwarf approaching Yuna was heated by the fire made of Mana, and its body melted away.
It turned into Glass along with the sand on the ground, becoming unable to move.
"Fire Punch-!"
When Yuna struck the Sand Dwarf that had turned into Glass with her fist.
Crash-!
It broke into Shattered Pieces.
[Defeat all the Sand Dwarves! 5/15]
"Oh, it really worked......."
"Yeah, try catching the rest like that too."
Like that, the two somehow managed to catch all the Sand Dwarves using the method Joohyun had taught them.