The Consequences of a Surprise Attack
Yeonhee drew in a deep breath and let out a long, weary sigh. "Sssip— Haaa—" Only then did she speak, her voice heavy with suppressed emotion. "Miss No Hayun. A welcoming greeting like this was never discussed beforehand. Therefore, I cannot form a party with you. I will notify both the agency and the Bijeon Guild of the contract termination."
Yeonhee delivered the words firmly, refusing to let her feelings show. Only then did No Hayun shift into a submissive posture.
"Uwaah! That would be really inconvenient... I swear I won't pull any more stunts like that, so please just let it slide this once. I only wanted to see how skilled you really were. I went easy enough that your summon wouldn't get hurt!..."
If that was you going easy, you should have already risen to C-grade.
Watching No Hayun scramble to explain herself, I shook my head as if I couldn't understand. She was someone who would become a central pillar of a major guild in the future. There was no way she would handle things this sloppily... Hmm.
Yeonhee glared at her for a long moment before turning to consult with the Helen duo. Is this really something that needs a meeting? I found it strange, but decided to wait and see.
Tap. Tap.
"Hiiik!!"
I kept tapping her chin with my dagger while I waited. "Haaa— Please tell him to put that knife away!"
But Yeonhee acted as if she hadn't heard a thing and continued the conversation.
"You... What exactly are you? Are you perhaps a hunter with the Mimicry ability?"
"......"
I pressed the blade a little deeper against the neck of No Hayun, whose mouth was still running. The self-defense dagger slid smoothly across her skin, as if proving how easy this was for it. A thin line of blood welled up and trickled down. I stared straight into her eyes, making it clear I could do far worse.
"Kuuugh— I get it, so please, just stop—!"
Is the Bijeon Guild spoiling her or something? She seems like she's missing a few screws.
I wasn't sure if her future had changed because the dungeon break had been moved up by a week, but judging from her current state, reaching the charismatic figure I'd seen in videos seemed like a distant prospect.
A short while later, the brief meeting concluded with the unexpected decision to forgive her this once. If the purpose had truly been to assess a potential teammate's abilities, it apparently wasn't a valid reason to dissolve the party. Especially since the attack had been directed at a summon—and it genuinely had been.
But the biggest reason was undoubtedly that No Hayun belonged to the Bijeon Guild. She was considered the next ace of the nation's largest guild. They must have judged that putting her in their debt wouldn't be a bad idea.
"...... For that reason, we intend to apply a penalty to the settlement distribution... Do you have any objections?"
Still, she handled it well. She stuttered a little, but...
Helen was technically the party leader, so I wasn't sure why Yeonhee was taking the lead in negotiations. Still, from my perspective, her current demeanor was quite satisfying.
At the condition Yeonhee presented, No Hayun's face brightened noticeably as she nodded vigorously.
"I'm fine with that! It won't happen again, so you don't need to worry. I'm sorry."
You should say "I apologize."
The subtle sense of superiority leaking from No Hayun was slightly irritating, but since she was useful for today, I decided to let it pass. After all, the other party members had reached the same conclusion. So... it was a decision made by the three of them. Naturally, my opinion wasn't reflected at all... Hmm... The more I thought about it, the more pissed off I became.
Was it because I couldn't express my intentions that I felt so frustrated?
There's that, but it's not like this is the first or second time. It's not just that...
Suddenly, the villain Lee Yeong-cheol flashed through my mind.
Lee Yeong-cheol... and now No Hayun... We were just minding our own business, yet...
From long ago, I had despised people who tormented others without any reason. Lee Yeong-cheol had been that type, and No Hayun had just irritated me in a similar way.
The fireball that had been slowly growing inside my chest finally erupted. In a surge of anger, I grabbed her flowing hair from behind and slammed my fist into her abdomen.
Bash
WHAM!
"Keheok—!"
No Hayun's slender waist arched like a bow from the heavy blow to her stomach. She made choking, gasping sounds.
"Whoa..."
"Holy..."
Helen and Jin-gyeong turned to Yeonhee with startled expressions. Yeonhee herself stared at me with a look of pure shock. Everything a summon did was the summoner's responsibility. People believed we only moved on Yeonhee's orders. I had always kept that in mind with my actions.
Rather than living while enduring even this, I'd rather just die.
THUD!WHAM!
"Keok— Kehek— S-Save m—"
I delivered two more strikes to her abdomen before stopping the assault.
"I-Ilwol! You can't do that... You really can't..."
Yeonhee spoke to me, but I could have sworn the corners of her mouth were slightly turned up. Was that just my imagination?
No Hayun, seemingly caught off guard by the attack once again, looked up at me fiercely even as she panted for breath.
...Should I kill her...
Composure
The emotions I had briefly heightened with Composure quickly subsided. But her expensive equipment kept flickering in my vision. If even one of those dropped by some stroke of luck...
Grrrrrrrr—
For a moment, I genuinely considered it.
Hiiik!
Had she sensed my killing intent?
"...... I mean it! Cough—cough— I really won't do it! Please forgive me!"
No Hayun looked at me and begged desperately, hands clasped together as if she was completely sincere.
Tsk. You should have begged Yeonhee for forgiveness to get full marks, but I suppose this is enough.
I released her hair and stepped back.
"Haa... Haak... You're crazy..."
Her face burned bright red, her bloodshot eyes following my every move. Her ragged breathing tickled my ears.
Then.
"Would you mind if I add something to what Miss Yeonhee just proposed?"
Helen seized the opening created by No Hayun's severely diminished spirit.
Three minutes later.
"Do whatever you want... Since I was the one who messed up first."
After the Helen combo verbally bombarded No Hayun—with me standing right beside them—they reduced the settlement ratio we had agreed on yesterday all the way down to ten percent. The original discussion had been to give her forty percent. Furthermore, the clause about collecting all dropped runes regardless of contribution binding and giving her the two with the highest values had been completely removed.
"Instead, we'll let Miss Hayun take the runes first from now on. Sound good?"
"You might as well just tell me to do volunteer work."
"You brought this on yourself, Miss Hayun."
"I. Got. It."
Seeming to decide they shouldn't push her any further, both Helen and Jin-gyeong wrapped things up there. I simply watched the entire scene in silence.
"Ilwol... Would you come over here?"
When I moved beside her, Yeonhee examined the arm I had used to block the first attack, turning it this way and that.
"Seems okay. How's your stamina?"
"Clack clack!!"
"That's a relief..."
It was actually pretty dangerous.
The aftershock still lingered in the arm that had blocked the ice attack. The shockwave alone had penetrated the chain mail's defense and dealt damage. It was fast, sharp, and overflowing with power. Extremely simple, yet all the more beautiful because of it.
The ice sorceress, No Hayun. She was a raw, unpolished diamond.
"Before we set out, please explain your reason..."
Once the boiling emotions had settled, Yeonhee asked No Hayun once more why she had attacked.
No Hayun shrugged as if it were no big deal, then appeared to ponder for a moment.
"I already told you. It was just a test."
"...You told us to contact you first, so explain why you're doing a test now that we're here."
Ooh...
It made me strangely proud to see Yeonhee's eloquence improving by the day.
"Fine. Let's clear the air completely. I'll explain why I decided to test you."
"Why are you the one conducting the test?"
"Test us twice and it'll be..."
"...I'm not saying anything."
At the combined scolding from Helen and Jin-gyeong, No Hayun whipped her head away in a pout. Helen stepped forward to soothe her.
"Aish, fine, I get it already. So what's the reason?"
"Umm, the reason is..."
No Hayun paused dramatically before continuing.
"I just heard a new rising star was making waves, so I wanted to see the skills for myself. NewTube kept saying you had higher growth potential than me... That's all there is to it."
Ha?! I knew it would be something like that. Didn't I tell you? It's nothing special.
No, NewTube really is ruining the world. It's not like they're middle-schoolers with chuunibyou or anything.
The Helen combo whispered to each other in disbelief. Strangely, Yeonhee's expression brightened upon hearing it.
......?
At any rate, No Hayun's answer was completely different from what I had expected. I simply took it as her not wanting to say the real reason.
"Then, shall we head out?"
"I suppose so."
Regardless, we set off. In formation, No Hayun and I stood side by side at the front. Jin-gyeong took the center, while Yeonhee and Helen brought up the rear. Normally a mage wouldn't stand at the vanguard, but No Hayun's combat style was completely different from ordinary mages, and she had requested it herself.
Of course, the reason I—not Helen—stood at the front was to apply silent pressure on Hayun.
After advancing for about twenty minutes, our first battle of the day began. Nineteen lizardmen. A burdensome number for four people to handle, but the result was an overwhelming victory.
"Ice Field!"
Crrrrrrrrrack—
It was all thanks to No Hayun's performance, which inflicted a fatal debuff on every monster in the area.
She's pushing herself.
The Ice Field No Hayun used was a wide-area spell that froze all monsters within a twenty-meter radius. As effective as it was, it consumed an enormous amount of mana, making the timing of its use crucial. Of course, at D-grade level, it couldn't freeze all nineteen at once, but displaying that much talent in a wide-area spell that wasn't even her specialty was truly astonishing.
Although No Hayun was a combat mage who specialized in powerful single-target attacks at mid-to-close range, there was only one reason she had used this area-of-effect magic.
She wanted to demonstrate her abilities as soon as possible and recover even a little of the trust she had shattered.
"Icicle Spear—!"
Crash!
Bash
Crackle—!
We quickly struck down the monsters that had been completely immobilized by the freeze—or trapped in similar debilitating states—before the debuff wore off.
"Haha, this is seriously convenient."
"Right... I can't deny it."
The victory itself wasn't particularly surprising, but in terms of clear time and the preservation of stamina and mana, they had personally experienced that she was the ideal partner. The Helen combo nodded in satisfaction.
Still, she won't be able to fight like this continuously.
Yet the next battle and the one after that also began with the same spell. As expected, after the third battle, No Hayun was completely spent.
Haa... She's really high maintenance.