Dungeon Practice (2)

I'd hoped we'd get grouped with people we knew, but I never asked for the entire party to stick together like this.

Of course, looking purely at our positions, the fit was perfect.

Two vanguards. One hybrid vanguard-support. A ranged dealer and a supporter to round it out. Position-wise, it was a golden balance.

Early-game Lee Shinwoo is closer to a support, after all.

Lee Seah was pure frontline the moment you saw that massive greatsword of hers, but early Lee Shinwoo leaned heavily into utility support. That made the team's overall balance excellent.

I was just the one feeling a little thrown off.

"I'm so glad we're ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on the same team!"

Seong Harim's reaction was exactly what I'd expected. She had wanted to be teamed up more than anyone, so I welcomed her just as warmly. Her abilities were excellent, and... well, calling her a totem felt right. Just having her nearby settled both body and mind.

"Why with this guy...?!"

Jin Juha's reaction was just as predictable. What kind of image did I even have inside that head of hers? Probably something like the Academy's top playboy who'd already seduced Seong Harim.

It's the complete opposite.

Who else could possibly have as little romantic experience with women as me?

"Jinwoo. Spar when this is over."

"Didn't we just spar yesterday?"

"Yeah."

Lee Seah was honestly the easiest of the group to deal with. Maybe not right at the start of Academy life, but after all the spars we'd had since then, we'd grown pretty close. They say you grow through fighting, right? This case was a little different, but still.

For the record, my sparring record against Lee Seah stood at seven matches, five wins, two losses. I won most of them, but those two losses? That was pure Lee Seah genius.

How does she grow every single day?

There were two protagonists here. Calling them mere twins didn't do justice to talent like that.

"Haha, sending us out from here? First time since then, isn't it?"

And then there was Lee Shinwoo. I hadn't spoken a word to him since that day. We'd passed each other in the halls or spotted each other at the training grounds, but neither of us had ever bothered to strike up a conversation. Neither of us was particularly outgoing.

"You've gotten close with Seah, right?"

"Well... more than with other people, maybe? I don't really know myself."

"If Seah's sticking to you, that already means you're close."

At first I'd been too flustered by the situation to properly register it, but thinking about it now—I was standing here talking directly with the protagonist I liked. Wasn't this the true peak of being a fan?

"Quiet, everyone! Briefing starts now, so focus!"

"Waaah! So cool, Juha!"

That was when Jin Juha stomped the ground a few times to grab our attention. Seong Harim smiling beside her was just a bonus. Our Group 12 leader was Jin Juha. Looking at it, it made perfect sense—she was in Class A, had the highest stats among us, and came with an impressive background. She was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠natural choice.

Jin Juha unfolded the map issued to team leaders and began the briefing.

"We're taking Course 12. This spot here is our assigned campsite, and this area is the monster habitat."

Even though the Jujube Tree Forest was only a Fairy Tale-rank dungeon, it was surprisingly vast. That meant the twenty total groups could mostly avoid running into each other and head down their own routes.

After receiving the basic rundown on the campsite, monster habitats, and travel path from Jin Juha, we set out immediately.

We've got plenty of time, but we should still arrive before evening.

Getting there after dark would make camping a real pain.

"So, escort formation?"

"Yeah. No telling what might come from behind."

The so-called escort formation was simple. Up front went the vanguard and support—Lee Seah and Lee Shinwoo. In the center, the ranged dealer Jin Juha and the supporter Seong Harim. Bringing up the rear for rear-guard defense was me, the other vanguard. It was a shape designed to protect the central core.

Formed up like that, we entered the Jujube Tree Forest.

The forest itself wasn't all that different from an ordinary woods. The only real differences were that most of the trees were huge, and every last one of them was a jujube tree.

First time seeing jujube trees.

They weren't hard to find if you went looking, but you rarely saw them growing naturally in modern society. Seeing them scattered everywhere like this was a little fascinating.

More importantly... nothing major happened in the original either, so just following the script should be fine.

I only looked at the jujube trees for a moment before my thoughts turned to this episode. The "Dungeon Practice" arc didn't carry much weight in the original novel. One chapter at most—just a slice of early Academy daily life. What came after was a bigger event, so this was basically a breather episode.

So just proceeding as written should be enough.

"Jinwoo, have you climbed a lot of mountains?"

"Mountains? Out of nowhere?"

"We just walked into a forest all of a sudden, so I got curious."

Seong Harim, walking ahead of me, asked that. Mountains, huh. I'd climbed plenty—enough to nearly die doing it.

"I got this on a mountain."

I flicked the Ilcheongeom hanging at my waist and told her. The sheer amount of mountain climbing I'd done just to obtain this one sword... even with my stats raised, it was something I never wanted to do again. It was hard enough, but one wrong step and you were dead.

"Ah! So that's why you always came home so late back then?"

"Yeah. Took a long time to find it."

"I'm glad you found it, though."

Seong Harim said that with a soft smile. And then Jin Juha wrapped her arms around her. The look on Jin Juha's face as she glared at me made it clear she was not happy about this. She clearly wanted to say something, but since Seong Harim had started the conversation, she couldn't get a word in. For someone trying to dunk on me, she was surprisingly honest about it.

"Hey. More importantly—are you close with that Lee Shinwoo kid?"

After another stretch of quiet walking, Jin Juha asked me this time. Close with Lee Shinwoo? Calling us close was a stretch. We'd barely spoken a few times.

"Not really."

"Yeah? Good. If you were close with him, I'd have to start watching that guy too."

Birds of a feather, was that it? Before even thinking that, I wasn't that kind of person to begin with. And that worry was based on a completely wrong premise anyway.

"Don't worry. That guy would never do anything like that."

"...Based on what?"

"He's got a fiancée."

Constellation of Black Flames was a pure-love story. A tightly locked pure-love story where the ending was decided from the very first page. More precisely it was a childhood promise rather than a formal engagement, but they still kept in contact, and later in the novel they started dating for real—so fiancée was accurate enough. Even with the changes now... it probably hadn't shifted much.

Her country is next door so she shows up late, but she's the absolute main heroine.

That heroine was Japanese, so she didn't appear early on. Once they started meeting in the mid-game, though, the two of them went full PDA mode and salted the earth for everyone else.

"Really? Then... that's a relief."

Jin Juha gave a small, reassured smile and faced forward again as she walked. Silence returned. The only sound was the occasional distant birdcall.

What finally broke that quiet and got us moving was something that appeared from behind.

Crrrk-crack-!!

Bodies made of wood. Small frames about the size of elementary schoolers. They approached with the grinding sound of wood striking wood.

"Small Ents. Get ready, everyone."

These were the main monsters of the Jujube Tree Forest.

Fairy Tale-rank, huh.

Small Ents ranked among the absolute lowest even within Fairy Tale-rank. They still had a grade, so they were decently strong, but they were perfectly suited for students.

"Yoo Jinwoo, take the front. Rear guard holds position."

Jin Juha's orders came out smooth and practiced. She had plenty of experience, after all. As the top prospect of the Thunder Nebula, she'd run plenty of other dungeons even before entering the Academy. She'd also heard plenty of explanations from other contractors. There was a reason she was the leader.

So I'm the frontline now.

The strength of the escort formation was its flexibility. Because the monsters had come from behind this time, I—who had been the tail of the formation—became the new vanguard.

"About six of them. Don't get hurt, just draw their attention."

"Got it."

There were six Small Ents. My job was to pull their aggro. That much wasn't hard, so I immediately drew the Ilcheongeom and stepped forward.

Crrrk-crack-!!

The moment I closed in, the three Small Ents in front let out grotesque wooden screeches and charged me. Their wooden hands had already sharpened into points. An ordinary person stabbed by those would be cut clean through.

Slash—

I cut down the first one that lunged, then simply slipped past the attacks of the ones that followed.

It was pure swordsmanship with no mana poured in, but the power was more than enough.

Still smooth as ever.

These past few days of training hadn't been wasted. My Gucheon Hyeongeom was soft and natural all on its own.

Crrrk-crack-!!

Maybe they were enraged by their comrade's death. The remaining five charged me all at once. Attacks poured in from every direction. Honestly, it was a little much.

I can hold, but...

Lowest of the low or not, they were still Fairy Tale-rank. Four of them rushing me at once made things a bit of a struggle. Of course, with Gucheon Hyeongeom focused on that flowing softness I was managing to block everything, but it was getting heavy.

"Yoo Jinwoo, fall back."

I'd only been fighting them for a short while when Jin Juha's voice cut in from behind. The instant she finished speaking, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pulled my body back.

And right after that—

Crackle-ZZZAP-!!

A massive bolt of thunder, accompanied by blinding light, swept the remaining Small Ents away.

This wasn't just an "attack." It literally swept them clean. No chance to counter, no strength left to defend. A merciless single strike. The remaining ents turned to ash and vanished on the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spot. The power matched the skill's name perfectly—truly an irresistible force, like divine punishment itself.

Jin Juha's skill:

It had no fixed form—just the simple ability to "wield thunder." That made it incredibly flexible, and how it was used depended entirely on the contractor's skill.

"Alright. Let's keep moving."

Progress through the dungeon was far too easy.