The First Joint Mock Battle Simulation (7)

The beast's horrific roar erupted from the center of the plaza—ROOOAAAR!!—violently sweeping through the shattered interior of the market office. Cement powder cascaded from the ceiling like snowflakes, shaken loose by the intense vibration.

The system timer hovering in the corner of my vision showed roughly sixteen minutes remaining in real time. Factoring in the perceived time from the brainwave acceleration the instructor had warned us about before entry, we probably had less than fifty minutes.

For a routine simulation clearing out small fry inside the building, that would have been plenty of time. But against the eight-meter giant below us, snorting terrifyingly and blasting out clouds of dust, it felt suffocatingly short.

......

In the heavy silence where no one dared speak first, we all pressed ourselves against the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠broken second-floor window frame and turned to our leader, Han Seol-ah, as if by unspoken agreement.

Even facing the Behemoth's overwhelming physique—its pillar-thick forearms planted on the ground as it panted—Han Seol-ah's gaze remained steady. She stared down at the monster outside with cool, sunken eyes, her mind racing.

Soon she bit her lip, then turned to meet each of our faces before speaking.

"We still don't know what kind of attacks that boss can use."

She carefully readjusted her grip on the longsword at her waist and continued.

"Instead of charging in like idiots from the start, we'll evade and learn its attack patterns first."

It was a rational, level-headed decision. The Grade 1 Aces hadn't ended up sprawled across the plaza floor for nothing—blindly dumping damage would be suicide.

The party members nodded heavily. Then Seol-ah's gaze shifted to Song A-rin, the party's sole healer and buffer positioned at the center of our formation.

"Song A-rin. From now on, keep the movement speed buff on me as your highest priority. I'll draw its attention, so the rest of you focus on survival and evasion. Don't even think about reckless attacks for the time being."

Song A-rin's wide eyes were already brimming with terrified tears, completely overwhelmed by the monster's presence. She looked one step away from collapsing in sobs. Yet at Han Seol-ah's firm, unwavering command, A-rin let a single tear slip, gripped her staff tightly with both hands, and gave a trembling nod.

"H-huu... U-um. I-I understand..."

"Everyone, jump out the window. Spread out and approach."

At Han Seol-ah's low command, the five of us leaped over the shattered second-floor window frame one by one, dropping into the plaza in front of city hall.

Thud. Tap—

We bent our knees to absorb the landing impact, then slipped between massive chunks of debris and wrecked vehicles, fanning out widely. We began closing the distance toward the Behemoth catching its breath at the plaza's center, muffling even our footsteps.

It still hadn't spotted us. But the pressure was on an entirely different level compared to viewing it from the second floor. The closer we drew, the more its colossal frame loomed like a mountain—too massive to fit entirely in one field of vision.

It happened just as Han Seol-ah, at the very front of our formation, passed the rubble of a collapsed fountain.

Sliiide—.

The Behemoth's blood-red eyes, which had been scraping across the ground, suddenly locked onto Han Seol-ah, the closest target.

'It saw us.'

Realizing it instantly, Han Seol-ah quickly raised one hand toward Song A-rin behind her and signaled. She wanted the speed buff.

The moment A-rin flinched, lifted her staff, and began to chant—

KWAAAAAANG—!!

Before the buff could finish, the Behemoth's log-like fist mercilessly pulverized the spot where Han Seol-ah had stood. A deafening boom tore at our eardrums as the plaza asphalt shattered like a spiderweb, forming a massive crater while a thick cloud of dust exploded upward.

"Seol-ah!"

"Leader!"

A-rin and Gi-tae screamed. I sucked in a sharp breath. The sheer speed and destructive power were overwhelming. No matter how talented she was, taking a fist of that mass directly would have meant instant death.

But as if to mock our horror—

Taht—!

Bursting through the dense dust cloud, Han Seol-ah—wrapped in blue mana—leaped into the air with birdlike agility. Without even receiving the buff, she'd evaded that horrific fist by a paper-thin margin using nothing but her own mobility and reflexes.

Only then did A-rin snap out of it. The buff that shot from the tip of her staff wrapped around Seol-ah where she hovered in midair. There was no time to feel relieved.

Enraged that its attack had missed, the Behemoth began slamming its massive fists into the ground in a frenzy, alternating between them.

Kwaang! Kwang! KWAAANG—!!

The merciless barrage resembled carpet bombing. Yet Han Seol-ah, now enhanced by the movement speed buff, left afterimages the instant her feet touched the ground. She slipped outside the bombardment's range and instantly widened the gap between herself and the Behemoth.

"ROOOAAAR—!!"

When its prey escaped its reach, the creature pounded its own chest with those thick, gorilla-like arms and unleashed an ear-splitting roar. Then it suddenly froze.

It lowered its rhino-like heavy head toward the ground, grotesquely swelling the muscles of its thick hind legs as it took a charging stance.

'Here it comes.'

KUGUGUGUGUNG—!!

The ground shook violently as if an earthquake had struck. Leading with the vicious horn on its brow, the Behemoth charged toward Han Seol-ah like a tank, accelerating to terrifying speed.

The sheer velocity and mass made sweat bead in my palms just watching, but at the precarious final instant before the charge could swallow her, Han Seol-ah twisted her body sideways and let it flow past like a matador.

KWAAAAAANG—!!

Having lost its target, the Behemoth couldn't stop. It slammed head-on into the five-story abandoned building behind her.

"Crazy..."

A dazed curse slipped from Yoon Jung-woo's mouth. The building's first-floor pillars and outer walls now had massive holes pierced clean through by the creature's horn. With a thunderous crash, the surrounding structure crumbled and buried the beast.

If a person had taken that charge directly? The destructive power was too horrific to imagine.

While everyone swallowed dryly, overwhelmed by that brute force, the Behemoth rose from the debris, shaking its head, and turned toward Han Seol-ah once more.

What followed was a long, breathless game of tag that felt like more than five minutes.

Instead of risking reckless attacks, Han Seol-ah used A-rin's movement speed buff to the absolute limit, repeatedly closing and widening the distance. It was a top ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠student's calm approach—thoroughly testing whether the beast hid any irregular skills or magical attacks.

Contrary to our fears, its patterns were shockingly simple. When Han Seol-ah entered range, it swung its massive fists to crush her. When she pulled away, it gathered power in its hind legs and charged with its horn. That was all.

Kwang—! Rumble—

On its fourth missed charge, the Behemoth drove its head into the massive statue debris. As collapsed rubble covered the plaza and thick beads of sweat began falling from Han Seol-ah's forehead, the creature staggered as if concussed. It fell into a groggy state, shaking its head.

Seizing that brief opening, she darted back to our formation and wiped the sweat from her chin.

"Haa... haa... Everyone saw it, right?"

She caught her breath and began briefing us quickly.

"Its destructive power is certainly a huge threat, but fortunately those seem to be its only patterns. It swings when something enters range and charges without fail when the target pulls away."

Our party members nodded in unison. Then, with sparkling eyes, all four of us stared intently at our leader's face.

'We know the pattern now. So what next?'

The silent pressure from four people weighed on her in the quiet. At those blatant, burdensome stares, a flicker of panic crossed the Ice Queen's usually cold face. She cleared her throat, briefly looked away, then turned to Yoon Jung-woo after a short moment of thought.

"Yoon Jung-woo."

"Uh, yeah?"

"Those punches... you think you can block them?"

Jung-woo glanced at the staggering giant in the distance, his face turning pale. But he quickly adjusted his grip on the door-sized tower shield and licked his dry lips.

"Well... that insane charge would probably smash me along with the shield for an instant death. But the downward punches when it closes in... if I angle the shield right, I should be able to handle one or two."

"Good."

Han Seol-ah's cool eyes sharpened at his confirmation. She flicked her longsword lightly and made her decision.

"Keeping distance and waiting for it to go groggy carries too much risk. While you hold its attention from the front and block the punches, I'll slip into its blind spot and target the hind legs. That charge's power clearly comes from the hind leg joints, so I'll sever the muscle tendons there first and seal off its charges."

While the Behemoth shook its head vigorously and recovered from the concussion, our main force quickly moved into its line of sight as planned.

"Hey!! You oversized sandbag!! Look over here!!"

Jung-woo, charging ahead, slammed his massive shield into the ground with a bang and roared at the top of his lungs. At the same time, a provocative red glow burst from the shield's surface.

The Behemoth's vicious eyes flashed as its target switched to Jung-woo. It unleashed a horrific roar and swung its log-like fist.

"Kgh...!"

KWAAAAANG—!!

At the moment of impact, Jung-woo angled his shield diagonally instead of facing it head-on, deflecting the force. An enormous scraping sound rang out as his body slid backward, but by receiving the blow as thinly as possible, he avoided the catastrophe of a shattered shield or broken bones.

In that brief window while Jung-woo risked his life to hold its attention—

The movement speed buff from Song A-rin's staff in the rear wrapped around Han Seol-ah once more.

"Hik?!"

Gi-tae flinched at the ground-shaking impact, hunching his shoulders. I watched from slightly behind our formation, hands empty, waiting. I was calculating which of the weapons dangling across my body to grab first based on the creature's hide thickness and reactions.

And at the center where every gear of our tactic meshed perfectly, leader Han Seol-ah finally burst forward.

Taht—!

With the movement speed buff active, her body became a blue arrow that left only a single streak behind. She raced into the Behemoth's blind spot—its thick hind legs—completely exposed while it swung at Jung-woo.

She leaped. Her body floated briefly in the air as she aimed her sword in a flying strike. At the same time, blue mana erupted from within her, coating her body and the longsword's blade without a single gap.

She spun her entire body with intense rotational force in midair, driving the blade straight into the back of the Behemoth's knee joint—the taut Achilles tendon and muscle veins—while continuing to rotate.

Shiiiing—!!

A clean, perfect slash that sent chills down the spine. Flawless mana control combined with body technique that transmitted one hundred percent of her rotational power to the blade's tip. It was a wondrous strike that proved exactly why she had drawn media attention as a swordsmanship genius even before entering the academy, and why she stood as the undisputed top student.

"KRAAAAAAGH—!!"

Crimson blood fountained as the beast's grotesque scream tore across the plaza. Its hind leg muscle—the source of its charge—had been severed. The Behemoth lost balance with a heavy thud and collapsed onto one knee in an ugly heap.

In that moment, a sharp question flashed through my mind as I watched from behind.

'...Huh? The damage actually landed?'

Even Gi-tae, pale beside me, cheered. "What? It's just big and nothing special!"

The same thought must have crossed everyone's minds. For a boss notorious for wiping out Grade 1 Aces, the strategy felt too easy. If this simple formula—Jung-woo tanking while Seol-ah sliced—worked, we could end it in five minutes at most.

But our shallow arrogance plummeted into despair in less than a second.

"Haaap—!!"

Not missing the opening of the leg-severed, kneeling Behemoth, it twisted its torso with grotesque flexibility. Its free opposite forearm sent Han Seol-ah—freshly landed—flying back into the air.

This time she targeted its flank, aiming for the ribs where a fatal wound was possible. Wrapping even denser mana around herself and her sword than before, she spun like a top and swung with enough force to bisect its torso completely.

It was the exact instant her blade tip was about to connect perfectly with the creature's thick flank hide.

Clank— Giiiik!!

Suddenly, from inside the Behemoth came a bizarre, unpleasant mechanical grinding—like iron lumps and gears forcibly meshing. It was impossible to believe the sound came from a living creature.

'What the—?!'

The moment my eyes widened, its once-smooth hide rippled like waves at horrifying speed, then cracked apart and hardened into thousands ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of densely linked iron chains—chainmail scales.

KAAAANG—!! Chiiiik—!!

The instant Han Seol-ah's longsword struck its flank, the sound wasn't of flesh being cut but of metal grinding violently against metal, sending sparks flying across the plaza. The swaying chain scales gently deflected her slash, reducing its power to zero.

"......!!"

Han Seol-ah's eyes—wide with the bold rotation she'd applied expecting to carve through flesh—shook violently with shock. The expected impact vanished as her blade slid helplessly across the iron mass. The centrifugal force she'd built in the air became a horrific backlash that engulfed her.

"Aack!"

Having completely lost her balance, she struggled not to drop her sword, but the powerful rebound sent her tumbling helplessly through the air.

And in that dizzying instant, the Behemoth—still on one knee in an unstable stance—twisted its head with grotesque flexibility. Its blood-red eyes locked precisely onto Han Seol-ah where ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she floated defenselessly.

Shwoooong—!

It raised its still-free massive forearm and began carving a vicious arc through the air, swatting at her like a fly.