Chapter 15
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: AMAZING First Test
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“Phew... Even if it's a hologram, my legs are still shaking.”
Even knowing it's fake, that overwhelming pressure feels all too real.
My whole body trembled uncontrollably.
But I had no choice—I had to do this.
I gripped the dagger in my right hand.
'First, I need to get behind Panpagia.'
I broke away from Kang Hwa-yeon's group, who were facing down the monster head-on, and dashed toward its rear.
Tak-tak-tak-tak—
“What are you doing?!”
Kang Hwa-yeon shouted as I suddenly leaped in front of Panpagia.
“Sorry, but I don't feel like dying a pointless death.”
“Then at least help move the injured!”
“What good would hauling corpses do?”
Her face twisted at my words.
'It's not just Hwa-yeon.'
Most of the students following her were glaring at me like I was trash.
'Well, they don't know it's all virtual, so they have a point.'
…
But what if those corpses weren't holograms—what if they were real?
I'd have made the same choice.
“Hoo! I can do this.”
Hwa-yeon scowled, clearly displeased by my intervention, and yelled,
“Everyone, keep up the attack!”
The students redoubled their assault at her command.
'Yeah, keep drawing Panpagia's attention like that.'
Now it was time to wait for my opening.
If Baek A-rin had convinced them as planned, the close-range weapon students would join the fray soon.
Why bring in the melee students at all?
The ranged skill users had already rallied around Hwa-yeon.
She'd temporarily formed her own squad.
No matter what I said, they wouldn't listen.
'Not that I had any confidence in persuading Hwa-yeon anyway.'
But the melee students? There was plenty of opportunity to sway them.
They might not trust me, of course.
But info from Snow Mountain Clan's heir, Baek A-rin? That carried weight.
A second squad, with A-rin at its center, was about to form.
'Truth be told... having Hwa-yeon stay put like that is the best option anyway.'
Monsters like Panpagia, covered in that armored shell, were textbook targets for ranged magic skills.
Hwa-yeon's call was spot-on.
'Within the limits of what she knows, anyway.'
The key to taking down this Panpagia? Close-range weapons.
Panpagia was a B-rank boss monster.
Not like your average mobs.
Its defining trait: scales with insane heat, cold, and bullet resistance.
So even with that armor, you had to hit it with swords or spears.
Meaning Hwa-yeon's group was perfect as is—keep pulling aggro.
I wasn't expecting much from these fresh admits anyway.
I've got a conscience.
Just one thing: shatter a single scale.
'I'll handle the rest.'
“Kwaaaagh!”
“S-Save... me!”
Kang Hwa-yeon stared in horror at the hellish scene: students who'd been fine just hours ago, now screaming in agony.
“What... is this thing...?”
A massive monster she'd never seen or even heard of.
They'd gone for the textbook approach against armored types—aim for the mouth—but it didn't land.
'That level of beast... at least B-rank. No way we can take it down. Just hold out until reinforcements arrive...'
She poured out her skills, maintaining the pressure.
'Only five minutes in... Can we keep this up?'
“...”
'Get it together, Hwa-yeon. If you break now, it's over. You have to make it through.'
Her hero, the man she idolized—her father, Kang Young-ho.
To earn his recognition, Hwa-yeon had to become a hero like him.
That was when it happened.
A guy charged at Panpagia's rear, dagger in hand.
“What are you doing?!”
Kim Si-woo.
The guy who'd been grating on her nerves this whole time.
'Is he suicidal?!'
What did he think he could even do, rushing in like that?
What could a one-page skillbook jockey accomplish?
Hwa-yeon couldn't read his intentions at all.
'We're already short-handed as it is...!'
Then it happened.
The melee students who'd been hauling the wounded rushed the front lines.
“Everyone! Hold formation like we discussed! Focus attacks on one spot only—the massive scale on its right leg!”
“Charge!!!”
'What the hell? Did Si-woo actually pull something off?'
Hwa-yeon had been ignoring him.
Or so she'd thought.
But deep down, she'd been wary of him all along.
“What are you doing?! I told you to move the wounded...”
“No, that'll get everyone killed.”
Irritated by words that pierced her growing anxiety, Hwa-yeon whipped around.
“...”
Baek A-rin stood in her way.
“I made the call, Hwa-yeon-ah.”
“What? Why...”
“I know how to take down that monster.”
“A-rin, you're joking, right? That's impossible... And it's not about subjugating it...”
A-rin cut her off and continued.
“You know it too. We can't save everyone.”
Hwa-yeon knew that.
But her approach was still the best option.
“You'd try to save all ten if there were ten, all hundred if there were a hundred.”
“...”
She was right.
Even if there was a way to beat the beast, if it required sacrifice...
Hwa-yeon couldn't have made that call.
“...So that suicide rush is the right play?”
She pointed toward the wounded, dying horribly, unable to flee, and the melee students getting battered.
A-rin smiled at Hwa-yeon's words.
“They chose my odds over your 1% chance of saving everyone.”
“...”
“Me too.”
Hwa-yeon bit her lip.
“No matter what you say, I won't agree to that plan...”
“I'm not here to convince you. This is a declaration.”
A-rin smiled, cutting her off.
The melee students charged the monster.
As she'd said, the situation was beyond saving now.
Inferno
Inferno Clan Skill
Kang Hwa-yeon murmured the skill name under her breath.
A small flame sparked at her fingertips, slicing through the air.
The moment it touched Panpagia's massive body...
'That's...'
It bloomed like a flower, enveloping the beast.
Graaaaaah—!
A deafening roar that tore at the ears.
Panpagia vented steam, its body swelling and shoving out a massive scale.
“Looks like it worked.”
The second plan I'd relayed to A-rin.
'Leak the plan to Hwa-yeon.'
I didn't know how she'd passed it on.
But with my original plan in ruins, Hwa-yeon had no choice.
'She'll have to follow.'
It wasn't persuasion—it was blackmail.
“Good thing it went according to plan.”
Panpagia's scales could vent heat for one simple reason.
They expand with temperature changes, creating an insulating gap from the body.
At that moment, the connection between scale and flesh weakens.
Vulnerable to physical attacks.
'No way these newbies could pull off a skill like that.'
That's why we needed Hwa-yeon's clan skill, Inferno.
But she'd chosen hit-and-run to conserve stamina and mana—no way she'd burn it on something so costly.
So I had to sabotage her optimal play.
'And coming from Baek A-rin, the one person she truly opens up to? Double the effect.'
“It worked!”
“Fall back, everyone!”
“We did it! Just like you said—the scale's completely shattered, A-rin!”
Cheers echoed.
One scale, expanded by Inferno, had shattered and fallen clean off.
Honestly, I'd been half-doubting it'd work...
Guess they're all A-rank talent material.
Then a guy shouted.
“Wait...? The scale's growing back?!”
“Shit, how did we even break it?!”
“What the hell is this, A-rin?! You didn't mention this!”
“No way...”
A-rin shot me an incredulous look.
'Yep, this is it.'
I flashed her a thumbs-up and dove under Panpagia's belly.
“What the hell's that guy doing? Was that suicide dive part of the plan?!”
Hwa-yeon's shout rang out.
'Yeah, that's my plan.'
The scale regenerating wasn't some new growth.
Panpagia shifts scales from the least-targeted spot—its underbelly—to fill gaps.
And generates a fresh one from the center of its stomach.
'Meaning its underbelly's scaleless right now.'
I pulled a smoke bomb from my back pocket and rolled it under the beast.
Psheeeee—
Dark Screen
Massive dark fog envelops the area
A huge cloud of black mist swallowed the surroundings.
'No time.'
If a new scale formed below, it was over!
Dark Screen required flanking the enemy—couldn't use it now.
So...
'Bunny Hop it is.'
Bunny Hop
Body launches with intense pain
I prayed to the heavens.
Bunny Hop
Tak-tak-tak-tak—!
Intense pain surged as my body bounced forward.
Hard to see inside the Dark Screen...
'Gotta find it! Panpagia's belly center...!'
My vision whipped by at high speed.
“Found it!”
I stabbed the dagger into the floor to halt my arrow-like momentum.
Kikikikik—
“Haa... haa...”
Even through the haze, the scaleless center of its belly stood out sharp.
The organ generating scales—Panpagia's weak point.
Stab this, and it's done.
'I actually pulled it off.'
Even 8th-run Lee Seong-hyeon failed here.
Hell, 888th-run him probably would too.
And I did it.
“Time to finish this!”
I gripped the dagger in my right hand.
“Hup!”
Poor Strike
Critical hit! Weak point penetrated
The dagger plunged precisely into the weak point, and Panpagia crumbled to dust like that.