Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: Promotion Match (3)
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The moment the promotion match began, both inside and outside the iron bars were completely covered in countless pure white needles, leaving the audience frozen in silence, unable to make a sound.
It was because the cheers they were about to unleash never came—the match ended right then and there.
A promotion match, which happened maybe once a year if you were lucky, had concluded the instant it started.
The spectators, robbed even of the chance to open their mouths, slowly turned their gazes toward the culprit who had chilled the atmosphere: Han Yu-jin.
In the suffocating silence, with hundreds of eyes fixed on her, Han Yu-jin met them head-on and muttered,
"Annoying."
Han Yu-jin could spit out her irritation without flinching under the barrage of hostile stares screaming "Is she for real?" simply because she was that strong.
Ranked a solid 15th in Jincheon Class, a gathering of only geniuses, she had pride to match her skill.
For her, the idea of these mediocres from Beon Class daring to challenge her in a promotion match was an utter insult to her dignity.
Thus, her ultimate retribution was to end it decisively the moment it began.
That was why she had unleashed Han Clan's secret technique, 'Saragi Needle Eye'—something she wouldn't normally bother with, far too extravagant for Beon Class trash.
"Tch."
Gazing at the opposite side of the bars, now so densely packed with pure white needles that its shape was unrecognizable, Han Yu-jin clicked her tongue briefly.
Even though the fool who had dared to nominate her had turned into a porcupine, her annoyance hadn't faded.
"Hey. Aren't you ending it?"
Han Yu-jin, who didn't want to spend another second in this circular arena where she'd been dragged against her will, turned her head away from the hill of white needles she had created.
This promotion match was a disgrace she didn't even want to commit to memory, so she had vowed not to look back—but she opened her mouth toward the announcer's booth anyway.
The announcer, who had been left speechless by the anticlimactic end the instant the match started, snapped to attention at her words and grabbed the mic.
"Tch."
Even as the announcer was about to declare her victory, Han Yu-jin clicked her tongue at the surging irritation.
Victory was a given—no joy there. The whole situation just pissed her off.
As Han Yu-jin waited for her name to echo through the arena and the match to end, the announcer's voice suddenly cut off mid-sentence.
"······What? Why'd you stop?"
It wasn't just a dropout—he'd uttered two of the three syllables of her name and then stopped. Naturally, the person whose name it was let out a baffled question.
"Hm?"
In that moment, Han Yu-jin noticed the announcer's gaze wasn't on her but on the needle hill.
Even glancing at the audience seats, not a single person was looking at her—everyone stared at the same spot as the announcer.
Soon, murmurs began to spread through the audience that had been dead silent since the match started.
The vibe was off. Very off.
"What the······."
At that point, even Han Yu-jin realized things weren't going as she'd thought.
She had vowed not to look back out of pride—this was a match already over, not worth remembering—but before she knew it, her body had turned toward the needle hill.
"Ah?"
When she finally turned and saw what everyone in the arena was staring at, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Whew, that startled me······."
The Beon Class vermin who had dared nominate her, Fuyuno Tsubaki, was walking out of the needle hill without a single scratch.
"W-What the hell······."
Han Yu-jin's 'Needle Eye,' a Han Clan secret technique, had earned her the moniker "Snow Needle" just a month and a half after enrolling at Dabcheon Academy.
It scattered mana infused with chill into the air, absorbed and amplified moisture to freeze it into needle form, then rained it down on the enemy—a spell that could wound even the top elites of Jincheon Class stronger than her.
Not just needles falling like snow or rain from the sky, but amplified with mana for devastating power, forcing opponents to take the damage.
Yet this girl had taken an advanced version, 'Saragi Needle Eye,' head-on at the start and emerged unscathed.
"Impossible."
As Han Yu-jin herself muttered, this made no sense to her.
"Um······."
But no matter how much she denied it alone, the utterly pristine Fuyuno Tsubaki standing before her denied her denial right back.
Grinding her teeth, Han Yu-jin reached out toward Fuyuno Tsubaki, who timidly raised a hand as if to ask something.
Immediately, tiny mana orbs laced with chill burst from her fingertips.
Shwoooooaaaah—!!!
The mana grains from her fingertips absorbed air moisture, froze solid, formed into needles, and surged toward Fuyuno Tsubaki.
The most powerful instant-cast Needle Eye Han Yu-jin could muster now engulfed Fuyuno Tsubaki just like before.
Crackle-crunch—!
As Needle Eye hit, the impact of countless ice needles colliding shrouded Han Yu-jin's vision in frost mist.
But even with her sight blocked, she could feel it had landed.
She always heard it when casting Needle Eye—the sound of ice needles piercing, tearing, and shredding their target.
"Haa······."
'Saragi Needle Eye' was an instant-cast with heavy mana cost; having burned more than expected, Han Yu-jin exhaled the breath she'd held.
Her halted breathing resumed, muscles relaxing naturally, but she didn't drop her mental guard.
This opponent had somehow blocked a surprise 'Saragi Needle Eye' without a scratch before.
"······."
Swishhh—
Instead of wondering "Did I get her?" and chanting, she emitted chilled mana overhead, gathering more 'Needle Eye.'
Whoosh—
As time passed, the frost mist from 'Saragi Needle Eye' slowly dissipated, gradually revealing a human silhouette.
"Hm."
Fuyuno Tsubaki, who should have been covered head to toe, was unscathed again, casually scratching her cheek.
But this time, Han Yu-jin didn't panic.
"I was surprised at first, but now I get it. If you have that kind of ability, nullifying my Needle Eye makes sense."
She was a genius among geniuses, shining 15th in Jincheon Class.
She knew if something happened once, it could happen twice—and while casting 'Saragi Needle Eye,' she'd pondered why the girl was unharmed.
And by the time the mist cleared and she reappeared, Han Yu-jin had her answer.
"Cold resistance nullification, right? That's why you nominated me. With that, you could counter my 'Needle Eye.'"
Her conclusion: nullification of cold techniques.
Nothing else explained perfectly blocking 'Needle Eye,' impossible even for Jincheon elites unscathed.
Confident in her deduction, she erased her fluster and smirked like a victor.
"If I were a bit dumber, you might've had me. Unfortunately, I'm a genius. I have counters for cold immunity."
Know your enemy, win every battle. Having figured out the ability, she was certain of victory—and began compressing the maximum Needle Eye gathered in the air above into one.
Rumble-rumble······ grrr······!
The cloud-like mass of Needle Eye coalesced into one enormous needle.
No, it was too massive to call a needle.
"If cold doesn't work, just smash with mass. That was interesting. Farewell."
With her parting words, Han Yu-jin swept her hand down, and the 'Snow Nail' accelerated like it had been hammer-struck, hurtling toward Fuyuno Tsubaki.
Thung! Whiiiiiish—!!!
Facing the 'Snow Nail' barreling toward her—potent enough to cleave a person in half without a trace—Fuyuno Tsubaki nodded slightly.
"So I didn't mishear it."
She lightly raised her open palm.
It was a small, delicate hand, laughably inadequate against a 'Snow Nail' that could pierce the arena's thick walls—but Fuyuno Tsubaki's eyes held no tremor.
Perfectly calm, like Yang Woo-bin gazing at her, she impassively faced the spike.
The moment her lightly extended palm was about to collide with the unstoppable 'Snow Nail'...
"Stop."
A soft command escaped Fuyuno Tsubaki's lips.
Halt.
And, as ordered, Han Yu-jin's ultimate 'Snow Nail' stopped dead right before Fuyuno Tsubaki's slender fingertips.
"······Huh?"
······?????
Han Yu-jin, the announcer, the audience—everyone doubted their eyes in this absurd scene. Only Fuyuno Tsubaki remained utterly composed.
With the pillar-sized 'Snow Nail' hovering above her hand, she finished her interrupted words to her opponent.
"Sorry."
"Uh, wha? Ah? What?"
"I wasn't paying attention when they said the match started, so I didn't catch it properly. I was just standing there wondering if it really began. Uh, I'll do it for real now······."
Fuyuno Tsubaki paused, then pulled back her right arm holding the 'Snow Nail' widely behind her.
"W-Wait······? H-Hold on······!"
At Fuyuno Tsubaki's javelin-thrower stance, Han Yu-jin startled and desperately tried to squeeze out mana.
But her mana was depleted from creating the ultimate 'Snow Nail'; all she could muster was a handful of eye-needles.
"Forgive me!"
As an apology for her distraction, Fuyuno Tsubaki thrust her pulled-back arm forward powerfully—and the 'Snow Nail' responded, rocketing toward its creator.
Whiiiiiish—BOOOOM—!!!
A handful of eye-needles couldn't possibly block this behemoth.
"Hnggh······."
Thud.
Thus, Han Yu-jin rolled back her eyes and fainted as the 'Snow Nail' pierced right beside her head.
An outcome no one in the audience had foreseen.