Chapter 488: The Virgin Master and the Perverted Disciple (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 488: The Virgin Master and the Perverted Disciple (6)
Shin Yu-jeong’s grand advice was short and simple.
-“Honestly, you don’t need to do anything special. Just go for it.”
Go for it, she said.
“She probably doesn’t mean I should literally ram my head into him…”
It must mean I should take our relationship as a man and a woman to the next level.
“Hmm, but how do I do that? No, more importantly…”
Making a move was one thing, but the real problem lay in her own heart.
Did she truly want him?
As Shin Yu-jeong had guessed, she was a virgin with no experience with men.
Was it because she wasn't interested in the opposite sex?
No.
She had met several men she found attractive over the years.
With a few of them, she had even built a good rapport, much like she was doing with Kim Do-jin now.
But she never developed a deep relationship with any of them.
The reason was always the same.
‘They all ran away.’
Crushed by her strength.
They couldn’t handle the wildness she naturally exuded and ended up bailing.
One of them had even left her with these words:
“He said being with me felt like his pride as a man was chipping away…”
She didn’t like it either.
Men who couldn’t handle one woman they were interested in, who would get overwhelmed and leave on their own.
As a result, her experience with men was naturally postponed, and her ideal type began to change.
‘He has to be strong enough to fight and win against me.’
Her attraction to Kim Do-jin stemmed from that very preference.
‘He wasn’t crushed.’
He was confident.
He paid no mind to the pressure and intimidation that radiated from her actions and words.
At first, she thought it was just an act, but it wasn’t.
She realized it as they spent more time together.
He genuinely wasn’t fazed at all.
And seeing that, she understood.
‘He’s a strong man.’
She felt a deep attraction to him.
That much was an undeniable fact.
‘If it’s Kim Do-jin…’
Just because she had remained a virgin for a long time didn’t mean she had become some woman dreaming of a pure, epic romance.
That’s why she didn’t dream of a distant future with him, nor did she intend to.
There was just one thing.
Like any woman, she wanted to create a memory of an intense first night with someone she fancied.
‘Could there be a better partner for a first night than him?’
Whether such a man even existed, she didn't know.
And she couldn't guess whether she would be young or old when that time came.
So, she made up her mind.
She would spend a passionate night with him.
‘She told me to just go for it…’
She wouldn’t follow any conventional procedures.
To charge in with her own unique style, she opened her mouth to Kim Do-jin, who had just arrived at the workshop.
“Fight me!”
In the most fiery way possible.
* * *
A fierce aura relentlessly poured out of her.
It was a savage presence, the kind that felt like it could tear you apart, bones and all, if you made one wrong move.
It wasn't the killing intent of someone who wanted to murder their opponent.
It was the fighting spirit (鬪氣) that emanated from a person focused solely on winning the battle, beyond life and death.
That’s why I was so bewildered.
Yu-jeong had said the bait was taken and that if I came now, there would be some kind of progress. I had rushed over, only to find that progress, my ass, I was about to get into a crazy fight.
Was her goal to lure me into a trap while pretending to help?
Or… had Angela had some kind of change of heart in that short time?
As I pondered, she spoke.
“Don’t overthink it.”
A sudden remark.
It seemed she had read at least some of the complex thoughts on my face.
“I’ll be honest. I quite like you.”
Her confession, delivered with a pinkish blush, threw my mind into further chaos.
If she likes me, why does she suddenly want to fight?
She continued.
“But it’s not enough yet.”
“…What’s not enough?”
“The temperature isn’t high enough.”
“Temperature?”
I furrowed my brow at her incomprehensible answer and asked again. Angela grinned.
“Maybe it’s because I’ve been a blacksmith since I was young, but this level of heat… how should I put it in Korean? It barely scratches the itch, you could say?”
“Ah.”
Now I get it.
So, that’s what she means.
“So… you want to have a match to raise the heat?”
“Exactly.”
“Ha, seriously.”
To think she’d even decide a romantic relationship with a fight.
Should I say that’s just like her?
It was a little absurd, but not entirely incomprehensible.
People who have reached a certain level of mastery always have a screw or two loose.
And this probably wasn’t an issue unique to her.
The ‘temperature’ she was talking about was likely a process to prove that Kim Do-jin was fundamentally different from the other men who had boldly approached her only to be overwhelmed and flee.
It was a rather burdensome task, but at the same time, a great opportunity.
A chance to win her heart and gauge my current skills.
I asked her in a willing tone.
“What are the rules of the match?”
To gauge one’s skills, a full-power brawl was the best way.
But that was nearly impossible.
It wasn’t easy to find a training room or sparring ground that could handle the full power of an S-rank, especially one who had long since surpassed the limits of their grade.
“The rules are simple. See this?”
Angela pointed a finger toward a corner of the workshop, her expression flushed with excitement.
Piled there haphazardly were various pieces of armor forged from steel.
They were filled with traces of diligent effort, but their performance was sorely lacking.
“…Those are the pieces Yu-jeong made.”
“That’s right.”
The equipment was made by Shin Yu-jeong, who punched her time card at the workshop every day.
From the pile, she picked out a helmet and armor that fit her body and put them on.
After arming herself with a crude mace and a round shield, she spoke.
“As you can see, this is all normal-grade equipment. They’re pretty well-made, but if you and I go at it with all our strength, they’ll turn to dust in an instant.”
I understood her meaning immediately.
“So… you’re saying we fight wearing this gear?”
Just as she said, the equipment Yu-jeong had painstakingly made couldn’t withstand the power of an S-rank.
Whether weapon or armor, I could shatter it in an instant if I wanted to.
Fighting while wearing such gear was the same as putting a limit on our power output.
And usually, in a fight like this, the condition for victory was…
“The winner is the one who keeps their own armor intact while breaking all of their opponent’s. How about it?”
Just as I expected.
At a glance, it seemed like a fair fight, but in reality, the conditions were incredibly disadvantageous for me.
She was a Hunter and a blacksmith.
She knew better than anyone how to use equipment to bring out 100% of its power.
Of course, having lived my entire life relying on a single sword, my own senses weren’t bad, but it was true that I fell short compared to her.
But it didn’t matter.
“It seems the conditions are more favorable for you, Angela… but fine.”
I had an ace up my sleeve, too.
Following her lead, I found armor that fit my size and put it on.
Then I picked up a suitable sword, gave it a few light swings.
“Hmm…”
The blade was reasonably sharp, and the grip and weight balance weren’t bad.
It felt like anyone could perform reasonably well with it.
Which was why I was starting to get a little worried.
To achieve this level of skill in such a short time would take an extraordinary amount of effort.
In other words, it meant Shin Yu-jeong was genuinely dedicated to blacksmithing.
Of course, it was part of her training, and she was always dead serious about training, so I suppose it was possible, but…
“…It can’t be.”
I chose to believe it wasn’t true.
But if, by some one-in-a-million chance, she decided blacksmithing was her true calling, well, there was nothing I could do about it.
Already geared up and waiting, she asked.
“Ready?”
“I think so.”
“Good, shall we go then?”
I followed her to a small, open lot behind the workshop.
It was the place I sometimes used to spar with Yu-jeong.
“This should be big enough, right?”
“More or less.”
If we fought with all our strength, not just the lot but the entire surrounding area would be obliterated in less than 0.1 seconds. But right now, our power was limited.
At the very least, we wouldn’t cause any damage to our surroundings.
Probably.
* * *
Five steps.
That was the distance between the two of them.
Considering their abilities, it was a short enough distance to cross dozens of times in the blink of an eye, yet neither of them made a move.
A preliminary skirmish to gauge the opponent’s skill?
Unnecessary, as they had fought together several times already, and dangerous, as even that could destroy their equipment.
Were they just staring each other down, then?
Not that either.
In their minds, the battle had already begun.
A head-on clash, the opponent charging first, charging in first themselves.
They searched through every possible scenario for a situation that would give them even the slightest advantage.
“Hmph…!”
“Hmph.”
A low groan escaped both of them at the same time, without either one starting first.
The reasons were different.
For Kim Do-jin, it was the thought that breaking through her solid guard wouldn’t be easy.
For Angela, it was because she couldn’t process all the countless possibilities unfolding in her mind.
‘He’s incredibly tricky.’
Now that she was his enemy, even for a moment, she understood.
A magic swordsman.
Just how annoying a perfect magic swordsman, the kind you could only dream of, truly was.
The swordsmanship of a master swordsman, by itself, held dozens, even hundreds of different paths.
But what if it didn’t end there, and various forms of magic were added to the mix?
‘I can’t calculate all the possibilities.’
She realized it quickly.
To win, she had to reduce the number of options her opponent possessed.
And the best way to do that was simple.
‘I have no choice but to clash directly!’
The moment she made her decision, she kicked off the ground.
“Hup!”
A short exhale, and then she held her breath.
Her swelling muscles shattered the ground beneath her feet, generating propulsive force.
The timing was absolutely exquisite.
She advanced in the brief instant Kim Do-jin’s eyes blinked shut and opened again.
Because of that, he missed her movement, and to his eyes, it felt as if Angela had teleported.
“Hyaat!”
She channeled mana into the mace in her right hand to enhance its durability, then swung it fiercely.
Her target was Kim Do-jin’s shoulder.
The moment the attack landed, the armor covering his upper body would shatter into pieces.
Of course, that was only if her attack connected perfectly.
‘The shoulder.’
Even though she had closed the distance with exquisite timing, Kim Do-jin didn’t panic for a single moment.
He had many ways to detect her movements besides sight.
The sound of her feet hitting the ground, the scent that rushed toward him in an instant.
And even the ripples in the mana he had spread around him like a net.
The rules of this duel were somewhat disadvantageous for Kim Do-jin.
Her skill in utilizing equipment, the nature of her mana which was specialized in enhancing its durability.
On top of that, there were various other factors, big and small.
Faced with a wall of disadvantages, he saw a single path to victory.
It was none other than technique.
To be more precise, his swordsmanship.
Chaeng!
A single sword threw itself into the path of the blow, deflecting the full-force strike.
And it did so perfectly.
“What…!?”
From her perspective, it was an attack with no downsides.
If it hit, great. If he blocked with his sword, the sword would take the impact.
Even if he dodged, she could just continue her assault.
Her options, which had been set to narrow down, were completely blocked.
Blocked by his extraordinary swordsmanship, which had deflected her attack perfectly without taking any impact on his sword.
“Hup…!”
Instead, she had exposed an opening.
‘Damn it…!’
The sharp tip of his sword, now driving toward her, forced her to make a choice.
Block with the shield?
Or twist her body to dodge?
Her deliberation wasn’t long.
‘No choice. For now, I have to deflect it as much as possible with the shield…!’
Just as she came to that conclusion and raised her shield to block the attack, she saw it.
His face, a faint smile playing on his lips as if this was exactly what he had hoped for.
The moment she saw it, she let out a fierce grin and twisted her body with all her might.
‘You think I’d go down that easily!’
Crrrack!
It was a violent movement, enough to strain her muscles for a moment.
Simultaneously, the tip of his sword grazed through the space where her body had been just a moment before, as if in regret.
Angela leaped away in an unstable posture to escape the follow-up attack.
Thud!
As she landed a short distance away, an unsettling sound reached her ears.
Psssss…!
Looking down at the source of the sound—her left side—she gave a bitter smile.
“Well, now.”
A small crack had appeared in the armor covering her flank.
Even though she had dodged, the tip of his sword had managed to graze her side.
‘Vicious.’
She was marveling at his swordsmanship, which was even better than she had thought.
Kugugung
Suddenly feeling her body grow heavy, she realized a moment too late.
His attack wasn’t over yet.