Episode 13: Regular Exam
Episode 13: Regular Exam
The atmosphere was different from the monthly evaluation.
Yoo Ara could feel it.
The gazes of the other cadets looking at her.
It wasn't the look one gives a dim-witted repeater, but the glare of a rival.
"I think they're targeting us."
"Probably. We took 1st place in the monthly evaluation a week ago."
Yoo Ara steeled her heart.
It's okay.
I had special training with Kim Si-woo, so it'll be fine.
Even if there were... accidents during the process.
Just thinking about it made her face burn.
"Phew, let's pull myself together."
Now is not the time to be distracted by other things.
Get a grip, Yoo Ara.
"Our strategy is simple. Solve the mission and take down anyone who attacks us."
"That's simpler than I thought."
"I racked my brain for a week, and this seemed best. They're all going to keep us in check anyway, so there's no point in dragging it out."
"Agreed. That's the most effective way."
The problem was Jang Won-hoo.
It was a matter of how that guy would act.
She needed to be wary of when he might betray them.
"But our mission has changed a lot."
Was it because they exploited the loopholes in the simulation too much, just as Kim Si-woo taught them?
The areas she had targeted had all been modified to something else.
There was even a mission to rescue the most annoying people.
'There's a way around this, too.'
-The exam begins. 5, 4.......
Yoo Ara, having entered the simulation field, focused on the hologram floating before her.
The moment that number hits 0, the exam starts.
1st place.
Absolutely 1st place.
Yoo Ara steeled her resolve.
And.
-0.
-Complete your respective missions safely.
The exam began.
Lee Hye-ri, the tanker, in the vanguard; Jang Won-hoo and Yoo Ara in the middle.
They moved in a triangular formation, each positioned at a corner.
"Kill them!"
The first attackers arrived faster than the first mission.
A party hiding in an alleyway ambushed them.
Lee Hye-ri marked the enemies at the front, but as she wasn't a professional tanker, it was difficult for her to draw aggro from all three opponents.
"No!"
A rogue-class cadet slipped past Lee Hye-ri and approached Yoo Ara.
"If I just take care of the psychokinetic......."
It was common knowledge that psychokinetics were weak against agility-based classes.
It's over.
Lee Hye-ri, who had let the enemy break through, thought so.
Whoosh.
"Huh?"
Yoo Ara lightly twisted her body and dodged the enemy's attack.
Everyone on the scene looked at her with surprised faces.
"W-what?"
Yoo Ara was just as surprised.
'I-it's real.......'
The rogue-class cadet approached just as Kim Si-woo had taught her.
'Rogue classes require you to watch their lower body movement more than their upper body. And usually, beginners use the official pattern of entering the opponent's guard when facing a caster. Why? Because it's the most efficient.'
It was exactly as he said.
Even though he was much faster than her, the attack was visible enough for her to dodge.
"Y-you, what on earth......."
The rogue couldn't finish his sentence.
Yoo Ara's psychokinesis instantly constricted his entire body.
-Class 23-D student Jo Jae-hyun. Death confirmed, eliminated.
The simulation field's magnetic field dragged his equipment to the floor.
Thud.
"Ugh!"
The eliminated student's exam ended here.
Being the first to be eliminated, he would probably be held back.
"You bastard!"
The warrior-class cadet, having broken free of Lee Hye-ri's aggro, rushed in.
His movements were also visible.
'Warrior classes have different attack methods depending on their weapon, but those holding axes have very large movements. At this speed, I can dodge it.'
The pattern was exactly as Kim Si-woo had described.
Yoo Ara dodged his attack and unleashed her psychokinesis.
-Class 23-D student Yu Heon. Death confirmed, eliminated.
And another elimination.
The last one.
-Class 23-D student Choi Mi-ju. Death confirmed, eliminated.
Lee Hye-ri finished her off.
The two looked at Yoo Ara with dumbfounded expressions.
"What kind of caster in this world dodges rogue and warrior attacks that agilely? Are you really a repeater?"
Jang Won-hoo asked.
"Yeah."
"Then what on earth is this......."
"......."
Both Lee Hye-ri and Jang Won-hoo had expressions that said they couldn't understand.
"I have a secret method."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you."
Yoo Ara realized.
That Kim Si-woo guy might be a bit of a pervert and weird, but his skills were definitely the real deal.
That's why she didn't want to tell them.
Because.
If others found out, he might not be in charge of her anymore.
It was an instinctive resistance.
"Let's go quickly. We don't have time."
Yoo Ara's words were true.
Because even at this very moment, other teams would be moving forward.
"That movement is absurd."
Park Ji-yoon clicked her tongue while staring at the screen.
"That looked like trained movement just now, don't you think?"
"I think so."
Park Ji-yoon nodded at the words of Professor Choi Ik-hyun, who was observing the exam footage with her.
"Surely, last year, or even at the beginning of the first semester, she wasn't a student who showed movements like that......."
"There's a record that she recently placed in the middle tier in the physical fitness test as well."
"Haha, it seems a formidable expert has taken her on as a student."
"Could it be a retiree?"
"Who knows. But one thing is certain."
Park Ji-yoon listened closely to Choi Ik-hyun.
He was a master at getting under people's skin, but at the same time, he was one of the most outstanding experts among the physical-type professors.
His perspective would be different from hers, as she was from the caster lineage.
"That child's teacher is definitely an expert worn down by real combat. At least S-class. I'd say an S-class hunter."
"Who could it be?"
"Impossible to know. But it will be worth watching closely."
"What about the academy invitation......?"
"It would be impossible. If they had any intention of doing so, they would have joined an academy already."
The two professors watched Yoo Ara effortlessly dismantling the mission.
On the screen, Yoo Ara had eliminated another cadet at this very moment.
-Class 23-D student Yang Hyun-woo. Death confirmed, eliminated.
It seems the 1st place for the regular exam is already decided.
"Huff, huff."
Yoo Ara, along with Lee Hye-ri and Jang Won-hoo, reached the vicinity of the final destination.
Now, the last part.
The real last part.
If she just crossed that finish line.......
That was when it happened.
Yoo Ara twisted her body to dodge a sinister killing intent that pierced her skin.
"Ugh!"
It was a familiar weapon.
As expected, Jang Won-hoo.
The short spear used by him, an agility-based close-range dealer, had aimed for Yoo Ara's back.
"You're betraying us now?"
"Thanks to someone, I got last place in the monthly evaluation. I had to get 1st place no matter what."
"We could have easily taken 1st place if we just went together."
"Then I wouldn't get the scholarship."
That was when it happened.
Three burly men who looked like thugs walked out from between the buildings.
"Damn, that's fast. We almost would've been late."
"Good job, Won-hoo."
"Look at them. Seems like the other teams wore them out pretty good, huh?"
They were the cadets who had been chatting with Jang Won-hoo during the first monthly evaluation.
"You, by any chance?"
"I calculated the scores, and realized I could only get 1st place if you guys were eliminated."
Jang Won-hoo and his cohorts spoke with a crooked tone.
Lee Hye-ri stuck close to Yoo Ara and said.
"Be careful. They're all C+ class or higher."
"C+ class?"
First-year students who entered this year having a total stat of C+ class.
She, who had been held back for a year, wasn't even C class.
Is this what a stat-spoon is?
"We can win if we do it like before. I'll hold them off, so......."
Jang Won-hoo sneered as he looked at the two.
"Be careful. That girl Yoo Ara, she dodges attacks with weird movements if you approach normally, so you have to approach unpredictably."
"Okay, sounds good."
2 vs 4.
A clearly disadvantageous battle situation.
Yoo Ara, having pushed aside the feeling of betrayal and calmed down, thought it was doable.
C+ class.
'Si-woo ssaem was at least A-class or higher.'
There was a vast difference between A-class and C+ class.
She could dodge it.
One counterattack is all it takes.
At the same time, the 4 cadets rushed in simultaneously.
Lee Hye-ri took on 2 of them.
However, the other two.
Jang Won-hoo and the big guy next to him.
Yoo Ara saw it.
Their movements.
They were slightly different.
From the patterns she had learned from Kim Si-woo.
Her mind panicked.
However, her body, which had practiced dodging while being hit and molested hundreds of times, remembered.
In this situation.
What she should do.
Where she should throw her body.
Before she could even think with her head, Yoo Ara threw her body where her body told her to.
To the side.
A bold roll.
Her body slipped out of the two cadets' attacks.
At that moment, the bodies of the two cadets, who had leaned in to slash and stab her, lost their target and tipped to one side.
Yoo Ara reached out her hand.
"Die."
Powerful psychokinesis.
If the ability hadn't been adjusted for the simulation, the bodies of the two would have been crushed by her psychokinesis.
"Ugh!"
-Class 23-D student Jang Won-hoo. Death confirmed, eliminated.
-Class 23-D student Deok-pal. Death confirmed, eliminated.
And Yoo Ara saw it.
[The mana energy reacting to you strengthens due to your powerful force.]
[Mana stat increases.]
[Mana: B -> A]
Her stats growing.
What followed was simple.
Yoo Ara and Lee Hye-ri took care of the remaining two cadets and were the first to cross the finish line.
[Survivors]
[Class 23-D Team 33, Yoo Ara]
[Class 23-D Team 33, Lee Hye-ri]
"We did it!"
But the joy was short-lived.
-The battle to determine the final 1st place begins.
The exam forced the two into a final showdown.
You can attack the opposing cadet.
That meant the same applied to cadets on the same team.
They said this was the biggest difference between the regular exam and the monthly evaluation.
They said they set up the structure this way on purpose.
Because in the hunter world, showing that there are no eternal friends or eternal enemies was faster than saying it a few times.
"In the end, it came to this."
Lee Hye-ri calmly drew her spear.
"I thought it would just be you and me left at the end."
Yoo Ara gulped as she looked at the spear Lee Hye-ri had drawn.
'Strong.'
Because they were on the same side, she knew how strong Lee Hye-ri was.
Lee Hye-ri was ridiculously strong compared to other cadets.
It was just that she didn't fit the tanker role.
Without even a single basic aggro skill that tankers usually have, she performed the role of a tanker even though she wasn't a dealer.
She had been assigned to Class D, which didn't fit her abilities.
It was no wonder she had easily handled two other cadets by herself.
It was certain that even that wasn't her true skill.
'She deliberately didn't use the dealer skills she possessed.'
A tanker who uses a spear that doesn't suit a tanker at all.
The skill to defeat multiple cadets with pure technique without using skills.
However, because of that, she also had a chance.
'I have to win in the beginning before Hye-ri uses her skills.'
Somehow, score a death confirmation with psychokinesis.
That was the only winning pattern.
Yoo Ara steeled her resolve.
The numerous practice manuals Kim Si-woo had taught her were ingrained in her body.
If it's now, she could win somehow.
"Phew."
-The battle begins.
The alarm rang.
And Lee Hye-ri rushed forward quickly.
"Haa!"
Yoo Ara moved to avoid her movement trajectory.