Chapter 62
Chapter 62
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: 13. The Needle in the Satchel (4)
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A little while ago.
The test was in full swing.
Green Spiders swarmed right before their eyes.
Dealing with them wasn't difficult, but puuuuh—along with the green venom they spewed, hundreds of baby spiders came flying in. Yeon Woo-bin's mind instantly assessed the situation. She knew that blasting away with high-powered destructive magic to take out the babies would deplete her mana in no time.
Fire Arrow
1-Circle Magic
Roar...
Boom!
1-circle.
She opted for the flame magic that could be cast the fastest while being most efficient against the babies.
Roarrrrr...
The babies burned up in an instant.
Fire Arrow couldn't fell adult Green Spiders, but the babies slipping into armor to inflict ongoing damage were no problem at all. It was one of the solutions they'd arrived at during their review. Choose the right spell for the situation, distribute mana efficiently, and avoid excessive overexertion.
And that wasn't all.
After whittling them down with 1-circle spells, the moment she judged the Green Spiders had clustered, she unleashed higher-tier magic.
Salamander's Breath
High-Tier Flame Magic
Whoooosh...
Roarrrrrr...
The salamander's form unleashed a torrent of fierce flames.
Kang San had timed it perfectly, herding the monsters to one spot, dealing maximum damage with a single spell. Heat radiated from the crackling blaze. Rather than jumping straight into her next cast, Yeon Woo-bin caught her breath and downed a mana potion.
'This is a comfortable spot right now. Still, I need to manage my mana ahead of time for what's coming.'
Exhaustion.
That came from failing to pair effort with proper rest.
Yeon Woo-bin wasn't pushing herself recklessly to clear the foes ahead. Instead, she'd sweep them with a powerful spell first, then secure time to recover. Her teammates were still tangled up in the fray, but it wasn't dire, so she trusted them to hold the line. It was about pacing her stamina. She distinguished between moments to go all-out and those where she didn't, preventing her own burnout in advance.
Kang San's party.
Firepower fell entirely on Yeon Woo-bin.
Managing her stamina was an essential they'd all agreed on.
Thanks to that, their pace quickened.
Even while pausing appropriately to rest, they were overwhelmingly faster than other parties that briefly lost their rear damage dealer. Midway through, Kang San kept checking the time. He emphasized their leeway to preempt any creeping impatience among the group.
How far had they traveled?
Variables kept cropping up.
Mid-cast, a stalactite came crashing down over Yeon Woo-bin's head this time.
But.
"Watch out!"
Kwoong!
Jeong Chan-woo swiftly interposed himself.
Preparation for surprises wasn't just on her.
What was Jeong Chan-woo's role?
To defensively counter every variable from the rear.
The moment the stalactite shook loose, Jeong Chan-woo—who'd been scanning the surroundings—moved a step ahead before it could fall.
"Watch out!"
Kwoong!
He blocked it with ease.
Shield up, the stalactite ricocheted off harmlessly. Yeon Woo-bin didn't even interrupt her cast, as if she'd known all along he'd have her back. It was mutual trust. Especially after everyone shone in the ant cave, they believed their comrades would nail their roles perfectly.
'Situation?'
Jeong Chan-woo kept surveilling the area.
He'd heard Kang San's lessons until his ears blistered.
Above, below—anywhere.
No matter the variable, cultivate the sharpness to react first.
Kang San, once an arrow sponge who was helpless if his team died, stressed the value of allies. Jeong Chan-woo embodied that now. He followed his mentor's guidance. It secured rear stability. Just like him, Jo Han-byeol handled sudden variables on the offensive side.
Drdrdrdr...
Kyaaak!
Suddenly, a Green Spider burst from the ground.
It was a split-second moment.
About three seconds from the ground rumbling to it emerging—but the instant it screeched, an arrow punched through its head.
Puk!
'Focused shot.'
Lightning-fast reaction.
Jo Han-byeol always prioritized rear threats in his attacks, so he could instantly counter the Green Spider's ambush emergence. With its head exploded, the bursting babies were no issue. Jeong Chan-woo body-blocked them bodily, while Jo Han-byeol's rapid fire tore them apart.
Their coordination clicked perfectly.
No need to slow down.
While Kang San and Yeon Woo-bin focused on offense and control, Jeong Chan-woo and Jo Han-byeol smoothly covered the gaps. Of course, it required a tanker who could hold off hordes and a mage who could wipe them out—but those two were like flawless lubricant in between.
Their combined efforts.
Created meaningful differences.
Casting uninterrupted despite attacks.
Frontline focus without rear worries.
Every scenario.
Repeated battles.
2-3 second edges kept stacking.
Building to 10 seconds, a minute, 10 minutes.
Kurrrrrrr...
Kyaaak!
"It's the Black Spider Queen."
"Boss monster at last."
They finally faced the boss.
C-Rank Black Spider Queen.
Undeniably threatening foe, but the beast didn't last long before collapsing.
Kwoong.
Kurrrrrr...
Exactly 40 minutes from test start—an utterly dominant result.
The official's account.
Jeong Hye-mi couldn't accept it outright.
'No way.'
40 minutes.
Even her meticulously prepared Project B Team, quick to handle variables, had taken 55.
For a ragtag group not even all D-Rank to pass in just 40? Jeong Hye-mi couldn't wrap her head around it logically. At first, she'd called Jeong Chan-woo to verify. No answer despite repeated tries, so conspiracy theories ballooned in her mind.
'What if there's foul play I don't know about in this result too?'
Consider it.
If Heavenly Firmament was the culprit.
Among the six teams tested, would they welcome only Project B passing?
Just as she'd hyped the high difficulty, they could trumpet that Project B was the sole team through the filter. So, to utterly eclipse Heavenly Firmament's achievement, what ploy? Exactly this—a party clearing faster than Project B Team. Then she couldn't fall back on filter excuses.
'Definitely off. According to Min Yeong-gi, these were variables tough to counter without prior knowledge. If a Heavenly Firmament mole leaked trap types in advance, results would flip entirely.'
She moved.
With suspicions lingering, she couldn't just walk away.
She sought out the official again.
Not the one who'd reported results, but the sneering one from an hour ago.
She told him.
"Could I possibly view the sixth party's test footage?"
"Why? Suspicious they finished too quick?"
The official sneered.
He grasped her motive instantly.
Truth be told, he'd been stunned checking the results himself moments ago.
The official said.
"I get it. Why you're reacting this way. Having protested the prior results, you'd naturally suspect foul play in anything topping Project B Team. But here's the thing. The footage will make it clear right away. How they downed the boss monster in 40 minutes flat—and why we unanimously passed them the instant the test ended."
Test footage available to requesters.
At the official's discretion.
If foul play, he'd refuse—but he found this situation downright entertaining.
"See it yourself. How a party that rolled in the field handled the variables."
They played the footage.
Impressive from the jump.
The four-person party, confirming pitch blackness all around, lit up without any special discussion.
A part that would've normally drawn admiration.
Minor detail, but this scene alone revealed their teamwork level. Yet viewing through biased lenses, maybe they'd anticipated this and needed no talk.
'No. Don't jump to conclusions.'
Her brother's party.
Jeong Chan-woo might be immature, but he'd never stoop to legally dubious foul play.
The footage rolled on.
Soon Black Spiders appeared, battle ensued.
But.
'...This is an E-Rank tanker's skill?'
The vanguard.
Kang San's presence loomed large.
His team showed no special reaction to the Black Spiders' arrival—only he stepped up to block as if it were natural. She'd thought it risky at first. Black Spiders were D-Rank monsters. Even for an ambitious tanker, soloing that many was no joke.
Against expectations.
Kang San handled it flawlessly.
And Yeon Woo-bin's devastating spells explained how they'd cleared the ant cave.
'No ordinary skill. The tank holds multiple Black Spiders without strain, and the mage's firepower crushes same-rank standards.'
Still early days.
Jo Han-byeol and Jeong Chan-woo had few chances to shine yet, but even just Kang San and Yeon Woo-bin showed this wasn't some joke party. Still, no awe yet. If this was it, they weren't outperforming Project B Team.
Project B Team had been quick too.
Until the variables hit.
Strong start, but mages plummeted, costing time to rescue. Then injuries and counters slowed them, yielding a shabby 55 minutes versus the hype.
She wanted to see the process behind 40 minutes.
Then it happened.
The moment she'd been waiting for.
The ground caved in.
Pinpoint on the mage, so ambush-like that even knowing traps existed, it'd rattle anyone. Unavoidable. Focused on monsters, sudden collapse—how to react?
Split-second.
The mage's shoes glowed.
Thump, she floated up, fall speed cut—and the team didn't panic at the unfolding chaos. What followed was absurd. Project B Team had their warrior Min Yeong-gi dive personally to save the mage, but this was a sequence hard to credit even seeing it.
The mage soared into the sky.
No one's aid—purely on her own, landing back on solid ground.
Seamless flow.
Ground caves, mage drops, mage returns topside.
A situation that could've killed or maimed someone, yet the mage handling it and her team watching stayed utterly composed. Battle resumed right after. Casually slinging spells like nothing happened, this implausible party treated the "variable" as no variable at all.
The whole sequence.
Jeong Hye-mi found herself unwittingly impressed.
"...What the hell is this?"
This was truly.
A bewildering situation she couldn't help but gape at.