Chapter 98
Chapter 98
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: 18. Attribute Tutoring (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Min Young-gi's plan.
Was incredibly clever.
Seeing that Kang San wasn't breaking down easily, he split the space and momentarily concentrated firepower on the rear.
If Yeon Woo-bin and Jo Han-byeol hadn't trained for such a situation, they might have collapsed in that single attempt. It was definitely different from the first day. Now that they seemed capable of grasping the situation and making efficient judgments, Kang San didn't stubbornly stick to pure defense. The goal of this training was partly the growth of Kang San's party, but ultimately, it was about raising the capabilities of Project B Team.
He changed his approach.
After blocking Han Eun-seong's attack, he unleashed his sword art in a surprise strike.
"Blood Demon Sword Art, Second Form: Pursuit Kill."
Whirrl.
Thud!
"Kuhk."
Han Eun-seong gritted his teeth.
The serpentine strike slipped through unexpectedly, slicing into the gap in his armor and spraying blood.
Kang San immediately kicked off the ground.
He heard Min Young-gi's urgent shout from behind, but right now, he trusted his comrades and didn't look back.
"Where do you think you're going."
"Chain Lightning."
Bzzt-crackle.
The mages counterattacked.
Lee Soo-chan cast a spell he could unleash quickly, and bolts of electricity erupted from all directions toward Kang San. Han Eun-seong, who had fallen to the ground, clenched his teeth and kicked off as well. The wound wasn't as deep as he'd feared, so he charged with full power to block Kang San.
Han Eun-seong shouted.
"Just hold on a little longer!"
A tense, do-or-die moment.
The atmosphere heated up intensely.
If Lee Soo-chan and the mages could just hold out a bit, they could isolate Kang San instead.
But then.
Han Eun-seong and Min Young-gi saw it.
Flash.
Flash, flash.
Lightning striking from every direction.
Kang San dove into that space.
Even as unpredictable bolts rained down from all sides, Kang San deflected every attack with uncanny precision. Jo Han-byeol was holding out against Min Young-gi's assaults. Against a tanker's attack like Kang San's, three mages should have been overwhelming, not just enduring.
And yet.
Swoosh.
"...!"
Lee Soo-chan's face went pale with shock.
Despite unleashing memorized spells, Kang San slipped through all the magic and closed in right before him.
That was.
Crunch!
The last scene Lee Soo-chan remembered.
At first, he denied it.
Kang San was a tanker.
It was hard to accept that three mages had fallen to a mere D-Rank tanker's attack.
But a day, two days, three days passed.
Even when Han Eun-seong gave up attacking to guard the rear, the outcome of every repeated battle was the same.
"Lightning Spear."
"Fire Lance."
ZZzt.
Roooar.
Magic exploded from all sides.
Amid the intertwining killing intent, Kang San precisely found the paths of life.
He slithered through the mana-churning space like a loach, and though Han Eun-seong blocked the front, continuous attacks made defense difficult. The boost in attack power from the Blood Demon Art. And stats surpassing the average C-Rank. From the start, it was an opponent Han Eun-seong, a mere C-Rank tanker, couldn't handle easily. Whenever they got tossed around by just one person and a mage took a hit, the formation inevitably crumbled.
It was devastating.
Despairing.
Amid the repeated defeats, Min Young-gi even thought:
'Is this level really enough to stay on Heavenly Firmament's project team?'
The opponents were only four.
Despairing.
For them, who had believed they were talented, the despair from repeated losses was no small thing.
But Jung Hye-mi's words, as she watched the training, changed his mind.
"Just think of them as outliers."
"...Outliers?"
"As you all know, I've experienced countless talents since taking over as Heavenly Firmament's team leader. But Kang San's abilities are far from ordinary. He didn't awaken some innate genius, and he spent years as an F-Rank arrow sponge, yet he's grown at an insane rate in just one year. Do you think it's possible to dodge three C-Rank mages dumping spells on you? Or that his tanking could withstand it? We're witnessing the growth of someone who might become a legendary name in the history books someday. And the skills of the people he brought as team members aren't to be underestimated either. So just accept it."
A frank evaluation.
Jung Hye-mi fully acknowledged Kang San and his group.
"If you can achieve good results against them, you'll be more than enough to take down Project A Team."
It was true.
A Team's tanker.
Could he hold out as well as Kang San?
No.
A Team's rear dealers.
Could they mesh as organically as Jo Han-byeol, Yeon Woo-bin, and Jung Chan-woo's combination?
No.
Then finally.
Could Jo Dong-jae, the representative of Project A Team, overwhelm B Team's rear dealers as thoroughly as Kang San?
No matter how he thought about it, the answer was still no.
The more he recalled the past training, the more he accepted Kang San as an outlier, and his movements were on the level of an advanced instructor. It was truly ridiculous. At first, he'd denied Kang San's party's results in the C-Rank test. But now, it was clear those weren't flukes—they were genuine skill.
He accepted reality.
His thinking changed.
He shifted his mindset.
If they could block Kang San, Jo Dong-jae would be easy.
If they could threaten Kang San, A Team's defense would be a pushover.
On the seventh day of training.
Min Young-gi and Project B Team began focusing on what they could gain from this process, rather than just winning or losing.
At that moment.
Heavenly Firmament's team leader, Jung Chan-hyeok, received a report from his subordinate.
"...Is this real?"
"Yes. We've confirmed they've been repeatedly training against the people listed in the documents for the past week."
"Hmm."
Jung Chan-hyeok furrowed his brow.
Inside the documents.
There were figures who defied common sense.
[Kang San D-Rank]
[Jo Han-byeol D-Rank]
[Jung Chan-woo D-Rank]
[Yeon Woo-bin C-Rank]
He had no idea why Jung Chan-woo was there, but on the surface, their ranks made them utterly unsuitable as training partners for Project B Team. Their raid records were unremarkable too. Jo Han-byeol, Jung Chan-woo, and Yeon Woo-bin had been active recently, but that level of activity was commonplace at Heavenly Firmament.
'What the hell is she thinking?'
His one and only little sister.
Jung Hye-mi was a smart girl.
That's why she'd quickly carved out her own territory right after joining Heavenly Firmament, and before long, even Jung Chan-hyeok had felt a sense of crisis about his position. So he'd deliberately fostered negative perceptions. With the project team's results being lackluster, he'd emphasized that only one of them could stay.
It was all part of his scheme.
To push Jung Hye-mi out of the competition, he'd maneuvered people to create this situation.
"Team leader. What should we do?"
The subordinate's question was blatant.
Meaning, if he wanted, they'd sabotage things.
Jung Chan-hyeok pondered.
With Jung Hye-mi using Heavenly Firmament's training grounds, exposing the training like this made it hard to interfere directly. The CCTV and other elements would leave evidence. And above all, the moment he checked who they were training against, any lingering tension vanished.
"Just leave them be. What difference does training against those nobodies make?"
Project A Team.
He trusted them.
To make this test seem fair on the surface, even though Jo Dong-jae had already met B-Rank promotion conditions, they hadn't upgraded him yet. That way, there'd be no backlash. When the two C-Rank team leaders clashed, Jung Chan-hyeok wanted a picture of Min Young-gi getting overwhelmingly crushed.
Jung Chan-hyeok sneered.
"If they give it their all, Hye-mi will finally accept she has no place here anymore."
Creeak.
He leaned back in his chair.
It was harsh on his sister, but this was his chance to show her how cruel the world could be.
Two weeks.
Not a long time to prepare something.
The day arrived in the blink of an eye.
As it was Heavenly Firmament's major project, employees filled the spectator seats, and on the stage, people bustled about preparing for the imminent showdown. Whether Project A Team or B Team won today's match, Heavenly Firmament would back the victor aggressively to avoid criticism for failure.
For the grand 10-year plan.
As the confrontation time approached minute by minute, Min Young-gi, enjoying some time alone, received an unexpected guest.
"All prepped?"
"Eh."
"Come on, none of that lukewarm crap. You should've said you're totally ready. Unless you want to get humiliated in front of everyone."
A sneering opponent.
A Team's leader, Jo Dong-jae.
Jo Dong-jae said.
"Honestly, I was a bit shocked when I heard you struggled in the C-Rank test. We're supposed to be fellow project teams, but having guys who couldn't even clear a basic test as rivals? Pretty embarrassing as Heavenly Firmament members, right? I didn't even want to look at you B Team losers for a while, but now that it's come to this, I feel a little sorry."
"Why sorry?"
"Why? 'Cause we're disbanding you today."
One-sided ridicule.
Jo Dong-jae's words belittling B Team brimmed with confidence that he'd win today's match for sure.
And that confidence wasn't misplaced.
Project A Team had shown more than B Team and passed the C-Rank test with overwhelming prowess early on. As a team on the cusp of B-Rank promotion, viewing Project B Team lightly was natural.
Normally, he'd have bristled at Jo Dong-jae's insults.
He knew it stemmed from his own inferiority complex, but before, controlling his emotions hadn't been easy.
But now.
A laugh bubbled up strangely.
At the corners of his mouth curling up, Jo Dong-jae's brow furrowed.
"Laughing?"
"It's funny. Got a question. What's the most absolute standard for evaluating a hunter, in your opinion?"
"What bullshit. Rank, obviously. It's the government's scale, the most objective measure of ability. By that metric, there's an unbridgeable gap between us and you. We cleared the C-Rank test smoothly much earlier, while you barely scraped by not long ago. So I was surprised. I figured Hye-mi team leader would try anything to dodge this match. The odds of you beating us in a public showdown are slim to none."
Jo Dong-jae's words.
Min Young-gi acknowledged them.
He too had once judged people by rank.
The absolute belief that a lower rank could never beat a higher one.
Back then, it was hard to accept that details beyond rank existed.
Now was different.
The past two weeks.
A short time, but one where Min Young-gi experienced another world.
He looked up at Jo Dong-jae.
Then flashed a sly grin.
"I used to think the same. That's why I'm saying—please give it your all. I don't want our win tainted by excuses like you got careless."
A provocative remark.
Jo Dong-jae's face twisted hideously.