Chapter 184
Chapter 184
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 185
Chapter Title: Colosseum Victory
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“……What’s this?”
Park In-hwan glared at me and muttered.
“What else?”
At my response, Park In-hwan bit his lip.
He must know that the event reward was a ‘1v1 Colosseum Summon Ticket.’
Even without a detailed explanation,
he’d understand the situation.
Park In-hwan glared at me like he wanted to kill me, then slowly began drawing up his mana.
“Yeah, perfect. I’ve studied your combat patterns after getting beaten by you so many times.”
My combat patterns?
I wasn’t sure if it was just bluffing or if he’d actually analyzed them, but it was an intriguing statement.
It didn’t feel particularly threatening, though.
“You actually studied that stuff.”
“……You cocky bastard!”
With Park In-hwan’s shout, flames manifested as thorns behind his back.
Roar—
Hot, blazing flame thorns.
He thrust out his hand, and the thorns shot toward me at high speed.
The attack was predictable, so I easily dodged it with a simple step.
Whoosh!
“Tch!”
He clicked his tongue. I stared straight at him.
Back when we’d fought before, he’d felt a bit threatening, but after battling stronger opponents lately, Park In-hwan’s attacks seemed almost cute.
I’d grown quite a bit from all the real combat experience.
Seeing my relaxed demeanor, Park In-hwan’s face twisted in irritation.
“This is it!”
Roar!
But this time, it wasn’t just one.
Over twenty thorns manifested behind Park In-hwan’s back.
Simultaneous manifestation on that scale.
It was impressive, befitting a top-tier student at the Magic Academy.
Even I’d have a hard time with that. Impressive talent.
“Hah!”
He thrust out his hand, and the flame thorns shot toward me again.
I reinforced my body with mana and charged forward.
Just as the thorns were about to hit, I immediately deployed a mana barrier.
Bang—!
The translucent white barrier in front of me blocked all the incoming flame thorns.
Barriers consume a lot of mana and I’m not fully accustomed to their form yet, so I don’t use them often, but I’ve practiced enough lately to handle them decently.
And when over twenty spells were flying at me, blocking was better than dodging.
Park In-hwan hadn’t expected me to use barrier magic and showed a flustered reaction.
I paused for a moment and looked at him.
“……You studied my combat patterns, but all you thought was that I only know how to dodge?”
Park In-hwan’s face hit the nail on the head for a second.
“Huh…… Wasn’t that it?”
I hadn’t shown barrier use much, so it was understandable he’d assume that.
He’d always seen my arrogant side, so his effort was somewhat admirable.
That aside.
I drew up mana again, quickly manifested magic orbs, and rapid-fired them.
Bang—!
The orbs, manifested and released simultaneously, shot toward Park In-hwan like flashes of light.
“Argh!”
The rapid-fired magic struck his shoulder squarely.
He must’ve activated some protective aura at the last second, as there was no deep wound. Still, the pain was real—he curled up, groaning.
“Urgh! You coward!”
“There’s no such thing as cowardice in battle.”
Without pause, I manifested new magic.
I even compressed the mana a bit so it wouldn’t be easy to block.
Woooong!
“Damn it!”
Park In-hwan spat curses and pulled a paper with a drawn pattern from his pocket.
It looked familiar.
Suspicious, but I couldn’t let him act freely, so I released the magic right away.
At the same time, he infused mana into the paper.
Fwoooong—!
That instant.
A massive dog with two heads burst from the paper and blocked the magic from my hand with its body.
Kwaaaang—!
—Kyaaang!
The dog leaped and thrashed wildly on the ground in pain.
Its huge size made the ground rumble with each jump.
“……What the hell is that?”
In a 1v1 situation, a dog monster suddenly appeared.
I looked at the paper in Park In-hwan’s hand.
It definitely came from there.
Is that a beast summon scroll?
Seems like it.
I owned a similar beast summon scroll myself.
Park In-hwan…… that guy.
He finally broke the taboo.
Items with special effects like that are obviously banned in exams.
If they were allowed, rich students would rely on items for better scores—it was only natural.
Even so, pulling that out during a live-broadcast exam.
He must’ve been seriously pissed.
Probably thinking he’d take me down with him, even if it meant his own end.
“Keheheh! Tear him apart!”
Park In-hwan laughed maniacally and pointed at me.
—Graaang!
The dog bared its sharp fangs and charged at me with terrifying speed.
I quickly retreated, dodging the fangs.
Judging by its speed and toughness, it looked like at least an A-Rank monster.
An A-Rank would be tough to beat without going all out. And with Park In-hwan behind it, the situation was tricky.
Using Outsider’s Blessing, I scanned for its weakness.
“……There?”
The long neck connecting its heads to its body.
I calmly released the compressed orb at its neck.
Bang—!
A flash shot from my fingertips, the magic racing toward its neck.
But its movements were too agile, and the attack missed.
I charged at it again.
Facing an A-Rank monster up close was extremely dangerous, but targeting its weakness made this the best approach.
Just as the dog lunged to bite.
I used ‘Instant Acceleration.’
Its movements suddenly slowed, and spotting an opening, I kicked off the ground and leaped high.
I grabbed its fur and mounted its back.
—Yap yap!
The dog twisted wildly to shake me off.
But once I was on top, the fight was over.
Fwoooong—!
I manifested magic again.
“Haaah!”
Then I fired at its neck.
Paaang!
—Gaaang!
[You have achieved the ‘Defeated Summoned Beast’ accomplishment.]
[You have obtained 2,000 points as a reward.]
“Whew.”
The beast’s body crumbled into dust. The dust gathered back into the paper in Park In-hwan’s hand.
Park In-hwan looked up at me in a daze.
“C-Crazy…… An A-Rank monster alone……”
I slowly walked toward Park In-hwan.
He looked up at me, his will to fight broken.
“Tch. Why’d you do that? You know this’ll get you at least suspended, expelled if you’re unlucky?”
“Anyway, try not to get expelled.” I manifested a magic orb and shot it straight at Park In-hwan’s head.
Kwaaaang!
[Winner: Kim Sun-woo.]
[Victory in the 1v1 Colosseum!]
[You are awarded 100 personal points as a reward!]
“Whew……”
Park In-hwan, the first gateway to top 5 overall, eliminated early.
Mission accomplished.
The wrinkle was that his taboo use might mean I won’t see him next year as a third-year……
But no big deal. He’s a villain anyway.
What mattered was successfully taking the first step toward top 5 overall.
[You have won in the Colosseum, returning you to your original location.]
Flash!
My vision flashed again, and the space around me changed.
Faint grassy scent.
Cool, clear air.
Back to the mountaintop I’d been on before.
“Whew……”
Time to head back.
Quite some time had passed. The first night had arrived.
The sun had set, thick darkness blanketing everything. With no light in this complete wilderness, the night felt even darker than usual.
Crackle. Crackle……
Students who handled fire magic used their spells to burn firewood and light the darkness.
Pork caught by the supply team somewhere in the plains sizzled as it cooked.
“Smells good.”
Lee Seo-jun, sitting across from me, muttered quietly while staring at the meat roasting over the campfire in front of him.
Then he looked at me.
“Oh, right. Did the Colosseum ticket work out?”
“Yeah. Thanks to you, I knocked out Park In-hwan.”
“Ooh……”
Lee Seo-jun let out a small exclamation, then spoke again.
“Looks like you won pretty easily. You seem totally fine.”
“……It wasn’t that easy. He pulled some weird stunt at the end.”
“Weird stunt?”
“Something like that. You’ll hear about it after the exam.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded at my words. I checked the meat roasting in front of me.
It was oddly misshapen for some reason.
Jang Soo-yeon, next to me, grabbed a piece without caring and popped it in her mouth.
Munch munch.
“Mmm~ Tasty. You guys eat too.”
“Yes……”
I picked up a piece of meat.
Then took a big bite.
Munch munch.
Not amazingly delicious, but eating in the wild made it taste better.
As I swallowed, a sudden curiosity hit me, and I asked Lee Seo-jun.
“Did you do well in the other events?”
Besides today’s time attack, there were various other events.
For reference, I’d been busy with the Colosseum fight and scouting the base perimeter, so I barely participated in any events.
“I earned some personal points from events.”
“Yeah?”
As I chatted with Lee Seo-jun,
Jang Soo-yeon cut in from the side.
“But how’re we handling tomorrow’s base occupation battle?”
Base occupation battle.
Tomorrow, a building called the ‘base’ would appear in the center where our three teams were positioned.
It was the most important event of tomorrow’s lineup.
“We have to occupy it, no matter what.”
Occupying the base itself wasn’t hard.
It took place indoors, not outdoors, and usually only 2-3 reps from each team entered, giving an advantage to Team B, specialized in 1v1s.
But Jang Soo-yeon looked at me with concern.
“You sure it’ll be okay?”
“Yeah.”
I knew what she was worried about.
The numerous benefits from successfully occupying the base.
To prevent that, other teams would band together to drive out the occupying team.
Naturally, defending against two teams would be tough.
Especially for Team B, short on AoE mages.
“How do you plan to defend it?”
“Leave that to me. Trust me.”
“……Can I really trust this?”
Jang Soo-yeon asked Lee Seo-jun.
He gave an awkward smile, then nodded.
“When he’s confident like this, there’s always a solid reason. Just trust him.”
Day 2.
The main team event, ‘Base Occupation Battle,’ began in earnest.
All teams gathered at the central base for occupation and surrounding events.
A brief psychological standoff ensued, but students maintained their standoff.
Rashly attacking could lead to a 2v1 disadvantage.
Shin Young-jun from Team S glanced at Team B, feeling puzzled.
“What’s this? Lee Seo-jun, you didn’t enter the base?”
Usually, a team’s ace entered the base.
Team A: Kim Chang-hyun and Jeon Min-gi.
Team C: Choi Seo-yoon and Yoo Ah-ra.
And naturally, Team B’s ace was Lee Seo-jun.
But for some reason, he was still outside.
Even Jang Soo-yeon, the next strongest, was with him.
Lee Seo-jun and Jang Soo-yeon.
Neither entered the base. Shin Young-jun was puzzled.
He called out softly to Lee Seo-jun.
“Hey. Lee Seo-jun!”
Lee Seo-jun turned to him at the call.
Hearing his name shouted from afar felt embarrassing for no reason.
Shin Young-jun approached a bit, ignoring his surroundings.
Lee Seo-jun prepared for a possible ambush.
“What?”
“Just wondering who from your team went into the base.”
Lee Seo-jun paused at the question.
Then Jang Soo-yeon beside him spoke.
“Just answer. It doesn’t matter.”
Lee Seo-jun nodded.
“Kim Sun-woo.”
“Kim Sun-woo? Ah……”
Shin Young-jun nodded in understanding.
Kim Sun-woo. No one could beat that cheat character in ‘攻略’-related stuff, so it made sense.
“But you only sent Kim Sun-woo alone?”
“Yeah. He insisted he preferred it that way.”
“……Still, isn’t alone a bit much?”
That was when.
[The base guardian beast has been summoned.]
[The team dealing the most damage to the beast will receive team points!]
Woooong!
The magic circle around the base lit up brightly. Soon, a massive snake the size of a three-story building appeared.
Lee Seo-jun calmly eyed the snake, then wrapped his sword in light mana.
He turned to Shin Young-jun.
“Kim Sun-woo said to make sure we rack up team points here.”