Hunting Lesson (2)
[ Fundamentals of Combat Instruction — Field Practicum ]
The Forest of Fresh Greenery.
A hunting ground where monsters were raised specifically for the students' hands-on training. Every zone was kept under observation, and practicum scores were calculated by combining the recorded data with the game each group brought down.
The time limit ran from nine in the morning until eleven thirty, thirty minutes before the end of second period — two and a half hours in all.
Before stepping into the forest, I committed the faces of my group members to memory, one by one.
Elenor Andersen, Rank 10 of the Combat Department.
A future hero destined to bear the epithet Divine Bow, she had lime-green hair, a faintly sweet scent, and the slender, otherworldly beauty befitting an elf. As the group leader and one of the academy's very top students, she possessed the greatest combat power among us by a wide margin.
Kaiba, Rank 75 of the Combat Department.
A master of thrown weapons who hurled metal cards with unerring precision, striking at an opponent's vital points. Even with shaggy hair hanging over one eye, he had one of those handsome, irritatingly punchable faces.
Kim Jisu, Rank 167 of the Combat Department.
A spear-wielding warrior and a member of the Korea Hometown Association. He had a frail, unassuming look about him, but his body was surprisingly well conditioned. Then again, he had earned his way into Seondo like the rest of us, so it only stood to reason.
Oddly good picks, honestly.
Every member of the group had been swapped out at the last moment, leaving me briefly wondering who these people even were — yet somehow both of them carried the air of outsiders, a sense of kinship I could instinctively feel. A vague trust took root in me that they wouldn't go picking fights over nothing.
For now, simply not crossing paths with the grudges of my past life was more than enough to leave me satisfied. Besides, the composition itself was solid. Kim Jisu the spearman and I would hold the line and pin the monsters down, Elenor would rain arrows from behind, and Kaiba, holding the center, could either commit forward as the situation demanded or cover the rear guard.
Compared to Group 1, where everyone just throws fists, this is a blessing… no, it's a downright paradise.
For once, my draw had been luckier than Cheon Yuha's. Heartened by the pleasant realization, I nodded to myself — and that was when my eyes met Elenor's. Her gaze struck me as oddly sharp.
…What? Is there something on my face?
Why was she staring like that? Had I smeared something on myself at breakfast? Even knowing it was unlikely, a sliver of doubt made me run a hand loosely over my features, checking.
"Tch."
The elf furrowed her brow at the sight of me, clicked her tongue, and swung her head away.
"…?"
What was that? Was she just having a bad day?
"I'll take point, so Kaiba, you hold the middle and cover us… and Jisu, you take the front…"
By virtue of her high rank — and the simple truth that an elf was unbeatable in a forest — Elenor had naturally claimed the role of group leader. She immediately laid out a rough formation to prepare for whatever the woods might throw at us. In real combat things rarely went according to plan, but having a baseline response in place made emergencies far easier to weather.
"All right, that should do it. Let's head out, shall we?"
The moment Elenor, having settled the arrangements, stepped forward to lead the way—
"U-um, excuse me."
Kim Jisu raised his hand, hunched into himself, and pointed timidly in my direction.
"Is Gangjun not doing anything?"
It wasn't the tone of a busybody delighted to see me skiving off, nor of jealousy or reproach. It was pure, genuine confusion — because Elenor hadn't mentioned my role in the formation at all. No, she hadn't even spoken my name.
I'd been wondering about that myself, so I tilted my head and glanced at her. Elenor answered Kim Jisu with a perfectly blank face.
"He's in the vanguard, same as you, Jisu. Just move together with him."
"…Oh. O-okay."
Despite the polite phrasing, her voice was ice cold. Kim Jisu wore the expression of a man who hadn't been remotely convinced, but he bobbed his head quickly and lowered his hand all the same.
Elenor Andersen swept her gaze over the group as if to ask whether there were any further problems. Kaiba shrugged; Kim Jisu shook his head, signaling he wouldn't press the matter. Having confirmed as much, Elenor turned forward again and began scanning the forest.
Without sparing me so much as a glance. Not a single second of eye contact since that first moment we'd locked gazes. No wonder I couldn't help but find it strange.
Goddammit. What is her deal?
Elenor Andersen was, by nature, remarkably sociable for a long-lived elf — diligent, courteous to everyone she met. Where Cheon Yuha was the type to say "Even if it's rough, let's bear it together," Elenor was the type to weigh each individual's strengths and assign them where they'd shine. Personally, I rated her even higher than Yuha in the role of leader…
And now suddenly she's abandoned courtesy entirely and mainlined rudeness instead.
Whatever the reason, she was treating me as if I didn't exist. I wanted to unleash a machine-gun medley of curses and demand what game she thought she was playing, but for now I swallowed it. Maybe something bad had happened to her. As the adult in the room, I decided to let it slide — once.
…Though can I even call her a kid to be indulged?
Depending on how you looked at it, she was an elf of staggering age — old enough to be my homeroom teacher's peer. As I idly tried to gauge her actual age, I cocked my head.
Feels like she doesn't really deserve the benefit of the doubt, does she?
I'll keep watching a little longer.
I'd nearly let her boorishness sour my mood, but watching Elenor advance smoothly at the head of the column gradually softened my heart. She wasn't holding back for nothing. Even on this tedious march, she was personally hacking through brush and branches to guide us straight to our target — reading the traces left in the undergrowth, the footprints, the droppings, and tracking a specific quarry.
Fortunately, the matchup favored us. Keep the Horned Bear at bay with a spear's long reach, then whittle down its health from a distance with arrows and cards, and we could take it down without undue risk. Its sheer, imposing bulk made it prime trophy material, too — the kind of kill that looked impressive from the outside.
Elenor seemed to know it as well, because the moment she found the trail, she steered us around every goblin and orc and drove onward at speed toward the Horned Bear alone. All we had to do was trail along behind her as she flicked branches aside with her dagger — swish, swish — our only real task being to keep an eye out for any monsters lying in ambush nearby.
Roughly thirty minutes passed after we entered the Forest of Fresh Greenery. We hadn't crossed paths with a single monster, the kind of lull that might have loosened anyone's focus — yet not one of us let down our guard. Thanks to that excellent concentration and engagement, we were able to react at once.
"Everyone, combat formation!"
The instant Elenor's urgent cry rang out, eleven goblins shrieked as they dropped from the trees. Beyond them, eight more rose from the brush in every direction, spitting poison needles. And from front and flank alike, logs came hurtling in. It was an ambush by the cunning forest goblins — the kind cunning enough to erase their own tracks.
Screee! Kyaaak—!
At the sudden assault, Kim Jisu in the vanguard wore a startled look even as he moved to intercept the falling goblins first. A wise judgment call. Kaiba, by contrast, engaged the needle-spitters rising from the brush with an easygoing smile, trading poison needles for steel cards. And Elenor — wearing an expression of pure distaste — loosed a rapid stream of arrows.
Rat-tat-tat-tat—! Seven goblins perished in midair.
She'd done it almost casually, but it was a staggering feat. Before long Elenor noticed Kim Jisu joining the fray and left the remaining four to him, swinging her bowstring toward the more dangerous needle-wielders instead.
Having confirmed my teammates' composed responses, I decided to do my part as well.
— The trigram Gen of the Eight Trigrams. The mountain.
In the next breath, my hand became that mountain. I channeled my qi into a loose stone and hurled it at the log flying in from dead ahead — a light toss. Then I wreathed my legs in lightning and ran, kicking aside the log screaming toward the top of Kaiba's head.
KRAKOOM!
Shattered wood sprayed backward. Three goblins firing needles from the brush caught the razor-sharp splinters and shrieked — kyaaak—! Around then, the stone I'd tossed kissed the oncoming log with a soft thud.
Kiiiiing…
The log, already tilted at a steep angle, shed its momentum in an instant and swung level. At the same moment, arrows hammered into the skulls of the goblins locked in a standoff with Kim Jisu — rat-tat-tat.
"…Whoa."
And with that, the battle was over. A brief engagement lasting barely a few dozen seconds — far too short for the heat of it to fade — so a moment of stunned silence followed.
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!
Out of nowhere, Kaiba began applauding, a pleased grin on his face. He'd been sending me intense looks ever since the fighting ended, and now he shouted across at me.
"Bravo! So this is what First-rate looks like?! Korea's hidden weapon of the Demon Sect?!"
Having bellowed that out of nowhere, he strode over and slung an arm around my shoulders. Utterly indifferent to the expression curdling on my face, Kaiba laughed merrily, hollering "Bro!" the whole while.
Kim Jisu, on the other side, seemed to be relaxing as well, and spoke up with flushed cheeks.
"Th-they were just goblins, but you blocked that so well?! Kaiba and Gangjun were both amazing, and Elenor, your archery is seriously incredible!"
He was so worked up that he sprayed spit as he sang the praises of our group's combat prowess. Mostly Elenor's.
To be fair, it made sense. Kaiba's admiration clearly centered on me for saving his neck, but Elenor had single-handedly killed eleven goblins this engagement alone. Our opponents this time had been mere goblins, yet her rapid-fire ability wouldn't degrade one bit against an orc or a Horned Bear — her speed and precision were genuinely exceptional. She wielded mana and rarely fought up close, so she drew less of the spotlight, but the mettle of a top-tier student ranked 10th in the Combat Department was never something to dismiss.
Yet apparently none of it satisfied her. Even then, Elenor was gnawing at her nails, her elegant brow twisted.
"…Stringing me along… that rotten…" she was muttering under her breath when she suddenly lifted her head and glared straight at me.
A dark, brooding look. And at the sight of it, a strange premonition stirred in my chest.