Semifinal (3)

Shwik!

The sound of a blade slicing through something echoed off the labyrinth walls.

"Hoo."

Baek Seo-ha let out a long breath.

She had cut down so many golems she'd lost count, yet her body showed no sign of cooling down.

If anything, the more she swung her sword, the more vivid that scene from the other day became — Lee Tae-hyun and Ji Yeon-ha, wrapped up in each other's arms, hopping around in delight.

'Tae-hyun hyung? I saw him heading toward that café by the four-way intersection. Yeah, yeah — the café in that building you rent out wholesale all the time.'

She'd gone to the café after hearing that from Shin Min-woo, and she'd seen it with her own eyes.

'Why are the two of them—? Why did they rent out the entire café?'

She had heard of it before, actually. Celebrities who wanted to dodge paparazzi and obsessive stalker fans would rent out an entire movie theater or café just to enjoy a date with their lover.

Granted, that rumor was built on the pathetic imaginations of the Sect disciples.

But Baek Seo-ha's base knowledge of such things was even more pitiful than that, so it didn't matter.

"Th-then… does that mean Lee Tae-hyun and Ji Yeon-ha are… like that…?"

Whatever the two of them were, it wasn't Baek Seo-ha's place to pry. At the end of the day, her relationship with Lee Tae-hyun was a simple contract — a guild leader and her guild member. That was all.

And yet every time the scene at that café replayed in her head—

"Hrgnh!"

Shwaaak!

She was furious for no reason at all, and it was driving her insane — mostly because she couldn't figure out why.

Shwak! Shwik!

Her sword and legs moved on pure instinct. A dozen-odd golems vanished with a single swing — proof that her swordsmanship was sharpening by the day.

"Right. The reason I'm angry is the anxiety that if her attention gets pulled into romance, she might not cooperate with me properly anymore."

The excuse she'd finally managed to dig up was impressively flimsy.

"Actually, I've skipped practice plenty of times because of Ji Yeon-ha, come to think of it!"

But for the current Baek Seo-ha, an excuse didn't need evidence. All she wanted was a foundation on which to rest this feeling — whatever it was.

'…And when exactly were you saying you'd stake your life on me, huh?'

She gritted her teeth and vented the suffocating emotion through her blade. Then, the moment she swept away one horde of golems and opened her path toward the next—

"Fire Splash!"

A wave of flame came surging down from her upper right.

"…!"

She dropped out of the attack radius in a flash and snapped her gaze toward where the spell had come from.

The first thing to catch her eye was an enormous pointed wizard's hat.

"Oofcha… So glad I bothered learning high-speed movement magic. Makes getting around a place like this so easy."

Below that hat popped out a face with a rather adorable look to it.

"Huh…! You're—!"

Ah Seo-ah took half a step back at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sight of Baek Seo-ha.

"It's the White Dragon!"

"……"

Her opponent was, admittedly, a fellow S-rank — the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠'Little Witch,' Ah Seo-ah. But Baek Seo-ha had never cared much for things like opponent profiles. Anyone who wasn't on her side was simply an enemy to be knocked down. That was all.

Vvvvvmmm!

Baek Seo-ha's mana blossomed into the shape of an azure dragon.

"Blue Dragon Seven—"

"GYAAAAH! W-wait, just hold on a second!"

Ah Seo-ah frantically whipped up a white flag out of mana and waved it for all she was worth.

"I surrender! Unconditionally! Right now!"

"…?"

What was this?

When Baek Seo-ha retracted her mana, Ah Seo-ah slumped with a sigh of relief, as if her life had just been spared.

"Phew—! Seriously, what is wrong with you? Who just opens with a sword to the throat?!"

"Well… this is a tournament, isn't it?"

"…I mean, fair point."

Ah Seo-ah glanced around. Thankfully, none of the cameras pointing this way seemed to be active yet — probably because some highlight-reel-worthy battle was raging somewhere else.

Which meant right now was her chance.

"Hey, White Dragon. Are you close with Lee Tae-hyun?"

"Close? What do you mean, close?"

"I mean you two are glued together every single day, and there was that article about you! That's close by anyone's standards!"

"Th-that's… is that close…? Hmm… I suppose… it might look that way to some people…"

Baek Seo-ha sheathed her sword, twisted her waist this way and that, and turned her gaze away.

'…And here I thought she was the sane one!'

The situation was beyond despairing. But things were urgent enough that she'd clutch at any hand she could grab.

"Help me, White Dragon. It's an emergency right now."

"Emergency how?"

"If we just sit around like this…"

For once, Ah Seo-ah's eyes were dead serious as she pleaded.

"Someone's going to die! Both Lee Tae-hyun and Sung-chan!"

* * *

"Go, wind spirits!"

At Yoo Ji-an's command, the sylphs beat their wings in unison.

Fighting a crowd of enemies was chaotic enough; now a vicious gale was choking her sight and her lungs alike.

"…!"

She intercepted the spirits with Karma Flame while checking the wolf-shaped summons lunging in from her flank — then shattered the jaw of a giant golem trying to crush her from above.

"Amazing! You're the first person to hold out against me at full power."

Small wonder.

'Just how much support did this girl Yoo Ji-an swallow?!'

The sheer variety of her summons was staggering. Wolf-types, golem-types, ape-types, birds of prey… and on top of all that, she could command spirits, however small. A summon pool like that should have taken ten years of experience at minimum after acquiring a summoning-class skill.

"It really does seem true that you devoured a whole nation's worth of support."

Yoo Ji-an possessed all of it at a young age. The ability to control the summons without letting them run wild was her own talent, sure — but summoning disciplines demanded that the user personally summon and tame each creature.

'In a case like this…'

Other summoners must have completed the taming themselves, then passed on their master's rights to her. Normally such a loophole wouldn't fly, but in front of an S-rank talent, nothing was impossible.

"Perhaps you could spend less time moving your mouth and fight a little more efficiently?"

Yoo Ji-an poured out summons without pause.

"I'm just about starting to get bored."

A flock of colossal eagles. Their razor talons glittered as if laced with hidden blades.

"Kieeeeeeek!"

Perhaps because she'd already racked up a decent [Slaughter] count against his earlier summons, a single spear technique cleared the entire flock.

"Whoa! That's incredible!"

Even while laughing like that, her other hand kept pumping out summons.

I could've killed her, honestly.

'But it's fine.'

If he just kept holding out like this, her limit would come eventually.

'Not my limit —'

Hers.

Twisting his grip on the shaft, he slashed and skewered in a single motion the summons baring their fangs and charging in from every direction.

Fshshshk!

Keep whittling down the numbers like this, and the moment would come when she overextended herself.

"How long do you think you can hold out? My summons are limitless, so long as my mana permits."

As he churned his mana to re-summon everything he'd cut down, blood suddenly streamed from her nose.

"…Oh?"

Yoo Ji-an wiped at her face, and a flicker of confusion crossed it.

"Why am I bleeding? And I feel dizzy too…"

"Obviously. Summoning-class skills put far more strain on the body than people realize."

Summoners tended to harbor the same naive dream.

'If summons die, they just resurrect as long as I have mana — so if I build an undead army of summons, I'd be invincible, right?!'

Such rosy optimism. If that actually worked, every awakened person in the world would have torn their hair out trying to awaken a summoning skill.

The conclusion was clear: that idea was garbage, and here was why.

"Your summons share your soul. So the more they die and get injured, the more of that damage feeds back into your own body."

A summoner and her summons were bound in a single shared fate. Force death and sacrifice upon creatures like that, and the price comes due.

Yoo Ji-an's talent was so exceptional that she could probably shoulder minor losses without noticing.

"But those little wounds pile up and pile up — and then they carve your arm off."

"…Ahaha! You got me there…."

"Miss Yoo Ji-an. Next time, try operating a small number of high-grade summons instead of this stupid approach."

"Now that's… actually starting to sound like an instructor…!"

With those last words, Yoo Ji-an rolled her eyes back and collapsed. The moment she did, her summons dissolved away with her.

"Well, look at that. More than five thousand."

Not that it mattered.

Because from now on, her score was zero.

* * *

Meanwhile, Shin Min-woo was inching along with one hand pressed against the maze wall.

"They say you just follow the right wall to get out of a maze… or was it the left wall?"

He was still puzzling his way toward the exit when it happened.

"I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it…"

The creepy muttering burrowed straight into his ears, and gooseflesh shot up his spine in an instant.

'What the—?'

Shin Min-woo crept toward the sound and peeked his head around the corner for a look.

What stood there was—

'Park Sung-chan…!'

His unforgettable nemesis. The man he'd had his revenge on but could never forgive was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠standing motionless in that spot, without hunting golems, without even trying to escape the maze.

"Can I do it…? Aaah… I can do it…"

He only murmured that chilling one-sided conversation with himself.

"I'll trust you. I can do this, right?"

'Do… what, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exactly?'

Just in case, Shin Min-woo readied an attack. And the moment he leaned in a little closer to hear better—

"I can do it. My vengeance."

It hadn't even been the space of a blink.

As if Park Sung-chan had been standing behind him from the very start.

"A curse upon every blade — for everything that shoved me into this place."

Park Sung-chan was simply there.

"Urk?!"

Shin Min-woo whipped around, and in the instant he tried to raise a mana barrier—

—the man's sword was already moving faster.

Vmmmmm!

Unlike before, the blade now glowed a murky crimson instead of starlight.

A sinister sword qi swept over Shin Min-woo in a heartbeat.

"Kkuuugh!"

Deep and shallow wounds tore across his entire body, spraying blood and shreds of flesh.

'I c-couldn't even see it!'

Despite the tremendous growth he'd achieved through endless experience and training, that attack had been invisible. If it hadn't deliberately avoided his vitals, he might already be dead.

"L-Limited Heal…!"

He scrambled to open the distance and cast — but Park Sung-chan was faster.

"Not a chance."

The blade bit deep into his flesh.

"GRAAAAAAGH!"

What the hell was happening? S-rank or not, how could anyone grow this strong in that span of time?

"Ggghhhh…!"

Clamping down on his wounds, Shin Min-woo looked up at Park Sung-chan.

The man who, in the past, would have sneered at him in some way or another was now cackling like his mind had come loose somewhere.

"Heh-heh… huk! Kihahaha…"

Even the focus of his eyes was planted somewhere far away — not here, not on Shin Min-woo. As if someone were standing behind him.

"Am… am I… strong now?"

Park Sung-chan muttered to himself for no reason anyone could fathom.

"A curse upon every blade — upon ALL of you!!"

His sword fell, aimed at Shin Min-woo's throat.

"Stone Lance!"

The instant before steel met neck, a lance of rock tore through the space between them.

"Wh-what the…?"

"Looks like we weren't too late."

Ah Seo-ah came skidding in and threw up a barrier spell.

"Hurry up and heal yourself, you idiot. I'm not a healer."

"Huh? Oh, uh, right…"

Then a single dragon appeared, driving Park Sung-chan back.

"Blue Dragon Seventh Form."

Kwaaagagaga!

The dragon whipped up an ascending current of air, barring Park Sung-chan's advance.

"Hyung-nim!"

"Save the talking. Just heal."

"Yes ma'am…"

Shin Min-woo kept his mouth shut and channeled his healing.

"We're not too late, right?"

"I don't think so."

"What's that based on?"

"On the fact that it's better to believe something, anything."

"Unbelievable… why do you sound exactly like Lee Tae-hyun?!"

Ah Seo-ah and Baek Seo-ha stood shoulder to shoulder.

"You… you people… are…"

Park Sung-chan spread his killing intent across his entire body, conjuring a grotesque, suffocating atmosphere.

"This is… WAR…!"

And so began the strange alliance of three.