65. 18-Level Top-tier Play Against the Tank
"Personal mission."
"......???"
Practice match with Coach.
In the end, I couldn't even brush his fur before collapsing in a mess. Unable to bear it, he handed me something else.
"I can't keep watching you forever, so you two have to learn to sync with each other."
"..........."
It was the right thing to say.
It was, after all, the right thing to say...
"It isn't asking you to do anything hard."
"...........?"
I kept thinking I'd get betrayed again.
Still, people have expectations, and no matter how much I wanted to look away, my ears couldn't help but perk up.
"First, Harin. Attack Sujin any way you can. As long as she takes damage, that's success."
"Yes!"
"Huaaaa...?!!"
Opposite answers.
I didn't need to look to know who had given which.
"And Yeonhwa. You protect Sujin as the tank. Counterattacks are only allowed through spirits."
"....I understand."
That was only natural too.
Sujin wasn't a sandbag; I couldn't just let her take hits.
"And Sujin, do what you usually do."
"....N-nee?"
Sujin alone received this strange request.
Coach shrugged and stepped toward her.
"When does the hikikomori shut-in in the corner become the strongest?"
"...When does that happen?"
"It does. Of course it does."
Right in your room.
In the corner of your room.
In front of the computer.
And
"—right in front of the keyboard."
"......!"
Sujin jolted as if she had sensed something.
"Shoot the initial shot. Even with a meat shield in front. Don't tell me you can't do it?"
"I-I... I can't do that kind of thing...."
"Don't worry, Sujin."
Her trembling voice.
"You have a natural talent for this side."
"....???"
At the time, I couldn't understand Coach's words.
However,
Taaang!
"Kyaaah?!"
"Ah... um... sis... are you okay...?"
"Mm. I'm fine. The one who couldn't dodge is the problem."
Once.
Taaang!
"Ugh....!"
"Sorry, sis... but are you really okay....?"
"Hm? I'm... fine? Yeah. I'm okay."
"Yes! I understand, sis!"
"...Sujin?"
Twice.
Taaang!
"Au—!"
"Hyuh... hyuhihi...!!"
And when it went three times.
"Re-really?! I thought I'd just take hits?!"
"Yes~~ but I can't hit back? No way I can hit back? I've been blocked by Sister Yeonhwa over and over again?"
"...Sujin?"
"Why? Do you want to give up already? Ah, the skill gap appeared here? What should I do. Should I go easy on you?"
"..............."
It didn't take long to understand Coach's intention.
...
..
.
Taaang!
"Kuh...?!"
Suddenly. A water bullet grazed right past my cheek.
If not for the electric field I had laid out, it might have hit.
'What about the remaining stocks (chur)...'
Leaving aside what I used, five remained.
I wanted to shout that there were more, but Nitro wouldn't accept more than ten chur.
Exactly ten.
More than that wouldn't be accepted.
He even didn't count the ones I gave him in anger.
Cats with full stomachs don't like it when their mood is spoiled.
So I had to suppress Sujin within ten stocks...
"Harin~~ how long are you gonna make me wait, sis?"
"...Haah."
Right in front of Sujin stood Yeonhwa, the tank.
To attack Sujin, I had to break through Yeonhwa.
Moreover, Yeonhwa wouldn't just stand there taking it...
Taaang!
"Hup──?!!"
Occasionally flying bullets.
When my nerves were at their loosest, the ones that targeted me piled up fatigue.
'Was Sujin always this strong?'
She picked my weakest spots and hit me precisely.
It felt like being hunted.
Harin, who was clearly attacking, slowly began to be pushed back.
I had to end it somehow.
The impatience and excitement born from that.
In this situation, emotions I could never bring...
"But you can't do anything, right? You're weak, right? But you can't even touch the tip of my finger, you perverted cat!"
".....Whoa."
This was definitely dangerous.
Dangerous in every sense.
If I kept going, I'd collapse from sheer exhaustion or something worse.
'But there's something I need. A counter.'
However, I couldn't just wait like that.
Taaang!
"Kuh...!"
Even though it was non-lethal, Sujin's attacks kept coming.
Fwoosh!
"Sister Yeonhwa.....!"
"This is all because I want the best for you!"
Yeonhwa also launched a counterattack.
The situation was truly desperate now, pushed to the brink.
Still, it wasn't all bad.
'Let me recall what I have.'
Remaining stocks: five in total.
Calculate the optimal number I could use.
It wasn't difficult. Even without Nitro, I had survived with just my awakened body.
I was stunned that I was cornered this badly!
"Swish...!"
"Yeah. If I just take hits, it'll be Harin after all!"
First step.
High-speed movement wrapped around my leg.
Even swinging my sword, it was blocked.
Currently, four stocks left.
"Hyuuuuuuup!!!"
My block allowed Yeonhwa's counter to follow.
Fire exploded across her entire face──not just that.
Taaang!
"So... don't you think shooting at my face isn't good, Sujin!"
"Hoe...?"
Continued attacks from Sujin.
I had expected them to come.
If my vision was blocked by the fire, there was no better timing.
So I read it and twisted my waist to dodge.
And....
Clang!
"...You can block this?"
"You won't take this much. I've seen worse guys."
I threw the sword in my hand.
But Yeonhwa caught it as if it was obvious.
I looked at the sword stuck in the ground and clicked my tongue quietly.
It would have been better if it had been blocked, but I had prepared for it.
Stocks left: three.
The sword in the ground still had electricity charged.
"Still, it's still!"
I pulled another sword from my pocket and swung it.
"Still? What still!"
Yeonhwa blocked it with her sword as if it was obvious.
And
Sparrkzt!
"Huh...?!"
"I thought you would come out like that!"
Lightning from the sword in the ground and Yeonhwa's sword resonated.
Immediately, as if something heavy had been attached, Yeonhwa dropped to her knees in place.
"Harin....!"
"I marked it with Sister Yeonhwa's sword."
Magnetite.
Wrapped current around iron to make a kind of magnet.
Of course, one sword alone wouldn't be enough power.
So I threw a pre-charged sword into the ground and pulled magnetic force from the ground itself.
'The Earth is a huge magnet!'
I studied physics thanks to Coach's advice.
Thanks to that, results appeared one after another. Tricky ideas.
Stocks left: two.
"I-I...!!"
In an instant.
Sujin aimed her gun at me while my stance was broken from clashing with Yeonhwa.
If I had just faced her without thinking, I might have allowed the attack again.
Sparrkzt! Spot!
"I read that too."
"Eh... how did you move so fast?!"
I had said it before. I stuck the sword into the ground and turned the very land into a kind of domain.
High-speed movement without preparation. Plus, changing the stance of a powerful sniper rifle was difficult.
Stocks left: only one.
With the last remaining stock──
"—play as much as you want, you bastards!!!"
"Kiiiaaaaaaaaak!!"
I slammed all the swords down onto it.
'I won....!'
From beginning to end.
It had gone exactly as I had predicted.
What remained now was only the sweet fruit of passing the mission.
I had held on, taking non-lethal bullets all over my body.
Clunk!
".....Eh?"
"──Hu!"
I thought.
"Hyu... hyuhihi!"
Nam Sujin.
She was a natural keyboard warrior.
"And I couldn't have not thought about this kind of situation, you bitchy cat booooooo!!!!"
"....Ah."
A woman who, when it came to her own safety, racked her brain harder than anyone.
In the end, Harin's plan squeezed out with all her might was.
Kkirik
"Too much."
"Kkiyaat, hyuuuuuuu!!!!"
It was ruined by Sujin's huge and beautiful Desert Eagle.
Tuuk-! Quaaang!!!
"──?!!"
"Kueeeeeeek!!!"
...If the wall of the training room hadn't suddenly been blown away.
*********
"Sigh..."
"Sunwoo. Are you okay? You're bleeding too much...!!"
I was about to die.
Not just about to die, it felt like I might actually die.
My limbs trembled and my mana pool burned.
"Coach! Are you okay?"
"Wow... what kind of thing did you do alone to become such a mess?"
"Bleeding, bleeding...!??"
The Nature trio approached.
Ah. Pathetic, the three of them.
I wanted to say I'm fine and move on, but my condition really wasn't okay.
'So it really was too much....'
Drawing out the spirit's power all at once.
It might have been possible with Nox's 'mixing power'...
"It was possible. But it was too much. At least for a human body."
"...Haah."
In the end, my body couldn't endure it.
I had to handle Nox's body bursting out without leaving mine, and a slight mistake could have killed me.
Still, the output jumped significantly. Later, if I turned my body into a spirit through Spirit Union...
[Nox will not forgive you.]
"...Nox?"
[Nox likes Papa. If Papa wants it, I'll do anything for Papa.]
But.
Don't...!
[Papa dies... Papa must not die...! Papa.... Papa...!!]
"....Sigh."
It was that dangerous.
Or maybe it was just that I couldn't handle it with my current self.
"Don't use it now or later, Sunwoo. It's not a power that even a human should touch. I'm certain after what happened earlier."
"...Haah."
The wall for S-rank is high and steep.
Just a little greed and it tries to kill people.
"........."
"....What are you staring at like that. Aren't you training?"
The three of them stared blankly at me.
Soon, Harin, the representative of the trio, approached me.
"Um... this person is...."
"Hm?"
"Eh?"
No. I asked toward Hecate.
"Earlier, you said you appeared on stage instead of us...."
"Ah. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen you before?"
With Arieng's treatment, I stood up and said.
"Introduce yourself. I'm Hecate. Your spirit."
"Who is Papa's spirit. Papa is the spirit contractor of this body!"
...Isn't that what it is?
I wanted to say something, but I let it go.
Because I had received help earlier, I probably couldn't retort now.
"Spirit? You really are a spirit?"
"...Wow. Looking at it now, you're definitely a real spirit. Mana isn't human mana, right?"
"Clean... pure... noble...! Anyone like me approaching you would be purified and die instantly!"
"...What? What are you trying to do now??"
There seemed to be many people besides me who wanted to approach.
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