Week 7 Mentoring, PvP Assessment (13)

Hong Yeon-hwa quietly stared at the names and scores that had appeared on the scoreboard.

Nine hundred points.

This was the league reserved for genuine heavyweights—the tier where those who had swept three straight wins in the Placement Exam all gathered.

There had been a time when failing to start at 900 points burned her up with frustration. According to Hong Ye-hwa, every prospect of note this year—or anyone with skill to match—had already climbed into the 900-point tier. She alone, it felt, had been left behind.

That was why she could hardly stomach fighting her PvP matches down in the 600-point tier. Even when she won and her score climbed, it felt woefully meager beside the 900s, and every loss sent her spiraling into an even deeper self-loathing.

But her thinking had shifted, somewhat, of late.

PvP scores were certainly a meaningful yardstick of ability. Yet no single number could tell the whole story of a person's skill. The living proof of that stood right there in her own group.

Kim Ho, who had started in the 300-point tier at one win and two losses. His score sat lower than hers, but the moment they actually crossed blades, the gulf between them was so overwhelming she couldn't so much as lift a hand.

Then there was the opposite example: lately, her 600-point-tier opponents had felt far too weak. Over the course of this week, Hong Yeon-hwa had fought two random opponents in crystal PvP, and both had crumpled to the ground before she'd even strung together a proper spell chain.

Looking back, it was probably just that the memory of being hammered into the dirt in her match against Kim Ho was so vivid—most of her other PvP matches had gone exactly like this.

Now she felt sure of it: as the semester rolled on and she fought more and more PvP matches, her score would do nothing but climb.

As a result, her craving for 900 points had thinned out considerably—though a flicker of curiosity still remained. How well would her skills actually hold up against someone from the 900-point tier? Would they have worked back then? And now, with her stronger than ever?

She was about to find out.

Hong Yeon-hwa thrust her wand forward, and the ruby set in it flared to life, tracing a massive Fire Pillar magic circle across the ground at her feet.

Her casting speed was already beyond compare, but lately it seemed to have grown faster still. All those days of being drilled by Kim Ho, straining to cast quicker and quicker, had apparently borne fruit.

The moment she absorbed the completed Fire Pillar through Overheat, flames swept over Hong Yeon-hwa's entire body. With her physical abilities supercharged, a few powerful kicks off the ground carried her swiftly to the top of the terraced cliffs.

"......"

Far across the way, she spotted Bukgung Han-seol atop the opposite cliff. The girl had climbed up first and was already hunting for the crystal.

Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes swept her own surroundings just as quickly.

There it is.

She found the makeshift altar cunningly hidden between the cliffs. A sidelong glance at Bukgung Han-seol confirmed the girl was still scanning this way and that—not yet. And even as she searched, she kept stealing glances at Hong Yeon-hwa, clearly poised to give chase the instant her rival found the crystal first.

In that case...

Hong Yeon-hwa deliberately gave a startled jolt, making a tremendous show of having found the crystal. Then, kicking up her heels with a great clattering racket, she went tumbling down the cliff.

There was no way Bukgung Han-seol could have missed that, and sure enough, she too broke into a run, following the path Hong Yeon-hwa had taken.

"Hmph."

But the moment Hong Yeon-hwa reached the bottom of the cliff and they passed out of each other's sight, she sharply changed direction. The whole conspicuous display had been a feint. She'd sent Bukgung Han-seol off in the exact opposite direction from the crystal—and in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that window, she herself strolled leisurely to the makeshift altar, picked up the crystal, and made a beeline for the Sanctuary.

"Aigoo, Han-seol..."

Kim Gap-du, watching the match, dragged a hand down his face. To think she'd fallen hook, line, and sinker for such a shallow trick. He prayed Bukgung Han-seol would catch on quickly, but just as Hong Yeon-hwa intended, she spent a good long while wandering around in entirely the wrong place.

- Vweee—

Until, far ahead of her, she saw the beam of light shooting down from the Sanctuary.

"!?"

Bukgung Han-seol stood frozen in place for a moment, unable to process the sudden turn of events. When did she get all the way over there? She's supposed to be searching for the crystal near me!

And only then did a single thought strike her like a bolt of lightning.

...I got played!

No wonder, then—even though they'd supposedly headed the same way, she hadn't caught so much as a shadow of Hong Yeon-hwa. She'd walked straight into the feint.

Meanwhile, Hong Yeon-hwa spared a glance at the scoreboard.

She's probably figured it out by now.

The crystal was linked to the Sanctuary now, so everything would have been laid bare. By this point, the girl would be sprinting back this way like a woman possessed. But she had already built up a lead of more than enough time.

The ruby in her wand flashed red again and again. Each time, another small magic circle appeared on the ground. Hong Yeon-hwa was laying fire circles down one after another, claiming the entire area as her domain.

A short while later, Bukgung Han-seol arrived on the arena floor and was forced to pull up short mid-lunge at Hong Yeon-hwa—because of the staggering number of magic circles carved into the ground. All of this, the fruit of falling for one petty trick.

No. I can do this.

It was too early to despair. Hadn't Gwak Ji-cheol built himself a perfect fortress in Match 2 and still not lost to Il Gong? You never knew until you actually fought.

Just as Bukgung Han-seol was stoking her fighting spirit—

- Fwoosh,

Hong Yeon-hwa casually lobbed over a single fireball, not a particularly large one—more a gesture of greeting than anything.

Something this small?

Bukgung Han-seol raised her qi as she tracked the fireball hurtling in toward her. A bone-deep chill gathered in one palm. It was the manifestation of the technique she had mastered: the Ice Extreme Snow Soul Palm Technique.

Fire and ice stood in opposition—whichever side held the greater power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would drive the other back. She had infused her hand with a suitable measure of cold qi, so swatting aside a fireball of that size would be no trouble at all.

The moment Bukgung Han-seol struck at the fireball with that breezy confidence—

- Fwoooosh!

The flame that should have snuffed out in an instant instead swallowed her palm strike whole—and caught fire on her hand.

"Wh-what? Th-this—"

Bukgung Han-seol frantically drew up more cold qi, but it burned away to nothing before it could do a thing. Panicking harder still, she poured her internal energy in by the fistful, and only then did the flame slowly begin to give ground. In the end she did manage to shake the fire off—but the drain on her qi was far, far worse than she'd expected.

What kind of flame is this...!

It had trampled right over the elemental matchup, overwhelming and melting her cold qi with nothing more than a tiny handful of embers. And with that, another fact she'd forgotten came belatedly back to her: the powerful trait Hong Yeon-hwa was said to have learned—one so rare that even among the flame mages of the Ruby Magic Tower, it manifested only seldom.

Aqua Flame!

Now that she thought about it, she'd been hard-countered, plain and simple.

Hong Yeon-hwa, for her part, stood facing her opponent with her haughty pose intact. Inside, however—

What? Why is she doing that? What's going on?

—she was every bit as rattled. She'd thrown that fireball without a second thought, but Bukgung Han-seol had smacked it, set her own hand ablaze, and proceeded to flail around all on her own. She'd shaken it off in the end, but afterward the look she leveled at Hong Yeon-hwa carried a whole new edge of tension.

Racking her brain over what on earth had just happened—

Oh, right. Aqua Flame. It's C-rank now.

In Hong Yeon-hwa's memory, Aqua Flame had been E-Rank. Back then the rank had been so low that even against ice-attribute opponents, her fire magic could be answered to a degree. But now, after melting down Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron alloy, it had leapt two full ranks—all the way to C. At present, the ceiling for first-year skills and traits generally sat at C, with the average somewhere around D. At C-rank, it was more than strong enough to hold its own against any opponent the first-year class could throw at it.

She'd known all of that in her head, of course, but she'd never once faced an ice-attribute opponent, so she was only now, at this very moment, putting its true power to the test. And who would have guessed that a 900-point-tier fighter would stumble around like that just trying to shake off a single fireball? Perhaps Aqua Flame was an even stronger trait than she'd realized.

And so Hong Yeon-hwa had landed a counter without even meaning to.

Bukgung Han-seol's face hardened as she stared her opponent down. One lesson, learned at great cost mere moments ago:

I have to dodge. No matter what.

She could not let a single fire spell connect. If a carelessly lobbed fireball had cost her this much grief, a properly cast fire spell would be utterly beyond her to withstand. Which meant she would have to slip every spell that came raining down, close in on Hong Yeon-hwa, and rip the crystal from her grasp...

Could she actually manage it?

Bukgung Han-seol's eyes swept across the magic circles blanketing the battlefield. To her, they no longer looked like magic circles at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all. They looked like flames—raging, roaring, blazing on every side.

But time was not on her side. The crystal's charge was climbing second by second, even as she deliberated. If she stood still, defeat was certain either way—so she had to try, workable or not.

Bukgung Han-seol drew her internal energy up to its peak and channeled it into both palms, then charged forward, unleashing palm strikes as she came.

- Papapapat!

Hong Yeon-hwa watched the palm strikes come hurtling in, menacing as anything, and thought: Should I dodge? Getting hit might actually sting...

She began to shift sideways, then promptly changed her mind.

I'll block it.

She cast a spell in a flash and thrust her staff forward—

- FWOOOOM—

—and a stream of flame gushed out like a flamethrower, swallowing the palm strikes whole. Just as she'd expected: flame infused with Aqua Flame made short work of Bukgung Han-seol's ranged attacks as well.

"...!"

Bukgung Han-seol's eyes went wide with disbelief—she'd had no idea her attacks could be turned aside so easily. But it was far too late to stop now, so she didn't slacken her assault one bit.

The instant she moved to pour out another volley—Hong Yeon-hwa snapped her fingers.

The magic circle sitting directly in front of Bukgung Han-seol flushed red, and—

- FWOOOOM!

"!!"

—a vivid pillar of fire erupted skyward. Bukgung Han-seol barely managed to summon her reflexes in time, falling back just beyond the Fire Pillar's reach. But she was already sunk deep into the heart of enemy territory. Magic circles filled every direction—and one of them was sitting right beneath her feet. Glowing red.

Glowing... red?

- FWOOOOM!

Bukgung Han-seol sprinted for her life, weaving between pillars of fire erupting on all sides. Her plan to strike at Hong Yeon-hwa at the center of the formation went on hold—first, she had to survive.

- FWOOOOM!

Dashing this way, darting that, in a panic the whole while, she at last managed to claw her way out of the magic circles' range. Catching her breath, Bukgung Han-seol thought:

B-but at least I made her burn through plenty, right?

Magic circles vanished the moment they fired off their spell. Her frantic scramble just now must have triggered dozens of Fire Pillars—if she pulled the same stunt a few more times, wouldn't she finally reach Hong Yeon-hwa?

But what met Bukgung Han-seol's eyes next was a fresh crop of magic circles, rapidly filling in every patch of empty ground.

And suddenly, Bukgung Han-seol wanted to go home.

[129] The Support Ate It All