Week 9 Midterm Exam (8)
Walking on and on in the direction our lucky mascot had divined for us, we soon came face to face with a pack of goblins.
We'd crossed paths with goblins plenty of times on the first day and put them down each time, but if there was one thing different about today—
"Grrrrr……."
"Grrrrr……."
—two whole Beheader Goblins were mixed into the pack.
Such was the nature of the Midterm Exam Uninhabited Island: with every passing day, it fielded stronger monsters in greater numbers. Day two brought tougher foes than day one, and day three tougher still than day two — all by design, meant to accelerate the participants' crystal acquisition.
"Graaaah—!"
One of the Beheaders loosed a shriek and hurled the kitchen cleaver in its fist.
I swatted the spinning blade out of the air with Root, and in the same breath Seo Yein leveled her assault rifle at the creature.
- Ratatatatat!
"Grrk. Gek. Kek."
Dozens of Magic Bullets buried themselves in the thing without a single miss. The Beheader crumpled where it stood, denied even a token resistance.
I stole a sidelong glance at Seo Yein.
'She really has grown by leaps and bounds.'
Back in the time-attack run, the first time we'd faced a Beheader, it had taken five rifle shots before the thing finally dropped. Now? One long burst from her assault rifle, and it was over.
Such was the power of C-rank Magic Bullet and Ejection.
The second Beheader's fate was little different.
- Ratatatat!
"Grrk. Grrk. Kek."
It whipped its cleaver through empty air in a dogged effort to bat the Magic Bullets aside, but it was like trying to shade the sky with a bare palm. Far more shots found their mark than were deflected, and at last it gave out and fell.
"Kerrk?"
"Kekek?"
Robbed of their anchor mere moments into the fight, the goblins dissolved into pandemonium. A whirlwind scooped up the scattering creatures and packed them together like a fistful of rice—
- BOOM!
—then detonated the whole lot on the spot.
By the time the dust settled, the field was spotless. Seo Yein trudged forward and picked up the crystals lying on the ground: a red one in one hand, a green one in the other.
"Got two."
"What the— why do you keep cheating?"
The truth be told, even Beheader Goblins didn't drop crystals at any impressive rate — the odds wavered somewhere between five and ten percent. And yet two had fallen back to back. It stung less than the crystal that had popped out of a random goblin in passing yesterday, but this, too, was a level of luck that defied reason.
"......?"
When I stared at her, Seo Yein tilted her head a touch to the side.
'I can't even begin to guess what trait that is.'
It was near-certain that Seo Yein held some luck-related trait, and we'd run experiment after experiment trying to identify it — but beyond confirming that it ran on a charge, the possibilities refused to narrow. I couldn't recall a single luck trait that strong, that versatile — indiscriminately effective on everything from random boxes to monster drops — and that frequently triggered. For something so potent, it didn't even appear to carry restrictions.
'It might be a unique trait.'
There was a real chance it was one I'd never encountered before. The unknown still sprawled wide open — EX-rank included, of which I knew nothing beyond the fact that it existed.
I resolved to simply keep an eye on it. And with two crystals in hand, there was no need to weigh our next destination.
"We should go charge them, shouldn't we?"
"I suppose we should."
We would stop by the Sanctuary and wrap up the day's schedule. The nearest one to our position was the windmill — the very spot where we'd charged our crystals yesterday. And so Seo Yein and I went ambling toward it, when—
- Rumble-rumble—
- KWA-KWA-BOOM!
Thunder and detonations came rolling out from the windmill's direction. A battle was in full swing, so we slowed our pace even further and pressed on, combing our surroundings with care.
Before long, the windmill — and the rough shape of the situation — swam into view.
"What an absolute madhouse."
Light flickered on and off around the windmill where someone was charging a crystal, and nearby, a dozen-odd teams were tangled together in a frenzied melee.
- Rumble, KWAANG!
As I'd suspected from a distance, the thunder was Song Cheonhye. Paired up with Han Somi, she looked to be not merely holding out against the combined assault of two or three teams, but overwhelming them outright.
One look was enough for me to reach a swift verdict.
"Charging's off the table today."
Five or six teams were visible at a glance, and counting those hidden among the trees, the number cleared ten without breaking a sweat. Burrowing into the heart of that melee for no reason meant eating a concentrated attack — and a very real chance of losing everything we carried.
Seo Yein, who had been quietly watching the scene, asked:
"Give up?"
"Have to. But instead—"
Slinking away empty-handed felt like a waste, so we'd take a different cut of profit here. I gave Seo Yein's shoulder a light tap and pointed off to one side. At the end of my finger: another team closing in on the windmill.
"......"
She studied them for a moment, caught my drift, and dipped her head in a small nod. Then she switched her mana gun to sniper mode. The long barrel tracked the pair in slow pursuit — and breathed blue fire.
- THWANG—!
"Gwaack!"
One male student took the shot flush on his temple and folded where he stood. The teammate walking beside him jolted in horror and bolted — without so much as grabbing the subspace backpack that had tumbled to the ground.
'No need to chase him down, then.'
The items had been our target from the very start. A look inside the abandoned backpack turned up a single uncharged red crystal. Somehow, it felt like only reds ever came up for us. There was a sleeping bag in there too — I couldn't imagine what use it'd ever be, but better than nothing, so I took it.
In the meantime, Seo Yein had already marked her next victim and squeezed the rifle's trigger.
- BANG!
"Kyak!"
Victim number two, a girl, dropped flat with a squelch like a stepped-on frog. Her backpack, however, was riding on her male teammate's shoulders.
"Wh-what the—!"
He gaped over at us in a panic, but by then I was already bearing down on him at a blistering clip.
- Whiiiine—
He backpedaled frantically to open the distance, but Wind Force pinned him in place, legs churning without an inch of progress. I brought Root down on the crown of his skull with everything I had.
- CLANG!
The strength drained from his eyes, and he melted softly to the ground. All that remained where he'd vanished was a single yellow crystal — a fully charged one, no less.
I waved the yellow crystal at Seo Yein.
"Got the whole set."
"Wow—"
🔴 Red — 100% × 1
🔵 Blue — 100% × 1
🟢 Green — 100% × 1
🟡 Yellow — 100% × 1
🔴 Red — 0% × 2
🟢 Green — 0% × 1
We'd completed a full set — the highest achievement tier of the midterm quest — with three extra crystals stacked on top. Today's quota was filled to overflowing.
"Time to start pulling back."
"Dinner?"
"That's right. How does grilled fish sound?"
"Fish. Good."
- Rumble! KWA-KWA-KWANG!
One more glance at the windmill showed the fighting had turned uglier still. The teams in view had swelled from five or six to well past ten, and the radius of the brawl had swelled to roughly twice the size with them. And then, from somewhere in the din, came a familiar whistle of cleaved air:
- Kiriririk!
The Cha Hyunju–Kang Heechan duo. They'd dug in a short distance from the windmill, Cha Hyunju pouring arrows into the fray while Kang Heechan turned back anything that tried to close on their position.
Seo Yein and I traded a look.
"Now that's not something we can just walk past, is it?"
"She said mean things."
Using Amplification.
Ejection rank rises. (C → A)
Seo Yein's Ejection, amplified all the way to A-rank. Its power announced itself at once.
- THWANG—!
A ribbon of blue light streaked from her muzzle and seemed to tether itself to Kang Heechan's stomach—
- KWAANG—!
—and he went sailing, skipping off the ground again and again like a leaf whirled away on the wind, or a stone skimming across water.
Truly a work of art. I'd give it twelve out of ten.
"......!"
Cha Hyunju's eyes bulged at the performance art of Kang Heechan skipping off into the distance, and she snapped her head toward the direction the shot had flown. The instant she picked me out, her face contorted into something monstrous.
"Kim—Ho—!"
"Hey, we meet again? Well then — bye now."
I gave a sunny little wave, took Seo Yein by the hand, and turned to sprint. There was no need for us to do the knocking-down ourselves. Because—
- Rumble-rumble—
—Song Cheonhye and Han Somi had already closed in and planted themselves squarely in Cha Hyunju's path. A prospect-class archer raining arrows without pause must have grated on them far worse than any of their other opponents; naturally, they'd want her cleared away first.
"You—get—back—here—!"
Cha Hyunju shrieked herself hoarse at our backs, but we didn't dignify it with so much as a twitch, hammering a foot into the earth and calling up Wind Force.
"Jump."
"Jump."
- WHUMP!
Look around, and you'd find plenty of spots fit for a rest stop. Even so, Seo Yein and I made our way back to the rock garden where we'd spent the previous night — the main reason being the lake nearby. Or, to put it more precisely, how convenient it was for rustling up dinner.
Standing at the water's edge, I spoke up.
"Now then, let's catch some fish."
"Fishing?"
"There's an easier, faster way."
I leveled Root at the lake in a single flick. A faint swirl began to turn on the surface, and then a deep whump rolled up from the lakebed. I had unleashed Spiral Explosion.
Moments later, dozens of fish as thick as my forearm floated up belly-first, bobbing gently. All that remained was to scoop them out with relish. The forbidden art of blast fishing — possible only because this was an artificial dungeon.
Back at the rock garden, I set to work with my knife, cleaning the fish with practiced hands, stripping out the innards, and threading each one onto a branch. While I did, Seo Yein slipped into the woods and returned hugging an armful of dry kindling.
"Good eye — these'll make a fine campfire."
"Mm."
"Now all that's left is lighting it......"
Unfortunately, of all the survival items we'd hauled in, not a single one was for making fire. Even a lighter would have settled it with a snap of the fingers. No help for it, then — I cobbled together a makeshift flint and set about striking it for dear life.
Just as I was about to open my war against friction—
- Kiiing—
A sharp sound grazed past our ears, and Seo Yein and I snapped our gazes to the same point. One of the alarm traps we'd planted nearby had tripped. Someone was approaching. We gathered ourselves up from our spots in short order.
"Of all the times to trip it — right before dinner. Let's finish them off quick and eat."
"Finish them."
We came down off the rocky slope and made quick time toward the intruder's position. To my surprise, they had stopped dead in place, and from the ripple of mana I could feel, they seemed to be mid-cast. They'd noticed they'd sprung the alarm and evidently meant to settle things right there. If so, every second we ceded them was a loss. I pushed my pace even harder, and soon the figure came into view.
"......!"
Hong Yeonhwa, one breath away from activating her Fire Pillar magic circles. Her eyes met mine and went perfectly round, and — like a child caught red-handed mid-mischief — she hastily canceled every spell.
'Well, how convenient.'
The campfire had come walking to us of its own accord.
[185] The Support Ate It All