Week 9 Midterm Exam (14)
I stretched one hand out in front of me, my face twisted into an expression of pure despair.
"Tell! My brother! I'm! Sooorrryyy……!"
"……Stop it."
Gwak Ji-cheol writhed in shame.
He had just recorded the single most embarrassing moment of his life. In front of his watching classmates, no less.
One perfectly good way to move past a situation like this would be to blow up in anger, but he couldn't exactly do that to the man who'd saved his life.
If we hadn't come to help when we did, or hadn't been carrying a Recovery Scroll, or had chosen to hoard it instead of using it — Gwak Ji-cheol would be a corpse right now. And so he had no choice but to swallow whatever his savior chose to feed him.
"Why would I stop something this entertaining? I have to milk it dry before graduation. Two and a half years left on the clock."
"……Just kill me again instead."
"Can't do that. Then I'd have to go tell your brother I'm sorry."
"Hrk—!"
In the end, Hong Yeon-hwa lost her battle against laughter. She had turned away, shoulders shaking.
The others, too, were visibly fighting to keep the laughter from bursting out of them.
Gwak Ji-cheol swept a somewhat gloomy gaze over the group — he could apparently see the treacherous road ahead — then heaved a deep sigh and opened his mouth.
"In any case, I owe you a great debt. Sooner or later, I will repay it."
"By all means. I never turn down a gift."
I'm the type who happily accepts anything on offer. And of all the debts in this world, isn't a life debt the heaviest of them all?
Neither the Emerald Magic Tower nor the Gwak family was going to let a matter like this slide, so I expected both tangible and intangible compensation to find its way back to me.
There was no time to keep trading jokes, though, so I decided to stop milking Gwak Ji-cheol there and get down to business — I explained the current situation to Park Nari's group, all the way through to our objective.
"We're going after the Alpha now."
"W-we'll help too."
"The help's welcome, but are you sure about this?"
The Alpha Ogre was the most dangerous existence on this island. Facing it meant putting your life on the line. The last thing I wanted was for them to get swept up in the moment and volunteer.
But the four of Park Nari's group seemed to have steeled themselves in their own way.
"S-sure. I want to help. The others…… I don't want them getting hurt like Gwak Ji-cheol did."
"Myaow."
Timid and stuttering though she was, Park Nari's intent came through loud and clear. Beomi, in cat form, chimed in from beside her.
I nodded. "Fair enough. Then let's move."
Our party of six had swelled to ten people and one cat.
Walking at the head of the column, I rattled off the key facts about the Alpha Ogre.
"Fight at double the range you think you need. Minimum."
"The formation's going to collapse right away anyway. Treat it as a free-for-all."
"Until the Disciplinary Committee gets here, first—"
"From Phase 2 onward—"
And so we pushed through the rain-lashed forest, briefing and battle-planning as we went.
Then, at some point, I quietly raised one hand.
"……."
"……."
Everyone snapped taut. Those with sharp senses seemed to have caught on that something waited ahead.
I flicked my eyes at Shin Byung-cheol first, and he got busily to work laying traps, chopsticks flying from his fingers. The Emerald and Mother Nature Club members layered earth-and-wood magic over them to squeeze out extra efficiency.
Hong Yeon-hwa, meanwhile, was off inscribing a Fire Pillar circle somewhere else, exactly as I'd ordered.
But before our preparations were fully complete—
- Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Grrrrr……."
Heavy footsteps closing in on us. A low growl rolling through the air.
At last, the thing revealed itself.
It stood two or three heads taller than an ordinary ogre, with a frame to match its height. In its hand was no club but an entire thick tree, uprooted from somewhere whole. Around its ankles, two Blood Explosion Pill syringes jangled on chains — both, naturally, empty.
We had finally come face to face with the final boss monster of the midterm exam island: the Alpha Ogre.
The thing glared at us with eyes brimming over with hostility.
"Grrrrr……."
"Nobody gets hurt."
I took the front line alongside Go Hyeon-woo, Baek Jun-seok, and Beomi.
The next instant, the Alpha seemed to crouch slightly — then launched itself forward like a released spring. Watching that colossal body soar through the air was almost surreal.
It crossed the distance to our front line in a single bound and brought the tree in its grip crashing down.
- KWAANG!
"Mmph."
"Kgh!"
"Grrr."
The ground heaved and tore apart, and all three at the front were flung off in three different directions. They had tried to deflect the blow the way one handles a berserk ogre, couldn't absorb it, and went flying instead.
Go Hyeon-woo looked the least worse for wear; Beomi and Baek Jun-seok were in no state to collect themselves from that alone.
I, on the other hand, had measured the thing's strength precisely, so I rode the impact and let myself sail backward, landing lightly in the rear before giving the order.
"Here it comes. I'm going to fling you, so don't panic."
"Huh? O-okay."
Amplification activated.
Wind Force rank increased. (C+ → A+)
Duration: 00:04:59
Cooldown: 00:29:59
"GRAAAAH—!"
Alpha let out a roar and sprang forward once more, closing the gap in a heartbeat. But just before it touched down—
- Whiiiing—
Wind packed with raw physical force flung everyone scattering in all directions. The log came down a beat later on the space now left empty.
- KWANG!
And the spot where it landed was dead center in the traps Shin Byung-cheol and Park Nari's group had laid.
The densely planted chopsticks linked together with mana threads and coiled around the beast, while wooden vines and mud crawled up its legs.
As it twisted this way and that trying to shake itself free—
- TANG—!
Seo Ye-in's shot struck home, and the Alpha's head snapped back a fraction. When its face swung back into place, a line of blood was trickling down from one eye.
"Blinded. Nice."
With one eye gone, its blind spots had just ballooned. That alone made the traps worth every second they'd taken.
Hong Yeon-hwa, meanwhile, unleashed the Fire Pillar she'd been holding ready.
- FWOOSH!
A slender but vivid pillar of flame shot skyward — high enough to reach the rainclouds smothering the heavens.
A beacon, lit so that the Disciplinary Committee — and every student across the island — could see it.
For the time being, Hong Yeon-hwa would have to pour everything into keeping that pillar burning rather than dealing damage to the Alpha.
"GRAAAAH!"
The traps had worked reasonably well on ordinary ogres, but they fell far short of pinning the Alpha for long. The moment it wrenched its body around and took a step forward, the mana threads and wooden vines snapped all at once.
The melee classes charged in at the thing as it gathered itself to leap again — myself among them.
Inferno Fist × Overheat
- Fwoosh—
The flames blazing from my fist were drawn into my entire body, flooding it with a torrent of energy.
I squared off against the Alpha head-on and stamped the ground.
- Pat!
"Grrr."
The thing froze mid-swing, its one remaining eyeball locking onto me with perfect precision. Then it shot its hand out, trying to snatch me as I closed in.
A superb reaction speed, entirely befitting a boss monster — but,
'When it comes to reaction speed, I don't fall behind anyone.'
- Pat!
I kicked off the ground at the last possible instant and reappeared beside its leg. My index finger was frozen rock-solid, like an icicle.
Extreme yin frost qi, driven deep into the meridians.
- Thunk.
I drove the Jade Demon Finger into its calf, then darted back in a flash.
'Even if it gets spotted, I have to use it.'
Having already burned my one and only Recovery Scroll on Gwak Ji-cheol, there would be no answer if anyone went down. Far better to have the finger seen than to lose a party member.
'Not that there's much chance of that.'
The battle was at full boil and everyone had their hands full — and with Overheat active, my speed had accelerated enormously. To the others, the sight of me casting the technique simply wouldn't have registered; they'd assume I'd merely fallen back to dodge one of the Alpha's attacks.
Replay was down, too, so the odds of being exposed later were slim.
"GRAAAAH—!"
The Alpha whirled like a windmill, sweeping its log in a wide arc. But the swing came a touch slower than before, and Go Hyeon-woo leapt clean over it and loosed his sword qi. Several long gashes opened across the beast's chest.
'Its leg has stiffened.'
Not one but two full doses of Blood Explosion Pill were coursing through the Alpha's body. With its blood raging wildly out of control, the freezing would take its time spreading — but I figured one leg counted as sealed. At the very least, it wouldn't be hopping this way and that like a grasshopper anymore.
- BAM!
I closed in a step, detonated Spiral Explosion against its chest, and fell back out of range once more.
"GRAAAAH!"
The Alpha Ogre seemed to have decided to hunt easier prey than me. Its next target: Hong Yeon-hwa, keeping the Fire Pillar alive. The flame magic made her stand out like a torch in the dark.
Half its leg frozen solid or not, it charged at her with terrifying speed.
But I was far faster pointing Root at Hong Yeon-hwa than the beast was at reaching her.
- Whiiiing—
Hong Yeon-hwa's body shot skyward on Wind Force and touched down softly a good distance away. She sent me a grateful glance, then relit the guttering Fire Pillar.
"Grrr."
The Alpha Ogre whipped around on the spot. Its next target: Shin Byung-cheol, the one closest to it.
The moment their eyes met, the color drained from Shin Byung-cheol's face.
"GRAAAAH!"
"Hey hey hey! Fling me too! Hurry!"
Shin Byung-cheol screamed for Wind Force support, but I never needed to lift a finger. Beomi darted in, clamped its jaws around the back of his neck, and hauled him out of the Alpha's reach.
Then, once it had carried him a safe distance off, it spat him onto the dirt with all the enthusiasm of a cat depositing something unspeakable from its mouth.
Shin Byung-cheol rolled around in the mud, grinning ear to ear — apparently just being alive was joy enough.
"Aigoo, our Beomi, every once in a while—"
- Mmph.
Beomi clapped a front paw over his muzzle. Apparently it didn't care to hear the rest.
"GRAAAAH!"
The game of tag with the Alpha Ogre rolled on and on. Everyone husbanded their strength and focused on one thing only: stacking damage, little by little — since the whole plan, after all, was to pin the beast in one place.
'At least until backup arrives, that is.'
And then, at last—
The air around the fire pillar Hong Yeon-hwa had kept burning began to shimmer, mana gathering of its own accord into the shape of a massive door.
The teleport portal swung wide open, and students came pouring through.
The first figures into view: Song Cheon-hye at the head of the Disciplinary Committee's four-person squad.
Stepping out of the portal, Song Cheon-hye hurled a bolt of lightning with everything she had.
- KWARRRRUM!
Just as we'd arranged — they had pinpointed our position using the fire pillar Hong Yeon-hwa raised and the Twin GPS, then torn open the door with the Twin Portal Scroll.
"We're here. We're not late, are we?"
"Nope. You timed it perfectly."
I gave a light once-over to the faces pouring out of the gate. The Disciplinary Committee's four, plus the other first-year committee members — ten in all. They'd brought every notable they could find, by the look of it.
"Well, well. Quite the crowd you brought."