Week 10 PvP (2)

Kang Hee-chan's health was being carved away in great, heaping chunks.

"Kraaaaagh!"

Kang Hee-chan swam for his life, desperate to escape the river of lava. Watching him stroke at a speed that transcended the limits of the human body, one could well imagine just how hot it was.

But just as he was all but ashore—

- Thwack!

A fist wind slammed squarely into his chin. Kang Hee-chan froze in place for a moment, head bent at an angle, then sank beneath the surface with a bubbling hiss.

I spared a glance for Kang Hee-chan, now vanished into the lava, then turned my gaze on Son Hyeong-taek, the one who had thrown the fist wind.

"Hyeong-taek, you are a genuinely rotten bastard. You make an alliance, you honor it to the end. What, you see your chance and stab us in the back, is that it?"

"Isn't an alliance something that can shatter at any given moment? I'd sooner fight alone than link up with a pushover like that."

"The way I see it, you two are about even."

"Then verify it yourself, starting now. Whether we're truly about even."

- KWA-BOOM!

The volcano erupted anew, shaking the earth to its foundations. Fireballs larger than a grown man came raining down. Eyes locked on each other, we stepped and slipped to dodge them.

Son Hyeong-taek, being something of a fighter type, handled his body well. He soon drew both fists in before his chest, then began thrusting them forward in alternation, like a boxer slinging haymakers from full extension.

- Papapapat!

Weaving aside the fist winds that came streaming at me one after another, I tossed out a question.

"Planning to finish this at range?"

"What good would closing in do me?"

From Son Hyeong-taek's point of view, approaching meant getting blown away by Wind Force, plain as day—and then he might well end up just like Kang Hee-chan. Looking back on it, the whole point of the temporary alliance had probably been to send Kang Hee-chan in first and take the measure of my tricks. An utterly spineless maneuver, I'll grant—but I had to give him credit for using his head.

And so, even as I busily dodged fist winds and fireballs alike, I bobbed my head in acknowledgment.

"Well analyzed. I was planning to shove you away if you got close."

"Then at least for the duration of this match, the distance between us is never going to close."

"There's just one thing you missed."

"……?"

"My skill set doesn't begin and end with Wind Force."

I gave a flick of Root toward Son Hyeong-taek.

- Whiiiing—

Winds converging from every direction spun up into a vortex that bound him where he stood. He thrashed and strained with all his might, but it fell far short of escaping a C+ rank Twister. And then, right on its heels, one of the massive fireballs the eruption had hurled skyward came down and struck him squarely on the crown of the head.

- BOOM!

"!!"

Son Hyeong-taek ran in circles, flailing both arms in a panic. He blundered this way and that, entirely wrapped in flame, but before long he seemed to reclaim his composure.

"Hup!"

With a resounding shout, the flames were flung off in every direction. Some manner of Protective Astral Qi, by the look of it.

But of course, having just handed him all that time, I was hardly going to stand by and simply watch. I had already closed to point-blank range in the gap while he flailed. The moment Son ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Hyeong-taek's eyes found me, his pupils blew wide.

"N-now, wait—"

"That's exactly what Kang Hee-chan said just now."

Since when does a match come with a pause button?

The maximally compressed wind detonated.

- BAM!

Son Hyeong-taek's body traced a parabolic arc through the air, then plunged into the river of lava with a mighty splash.

"Graaaaagh!"

"See? About even."

His reaction upon falling in was a carbon copy of Kang Hee-chan's. Churning back across the river of lava with swimming prowess that would put a gold medalist to shame, he made for the shore. I watched in silence, and just as Son Hyeong-taek gained the shallows, I spoke.

"There's one more thing your analysis got wrong."

"Aaaaargh—"

"This is long-range magic."

In other words, whether the target stood near or far made not one whit of difference to pushing or pulling.

- Whiiiing—

Wind packed with raw physical force drove Son Hyeong-taek steadily backward.

"Graaaaagh—!"

Son Hyeong-taek swam desperately in place, but his strokes grew slower and slower as he was driven back, until at last he slipped beneath the surface, bubbling.

Before long, the results printed themselves across the scoreboard.

One match down.

I sauntered out of the arena with all the leisure in the world and immediately queued up the next match.

And as I stood waiting, eyes idly fixed on the arena, the chatter of other students drifted into my ears. They, too, appeared to have just finished their matches. Roughly half the conversation concerned the three-way battle rules.

"This PvP is absolute chaos."

"The mind games were insane."

"The other two just double-teamed me."

"Guess they must hate you. It's because you're ugly."

A three-way battle, rife with schemes and treachery. The half-committed do not survive. Just look at Kang Hee-chan, who took Son Hyeong-taek's proposal at face value, formed an alliance—and became the first sacrificial lamb.

The other half was a litany of grievances about the hostile environment, a first for everyone.

"This map is straight-up brutal."

"One fireball hit took ten percent of my HP."

"Seven, for me."

"And the lava is no joke either."

"And this is going to keep happening for the rest of the semester?"

The active volcano rained down fireballs for the entire duration of a match, and as time wore on, the lava overflowed further and further until there was not so much as a patch of ground left to stand on. Which meant this PvP demanded endless reading of opponents and endless judgment calls: play aggressive and put your enemies down, or play turtle and simply outlast them.

As I kept waiting and letting my gaze wander, I came face to face with a very familiar visage. Hong Yeon-hwa approached, offering a timid greeting.

"U-um, hi……"

"We do keep running into each other lately."

"Y-yeah……"

Compared to before, her fear seemed to be receding, little by little. At the same time, the look she fixed on me seemed laden with emotions of a very complicated sort, though for the life of me I couldn't say why.

Come to think of it, her score is about the same as mine, isn't it.

Which meant the odds of us being matched together were fairly high, no?

"Oh no."

In that instant, it seemed the very same thought had flickered through Hong Yeon-hwa's mind. And unlike me, for whom any opponent would do, Hong Yeon-hwa would want, above all things, to avoid facing me. So she bolted for her terminal to cancel the matchmaking—

"Ah."

—only to stop dead in her tracks, frozen, the picture of a small child who had just dropped her ice cream. No such luck. The match had already been set.

What is it with today?

Nothing but familiar faces, one after another. Or perhaps that simply meant I'd come to know that many more people.

I started toward the arena, calling over my shoulder.

"Let's head in."

"O-okay……"

Hong Yeon-hwa's complexion had darkened dramatically in the interim. Her footsteps looked unusually heavy today.

Riding the teleportation array into the volcanic zone, I was met with a slap of sweltering heat. Hong Yeon-hwa then revealed herself at one corner of the arena, and on the far side appeared Wang Minsu.

I gave Wang Minsu a wave.

"How goes it, Chunsam?"

"……It is Wang Minsu, at present."

"Still keeping up the alias?"

"So it shall be for the time being."

Apparently unkeen on the subject, Wang Chunsam pivoted straight to another.

"I gather you brought down Sagong Wuk without difficulty."

"Well enough."

The Black Path faction of the Swordsmanship Club still looked upon me with displeasure, and so they had set Sagong Wuk and five fellow blade-wielders on me during the midterms, hoping to carve me up. But thanks to my enthusiastic application of Spiral Explosion, the whole scheme had dissolved ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠into foam.

I asked after the current state of Sagong Wuk's crew.

"So what's become of them?"

"They were, naturally, soundly thrashed by Senior Mak Daewoong. I heard they also lost a six-against-three engagement—is that accurate?"

"That it did."

The six blade-wielders had been met by three of us—Go Hyeon-woo, myself, and Seo Ye-in—though in truth Seo Ye-in had been able to offer little in the way of support, so it had effectively been six against two. To be routed so one-sidedly despite holding the numerical advantage... Mak Daewoong's fury must have been something to behold. They might have fared better had they at least brought proper intelligence on Spiral Explosion, but with the Blood Explosion Pill incident, the replays likely hadn't even been saved.

They'll keep their heads down for a while yet, I'd wager.

That was quite enough on the whereabouts of Sagong Wuk's crew. Time to turn to the match before me.

"Let me ask a favor of you."

"What is it this time?"

When Wang Chunsam asked, I tipped my chin toward Hong Yeon-hwa.

"Fight her at your true strength. And set the replay to private, naturally."

"W-with me……?"

Hong Yeon-hwa's eyes flew wide at the unexpected proposal. To be told, after only a few words exchanged, to fight someone one-on-one—anyone would be thrown off balance.

I spoke to her as well.

"Give it a try. It'll be good experience."

Jang Mu-geuk and Wang Chunsam were both of the assassin class—nothing less than the natural predators of artillery-type mages like Hong Yeon-hwa. Pitted against Jang Mu-geuk, a full prospect-tier talent, she would be skewered and finished in short order. Wang Chunsam's skill, however, sat a notch below, at roughly 0.8 of a prospect. Even with the counter matchup, I expected a reasonably even contest.

Wang Chunsam, for his part, did not look thrilled; he knit his brow.

"I fail to see why I must. Are you not the one who assigns me only agreeable tasks?"

"If that's how you feel, then by all means—fight me instead."

"……"

Wang Chunsam's grievance deflated on the spot.

In the two-on-two PvP, he had rushed me, eaten the Great Palm Imprint–Wind Force combo, and been knocked out of the fight in a single stroke. And when he had joined Jang Mu-geuk in a combined assault on Mak Daewoong's orders, he had caught a Wind Force and been sent hurtling into the distance. The outcome this time would not differ greatly. No—it would very likely be worse. Rivers of lava flowed on every side, after all.

I coaxed him in my most agreeable tone.

"Just think of it as granting me one small favor."

"……Mm. Very well."

Wang Chunsam nodded, if grudgingly.

The terms the three of us had settled on were as follows. First, Hong Yeon-hwa and Wang Chunsam would clash to determine second place. Wang Chunsam would draw out his hidden strength and compete as an assassin, with the replay kept private. And I would withdraw a step and simply observe.

Once all were ready, the countdown began.

- KWA-KWA-BOOM!

The very instant the battle opened, the volcano began hurling down fireballs in earnest. One of them, as large as a house, came flying dead at me—but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I didn't so much as consider moving a step, and stood quietly right where I was.

- BOOM!

And the ground where I stood was swallowed by fire.

But there was no chance in hell a mere fireball would pierce S-rank Elemental Resistance. I could have stepped into the lava that very moment for a full-body soak and held steady at a cool 100% health.

"……?"

"……?"

Incredulity was written all over the faces of Hong Yeon-hwa and Wang Chunsam. They checked the scoreboard, stared at me burning away merrily, then bent over the scoreboard again—on and on it went.

I courteously extended a hand toward the speechless pair.

"Now, then—fight it out, you two."

[196] The Support Takes It All