Chapter 201: Bullet Time

Hong Yeon-hwa was hauled off to the Ruby Magic Tower and put through the wringer.

She tried her very best to talk her way out of it, but having been caught red-handed sitting cozily leaned against Kim Ho, there was no wriggling free. Worse still, the explanation itself was riddled with problems.

"No, seriously, I'm telling you—I sleep so much better when I lean on him!"

"Hey! Hong Yeon-hwa! Are you insane!?"

"You should try it too, Sis!"

"KYAAAAAH!!"

By any measure of common sense, claiming that a person possessed the efficacy of a premium sleep pillow was never going to earn her the benefit of the doubt. To every ear but her own, it translated to exactly one thing: I have a crush on him.

Hong Yeon-hwa only grasped this truth long after the sisters' brawl had ended—right as she was lying down for bed, in fact. That night, her mind stayed unusually, cruelly awake...

With misunderstandings piled atop misunderstandings like this, it looked as though she would be on the receiving end of her sister's suspicious gaze for quite some time to come.

On the practical side of things, however, there had been real progress.

Defensive magic. Hong Ye-hwa was overjoyed—practically dancing—that her little sister, whose repertoire had been attack, attack, and nothing but attack, had finally turned an eye toward defense. That the advice had come from Kim Ho was the one sour note.

The Ruby Magic Tower, for its part, had no reason whatsoever to pinch pennies on a promising talent's growth, and promptly procured everything Hong Yeon-hwa asked for: two Barrier-series spellbooks and one Armor-series tome.

One of the Barrier books had arrived first, so Hong Yeon-hwa had spent the past several days absorbing it and drilling what she learned.

And now she stood in the Arena, queuing up a match—partly to test her new magic in live combat, and partly to close out her one remaining bout.

"Hmph."

A confident smile settled at the corner of Hong Yeon-hwa's mouth. Mastering a powerful new spell had filled her to the brim with self-assurance. If she faced Wang Chunsam again right now, she was certain she could overwhelm him without breaking a sweat.

The truth was simply that Kim Ho and Wang Chunsam were absurdly stronger than their scores let on; any ordinary 600-point tier wouldn't have lasted a moment against her. Even if the two of them had ganged up on her at once, she'd have been confident of burning them both to ash.

And yet...

The moment the matchmaking locked in and the names floated up onto the scoreboard, the corners of Hong Yeon-hwa's mouth began a slow descent.

Why...?

Why is my matchmaking luck so utterly lamentable? Her first match had served up the assassin and the monster, and now a Gunslinger had come popping out in her second. Considering that mages were structurally vulnerable to Gunslingers, this bout was clearly going to be every bit as brutal.

Hong Yeon-hwa swept her gaze around the waiting area, and a head of pale gray hair caught her eye. Seo Ye-in—and Kim Ho standing right in front of her.

Those two are glued together every single day.

They claimed they weren't dating, but seeing them like this, one couldn't help but wonder. Seo Ye-in listened to whatever Kim Ho was saying, occasionally giving a small nod. Normally she radiated an air of wanting to ditch it all and go nap, but today, for whatever reason, she was brimming with drive—so much that you could practically see her resolve to win, no matter what.

Drawing a Gunslinger as her opponent was bad luck enough; her being motivated on top of it was, for Hong Yeon-hwa, unwelcome news all around.

Haah... such is my lot in life...

She let out a small sigh, stepped onto the teleportation circle, and entered the arena proper.

A volcanic zone ringed by a river of lava. The volcano crouching at one edge of her vision stood primed to erupt at any moment. Across the field, her two opponents appeared one after another.

From Hong Yeon-hwa's standpoint, Kang Hee-chan was a complete stranger. The longsword at his side marked him as a warrior class, most likely. The wariness brimming in his eyes was something she received as a matter of course—after all, the whole world knew she was a rising star.

Then Kang Hee-chan glanced at Seo Ye-in and knit his brow ever so slightly. Apparently there was some bad blood between the two. And yet he kept sneaking sidelong peeks at her all the same; he might pretend otherwise, but to Hong Yeon-hwa it was painfully obvious.

Well, she is pretty. Even another woman couldn't look at that face without a sigh of admiration—heaven only knew what it did to the men.

That was as much as a simple exchange of glances could tell her; the rest she would have to suss out once the match began.

Once all three were ready, the countdown began.

KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM! The volcano erupted, sending a deluge of fireballs raining down. All three of them picked their footing around the falling flames without once taking their eyes off one another.

Hong Yeon-hwa launched straight into her chant. Geometric runes woven from mana rose into the air, and the intricate formula assembled itself piece by piece, swiftly completing into a single spell.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in fished something out and threw ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it over herself—and with a soft shwooo, her figure turned transparent and vanished. She had donned the optical camouflage ghillie suit.

Hong Yeon-hwa was so dumbfounded she nearly fumbled her casting. No, hold on, that is just not right... Going into stealth the instant the match starts?

In fairness, no strategy in a three-way battle was more efficient than stealth. With no way to detect the hidden party, the remaining two would simply be forced to slug it out between themselves. And regrettably, Hong Yeon-hwa had all-in'd on offensive magic until very recently, which meant her defensive arsenal—and her utility lineup even more so—was a bust. She had absolutely no means of flushing Seo Ye-in out.

"..."

Across the field, Kang Hee-chan seemed to be in much the same bind. Such is the fate of the muscle-brained swordsman. He clearly would have preferred to avoid locking horns with a rising star, but choice was a luxury he didn't have. Besides, every second he gifted a mage only deepened his own disadvantage—so he kicked off the ground at once.

Tap! Kang Hee-chan came hurtling in at a frightening speed. Yet even facing him down, not a single trace of crisis could be found on Hong Yeon-hwa's face.

"Hmph."

And one step before he reached her, her spell completed. Even though she had taken Kim Ho's advice and deliberately learned spells with long casting times, this one had come together in a flash.

Fwoooosh! Flame surged up from beneath Hong Yeon-hwa's feet and wrapped around her in a perfect sphere. At the sight of it, Kang Hee-chan's eyes narrowed. A barrier? What a pointless gesture.

He, too, was a swordsman who handled mana. If she thought a mere barrier could stop him, she was underestimating him far too much. Blue mana coalesced along the longsword in his grip, and he raked it through the air in a diagonal line—

Swish! The barrier split open on the spot, baring Hong Yeon-hwa within. His next slash would draw blood.

Except—

FWOOOOSH! Fire came roaring back through the torn barrier, spewing outward like a flamethrower. The instant flames engulfed him from head to toe, Kang Hee-chan jolted backward in shock.

"What the—!"

In its resting state, the Backflow Barrier held the same shape as any ordinary shield. But the moment an enemy damaged it, the energy composing the barrier reversed its flow and dealt out punishment in return. A defensive spell that launched a counterattack entirely on its own—Hong Yeon-hwa had fallen in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠love with it at first cast.

With his whole body ablaze, Kang Hee-chan's health ticked down moment by moment. Had he been Wang Chunsam, he would have plunged straight through the fire—but Kang Hee-chan, it seemed, lacked that particular brand of ruthlessness. He apparently decided to put himself out first and pulled back to create distance, which was a dreadful choice: it handed Hong Yeon-hwa all the time in the world to stack her next spells.

Her ruby glowed red, and her staff pointed crisply at one of the fireballs falling from above.

BOOM! A massive detonation swallowed the very spot where Kang Hee-chan had retreated. He had pulled back to escape the flames, only to wrap himself in an even bigger one.

"Grrgh...!" Only now did Kang Hee-chan grasp how deep in the hole he was. With a do-or-die snarl, he charged at Hong Yeon-hwa all over again.

Of course, Hong Yeon-hwa was fully prepared to receive him.

Fireballs the size of fists and dozens upon dozens of flaming arrows came crashing down in a torrent. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

"Guaaaaaah—!"

Kang Hee-chan slashed through what he could with his longsword and tanked the rest with his own body, desperately pushing forward—but there were simply too many. Even after all that bombardment, dozens more were already blooming into existence, the fruit of Hong Yeon-hwa leveraging her terrifying casting speed to chain spell after spell in the blink of an eye.

Kang Hee-chan never managed to lay a finger on her. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He dropped into a combat-incapacitated state and vanished from the arena.

Despite having dispatched one opponent with ease, Hong Yeon-hwa's expression showed no relief whatsoever. If anything, she began chaining spells together with an even graver intensity.

I have to get ready. Because Seo Ye-in—a far more difficult opponent than Kang Hee-chan—still remained. She blanketed the ground in spell circles and restocked her fireballs and flame arrows to the brim.

Naturally, Seo Ye-in was not the type to stand by and watch. Rat-tat-tat-tat! A dozen-odd magic bullets punched straight through the barrier from somewhere and slammed into Hong Yeon-hwa.

"Kgh!"

Her health had been carved away in one brutal chunk. A barrier she had only barely mastered days ago was never going to stop a Gunslinger's magic bullets. What was more, the Backflow Barrier was, in truth, a close-quarters defensive spell—flame did gush from the ruptured section, but her opponent stood far too distant for any of it to reach. One way or another, she was at a decided disadvantage against a Gunslinger.

"..."

Before long, Seo Ye-in dropped her invisibility and reappeared. Expressionless gray eyes turned toward her.

Hong Yeon-hwa shouted, half in protest. "That's so unfair!"

"Taking you down."

Seo Ye-in charged, flinging out the curt declaration. At the same instant, the assault rifle in her hands spat blue fire again and again. Rat-tat-tat-tat!

"Eeek..."

More magic bullets thudded home, and Hong Yeon-hwa felt tears prick at the corners of her eyes. The odds had already tipped almost entirely to her opponent's side. But she had no intention of lying down and losing.

Every spell she had prepared in advance fired off in a single volley.

KWAAAAAAH! Dozens of fireballs and flame arrows came pouring down with one target and one target only: Seo Ye-in. Pillars of fire surged up all around her, sealing off every route of retreat. Whichever way one looked, there was flame, and more flame, and nothing else.

"..."

Yet Seo Ye-in stared at it all with those same expressionless, faintly vacant eyes. Just as her body was about to be swallowed whole by the inferno—a flash! Her gray eyes gleamed with an eerie light.

Everything in Seo Ye-in's field of vision slowed as though frozen in place—so far that she could make out each incoming fireball as it flickered and roiled. Before long, she found it: a gap between the cascading flame spells and the pillars of fire, a gap so vanishingly small it barely existed. Stepping feather-light toward it, she slipped through with unhurried grace.

The very next instant, her slowed sight snapped back to full speed, and the fireballs came crashing down behind her back, erupting into a colossal explosion of flame. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM—!

Hong Yeon-hwa's lips parted slightly. She dodged all of that...? To think she wouldn't land so much as a single Fireball.

Face to face with the muzzle aimed dead at her, Hong Yeon-hwa pulled a face on the verge of tears. Why...? Why...? Why can I never be happy...?

The magic gun spat blue fire, again and again. Rat-tat-tat-tat!!