Week 12 PvP Assessment (2)

Even as she was blasted off her feet by a sudden Wind Force, Cha Hyun-ju's reaction stayed composed. Mid-flight, she swiftly swapped the arrow on her string and loosed it without a moment's hesitation.

— Fweee!

An arrow fitted with a hook in place of a head, a rope trailing behind it. The instant the hook snagged on a cloud, she hauled on the line and began to climb.

She really is a rising star, no two ways about it.

Most would have simply taken that hit head-on, yet she'd slipped out of it without any real trouble.

Of course, I had no intention ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of standing by and watching. The moment Cha Hyun-ju finally got her feet under her on the cloud—

— Whump!

—compressed air exploded once more and shoved her violently away. A Wind Force I had been holding ready ever since her grappling arrow first caught the cloud.

"Ugh...!"

Only then did a flicker of crisis cross Cha Hyun-ju's face. Tumbling through the air, she desperately swept her surroundings and spotted a cloud platform drifting nearby. She flung out a hand, clung to the cloud's edge, and tried to clamber up—

"Peekaboo."

"...!"

I was already standing there. Pressing my foot down firmly on her hand, I spoke.

"I'll give you one last choice. Drop, or fight with me."

Cha Hyun-ju had gone so far as to openly declare she'd team-kill me. Two-on-one beat three-on-one, so sweeping her off the board early was the sensible play.

But if there was even an ant's-leg's worth of a chance of winning over a rising-star-grade ally, it was worth extending a hand one final time. Fighting it out two-on-two would be far more comfortable.

Or I could just blast her off right now.

Either way, I stood to lose nothing.

Cha Hyun-ju's face contorted with rage and humiliation. Paying it no mind, I began the countdown.

"Five, four, three..."

— Whiiiing—

At the same time, wind gathered and compressed above my open palm — an open offer: say the word, and I'd treat her to a skydive whenever she liked.

At the sight of it, her face twitched faintly, and she muttered with her head turned away, "...F-fine. I'll do it."

"Wind's awfully loud up here. Can't hear a word."

— Whiiiiing—!

The wind above my palm swirled all the more furiously. Cha Hyun-ju screwed her eyes shut and shouted.

"I said I'd do it! I'll fight with you!"

"All the way to the end? No knife in my back?"

"Yes!"

Rebelling would only end with her dropping helplessly at a single gesture from me. Better, she seemed to figure, to join forces for now and at least study how I fought. Not that she might not still stab me in the back later.

In which case, I wouldn't go easy on her either.

I lifted my foot from Cha Hyun-ju's hand. She scrambled up onto the platform and glared at me, resentment written all over her face. I met her eyes for a beat, then jerked my chin toward one side.

"Go."

There stood Choi Jeongpil, twin axes in hand, closing in. In other words, my chin-jerk carried a simple message: you take him.

Cha Hyun-ju evidently understood, because she fixed Choi Jeongpil with a murderous glare — then, lightning-quick, nocked a handful of arrows and sent them flying.

— Shriiiiek!

Every single shot brimmed with emotion; she had clearly resolved to vent the fury of losing to me on him instead.

"...!"

As the arrows came screaming in, Choi Jeongpil halted where he stood and whirled his twin axes in alternation at blistering speed. He batted most of them aside, but a few raked across his forearms and shoulders.

He tried to counter on the spot. His arm blurred for an instant, and the hand axe went spinning off like a boomerang, whirling straight at Cha Hyun-ju. She evaded it, leaped to the cloud behind her, and kept firing.

— Shriiik!

Let those two entertain each other.

I turned to tracking the other one. Jeong Su-ji had started climbing the moment the match began — presumably having judged her own combat power to be on the weaker side. And yet, despite the head start, the distance between us hadn't widened much.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

That girl could stand to work out.

For one thing, Jeong Su-ji's physical abilities were nothing to write home about. I remembered her being downright hopeless in close quarters; apparently she still hadn't done anything about that weakness.

The other, decisive reason was that the gaps between one cloud layer and the next were considerable. Misjudge a leap and fail to reach the next platform, and you'd plummet straight down — every jump demanded genuine care.

Then off I went to catch her.

— Whiiiing—

Raising an updraft with Wind Force, I kicked off lightly from the cloud. My body floated upward, the view streaked past, and I touched down on the next cloud platform. I kept bounding the same way.

Jeong Su-ji's jumping style went: plant your stance, gather every ounce of strength, jump! Then, on the next platform, steady yourself all over again and jump with everything you had! Mine was to hop lightly, like crossing a line of stepping stones. The gap between us had no choice but to shrink in great gulps.

"...!"

Seeing me bear down on her, a flustered Jeong Su-ji hurled out earthen bullets to hold me at bay — but with no ground beneath her to draw on, their power was far diminished.

This much I can block.

— Whiing—

A current of wind wrapped around me, forming a thin barrier. I had cast the E+ rank Wind Barrier. And though I'd restrained myself during training, the great virtue of wind magic was that several spells could be woven together at once. The wind swirled, laden with kinetic force, and as a result every earthen bullet crumbled to dust the moment it touched the barrier.

Barrier holding, I never stopped hopping, and at last I caught up to Jeong Su-ji.

"...!"

The instant an even more desperate Jeong Su-ji leaped for the cloud above to shake me off—

— Whiiiiing—

—a headwind howled down from overhead and pressed her flat. Her upward momentum died abruptly, and flailing her arms and legs, she dropped.

"Wh-whaaaaa—?"

As luck would have it, though, a platform sat right where she was falling. Jeong Su-ji just barely belly-flopped onto it and heaved a sigh of relief.

She relaxed a moment too soon — because I landed right there behind her.

For a few seconds, the two of us stood on the same platform, facing each other.

"Th...!"

That alone seemed to drain every ounce of fight out of her. She hadn't managed to beat me even in a two-on-one alongside Gwak Ji-cheol; no telling how it felt now. She hastily backed up a step and blurted,

"Hold on! I'll just forfe—"

— Whump!

"—iiiiit—!"

Jeong Su-ji shot downward, shrank to a tiny dot, and vanished.

One down.

I turned my attention back to the two I'd left behind. A glance at the scoreboard:

Choi Jeongpil was getting hammered one-sided. He'd brought twin axes to a long-range artillery duel with an archer; the outcome had been settled before it began. Never ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind that the archer in question happened to be rising-star grade.

— Whirrrr!

Choi Jeongpil was chasing Cha Hyun-ju, flinging out his two hand axes boomerang-style and reeling them back in. But Cha Hyun-ju kept throwing herself backward, so the distance between them refused to close — and all the while she loosed arrows, whittling his health away bit by bit.

Left alone, this would end in Cha Hyun-ju's victory. But simply waiting around felt like a waste of time, so I decided to lend a hand. This was a team game, after all.

Hopping from cloud to cloud, I made for the fray. And when I judged myself close enough, I drove Deep Root into the platform and cast my wind magic.

— Whiiiing—!

Wind roared in from all four directions, spinning up into a whirlwind that coiled around Choi Jeongpil's body. All at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠once, he couldn't so much as twitch.

"What the—?!"

Bewilderment was plain on his face. Only after whipping his head sideways did he realize I had intervened — and by then it was far too late. Cha Hyun-ju's rain of arrows was still pouring in.

— Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!

"Gyaaagh!!"

Taking the arrow barrage full-on, Choi Jeongpil seemed to black out for a moment. I gave his limp body a light push with Wind Force, and he drifted off the cloud platform and plunged downward. Incapacitated — and falling to boot.

The scoreboard soon updated.

"..."

It had been an effortless win, but Cha Hyun-ju looked not one bit pleased about it. Apparently she hadn't appreciated following my orders to the letter.

With a perfectly even face, I opened my mouth. "Good work out ther—"

— Poof!

"—e. Now get lost."

And with Cha Hyun-ju's rapidly receding figure at my back, I walked out of the arena.

Barely any time had passed since I left the arena before Cha Hyun-ju came out after me. Blame the skydiving she'd experienced at the end — she glared at me, grinding her teeth. I met her stare in kind and answered with my eyes alone: so what?

The glare-off dragged on for a while before Cha Hyun-ju finally looked away first. Even then, the hostile side-eye in my direction didn't stop.

I have to hand it to her — the girl's got fight in her.

Cha Hyun-ju's strengths: outstanding skill, and tenacity to spare. Weaknesses: everything else.

Thinking that, I tapped my student ID against the terminal.

"..."

Whereupon Cha Hyun-ju, mid-glare, swiftly scanned her own ID as well. Hoping to get matched with me again, it seemed. On the opposing team, if she could manage it.

Entirely possible, that.

Dragon Slayer Academy's first-year class numbered in the hundreds. But not all of those hundreds would be taking their PvP assessment at this very hour — some would prioritize training or club activities and push theirs to a weekday or the weekend instead. So the pool queuing for a match right now probably came to less than half the year, and subdivided by score bracket — 300s, 700s, 900s and so on — each bracket held a few dozen participants at most.

Which made facing the same opponent in consecutive matches statistically plausible enough.

"...!"

But Cha Hyun-ju soon scowled at her scoreboard. Regrettably for her, she'd been matched against other students.

— Fwoop,

She shot me one last glare, bared her teeth, stepped onto the teleportation array, and was gone.

We'd be meeting again soon enough.

As long as the bow remained her main weapon, Cha Hyun-ju's score would keep climbing for the time being — which meant it would stay roughly in step with my own rising one.

After a short wait, my own match came up. The two opponents first:

Choi Jeongpil, from the very last match. The other was Son Hyeongtaek, whom I'd faced in the Volcanic Zone PvP.

My teammate looked every bit as familiar. I run into this one an awful lot too, come to think of it.

Statistically plausible, sure — but with her especially, the frequency was something else. I couldn't decide whether that was good luck or bad.

Just then I felt a gaze on me and turned my head — and there was that eye-catching red hair, impossible to miss anywhere.

"...!"

Hong Yeon-hwa was staring at me, her face gone bright and radiant. If she'd had a tail, it would surely have been wagging for all it was worth.