Week 12 PvP Assessment (3)

When the match was set and Kim Ho's name flashed onto the scoreboard, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a silent scream.

Aaaaagh!

……Except, on a second look, she and Kim Ho were on the same team.

She'd been through so much at his hands lately that the mere sight of the two characters spelling "Kim Ho" was enough to terrify her on reflex.

But once she realized they were allies, a strange flutter of excitement stirred in her chest.

Like receiving an unexpected gift.

In the last Volcanic Zone three-way battle, she had suffered through absurdly rigged matchmaking.

One match against the monster Kim Ho, the next against Seo Ye-in, the monster gunner Kim Ho had raised.

The result of placing second in both matches: a grand total of eleven points.

Considering she had performed to the very limit of her ability, it was a hollow outcome.

But this time……!

That monster, Kim Ho, was on her side.

Just looking at the scoreboard made her feel reassured.

Hong Yeon-hwa swept her gaze through the crowd of waiting students and picked Kim Ho out at a glance.

It was a mystery why he, of all people, with such an unremarkable face, stood out to her so vividly.

He must have sensed her stare, because he glanced back her way.

"……."

Perhaps it was the thought of fighting this match together, but somehow he didn't seem as frightening as before.

The two exchanged a light greeting, and Kim Ho tilted his head toward the arena.

"Let's go in."

"Okay."

She trotted along behind him as he led the way.

The moment they stepped onto the teleportation circle, their view shifted entirely, and the next instant they were standing on a broad platform of cloud, high up in the distant sky.

Similar platforms floated at regular intervals all around them, and when Hong Yeon-hwa stole a glance downward to see what lay below—

I absolutely cannot fall. Absolutely.

—she vowed to herself, over and over.

Then she checked out the opposing team waiting across from them.

From Hong Yeon-hwa's perspective, Choi Jeongpil was a complete stranger, and Son Hyeongtaek was someone she'd only laid ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠eyes on once, during the 4-on-4 mentoring PvP.

Still, she could gather the basics: the former was a twin-axe warrior, the latter a fist-fighter.

What a great start.

Getting teamed up with the monster Kim Ho was lucky enough, but both of their opponents were melee classes.

On terrain that favored ranged combat, that meant holding the advantage from the very first second.

Wait, though……. Do those two know each other?

Just as Hong ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yeon-hwa had predicted, the other three were acquainted.

In the worst possible way.

The moment Son Hyeongtaek and Choi Jeongpil laid eyes on Kim Ho, their faces twisted in perfect unison.

Then, after confirming each other's expressions, they spoke at the same time.

"You got hit by him too?"

"You too?"

Victim A and Victim B of wind magic.

Choi Jeongpil in particular had come straight off a match against Kim Ho.

His direct opponent had been Cha Hyun-ju, but since Kim Ho had interfered at the decisive moment, his fury toward Kim Ho burned even hotter than toward her.

Choi Jeongpil ground his teeth.

"……Whatever it takes, I'm knocking that bastard off his platform."

"Same goal, then. But you'd best be careful. That one wields wind magic with infuriating skill."

"I know."

Kim Ho's tactics involved shoving opponents in all sorts of directions or binding them in place with whirlwinds.

And his timing was maddeningly exquisite.

On platform terrain like this, all the more reason to be on guard.

Son Hyeongtaek, eyes locked on Kim Ho, made a proposal.

"So here's my thought……. What if we take him out the second the match starts?"

"Focus-fire Kim Ho from the get-go?"

"Exactly. You've got at least one ranged attack of your own, don't you?"

It was true—Son Hyeongtaek had his fist wind, and Choi Jeongpil could throw his hand-axes.

But then another doubt occurred to Choi Jeongpil.

"What about Hong Yeon-hwa?"

"……."

Any student enrolled at Dragon Slayer Academy knew her name—a rising star.

While the two of them concentrated their attacks on Kim Ho, would their teammate really just stand by and watch?

Even if they managed to take Kim Ho down by some miracle, she'd have every spell in her arsenal primed and waiting for them by then.

Yet the next moment, the two men looked at each other and arrived at a silent agreement.

"……We'll worry about her later."

"……Mm."

Even if they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lost the match, they wanted to land at least one hit on that insufferable bastard.

Kim Ho watched the opposing pair's faces scrunch, smooth out, mutter, and scrunch up again, all with a perfectly composed expression.

Then, without warning, he tossed a question at Hong Yeon-hwa.

"How do you want to play it?"

"Uh, um……? Strategy……?"

Kim Ho gave a slight tilt of his chin.

Just like during the mentoring PvP, he was telling her the match would follow her plan.

In that case, what was the optimal play in this environment?

Hong Yeon-hwa thought for a moment, then carefully laid out her strategy.

Having heard her out, Kim Ho said,

"So you need me to buy time. In a two-on-one."

"It's, um……? You don't have to hold out for long……?"

Asking a teammate to fight a two-on-one felt a little shameless, but Kim Ho agreed without hesitation.

"Fine by me."

Before long, the countdown began.

Thud!

Choi Jeongpil and Son Hyeongtaek kicked off their platforms instantly and came charging this way.

Hong Yeon-hwa cast a fire spell in response and absorbed it with Overheat.

The boost to her physical abilities felt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sharper than ever—thanks to her recent training, the skill had risen to C-rank.

Her next move was to leap as high as she could and secure a position.

But then—

Whiiiiing—!

Wind gathered fiercely above Kim Ho's palm and compressed.

"I'll throw you."

"M-me……?"

"You said you wanted to go up. This is faster, isn't it?"

"It is……. but……?"

"You don't want to?"

Kim Ho's eyes glinted.

To Hong Yeon-hwa, that glint seemed to carry a very particular message.

You explained your whole plan…….

And now you don't want to go up quickly?

Were you never serious about it in the first place?

In that case, I suppose I'll launch you downward instead!

Hong Yeon-hwa's face drained of color.

Her choices had been reduced to up or down.

She forced the corners of her trembling mouth upward into a smile.

"Y-you're right, that would be faster! Th-throw me, then……?"

At that, Kim Ho took her arm lightly and, with a pushing motion, tossed her skyward.

Hong Yeon-hwa felt her body float gently upward.

Oh, this isn't…….

—so scary after—

BOOM!

—all, she was thinking, when the compressed air behind her exploded.

Hong Yeon-hwa's body shot upward like a rocket.

"Aaaaaaah—! Huk."

And she slammed face-first into a floating cloud platform above.

Fortunately, the platform really was made of something cloud-like, and it cushioned her landing considerably.

Hong Yeon-hwa picked herself up and slowly rubbed her nose.

Looking down, she saw that Kim Ho hadn't even checked how she'd landed—he was simply staring straight ahead.

Choi Jeongpil and Son Hyeongtaek were closing the distance on him second by second.

Now's not the time to be standing around dazed.

Hong Yeon-hwa steadied her heart and began chanting her spell.

The ruby set in her wand shimmered a vivid crimson.

Fwoooosh,

Flames rising from beneath her feet wrapped around her in the shape of a suit of armor.

It was the second defensive spell she had ever learned, after her reflux barrier—Blazing Armor.

Its base defense was on par with other armor-type spells, but Blazing Armor was superior in one key respect: it granted a bonus to fire-element spells cast in conjunction with it.

It did have the drawback of a long casting time, but to Hong Yeon-hwa, that meant nothing.

She chained spell after spell in rapid succession.

A round barrier of flame enveloped her,

and a magic circle was etched onto each of the cloud platforms floating here and there.

On top of that, she readied ranged spells like fire arrows, ready to loose at a moment's notice.

Looking down again, she saw Kim Ho still fleeing from the opposing team's pursuit.

Hopping from platform to platform like someone crossing stepping stones, he tilted his body just enough to slip past the incoming fist winds and thrown hand-axes.

"Would you hurry up already? Why are your movements so sluggish?"

"You little—!"

Harsh words flew back and forth at intervals, yet in a way, the two of them almost looked like they were having fun.

……Are those two actually close?

Thanks to Kim Ho buying her more than enough time, she was able to finish every last preparation.

Hong Yeon-hwa began intervening in the battlefield in earnest.

A fire arrow left her hand and streaked away,

BOOM!

—striking the very platform Son Hyeongtaek had been heading for.

As if the clouds were made of cotton, they were instantly engulfed in flame and scattered to nothing.

Son Hyeongtaek and Choi Jeongpil froze dead in their tracks the moment they saw it.

"This isn't going to work as planned."

"……Agreed."

The original plan had been for the two of them to focus their attacks and take out Kim Ho first, but that sneaky bastard was far nimbler than they'd expected.

Not a single attack landed, and he was such a slippery runner that the gap simply refused to close.

And now Hong Yeon-hwa had started providing covering fire on top of it all.

Which meant it was time to change the plan.

"We take out Hong Yeon-hwa first."

The two wheeled around and leapt upward.

They made for the cloud platforms above, closing in on her.

"Hmph."

Hong Yeon-hwa regarded the pair with cold eyes.

Under normal circumstances, a sudden two-on-one would have rattled her at least a little—but not now.

She was already prepared for absolutely everything.

With a light flick of her wand, the magic circles she'd etched into the cloud platforms glowed red.

And the instant Son Hyeongtaek set foot on one of them—

KWAAAAAH—!

—a pillar of fire erupted.

"Wh-what the—!"

Son Hyeongtaek kicked off the cloud on pure reflex and flung himself backward, managing to return to his previous platform not long after.

Choi Jeongpil, on the other hand, failed to react in time.

A pillar of fire burst up from the platform he had just landed on and swallowed him whole.

KWAAAAAH—!

"Gyaaaaaagh!"

Choi Jeongpil flailed in the flames.

But his suffering didn't last long, because the cloud platform itself burned away and scattered.

Choi Jeongpil plummeted straight down, shrinking to a tiny dot before vanishing from sight.

"No way……!"

Only then did Son Hyeongtaek take a careful look around—and realized that more platforms bore magic circles than didn't.

Without knowing a thing, he had stepped straight into a mage's domain.

Fwoooosh!

Fire arrows came streaking at him, granting him no room to breathe.

They aimed for him and his cloud platform simultaneously.

Which meant that even if he dodged, the platform beneath him would burn away and vanish.

He had no choice but to keep moving.

The moment he landed on the next platform, a pillar of fire was already blooming beneath his feet.

He scrambled desperately, leaping blindly for whatever platform he could see next.

In defiance, he hurled out a fist wind—

Thud!

—but it couldn't even pierce her barrier.

Hong Yeon-hwa fired off fire arrows with an utterly unbothered expression.

Damn it all……!

He had been completely swept up in his opponent's rhythm.

All he could do now was scurry back and forth every time Hong Yeon-hwa so much as crooked a finger.

Then, at some point, the seamless chain of fire magic abruptly cut off.

Puzzled, Son Hyeongtaek stopped in place and stared at her as well.

At first he thought Hong Yeon-hwa was looking at him—but she wasn't.

Her gaze was angled slightly to the side.

And when he turned his head toward where she was looking……

"Welcome back."

"Kim—!"

BOOM!

The heavily compressed air exploded, and Son Hyeongtaek's body shot rapidly downward.

"Hoooooooaargh—!"

Hong Yeon-hwa's strategy had been simple: while Kim Ho bought time, she would claim the platforms.

The plan had worked almost exactly as intended, and they'd been able to dispatch Choi Jeongpil with surprising ease.

The ending had deviated from her expectations somewhat—while Son Hyeongtaek was fleeing in a panic from her fire arrows and pillars of flame, Kim Ho had closed in and launched him off the edge.

"……."

Kim Ho looked at Hong Yeon-hwa and gave a small nod of his chin.

They were too far apart for his voice to carry, but she had a pretty good idea of what he'd said.

Good work.

Hong Yeon-hwa's face lit up brilliantly.

Having left the arena, Hong Yeon-hwa glanced around and quickly spotted Kim Ho.

He was scanning his student ID on his terminal, apparently intending to queue up for his next match right away.

Should I……. do it too?

She hesitated for a moment.

What if she queued up right after him and Kim Ho ended up on the opposing team?

Wouldn't the points she'd just earned go straight down the drain?

……No. I'm doing it.

She couldn't have explained why in any concrete terms, but today just felt like one of those days when things went her way.

There wouldn't be any rigged matchmaking like last time.

Armed with that baseless conviction, Hong Yeon-hwa scanned her student ID—

—and immediately had to clutch her pounding chest.

Right? It won't happen, will it?

Had she been reckless?

Could she still cancel now?

But she had her pride.

And what good was pride if it cost her points?

A thousand thoughts flashed through her mind.

And when the match finally locked in, Hong Yeon-hwa's face bloomed with color all over again.

Yes!

Teamed up with the monster Kim Ho two matches in a row!

Today really was one of those days.

However.

The moment she checked the names of the two opponents on the other team, she couldn't help but freeze.

……Huh?

Hong Yeon-hwa cautiously rolled only her eyes to gauge Kim Ho's expression.

The corners of his mouth were curling higher and higher, turning positively savage.

Hong Yeon-hwa trembled from head to toe.