Week 14 PvP (3)

That tiger was a genuinely clever beast, able to channel mana into its strikes, and every attack came with its full body weight behind it — even dedicated melee classes would have struggled to block.

And a mage like me? Don't even ask.

Dodging was the only option.

The instant the tiger's forepaw whipped toward my face, I twisted just enough to slip sideways.

The moment Beomi realized it had raked empty air, it nimbly twisted its body and landed — except the spot it chose wasn't ordinary ground, but a sheet of ice. Even Beomi couldn't escape the slide.

And to pile on,

Whump!

Compressed air detonated, shoving Beomi violently backward.

I tore my eyes from the tiger as it skidded rapidly away and cast Wind Force at Park Nari and Jeong Su-ji.

Fwoooosh—

"Uh, uhhhh..."

"S-Stop it..."

The two of them wobbled and flailed like parade balloon mascots. Picture barely keeping your balance on an ice sheet while someone kept shoving you from the side — that was exactly their situation.

As the wind kept up, Jeong Su-ji toppled over sideways yet again.

Charging was going smoothly.

"Krraaagh!"

Another quick spin, and there was Beomi bearing down on me at a terrifying speed. Keeping my sapling planted upright in the ice, I stretched my free hand forward.

Fwhoooo—

A wind laced with chill and raw kinetic force howled out. Beomi's charge slowed bit by bit, until it was actually being pushed backward, inch by inch.

Slow plus shove was potent enough on its own, but with the blizzard raging and the ground slick beneath its paws, the effect was multiplied several times over.

"Grrr."

"B-Beomi!"

But Park Nari was a top prospect in her own right. She wasn't about to just stand by and watch. Somewhere in there she had finished her cast — a green glow pulsed from her staff and sank into Beomi.

Flash!

Debuff Weakening.

"Grrr!"

Thanks to that, Beomi shed its slow and regained its agility. It bounded to my flank in a blink, then swept its forepaw as if to scythe down a wide area, the mana in its claws tracing three crescent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moons.

I wreathed my sapling in a dark cloud and fell back, layering a Wind Barrier over it. The crescents slit lightly through the barrier, but in the end they crashed into the dark cloud and canceled out.

As if determined not to grant me a moment's breath, Beomi stayed glued to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me, swinging its forepaws without pause. I dodged by a hair each time, and the instant a gap opened, I cast Wind Force at Park Nari and Jeong Su-ji again.

Fwoooosh—

"Ugh."

"Ah..."

Jeong Su-ji slipped and went down yet again, her half-cast spell fizzling out, while Park Nari — staggering off balance — saw hers through to the very end. That was the difference between the 600-point tier and the 1,000-point tier.

Flash!

Once more, light sank into Beomi's body. With buffs stacking one after another, the longer the fight dragged on, the more the advantage tilted their way.

Then again, it wouldn't drag on that long.

The charge would finish before long; all I had to do was hold out until then. A forepaw swung in on a diagonal, and I tilted out of its path while detonating a blast of compressed wind.

Whump!

Beomi skidded across the ice again — but the distance was shorter this time. I had a fair guess which buff Park Nari had just applied.

Weight Increase, huh.

The less Beomi slipped, the more attacking openings it got, and the more destructive force each blow carried — not a bad choice at all. Living up to her prospect billing, she'd learned quite the variety of buffs.

Speaking of which, it was about time to wrap this up.

Every buff had a duration. The green glow suffusing Beomi's body dimmed, then vanished altogether — meaning the Debuff Weakening Park Nari had cast to counter my Chillwind had finally expired.

Which meant—

I was free to use Chillwind again.

Fwhoooo—

The chill-laced wind brought Beomi's movements to a crawl.

"Grrr."

Beomi turned to glare at Park Nari and let out an irritated growl. Roughly translated: Ugh, what is our team even doing!

"Ah, s-sorry."

Flustered, Park Nari hurriedly recast Debuff Weakening.

At this point, I half wondered whether the scoreboard shouldn't display Beomi's name instead of Park Nari's. Of course, even this petty infighting was an opportunity for me — I cast Wind Force at their side of the field yet again.

Fwoooosh—

"Ngh."

And there was Jeong Su-ji, flailing and toppling, barely rising only to flail some more. But whether by misfortune or mercy, her humiliation ended here.

Thwack!

Because a Magic Bullet had slammed into her temple. Her body whipped sideways like she was mid-stretch, then flopped face-down onto the ice — and a white glow swallowed her whole, and she was gone.

I stole a glance toward the Sanctuary.

Honestly, I hadn't expected much.

The blizzard had shredded visibility — hardly conditions for long-range shooting. I'd told Seo Ye-in to focus on nothing but charging the crystal, yet she had punched a Magic Bullet clean through that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠foul weather and landed it. It struck me all over again: those Eyes of hers were seriously good.

"Grrr?"

Beomi, too, aborted its pounce and scrambled backward. The next instant, a blue streak grazed through the spot it had just vacated.

I felt thoroughly satisfied.

Sniping and support fire. Excellent.

I'd have to buy her a hot chocolate when this was over.

With that, I asked Park Nari:

"Want to keep going?"

"Ah..."

The charge was all but finished. No matter how they took me down, the match would end before they ever reached the Sanctuary.

"Grrr..."

Beomi, for its part, was making it blatantly obvious it had no desire to fight anymore — through all our back-and-forth, it had learned that this human is cold and annoying. On top of that, Jeong Su-ji had been knocked out of commission without accomplishing a thing, and Seo Ye-in's supporting fire just kept coming.

Park Nari must have arrived at the same conclusion, because her arms sagged to her sides.

The moment we rode the teleportation circle out, warmth flooded in from every direction. Right behind me, Seo Ye-in appeared with a whoosh, hoodie pulled down even further, the drawstrings yanked tight.

"Why have you turned into a hoodie person?"

"Cold..."

And this despite my granting her Elemental Resistance and burning through four heat packs — she seemed uniquely vulnerable to the cold. Granted, this environment had been brutal on everyone.

Students were clustered nearby in twos and threes, grumbling — like us, they'd just come out of matches, their bodies frozen stiff.

"Seriously, is it even legal for it to be this cold?"

"I nearly froze to death out there."

"You nearly died? I did die."

Only a precious few teams had come prepared with heat packs like us. Park Nari's team had at least had the sustain to endure; teams without even that would have had their health ground down by the blizzard until they dropped. They'd have taken a beating from the snowdrifts and the ice sheets too, so from their next match on, they'd be sure to bring at least the bare essentials.

In other words—

No more free wins.

Our first match had run on gaps in information and gear; from here on, the conditions were nearly even. All the more reason not to rush into the next one, but to catch our breath first. Bestow's cooldown for Elemental Resistance still had thirty-five minutes left to run, after all.

So I asked Seo Ye-in, casually:

"Want to grab something to drink before our next match? Something warm."

"Warm thing."

An exclamation mark practically floated up above her head.

We stepped outside the Arena for a bit and made our way to the concession stand.

"..."

"Feeling a little more alive now?"

"Mm."

The outside warmth must have been doing its work, because she was slowly powering down hoodie-person mode. As for me, I hadn't taken any frost damage, but I was still one solid block of ice. When I pressed the back of my hand to Seo Ye-in's cheek—

"My hands are still cold. Look, look."

"!!!"

Seo Ye-in shrank in on herself in an instant and crab-walked away, fixing me with a look of pure wariness, her hand drifting toward her inventory — apparently a split second from pulling out the Kim Ho Pot.

"I don't like cold things."

"I won't do it."

Only then did she creep back over and press a heat pack into each of my hands.

"Warm hands."

"Thanks."

Weren't these mine to begin with, though?

It didn't seem worth quibbling over, so I just fiddled with the heat packs as we walked. Soon we reached the stand, bought a hot chocolate each, and sipped.

Great minds think alike, apparently — the Jeong Su-ji and Park Nari duo came in and ordered hot chocolates of their own. Then their eyes met ours; they whispered together briefly before Jeong Su-ji approached and stammered out:

"Um, so, you see..."

"Mm."

"C-could you maybe, set the replay to, private..."

Jeong Su-ji's face burned scarlet with shame — she had spent the entire match busy performing avant-garde art on the ice, after all. And that spectacle had been saved in the replay, in its entirety. The most serious part was that her partner was none other than the rising prospect Park Nari. The moment it was listed in the student shop, it would sell like hotcakes — with her most cringe-worthy moments recorded in full. She might as well be class-changing from Wood-Earth Shaman to Clown.

I could sympathize with the feeling well enough, so I agreed without hesitation. When you got down to it, I was the cause, too.

"Sure. Why not."

"...Thank you."

Jeong Su-ji let out a sigh of relief. Then, calling it a token of her sincerity, she produced two Random Rank-Up scrolls and handed them over — since setting a replay to private meant a loss of points, this was to offset at least part of that.

"We'll head out first."

"Right ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠— good luck out there."

Once the duo had left, I passed one of the Random Rank-Up scrolls to Seo Ye-in.

"Here — one's yours."

"Mm."

Seo Ye-in couldn't have cared less whether points piled up or replays got saved, so I'd accepted Jeong Su-ji's offer without bothering to ask her. Still, as teammates, splitting the compensation was only right.

Seo Ye-in quietly studied the scroll in her hand.

"..."

"Using it now?"

"Mm."

Fwaaash—

The magic scroll slowly drank in a pale light, and then—

Fsshhhh...

—it crumbled into ash and scattered on the air.

Lucky-mascot power might carry her through anything else, but the Random Rank-Up didn't bend so easily. Probability-related skills and traits had no effect on it. Still, it did earn us one more stamp.

Really not much farther to go now.

Another Random Rank-Up was waiting as a sub-quest reward, so the summit was within sight. Of course, actually claiming it meant getting through the remaining matches first.

"Now that we've thawed out, shall we head back in?"

Bestow's cooldown was nearly finished, too. But Seo Ye-in avoided my gaze and sidled away, inch by inch. Apparently the prospect of marching back into that blizzard did not appeal.

I closed the distance and coaxed her gently.

"Just one more match."

"..."

"Once this is done, we're free for the week. Let's charge just one more crystal, and then we rest."

"...Pillow?"

"I'll review that proposal favorably."

With liberal candy-coating, I lured the human sloth back into the Arena and locked in the match. While we waited, I ran through our items.

No need to spend any more points.

The Spiky Soles were as good as new, and the heat packs still held their warmth — though, as before, all four were Seo Ye-in's share.

Moments later, our names and our opponents' lit up on the scoreboard.

"...Them again."

[252] The Support Ate It All