The Duel (5)
“GYAAAAH!”
The rapidly spinning Earth Cluster shredded Gwak Ji-cheol's face to ribbons.
Who knows what kind of horror would have unfolded if the protective magic hadn't been in effect.
He hastily dismissed the Earth Cluster to escape the agony, and the wreckage scattered chaotically across the ground seemed a perfect reflection of his mental state.
Get hit by the same trick three or four times, and even the most dense person starts to catch on. Gwak Ji-cheol, too, thanks to all the punishment his body had taken, had worked his way close to the right answer about Kim Ho's methods.
'Wind! It's wind!'
Kim Ho had been pushing and pulling him with the wind, toying with him the whole time. Every embarrassing tumble he'd taken flashed past like a panorama, and his rage boiled up faster than ever.
The bastard was practically a master craftsman when it came to infuriating people.
Just as he was about to cast another offensive spell—
A faint breeze brushed past Gwak Ji-cheol's cheek.
His whole body flinched, and his senses snapped alert.
'I can't keep this up.'
If he committed to offense with no defense, he'd only hand the bastard another opening, just like before. First things first—he had to get out of the wind's reach.
Gwak Ji-cheol's staff glowed green. The leftover debris of the Earth Cluster he'd just dismissed piled up neatly, and a rounded wall rose around him.
But the very next moment, a violent gale burst from behind and slammed into his back.
He faceplanted straight into the wall he had summoned himself.
“Gwak! You son of a— you bastard!”
Even as he was forced to embrace his own wall, he worked his staff and raised another barrier at his back. Finally, he capped it with a lid to seal every gap, and a small fortress of stone stood complete.
Thankfully, the wind could not penetrate into the fortress.
'So he caught his breath.'
From here on out, all he had to do was keep an eye on the outside and wage a war of attrition with the wood golem and long-range magic.
“Wow... That actually leaves me speechless.”
Dang Gyu-young shook her head from side to side.
Full defensive posture. Turtle tactics. Crude, certainly—but a reliable strategy for securing victory, nonetheless.
The problem was that the person resorting to turtle tactics was Gwak Ji-cheol. If he'd borrowed a third-year golem and dominated from start to finish, people might still curse him, but at least it would have looked impressive. This? Full defense?
Dang Gyu-young pointed at the stage and needled Mok Jonghwa.
“Hey, honestly, I'd look more like a man than that. Don't you think?”
“...Shut up.”
Mok Jonghwa spat the words out through clenched teeth.
He, too, found Gwak Ji-cheol's behavior deeply distasteful. If the goal was upholding Emerald's prestige, winning the duel mattered—but so did the manner of the victory. And instead, this ugly spectacle. At this point, even a win was no better than breaking even. Pure loss, no matter how you sliced it.
Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-young rested her chin on her hand and mused.
'How is he planning to crack that?'
Crude as it was, judged coolly, Gwak Ji-cheol's fortress was fairly sturdy. He'd clearly practiced it often—his proficiency was high—and the equipment bonuses from the second- and third-years had fortified it further still.
Outside the fortress, the wood golem tore up the very earth as it rained down attacks, while Earth Clusters springing up all around began spitting gravel. Kim Ho slipped through every single strike with nimble movements—so fast his sneakers were nothing but a blur.
'Our junior's probably going to win this.'
The worry she'd felt at the first sight of the golem had thinned out considerably by now.
Kim Ho 100% vs Gwak Ji-cheol 68%
Time Remaining: 4:57
Kim Ho's health sat at a perfect one hundred percent. It meant he had not allowed a single clean hit this entire duel.
Gwak Ji-cheol, by contrast, had accumulated a fair amount of damage. Kim Ho could simply keep dodging until the clock ran dry and take it on a decision.
'But that doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd settle for that.'
This was the guy who had thrown an Inferno Fist right in front of Gwak Seung-jae. Dragging things out to an anticlimactic decision victory didn't seem to be in his nature. He surely had something else prepared.
“...!”
“Miss Seo, do you see something?”
“...!”
The first to notice the change was Seo Ye-in.
In her 'Eyes,' most of Kim Ho's information still appeared as question marks.
[Core?]
[??Po?(?+ → B?)]
But information wasn't limited to the numbers on display.
Seo Ye-in saw it—Kim Ho's aura surging upward in a sudden, steep spike.
The sneakered feet that had been moving at blistering speed, pushing [Thief's Step] to its absolute limit, came to a halt. Kim Ho stood his ground and faced the wood golem head-on.
To any observer, it was an act of sheer recklessness. He looked ready to take a giant wooden fist and go sprawling at any moment.
But an instant before the wooden fist connected, Kim Ho raised his hand and pressed it lightly against it.
CLANG—!
The wood golem's fist ricocheted high into the air.
One arm thrust straight up overhead—his entire upper body left wide open. Into that gap-riddled chest, Kim Ho stepped in close and gave a single light push.
“Uh— uhh?”
What Gwak Ji-cheol saw from inside his fortress was this: the massive wood golem's two feet lifting off the ground, hurtling toward him at a terrifying speed.
His question-filled “uhh” turned into a scream almost instantly,
“Uhh!? UHHH!! GYAAAAAH!!”
KRA-KRA-KRA-KOOM!!
Gwak Ji-cheol's humble little home was crushed flat under the incoming wood golem.
And so was Gwak Ji-cheol inside it.
“That...!”
“What the...!”
Every spectator was struck speechless with shock. Ha Su-yeon, too, stood gaping for a long while.
'Good grief.'
Goosebumps crawled up her spine.
What Kim Ho had crafted with the [Blank Skillbook] was no mere hammer of wind.
Something dozens of times more powerful—a typhoon that swatted a massive wood golem flying like a scarecrow doll.
She had felt relieved earlier, believing she'd given Kim Ho a gift. Now, she found herself retracing her steps, wondering if she'd made an even bigger mistake somewhere.
'We did make peace... right?'
Kim Ho 100% vs Gwak Ji-cheol 61%
That the match was still running meant Gwak Ji-cheol hadn't yet been rendered combat-incapacitated. Sure enough, the pile of collapsed stone stirred, and Gwak Ji-cheol came crawling out with a weary, stumbling gait.
His face had gone white, every trace of fighting spirit drained from it.
“...!”
And the moment he emerged, his eyes met Kim Ho's.
Gwak Ji-cheol couldn't understand why Kim Ho was pointing a finger at him. But when that finger tilted upward—
WHOOSH!
An overwhelming sensation of weightlessness seized him, and the next moment he was floating several meters in the air.
“Wh-what is happen—”
SLAM!
And then he was slammed flat into the ground, as if a transparent giant had seized him and hurled him down.
“Gh—gaah...!”
As Gwak Ji-cheol struggled upright, his vision found Kim Ho pointing upward with a finger once more.
His eyes went wide.
“N-no, wait—”
WHOOSH!
He shouted desperately as he floated up into the air.
“I—I lose! I'll surrend—”
SLAM!
“...!”
WHOOSH!
SLAM!
On the third slam, Gwak Ji-cheol finally let go of the last fraying thread of his consciousness.
“Hehehehe!!”
Dang Gyu-young skipped over, laughing gleefully, and clapped me on the shoulder again and again.
I was the one who'd won, but she looked happier than I did.
“Well done, well done! That hit the spot, just— poof! Hahahaha!”
In the stands, Go Hyeon-woo, Seo Ye-in, and Shin Byung-cheol were approaching from a distance to congratulate me on the victory.
The Emerald Magic Tower camp, meanwhile, had the atmosphere of a funeral. Gwak Seung-jae was tending to his fallen junior, and Mok Jonghwa was covering half his face with one hand.
The Mother Nature Club side seemed, for some reason, to be keeping a wary eye on me.
Anyway. Time to collect.
“...”
As I approached, Mok Jonghwa squeezed his eyes shut and swallowed his fury.
But a promise was a promise. I pulled the [Crafting VIP Ticket] from my inventory and handed it over. Judging by the trembling of his hand, he really, truly did not want to let it go.
Well, considering what that item was, I suppose I understood.
I tucked the ticket away inside my jacket and spoke.
“Shall I make you a proposal?”
“...What is it.”
“This duel's replay. How about we set it to private?”
“...!”
If this duel went public, it would deal a devastating blow to the Emerald Magic Tower's image. They'd backed a duel between first-years with third-year equipment and a golem—and even then, they'd done nothing but get pummeled one-sidedly. Gwak Ji-cheol's performance art of being shoved, yanked, and flung around the stage was a bonus.
If it were possible, they'd want the whole thing erased as if it never happened.
So I extended the rope first.
Mok Jonghwa brooded for a moment, then shot back.
“The man who wouldn't even accept this duel without a wager on the line now throws us a proposal in our favor.”
“Is there anything free in this world?”
“You'd make a fine merchant.”
“I won't starve to death on the street, at least. Will you take the deal?”
For Mok Jonghwa, it was a proposal he absolutely could not refuse. Hushing my mouth would cost far less than salvaging a shattered image after the fact.
“Tch. State what you want.”
“Nothing right now. Just grant me one small favor, later on.”
“If it's within my power to grant.”
“Deal. Then I'll have it set to private.”
I said it as if I were doing him a kindness, but keeping the replay private was what I wanted too. The longer information about [Wind Force] stayed contained, the better it was for me.
That was precisely why I'd flung Wind Force around in every possible variation during the duel—I was certain Mok Jonghwa would accept this offer. The other reason was to leave Mok Jonghwa owing me a debt.
I'd already crossed a river of no return with Emerald, but pushing further risked turning this into a dirty, sprawling fight—a mud-wrestling brawl that breached academy regulations and flirted with far more dangerous lines. I could knock down everything that came at me, but if my own growth got tangled up in it, that was hardly a desirable outcome. And I had no wish for Seo Ye-in or Go Hyeon-woo to suffer collateral damage either.
So this time, I'd yielded half a step—and in exchange, I'd shackled Mok Jonghwa's feet. As long as he felt even a sliver of indebtedness toward me, he wouldn't move rashly.
Granted, he was far too petty a man to stay sensible forever. His thinking might change down the road.
'But by then, I'll have grown enough.'
Enough to trample the Emerald Magic Tower without breaking a sweat.
Whatever scheming lay beneath, on the surface it was a temporary truce. Mok Jonghwa gave me a curt nod of the chin and turned his back.
Gwak Ji-cheol, having come to his senses in the meantime, didn't dare meet my eyes—he kept his gaze pinned to the ground as he staggered after Mok Jonghwa. Gwak Seung-jae cast me one composed glance before rejoining the Emerald group.
I was watching their retreating backs when two fingers crept up and pinched my cheek, then gave it a long pull.
“My, my. The more I look at you, the more you're a straight-up snake in the grass, huh?”
“Thenior, could you pwease not do thith.”
I peeled Dang Gyu-young's hand off my cheek. She'd always had a strange habit of ignoring personal space, but ever since her club recruitment pitch, she'd gotten worse.
“Setting the replay to private—you had all that calculated the moment you offered it. And you didn't give up a single thing in return.”
“Sharp eyes, Senior.”
“Well, you don't get to be club president for nothing. So what favor are you going to ask Mok Jonghwa for?”
“I'll think about that later. Probably something around the same level as what I asked of you.”
“Oh, right. Now that you mention it, I remember.”
Dang Gyu-young had also agreed to grant my 'small favor'—the price for letting her read the information on the Life Cube. That small favor being:
— Pass a message along to the head of the Magic Engineering Club.
— It'd be even better if it reached him naturally, through the grapevine.
— Tell him a first-year completed a 10x10x10 cube.
“How far did it get?”
“Dropped the hint ages ago. I've even gotten an inquiry.”
“An inquiry?”
“He asked me to set up a meeting so he could see you in person. What'll you do?”
“Perfect timing. Let's meet.”
Before moving on to the next item, I figured I'd squeeze in one more score.