Week 3 PvP (2)

When Hong Yeon-hwa looked across at Seo Ye-in, the first thought that came to her was this.

She really was as pretty as a doll.

They were in different classes, but she had often heard the boys in her own class bring up "that gray-haired girl from Class 3." Meeting her face to face at last, Hong Yeon-hwa had to admit the girl's beauty could draw admiration even from a fellow woman.

Next, Kim Ho.

Her eyes had lingered on Seo Ye-in's looks just long enough to push him down the rankings, but in sheer memorability, this man came with interest. He was the one who had handed Hong Yeon-hwa—once fearless of anything the world could throw at her—her very first defeat, and then made her taste despair on top of it.

The moment she slipped into the memory, a dizzy spell washed over her and the back of her neck pulled tight.

He beats me that perfectly, wrings a surrender out of me,

and then forfeits both of his remaining matches?

Why?

Why would he win against me and then give Song Cheon-hye a free pass?

I wouldn't even lose to Song Cheon-hye, you know!

It was as if the pecking order had been established beyond argument—Hong Yeon-hwa beneath Kim Ho, Kim Ho beneath Song Cheon-hye—and that galled her beyond words. In her heart of hearts she wanted to seize Kim Ho by the collar and shake him down for an answer—why on earth had he forfeited... but the fantasy got no further than fantasy.

Because the instant she imagined it, the cold look in that man's eyes as he had gazed down at her flickered back to life before her own.

Hong Yeon-hwa's temper ran hot as a wildfire at the best of times, yet in front of Kim Ho, for reasons she could not name, her anger management was flawless. Even now she gave no outward sign of it—though just looking at him sent a faint chill through her.

So for her, it was with the deepest regret that her match had been scheduled against Kim Ho of all people, and two choices remained.

Fight, or forfeit.

Could she actually win?

Truthfully, she wasn't confident... She was undeniably stronger than she had been two weeks ago. But if the question was whether she had grown strong enough to punch through that man's ironclad defense—well. That was another matter entirely.

Still, I have to do it.

The word "forfeit" did not exist in her dictionary. A wall she would have to climb sooner or later anyway—even if she lost, she would fling herself against it with everything she had. And the odds weren't strictly zero.

Not in a one-on-one, perhaps. But this was two on two, and if the pair of them pressed in concert, who could say what might happen.

Baek Jun-seok's whole body was vanishing beneath a magnificent suit of heavy plate, a greatsword broad and thick gripped in both hands.

Hong Yeon-hwa issued her orders.

"Charge the second it starts. Seo Ye-in goes down first."

The one-shot destructive power of a rifle marksman was a lethal threat to anyone. Once the battle began, all other concerns could wait—Seo Ye-in had to be taken off the board immediately.

"Understood."

Baek Jun-seok nodded without a word of complaint. Old acquaintance aside, there was the gap in their points and the prestige of a rising star to consider, and he followed Hong Yeon-hwa's orders to the letter.

The match was seconds away. Hong Yeon-hwa stilled her heart.

End this in one rush.

No matter who stood across from her, her strategy varied little. Attack, attack, and attack again. Bury them beneath a deluge of offensives and force the verdict.

— Flash!

Her ruby kindled crimson, and on either side of her two spell constructs began assembling separately. One finished first: flame flooded over her wand and took the shape of a bow. The instant she drew the string taut, the second spell locked into place as well, and the fire arrow blazed sharper, fiercer, more ravenous than ever.

— Shriee!

The burning arrow hissed through the open air, overshot Baek Jun-seok, and dove straight for Seo Ye-in.

"..."

Kim Ho tracked the arrow for a moment, took hold of Seo Ye-in's arm, and casually tossed her sideways. It was a featherlight motion with no strength behind it whatsoever—and yet Seo Ye-in's body floated up and settled to the ground a good distance away, soft as a leaf coming down. As though some invisible giant had plucked the girl up and set her aside. Or else her body was simply made of feathers.

Kim Ho flung himself in the opposite direction, and the fire arrow came down on the spot where they had been standing.

— KABOOOM!

A colossal fireball erupted, and in the space of a breath the meadow became a sea of flame. It was the result of chaining the explosion-type spell Outburst onto the long-range Flame Arrow, and the gale already tearing across the field spread the blaze faster still.

"Gwaah!"

— FWOOM!

Arriving on the heels of the blast, Baek Jun-seok swung his greatsword. The target he had set out for had been flung far afield and vanished who-knew-where, so the Kim Ho before his eyes became the next-best answer. The great, heavy blade hounded Kim Ho step for step, while he slipped it by a hair's breadth and did nothing but give ground.

Leaving him to keep the swordsman occupied, Hong Yeon-hwa raked the terrain with a swift, searching gaze.

I have to find her.

There was no telling when or where the next shot would come screaming from. If Seo Ye-in's figure had disappeared entirely, the odds were good she had invoked some concealment item or skill. The textbook counter was detection magic—Scan and its kin—but that happened to be one of Hong Yeon-hwa's weaker areas. The next most effective answer was to simply hammer a wide radius with large-scale spells.

That would do. She began assembling a massive spell construct at speed.

Just as the formula passed its halfway point—

— WHOOOM!

The wind that had been howling all along crashed into her head-on. It came with such violence that she staggered backward several steps without meaning to, and the spell she had been weaving to perfection was canceled mid-cast and scattered into nothing.

Of all the times!

Why, at this one crucial moment of all moments, did the wind have to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠blow like that! In desperate haste she hauled her mana back together and cast the same spell again.

— WHOOOM!

This time the gale drove in from her left, wrenching her body sideways mid-motion. For a breath or two she teetered, unable to find her balance—and the spell, naturally, unraveled again.

"No!"

If they kept handing the marksman free time—

— BANG!

...And this was exactly how it went.

Hong Yeon-hwa's consciousness slowly drifted away toward the far side of the dark...

"Hah!"

"Ghk!"

Hong Yeon-hwa and Baek Jun-seok jolted upright at the same instant. When their senses returned, they found themselves sprawled side by side in a corner of the Arena, and one glance at the scoreboard told them everything they needed to know.

We lost...

Seo Ye-in's shot had caught her dead center and put her under. It had felt like being run down by a cargo truck with the accelerator floored. Baek Jun-seok, left to fight alone, must have fared much the same.

Heh... haha...

Watching her points tumble away in one lump, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a desolate sigh. If she had fought her very best and lost anyway, she could have made her peace with it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠This simply left her hollow. She had registered from the outset that the terrain was a wind tunnel, and she had proceeded with due caution, mindful that her casting might be disturbed.

But how? How could the wind arrive at precisely the most critical moment, with precisely the force required to shove her out of her spell? Twice, no less? How could luck be that bad?

While Hong Yeon-hwa stayed mired in her daze, Baek Jun-seok—whose head was comparatively more intact—reached out with encouragement.

"Hong Yeon-hwa. Steady yourself, and we take the next one. That was just bad luck back there."

"...Right. Bad luck."

Scanning her student ID against the terminal, Hong Yeon-hwa repeated her own words to herself like a charm.

Right. It was bad luck, that's all.

That last ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠match had been the sort of freak accident that brushes past a person once in a lifetime. Coincidences did pile atop coincidences now and then in this world—apparently today was one of those days. The points she had dropped, she could win back going forward.

But a moment later, when the next pairing locked in, Hong Yeon-hwa let out a silent scream.

AAAAAGH!!

Of all the teams in the bracket, she had drawn Kim Ho and Seo Ye-in again. Their average scores sat in the same band, so a back-to-back rematch was entirely plausible. She knew that perfectly well—and still, today of all days, Hong Yeon-hwa could not shake the feeling that luck had abandoned her outright. Her steps toward the teleportation circle weighed a ton apiece.

The terrain this time was grassland as well. The wind, at least, lay calm, and that suited her just fine.

Baek Jun-seok fixed his gaze on the far side of the field.

"Seo Ye-in first again?"

"No. Guard me."

"What?"

Baek Jun-seok whipped around, genuinely startled. He had never once imagined the word "defense" coming out of Hong Yeon-hwa's mouth. He searched her face, worry plain in his own.

"Did that knock on the head leave a mark? Defending—you're certain?"

"Less talking, more doing. And get that shield out."

"...Understood."

At that frost-cold voice, Baek Jun-seok nodded. Same as ever, then. He stowed the greatsword and swapped to a one-handed sword and a broad triangular shield; his sword-and-board craft had never lagged behind his greatsword work.

Hong Yeon-hwa had not changed her battle plan out of cold feet. If anything, her mind was turning hotter and faster than it had all day. Cast her memory back over the previous match, and Kim Ho had spent the whole of it doing nothing but being chased by Baek Jun-seok. The Placement Exam had told the same story—defense from start to finish, one thrown Hummingbird, the end. He had never once unveiled a serious offensive spell.

What if he was only ever strong at defense?

What if his offense turned out to be nothing special? What if he simply couldn't crack a heavy-armored warrior like Baek Jun-seok?

Then let Baek Jun-seok hold my line while I man the artillery. That's the way through.

"..."

Across the field, having confirmed that Baek Jun-seok's equipment had changed, Kim Ho murmured a few short words to Seo Ye-in. She gave the smallest dip of her chin. It seemed the other side had revised their plan as well.

The instant it began, Hong Yeon-hwa's wand flared red.

— POP!

Seo Ye-in's upper body vanished into a small explosion. She had cast and launched the spell in less time than a blink.

It landed.

Her opponent's armor was evidently fine enough that the damage amounted to little more than a graze—but a hit was a hit.

— POP!

A small smoke bomb burst, and Seo Ye-in disappeared. No prizes for guessing that she had turned invisible again.

Hong Yeon-hwa kept it to a single word.

"Shield."

"On it."

Deep-blue mana bloomed across Baek Jun-seok's triangular shield, and a barrier wrought of pure mana took shape at Hong Yeon-hwa's side, wheeling around her in slow circles, keeping guard. Crisis averted. Even if shots came screaming in, that shield would take a few of them on her behalf.

"..."

Kim Ho, meanwhile, held a fixed distance and strolled the field as though out for a walk. Then, without warning, he raised one hand—and a hummingbird wrought of living current took wing. Baek Jun-seok tried to shear it out of the air with his sword and crush it flat beneath his shield, but the bird slipped past both with liquid grace and alighted dead center on his chest.

— CRACKLE!

At nearly the same instant, a weighty impact thudded into the mana shield guarding Hong Yeon-hwa. — BAM!

Kim Ho had dangled the Hummingbird before their eyes at the precise moment Seo Ye-in squeezed her trigger. The mana shield still stood, though, and Baek Jun-seok shook off the paralysis within a single breath. Better yet, the successful block told them exactly which direction the shot had flown in from.

There!

As Hong Yeon-hwa loosed the spell formulas she had stockpiled in advance, flame magic came down in sheets and burned the meadow raw. The empty air rippled—and for a heartbeat, Seo Ye-in's outline flickered into view. She let that instant neither slip nor go unpunished, concentrating every attack skill she had upon the spot. Seo Ye-in's health drained away fast.

And Kim Ho stood far off with his hands loose, spectating.

Hong Yeon-hwa's lips curled into a knowing smile.

I knew it!

Her read had been right on the money. That man had only ever been strong at defense. Keep this up just as it was, and victory came into view. Hold the line behind the mana shield, counter between volleys, put Seo Ye-in out of commission, then converge on the lone Kim Ho two-on-one—and done.

But then...

"..."

As if to announce that her prediction had missed the mark, Kim Ho, who had been standing at his ease, began walking toward them. His unhurried stride gathered pace step by step, until he was running.

— WHOOOSH—

Right on cue, the wind rose out of the same quarter as Kim Ho. Watching him, he might have been riding the wind—or the wind might have been rising and sweeping ahead of him, clearing his path.

An inexplicable chill crawled over Hong Yeon-hwa, and she shuddered.

Baek Jun-seok, by contrast, bared a scornful smile.

"He's out of his mind."

They had crossed blades plenty just one match ago—did the man truly believe he could take him up close?

Unhurried, Baek Jun-seok planted his shield square in front and closed his fist around the one-handed sword.

And Hong Yeon-hwa—

DON'T COME!!

—was screaming inside.