Week 3 PvP Assessment (4)

A desert beneath a merciless, blazing sun. The sun-baked sand sent waves of heat rising at those who stood upon it, and even the occasional breeze that swept through like a welcome rain in a drought did nothing but scorch on its way past.

From across the field, Seo Ye-in gave a small, lazy wave of acknowledgment. Go Hyeon-woo and I waved back, equally awkward.

"We are going to win this, are we not?"

"Of course."

If we threw the match here, it wouldn't just be the quest on the line—I could kiss the mentoring goodbye altogether. Setting my guilt aside for the moment, I resolved to torment them as thoroughly as I could.

Il Gong was a monk with a freshly shaved head, and even in a school uniform the air of the Buddhist order clung to him strongly. His only equipment was a string of prayer beads rolling between his fingers; empty-handed otherwise, which suggested he trained in fist-and-palm techniques. A perfect match for Go Hyeon-woo.

"You take on that bald— ahem, that monk. I'll handle Seo Ye-in."

"That seems for the best. Very well."

Melee against melee, ranged against ranged. A strategy with nothing the least bit clever about it. On their side, Il Gong appeared to exchange a few brief words, but I seriously doubted Seo Ye-in would actually follow his instructions.

Seo Ye-in's dual pistols spat blue fire while Il Gong gathered golden force into both hands and unleashed it in rapid succession.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

Wham-wham-wham!

Go Hyeon-woo and I split to either side to evade the barrage of ranged attacks. The ground where we'd been standing a heartbeat before was torn apart, sand scattering wildly. But we couldn't just sit back and take it. A hummingbird of lightning took flight from my hand.

Seo Ye-in swung her dual pistols toward the rapidly closing Hummingbird.

Rat-tat-tat-tat!

As the Hummingbird nimbly wove through the oncoming magic bullets and drew nearer, Il Gong must have judged the situation serious, because he began hurling force strikes in support of her. A hair's breadth before it could strike her, they managed to intercept it.

'Not bad.'

True, it had taken two of them to intercept a single spell—but considering how few opponents had managed it properly so far, they'd earned some praise. Il Gong's force strikes were fierce in their own right; he seemed to be in the 600-point tier.

"Hah!"

Go Hyeon-woo drew his iron sword and loosed a sword aura; Il Gong answered in kind with force strikes. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠They traded blows from long range, steadily closing the distance. But Il Gong, his attention consumed by Go Hyeon-woo, could no longer spare anything for Seo Ye-in.

My second Hummingbird found its mark on her.

Bzzt-crack!

The next pattern was as good as written. 'Smoke bomb, then the transparent ghillie suit.'

Poof!

Just as expected, a thick cloud of smoke billowed upward. When I swept it all away with Wind Force, I noticed sand being scooped up in little puffs out of empty air. As the wind scattered the sand nearby, the outline of Seo Ye-in's footprints flickered faintly into view. I concentrated Wind Force on that spot, and she toppled sideways, rolling across the sand. I clenched my jaw to keep from laughing.

"Ahem..."

Clang! Clang! Kraggak!

Go Hyeon-woo and Il Gong were locked in close combat now. Iron sword met bare hands—and metal rang out. Il Gong's hands, dyed gold, made that possible. He seemed to be mixing hand techniques with palm strikes. Go Hyeon-woo, for his part, didn't rely on his iron sword alone either, interspersing punches, kicks, and knee strikes between swings. On the whole, Go Hyeon-woo had the momentum.

I turned my attention back to Seo Ye-in. When I lightly scattered a handful of sand her way, she was still holding prone against the ground. No doubt plotting to snipe me or Go Hyeon-woo.

'One clean hit and it's over.'

The only defensive trait I possessed was the S-rank Elemental Resistance. It shrugged off nearly every elemental attack, but physical strikes or attribute-less attacks made of pure mana would land at full damage. The instant Seo Ye-in's shot connected, it would be game over for me. Go Hyeon-woo probably couldn't withstand more than a few hits either. Which meant the best play was to interfere so thoroughly that she couldn't snipe at all.

Whoooosh—!

A gale swept across the spot where Seo Ye-in lay prone. As if in response, blue light flashed from where her rifle would have been positioned, but—

Thwump!

—the magic bullet flew off in a completely different direction and vanished without a trace. Sniping is an exquisitely delicate task. Nudge the muzzle even slightly with Wind Force and accuracy plummets. To the current Seo Ye-in, I was the perfect natural enemy. I set the wind blowing this way and that to be extra irritating, then shifted my gaze back to Go Hyeon-woo.

Clang! Kragagak! Clang!

In the fight itself, Go Hyeon-woo still held the high ground, but the weapons told the opposite story. Cracks were slowly spreading across his iron sword, while ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Il Gong's hands grew ever more vividly golden. And then, at last—

Crrack.

The iron sword's durability gave out and it shattered. Il Gong chased after Go Hyeon-woo as he kicked off the ground and retreated. If I wanted to buy him room to breathe, I had no choice but to lend a hand.

Bzzzzt!

A hummingbird launched at precisely the right moment wedged itself between Go Hyeon-woo and Il Gong. Il Gong halted briefly and struck out with both palms, but the Hummingbird, as if alive, pulled back for an instant before surging in again along a zigzag path.

Bzzt-crack!

Yet even when the Hummingbird touched Il Gong's body, it vanished with nothing more than a few sparks. Not a hint of paralysis. It was thanks to the faint golden aura that enveloped and protected his entire body—Protective Astral Qi.

'It's about time it stopped working.'

Baek Jun-seok had shaken off the paralysis the moment a Hummingbird hit him, and now it wasn't even registering on Il Gong. Opponents would only keep getting stronger from here on out, and the cases where Hummingbird simply didn't work would only grow more frequent. But the point that needed making here was this: it wasn't that Hummingbird had stopped working—it was that E-rank Hummingbird had.

One of the limits of a Copied skill: it cannot grow. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The E-rank it held at the moment I copied it from Song Cheon-hye would remain forever. If I had actually learned Hummingbird myself and used it this many times, it would have reached D or even C rank by now. Better to overwrite E-rank Hummingbird with a different skill when the chance arose. If Il Gong showed me something decent, I could simply take that.

That said, even this Hummingbird had bought a single breath's worth of time from Il Gong. More than enough for Go Hyeon-woo to swap in a fresh iron sword. He advanced again, pressing the offensive.

Kragagak!

I turned my gaze to Seo Ye-in once more. I gathered up all the winds I'd been blowing every which way, drew them upward, then slammed them down in one concentrated strike.

Thwump!

Her rifle fired reflexively yet again, and a magic bullet slammed into the sand a few steps from where I stood, kicking up a spray. Her aim had been thrown wildly off.

"Hah..."

I had to cover my mouth. The corners of my lips kept twitching upward no matter what I did. The transparent ghillie suit hid her from view, so I couldn't see the details, but she was almost certainly being squashed flat by the wind bearing down from above. If there were a sound effect for it, it would be a squeak.

Seo Ye-in's health hadn't dropped much, but that was because I wasn't swinging Wind Force around with the brutality I'd shown while beating on Gwak Ji-cheol. The point of this fight, after all, was to stimulate her drive to improve—interference alone was plenty.

Perhaps realizing that stealth-sniping had been completely sealed off, Seo Ye-in deactivated the transparent ghillie suit and swapped her rifle for the dual pistols.

Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

That wasn't going to work on me either. I dodged the incoming magic bullets using Thief's Step and fired off Hummingbird twice in quick succession.

Bzzt, bzzt-crack!

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠gave the stiffened Seo Ye-in a light shove with Wind Force, and she tipped over sideways, tumbling head over heels across the sandy floor.

"..."

Her gray eyes met mine. I could feel the motivation draining rapidly out of that expressionless face. Nothing she tried worked, so of course she didn't feel like fighting.

'This side's finished.'

Over there, too, the fight seemed to be winding toward its close. Il Gong, who had been on the back foot the entire time, appeared to have decided to gamble on a decisive blow. He poured force strikes at Go Hyeon-woo while widening the distance between them, and in an instant his aura surged violently upward.

All of Il Gong's golden energy converged into his outstretched palm, making his hand appear two or three times its size. When he released the gathered force in a single burst, it was as if a colossal golden Buddha statue were reaching its hand forward.

A massive golden palm crashed down over Go Hyeon-woo. He, a faint yet utterly confident smile playing at the corners of his mouth, slowly raised his iron sword above his head. A cool breeze sprang up from somewhere and swirled around him. The whole area, feverish under the blazing sun, was blanketed in a chill in the space of a breath. The wind gathered along the blade, forging it into something even sharper.

He drew it down in a single stroke toward the onrushing golden palm. The iron sword began to crumble away from its tip...

Flash!

"..."

"..."

The next moment, Go Hyeon-woo's hand held nothing at all. Though the iron sword had vanished without a trace, for a moment he gripped empty air as if clutching a transparent blade. Then he relaxed his empty hand and lowered it. Il Gong, too, looked perfectly fine on the surface, so to an observer nothing whatsoever might have seemed to pass between them.

"Mm..."

Il Gong staggered, half-dropping to one knee, then straightened himself back up. He was clearly struggling to keep his body upright.

Go Hyeon-woo asked, "Will you fight on?"

Il Gong cast a glance at Seo Ye-in, still rolling around on the ground, as if to ask her opinion, then looked to me. Apparently judging the matter settled, he bowed with full courtesy.

"This humble monk admits defeat. I have learned much."

"A fine match."

'Should I do it now?'

Great Palm Imprint wasn't exactly a versatile skill, but since I'd be overwriting it eventually anyway, borrowing it for even a short while seemed the better call. I swiftly copied it before Il Gong could leave.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in was still sprawled across the sand. When I walked over and looked down at her, she stared straight back up without moving an inch—the arena might as well have been her own bedroom. We were in the middle of a desert; was this kid not even hot? She took my outstretched hand and rose to her feet.

"..."

Seo Ye-in stared at me with that blank face for a long moment, then abruptly spun on her heel and marched out of the arena. Thinking it over, I supposed she really was upset.

"It seems Miss Seo is angry."

"Probably."

I had tormented her with Wind Force for the entire match, so this was a hundred percent on me. When that slow-building gradient of rage started welling up like that, it was better to give her some time alone first. Conversation could wait until after.

"Let's head out."

Go Hyeon-woo and I made our way out as well, and immediately queued up the next match.

While we waited, I checked over Go Hyeon-woo's condition. "You look fine. That Clear Stream of yours used to devour a ridiculous amount of internal energy."

"Haha, I am not the man I once was."

When he'd used Clear Stream in his bout against Jo Byeok, he'd burned through nearly all his internal energy and spent the entire lunch hour on breathing exercises. Yet now he had unleashed the same technique on Il Gong and was none the worse for it. His Core had risen two ranks, vastly expanding the ceiling of his internal energy.

Go Hyeon-woo grinned. "All thanks to you, Brother Kim. Without the Special Meditation Room, I could never have broken through that wall so quickly. Well? Does my skill live up to your expectations?"

"Almost. Let's see one more match."

Just then a match was found, and the opponents' information printed out in the notification window.

"...Those are remarkably ordinary names."

"No kidding."

We rode the teleportation circle in and studied the two faces across from us. Their appearances were every bit as ordinary as their names. You could have dropped Wang Pil into an inn as a waiter that very instant without a hint of incongruity, and Jang Sam would have made a perfect doorman. Pass them on the street, and you'd forget what they looked like within three seconds.

I studied them more closely, then soon nodded. "Our matchup luck is good today." Running into Hong Yeon-hwa twice yesterday had been neither instructive nor entertaining, and I'd felt a little guilty about it. But today had produced opponents who would make excellent experience points for Go Hyeon-woo.

Perhaps my reaction didn't make sense to him, because Go Hyeon-woo tilted his head. "What exactly about those two warrants that response?"

"Look closely. They're both absolutely overflowing with character."

"...?"

The kind of character that comes from looking excessively ordinary.