Chapter 24
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Snow Mountain (3)
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Acquired new awakening skill 'Rage'.
<Rage>: All stats increase by 20% during duration. (Duration: 5 minutes)
Aura.
It was the source of mana.
Aura manifested when the flow of mana shifted momentarily from inside the body to the outside.
This happened when the body was so saturated with mana that it could no longer contain it.
The color and size of the aura varied depending on the caster's mood.
Seo-hyun felt a chill run down her spine.
'Wow. Look at that aura color. Did I go too far...?'
A black aura.
Tae-hyun's aura was overflowing, exuding such intense pressure it was palpable.
He was used to opponents charging at him, but this one felt different somehow.
'...Haha. This seems a bit dangerous...?'
"Say that again."
"Ah... ahahaha. Well, trash can isn't always a bad thing, right? I meant a good trash can..."
In her panic, Yoon Seo-hyun even slipped into polite speech.
In her life, she'd never seen such a vivid aura except from her eldest sister.
She couldn't help but be rattled.
"Hey... we're comrades, aren't we?"
"Shut up."
In that instant, Tae-hyun lunged at Yoon Seo-hyun.
'Fast...!'
Yoon Seo-hyun immediately summoned a flame shield to block his path.
Whoosh—!
But Tae-hyun barreled right through the flame shield and straight at her.
It was solid flame, yet it meant nothing to him.
Flames licked at his body, but he didn't care one bit.
Seo-hyun tried to dodge, but her legs wouldn't move.
Overwhelming killing intent.
"...!!"
Slash—!
Seo-hyun's body was cleaved through.
Then it slowly dissolved into flames and vanished.
It was a flame clone.
If that had been her real body, she would've been bisected.
Yoon Seo-hyun cried out in shock.
"D-did you just try to kill a fellow trainee...??!!"
"I already knew it was a flame clone. And it's just a simulation anyway. You won't die."
Those words only fired her up more.
"Damn it... bring it on!"
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Dozens of flame clones appeared around Tae-hyun.
It was Yoon Seo-hyun's signature flame clone skill.
Maintaining even one clone consumed mana every second.
Only the Yoon family could sustain this many.
'Gotta go all out...!'
Yoon Seo-hyun dismissed her 'Fire Body'—which had been keeping her warm—and summoned even more clones.
The moment Fire Body vanished, the bone-chilling air of the snow mountain enveloped her.
Her eyes sharpened.
This was the first time Yoon Seo-hyun had ever been this serious since birth.
Fwoosh—! Fwoosh—!
Tae-hyun dispatched the clones with expert swordsmanship.
But the severed clones regenerated and charged again.
'...Ugh. My mana...!'
This skill could last ten minutes at best.
Any longer, and the caster was in danger.
'Need to wrap this up fast.'
Tae-hyun sliced them down one by one with ruthless efficiency.
There wasn't a hint of wasted motion in his movements.
The bisected clones would lunge again soon enough.
And Tae-hyun would simply slice them anew.
Slice after slice after slice—before long, the clones were a total mess.
Low on mana to recover, many were missing arms or half their bodies.
Awakening skill 'Hunt Begins'
Stamina +2
Yoon Seo-hyun's plan to end it quickly backfired spectacularly.
His awakening skill, Hunt Begins, grew stronger the longer the fight dragged on.
On top of that, his stats were boosted by Rage.
She wasn't his match at all.
Cold sweat beaded on her forehead.
'M-monster...!!'
In the sight of Tae-hyun mercilessly slaughtering her clones like a starving lion, Seo-hyun saw a devil.
In that moment, fear snapped her mana flow.
'...Oops!'
The instant her concentration on mana condensation faltered, all skills froze.
The clones attacking Tae-hyun halted in place.
Tae-hyun didn't miss the opening. He shifted his sword into spear form.
"Thunder Spear."
Kraaaack!
A spear armed with even fiercer lightning than usual hurtled straight at Yoon Seo-hyun.
No mistaking it—this was the real body.
'Ah...! T-too late!'
Yoon Seo-hyun threw up a fire shield, but the spear was already past it.
The Thunder Spear rocketed toward her head.
Facing true death for the first time, Seo-hyun screamed.
"Kyaaaaaaa!!!"
...Clang!!!
The girl's scream echoed as the spear clashed against a blade, spinning through the air before embedding in the wall.
"..."
The one who blocked Tae-hyun's spear was a samurai in a cat mask.
<Rage> duration has ended. All stats return to normal.
Seo-hyun clung to the cat-masked figure, whining.
"Waaah!! N-Nerooo! Why now?! I was so scared! Hic!"
Nero kept her guard up, glaring at Tae-hyun.
Tae-hyun didn't drop his either.
"...Cancel the ritual."
Tae-hyun said in a low voice.
Nero turned to Seo-hyun.
"Seo-hyun. What's this about a ritual?"
"I dunnooo... I was just messing around... but then he tried to kill me... so I just activated the ritual first..."
Nero sheathed her sword and headed to the ritual circle.
She canceled it.
The blue glow pouring from the circle gradually faded.
"Good now?"
"...Haa."
Kang Tae-hyun let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair.
From his perspective, his prey had been snatched away out of nowhere—he had every right to be pissed.
With the ritual circle reclaimed, there was no reason to fight anymore.
Tae-hyun approached the circle and began the ritual.
Soon, blue light poured out once more.
"You monster! Beast! That was too much. Trying to kill someone for real?"
"Bullshit, kid. I wasn't aiming for you."
Tae-hyun said as he stood.
Seo-hyun looked up at Nero in confusion.
Nero nodded.
"Yeah. It wouldn't have hit even if I'd left it."
"Rea... really...?"
"He aimed off to the side."
Tae-hyun hadn't thrown seriously.
He'd just hoped to scare her.
That was why he'd massacred the clones too.
He retrieved his spear and turned it back into a bracelet.
Nero flinched at the sight.
"That weapon...?"
"None of your business."
It was a weapon even Nero—the living encyclopedia of arms—didn't recognize.
Nero stared at her trembling right hand.
Just deflecting his spear had left it shaking.
She instantly understood why V class's top prodigy, Yoon Seo-hyun, had struggled so hard.
-Ah, ah. Can you hear me, trash?
-Time's up. Warping you back to reality now. Stand by.
After the commotion died down, silence fell.
Then Tae-hyun spoke first.
"Oh, right. Hey. Damn kid."
"Uh, y-yeah? M-me?"
Yoon Seo-hyun pointed at herself as she answered.
"Don't use informal speech with your seniors. Not to me, not to Yoon Ah-young. I'll remember."
"Uh... uh??? Y-yes???"
At those words, Yoon Seo-hyun pulled a deeply puzzled expression, as if she had no idea why.
"Total time: 6 hours, 36 minutes. V Class boss cleared. C Class ritual secured. It's a tie overall. Of course, this won't affect your grades—but you all failed to clear the mission all the same. C Class failed to secure the boss. V Class had unnecessary contact and lacked cooperation. Remember this defeat. It'll make you stronger."
"Yes, sir!"
"Yes, sir!"
C Class and V Class listened to Instructor Jake at ease.
Instructor Jake smirked with just one corner of his mouth.
"Now scram. No more business here."
"Yes, sir! Thank you for your hard work!"
"Yes, sir! Thank you for your hard work!"
With that, the 'Extreme Cold' training theme was over.
He said it wouldn't count toward grades, but they'd evaluate individual performances anyway.
Why else would they be holding evaluation boards if it didn't matter?
"Haa..."
I finally let out a sigh of relief.
For a moment there, I'd been genuinely furious.
Not enough to lose my reason, but my emotional control was lacking.
Emotions need to be reined in.
On the battlefield, mental fortitude wins out over raw physical power.
"How'd you manage to secure the ritual anyway."
Jae-yeol came over and patted my shoulder.
I answered with my head down.
"Sorry. I never saw the signal flare, and I couldn't link up properly."
"It's fine. Securing the ritual is impressive enough. I knew you could do it. The comms blackout was my problem to solve anyway. Not your fault."
As Jae-yeol comforted me, the other C Class cadets started chiming in one by one.
"Yeah, Vice President. You were badass."
"Of course, you're our bro. I believed in you."
The more we trained, the tighter our camaraderie grew.
It was a bond different from my past life.
I could only chuckle hollowly at the sight.
Then Yoon Ah-young crossed my mind. I scanned around for her.
She was huddled in a corner, staying quiet and subdued.
She looked utterly drained.
I approached her.
"Good work. Saw your magic earlier. It was awesome."
I smiled and offered my hand, but she deliberately ignored it.
I could guess why she was so dejected.
"...You met her, huh."
"Huh?"
"Seo-hyun..."
"Oh? Yeah. Met her. Nothing major."
"...You must've heard about me then..."
She said nothing to that.
Instead, the area around her eyes swelled red.
Her voice nearly broke as she continued.
"Pathetic... me..."
"..."
I knew all too well how heartbreaking it is to blame yourself.
In my past life, I despised my pathetic self.
Burying yourself in inferiority for lagging behind others—it eats you alive.
Feeling inferior to your little sister, two years younger no less... it was brutal.
For some reason, facing Yoon Ah-young felt like facing the sister I'd lost first.
I didn't know a thing about her.
But I wanted to let her know.
Poke.
I pressed my finger to her forehead.
Ah-young looked up at me.
Her tear-streaked face looked almost childlike, innocent despite herself.
No makeup, but a cute face with big, clear eyes.
A pert nose and lips.
I told her.
"The pathetic one is you—the you who wants to give up. Never give up."
You must never give up.
No matter what—even if you're 'quirkless'—never abandon yourself.
That's how I've lived.
"..."
"...I'll head out first."
"Ah, w-wait a sec."
I turned and hurried out of the training hall.
Then quick-marched into a back alley.
And promptly collapsed.
'Ugh! So damn embarrassing.'
What the hell did I just say?
Even thinking about it was cringe, and I'd blurted it out without hesitation.
I clenched my fist.
'Damn it. To erase this embarrassment, today's weights are double.'
I hurried to the gym before anyone saw.
"..."
Ah-young stayed crouched like that for a while, replaying Tae-hyun's words.
To catch up to her sister.
At least to live up to the Yoon family name, she'd trained.
But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep up with her sisters.
Her sister's overwhelming skill had confronted her with a towering mountain.
So she'd been about to give up.
But Tae-hyun had awakened her.
...Yeah. Can't quit here.
She'd already died once when her parents passed.
Her eldest sister had saved her that time.
Having died once already, what was left to fear?
That's what Ah-young thought.
"...Hic!"
"..."
Yoon Seo-hyun was leaving the training grounds with Nero when she spotted Ah-young sniffling and stopped.
"...Sniff... Ung?"
"...A, ahahaha."
Seo-hyun laughed awkwardly and scratched her head.
"...Ahahaha. Um... sis, everything okay? ...?"
"...S-sis...?"
"Damn it! Still no!"
Yoon Seo-hyun bolted from the training grounds.
Ah-young's eyes went wide at the word "sis."
From childhood, Yoon Seo-hyun had never once called her that.
This was the first time.
"...Pfft."
Ah, they say you get a horn on your butt if you laugh while crying.
Ah-young laughed like that for a good while.
(To be continued)