Chapter 21

On the morning when Cheon Yeoul submitted her absence note, instructor Choi Eun-ha found herself deep in thought.

“Inspector Park Chang-myeong, could you take a look at the revised seed list once?”

She handed over the seed list compiled based on the unit scores excluding Cheon Yeoul.

After all, composing teams by mere scores and reflecting the intuition of the instructors who actually handled the lessons could obviously differ.

She sought her fellow instructor’s opinion just in case.

Inspector Park Chang-myeong thoroughly scanned the list and quickly reached a conclusion.

“…Student Joo Han-gang, student Jung Hae-in would be more suitable for the seed.”

“Understood.”

She accepted his advice without much thought. In fact, she had been pondering over these two students. According to the scores, Jung Hae-in was slightly ahead, but she had chosen Joo Han-gang who ranked higher.

“And I think setting the dungeon to Lahala’s Labyrinth would be better. Starting at the entrance.”

“At the entrance?”

Choi Eun-ha asked back, slightly surprised.

This wasn’t something she could immediately agree to. Lahala’s Labyrinth was a traditionally internal evaluation dungeon at Gaon Academy, often assigned only to the best students due to its difficulty.

“Student Jung Hae-in seems exceptional. Instructor Do Han-seong said the same.”

“Inspector Do Han-seong…”

“I heard this student generated a sword of energy.”

Exceptional.

This was a slang term used among the internal instructors at Gaon, referring to students who stood out after enrollment despite their given rank.

Besides, if several instructors agreed, trusting their judgment was the right choice.

“Understood. Let’s do that.”

In the end, Choi Eun-ha accepted the advice. All that remained was to see if Jung Hae-in would meet the expectations.

And Jung Hae-in was perfectly fulfilling those expectations.

“Wow! He avoided it again!”

“What is he, really?”

The practice room was getting increasingly heated.

Even the students who had just completed the dungeon couldn’t rest; everyone gradually gathered in front of the screens.

The moment strong Kang Ah-rin, who had just decimated the opposing team, saw it, her eyes sparkled.

The murmurs filling the practice room faded away, and everyone’s attention was focused on a single screen.

Right now, at this moment, a new star was being born.

Joo Han-gang quickly devised a strategy despite his confusion when the trap was revealed.

“Let’s go after Jung Hae-in fast with two of us.”

“Isn’t he weird? He’s upfront without even a shield? If we pressure him with both of us, we can finish him.”

Normally, one would go after Hasion, the ranged dealer first.

But Hasion was an upper-rank archer, judged too tough to take down even with Han Iri and Joo Han-gang teaming up.

Han Iri felt the coordinated attack wasn’t a good look, but she went along with it anyway. With traps already set, victory was the priority.

“Come on, come out already.”

Joo Han-gang descended calmly with a composed expression.

Han Iri and the other teammates followed behind.

“Why the hell are you so confident?”

Yoon Sanghyuk exclaimed upon seeing that.

“If it was me, I’d be embarrassed enough to surrender.”

“Enough of that.”

Joo Han-gang briefly cut off the words and drew the sword at his waist.

“Let’s get going.”

The moment his words ended, several magic bombs flew over.

The bombs fiercely approached Jung Hae-in.

-ClangClangClang!

-Boom-

The magic bombs came flying.

Jung Hae-in deflected the bombs with his spear while raising dust.

However, those bombs were thrown to enforce defense.

Between the swirling dust, Joo Han-gang and Han Iri surged forward simultaneously.

Jung Hae-in didn’t wait for their approach and stepped to the side.

Two swords slashed through the air.

Han Iri corrected her stance by swinging her sword late but Jung Hae-in was already far from the main group, on the side.

Joo Han-gang grew increasingly anxious.

‘I thought I could catch him quickly…’

Jung Hae-in’s movements seemed like a response to the fight, yet he deflected all attacks while maintaining his distance.

And the distance he pulled away from was gradually increasing from the main group.

“Hold on, Han-gang, we’re too far…,”

“Are you just going to run?!”

Joo Han-gang’s anxiety eventually turned into irritation.

Despite Han Iri’s warnings, his patience had bottomed out.

It was the fight style that naturally frustrated him.

Every time an attack missed, Jung Hae-in exuded a calm and leisurely attitude that irritated his nerves plenty.

Jung Hae-in took a step back while looking at Joo Han-gang.

His expression remained as bland as ever.

The cold gaze devoid of any emotion sent a shiver down Joo Han-gang’s spine for a moment.

But he didn’t stop. Ceasing the offense would’ve been disrespectful to his pride.

Meanwhile, on the main group side,

As the collaboration between Joo Han-gang and Han Iri began in earnest, Yoon Sanghyuk couldn’t resist and tried to join them,

But his arm was firmly held back by Sion.

“You must hold your position no matter what.”

This was what Jung Hae-in warned before positioning.

Yoon Sanghyuk hesitated and asked again to Sion who was pulling her bowstring on the side.

“Still, shouldn’t we help?”

“Us? Help Hae-in?”

Sion took a deep breath and looked at Yoon Sanghyuk with her bowstring taut.

“No, that’s not it.”

-Twang!

An arrow split through the air.

The alchemist and the archer without their forward cover scrambled to hide behind the debris as the arrow narrowly grazed them.

“Hae-in is helping us.”

Her eyes sharpened.

“So, let’s do as we’re told.”

Her voice carried an unshaken conviction along with a faint trace of nostalgia.

She pulled the bowstring again, keeping her gaze ahead.

“It’s always been this way.”

You’re kinda like, slightly teasing them, and then they come at you like they’re about to die.

Judging by how you ignore the main group, you’re not cut out to be a leader.

At least Han Iri pretends to care about the rear,

But it seems like all she does is join, without making any efforts to protect or check on the main group.

An arrow fired by Sion shot through the two charging figures and struck the enemy’s main group.

‘Should be about time.’

The distance from the main group is sufficient now. There’s none but the relic wall behind us.

I stepped back greatly, planning for that last large draw. I moved as close as possible to the wall.

Upon seeing that, Joo Han-gang approached confidently with a relaxed smile.

“Got ya, this…”

-BAM!

Before he could finish his sentence, my foot struck his face square, causing him to stumble backward.

I used the wall’s rebound to spin in the air and nailed an accurate kick to his face.

Upon landing, I casually brushed the dust off as if it were nothing and spoke.

“What’s wrong?”

Joo Han-gang groaned on the ground. Han Iri followed, adjusting her sword with a confused look.

I provoked the hesitating Han Iri.

Teeth gritted, Han Iri charged forward. However, her sword was heavy and her movements were considerably slower.

Her sword aimed low at my ankle. I effortlessly sidestepped.

The sword cut through the air with a piercing wind.

“Too short. You need two more steps with a spear.”

My advice seemed to ignite something in Han Iri’s eyes.

Immediately, her sword tip thrust quickly towards my shoulder.

I deftly turned my spear and deflected her attack smoothly, thinking to myself.

‘Not bad…’

Her attitude to immediately apply feedback was impressive.

But it appears the situation with the main group was wrapping up.

It seemed like it was time to end it here.

“Still, you’re…”

Just as she grasped her sword tightly and tried to lunge forward,

I smoothly tilted my spear to aim at the gap between her sword and arm.

The spear tip slid perfectly into that gap.

-Clang!

She tried to pull her sword back in surprise, but it was too late.

I slightly twisted my spear and pulled it back, swiftly disarming her sword from her hand and making it clatter to the ground.

“…Better than Seong Si-woo.”

-Ting!

I lightly turned my spear and pushed the sword lying at her feet away.

Han Iri stood there blankly at her empty hands for a moment before gritting her teeth.

Now, only Joo Han-gang remained.

Just then, Joo Han-gang, who had been groaning, rose up with an angered shout.

“You bastard!!!”

A stream of energy shot out from the tip of his sword.

A blue aura cleaved through the air.

I narrowed my eyes slightly as I observed his movements.

Unfortunately…

‘You’re still better than Seong Si-woo.’

Of course, they’re talents within the Top 10 ranking, but it’s a really sad point.

Dedicated to Seong Si-woo, who’s probably watching this scene right now.

The energy blade is also a bit stale. This time, I wanted to show something new.

I lowered my spear to the side and slowly began to gather mana at my fingertips.

‘Spear Energy Attack.’

The mana condensed meticulously at my command, forming a coherent mass.

A small wave of mana from my fingertips lightly shivered the air.

Precision control has always been my forte.

However, something was off.

The flow of mana was different from usual.

The overwhelming amount of mana flowing through the pathways compared to normal surged violently, starting to lose balance.

A tremendous amount of mana rushed through the channel I had created, incomparable to usual.

The sphere grew excessively and strengthened, its form flickering unstably.

“Why? Why is this happening?”

I tried to control the mana in my hand, but it had already spun out of control.

The pure mana surged violently through the channels, refusing control.

Eventually, the sphere of raw mana was fired rapidly without consolidating properly.

-BOOM!

The mana sphere tore through the air and headed straight for Joo Han-gang.

A fierce impact caused his body to be embedded deeply into the wall.

-Crackle…

A large crack formed on the wall surface, gradually crumbling away.

The crumbling bricks buried Joo Han-gang, and all that remained was his last scream of “Aaaah!”

“Oh, hey… Sorry about that…”

Confused, I bowed my head and looked at my hand.

My palms were trembling slightly.

I placed my hand on my wrist to confirm my wildly beating pulse.

The unruly mana still surged violently through me, traveling everywhere in my body via my heart.

It was a flow different from usual.

‘Too… much.’

Something was overflowing beyond what my body could contain.

My physical condition felt… off.

*

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