Chapter 17: Dungeon Practicum (5)
‘What? Crazy!’
Baek Yu-Seol used flash after abruptly shifting his body forward. Shortly later, the flame exploded into tongues of fire right where he was initially going to land.
Boom!
It had the same explosive power as a small bomb.
Because of the acceleration of the fall, he could not control his body even after the flash was over, and he slammed his head on a rock, causing it to hurt.
“Oh my.”
Even on the dirty ground, the sound of shoe heels echoed clearly. Baek Yu-Seol patted his head, stood up, and looked back.
‘Hong Bi-Yeon…’
She was approaching slowly, her staff pointed in his direction. Seeing that, he became more and more confused.
‘Why is she here too?’
He couldn’t comprehend why everyone had a grudge against him.
Aiming her staff at Baek Yu-Seol, Hong Bi-Yeon said, “Commoner, why didn’t you just take another point stick from them?”
“What are you talking about? I couldn’t take it.”
“Nonsense.”
“No, in the first place, why does it matter whether I took those sticks or not?”
She did not respond. Furrowing his brows, Baek Yu-Seol inquired, “I wonder if you… Had I taken them all away, would you have done the same to me?”
She went silent again, but her answer was loud and clear.
“Such shamelessness. Are you still human?”
“I'm royalty.”
Considering that she believed she could take away his stick in the first place, it appeared that it was not her pride as a royal that motivated her but rather the confidence that came from her strength.
“Isn’t that too much? That’s right, I even gave you a special lecture.”
“Hmph. Do commoners not know how to separate public and private matters?”
She flicked the staff up and down.
“Get ready quickly. Taking things from commoners does not reflect the dignity of royalty, so I’ll deal with you properly.”
“Is that your idea of dignity? Do you enjoy extorting the weak?”
“Weak? You? Don’t be silly.”
Hong Bi-Yeon frowned as if she was genuinely offended and disgusted.
“I was literally just watching you mess with them.”
Hong Bi-Yeon had been watching the Aiden gang and Baek Yu-Seol’s fight since the moment they met.
She wanted their point sticks, but dealing with six people at once would sap her stamina, so she thought of taking them all at once when the fight was over and everyone was physically exhausted.
At that moment, she had four Point Sticks and had defeated quite a few demons, giving her a whopping 144 points. However, she still had a long way to go.
It was because Hae Won-Ryang, whom she had previously met, had points exceeding 200.
‘I can’t go back with poor grades again this time.’
'My mother... She’ll punish me.'
She was desperate—more desperate than anyone else in Stella. She was working hard to get good grades.
'I must win first place. Only if I win first place in this academy of geniuses and nobles from all over the world will I be recognized.'
‘However, that commoner is playing around.’
Since Hong Bi-Yeon had always worked hard, she was dissatisfied with Baek Yu-Seol who possessed power but did not use it well.
‘If you don’t do your best, you don’t deserve points.’
However, she could not let go of her tension. It didn’t matter that the other person was a commoner. Hong Bi-Yeon increased her mental power to the maximum.
She recalled Aiden, who had just been brutally beaten.
Regardless of how pitiful they usually acted, their magical abilities were not pathetic. It was good enough for them to be admitted to Stella.
Although far inferior to Hong Bi-Yeon, Aiden was still the elite of the elite who grew up in a family of mages, and it was the same for the boys who followed him.
'If you have the skills to mess with those guys…'
‘I have no choice but to give it my all.’
Even Baek Yu-Seol, who had been joking around without even using magic until now, would have no choice but to respond sincerely if she was serious.
It was unjust to Baek Yu-Seol, who had always been sincere, but Hong Bi-Yeon thought so anyway.
Spark!
The sparks from her body began to spread in all directions, linking the trees to one another.
The waves of flame danced and swirled around the trees.
Since the Class 4 Fire Field could not be implemented yet, an advantageous environment was created by combining a Class 1 fire-attribute magic skill and the surrounding terrain.
‘She’s smarter than I thought.’
Drenched in cold sweat, he looked at the burning terrain.
Pointing at the point stick, Hong Bi-Yeon’s brow twitched at the prospect of dealing with Baek Yu-Seol.
“Your staff, aren’t you going to take it out?"
“I gave it to you.”
“Wasn’t there a basic staff given to you during your admission?”
'Oh right. Was there?'
In the first place, there was no point in using a staff, so he completely forgot about it.
Just like a Korean soldier who must always carry a K-2 rifle on his body, a mage should always be equipped with a staff.
“You’re still joking around.”
Hong Bi-Yeon swung her staff with an angry expression.
“I don’t know about the other idiots, but you’d better be serious with me.”
A barrage of flower-shaped flames soared high in the sky. They coiled and sizzled like snakes, thirsting to color everything in their poison.
“If you don’t, you’ll really die.”
The flames started to explode the next moment and showered down towards Baek Yu-Seol!
Even after activating flash two or more times in a row, it seemed impossible to completely escape that vast tsunami of flames.
Knowing that he could move quickly, Hong Bi-Yeon had already prepared countermeasures.
‘This is going to be a little difficult…’
Even the tiny fire sparks that were playing near her body would erupt if he ventured too close. Baek Yu-Seol had played PVP with Flame-attribute mages and had been beaten by them numerous times, so he was aware of the threat.
Her level was much higher than expected.
‘If it was a real battle on a flat ground, I would have been robbed in less than a minute.’
Would there be a fight in the first place? Let alone one minute, it would be settled in a matter of thirty seconds. Only two activations of flash could not beat the monstrous being named Hong Bi-Yeon.
However, things were very different now.
The constantly changing terrain and the point stick in his hand were variables.
This point stick would be able to destroy Hong Bi-Yeon’s flimsy magic shield, which was renowned for its weak defense.
‘It would be difficult to knock her down, but …’
At least he would not be helpless.
Fwoosh!
A mass of flames was shot from the tip of Hong Bi-Yeon’s staff, and at the same moment, a pillar of fire rose from his feet.
She intended to take advantage of the opponent's distraction by attracting his attention with a decoy.
“Crazy! She’s really not kidding.”
Indeed, it was a formidable strategy. If she successfully landed one hit, it would be all over.
However…
Not a single attack reached Baek Yu-Seol.
By twisting his head, he narrowly avoided the mass of flames she fired, and through teleporting, he evaded the large pillar of flames that sprang up from below.
Next were the flying flame arrows, and although he could dodge them, he used the point stick to smack them away instead.
“W-What?!”
Hong Bi-Yeon was visibly perplexed by the sight of magic being struck down by a cold weapon.
The flame arrows were as swift as real arrows, and although impossible for ordinary people, he had maxed out mana leakage delay when he played the game, so he could clearly detect the attack with his eyes.
Even though his skill level was low at the moment and they were only detectable with Sixth Sense, it was sufficient.
Tong!
He flashed behind a rock after deflecting all the flame arrows in quick succession. The following waves of attacks ended up hitting nothing but air.
“How long are you going to just dodge?!”
Of course, Baek Yu-Seol was not simply running away.
He was slowly sharpening his senses by waving the point stick to instantly transmit mana to ward off her attacks and determining the optimal path for the minimal use of flash.
Sensory enlightenment through training. Indeed, he was now using Hong Bi-Yeon for his training.
She was different from the rest of the world. Although her level was still low, she was closer to a real mage than anyone he had ever faced.
Instead of a 3D game operated by a keyboard and mouse, he fought in reality to slowly discover the ways of dealing with a mage.
‘It’s becoming clearer.’
The flow of mana appeared as though it were on his fingertips. Sixth Sense felt just as familiar as touch, sight, and hearing.
‘Ugh, how the hell are you avoiding them?’ Hong Bi-Yeon screamed inwardly.
'How can you move freely in this complex terrain?'
She thought she could shoot Baek Yu-Seol down if she hit him once, but she kept missing narrowly.
‘This terrain is full of trees. Surely I have an advantage?’
Hong Bi-Yeon thought she had made the terrain hers by setting fire to the trees.
However, this living and moving terrain was always on Baek Yu-Seol’s side, whether on fire or not.
Rather, every time a burning tree soared high and then shrank, it obscured her gaze. Could he take advantage of this loophole?
“This…!”
When the flames did not reach him despite such a wide range of attacks, Hong Bi-Yeon made them even stronger.
She wanted to prepare a high-grade magic skill.
And that moment was a gap.
[Flash]
In that unexpected moment, Baek Yu-Seol activated flash and appeared in front of Hong Bi-Yeon.
“Ah…!”
For a very brief moment, their eyes met, and Hong Bi-Yeon, who had a frown on her face, quickly shut her mouth.
‘Range eruption!’
An explosion of flames erupted from Hong Bi-yeon’s body.
He knew that magic skill well.
It was a skill that was used as a counter for an opponent approaching a flame-attribute priest-type mage. It could cause a small rebound explosion within a radius of two meters around the user.
He was able to deal with such a rudimentary response because he had been subjected to the skill many times before.
With just one step back, he was able to get exactly two meters away from Hong Bi-Yeon.
Boom!
As soon as the rebound explosion was complete, Baek Yu-Seol approached her without wasting even 0.1 seconds and stretched out…
… The point stick.
Clink!
“…Ah!”
Hong Bi-Yeon’s chest was stabbed with a point stick and her sloppy magic shield broke, pushing her body back from the impact.
Had it been the future Hong Bi-Yeon, she might have fallen gracefully or prepared a second countermeasure before being stabbed, but she now fell backward, most likely due to her lack of combat experience.
Thud!
Hong Bi-Yeon’s face shook from shock, whether from hitting her bottom on the ground or from being attacked.
The flame died away, and silence took its place.
It was Baek Yu-Seol who spoke first.
“I win.”
“No… Not yet. There’s an aura of fire all around me. If you had hit me a second time, you would have been immediately swept up in the explosion.”
“I know. That’s why I didn’t do it.”
“Stop pretending to know everything!”
She became depressed and shut her mouth. It was because she believed that if he had used a real wand in their fight, she would have been defeated sooner.
‘What the hell… Who are you, really?’
Contrary to what she believed, the rumors about him were also complicated.
Looking into the corner, Baek Yu-Seol said, “Flame. Stop hiding now and come out.”
“What…?”
When Hong Bi-Yeon turned her head in surprise, a black-haired girl crept out from behind the rock.
She still had a disgruntled expression on her face.