Chapter 733: Week 9–10 Midterms (12)

Park Nari, as always, had formed a five-person party with Gwak Jicheol, Jeong Suji, and members of the Nature Club.

I exchanged brief nods with them too.

Among them, Gwak Jicheol looked like he had plenty he wanted to say, but—

We need to deal with that thing first.

The fight against the giant gorilla was still in full swing.

Maybe it got even more excited because the number of enemies had increased, because it pounded its chest wildly with both fists and roared.

“OOH-OOH-OOH-OOH!!”

Then it kicked off the ground, leaped high into the air, and threw its entire body down like a wrestler.

Straight at Jeong Suji, who was chanting a spell in the rear.

KABOOOM—!

The ground was flattened in the shape of a gorilla.

But instead of turning into a pancake underneath it, Jeong {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} Suji appeared a short distance away.

With Beomi’s mouth clamped around the back of Suji’s neck.

A rescue by a hair’s breadth.

“Grrr.”

Beomi gave a low rumble and spat Jeong Suji out.

It looked like Beomi was complaining that this was annoying and did not even taste good.

Leaving that aside—

They have no time to fight because they’re busy protecting their party members.

With Park Nari, Beomi, and Chaemi’s combat power, a C-rank field boss should not be that hard, but they seemed to be struggling because they could not focus purely on attacking.

Of course, from our perspective, this was actually an opportunity, so I casually made an offer.

“Want us to help take it down? Or do you want to do it yourselves?”

In a raid, priority goes to the party that bids first or starts fighting first.

Ignoring that and hitting the boss recklessly was basically asking for a fight.

It would be one thing if we wiped them out completely, but if we had decided to mind our manners, then it was only right to keep minding them until the end.

They’re going to ask us to join anyway.

The situation looked bad for them to handle it by themselves.

They probably could do it, but it would take a long time, and someone might get caught in the middle.

Sure enough, Park Nari brightened and answered.

“We’re...... fine with that.”

“Split the reward half and half?”

“Y-yeah......!”

As soon as permission was given, I exchanged glances with my party members.

Then we moved into our respective positions and joined the battle.

RATATATATAT!

A shower of [Mana Rounds] struck the giant gorilla evenly across its entire body.

Then the thing let out an enraged shriek.

“OOH-OOH-OOH—!”

It picked up a fallen log from the ground and hurled it as-is.

Of course, Seo Ye-in’s evasion ability was far superior to Jeong Suji’s.

She stepped with [Featherstep(A+)], dodged lightly, and continued firing.

RATATATATAT!

BOOM!

Next, a fireball exploded against the gorilla’s face.

The flame blast swallowed its entire upper body.

The thing flailed both arms to clear away the fire, then charged while gripping a thick tree in each hand.

“OOH-OOH!!”

“Not happening.”

When I blocked its path, it swung an ancient tree like it was sweeping the ground, but—

[Transplanting Flowers, Grafting Trees]

I received that force exactly as it came and redirected it to the side.

Then I even met the staggering thing’s eyes.

[Mutual-Destruction Eye(B)]

CRACKLE—

An ice shackle fastened around one of the gorilla’s feet.

Even so, a boss was still a boss. It regained its balance with beastlike movement and kept rushing forward.

“OOH-OOH-OOH!”

But this time, Go Hyeonwoo stepped forward beside me.

With a soft wind wrapped around his blade, he set it against the ancient tree the thing swung.

[Flowing Current]

[Transplanting Flowers, Grafting Trees]

THOOOM—!

The gorilla was shoved backward and flailed hugely.

Go Hyeonwoo smiled gently and said,

“I tried imitating Brother Kim. I am still quite lacking, though.”

“You’re using it pretty well at that level. Did you practice?”

“The sacred relic challenge seems to have helped.”

[Wind God] constantly poured out sword energy, large and small, toward the approaching inheritor.

If he had to twist his entire body to redirect that, his defense could not help but improve naturally.

Come to think of it, the inheritance should be almost done too.

I should have him try again after midterms.

Putting that thought aside, I gathered wind into one hand with [Wind Force].

Then I slammed it into the flailing gorilla.

BOOM!

“OOH-OOH!?”

At last, the thing lost its balance and toppled backward.

Seizing that opening, Gwak Jicheol and Jeong Suji manifested the magic they had prepared.

[Entangle]

[Earth Wall]

[Strong Wall]

The ancient trees rolling nearby gathered like living creatures and wrapped tightly around the thing.

On top of that, soil covered it and hardened firmly.

If they’re given time, they can each do their share.

I saw prospects and Discipline Committee members all the time, so I forgot, but they were also undeniably upper-mid-tier fighters.

Han Somi, Beomi, and Chaemi charged at the struggling gorilla.

“Finisher! Somi Wild Barrage!”

“GRRROAR!”

“Piiiiii—!”

Not only that, Seo Ye-in, Hong Yeonhwa, and the others in the rear poured out firepower without holding back.

B-B-B-BOOM!

“Ooooh......”

In the end, the giant gorilla went limp, making the force it had shown while running all over the place look ridiculous.

▷Objective 4: Defeat field bosses (2/2)

Soon, Gwak Jicheol let out a deep sigh with an expression of disbelief.

“......You only just arrived, and it is already over. Is the gap in skill truly this large?”

“It’s probably more because we added numbers than skill.”

“I do not think you need to be modest even with us. In any case, thank you for helping.”

“We’re the ones who should be grateful. You let us join in.”

For a while, a warm atmosphere drifted through the area.

Then Gwak Jicheol opened his mouth again.

“There is something else I wanted to thank you for, as it happens.”

“What else?”

“Did you not tell us about hidden pieces?”

Park Nari’s group had said they were heading out for an outside request around the same time as us, so I had sent them off with a few walkthroughs.

In Gwak Jicheol’s case, I had told him something that would be more useful to his older brother Gwak Seungjae than to him.

I asked him back.

“Looks like you got it safely. Did you take it to your senior?”

“Of course. He was very pleased with it.”

“It is a good one.”

“I will repay this debt someday, no matter when.”

Park Nari also joined the conversation very timidly.

“Me too...... I got mine thanks to you. The hidden piece.......”

“Looks like it.”

I answered and looked toward Beomi.

As the thing sprawled roughly on one side to rest, faint green energy was slowly gathering toward it and being absorbed.

Its affinity with nature rose again.

In the Great Forest or similar environments, it would receive small bonuses such as slight recovery, stats, and accelerated training.

And a cat’s happiness was a butler’s happiness, so from Park Nari’s perspective, there was no way not to feel grateful.

Soon, Beomi sensed both our gazes and got up.

“Grrrr.”

Then it started sauntering over.

Before it could even make it halfway, Han Somi caught it.

“Somi Wild Petting!”

“Grrr.”

“Hehe, Beomi’s cute. Hehe.”

“Grrrr......”

Beomi waved its forepaw as if telling her to get away.

But despite that resistance, its head, the nape of its neck, and everywhere else were getting rubbed mercilessly.

Park Nari seemed to wonder for a moment whether to go help, then apparently decided to leave it alone and looked at me again.

“I want to...... repay you...... Will you come visit...... our clubroom......?”

“Sure, I’ll go sometime.”

“You have to...... come......!”

Despite Park Nari’s timid personality, the word “have to” was added for emphasis.

I already had business there anyway, so I would need to visit before long.

Next, we collected the items the gorilla had dropped.

Before participating in the raid, we had agreed to split the reward half and half.

[Empty Crystal(C+)]*2

[Duplication]

“That card came out way too good.”

“Mm, yeah...... it did.......”

Since it could increase anything to two cards, it had to be considered top-class in terms of versatility.

So I took out my card bundle and made an offer.

“Everyone needs it, but I want it a lot. How about I give you the crystals plus a few more cards?”

“If you let me...... choose them myself.......”

Park Nari was more timid than anyone, but at important moments, Park Nari stood firm and asserted the right to choose.

Well, that was probably why Park Nari kept serving as the center of the party.

I readily accepted, and handed over a few more cards as Park Nari requested.

Once the deal was finished, Gwak Jicheol, who had been watching, asked us,

“Do you have any intention of joining us?”

“Sorry, but not right now. We’re at the stage where we need to run around busily.”

We were in a position where we had to recover D and C zone hidden pieces as quickly as possible and beat down field bosses.

But the larger a group was, the slower its movement speed tended to become.

On top of that, since item distribution would be spread among more people, growth would slow down too.

When I explained that point, Gwak Jicheol seemed to understand and nodded.

“It is certainly too early.”

“Maybe later. Once we enter the higher zones.”

In the B and A-rank fixed zones, growth would generally stagnate, so cooperation would become more important.

Park Nari’s group’s eyes lit up.

“We’ll work hard and raise our ranks......!”

“Great. See you all later.”

After we exchanged farewells like that—

I glanced at Park Nari’s group as they moved away, then took out the [Duplication] we had just obtained.

The first one was used on [Boost].

I had given one to Seo Ye-in and one to Hong Yeonhwa to increase their experience gain.

Right now, there was no card worth duplicating.

Of course, I was not that disappointed.

Because this time, I’m planning to invest in the card side anyway.

FLASH—

Soon, [Duplication] shone with bright light, then transformed into [Payback(B+)].

Even when we only had one, it tended to give us good things from time to time, so with two, there was no need to even say it.

Before long, I looked back at my party members and said,

“Let’s go catch the next boss.”

*****

For a while, we kept moving in search of crowns, picking up hidden pieces along the way, and beating up field bosses whenever we encountered them.

THUUUD!!

A giant boar collapsed with a heavy sound.

As we had done until now, we collected the cards and crystals it dropped.

Then I immediately unfolded the map again, and from a short distance away, I sensed people and heard a familiar voice.

“There were prior guests.”

It was Mo Yongjun and the swordsmen from the Swordsmanship Club.

Since we were on fairly good terms, I greeted him gladly.

“Been a while. Have you been well?”

“Of course. I heard your entry was late, but fortunately, it seems you regrouped without issue.”

“These guys worked hard.”

When I said that and pointed at Go, Han, and Hong, Mo Yongjun sighed deeply with a dark expression.

“I am sorry I could not help. There were people I had to lead.”

“What’s there to be sorry about? We each just worked hard at what we had to do.”

Even if we had built up a reasonably good relationship, he had no obligation to take losses and clash with Cha Hyeonju and Sagong Uk’s group for our sake.

Even so, Mo Yongjun still looked apologetic.

“It may be rather late, but if there is anything you need now, say it.”

“Then since we met, want to trade cards?”

“Of course.”

Soon, several cards and crystals passed back and forth.

Mo Yongjun wore a faint smile.

“Thank you. Though we came up empty-handed, the harvest is not bad.”

“Call it a win-win. We both gained.”

“That is true as well. How do you intend to move from here?”

“We’ll keep doing what we were doing. Going around catching bosses.”

“We are the same. I shall wish you good fortune in battle.”

As Mo Yongjun was just about to turn away, I called him back.

“Let me ask one last thing.”

“Of course. What are you curious about?”

“Have you seen Sagong Uk’s group by any chance?”

“Sagong Uk...... Of course I have. I suppose you wish to know the location.”

“I’d be grateful if you told me.”

At that, the party members who had been listening in exchanged meaningful looks.

Then Seo Ye-in’s eyes shone as she said one word.

“......Wipeout.”