Chapter 740: Week 9–10 Midterms (19)

Go Hyeonwoo, Geum Johan, and the others held their ground, while the monkeys leaped back and retreated.

However, considering it had taken two people per monkey, it was not that much of an advantage.

“OOH, OOOOH!!”

“EEK-EEK-EEK!”

The monkeys charged again with more strange cries.

Our melee classes responded in kind.

Not only that, Seo Ye-in and mirror-image Seo Ye-in were providing support fire from the side.

A few mana rounds grazed it, but the damage was very minor.

Seeing that, Go Hyeonwoo stepped in with footwork this time.

“We must press it now.”

“Correct!”

“Confirmed.”

Han Somi and Seo Ye-in agreed and kicked off the ground.

Sword energy and mana rounds poured down on the monkey.

The Discipline Committee quartet was pushing back the stone-wielding monkey.

However, I was soon forced to shift my gaze elsewhere.

They’re here.

More monkeys were popping out one after another.

There were a full five of them. Apparently, they had come after hearing the noise from their kin’s cries and the collisions of mana.

“EEK-EEK-EEK!”

“OOH! EEK-EEK?”

“EEEEEEK!”

As soon as they looked over the scene, they understood the situation and joined the battle.

Some climbed high up the trees, while others swung the sticks, animal bones, and other things they had brought with them.

“EEEEEK!”

“......!”

Go Hyeonwoo had been steadily pushing back the monkey he had first engaged, but when another one suddenly charged in, he immediately deployed a defensive form.

Then he retreated two steps and let out a low groan.

He had realized that handling them one-on-one would not be easy.

And that the tide would soon turn.

“EEK-EEK-EEK!”

The Discipline Committee members also ended up facing three monkeys, and even at a glance, they were clearly struggling.

So I gave everyone an order.

“Fight while grouped up! Gather!”

Red magic circles floated up in layers, filling with complex formulas.

Perhaps sensing an instinctive ominousness from them, the monkeys that had climbed the trees threw stones and hard tree nuts.

Since they were A-rank, their destructive power would be no joke either.

So I watched the projectiles, then extended my staff toward the first one to arrive.

[Dipper-Shifting Star-Transposition]

When I threw it right into another projectile, they collided midair and shattered to pieces.

As I protected Hong Yeonhwa like that, the others steadily exchanged offense and defense with the monkeys while gathering together.

But this time too, the creature twisted its body in wriggling motions and dodged most of the shots.

As if that were not enough, it even laughed obnoxiously.

“EEK-EEK! EEK-EEK! EEK-EEK-EEK!”

“......This makes me angry.”

It seemed they had cast [Bullet Time].

It was a skill that accelerated one’s perception, making the opponent’s movements appear slow, like they were in slow motion.

The next moment, their muzzles traced a distorted figure eight and spat blue fire.

The monkey was hit by every mana round and sent flying.

Only then did the two Seo Ye-ins each say something with satisfaction.

“A difference in class.”

A low groan came from among the Discipline Committee members.

“Ghk......!”

When I checked what had happened, one of Geum Johan’s arms was broken and hanging limply.

In the end, he had allowed one of the monkeys to land a clean hit.

Because they were protecting him, the other Discipline Committee members seemed to be driven even further onto the defensive.

And as if things were not bad enough—

“EEK-EEK-EEK-EEK!!”

“OOH, OOOH! EEK-EEK!”

“EEK! EEK! EEEK!”

Another five or six monkeys appeared.

We had already been losing in specs, and now we were completely outnumbered too.

“Shouldn’t we run awaaay?”

“After this.”

When I answered like that and gave Hong Yeonhwa a signal with my eyes, the magic she had been casting all this time manifested all at once.

Red magic circles spread wide, then sent fireballs raining down.

“EEK-EEK? OOH-OOH?”

“EEEEEK! EEK!”

Seo Ye-in aimed her gun at the panicking creatures.

“A crisis is an opportunity.”

The rest of the group also switched to offense and began beating down the enemies.

After watching the monkeys turn one by one into crystals and cards, I called out quietly.

“Stop. Grab the items and retreat.”

“......?”

Puzzlement appeared on the others’ faces.

We had only just seized the advantage, yet I was saying to retreat?

Still, everyone cleaned up without complaint and left the area.

As I walked at the front, I explained the reason for our swift withdrawal.

I displayed the map.

A crown was crossing the A zone toward us at terrifying speed.

“If we dragged that out a little longer, we would’ve met it.”

“Our odds of victory would not have been very high, I take it.”

“Pretty much zero.”

I answered firmly.

A field boss was practically graduate level. Even if all the party members were A-rank, it would be uncertain whether we could beat it or not. Right now, everyone except two people was still B-rank.

“We need to keep avoiding it for a while.”

By staying outside a certain radius around the crown, for example.

As we had just seen, the boss could also come looking for us.

[Entering Fixed Zone.]

[The rank of skills/traits/equipment will be adjusted to C-rank.]

As we moved quickly, a notification soon appeared telling us we had left the A zone.

“It won’t chase us all the way here. Let’s rest for a moment.”

If it did come, the boss would also drop to C-rank, so we could simply beat it down.

When I checked the map, sure enough, the crown had come almost to the boundary before turning back.

So everyone relaxed and took a short break.

Soon, Lee Seulbi softly chanted magic.

A small rain cloud formed over Geum Johan’s head and sent down thin streams of rain like a spray bottle.

Geum Johan gave a quiet thanks, then looked at me and asked,

“You said we would avoid the boss for a while. How long is that, exactly?”

“That depends on us. If we raise our ranks quickly, we can try hitting it once.”

“......And if we cannot raise them quickly?”

“We finish things as is.”

“So we may end up making a lot of effort for nothing.”

“It’s not for nothing. Our grades will go up.”

And so would our sub quest completion rate.

Then I lifted the things we had obtained from killing the monkeys.

“For our first time entering, the harvest wasn’t bad.”

[Empty Crystal(B+)]*4

[Empty Crystal(A)]*1

Near the end of the battle, there had been over a dozen monkeys swarming us, but once Hong Yeonhwa properly unleashed her firepower, we had been able to burn down about half of them.

Needless to say, once an item dropped, it stayed as it was even if the fixed zone’s rank changed.

At that, Song Cheonhye’s eyes sparkled.

“Then charging and rank-ups can be done here too.”

“Obviously.”

Rather than taking the risk of searching for sanctuaries and altars inside the A zone, it was definitely safer and more reliable to bring the crystals out to a lower zone and process them there.

Seo Ye-in summarized the strategy in one sentence.

“Hit and run.”

“Your understanding is excellent. Shall we move again?”

We headed toward the nearest sanctuary.

*****

The “hit-and-run strategy” worked roughly like this.

After checking the positions of the crowns, we skirted around the outskirts of the A-rank zone and moved to a place far from them.

Then we dipped slightly inside and fought the monsters.

Once we had gathered a certain amount of crystals, or if there were signs that a field boss was reacting, we immediately withdrew to a lower zone.

Then we processed the crystals and checked the positions of the crowns again.

Thanks to repeating this nearly all day, we were able to raise our specs quite a bit.

[Rank]

▷Seo Ye-in: A

▷Hong Yeonhwa: A

▷Go Hyeonwoo: B+→A

▷Han Somi: B→B+

▷Kim Ho: B→B+

With Go Hyeonwoo rising to A, there was one fewer mouth to feed, and Han Somi seemed like she would cross over with just a little more.

The Discipline Committee had also concentrated all experience into Song Cheonhye and Jo Byeok, and both had reached A-rank.

After confirming that much, I glanced up at the sky.

The sun looked like it would set soon, so it would be better to stop here.

“Let’s set up [Campsite].”

In a lower zone, obviously.

While we rested, the martial artists gathered among themselves and reviewed the battles.

“Since their movements were not standardized, they were rather difficult to face.”

“They were all! Flailing! And wriggling! Like this!”

Han Somi answered while waving her limbs around like a monkey.

Geum Johan also gave a small nod.

“They say the origins of martial arts trace back to animals. I learned much in several ways.”

“I agree. While we are at it, what do you say each of us performs a sword-dance?”

“An interesting suggestion. Let us try.”

And so, while the martial artists began performing “monkey sword-dances,” Hong Yeonhwa sat pressed right beside me.

Song Cheonhye was a little distance away too.

That morning, she had not even wanted to meet my eyes, but after running around busily all day, she seemed to have become somewhat all right.

I grinned and offered praise.

“You were the MVP today.”

“Nooo...... I wouldn’t say MVP......”

Hong Yeonhwa answered modestly.

But contrary to her words, an invisible tail seemed to be spinning like a propeller, slowly picking up speed.

So I continued praising her.

“Even in the first fight, more than half the contribution was yours. You swept them with large-scale magic. If not for that, we would’ve had to retreat without getting anything.”

“That’s...... true, but......”

“I really think investing [Boost] in you was the right call. You earned your keep properly.”

“......!”

Hong Yeonhwa’s mouth corners lost control and started twitching wildly.

She even sent Song Cheonhye a triumphant look.

But then she paused as if some thought had occurred to her and carefully spoke.

“Hey......”

“Yeah, what?”

“Can I...... ask you something?”

“Of course. What is it?”

“Well......”

Hong Yeonhwa fidgeted for a moment, stalling.

Then she whispered into my ear.

“With her too...... did you do it? That......”

It seemed she had intended for only me to hear it, but that attempt failed.

Judging by how Song Cheonhye’s complexion instantly turned blue.