Chapter 751: A Senior Looking After His Juniors

Hwang Dalsu’s brow twitched.

It seemed he was not very fond of the nickname otter.

But now was not the time to worry about that.

Because a wooden staff was swinging straight for his skull.

Hwang Dalsu hurriedly bent his whole body backward.

WHOOSH!

The staff grazed past by a hair.

[Hwang Dalsu 100%]

[Hwang Dalsu 99%]

Hwang Dalsu immediately backstepped away.

He was trying to put as much distance as possible between himself and his opponent before another attack came in.

Nope.

Naturally, we were not about to let him do that.

This was an opportunity we had finally caught. If we wasted time chasing him around, everything would come to nothing.

I pointed my staff at him.

[‘Concussion Mark(C)’ has been carved into the target.]

[Duration 00:00:08]

[Cooldown 00:59:59]

[Additional effects will occur in proportion to distance moved.]

“......!?”

Hwang Dalsu’s eyes flew wide.

All sorts of thoughts must have been racing through his head.

Why had a mark suddenly appeared, what exactly was the additional effect, should he keep moving, or should he stop even for a moment.......

“......Damn it!”

In the end, his choice was to keep retreating.

An archer’s instincts must have rejected close combat.

And before long, he also learned what that additional effect was.

“......!”

Hwang Dalsu clutched his head and staggered as if he might collapse at any moment.

Toward the crown of his head, the [Earth Staff] came smashing down without an ounce of mercy.

THWACK! CRACK!

[Hwang Dalsu 99%]

[Hwang Dalsu 78%]

[Hwang Dalsu - %]

After taking that skull barrage, his HP gauge seemed to plummet all at once, then turned gray.

Hwang Dalsu was naturally judged unable to fight and ejected.

Glancing at the sight, Dang Gyu-ri rested the staff lightly on their shoulder.

“Otter’s out.”

Then they spun around and faced Pang Suhan and Hwangbo Song, who were charging in.

Both of their expressions had become quite serious.

“We were completely dragged into their pace. To think the battle situation would shift this drastically.”

“It seems this is not the time to hold anything back.”

“I agree. Let us show everything we have.”

Their momentum surged sharply, then blasted forward through a longsword, a greatsaber, and fists.

RUMBLE—!

They were beginning to unfold their true techniques in earnest.

But Dang Gyu-ri leaped straight into it without the slightest hesitation and began exchanging offense and defense with Pang Suhan and Hwangbo Song.

BOOOOM—!

As I watched, I thought,

If they take those two down too, that’s basically the end.

In a 2-on-4 duel against the prospects under [Fixed Zone] rules, if Dang Gyu-ri personally defeated three of them?

That would be more than enough proof of skill.

And before long, that was exactly what would happen.

Still, it’d be better if there were no interruptions.

If ice fragments or the like came flying in from the side, the fight would get pointlessly complicated.

For that reason, handling Han Gaeul was my job.

“.......”

Perhaps she had not expected it to become a one-on-one situation. Han Gaeul looked visibly tense.

Even so, she firmed her resolve and said,

“I’ll be in your care for one exchange.”

“Sure.”

Mana soon churned, and a blue magic circle floated in the air.

Then ice spikes formed and shot toward me.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH— BOOM!

Though they exploded halfway here.

Because I had smacked them with [Wind Force].

“......!”

Han Gaeul’s expression hardened, and she cast another spell.

A chill circled around me, and the ice fragments scattered across the surroundings began gathering from every direction, growing larger.

CRACKLE— CLANG!

But this time too, they shattered midway and scattered in every direction.

To the flustered Han Gaeul, I casually tossed out one remark.

“I can use [Shatter] too, you know.”

Though actually, I just learned it from you.

A [Shatter] user’s power was proportional to the amount of ice they had built up.

If the entire battlefield was frozen, they could exercise tremendous destructive force across the whole battlefield.

On the other hand, what if the ice was shattered before it even finished freezing?

Then it became neither here nor there, with no destructive force and no way to land a hit.

That was why I had checked whether she had [Shatter] during the probing phase and copied it.

CRACKLE— CLANG!

Han Gaeul gathered the ice fragments again, but the result was the same.

I said calmly,

“Looks like you’re still in the middle of refining your build.”

“......Yes.”

Naturally, among freezing-type skills and traits, there were some that prevented this kind of mind game.

For instance, traits that blocked others from exerting influence over one’s ice or greatly reduced that influence.

However, Sapphire mages rarely fought one another, especially [Shatter] mages.

Because of that, those options tended to be pushed far down the priority list in an overall build, and Han Gaeul had not learned one yet.

The problem is, that’s exactly what she needs most right now.

BOOM!

I smacked away the incoming icicles with [Wind Force] again.

After her attacks were blocked several times in a row, Han Gaeul floated a new magic circle over her head.

It seemed she was trying to change tactics.

But now it’s my turn.

A blue circle formed centered beneath her feet.

It was [Pulverize Zone].

Han Gaeul seemed unable to tell exactly what would happen, but she apparently judged that leaving the area first would be best.

However, the moment she stepped out of the circle,

BANG!

Compressed wind exploded and shoved her right back in.

I had sent a sylphid over during our exchange.

BOOM!

Immediately after, invisible pressure dropped and struck Han Gaeul.

[Han Gaeul 100%]

[Han Gaeul 96%]

Since I had set a short delay time, the damage was not much, but the important thing was that a clean hit had landed.

Han Gaeul also seemed to judge [Pulverize Zone] as sufficiently dangerous.

The moment a blue circle formed beneath her feet, she kicked off the ground.

BANG!

She was hit by [Wind Force] from the sylphid circling nearby again, but even then, she focused only on getting out of range.

Thanks to that, she narrowly avoided the invisible flick to the forehead this time.

BOOM!

“......!”

Han Gaeul kept checking beneath her feet.

It was so she could immediately respond if [Pulverize Zone] appeared again.

However, even after she waited for a while, no blue circle appeared. Her puzzled gaze turned toward me.

Of course, that too was exactly what I intended.

Our eyes met, didn’t they?

[Diamond Freeze]

[Mutual-Destruction Eye]

CRACKLE.

One of Han Gaeul’s legs was covered in ice.

Only then did another blue circle form.

“......!”

Han Gaeul looked urgent and deeply conflicted at the same time.

Should she use [Shatter] on her own leg?

Considering the ice was directly attached to her, she, the caster, would also take damage. Was it worth going that far?

Before she could finish worrying about that, [Pulverize Zone] dropped.

BOOM!

[Han Gaeul 96%]

[Han Gaeul 91%]

When she saw the next blue circle appear immediately after, Han Gaeul’s face turned pale.

Apparently deciding that this could not go on, she squeezed her eyes shut and pointed her staff at her frozen leg.

“......?”

......Nothing happened.

Well, of course it would not break. It was indestructible.

“???”

Question marks practically floated above Han Gaeul’s head.

Perhaps thinking she had to do something for now, she hurriedly tried to limp out of the blue circle.

BANG!

“Ugh!”

But she was hit by [Wind Force] from the sylphid and landed flat on her backside, and [Pulverize Zone] dropped once again.

BOOM!

Han Gaeul could not even think of getting up. She only stared at the floor in shock.

Even after some time passed, no blue circle appeared. But when she finally raised her head, something worse was waiting for her.

“......!”

Dang Gyu-ri, gripping their staff firmly as they looked down at her.

In the meantime, they had taken down both Pang Suhan and Hwangbo Song and come looking for the last remaining opponent.

At that, Han Gaeul looked back and forth between us, her lips moving slightly, before she said in a voice that seemed to crawl into itself,

“......I lost.”

[Kim Ho Dang Gyu-ri Win]

vs

[Han Gaeul Pang Suhan Hwangbo Song Hwang Dalsu Lose]

The duel ended.

The prospects came and stood before us.

The difference from before was that their entire bodies were now filled with humility and respect.

As expected, nothing injects manners like a good beating.

Han Gaeul soon bowed deeply and said,

“Thank you for the match, senior. I learned a great deal in many ways.”

“You all worked hard too. You definitely fought well enough to be called prospects. Your teamwork was good too.”

At my words, Pang Suhan showed polite respect.

“You are too generous. With your ability, senior, even if it had not been 2-on-4 but 1-on-4, you would have been fully capable of subduing all of us.”

“.......”

“I thought my cousin’s words were exaggerated, but seeing you now, I feel they were actually insufficient.”

Next, Hwangbo Soft-and-Fluffy and Hwang Dambi-Otter each said a word to Dang Gyu-ri.

“I would like to apologize for doubting you until now.”

“Your true skill is by no means beneath ours.”

“If senior is guiding you, perhaps you may go even farther ahead from now on.”

“I will respect your method. However, please spar with us like this from time to time.”

When gazes full of goodwill turned toward them, Dang Gyu-ri also replied with a smile full of goodwill.

“From time to time is fine. You all worked hard.”

While the atmosphere grew warm, Han Gaeul handed me the [Skillbook - Snow Wall(C)].

“As promised, I’ll give this to you.”

“Sure. Thanks.”

“I think you’ll use it far better than I would.”

Perhaps because she had been completely overwhelmed in the duel, she seemed to see me as some kind of master of freezing magic.

Soon, she continued in a cautious tone.

“By any chance, at the end....... Could you tell me how you did that?”

What on earth had I done to make ice that would not break even with [Shatter]?

However, it was etiquette not to pry into the secrets of another person’s skills and traits, which was why she was being so careful.

Of course, for me, it was not that tremendous a secret.

There were already quite a few PvP replays left behind too.

So I answered lightly.

“It’s simple. I applied ‘cannot be dispelled.’”

“That....... is possible? What kind of skill......?”

“I have a unique skill.”

“Ah.......”

Han Gaeul looked extremely disappointed.

If it was a unique skill, that meant only I could learn and use it.

However, I casually added,

“There is a way to get something similar.”

“......!”

“But I think it’s still too early for you. Build up more skill first, and let’s talk about it again later.”

“Yes. I’m grateful you told me that much.”

Han Gaeul said that with a much brighter expression.

Then she carefully made another offer.

“Whenever it’s convenient for you....... Please stop by our clubroom. Or it would be fine to meet at the White Magic Club.”

She said I only had to send one message before coming.

If she left it to someone else, the hospitality for a guest might be lacking, so she would personally receive me.

At that, apparently sensing something unusual, Dang Gyu-ri’s eyes narrowed into slits.

Then they looked at me as if saying,

—Look at that. Look, there it goes again.

—Seriously, every time you so much as breathe.