Though they are mana dolls and not real monsters, their appearance and destructive power have been reproduced to an outstanding degree. Of course, they are weaker than the original monsters, but the risk of injury is high.
That is what I am afraid of.
“They said to come out to the plaza in twenty minutes!”
A loud voice echoed through the school. I looked that way.
A round face, small eyes that seemed gentle, and a body incongruously made of lumps of muscle. It was Lee Yeonghan, who held the position of Kim Suho’s supporter. Kim Suhyeok, the instructor in charge, knew about the conflict between Kim Suho and Shin Jonghak and had appointed Lee Yeonghan as class president.
“Phew.”
All I could do was sincerely hope that, please, it wouldn’t hurt.
*
After a twenty-minute break, everyone in Truth Class gathered in the plaza outside the “Beginner Hall.” With a hundred people gathered in one place, it was somewhat crowded and chaotic. They were all sharing their nerves and excitement with their friends, but I was alone. Only I was alone.
“Fuck…”
Just as I was chewing on my pathetic loneliness, the instructor in charge, Kim Suhyeok, finally appeared.
The cadets quickly lined up before him in ten columns.
“I trust you all know what this class is about. Therefore, without any preamble, I’ll announce the team assignments first. Unless something special happens, these teams will continue until the midterm exam.”
Team assignments. At those words, which were somehow both exciting and nerve-racking, a stir spread among the cadets.
A team was usually composed of two warriors, one marksman, one supporter, and one utility player, for a total of five members. Here, warriors were usually swordsmen or spearmen who fought at the front, marksmen were positioned at long range to intercept enemies, and supporters referred to flexible support types like Lee Yeonghan, who aided the warriors from behind with either offensive or support-type assistance.
The last role, utility player, was almost always reserved for magicians, so it would be excluded until the end of the first semester. Later, once magicians were added, “protecting the magician” would also be added to the supporter’s duties. After all, magicians were precious.
My role here was ambiguous. Usually, a position was determined based on one’s main weapon, but while I was certainly not a warrior, calling me a long-range marksman was also lacking. A gun’s range was definitely shorter than a bow’s, and I couldn’t say it had an advantage over other close-range weapons that could send slashes flying from a distance.
[Marksman (Long-range)— 4th Chae Nayun, 9th Lim Yeongjin… 934th Kim Hajin, 945th Oh Jinyun]
Still, one way or another, it seemed I had been assigned as a marksman.
Kim Suhyeok stepped forward and said,
“The team assignments were made fairly. Lower-ranked cadets and higher-ranked cadets will be together.”
Cube’s class-related administration was handled entirely by an artificial intelligence developed by an archmage. Because of that, there was no room for corruption or persuasion to interfere.
And I could see that incorruptible result right before my eyes.
[Team 1]
[Kim Suho / Kim Rang]
[Seong Seung-eon / Pine]
[Team 2]
[Damian / Rosen]
[Chun Li / Chae Nayun]
…
…
[Team 5]
[Jin Hoseung / Hazuki]
[Kim Hajin / Yu Yeonha]
“…”
The moment I saw the team composition with my own eyes, I was briefly at a loss for words.
Yu Yeonha.
That Yu Yeonha was on the same team as me. A character who had received the most hate in the serialized chapters, yet also a considerable amount of love.
As I looked around, my eyes met those black eyes. In eyes that shone like jewels, deep scorn and contempt rippled. But only for a moment. Soon, when those eyes closed and opened again, every trace of negativity had vanished as if washed clean.
Rather, Yu Yeonha smiled and approached in my direction. A dignified gait and flowing long hair. Her fine lips moved modestly.
“Hello.”
“Ah, yes. I’m…”
“Hoseung-ssi.”
But Yu Yeonha’s greeting had not been directed at me. Even our eyes meeting had been my mistake. She was speaking to another man who had been behind me.
“Ah, hello.”
“We were on the same team back then too, weren’t we?”
It was an overly formal way of speaking for a seventeen-year-old, but this was one of Yu Yeonha’s favorite methods of keeping distance.
“Yes? Ah. We were. Haha, haha.”
They had exchanged only two sentences, yet cold sweat was already forming on Jin Hoseung’s forehead. Yu Yeonha was not an easy person to deal with. It wasn’t merely because of her impressive background and slightly psychopathic personality. Yu Yeonha and Shin Jonghak were an official couple. Unofficially, however, they were not. At this point in time, it was probably closer to Yu Yeonha having a one-sided crush.
“Ah. Over there, Hazuki-ssi is coming too.”
“Hellooo…”
The Japanese exchange student named Hazuki looked as if she were about to cry. Yu Yeonha glanced at her with slight dissatisfaction and said,
“Then who’s the last one?”
“That would be me.”
Yu Yeonha disliked types who lacked confidence and self-respect. Therefore, I stepped forward with great confidence. Hazuki and Jin Hoseung looked at me first.
“Uh…”
Hazuki tilted her head, as if she didn’t know who I was.
“Ah, the kid who chose the gun back then?”
In the brief moment Jin Hoseung said that with his eyes wide, I checked Yu Yeonha’s face. Contrary to my expectations, however, she showed no reaction whatsoever. That was even scarier.
At that moment, Kim Suhyeok shouted loudly.
“There’s no time to chat. The coordinates and information of the monster you must kill should have been sent to each of your smartwatches. Depart immediately!”
A total of twenty-five teams. Including the four classes that started the same lesson, there were a total of one hundred teams.
Their objective was to head to their respective destinations and kill the target monster.
Their rankings would be decided according to time and safety.
Vwoong—
No sooner had those words fallen than Yu Yeonha projected her smartwatch into the air.
[Black-Hump Octopus 37° 31’ 32” N]
The monster’s name and current coordinates were written there.
Yu Yeonha said plainly,
“Let’s go. It won’t be too late to talk while we’re moving.”
*
I am running through a field. Beyond this place, where golden reeds burn like fire, a blue sea should be spread out, and that should be the monster’s current location.
However, with my physical stats woefully lacking, running was difficult. Even the effect of the running shoes I had made last night was useless. The duration of one hour had not even passed, yet my stamina had run out first.
In the end, I collapsed while running, and the team stopped because of me.
“It’s fine. The real point of the game is whether or not we can kill the monster anyway.”
As I lay in the field, breathing heavily, Jin Hoseung handed me water and spoke.
“Yesh. They say this kind of thing happens a lot when you’re on a team with magicians.”
Hazuki also comforted me in her clumsy pronunciation.
They were people I was grateful to, but more than anyone else, I watched Yu Yeonha’s reaction.
Contrary to my expectations, however, Yu Yeonha didn’t seem particularly dissatisfied this time either. She was simply sitting neatly in the field, reading her smartwatch intently. It was information related to the “Black-Hump Octopus.”
I also pulled information from within my head.
===
[Black-Hump Octopus]
—Lower-intermediate-rank monster
—Special Notes
*The main body itself is not particularly powerful, but countless baby octopuses burst out from its hump. Since dozens of baby octopuses pour out in an instant, they are not easy to respond to. The baby octopuses can suck up human blood and turn a person into a mummy in one second, and their endurance is also at the level of low-rank monsters.
—Strategy
*Eliminate all baby octopuses. Or destroy the black hump where the main body’s magic power is produced.
—Weakness
*Black hump
—Strengths
*Suckers and baby octopuses
===
Perhaps because the Black-Hump Octopus was a monster I had created, the details came out clearly.
“I’ll somehow handle the babies. The rest of you two, please do something about the main body.”
Just then, Yu Yeonha turned off her smartwatch and spoke. She was looking only at two people, Hazuki and Jin Hoseung.
Ah, now I understood.
Yu Yeonha was treating me as if I didn’t exist at all. As something on the same level as air, not even worth being dissatisfied with or rebuking.
“…Let’s go now.”
For some reason, that irritated me, so I got up out of sheer stubbornness. Thanks to the effect of the shoes, I now had enough stamina.
“Will you be okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll go ahead. Hup!”
I definitely started running before them. My body moved much faster and more nimbly than it had on Earth.
However, exactly ten seconds later.
The other three were far ahead of me.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────
Practical Training (2)
“There it is.”
Just as my legs went beyond trembling and were about to cramp, we found the monster. A giant octopus causing a commotion on the beach. As if it had two heads, a large black hump protruded from the top of its head.
“I’ll prepare.”
Yu Yeonha said as she crouched down in the bushes. Jin Hoseung and Hazuki each drew a sword and an axe.
“First, when you charge in, baby octopuses will burst out from that hump. When that happens, you two should withdraw slightly. Then wait until I deal with the baby octopuses. Warriors need to conserve as much magic power as possible. The Black-Hump Octopus has strong recovery, so you need to remove that hump in one strike…”
Yu Yeonha’s explanation continued.
In truth, it would be most correct to leave the baby octopuses to me. A handgun had high basic destructive power, so no matter how many baby octopuses there were, I could kill them in one shot, whereas against the main body, unless a lucky critical hit occurred, I wouldn’t be able to deal any special damage.
However, Yu Yeonha did not say a single word to me.
So I simply held back a yawn.
“Then begin.”
At the command, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki stepped forward. Once they had approached to an appropriate distance, Jin Hoseung suddenly cleared his throat loudly.
“Gueeeeeek!”
“Kyaa!”
He let out a bizarre scream. If anything, it was a shout that seemed more likely to burst our ears, but the effect was tremendous. The Black-Hump Octopus flinched, then seemed to discover us and tilted its head at an angle. The black hump on top of its head appeared to be aiming at us like the muzzle of a cannon.
Kwaaaaang!
The very next moment, the sound of a cannon firing rang through heaven and earth. The octopus fired dozens of living creatures from its black hump. Those limp things poured down in parabolic arcs.
As planned, Jin Hoseung and Hazuki moved to the sides, and Yu Yeonha grasped her whip. Vivid magic power loaded into that whip like a single round.
But before Yu Yeonha, I raised my handgun.
“No, you—”
Startled, Yu Yeonha tried to stop me, but I lightly ignored her.
The only time I could be useful was right now.
I activated Bullet Time.
For an instant, the blood in my body boiled hot. My vision sharpened, and the world slowed. The creatures falling in arcs—their trajectories were plainly predictable. Their movements were one-dimensional, making them targets twice as easy as mole crickets.
There were twenty magic bullets loaded.
It was simple. See with my eyes, and pull the trigger as many times as there were rounds loaded. If luck lent me a hand on top of that, it would be perfect.
The magic bullets fired quietly, leaving blue traces as they surged forward. There was not just one bullet. Twenty bullets each aimed at a single entity. The magazine emptied in no time, but afterward, releasing the magazine and inserting a new one were almost simultaneous.
I fired another twenty rounds, then added twenty more.
Only after I had fired a total of sixty rounds without stopping did the world’s time finally return to normal.
“…Huh?”
The muzzle seemed to flash, and the living creatures that had filled the sky as if to blot out the sun were erased without a trace. At the sudden development, the two warriors and Yu Yeonha seemed flustered.
“Wh-what are you doing? Hurry up and run.”
“Ah, yes.”
However, Yu Yeonha quickly grasped the situation and urged the dazed Jin Hoseung and Hazuki on. Only then did the two warriors charge toward the main body. Yu Yeonha’s whip also stretched long and viciously, seizing the giant octopus’s hump.
At the very moment the brutal whip crushed the octopus’s hump, a mole cricket burst out from beneath the ground.
Kieeeeek—
The large creature let out a ravenous cry and lunged at Yu Yeonha. I fired the last round loaded in the chamber. The magic bullet struck the mole cricket’s carapace precisely and exploded inside it, scattering disintegrated flesh and mucus toward Yu Yeonha.
Just before they splattered over her, Yu Yeonha calmly released her magic power broadly and thinly. The corpses were blocked by that barrier, which bloomed like a sheet, and slid down.
“Ugh…”
However, there were a few things she failed to block. Yu Yeonha glared at me fiercely, but now was not the time to argue about that. She stretched her whip toward the octopus again.
Into the place where suckers, sword, and axe were clashing with metallic sounds, the whip, like a savage beast, intruded once more.
* * *
Situation ended. Time elapsed: 9 minutes 40 seconds.
Yu Yeonha achieved a brilliant feat: she cut off not only the octopus’s black wart, but four of its eight legs as well. And she did it without taking a single step away from my side, using only mid-range lashes of her whip. She had faithfully carried out both of her duties: “supporting the warriors” and “protecting the shooter.”
“······.”
Now that the battle was over, Yu Yeonha stood still with her eyes closed.
The mole cricket’s mucus and blood, which she hadn’t been able to block in time, had dried near her snow-white collarbone, ankles, and the bridge of her nose. Yu Yeonha suddenly let out a deep sigh, then took a handkerchief from her pocket and slowly wiped those spots clean.
Then she looked at me.
“Excuse me.”
Her eyes were smiling, but not in any positive sense. I met her gaze without answering. The anger hidden in her pupils was like a blade. Yu Yeonha was a frightening woman. More than anything, she loathed having her body and clothes dirtied.
“You really didn’t have to go out of your way to meddle like that. I can handle something like a mole cricket on my own, you know? Much more cleanly.”
“·····.”
“Because of you, clothes that didn’t need to get dirty ended up getting dirty.”
Just then, the two warriors, who had failed to grasp the situation, approached us.
“Hey, hey, thanks to you, we wrapped this up easily. I saw it. You killed those baby octopuses, right? Guns really do have some advantages over bows~”
“That was amazing!”
It was Jin Hoseung and Hazuki, drenched in the octopus’s black blood and ink.
As if afraid of getting its bodily fluids on her, Yu Yeonha slowly edged backward.
* * *
[Team 5 ─ Total Time Elapsed: 58 minutes 58 seconds, 16/100]
16th out of 100 teams.
As a result of the training, they had placed high enough to be considered comfortably in the upper-middle ranks, but Yu Yeonha’s expression was anything but good.
Her individual performance would be evaluated in depth through drone footage and damage data anyway, so she wasn’t concerned about that. She could also understand Kim Suho and Sin Jonghak taking 1st and 2nd place respectively. However, the bitter fact that Chae Nayun was ranked above her was something she could not tolerate.
“Your videos have all been recorded by drones. They’ll be sent to your smartwatches, so each of you is to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and write up why we were able to kill the monster so quickly, or why it took so long, what we could have done to kill it faster, and how compatible we were against that monster. It will be reflected in your grades.”
Kim Suhyeok’s speech was long. Yu Yeonha turned her head slightly and looked behind her. A dull-looking man was yawning as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
The reason their clear time was slow was obviously that man. His stamina was so poor that they couldn’t reach the monster quickly. It was a path they could have covered in ten minutes, yet it had taken them a full fifty.
And yet, the reason they had still managed to place 16th. Contradictorily, that too could be said to be thanks to that man. His rapid barrage of bullets had erased nearly sixty baby octopuses in three seconds. Yu Yeonha had been prepared to struggle with them for more than fifteen minutes, so it was fair to call it a great contribution.
Of course, when it came to killing the main body, her own share in ripping off the black wart whole had to be over seventy percent.
“······.”
Yu Yeonha barely swallowed down the urge to blame someone. The more she did, the more the inexplicable envy and jealousy she felt toward Chae Nayun grew. She glared at the back of Chae Nayun’s head, standing in front of her. If she could, if she wouldn’t get caught, it was the sort of head she wanted to smack with all her might.
Yu Yeonha’s hand trembled as it rose above Chae Nayun’s head.
However, instead of committing a violent act, Yu Yeonha lightly touched her shoulder.
“Nayun. How was it? Did you do well?”
“Huh? Oh, well. As you can see, 4th place. So close. I wanted to beat Sin Jonghak and Rachel. What about you?”
“I was······ 16th.”
“Oh? That’s amazing. You got 16th with a gunner?”
“We had a Black-Wart Octopus, you see. All we had to do was remove the black wart.”
“And you removed the black wart?”
Yu Yeonha smiled brightly and nodded.
“Yeah.”
* * *
After all regular classes had ended, late at night.
I was exercising in the training room.
I had already run like mad, so I felt like I was going to die from exhaustion. But because it was something I absolutely had to do, I focused on exercising for three hours. Fortunately, the exercise equipment wasn’t much different from Earth’s. Only the range of weights was absurdly high. For example, the leg extension machine went from 15 kg all the way up to 500 kg.
“Uuugh.”
After finishing all my exercises, I walked like a zombie and collapsed in the empty changing room. After catching my breath for about five minutes, I took my laptop and a fatigue recovery drink out of the bag I had brought.
First, I checked today’s results on my laptop.
[Luck is taking effect! Since the opponent was merely a low-rank monster, accuracy has increased tremendously!]
[All attacks