Seo Ye-in and Song Cheonhye both looked a little flustered.

Hong Yeonhwa’s skill level was roughly on par with theirs, yet the moment the match began, they had been helplessly dismantled.

To the two of them, I spoke as if urging them on.

“Come on, come on, get moving. If you give me time, that only helps me.”

Right now, [Diamond Freeze] and [Chain Explosion] were on cooldown.

Of course, that meant they would eventually come back up, and then the combo would be available again.

As for Seo Ye-in and Song Cheonhye, they probably hadn’t even figured out what kind of skills or traits those were, let alone come up with a countermeasure.

Once it landed, they would have no choice but to take it.

Which meant the best possible decision they could make right now was—

Finish this before the cooldowns are over.

Soon, the two exchanged a glance and moved.

At the same time Seo Ye-in leveled her mana gun at me, Song Cheonhye kicked off the ground while gathering crackling electricity in both hands.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!

Mana bullets poured down in a storm.

There were more shots aimed at where I would dodge than there were shots aimed directly at hitting me.

The idea was obvious: restrict my movements and make it easier for her teammate to land a blow.

And in response to that setup, Song Cheonhye was closing the distance even faster.

Gathering electricity, she formed several small clouds, then hurled them this way.

The clouds settled into position around me, then began dropping small bolts of lightning.

RUMBLE, RUMBLE-RUMBLE!

And Song Cheonhye herself pushed in right on top of me, swinging thick bolts of lightning as she came.

Their teamwork isn’t bad.

Especially considering it had been thrown together on the spot.

Still nowhere near enough to hit me, though.

Wrapped in Sylphid Armor, I stepped through [Featherstep] like I was tap-dancing.

After letting the lightning and mana bullets pass by, I closed straight in on Song Cheonhye and placed a hand on her stomach.

BOOM!

Struck by Wind Force, Song Cheonhye went flying backward.

She recovered her posture midair, landed, and came charging right back—

then abruptly stopped.

“......!”

“What, not coming any closer?”

A blue circle was spreading out from beneath my feet.

She had just watched Hong Yeonhwa get flattened into a pancake puppy.

There was no way she wanted to become a flattened hedgehog herself.

“......”

After exchanging another look with Seo Ye-in, she kept circling around the blue ring instead and began casting lightning magic from the outside.

So she really wasn’t planning to enter.

The second match was easy.

All three opponents there had been close-range classes, so they had no choice but to fight inside the sanctuary (not).

Seo Ye-in, on the other hand, was purely long-range.

And Song Cheonhye was an all-rounder mage who could move freely between close and long range.

In a situation like this, all she had to do was stay back and keep spamming spells.

Which is why I took out Hong Yeonhwa first.

Not only were they a long-range artillery mage, a huge number of their spells were zone-control or area-of-effect types.

Unlike the attacks from the other two, those weren’t things I could just dodge or block.

Back when I could get away with trusting only [Elemental Resistance] and tanking through it, that was one thing—but by around A-rank, there was a chance some of it would start breaking through, even if only a little.

RUMBLE, KRAK-KRAK! 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Song Cheonhye kept trying to hit me, then seemed to belatedly realize the same thing.

Soon, she said something to Seo Ye-in.

“There’s something I want to try. Please keep the pressure on.”

“......Understood.”

Then she raised both hands above her head and began wildly discharging electricity, gathering it all together in one place.

BZZZZZZZT—!

What took shape was a massive bolt of lightning, larger than Song Cheonhye herself.

Whether it hit directly or not, if it came down, it would set off a huge electrical explosion.

Enough to completely blanket the inside of the blue circle.

Which meant the choices left to me were two.

Move out of [Pulverize Zone], or stand there and take it.

—Or that’s what you think, anyway.

Unfortunately for them, I still had a third option.

Soon, Song Cheonhye swung her arms with all her strength, and the gigantic bolt came flying toward the very center of the blue ring.

BZZZZZZZT—!

I stared at it like I had no answer at all, then lightly raised my staff in front of me.

It looked similar to the motion for casting [Ihwa Grafting], but the skill I actually used was something else.

[Dipper-Shifting Star-Transposition]

The giant lightning bolt coiled around the tip of my staff.

Then I turned and hurled it straight toward Seo Ye-in.

“......!”

BZZZZZZZT—!

An electrical explosion went off, and my vision turned white.

The result was clearly not what Song Cheonhye had intended, and she looked thoroughly rattled.

“No, why did that—”

“That isn’t what matters right now.”

What mattered was that I had used ★Blink★ to get behind you.

Realizing my intent, Song Cheonhye tried to dodge, but Wind Force exploded first.

BOOM!

And shoved the target straight into the blue circle.

Naturally, [Pulverize Zone] had less than a second left before activation.

Maybe deciding it was too late to get out, Song Cheonhye hunched down and squeezed her eyes shut.

But right then, a chunk of cotton-candy-like cloud came flying in from somewhere.

And then an activation phrase followed.

“Fluffy fluffy.”

BOOM!

Like a smoke bomb going off, white cloud spread out in an instant and blanketed the whole area.

Fluffy Cloud Fluffy Fluffy Bracelet.

An A+-rank item specialized in magic defense.

In particular, its imbued skill, [Fluffy Fluffy], had the effect of drastically increasing area and defense for a short time.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!

Thanks to that, Song Cheonhye took [Pulverize Zone] head-on and came out unharmed.

She looked at Seo Ye-in with surprise in her eyes, as if she hadn’t expected this much support even from a temporary ally.

“......Thank you.”

“Mm.”

I was satisfied too, so I praised her.

“That save just now was excellent. That’s how teamwork is supposed to look.”

“......”

Instead of answering, Seo Ye-in looked away.

Apparently her sulk meter was still maxed out.

I could deal with that later, so I looked at Song Cheonhye and said,

“I naturally assumed you’d use ★Blink★ to get out.”

“......I was going to?”

“With your eyes squeezed shut like that?”

“......”

Apparently she couldn’t think of a good comeback, because Song Cheonhye shut her mouth.

Both cheeks gradually turned redder and redder.

I shook my head and let out a heavy sigh.

“This is truly lamentable. To think you made such a big show of saying you’d ‘show me your skills’ and then performed like this......”

“No, I just got flustered and couldn’t use it! Do you know how much I practiced?”

“Then shall I give you one more chance?”

“......How?”

In response to Song Cheonhye’s question, I cast [Pulverize Zone] again.

A small blue circle, just large enough for one person to stand inside, appeared.

“Go stand there.”

“Why should I?”

“You said you wanted another chance. If you don’t want it, fine.”

“......I’ll go, okay.”

Song Cheonhye obediently stepped into the blue circle.

She looked at me as if asking what she was supposed to do now, so I answered.

“If you get out with ★Blink★ before it activates, I’ll acknowledge it.”

“That much is easy. I’ll do it.”

Soon, Song Cheonhye focused her mind and began chanting ★Blink★.

As I watched, I used Wind Force to give her a slight push.

WHOOO—

“Ah, ah.”

She staggered, barely managing to regain her balance.

Then she glared at me in disbelief.

“Why are you interfering?”

“Did I ever say I’d leave you alone?”

“You didn’t, but what kind of move is this, doing it now? That’s cheap.”

“Indeed, there is some merit to that argument.”

I nodded and continued,

“In a real fight, the opponent wouldn’t politely say, ‘I’m about to interfere!’ before doing it—but this isn’t a real fight.”

“.......”

“If your practice wasn’t enough, then there’s nothing to be done.”

“No, why do you keep steering it in that direction?”

“You’re the one complaining over a little breeze.”

At that, Song ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) Cheonhye flared up and shouted,

“Go ahead and interfere! Blow wind, throw ice, whatever!”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure!”

“Very well. Show me.”

Still huffing, Song Cheonhye went back and stood in the center of the blue circle.

She quickly regained her composure and resumed her chant.

And just as ★Blink★ was about to manifest—

You told me to interfere, didn’t you?

You even said you were sure.

I held out Crow Tree and spoke the activation phrase.

“Caw?”

“......Huh?”

Song Cheonhye looked around in confusion.

She had definitely used ★Blink★, but apparently it felt like she hadn’t moved even a tiny bit.

Then she noticed the blue circle still beneath her feet and realized she truly hadn’t gone anywhere.

And just as she opened her mouth to say something—

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK—!

Formless pressure crushed Song Cheonhye flat.

Watching a flattened hedgehog being made, Seo Ye-in and I each offered a short comment.

“Pathetic.”

“......Pathetic.”

Her skill had improved at least somewhat over winter break, but apparently her resistance to taunting was still at zero.

Soon, I turned to face Seo Ye-in.

“Now you’re the only one left.”

“.......”

Seo Ye-in aimed her gun at me.

But then, after thinking of something, she lowered the mana gun and put it away in her inventory entirely.

That didn’t mean she intended to give up.

Not when she was gripping the Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot in one hand.

“I’m going to scold you.”

“In close combat?”

“Clang.”

“Excellent. Come on, then.”

“.......”

Seo Ye-in approached, stepping through [Featherstep].

The moment I entered her range, she swung the pot with all her might.

WHOOM—!

She was putting an unusual amount of emotion into it today.

So, leaning my body this way and that as I dodged, I asked,

“I don’t get it. Is this really something worth being that angry over?”

“It is.”

“Why is that?”

WHOOM!

The pot swept past with a tearing whistle through the air.

Seo Ye-in answered with a dissatisfied look.

“You keep sending me far away.”

“Sending you far away?”

“Our house.”

“So because I went to Ruby Mage Tower by myself after that?”

WHOOM!

The pot flew in again as if confirming it.

“You sent me to the class next door.”

“But you sleep anyway. Does it really matter that our classes are different?”

“It matters.”

“Why?”

“Proper sleep impossible.”

When I was around, she had slept deeply whether Lee Sudok glared at her or not, but without me there, apparently she didn’t feel secure enough.

“I get it, but what am I supposed to do? It’s not like I can pressure the principal over something like this.”

“Sad second year.......”

“We can just stay together after class. And at night you can sleep using Kim Ho pillow too.”

Even so, Seo Ye-in still kept swinging the pot at me with dissatisfaction.

WHOOM—!

“Not enough.”

“What isn’t?”

“Time alone together.”

“On that point, I agree.”

Back in the early part of first year, I had mostly spent time with just Seo Ye-in, whereas now it was common for there to be three of us by default, or even four or five moving around together.

“That said, it would also be ridiculous to ditch the others now. So what’s the solution?”

As Seo Ye-in thought it over, an exclamation mark practically popped over her head.

“......Wish ticket.”

“You did get one from the Dang family. Back when you did Challenge Austerity.”

“Mm.”

“How are you planning to use it?”

“Downtown.”

“I was going to take you there even without using a wish ticket.”

Shake shake.

At this point, I could pretty much tell what she wanted.

“You want it to be just the two of us?”

“Mm.”

“You don’t like going around as a group?”

“I like it.”

“But going with just the two of us is even better?”

“That is so.”

“Understood. We’ll set a date.”

Only then did Seo Ye-in seem to calm down a little, finally stopping the nonstop pot barrage.

Then I said to her,

“We’ve talked enough. Shall we decide the match now?”

“......Forfeit?”

“Absolutely not.”

If that happened, my quest defeat count wouldn’t go up.

At this point, there were only two ways out of here.

Either she beat me—

or she became a flattened sloth.

Seo Ye-in slowly backed away, avoiding the blue circle forming beneath her feet.

“Help.......”

But the ones who might have helped her—Song Cheonhye and Hong Yeonhwa—were already gone.