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Chapter 129: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (14)
Chapter 129: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (14)
Chapter 129: 7th Week Mentoring and Duel Battle (14)
The situation was increasingly turning against her, but Bukgong Han-seol did not give up.
[Hong Yeon-hwa: 100%] vs [Bukgong Han-seol: 92%]
[Crystal: 51%]
Judging by the time remaining until the crystal was fully charged,
There are at most two or three opportunities.
She had to reach Hong Yeon-hwa at the center of the magic circles within that time.
It was certainly not an easy task, but it didn’t seem entirely impossible either.
Just a moment ago, she had been busy dodging the fire pillars rising from all directions.
Still, after running around a bit, she felt like she had an instinctive sense of how to move which was to be expected from a student with a score in the 900 range.
At least the second and third attempts would be easier than the first.Bukgong Han-seol gathered her internal energy and stepped back into the area filled with magic circles.
Fire pillars rose as if they had been waiting for her.
Boom—!
Bukgong Han-seol skilfully advanced forward while stepping around the fire pillars.
The magic circle right in front of her glowed red but she quickly passed it before it could activate.
Next, three magic circles ahead simultaneously lit up,
Boom—!
And three fire pillars erupted.
Bukgong Han-seol tried to slip through the tiny gaps between them, but, as if anticipated, a flurry of fire arrows shot through the gaps.
Fwoooooosh,
“!!”
Bukgong Han-seol had no choice but to step back and to the side.
As if in pursuit, more fire arrows followed one after another, and she moved further to the side to dodge them.
She tried several times to strike back with her energy, but since she couldn’t bring down even one fire arrow, she focused on dodging as much as possible while trying to get closer to her opponent.
Boom—!
A fire pillar erupted right where she was about to step.
Bukgong Han-seol hesitated and changed direction again, and the subsequent barrage of fire arrows guided her in another direction.
Whoooosh,
As she continued to navigate between fire arrows and fire pillars, Bukgong Han-seol thought to herself,
Just a bit more!
Hong Yeon-hwa’s tactics beautifully combined Flame Arrows and Fire Pillars to restrict her movement and guide her in a specific direction.
Bukgong Han-seol continued to circle around the same area as her opponent intended.
If this dragged on, the crystal would eventually finish charging.
However, Bukgong Han-seol noticed something.
The more Hong Yeon-hwa activated the Fire Pillars, the more gaps began to appear.
The magic circle engraved on the ground disappeared with each spell cast, leaving empty spaces until the caster engraved new ones.
Hong Yeon-hwa’s casting speed was astonishingly fast and she was quickly filling the gaps, but Bukgong Han-seol’s constant movement within the area caused the depletion rate to increase.
The empty spaces were gradually increasing.
Not much time left.
She pretended to play along with her opponent’s intentions while keeping an eye on those gaps.
Finally, the opportunity came.
Just when the Fire Pillar cast by Hong Yeon-hwa was fading, Bukgong Han-seol kicked off the ground and dashed forward.
She stepped only on the empty spaces left by the depleted magic circles and quickly closed the distance between them.
At the same time, she unleashed the internal energy she had been gradually accumulating and executed her most powerful technique.
Her entire body was enveloped in a chilling cold, which concentrated in her palms and was released forward.
[Absolute Snow Soul Palm]
Bukgong Han-seol was confident that this decisive move would surely work.
Her ice techniques were naturally weak against her opponent’s Aqua Flame trait, but such a powerful technique should be able to incapacitate Hong Yeon-hwa, even if only briefly.
If the latter couldn’t manage her magic circles, it would be much easier to subdue her afterward.
However…
In the next moment, Bukgong Han-seol saw the corners of Hong Yeon-hwa’s mouth curl up in a mocking smile.
Hong Yeon-hwa let her wand drop to the ground and pointed at one of the nearby magic circles.
After she drew a straight line with her wand, several magic circles connected and lit up at the same time.
The rising pillars of fire merged to form a huge wall of flames.
[Fire Wall]
As soon as her Absolute Snow Soul Palm touched the fiercely burning wall of fire, it instantly melted into steam.
With the wall of flames surging toward her like a tidal wave, Bukgong Han-seol had to retreat hastily.
“…!”
After retreating to a certain distance, Bukgong Han-seol just stood there blankly despite the fact that she was in the middle of a battle.
Her mouth was slightly open as if to reflect her shocked state of mind.
This was a trap too.
To fall for such a simple trap…
Meanwhile, Hong Yeon-hwa was thinking the same thing.
To fall for such a simple trap…
In the sight of Bukgong Han-seol busily moving around, Hong Yeon-hwa momentarily saw herself from a few days ago.
When she was sparring with Kim Ho, she had fallen right into a simple trap in her rush.
The consequence was banging her head against a tree and getting a large bump.
Thinking that Bukgong Han-seol’s mental state might be similar to hers back then, she set the trap, though she didn’t expect the other party to fall for it so perfectly.
Thanks to that, a considerable amount of time was wasted.
The crystal is almost fully charged.
[Crystal: 84%]
When Hong Yeon-hwa stopped looking at her and checked the scoreboard, Bukgong Han-seol snapped back to reality.
The battle resumed immediately.
Bukgong Han-seol continued her usual footwork while trying to avoid the Fire Pillars and Fire Arrows to get closer to Hong Yeon-hwa.
However, her steps were much weaker than before.
She couldn’t advance beyond a certain distance and could only move side to side like a ghost dancing.
After realizing that what seemed like an opening was actually a trap, she no longer dared to press forward.
Bukgong Han-seol felt a huge wall between herself and Hong Yeon-hwa.
She really is a promising student….
She too had been called a genius from a young age and had maintained top grades even after entering Dragon Slayer Academy where many geniuses gathered.
Because of this, she never really felt the title of “promising student” was all that impressive.
She didn’t see much difference between herself and those few who were given special treatment as promising students.
When she heard rumors that Hong Yeon-hwa had lost once in the placement tests and was fluctuating around the 600-point range, she even found it laughable.
– 600 points? Is she really a promising student?
But now she began to understand a little.
There was a reason why Hong Yeon-hwa earned the title of promising student and why she maintained her reputation despite staying in the 600-point range.
The proof was that, unlike herself who was getting physically and mentally exhausted, Hong Yeon-hwa still maintained her initial composure.
Her arrogant gaze seemed to ask if this was really all there was.
In fact, Hong Yeon-hwa was having similar thoughts.
However, her inner thoughts were closer to confusion.
…What? Is this it? Really? Is there nothing more?
She thought she would struggle quite a bit considering her opponent’s score was in the 900-point range but there hadn’t been a single tense moment during the match.
Bukgong Han-seol’s footwork was somewhat sophisticated, but her intentions were obvious which made her next move predictable.
Moreover, every time Hong Yeon-hwa controlled her with fire magic, she obediently moved as directed.
When she shot a fire arrow to send her to the left, she went left. And when she shot a fire arrow to send her to the right, she went right. If she made a pillar of fire to make her retreat, she retreated.
In contrast, how was her match with Kim Ho?
Controlling him with fire magic was impossible and she couldn’t predict where he would move, so every moment was filled with tension.
While dodging all her fire magic attacks, he would come close and tap her head.
Even when she set up a perfect defensive line, he somehow broke through and tapped her head.
No matter how she set up, thinking he couldn’t possibly get through, he would come in and tap her head.
“…”
As she recalled this, the spots where Kim Ho had tapped her head started to tingle, so Hong Yeon-hwa quietly raised her hand to rub her head.
The thought that came to her was,
But I guess my skills have improved.
After she was tormented daily by a stagnant water, Hong Yeon-hwa found her skills had unknowingly grown significantly.
[Crystal: 96%]
As the charging neared its end, Bukgong Han-seol’s previously evasive steps slowed down and eventually came to a stop.
Then she conceded defeat in a dejected tone.
“I lost……”
[Hong Yeon-hwa Win] vs [Bukgong Han-seol Lose]
“I’m sorry…”
Bukgong Han-seol who had been so confident before the match was now completely dejected.
However, Kim Gap-doo gently patted her shoulder.
“It’s okay, Han-seol. You did well.”
Knowing that Bukgong Han-seol had done her best despite the extremely unfavorable match, he was neither angry nor disappointed.
Also, it was a misjudgment on her mentor Kim Gap-doo’s part to pair her against Hong Yeon-hwa.
From what he knew, Hong Yeon-hwa’s Aqua Flame had not progressed beyond E-rank, and he expected that Bukgong Han-seol’s internal energy would easily overpower it.
However, once the match started, it turned out that Aqua Flame had jumped to C-rank which made it a perfect counter-match.
If he had known this, he would have paired Bukgong Han-seol with Kwak Ji-cheol for an easy win and paired Ilgong with Hong Yeon-hwa. He might have had a better chance of winning.
Phew… it’s all in the past now.
Kim Gap-doo slowly shook his head and dispelled any lingering regrets.
It was time to think about what came next.
The score was 1 to 2 against them.
If they lost one more match, Kim Gap-doo’s team would face defeat.
Despite this, Kim Gap-doo’s face wasn’t dark with despair.
The reason he had proposed a 4-on-4 match with such risky conditions wasn’t just out of a moment of anger; he had a degree of confidence in their victory.
This confidence came from having a powerful trump card.
“I’m sorry I’m late.”
A low and blunt voice came from behind him.
When Kim Gap-doo heard that voice, his complexion which had been a little dark brightened up immediately.
“You’re here.”
When he turned around, there stood a male student with a bear-like physique and a muscular body. He looked nothing like a first-year student.
Usually, he wore the disciplinary committee armband but he had taken it off as he was here for the mentoring session.
He was a first-year member of the disciplinary committee and had skills on par with the promising students.
He was the successor of the Fist King, Jo Byeok.
He was the last member of the martial arts team mentored by Kim Gap-doo.