I struck the spear that was thrust toward my throat the instant it came at me.
"Ha… damn."
With a thunderous crash, Kim Ji hyun was shoved far backward. She spat on the ground and glared at me. But I had no intention of stopping.
I continued my assault, sketching blue arcs through the air. A chained series of attacks followed, surging like waves as they aimed for Kim Ji hyun's lifeline.
Kim Jihyun barely managed to block and evade the onslaught. Yet even as she was being pushed back, her eyes remained calm.
"For someone who spouts ragged, trash-tier logic, you're pretty skilled."
She was on a completely different level from that ugly bat-haired monster I'd beaten to a pulp over on Gyodong Island.
"You son of a bitch… have you been hiding your strength?"
"That's none of your business."
I was drawing on the magic in my gloves whenever I needed it. Until the gloves' magic ran dry, I was confident I could survive for a while even against Lee Se eun, who would come at me with full intent to kill.
"That aside, a Taekwondo-doing nationalist, huh. What a perfect combo."
Not only was she reinforcing her body with magic, but when she knocked my spear aside earlier, that part of her body had been dyed silver.
Metalization or something like that, maybe?
"Get out of the way!"
A vicious sound rang out from her outstretched limbs. Every blow carried the menace of a truck barreling down the road, driven by a knight who'd downed three bottles of soju.
"You think these cheap tricks are gonna work—!"
She stomped the ground hard. With a deafening roar, the earth exploded as if a landmine had gone off. Maintaining my attack trajectory was no longer possible, and I was forced to retreat.
As clouds of dirt surged upward and stones that had been flung into the air rained back down, Kim Ji hyun emerged, wiping her mouth.
"You're dead."
"Hey now, watch your language."
I took a stance as if holding a pool cue with my spear, then struck the falling stones as though they were billiard balls. Spinning violently, the stones tore through the air with piercing sounds and smacked Kim Ji hyun square in the forehead again and again.
Kkagakang—a sound rang out.
"…Clang?"
I'd smashed stones into a human forehead, yet instead of a dull thud, it made a clang.
"How stupid does your head have to be…."
With the sound of air tearing apart, an afterimage was left where Kim Ji hyun had stood. Her heel was suddenly right next to my temple.
"Kgh."
The shockwave that burst outward swept away all the dust floating around us.
I managed to raise my arm just in time to block it, but the pain sank deep into my bones. If not for the gloves' magic, not only my arm but my head would have exploded.
"You blocked it?"
"Of course I did. Should I have just taken it?"
Then, black flames spread onto the leg of Kim Jihyun that had struck my arm. I shot my hand out, grabbed her leg, and flung her away.
Flying through the air, Kim Ji hyun corrected her posture, landed, and examined her leg.
"Damn it."
She didn't know exactly what it was, but she clearly realized that if those flames clung to her, something bad would happen.
Normally, dragging things out in this state would give me the advantage. But unless I kept drawing on the gloves' magic, I couldn't hold out against her.
Even if I only used it at critical moments, thirty minutes was the limit. With flames already stuck to her body, Kim Ji hyun clearly understood that the situation was unfavorable to her.
"You're not the only one who can amplify magic. You're just a rookie without proper equipment."
The light pouring out of the piercings embedded in her face grew brighter. At the same time, wind began to erupt outward from her body.
Personally speaking…
"Looks like you can't even handle it properly. Your magic's leaking everywhere."
Each of those piercings contained magic. And Kim Ji hyun clearly intended to use all of it.
"Like I care. If I don't kill you here today, I'll smash that Incursion Core instead."
"Oof. That's a promise you can't really keep."
She'd been fast before, but now it was on another level entirely. Kim Ji hyun charged in at a speed that defied comparison, unleashing explosive kicks one after another.
Gritting my teeth, I drew on the gloves' magic and blocked or dodged each bomb-like kick as they came.
"Kahk."
The impacts kept piling up in my body. But I couldn't burn away that shock and fatigue with the Paradox Flame. To do that, I'd first have to extinguish the Paradox Flame clinging to her leg.
I couldn't afford to put out the Paradox Flame I'd worked so hard to apply. I forced the blood that surged up into my mouth back down, raised my guard, and absorbed the assault with my body while minimizing the damage.
"It's over!"
With a heavy thwack, Kim Ji hyun's kick slammed into my left leg. As my balance collapsed, a spinning kick aimed at my head connected, sending my body flying into the wall.
"Urgh…."
My vision shook, and a ringing filled my ears. Unable to hold it in any longer, I vomited blood-tinged fluid onto the floor.
"You piece of shit. You're nothing, yet you're trying to crawl up."
If all I wanted to do was endure, I could freely drain the gloves' magic. But then the magic would run out before long.
"Yoo Chanseok."
Han Sang-ah quickly stepped in, positioning herself between Kim Jihyun and me.
"And who are you? You should've stayed crumpled on the ground. You can't handle me."
"I agree with that."
She wasn't an opponent Han Sang-ah could handle. And I wasn't beaten yet.
"I know I can't win. I'm just buying time so he can recover."
Then Han Sang-ah pulled something out of her pocket.
"I didn't want to do this."
She pressed a button, and the lid of a vial popped open. The moment I realized what was inside, my expression twisted in disbelief.
"Unbelievable."
Those vials were clearly refined elixirs containing magic. But that wasn't the real problem. Each and every one of those drugs had been processed into a form perfectly suited for Han Sang-ah to absorb.
Even so, since they hadn't been refined directly through her own meridians and blood channels, once the magic was consumed, it would revert to ordinary magic and disperse into the air.
In other words, they were disposable.
Han Sang-ah took out three such vials and swallowed all their contents at once.
"All of them together… how much is that?"
"You could build an eight-story building with it. And since it's a custom-made special order, it'd take ages to make again."
She said the production started after Han Sang-ah got accepted into the academy, and it wasn't completed until after she graduated.
"Long live the chaebol."
No wonder she'd been saving it instead of using it. Seriously—those drugs didn't even look like they added up to 100 milliliters, yet they cost as much as an entire building? Even if I had something like that, a commoner like me wouldn't have the guts to use it.
"You must've gone massively into debt. Not sure you'll ever pay it off."
With that, Han Sang-ah should be able to hold out against Piercing Face for a while.
"If you want me to pay it back, then teach me more seriously from now on."
"So you're saying I should teach you how to fish so you can repay me?"
"You know how to fish too? But that's not the kind of teaching I need."
The answer was weird as usual, but I decided to let it slide this time.
"Pour it all out within five minutes."
At my words, Han Sang-ah replied,
"If I conserve my magic, I could last longer. And even if I dump it all in five minutes, all I can do against her is barely hold out anyway."
"I know. Still—five minutes. Everything."
Han Sang-ah glanced at me, then nodded. Pale sparks crackled around her body.
"If that's what you need right now."
Leaving those words behind, Han Sang-ah charged toward Kim Ji hyun and drew her sword. It seemed my earlier criticism had sunk in—this time, before the blade even left the scabbard, three rails formed in midair.
The blade bursting from the sheath would swing along one of those three rails laid out in the air.
A three-way choice. That meant it wasn't a telephone punch anymore.
"Her talent really isn't bad."
I muttered that with a faint smile and focused on recovering my body. I withdrew the Paradox Flame that had been clinging to Kim Ji hyun's leg.
I couldn't maintain it any longer. It required too much concentration.
"Haha. You dumb bastard."
When the Paradox Flame disappeared from her leg, Kim Ji hyun's face lit up noticeably as she fought Han Sang-ah.
Of course she'd be happy—the annoying thing weighing her down was gone.
"Once I smash her skull, you're next."
I didn't answer. I just stared at Kim Ji hyun silently. Yeah, right.
Han Sang-ah was fighting surprisingly well. She was making full use of the knowledge I'd passed on to her earlier—blocking Kim Ji hyun's attacks and looking for chances to counter.
Honestly, the only reason Kim Ji hyun seemed overwhelming right now was because of the absurd amount of magic she was pouring out. In terms of combat ability alone, I was far superior.
"This—"
Even after swallowing magic worth an entire building, Han Sang-ah was dumping it out without restraint, somehow managing to respond to Kim Jihyun's onslaught.
If she hadn't spent time with me, there was no way she'd have lasted the five minutes I mentioned. But now, she had more than enough ability to carry out the role I'd given her.
"Ah… gah…!"
Finally, when the five minutes were up, Han Sang-ah took a kick to the stomach, made a strange choking sound as she was sent flying, then slammed headfirst into the ground while clutching her abdomen and groaning.
"One down!"
Kim Ji hyun leapt into the air and descended toward Han Sang-ah.
"Down my ass."
Her ambitious finishing stomp never landed on Han Sang-ah's head. A perfectly timed swing of my spear knocked her body aside, and Kim Ji hyun's kick smashed uselessly into the bare ground.
"No—how did you—"
"What, was that supposed to be such an impressive attack?"
A few more sharp cracking sounds echoed from inside my body, then faded completely. Kim Ji hyun took a cautious step back.
"You… in such a short time—"
"Thanks to you and Han Sang-ah."
Kim Jihyun had fought while leaking magic everywhere, unable to properly handle the vast reserves she'd stored in all those piercings. And Han Sang-ah had consumed outrageously expensive, custom-made, disposable magic boosters and burned through all that magic within five minutes.
All that wasted magic dispersed into the surrounding air—and I made very good use of it to reinforce my blood channels.
Just how reinforced were they?
Enough that I no longer needed the gloves to face her.
Of course, that didn't mean I'd become overwhelmingly stronger than Kim Ji hyun.
But being able to fight her on equal footing using only my own magic meant—
"You're finished."
I could now drag this out as long as I wanted.
"Do you like classical music?"
"What kind of bullshit are you suddenly spouting?"
Guess not. If she didn't know, she'd just have to experience it. Knowing classical music wouldn't help her dodge this anyway.
I charged at Kim Ji hyun and swung my spear, leaving blue afterimages behind.
"That same stupid trick again?"
As if she'd been waiting for it, Kim Jihyun prepared herself to block the two attacks that would come simultaneously.
"…What is he thinking?"
But the blue afterimages simply floated in the air, not joining in with my attack.
Sixteen attacks in total. While keeping an eye on the lingering afterimages, Kim Ji hyun dodged or blocked my strikes, tried to counter, and even pursued me.
The blue afterimages left behind by the attacks didn't fade—they remained suspended in the air.
"With this, the theme is complete."
The afterimages began attacking one by one, in sequence, following a fixed rhythm.
"This isn't all that different from before—"
Kim Jihyun cut herself off mid-sentence.
Unlike the previous afterimages, which vanished after striking once, these blue afterimages stayed right where they were.
"Damn it."
The attacks from the blue afterimages sped up and slowed down, their power strengthening and weakening in turns. This wasn't a simple repetition of sixteen identical strikes.
In the meantime, I swung my spear, still wreathed in Paradox Flame. These attacks filled the gaps that could arise from the endlessly varying sixteen-hit sequence and amplified its power.
"That's why I asked if you liked classical music."
I took the motif from a canon form.