Episode 050
For about a week after that, our lives could be summed up very simply.
Eat well. Rest well.
"Haah… haah…."
And then pour out everything we had as if there were no tomorrow—only to get beaten to a pulp by Lee Se-eun. I drove my spear into the ground and wiped the drool from the corner of my mouth.
To win a fight, you only need to do three things.
First, figure out how much performance your own body can put out.
Second, grasp how much performance your opponent can put out.
Lastly, compare the two and find a path to victory.
"Sounds easy when you say it…."
I rolled to the side to dodge the greatsword sweeping toward me. The blade smashed into the ground with a heavy boom, causing the earth to explode. I managed to avoid the downward strike, but I couldn't escape the shockwave that spread outward.
My stomach churned, sour liquid rising into my mouth. When I glanced aside, Han Sang-ah didn't look too good either.
"You're continuing, right?"
"We're still far from done."
It was only morning. If we stopped already, what were we supposed to do for the rest of the day?
There were two goals. Getting stronger, and syncing up with Han Sang-ah. Our objectives aligned. That meant we'd be fighting together a lot.
If we didn't adapt to each other thoroughly, we wouldn't be able to coordinate properly in real combat.
"Again."
At my words, Han Sang-ah nodded and poured mana into her sword. A crackling sound rang out as faint sparks danced along the blade.
"Reduce it more."
Han Sang-ah's ideal was a single, decisive strike. Like cutting off an animal's breath in one blow at a slaughterhouse—ending it instantly with one hit.
To walk that path, several conditions were needed. One of them was that the result should be flashy, but the preparation process should not.
Han Sang-ah clenched her teeth at my words.
"I know it's hard. But the condition for coordination is simple, right?"
I create an opening. Han Sang-ah delivers a decisive strike.
If her strike finishes the opponent, that's the end.
If not, I follow up and finish it myself.
That was the most basic policy when the two of us fought together.
"Meeting over?"
Lee Se-eun, blowing out a ring of smoke, twirled her greatsword casually with one hand.
"Yes. Now please beat us up again."
Lee Se-eun snorted, tapped the ash out of her pipe, and charged in.
I watched her movement, estimating the power of her attack from the speed of the greatsword and the amount of mana infused into it.
Then I judged what I needed to do to minimize the damage from that attack—and acted on it.
"You fight well. But still… something feels off."
Judging from her expression, Lee Se-eun seemed to be pondering something. After about a week of trading blows with me, she was gradually discovering more and more oddities.
You don't have to be stronger than someone to help them.
In an instant, I finished analyzing the amount of mana and speed she put into the downward strike.
I could deflect the attack. But the shock itself was unavoidable, so I had to take it with my body. I redirected the blade, endured the shockwave, and through my shaking vision, stomped down on the greatsword with my foot.
"Ms. Han, cover!"
At my shout, Han Sang-ah burst forward as if she'd been waiting, swinging her sword. From a blade that had only emitted faint sparks and soft crackling sounds, an overwhelming slash surged toward Lee Se-eun like a waterfall.
"Hah."
Seeing Han Sang-ah's onslaught, Lee Se-eun immediately abandoned her greatsword and threw herself into the storm of slashes. Dodging through them as she charged toward Han Sang-ah, she looked like a fish swimming upstream against a raging current.
"Where do you think you're going? You should play with me—me too."
Before she could reach Han Sang-ah, I forced my body to move despite the aftereffects of the shockwave and slipped in between the two of them. Han Sang-ah quickly retreated backward.
"So annoying."
She wasn't the kind of person who would become weak just because she lost her greatsword. Every single blow she threw carried enough power to scrap several trucks.
The fight continued in a similar pattern. I made openings, and Han Sang-ah aimed for them.
"What if we do this?" Han Sang-ah suddenly said, then abruptly stepped in between me and Lee Se-eun, swinging her sword at her.
Lightning spread across the ground, rampaging like a demon.
"And what about it?"
With an exasperated expression, Lee Se-eun suppressed the lightning racing across the earth. Unless it exploited an opening, Han Sang-ah's attacks couldn't reach Lee Se-eun.
She looked at Han Sang-ah with a pitying gaze.
"Not bad."
I was all for this kind of thing. The moment Lee Se-eun neutralized Han Sang-ah's attack, I rushed in, leaving blue trails behind me, and cast Canon.
Originally, I created the opening and Han Sang-ah exploited it—that was our basic strategy. But this time, our roles were reversed. Han Sang-ah created a fleeting opening with a heavy strike, and I took advantage of it.
"..."
For an instant, unnecessary motion crept into Lee Se-eun's movements, making them messy.
"The attempt was good."
But the disorder lasted only a few seconds. She quickly regained her posture and composure. Then, shortly after, an alarm rang.
"Wireless check time. Let's stop here for now—I'll be back."
The greatsword vanished from Lee Se-eun's hand with a whoosh. Han Sang-ah and I relaxed our stances, breathing heavily.
"That attempt just now wasn't bad."
Episode 050 (continued)
"Just waiting in the back and only aiming for openings isn't enough. And even if I tried something, it wouldn't have meant anything if you couldn't receive it."
After tossing a towel to Han Sang-ah, I took a small drink of water.
"I accepted it because I judged it was an attempt worth trying."
Crack.
A series of popping sounds came from my body as I stood there. A groan slipped out before I realized it. Even though I hadn't taken a single direct hit, the shockwaves alone were making my whole body scream.
Han Sang-ah asked,
"Are you really sure that, if we keep going like this, we'll be able to deal with a Grade-1 Corrosion Entity?"
"I have no idea."
I had no experience with a Grade-1 Corrosion Entity. All I was doing was following the fastest route I knew to get stronger.
"Pick up your sword."
I said it to Han Sang-ah as I gripped my spear.
"Number guessing?"
At her words, I nodded, then charged in, raising my spear.
"Thirty point six?"
"Wrong."
The spear slammed down onto Han Sang-ah's sword. Her knees buckled, and a groan escaped her lips.
"Fifteen point seven."
"Pretty close. Still wrong."
The beating continued. It was training where we set one's maximum output as 100 and guessed how much relative power the opponent's attack carried. Han Sang-ah hadn't succeeded even once yet.
By the time Lee Se-eun finished her report and returned, Han Sang-ah had been beaten fifty times.
"Switch roles."
At my words, Han Sang-ah nodded and, moving her bruised body, started sparring again.
"Five point one, six point three, three point three… what a total mess. If you don't want to do it, just say it's too damn hard and get lost."
All of Han Sang-ah's attacks needed to produce roughly the same level of power. The current goal was for her to stay within an error margin of about 0.2 around 5% of her maximum output.
"Use the mana in your body to reinforce your own body. If you can't even properly control yourself, what are you trying to do?"
As her mistakes piled up, I drove my fist into Han Sang-ah's stomach. Her body bent sharply and lifted slightly into the air before she collapsed to the ground, retching.
"Get up. Unless you want to get hit again."
Han Sang-ah staggered back to her feet. In the meantime, Lee Se-eun, who had just finished checking communications, clicked her tongue.
"You're beating her up again."
"What a way to put it."
I knew it wasn't easy. An attack's power doesn't become uniform just because the amount of mana used is the same.
Attack direction, posture, footwork, body speed, the positions of you and your opponent… countless other factors acted as variables every single time.
The goal I'd set couldn't be achieved unless all of that was perceived and the body was controlled accordingly.
And on top of that, this all had to be done not in one-sided practice, but in live sparring. Naturally, if she showed an opening, I hit her.
"Hey, I said get up. Can't you hear me?"
Han Sang-ah was struck on the head by a spear swung into an opening and collapsed once more. I kicked her, and with a thud, she rolled across the ground a few times before staggering upright again.
Watching the training, Lee Se-eun looked at me with a stunned expression.
"…How about taking charge of training junior Jannabi hunters?"
"Haven't I already told you?"
The reason I was helping Han Sang-ah right now was simply because our goals aligned.
Han Sang-ah got beaten by me for three hours.
"That's it."
At my words, Han Sang-ah let out a strained groan, stood up, and stumbled over to collapse onto the steps of the dormitory.
"My turn?"
"Yes, please."
Now it was my turn to get beaten. I trained Han Sang-ah, and Lee Se-eun trained me. Beatings flowing from the top down… an educational chain of violence.
And I wasn't sure if Han Sang-ah realized it, but she looked like she was having a great deal of fun watching me get beaten.
Honestly, I'd probably enjoy it too. Seeing the guy who treated you like a punching bag get beaten like one himself—it'd be weird not to feel refreshed.
"I checked the wireless fifteen minutes ago. Don't forget to keep checking it."
"Yes, ma'am."
Han Sang-ah replied immediately, took a sip of her drink, then circulated her mana to relieve the fatigue built up in her body and heal her injuries.
"Want me to go easy on you?"
Lee Se-eun asked, pulling out her greatsword again.
"What are you saying? Think of it as stress relief and hit me as hard as you like."
If you go easy, it's not training—it's just play.
"Oh? Fine by me."
With that, Lee Se-eun swung her greatsword at me. What I did in my sparring with her wasn't much different from what Han Sang-ah did with me.
The difference was that Han Sang-ah was learning something new, while I was reviewing what I already knew.
Well, the result was the same—getting beaten so badly I was a mess you couldn't even look at.
"Let's eat dinner."
"…"
Lying sprawled out flat, I stared blankly at the darkening sky. I'm going to die. As I kept staring, I ended up laughing to myself.
"She's gotten really fast."
Even as she beat me, Lee Se-eun was controlling her output. Han Sang-ah would need more time, but after a few days of effort, Lee Se-eun had already learned to adjust her power within an error range of about 0.4.
"Looks like the items I requested will arrive in an hour."
At Han Sang-ah's words during dinner, I smiled in relief.
"Good timing. I was just about to run out."
Because Korean hunters were desperately gathering elixirs, the quality of elixirs available in the UK was relatively low.
But from my perspective, those lower-quality elixirs were more than welcome.
After dinner, until going to sleep, I stuffed my body with low-grade elixirs, using them to strengthen my blood vessels.
By the time we challenged a Grade-1 Corrosion Entity, I'd probably be able to burn far more with the Paradox Flame, and both my output and control would be much stronger than now.
"Three months should be plenty of time."
I smiled and replied to Han Sang-ah.
"Do you think the Descendants of Dangun are sitting at home eating popcorn and playing games?"
I didn't know when, but they would definitely target the barrier generator again. At my words, Lee Se-eun stirred the contents of her canned food with a bitter expression.
"To secure this barrier field test, the UK signed a contract selling thirty-year mining rights for five overseas oil fields and thirteen mines they developed to Korea at dirt-cheap prices."
"Sounds like the Korean government never intended to honor the contract."
After signing the contract, it seemed the Descendants of Dangun planned to divert the barrier generator while crossing Siberia.
Since there was officially no connection between the Korean government and the Descendants of Dangun, they could just claim it had been stolen by terrorists.
Before any meaningful data could be obtained, the Descendants of Dangun would target the barrier generator once again.