Chapter 28

Joint Operation (1)

“Sparring? Okay.”

Il-hyun nodded without a thought at Ghost’s proposal.

This was not the first time he had sparred against him.

In addition to practicing alone, he wanted to have hands-on experience, so whenever they had time, Ghost sparred with him.

He flipped over the mask hanging on the chair and stepped out.

The sparring room was not far from the training room.

The inside of the sparring room was quite large and high, and it was made of reinforced material all over the place so that it would not break easily in the fight between the Awakened.

Each of them wore a defensive coat hanging in the room.

It was not the usual coat used in missions, but a special defensive coat made specifically for sparring.

The coat has a feature of sending a signal when it reaches a certain amount of damage taken.

“Let’s go according to the original rules. No magic, don’t crush the wall, and blow the coat first to win,” Ghost said as he readied himself.

“Okay.” Il-hyun replied, and both sides pulled the sword at the same time.

But before they started, the door suddenly opened.

It was Seok Pil-jun.

“Is your inspection over?” he said.

“Yes, it’s over”, Il-hyun replied comfortably.

They have not spoken much to each other since Il-hyun joined, even during operations.

Although they were not close, they were the same age, so Il-hyun decided to speak comfortably.

Seok Pil-jun took the sword that Ghost had.

“Fight with me instead.”

“Well? What’s going to happen here?” Ghost said as he handed over the sword.

It was also true that he knew the relationship between them was not that good.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to work with him on the team. I need to know if I can trust him”, Seok Pil-jun answered bluntly.

Ghost’s eyes alternated between Il-hyun and Seok Pil-jun and stepped back.

This fight will be interesting, he thought.

As Seok Pil-jun put on the defensive coat, he asked Il-hyun:

“Is it okay?”

“It’s good for me,” Ilhyun nodded.

Upon hearing his answer, Seok Pil-jun pulled out the sword and readied himself.

“I heard it was a B-rank this time?”

Il-hyun slowly stepped back and thought.

Seok Pil-jun did not come here to the sparring room by accident.

It was probably related to him getting a B-rank, a huge improvement from his last rank.

He may really want to test Il-hyun’s ability to make sure that he won’t be a burden to the team.

Or maybe, he didn’t believe the rating and came in here to test him.

Il-hyun was deep in thought as he raised the sword.

But soon, all thoughts flew away.

Caen!

Two swords struck each other, and the intense sound reverberated in the large chamber.

Il-hyun was surprised at the impact, and Ghost, who was watching from the side, reacted.

“Oh, shouldn’t it be playful in the beginning?”

The sparring teammates are not saying anything.

They simply moved their bodies and extended the swords.

Numerous attacks and defenses came and went.

And once again, two swords collided strongly.

Hard!

The two faced each other tightly, with their heavy swords between them.

“Shhh!”

When Il-hyun faced Ghost, he did not have to use this much power, but that effort would not work against Seok Pil-jun’s sword.

Seok Pil-jun’s attack came down, and it was as if he’s hitting a real enemy, not a teammate.

Il-hyun put on strength and blocked the attack.

However, Seok Pil-jun immediately narrowed the gap and continued to inflict bitter attacks upon him.

Il-hyun retaliated after blocking each stroke, pushing himself hard.

The predator’s ability was gradually heating up his body, and concentration and reflexes appeared in a different dimension than usual.

However, he was being pushed to the limit little by little by Seok Pil-jun’s attacks.

‘Oh, they’re really going at it…’

Ghost was amazed at the battle before him.

Among the B-ranked Awakeners, Seok Pil-jun had the best swordsmanship.

Il-hyun was blocking off his attacks and was even able to fight back.

But what surprised Ghost the most was that Seok Pil-jun was really serious in this battle…

Seok Pil-jun noticed the difference in Il-hyun’s strength and surprised that the progress took less than a month.

He’s going to be stronger than me, he thought.

‘Damn it!’ Il-hyun said in frustration.

He was driven to the end of the wall sometime during the fight.

He couldn’t use his abilities, and his opponent is going full-force on him, without cutting some slack.

Il-hyun slightly lowered the sword, digging low.

Seok Pil-jun immediately responded by rushing in.

The door suddenly opened wide.

“Stop!”

Both movements stopped at the same time.

Lee Soo-yeon was looking at them with her arms crossed.

“We have to leave now; what are you doing? Come out quickly. Team B is already here.”

Lee Soo-yeon closed the door immediately after speaking.

A momentary silence filled the room, then both of them lowered their swords and took off their coats.

The battle is over for now.

Ghost swore at the interruption.

Il-hyun reached out a handshake to Seok Pil-jun.

However, Seok Pil-jun simply looked at his hand and turned silently to the door without taking it.

Il-hyun stared at his hand hanging, ignored, and felt his anger rising.

However, Seok Pil-jun said something just before he went out the door.

“Not bad.”

* * *

Lee Soo-yeon and Il-hyun were on opposite sides of an elevator as she briefed the team.

There were five of them, fully dressed and equipped.

The gate’s rating is B0.

Generally, the number after the gate rating starts at 5 at the lowest, going up to 1.

Rarely was there a zero stage.

The risk was not enough for the gate to be graded the next alphabet letter, but the risk is measured to be more than a 1-rating.

According to analytics, the B0-rated gate is a wide-area gate, meaning they do not know where the monsters can come from as it covers a large area.

It was not an urgent problem because the gate was not expected to activate soon, but once it opens, they expect a large number of monsters coming out, in an area that was almost enough to swallow half of the city.

As a result, the entire small city remained in full control, and two Aegis teams were assigned.

Team B… Who were they? Il-hyun thought.

The lift stopped.

Upon arriving, they exited the building, and found Team B outside, waiting with two transport vehicles.

Four Awakeners in black coats stood.

‘Oh, right!’

Il-hyun recognized them immediately upon seeing them.

Aegis B Team Leader Cho Yun.

He was an A-class Awakener and a regular option in the fan debates about who the strongest team leaders were.

He gave a brief glance at Il-hyun. Il-hyun felt his cold look, with his unique, submerged eyes, and found it a little scary.

The team leaders started talking.

“Where did the other two go?”

“I’m out there because of something else. I will join you at the destination.”

“A British Gate this morning?”

“Okay.”

They talked familiarly.

Meanwhile, Il-hyun looked around at the other team members.

Two men and one woman.

They were all familiar faces, especially the woman standing in the middle.

White skin, blonde short hair, exotic beauty.

She is an Awakened American citizen, Sarah.

Recognizing that he’s looking at her, she approached Il-hyun.

“Nice to meet you. Kang Il-hyun, right?”

“Yes, that is correct. You are good at Korean.”

“Ahaha, of course. I have worked here for many years.” Sarah burst into laughter.

Korea was not only an option but a must for her, as well as for talented foreign Awakeners.

Most of the famous Awakening companies were in Korea.

While he was talking to Sarah, an employee rushed out of the building and ran towards the team leaders.

It was an employee of the Aegis Analysis Team, and he was breathing hard as he spoke.

“You have to go fast! On the field now!”

“We still have more than one hour of activation time, right?” Lee Soo-yeon was confused and glanced at her watch.

“Oh, unexpectedly, the gate is now activated!”

The Awakeners sighed and started to move.