Nausea rose in my mouth.
-Bang!
The occasional one-versus-many raid that happened in the dungeon.
Saku, wearing gauntlets, emitted pinkish magical power and struck the Maehwa tree vigorously.
-Whoosh!
One clash.
Fist met fist.
If it doesn’t connect, Saku lowers her center and leaps into the air, striking the side of his head with her leg, slowly like a hound driving a boar.
Swiftly circling around him, she continued to strike.
Pink cherry blossoms fluttered down along her snowy white ankles.
Above the night sky, a fox ascended along the path made by the cherry blossoms.
-Clap!
She spun and drove her heel into her opponent’s forearm. Maehwa countered it.
It was like a scene from a game. So beautiful, it’s mesmerizing.
“Keep at it.”
If the situation hadn’t been so dire, it would have been admirable.
-Ding.
The sound of a bell meant everyone present must tense up.
Because you never knew when it would disappear, or who would appear in front of you.
A mistake could mean immediate disqualification.
If declared unfit to fight, automatic disqualification followed.
My healing powers couldn’t shine in this place.
‘Still.’
While long periods of focus and strategy were necessary, it’s not yet time to disconnect the status window.
-Boom!
Maehwa countered Saku’s kick, and the rough sound of clashing forces sent Saku flying back a distance.
Taking advantage of the gap, Soo-yeon and Sansuyu intervened.
The sharp sound of their resonating magic swords was supported by Banya’s magic.
A flawless combination that could work against S-ranks.
Without dividing further, they trust in each other’s skills and synchronize perfectly.
Sansuyu also played her part well.
“Kh...”
Maehwa smiled amidst the accumulating fatigue.
I, too, entered the fray and swung my sword.
-Boom!
His eyes whirled bizarrely, then he grabbed my sword.
His face arrived right before my nose.
“When will you fight properly?”
Despite being somewhat sloppy, did he see through it in the chaos?
After all, there was less than 30 minutes left.
It was much more beneficial to drag out the time than to try beating the opponent.
“Well...”
“...Then.”
Maehwa’s fist aimed for my solar plexus.
“I’ll make you fight properly.”
I dropped the sword and clenched my fist, maintaining the stance.
I blocked the punch with my elbow. The pain was numbing.
Maehwa snatched the sword back.
It turned to liquid and returned to my grasp, reforming into a sword shape.
-Bang!
Soo-yeon and Sansuyu pushed back against Maehwa’s rushing attack, and he turned to attack me again.
I wrapped my whole body with bright blue magical power as I dodged the attack.
I landed a punch on his jaw.
-Crack!
“Kh.”
Despite being hit, his body didn’t falter. His eyes were fierce.
‘This guy... is he a pervert?’
I figured it out after a few exchanges.
He had been enhancing his body just enough to barely handle the fight.
Though I hadn’t seen such a fight-loving freak before, his sincerity was rather startling.
-More?
His eyes seemed to say that.
-Ding.
The speed increased again.
The weight behind the punch and the body’s signal to leave the spot.
I dodged and counterattacked without any gap to retaliate.
A close-combat situation where a momentary decision could create a big variable.
-Smirk.
A smile formed on his face.
Was that arrogant?
If I were wrong, then Maehwa wouldn’t be charging at me like this right now.
‘Forget it, Master... Ah, screw it.’
I shook Cheondo’s words from my mind.
As I regained my posture, the slowed world accelerated again.
The opponent, filled with arrogance and pride in his skills.
That bitter look in his eyes clearly intended to scrape me clean.
People who enjoyed fighting, the emotions in their eyes were usually complex.
The pleasure felt upon winning. The deep, tingling sense of achievement in proving one’s growth.
Those who were driven by such desires rarely entertained the thought of losing.
Those who had never lost a duel as a National Tree felt it even more so.
【 Connection with the World Tree will be temporarily suspended. 】
...Of course.
My stubbornness was no less.
When the thought to break Maehwa’s arrogant expression crossed my mind, I had already disconnected the status window.
Having become somewhat well-known. The realization that Flower and the Association were watching me.
What was happening now was just another rumor spreading. This time, however, I’d push the opponent thoroughly yet imperceptibly.
An intangible power never seen on screen.
-Boom!
I grasped Maehwa’s fiercely colliding fist.
“...Interesting.”
He remarked.
-Ding.
As the bell rang, large plum blossoms soared around us.
A movement previously shown by Saku. He circled around me, seeking an opening.
I tracked his movement softly with my eyes.
A team that joined late tried to stop him, but it was insufficient.
That speed was initially hard for even me to follow.
“Si-eon, are you okay?”
“Huh? Yeah, yeah.”
Responding to Sansuyu, I stepped forward.
A way to suppress this swift speed.
The best strategy I could think of right now.
“...!”
“...”
Each conversation carried on the wind, and rugged feedback exchanges in dealing with Maehwa.
I didn’t really hear it well. I wasn’t focused on listening.
I took another step forward.
-Squish.
Ripples spread from my toe.
A colorless magic filled the entire lake, gradually dominating this space.
One of the powers I could barely learn when I was a blank slate due to lack of strength.
Invisible.
-Crack!
Suddenly, Maehwa’s body dropped from the air.
-Crash!
Petals fell like rain.
White plum blossom stars rained down, decorating the lakeshore and the gravel. The entire nearby space distorted in an instant, like the illusion of space folding as when Maehwa moved.
-Crack, thud, bang!
I moved my foot as if crushing a cockroach. The more I did, the more Maehwa’s body settled to the ground.
“Uh...”
“What?”
The women around were clueless about what’s happening.
They couldn’t catch on.
But Maehwa is glaring at me with twinkling eyes.
“...Haha.”
He laughed.
I exerted force on my foot, and his head slammed into the ground.
-Bang!
Given that the opponent was Maehwa, the magic appeared momentarily on the ground. Without using Black Path, it seemed it couldn’t be manipulated like water.
My technique varied too greatly.
I looked around once more, appreciating the beautiful spectacle.
The plum blossoms spread on the ground. Gravel and petals half-covered this land.
Each petal was flattened, trembling as if it could turn to dust at any moment.
It was about time they wilted after blooming for a week.
Feeling the magic drain from my body, I lifted my foot.
-Ding.
A mechanical sound echoed in the sky.
It was the signal marking the end of the first trial.