Chapter 100: 6th Week Mentoring and Strategy Battle (7)

Chapter 100: 6th Week Mentoring and Strategy Battle (7)

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[Start!]Updated from n0velb(i)n.c(o)/m

[Statue of the Goddess: 100%]

[Remaining Time: 9:57]

As soon as the battle strategy began, Song Cheon-hye deployed her magic on the ground.

She had good success with the Lightning Field in previous attempts, so there was no reason not to use the same tactic.

Electric currents flowed across the floor and they formed a large magic circle that began to fill with intricate symbols.

As soon as the goblins reached the main gate and stepped onto the floor,

Fizzzzzz, fizzzzzz!

Keruk.

Kiig!

Their bodies emitted wild sparks.

Waves of electric currents poured down on those who continued to advance regardless.

Song Cheon-hye emitted bursts of lightning magic which burned every approaching goblin to a crisp.

She is clearly improving.

Perhaps because it was their third attempt, the coordination of her magic felt more natural and her accuracy had slightly increased.

Rumble,

Meanwhile, I waited near the side wall and when the wall collapsed and a breach opened, I used Wind Force to close it.

Its all smooth sailing up to this point.

[Remaining Time: 4:53]

Grrr

Just over five minutes passed, and as expected, the Beheader Goblin appeared.

However, this time Song Cheon-hyes response was slightly different.

Ill finish this quickly. Cover me.

Lets do it.

She didnt wait for the creature to approach the main gate; instead, she charged forward while swinging a thick bolt of lightning.

Grrrrr?

When the Beheader Goblin crossed its cleaver to block, a loud clash sound ensued.

As a result, the Beheader Goblin managed to block the attack but the aftermath of the collision forced its arm that was holding the cleaver to the side.

The lightning struck directly into the chest of the staggered creature.

Rumble, bang!

Yet, knowing that there was still a long way to go before the goblin could be felled, Song Cheon-hye swiftly cast the next spell.

She relentlessly pushed forward and didnt give the Beheader Goblin any chance to catch its breath.

Swift and decisive.

It was an improvisational move, but certainly worth considering.

The main obstacle in this defense was the Beheader Goblin.

If she could focus her firepower early on to take it down, all that would remain would be the F-rank goblins who were hardly worth a punch.

Not a bad idea.

However, Song Cheon-hye overlooked one fact unfortunately.

Grrr

The Beheader Goblin was tougher than most goblins.

Being a close-range boss with exceptional resilience, it did not easily fall despite Song Cheon-hye almost unilaterally inflicting damage.

This meant that the fight which was intended to be quick and decisive was dragging on.

Krrrk!

Krk!

This also meant that the main gate was completely exposed to the enemys attacks.

The Lightning Field was maintained, slowly dealing damage and hindering movement, but the goblins that crossed beyond the range of the magic circle entered the temple without any interference.

What choice do I have?

It was up to me to provide support.

Whether Song Cheon-hyes decision was right or wrong, it was my role as her partner to fill the gap created by it as much as possible.

Providing feedback and refining strategies would have to wait until after the challenge was over.

I abandoned the side defenses and approached the statue of the goddess.

When I unleashed Wind Force over a wide area, the goblins rolled across the temple floor like fallen leaves.

This alone had bought us quite a bit of time in previous attempts.

However

Theres no way our senior would just stand by and watch.

As soon as I thought that, the goblins who must have received new orders from Dang Gyu-young moved in an organized manner.

They surrounded the statue of the goddess at a safe distance and then,

Krrrk.

Krk! Kck!

began to throw stones and spears they had brought along.

I immediately conjured a counter-wind to knock down the projectiles, but a few still managed to weakly hammer at the statue of the goddess.

Ha.

It was then that Song Cheon-hye who was startled seemed to come back to her senses.

She quickly grasped the situation in a few seconds.

The statue whose waist should have broken had only lost its head and the goblins and the Beheader Goblin that would have disappeared with a reset were still there.

Realizing that it wasnt over yet, life returned to her eyes.

Lets focus. Were almost there.

Ah! Y-Yes!

Song Cheon-hye narrowly dodged another punch from the Beheader Goblin that came flying at her.

And she stretched out her hand before currents of electricity started streaming through it.

Fzzzzzt-fzzt-fzzt!

The Beheader Goblins body turned into black ash and scattered.

Immediately afterward, Song Cheon-hye turned her back and just like a bolt of lightning, she streaked across the temple.

The next moment, she landed near the statue of the goddess and released bursts of lightning that swept away the goblins in an instant.

While using Wind Force to push away the goblins, I spoke to Song Cheon-hye.

Waatch, it and Block it.

I-Im still not used to it.

Were already on our third attempt though?

Its only the second time I fought the Beheader Goblin like this.

That makes sense. Then youll succeed next time, right?

Of, of course.

Fizzzzzzzzz!

Waves of lightning surged again before engulfing the goblins.

As Song Cheon-hye frantically cleared the area around the statue,

[Statue of the Goddess: 15%]

[Remaining Time: 0:00]

Finally, all 10 minutes were used up.

The temple that was previously swarming with goblins was instantly cleared as if washed clean and the dungeon reset.

The strategy battle was a success.

[Goddess Statue Health 15/100% = 75 points]

+ [Goblins Killed: 84 = 42 points]

+ [Strong Enemy Killed = 100 points]

+ [Clear Bonus = 300 points]

[Total Score: 517 points]

However, the joy of success was short-lived.

Song Cheon-hyes eyes as she looked at the score were not quite satisfied.

By her standards as an elite, allowing the goddess statue to be reduced to the brink of destruction was akin to failing.

Knowing that this failing was the result of her own judgment made it all the more unsatisfactory.

She murmured in a slightly subdued voice,

. Rushing things wont work.

It holds up better than expected, doesnt it? The Beheader Goblin.

Yes, we will play defensively as usual.

With that, we embarked on our fourth attempt.

To summarize the key events, Song Cheon-hye once again missed catching the cleaver by a hairs breadth.

With no other choice, I ended up handling the cleaver myself and instead of the goddess statues neck, an arm was severed this time.

Perhaps because she was embarrassed that she had failed after boasting that she would of course block it, Song Cheon-hye couldnt look me in the eye even after the strategy battle was over and she sneakily averted her gaze.

Still, looking solely at the results, the fourth attempt was also a success.

Thanks to our defensive strategy, we were able to preserve more of the goddess statues health.

We planned to continue improving our record little by little in a similar manner.

We decided to limit our challenge attempts in the strategy battles to twice daily,

And afterward, each of us took turns practicing close combat sparring with Dang Gyu-young like the previous week.

I too honed my Wind Force and Twister skills against the goblins that Dang Gyu-young herded towards me.

***

The next day.

After classes as usual, everyone was about to go their separate ways when there was a commotion outside the classroom.

Peeking out, I caught a glimpse of red hair among the passing students.

Whispers caught my ear one by one.

Hong Yeon-hwa has come?

Why is Hong Yeon-hwa in our class?

She must be here to see someone.

But, who?

That someone was me.

I knew this because Hong Yeon-hwas gaze was fixed precisely on me.

Finally.