Chapter 722 – 722. Savior Of The Academy
722. Savior of the Academy
“Snug!”
Moka climbed onto my left shoulder.
Bae Hyun-sung and Oh Yu-mi didn’t notice Moka in her spirit form. However, they tilted their heads, sensing a peculiar presence. On the other hand, Ryu Hana looked directly at Moka.
It was thanks to Ryu Hana’s unique trait, Sword Maiden (SS). She flinched. The reason was that spirits instinctively were wary of Ryu Hana, who was born with a sharp disposition.
Moka, summoned to my shoulder, was no exception. She stared intently, as if wary of Ryu Hana. If it weren’t for me, Moka would have already flown into the sky to create distance.
“Moka, it’s reconnaissance. Go high into the sky.”
Moka spread her wings and soared into the sky. Since the purpose was reconnaissance, there was no need to materialize. Sharing the vision through Spirit Eye (S), I scanned the surroundings and pointed to the right with my finger.
“There are three Brown Orcs 400 meters away. And two more 200 meters away from them.”
“Whoa. Is it for real that you can pinpoint monster locations within a minute of entering the dungeon?”
Bae Hyun-sung whistled and said. He looked imposing, but surprisingly, he had a lighthearted personality.
We ran with our gear towards the place I pointed.
Brown Orc.
As the name suggests, they were orcs with brown skin. Except for the skin color, there was no difference from regular orcs. For reference, orcs were stronger than goblins.
Three Brown Orcs would require tactics for examinees. But none of us were worried about the fight.
‘They’re top-class among the examinees, so they’re confident they can beat a Brown Orc one-on-one.’
The three Brown Orcs were sitting and staring blankly at a campfire.
“I’ll go first!”
Bae Hyun-sung, raising a sword and a round shield in each hand, yelled to draw the attention of the Brown Orcs.
“Uwaaaaaah! You pigs! Your big brother is here!”
“Chek! Chek!”
The orcs picked up crude stone axes. You shouldn’t underestimate them just because their weapons were poor. The real weapon of an orc was their strong physique, which was incomparable to humans.
Bae Hyun-sung, who fearlessly charged at the orcs, had skills as good as his confidence. However, that was only limited to defense.
“Good job, Bae Hyun-sung!”
Oh Yu-mi, in the rear, safely cast a spell. She summoned five sharply honed energy bolts and launched them. The three Brown Orcs, hit by the energy bolts, died with pig-slaughtering screams.
Ryu Hana and I didn’t even need to step in.
‘As expected of the top-class examinees. They’re better than I thought.’
We quickly cleaned up the scene and moved to find more Brown Orcs.
I put my hands in my pockets and leisurely followed the team. Just by perfectly scouting, I was doing my part.
It was Ryu Hana who was getting anxious at the performance of Bae Hyun-sung and Oh Yu-mi. She was the only one in the team who wasn’t contributing. It was perfect for Oh Yu-mi to draw the aggro of the Brown Orcs and finish them off with energy bolt magic, so there was no room for her to intervene.
Looking at Bae Hyun-sung and Oh Yu-mi, a scene from the original work came to mind.
A comment from an extra evaluating the 37th students of Maruhan Academy.
The Golden Generation.
The class with the most geniuses in the history of Maruhan Academy.
“Oh Yu-mi, aren’t you tired? Can you use more magic?”
Ryu Hana asked Oh Yu-mi, hiding her emotions.
“Huh? I’m fine. I’m not good at casting high-level magic, but I’m confident in my mana capacity. I can do it five more times without a problem.”
Thirty minutes had already passed. Five more times would be enough for the remaining time.
“…Bae Hyun-sung, are you okay with your stamina?”
“Compared to the training I received from my brother, this is nothing. I can last another hour without a problem.”
Bae Hyun-sung said confidently. Ryu Hana quietly stepped back. She was anxious but couldn’t recklessly step in because she knew it was efficient. If she forced her way in, it would only cause discord in the team and result in a deduction of points from the supervisor.
‘The supervisor will give Ryu Hana the highest score for doing nothing. Even without contributing, she didn’t cause any discord and is showing the best results. But from Ryu Hana’s perspective, she’ll be anxious because she can’t contribute.’
‘Kkuuuk. Snug!’
Moka’s will was conveyed to my mind. She found the boss monster.
Brown Orc Lord.
In reality, it was a hero pretending to be a boss monster. Only a few people within the academy knew this fact.
“I found the boss monster. See that building? The Brown Orc Lord is on the rooftop. I didn’t see it when I looked earlier, but it seems it went up to the rooftop this time.”
“It’s the Orc Lord as briefed. Hmm…. Do we really need to fight the Orc Lord? We’ve been doing well so far. I guarantee that there probably isn’t a team as good as us. I don’t think we need to risk it by hunting the boss.”
Oh Yu-mi was negative.
“I agree with Oh Yu-mi. The purpose of this test isn’t the death of the Orc Lord. I think we’re the leaders among the leaders.”
“I think differently. We have to deal with the boss monster since we found it. That’s how you clear a dungeon.”
I agreed with Ryu Hana’s opinion and decided to support her.
“Ryu Hana is right. We have to deal with the boss monster. That’s how we become truly top-ranked. You guys, you know that the entrance exam is being held simultaneously across the country, right? Even if we’re at the top in this test site, do you think there won’t be others like us in other test sites? If we’re satisfied here, we might not even make it into the top 50 in the entrance rankings. If we want to improve our scores even a little, we have to deal with the boss monster.”
Entrance rankings.
That word was enough to ignite the motivation of Bae Hyun-sung and Oh Yu-mi.
“…I guess so. If we settle here, it’ll be hard to get into the top 50. No, maybe we’ll barely make it into the top 100.”
“…Entrance rankings. I forgot about that for a moment. If we deal with the boss monster, we’ll definitely get into the top 50, right?”
The higher the entrance ranking in Maruhan Academy, the more benefits are given. One of them is scholarships for students within the top 100 of the entrance rankings. The higher the entrance ranking, the higher the scholarship amount. The top student gets 100 million won, and the second gets 90 million won.
“So, we’ve decided to kill the boss monster, right?”
Bae Hyun-sung and Oh Yu-mi glanced at Ryu Hana and nodded. They seemed to think that with Ryu Hana, the Orc Lord would be easy.
Their thoughts were correct. Of course, if it was a normal Orc Lord.
•••
We went up to the rooftop of the building where the Orc Lord was. There were about 15 minutes left in the test. There was plenty of time.
‘…Oh? I didn’t know when I saw it from afar, but I can see through the magic with my own eyes when I’m close.’
I was a little surprised when I saw the Orc Lord with my own eyes. I thought it would be a supervisor named Hong Ji-wook or something, but it was an unexpected person.
Kang Ji-young.
She was an S-class hero and the dean of Maruhan Academy, and she was acting as the Orc Lord.
‘It’s quite unexpected that Kang Ji-young is moving herself. What’s her purpose? Did Sung Ha-ri ask for something? She’s not the type to move just because she was asked…. Is it because of Ryu Hana?’
I didn’t know the reason. Knowing the reason wouldn’t change the situation.
“You damn pig!!!”
Park Hyun-sung screamed and charged at the Orc Lord. I was curious how he would react if he knew the Orc Lord was Kang Ji-young. The Orc Lord moved. Pretending to be drawn by Bae Hyun-sung, he swung a huge stone axe at Bae Hyun-sung.
‘If I didn’t have Spirit Eye and knowledge of the original work, I would have thought it was a real Orc Lord.’
I felt mana fluctuations from behind. It was Oh Yu-mi.
“Good job, Bae Hyun-sung. Even if it’s the Orc Lord, it won’t be able to block this! Energy Bolt!”
Ten energy bolts as big as a human head were created and flew towards the Orc Lord. Bae Hyun-sung skillfully retreated. All ten energy bolts hit the Orc Lord. But the Orc Lord was fine. He was only pushed back three steps.
“N-no way. Even if it’s the Orc Lord, to not have a single scratch…! This isn’t right! We have to run!”
Oh Yu-mi’s mentality was shaken. It was natural since her full-power attack was blocked.
‘Being pushed back three steps is also an act.’
I reached out and grabbed Oh Yu-mi’s shoulder. Oh Yu-mi looked at me.
“Calm down. It’s too late to run. And we have Ryu Hana.”
Ryu Hana was already attacking the Orc Lord. She was wielding two swords in her hands with flair. Her dual sword technique was like a dance.
‘Is it a phantom sword type? It’s fast and sharp.’
That was all.
Ryu Hana’s swordsmanship was lacking something. There were gaps between her sword techniques. If I fought Ryu Hana, I was confident I could beat her in 30 seconds.
The Orc Lord kicked Bae Hyun-sung. His shield broke, and Bae Hyun-sung flew backward.
“Keok!”
I grabbed Bae Hyun-sung, who was flying, and laid him on the ground. He was unconscious. He didn’t suffer any internal injuries.
“T-the battle is too fast. I can’t support with magic like this…!”
Oh Yu-mi bit her lip. Unlike when Bae Hyun-sung was fighting the Orc Lord, Ryu Hana and the Orc Lord were moving around and fighting.
“I’ll do it.”
It was a good opportunity to show my skills to Kang Ji-young and Ryu Hana.
I focused on watching the battle in front of me. Ryu Hana was trying to induce a counter. The Orc Lord moved as Ryu Hana intended. But the counter was blocked. It was simply a difference in strength. Ryu Hana explosively generated mana to create distance before being counterattacked.
‘It’s the perfect timing. Moka! Lightning!’
Lightning struck down.
The Orc Lord staggered. No, he pretended to stagger.
‘It’s not very effective. How strong is Kang Ji-young?’
『Name: Kang Ji-young
Strength: S+ Stamina: SS Agility: A+ Durability: S+ Mana: A+
Traits: Eye of Horus (SS), Wolf of the Earth (S).
Skills: Greatsword (S), Magic (A), Sixth Sense (S), Super Strength (A), Natural Recovery (S).
Favorability: 42』
As expected of an S-class hero’s stats.
‘Her durability is S+ rank…. No wonder Moka’s lightning didn’t work.’
The Orc Lord looked this way. His eyes were saying, don’t just stand there, come at me.
‘Ryu Hana seems to be reaching her limit. Should I step in?’
I picked up Bae Hyun-sung’s one-handed sword that had fallen on the ground. It was a basic weapon given by the association, but it was reasonably balanced.
I ran straight ahead.
As the distance closed in an instant, the Orc Lord reacted. He blocked Ryu Hana’s attack with his axe and swung his fist at me.
‘A split second.’
I ducked my upper body to avoid the fist and plunged into the Orc Lord’s inner side, swinging my sword. The blade cut through the Orc Lord’s waist. Red blood splattered. Of course, this was also magic. In reality, I had only cut Kang Ji-young’s clothes. Since I didn’t even create sword energy, I couldn’t leave a single scratch on her waist.
‘Ooh. She has solid abs. A split second!’
I strongly grabbed her chest, which had a volume that couldn’t be hidden even by a black turtleneck.
“……!!”
Kang Ji-young’s eyes widened. Her foot hit my stomach. It was a speed that exceeded my consciousness, so I couldn’t avoid it.
I flew backward and rolled on the ground a few times before getting up. It was fortunate that Kang Ji-young had reduced her power at the last moment; otherwise, I might have been knocked out on the ground.
‘Ugh. The feel of her chest is amazing.’
Ryu Hana aimed for the Orc Lord’s back. The Orc Lord gave up his left arm and grabbed Ryu Hana’s leg, throwing her away.
“Oh dear.”
I ran and grabbed Ryu Hana’s back. Ryu Hana’s face, now in my arms, was soaked with sweat. Her breathing was also rough.
“Ryu Hana, are you okay?”
“……I’m okay. Put me down.”
“Ryu Hana, let’s run away. We can’t fight that. You did inflict some damage, but you’re also exhausted.”
“No. There’s a possibility. The Orc Lord can’t use his left arm.”
Before I could stop her, Ryu Hana rushed out.
‘She’s charging like a wild boar. Well, Ryu Hana is still a rookie now.’
The last chance Kang Ji-young gave was gone in vain.
Thud!
Ryu Hana was knocked away after being hit in the abdomen by the Orc Lord’s fist. It would have been easier if she had just fainted. Then, Oh Yu-mi and I could have taken Bae Hyun-sung and Ryu Hana and run away. But Ryu Hana got up. She used one of her swords as a cane and raised her trembling body.
“Ryu Hana! This is already a failure! Let’s go back!”
“……I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.”
Ryu Hana muttered. It was a great fighting spirit! But her eyes were already unfocused. Ryu Hana had reached her limit. That muttering was more of an obsession than a will.
‘There was a similar event in the original work. At this time, you have to push Ryu Hana harder.’
I didn’t expect this event to happen so soon.
I raised my right hand and slapped Ryu Hana across the face.
Slap!
Ryu Hana sat down on the ground and looked at me with shaking eyes. Blood was dripping from her nose.
‘Damn it. I hit her too hard.’
I hid my embarrassment and recited one of the dialogue options from the original player.
“Ryu Hana! Get a grip! You’re not like this!”
“…….”
[Ryu Hana’s Favorability: 5]
It seemed like things had gone a bit wrong.
