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Jeong Gyeoul soared high into the sky.

“…What the heck is that now.”

An island where the Awakened Ones and staff were gathered.

Several drones were hovering above what seemed to be an uninhabited island.

The drones were flying noisily through the sky, as if signaling their location.

If she had flown high into the sky from the start, there would have been no need to descend along the sea…

Even though she had retrieved all the magic power flowing through her body, her vision hadn’t worsened.

It was at a level where she could have found it instantly if she had just flown up high from any beach.

Despite the Awakened Ones and staff trying to hide thoroughly, the production team’s act of revealing their location with drones stood out…

‘Not my problem.’

If they complain about this later, it’s something the production team will have to deal with.

She would have found it instantly even without the drones.

With the mindset of doing her job well as a judge, she landed on the outskirts of the uninhabited island.

She could have flown towards the goblin and kidnapped it mid-air…

But since they had fled this far, they must have prepared something, and there was something to look forward to.

‘Besides the Taoist Girl, I need to see if there are any other decent Awakened Ones.’

Rustle—

“Damn it…”

These talismans must have some kind of homing function, as they kept hitting Jeong Gyeoul wherever she stepped.

Sizzle—

The water bombs were traps meant to tease Jeong Gyeoul.

From now on, the talismans she steps on will be traps meant to stop her.

Electricity traveled up the talisman.

The electric stimulation caused her muscles to twitch uncontrollably, and her whole body tingled.

The effect of the talisman didn’t last long.

The electricity in her body swirled for a few seconds before disappearing.

The electricity had passed through her while she was still soaked, before she could even dry off properly.

‘Was this planned…?’

In a situation where she didn’t know how many more talismans were laid out, she decided to move by lifting her feet off the ground.

For ordinary Awakened Ones, staying airborne for a long time would be difficult due to the heavy consumption of magic power…

But Jeong Gyeoul, who had enough magic power to stay airborne for weeks, had already retrieved all the magic power flowing through her body.

The amount of magic power being recovered was greater than what was being consumed.

Staying airborne was no problem at all.

Thwack— Swish—

The sound of a bowstring being plucked came from the bushes.

At the same time, arrows flew towards Jeong Gyeoul.

‘Are they not communicating with each other?’

If they had gotten information from the man, they would have known that long-range attacks using objects were useless, but the arrows kept flying.

They gathered as Koreans, chanting “Let’s go, let’s go,” but from the start, one person was left out.

That one person wasn’t sharing information.

In the end, it looked like another meaningless capture was about to happen.

She spread her palm towards the flying arrows.

The arrows stopped in mid-air and began to turn back towards where they had come from.

“…!”

The archer seemed flustered when the arrow they had shot turned hostile towards them, but their reaction was different from the man earlier.

They zigzagged deeper into the forest.

Even so, it was like a deer hopping around.

She could have shot an arrow to hit them right away, but she left them on the ground and moved towards the forest.

The Elf Girl had fired six arrows simultaneously.

It was likely that she had either an unusual bow or an ability related to bows.

Jeong Gyeoul usually only hung out with S-Class heroes, so she didn’t often encounter other heroes.

New abilities were always intriguing.

Two people had already caught her eye.

The Elf Girl shooting arrows and running away, and the Taoist Girl.

Coincidentally, both were beautiful.

‘Appearance is definitely not the standard… really.’

She left the running archer and headed towards the center of the island.

Thwack— Swish—

Arrows kept flying, but she dodged them all with small movements and moved forward.

The Elf Girl clicked her tongue as she watched Jeong Gyeoul.

“Tch…”

Despite shooting arrows with all her might.

Seeing how Jeong Gyeoul dodged them with slight head tilts or body movements, she realized she couldn’t stop her.

She took out a talisman from her chest and tore it.

At the same time, a flash of light appeared.

The Taoist Girl appeared beside the Elf Girl.

The talisman she tore was a Teleportation Talisman.

Although it had the limitation of being very short-range, the Taoist Girl’s ability to traverse space itself was almost cheating.

***

“…Is this for real?”

The Elf Girl stopped shooting arrows, so Jeong Gyeoul looked at her curiously.

She was rummaging inside her chest, so Jeong Gyeoul was watching to see what she was doing…

She witnessed the absurd scene of a talisman popping out of her chest.

And then, even more absurdly, the Taoist Girl popped out when the talisman was torn.

At the same time, a strong gust of wind swept over her body.

Shoulder, waist, thighs, ankles.

Every part touched by the wind was torn.

Her clothes began to tatter.

“…Are you trying to strip me naked?”

“If possible?”

The wounds started to pile up, but.

Wounds of this level could be covered by her natural healing ability.

Experiencing new techniques firsthand was more important than minor injuries.

“How much magic power does this technique consume?”

“Since it uses pre-written talismans, it’s almost negligible.”

“Wow… that’s cheating.”

The Taoist Girl’s strange ability to fight using talismans and spells.

It was questionable whether this could be called the Magic Category, but for now, it probably belonged to the Magic Category.

“Taoist Girl. Do you have enough stored talismans?”

“Can you not call me by that weird nickname? And… I’ve already made over thousands of talismans?”

As soon as she finished speaking, a talisman flew in.

Despite being just paper, it flew quite fast.

‘Is it trying to stick to my body?’

She still didn’t know how the talismans worked.

She tried to dodge it to avoid it touching her body…

Poof—

It exploded right beside her.

There was no warning, so she couldn’t defend against it.

As a result, she got a burn on her side.

“…That stings.”

“What kind of body is this…?”

It seemed like this wasn’t the scene she had hoped for.

She was looking at me with a slightly open mouth, as if in disbelief.

No, more precisely, at my side.

After that, the Taoist Girl’s talisman tricks (?) continued.

A huge whirlwind swept through, will-o’-the-wisps floated around, and fog rolled in.

Electricity flowed through it at times.

Occasionally, talismans flew towards her body and exploded.

If it were magic, it would be on the level of a Grand Mage like Heinz or Lee Ha-yoon, who could handle all attributes.

In terms of magic power alone, she was barely A-Class…

But with the added cheat-like ability to store magic in talismans and use them?

It seemed like she could fight at the entry level of S-Class if she just got used to combat.

‘In terms of combat ability, the Taoist Girl would be the top contender.’

Her confidence when facing me was understandable.

Of course, this “Birth of a Hero” isn’t a program that only selects the strong.

Personality, potential, qualities, attitude, beliefs, etc.

The goal is to pick the one who best fits the title of hero, not just the strongest.

If they needed strong Awakened Ones, they could have just gathered them all in one place and sorted them by magic power in the first round.

Survivors could be gathered for a battle royale, and the last five or six could be assigned judges for training before another round.

There’s a reason they go through the trouble of building sets and pouring money into this.

“Ouch, that’s hot.”

What kind of talisman even shoots poison darts?

It’s like a Swiss Army knife.

The forest was becoming a mess thanks to the Taoist Girl.

As a result, the Awakened Ones hiding here and there started to become visible.

They seemed to have been ambushing, but once exposed, they rushed out without hesitation.

Kaaang—

Even though it was their first time coordinating with the Taoist Girl, their teamwork was quite natural.

One swung a sword. Another swung a fist. One who seemed to be from the Magic Category started chanting.

Various people rushed out to attack me…

But none stood out like the Taoist Girl or the Elf Girl.

The types of spells coming from the talismans started to overlap.

It didn’t seem necessary to spend time observing the abilities of the other Awakened Ones.

It was time to move.

Whoosh—

“What, what! She disappeared!”

The Awakened Ones all looked around.

Their instant judgment skills were all flawed.

Why didn’t they think she might have disappeared upwards or downwards?

She roughly lifted a few stones from the ground with telekinesis.

Some Awakened Ones noticed her location and shouted, but… it was too late.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She dropped them one by one, as if foretelling what was to come.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

The bombardment began.

Those trying to protect the goblin.

Endure the weight of the stones.

It seemed like she had strayed a bit from her given mission of kidnapping.

‘Whatever.’

As long as I’m having fun, that’s all that matters.

 

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