Chapter 128
Chapter 128. Rank 3 (8)
—We will now begin the sparring.
—Please place the sticker you received near your abdomen.
The heroes received rectangular stickers with numbers on them from the staff of the Hero Department.
It was a name tag with a white background and their names engraved on it.
—You may use your own equipment.
There were no special restrictions on weapon use.
Unlike the Rank 4 promotion, they weren’t required to borrow non-lethal weapons like wooden swords.
—Each hero may declare surrender during the sparring.
—A hero who declares surrender must leave the sparring arena immediately and may participate in the next match after this one has concluded.
—A hero who is completely overpowered by the opponent may also be removed by the referee.
…
…
Various rules were explained before the sparring.
Soon, the sparring was prepared in the designated arena in the basement.
The first match featured Party Number 2, which included Kim Si-hu.
A party composed of 1 mage and 3 warriors.
Unlike Yoo Ji-han, this temporary party had a fairly decent positioning.
Swoosh—
Kim Si-hu pulled down his hat to keep it from falling off.
He turned his head to look for Yoo Ji-han and Min Yu-ri watching him.
When he spotted the two, he smiled brightly, seeming far from nervous.
“Start!”
With the referee’s shout, the sparring began.
The warriors rushed forward with speed!
The opponent’s party also consisted of warriors, leading to close-range clashes between the two parties.
Bang!
Boom!
As the warriors blocked each other fiercely,
Kim Si-hu unleashed attack magic from the back toward the opposing party.
[Wind Arrow]
[Wind Cutter]
With both friends and opponents tangled up in chaotic fighting,
The magic he chose was smaller, more controllable spells instead of large-scale ones!
Curving gracefully rather than flying in straight lines, his spells accurately troubled the opponent and dealt damage.
“Ugh!”
As the tank, hindered by Kim Si-hu’s magic, stepped back in frustration—
[Stone Hammer]
Kaboom!
A stone hammer generated above the tank struck his head hard.
Even though he was wearing what looked like a sturdy helmet, he could not withstand the shock transferred through his head and fainted.
“Park Im-chan, out!”
After one was incapacitated, the situation went smoothly.
The opposing Party Number 1 began to crumble under the onslaught of Party Number 2, which included Kim Si-hu.
The last remaining warrior, refusing to give up, resisted until the end.
“…I surrender.”
As the wind arrow, sharpened by the surrounding situation, hovered in front of his throat, he raised both hands and declared surrender.
People began to murmur as they watched those leaving the sparring arena.
“Look at that mage with the hat; his skills are quite impressive.”
“That’s the guy who appeared in that movie.”
“Oh, so that was him.”
It was clear to anyone watching that the one who contributed the most to the victory in this sparring was mage Kim Si-hu.
Hearing the praises directed at his party members, Yoo Ji-han smiled lightly.
“We will now proceed to the next sparring.”
After the first match, several more matches followed.
Heroes battling in combinations that weren’t their original parties.
“Party Number 9 wins!”
“Nice!”
As winners and losers were divided, laughing and crying,
Soon it was time for Party Number 7, which included Yoo Ji-han.
“Huff, huff…”
“We’re doomed…!”
The mages who entered the arena looked extremely tense.
No matter how much Yoo Ji-han assured them to calm down, their demeanor hadn’t changed at all.
‘Their combination looks good.’
Yoo Ji-han glanced at the opposing Party Number 9.
A party with one warrior, one mage, one archer, and one tank.
Distributed by position, it was an exceptionally lucky case.
Although party members were assigned randomly, it seemed unreasonably advantageous.
Looking at the opponents, Yoo Ji-han spoke to the temporary party members.
“Do you remember what I said?”
“…Yes.”
“Let’s ease up and just go with that.”
After a brief moment of preparation,
Yoo Ji-han stared at the opposing side, waiting for the referee’s signal to drop.
“Set…”
And as the referee’s lips opened,
“Start!”
Yoo Ji-han immediately dove to the side.
[Fiery Touch]
[Water Blast]
[Ice Bolt]
As Yoo Ji-han leaped, the three mages behind him instantly completed their attack magic and sent it flying forward.
It was the prepped Plan A.
A quick strike.
“What?”
“Gah!”
As soon as the sparring began, the opposing party was taken aback by the incoming spells.
However, the tank calmly stepped forward with his shield raised.
The warriors belatedly joined him to protect the range dealers from the spells.
Rumble!
The mages relentlessly threw fireballs and shot lightning, maintaining their offense.
Meanwhile, Yoo Ji-han, who had already distanced himself from the magic’s range, aimed for the mages and the archer behind the tank.
He intended to take out the biggest threats first—the ranged dealers.
“Don’t!”
But the warrior intervened, blocking the surprise attack.
He endured some damage caused by magic to protect the ranged dealers.
‘They’re on a roll.’
Yoo Ji-han rushed towards the advancing warrior and slashed downward.
The warrior hurriedly raised his own sword to block,
But Yoo Ji-han’s strike was faster.
“Ugh!”
“An Dae-jin, out!”
Just one strike.
With that, Yoo Ji-han’s sword paused in front of the warrior’s abdomen.
Judging the victory to be decided, the referee sent him out of the sparring arena.
From the start, Yoo Ji-han had smoothly taken care of the opponent.
“Hah!”
[Provocation]
The tank, now desperate after losing a warrior, plunged his shield into the ground and activated the provocation skill.
The provocation has a failure rate, but it also affects intelligent beings as well as monsters to some extent.
The mages caught in it flinched, and soon their target shifted from the ranged dealers to the tank’s shield.
“Focus up!”
Meanwhile, Jung Young-wook, who was biting his lower lip, swung his staff widely.
Boom!
The magical energy that burst forth from his staff enveloped the surroundings.
Thus, the two mages affected by the provocation regained their senses.
‘Whoa.’
Yoo Ji-han was amazed by Jung Young-wook’s effective response.
As soon as he sensed the shift, he purposely bit his lip for pain to quickly escape the provocation’s effects, and burst his gathered magic to cover the surroundings.
Even after undergoing one round of sparring, Jung Young-wook still showed significant strength as a mage.
If Kim Si-hu had been there, he would’ve probably reacted similarly.
“I-I’m so sorry!”
“Look ahead!”
[Ice Wall]
Jung Young-wook blocked the distant arrows with a wall of ice.
The magic that sprouted precisely when needed was enough to shield the other party members from various attacks.
“Ugh!”
Yoo Ji-han ducked behind Jung Young-wook’s magic to avoid the incoming attacks.
Then, he quickly dashed toward the side of the opposing tank.
With spells flying from the front and Yoo Ji-han’s sword approaching from the side!
The flustered tank lost his cool and raised his shield.
[Shield Bash]
A large shield was imbued with dense magical energy.
Then, it extended forward, as if to push Yoo Ji-han away.
However, as it was such an obvious move, Yoo Ji-han simply sidestepped, and the attack missed completely.
“Gah!”
The tank, who was kicked hard in the side by Yoo Ji-han, collapsed to the ground.
As he pointed his sword at the fallen tank’s neck, the referee shouted.
“Shin Jeong-taek, out!”
“How can this be…”
Just before the sparring started, not only had he been brimming with confidence as a warrior, but now a tank with three years of experience had also fallen!
The mage and archer who lost all their protection swallowed hard.
*
Kim Si-hu was watching Yoo Ji-han’s sparring from outside the arena.
‘It’s almost over.’
The sparring was nearing its end.
With the party members to protect them gone, the mage and archer were too busy running around the arena, separated from each other.
“Gotcha.”
“Hah!”
Yoo Ji-han’s chase and the spells pouring down on the two targets.
With no way to escape, the opposing side ultimately declared total surrender.
“I won!”
“Wow… we actually did it.”
The two mages, who had been focused solely on attack magic from the back, wore bewildered expressions.
They were the two who had used the most magic and mana in this sparring.
However, the gazes of those watching the arena were mostly directed at Yoo Ji-han.
“Look at that warrior who went up front; he took care of everything himself.”
“Guess he really didn’t shoot a movie for nothing.”
“The mage behind also seemed pretty decent.”
While many heroes’ attention was centered on them,
Kim Si-hu looked at Jung Young-wook with mixed feelings.
‘That was originally my spot…’
Originally, Jung Young-wook had taken over the mage position that he should have occupied.
While he was glad that Yoo Ji-han had won the sparring with his friend’s help,
On the other hand, he felt a bit complicated.
It felt as if his position had been stolen from him.
‘No.’
Kim Si-hu shook his head.
These thoughts weren’t particularly helpful.
After all, it was just a temporary party.
‘I should rather be thankful.’
Having a competent mage like Jung Young-wook supporting him was much better than a weaker mage.
So, Kim Si-hu clapped his hands and smiled.
“…?”
Just then, Jung Young-wook made eye contact with Kim Si-hu.
Noticing that Kim Si-hu was looking at him, he smiled with one corner of his mouth raised,
And intentionally walked over to Yoo Ji-han.
Clap!
Jung Young-wook raised one hand to give Yoo Ji-han a high five.
It was a small celebratory act after their victory.
“……”
But the scene looked so natural, as if they were part of a real party,
That Kim Si-hu, simply watching from outside, unconsciously stopped clapping.
‘Why am I suddenly remembering that time…?’
For some reason, witnessing this scene,
Kim Si-hu recalled memories of being ostracized for differences in race.
*
After finishing the sparring, Yoo Ji-han exited the arena.
It seemed like an unexpected victory; the two mages who were in charge of the offense were rather pleased,
But Yoo Ji-han was worried about the next sparring.
‘Those two spent more mana than I expected.’
With a total of three sparrings scheduled, they had consumed an excessive amount of mana in the first match.
There wasn’t enough time for their mana to recover naturally, so if they faced a similar situation in the next sparring, they could find themselves on the defensive.
At that moment, while Yoo Ji-han was pondering about it,
“Hyung Ji-han!”
Kim Si-hu approached him.
“Hyung! I’m glad you won.”
“Thanks.”
“But hyung, you know…”
“Hmm?”
“In that last sparring…”
Speaking to Yoo Ji-han, Kim Si-hu glanced at Jung Young-wook.
“What’s up?”
“Well, that is…”
“……?”
Kim Si-hu kept trailing off.
Yoo Ji-han waited for him to continue, but
In the end, Kim Si-hu never completed his sentence and just smiled shyly, shaking his head.
“It’s nothing.”
