I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 131 : Five-Person Survival (4)

The first move was Su-hyeon's quick attack, utilizing his explosive power.

'Upper one-handed thrust!'

Having dealt with this situation countless times, Lee Yu-jin maintained her core muscles firmly and received it precisely at middle level.

Clang!

"Kuk!"

The difference in physical ability, which rendered even the advantage in mana amount and sword energy meaningless, made Lee Yu-jin get pushed back significantly, but.

"Tch."

Su-hyeon, who also suffered heart damage from the recoil, hesitated and couldn't follow up with an additional attack.

'Hmm. Very good reaction.'

Su-hyeon was secretly impressed.

"That's quite a violent greeting."

Lee Yu-jin smiled slightly and raised her sword again.

Clang clang clang clang! Kakakak!

The two exchanged relentless attacks and defenses.

'As expected of Su-hyeon. There were hardly any people even in our dojo who could exert this level of pressure.'

Innate physical ability and sense.

That was the secret behind how Su-hyeon, who hadn't held a sword for long, could have excellent exchanges with Lee Yu-jin.

'His speed, power, and balance have all improved compared to back then.'

Su-hyeon, whose physical specs had become remarkably stronger in just a few months.

'Moreover, his tactics of piercing through the gaps in one's thinking were already tremendous back then.'

Su-hyeon's swordsmanship was fierce like a waterfall, maintaining and developing his strengths from that time while finding his own path and adding another level to his mastery.

Shoulder, head, ankle, solar plexus.

The sword tip that created illusions by shaking unpredictably, making it impossible to know where it would target, stabbed at the knee to break posture, and.

Crack!

His left hand wrapped in a Mana Shield came flying like a hammer.

After parrying, he hooked the ankle with a small foot movement while simultaneously executing an upper rising slash.

He seemed to constantly use small hand and foot movements, but then firmly pressured with a solid sword technique, gripping the hwando with both hands.

Nevertheless.

'Solid!'

Su-hyeon secretly clicked his tongue at Lee Yu-jin's defense, which withstood his attacks with a heavy weight.

Clang!

Then suddenly, Lee Yu-jin's counter struck Su-hyeon's blade violently, shaking his internal organs with a penetrating scene.

'Kuk!'

Su-hyeon, swallowing a scream in his throat, retreated with a backstep, and.

Swoosh!

He temporarily mitigated Lee Yu-jin's downward slash, which pursued him relentlessly with skilled footwork, by floating a Mana Shield in the air, then deviated from the trajectory and aimed for her head with a quick thrust.

Swish!

Lee Yu-jin, who narrowly avoided Su-hyeon's blade that grazed her hair, stopped her pursuit and retreated.

'To show such a follow-up response even after taking a direct hit from a penetrating scene. As expected of Su-hyeon.'

Su-hyeon's endurance was remarkable, enduring even impacts to untrained internal organs while somehow maintaining his breathing.

However.

'I've seized the momentum.'

Lee Yu-jin, having regained her breath, pressed Su-hyeon again.

'Just crossing swords disturbs his breathing. But if I focus solely on dodging, I'll be manipulated according to his intentions and self-destruct.'

Su-hyeon disrupted her offensive with sword strikes targeting her wrist, elbow, and other points, but.

Clang!

Lee Yu-jin twisted her wrist to deflect Su-hyeon's sword, then used an elastic dash to thrust the dragon head fist that had taken down Nam Tae-hoon into Su-hyeon's solar plexus.

'Not a chance!'

Even with disturbed breathing, Su-hyeon knocked away Lee Yu-jin's wrist with his elbow and attacked her ribs with the hilt of his sword.

"Kuk!"

Instead of blocking Su-hyeon's attack, Lee Yu-jin pushed him away by ramming him with her shoulder.

'She's barely being pushed back.'

Not only was there a weight difference, but the physical abilities of the two themselves were so different that it couldn't be helped.

But even in the midst of this, Su-hyeon's expression wasn't good due to the pinpoint attack on his solar plexus.

'Good. So far it's an equal fight.'

Lee Yu-jin had been countering Su-hyeon by reading the signs of attacks, using reflexes, tactical exchanges, and a swordsman's intuition.

This allowed for responses much faster than normal reflexes.

Thanks to this, the two exchanged fierce tactics to the point where it was hard to say who was better, but it would be fair to say that Su-hyeon, who had suffered internal damage several times, was at a slight disadvantage.

However.

'Su-hyeon isn't using that doping skill.'

Lee Yu-jin knew well that Su-hyeon still had a lot of power in reserve.

Lee Yu-jin, thinking that he might intend to defeat her without doping skills, sharpened her eyes.

'That's somewhat, unpleasant.'

A swordsman's pride, once ignited, could not tolerate this.

"Su-hyeon."

"What?"

"Aren't you conserving your strength too much? I guess I've been underestimated quite a bit."

"There's a misunderstanding there."

Su-hyeon, feeling the screams of his aching heart and blood vessels, said.

"Not many would value you as highly as I do."

"I thought so, but your behavior today says otherwise."

"Well."

Su-hyeon shrugged.

"This is a fight. I don't need to explain that to you."

"I see."

Lee Yu-jin's expression grew cold.

"Then I'll just have to break that arrogance with my own hands."

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

'Phew, this is intense.'

I sighed inwardly.

'Lee Yu-jin has really become stronger.'

Lee Yu-jin's sword coming at me with sincerity was this fierce.

'If it's like this from the start, it's going to be tough.'

Nevertheless, there was a reason why I wasn't using my doping skills.

'Tachypsychia Mode puts too much strain on the brain.'

Especially when used with Liberation, it can give tremendous power in a short time, but the duration is extremely short and the aftereffects are severe.

Moreover, since the [Liberation] skill involves instantly drawing out potential that the body has placed limits on, it also carries risks proportional to the increased output.

'If direct damage is inflicted on muscles already pushed to their limits, they could collapse completely.'

From the outset, human muscle fibers have limits because they would destroy themselves if they exceed manageable power.

'It's truly a doping technique that should only be used at the most critical moments.'

Without the Unlimited characteristic, it would be a dangerous skill that might leave one permanently disabled from irreversible aftereffects after just a few uses.

'Therefore, relying solely on such doping skills whenever facing a strong opponent is a very foolish choice.'

It's a much better approach to defeat strong opponents with sustainable, stable output combat power.

'Theoretically, the best way is to apply momentary buffs for a very short decisive moment.'

But.

Clang!

Lee Yu-jin's offensive, constantly diving into range and pressuring, was powerful enough to be burdensome to handle with just my original strength.

'Especially with the current Lee Yu-jin.'

The power and potential possessed by ultra-named characters like Lee Yu-jin, Hwang Ji-su, and Seo Jun-seong make them worthy of being called children chosen by the stars.

Moreover, their talents, which have passed through my hands to varying degrees, have begun to shine ahead of previous iterations.

'Therefore.'

This was a challenge.

'I will surpass Lee Yu-jin with my own strength, without doping skills.'

After that, Seo Jun-seong, and then Min Hae-na.

I still had three mountains to climb.

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

"Huuuum!"

When Seo Jun-seong uprooted trees and hurled rocks, Hwang Ji-su froze them all.

Crack!

And then thawed them out.

Booooom!

The massive ice wall melting again created a tremendous blizzard.

'Trying to block visibility.'

But this was a pattern he had already experienced with Choi Mina.

Instead of waiting for unpredictable enemy attacks, Seo Jun-seong chose to increase altitude and escape, and.

'I knew you'd dodge like that!'

Ice picks, ice lances, and the jaws of ice wolves created by Hwang Ji-su, who seemed to draw out all the moisture in the air, pounced on him at once.

"Now that's more interesting."

Seo Jun-seong caught all those attacks with a barrier created by telekinesis that wrapped around him, but.

'The cold is seeping in!'

He felt that barrier being invaded by the attacks that came rippling toward him.

'Hmph, unfortunately, my attacks don't end with just one hit.'

And the cold that turned the entire area into an ice kingdom invaded with Hwang Ji-su's mana once more, turning the whole area into a massive glacier.

Crack!

"Hmm!"

Seo Jun-seong increased the output of his telekinesis and compressed its density to form a gravity field, extending it in a straight line to successfully escape through the glacier.

'Chilling to the bone. Cold so severe it even invades telekinesis.'

Choi Mina's magic, Hong In-hyeon's wind, Hwang Ji-su's ice.

All of them were tricky to handle even with his ability.

'That's what makes them worth overpowering and surpassing.'

Gugugugugu.

Seo Jun-seong's telekinesis with extreme density created a pair of semi-transparent 'giant arms' behind him.

"I'll go all out."

"So you still weren't using your full power, you arrogant guy."

Like clouds surrounding a dragon.

Crack!

The cloud of cold around Hwang Ji-su began to dominate the area.

"Let's do this. Let's see who's superior."

Jeong Su-hyeon versus Lee Yu-jin.

Seo Jun-seong versus Hwang Ji-su.

The Instructors watching the moment when the resolution between these four people, who had heated up the academy throughout the semester, would be determined, felt a fresh sense of emotion.

"Wow, this is truly a feast for the eyes."

Instructor Oh Chang-seong chuckled.

"I don't know when they got this strong."

"The trials from the Ma-in who couldn't kill them have ultimately forged the cadets into even harder steel."

Instructor Choi Seung-wook said.

"Jin-un also fought well. He's a tenacious guy."

Instructor Kim Cheol-han's words made him laugh.

"Hehe. Is that so."

"By the way, it's surprising again that this is a first-year fight."

Instructor Seok Hong-jae said.

"Any one of those four would be top student material in other years, but we have four of them."

"Hmm."

Vice Principal Gong Gi-jeong, watching the screen, drew a satisfied smile at the corner of his mouth.

'This cohort will undoubtedly be one that goes down in academy history.'

Outstanding disciples are like the dream of every teacher.

The only point where he felt regret was the fact that he couldn't guide them directly with his own hands.

"It looks like a resolution will come soon."

He agreed with Instructor Kim Cheol-han's words.

"Yes, it's a razor-thin difference."

❀⋆｡°✿☆❀✿°｡⋆❀

The moment of resolution approached quickly.

Hwang Ji-su's ice, which froze everything, failed to freeze only Seo Jun-seong.

Hwang Ji-su's attempt to endure the physical force created by overwhelming telekinesis with massive volumes of ice while infiltrating cold to eventually freeze him had accumulated frost on Seo Jun-seong's body.

However.

Boom!

Seo Jun-seong's offensive, using the very ice he had broken as his own bullets and overwhelming with firepower, was ultimately too much for Hwang Ji-su to overcome.

"...My victory."

Seo Jun-seong declared, stopping an ice pick in front of Hwang Ji-su, who had lost her resistance capacity.

"......"

Hwang Ji-su silently squeezed her eyes shut.

'Am I still unable to reach Jeong Su-hyeon and Seo Jun-seong?'

She was so frustrated she could cry, but she slightly froze her tear ducts to forcibly stop tears from coming.

"Hey."

"...Speak."

"Don't stay in the same place. After I sleep and wake up, I'll catch up to you."

"That's truly a frightening statement."

Seo Jun-seong also laughed.

"I think I've met some truly terrifying competitors."

"Hmph. Do your best. I'm curious whether Jeong Su-hyeon or you will win."

"Lee Yu-jin might advance too."

"I'm not specifically looking down on Lee Yu-jin."

Hwang Ji-su clicked her tongue.

"It's just that Jeong Su-hyeon is such an onion-like guy, I feel like he'll definitely reverse the situation with some hidden trick."

"Hmm. That."

Seo Jun-seong, rubbing his chin, acknowledged.

"I can't deny it."

Their prediction matched exactly.

The fierce battle between Su-hyeon and Lee Yu-jin, who had cut down dozens of trees and suffered numerous stab wounds and contusions.

The resolution ended with Su-hyeon's hard-fought victory as he saw through Lee Yu-jin's intention to make a bold move of sacrificing flesh to take bone.

"Haa, haa."

Su-hyeon extended his hand to Lee Yu-jin, who had collapsed on the ground after squeezing out all her stamina.

"You were amazing. If your gambling move had succeeded, it might have been me lying down now."

Lee Yu-jin laughed dejectedly at Su-hyeon's words.

"You ultimately beat me without doping skills."

"......"

Feeling a bit sorry, Su-hyeon finally explained.

"It's a technique with too much aftermath. If I had used it, I would have been at a disadvantage in the fight with Seo Jun-seong."

At Su-hyeon's words, indicating he had been looking at the stage beyond her from the beginning, Lee Yu-jin eventually laughed.

"That's so like you."

[You have achieved victory over Cadet Lee Yu-jin!]

[Outstanding achievement! Many Instructors are taking notice of the level of swordsmanship you have demonstrated!]

[A reassessment of Lee Yu-jin's current strength and caliber is being conducted.]

[.......]

[Achievement points 850 awarded!]

Su-hyeon exhaled the breath he had been holding while watching the messages flooding the status window.

'Finally reached this point.'

Jeong Su-hyeon and Seo Jun-seong.

The battle to determine the strongest in the cohort was about to begin.