I Entered an Academy in a Ruined Game

Chapter 82 : Midterm Exams (3)

Instructor Lim Jeong-tae's sword was a European-style one-handed arming sword.

The tapered blade that narrowed toward the tip was suitable for both thrusting and cutting.

The cross guard protecting the handle was quite long, making it usable for defense as well.

Kaang!

Instructor Lim Jeong-tae lightly deflected Su-hyeon's horizontal slash and executed a thrust with syncopated timing.

'He doesn't easily give up his timing.'

Su-hyeon lightly twisted the trajectory of the thrust with his left arm surrounded by a Mana Shield, then stepped forward and tried to strike the temple with his sword hilt.

'Hmph!'

Lim Jeong-tae lightly removed his front foot, ducked his head to avoid the attack, then retreated to the left to create distance and swung a diagonal downward slash focused on speed rather than weight.

'Fast.'

Su-hyeon dodged it and attempted a weighted downward strike in return, but.

"Too slow!"

Lim Jeong-tae, who had already created distance with dazzling backsteps, let the sword attack slide past him then immediately closed the distance to attempt a counterattack.

'Where!'

Ppagak!

Lim Jeong-tae received Su-hyeon's front kick, which had come flying to create distance, with the flat of his blade, then endured his sore wrist and immediately slashed at the lower section.

Tadak!

Su-hyeon jumped up on one foot and, like in a martial arts film, performed a dazzling aerial maneuver to strike down at Lim Jeong-tae with his hwando.

Chaeng!

Lim Jeong-tae smiled as he smoothly received the attack that had Su-hyeon's entire body behind it.

'I heard his evasive ability is well-known. Not something to be taken lightly?'

It was certainly a formidable skill, almost incomparable among first-year cadets he had met in recent years.

Therefore.

'Shall I start getting serious?'

Lim Jeong-tae finally shifted into high gear.

"!"

He drew a reaction with a thrusting motion, followed by an ankle slash, then closed the distance—calculating that Su-hyeon would retreat—and aimed a short sword strike at the collarbone.

When Su-hyeon tried to raise his sword to defend, Lim Jeong-tae spun around once and slashed at the middle section.

Kaang!

Although Su-hyeon successfully defended by quickly turning his sword, Lim Jeong-tae, who had already closed the distance, grabbed Su-hyeon's left arm and delivered an elbow attack to his neck.

"Kuk!"

Not giving Su-hyeon any room to retreat, Lim Jeong-tae continued pressing and lightly swung his sword from Su-hyeon's blind spot to cut his calf.

Seogek!

'Damn it!'

Su-hyeon broke into a cold sweat at Lim Jeong-tae's skillfulness, who seemed to read all his reactions and successfully landed an attack with fluid movements.

'You're serious now, Instructor Lim.'

When an instructor-class opponent starts fighting seriously, it means there's no room for Su-hyeon to gain an advantage in technique and tactical operation at his current level.

'He'll dodge this way. Yes. He'll want to shake off my pressure.'

Lim Jeong-tae continued his offensive, reading Su-hyeon's likely reactions and strategies almost identically to Su-hyeon's own thoughts.

'He'll come this way.'

Chaeng!

He even reached the point of blocking without looking.

"Oops. That was a bit predictable."

'This is an instructor. An expert in human combat.'

For Su-hyeon, this was the first opponent of this type he had encountered in this playthrough.

While the Ma-ins who wielded overwhelming strength and ferocity were fundamentally hunters or other awakened ones.

Few had deeply trained in human combat like the Execution Force and accumulated experience in active duty for a long time.

Moreover, if his opponent was an instructor with enough depth to teach and pass on that knowledge to the next generation of Execution Force members.

Su-hyeon's advantage of drawing extreme efficiency while maximizing his limited specs compared to his opponent was bound to diminish.

'Is this Kim Cheol-han's idea? He struck a very sharp point.'

Instructor Lim Jeong-tae spoke while watching Su-hyeon barely withstand the pressure.

"So that's the extent of your swordsmanship. Very interesting, but I think I've seen most of it now."

"...!"

Kagagak!

Lim Jeong-tae, with their swords pressed together, performed an exquisite wrist twist and took Su-hyeon's sword.

'Oh no!'

Caught off guard by the truly ghost-like skill, Su-hyeon lost his grip on the sword.

'I see. Now I understand the intention.'

Su-hyeon thought as he watched Lim Jeong-tae throw away his own sword after taking Su-hyeon's.

"Then shall we see some other talents? Let's fight bare-handed."

"Huu."

Su-hyeon sighed and lightly stepped into an upright stance.

"Boxing? Good."

Lim Jeong-tae extended a jab from a precarious distance, targeting the moment when Su-hyeon's step and center of gravity slightly rose.

When Su-hyeon lightly tilted his head back to avoid it, Lim Jeong-tae delivered a powerful jab to the solar plexus.

Shuk!

Su-hyeon parried the attack with a front hand long guard and launched a body hook while ghosting through the rear hand straight with a slip.

Ppaak!

Lim Jeong-tae blocked the attack with his left guard and immediately executed a right short uppercut.

When Su-hyeon tilted his head back again to avoid the attack, Lim Jeong-tae, as if he had been waiting for this, threw a left long hook that sharply pounded above Su-hyeon's guard.

Ppagak!

'He threw a predictive shot immediately after seeing my evasion technique.'

Before Su-hyeon could inwardly admire that merciless aggressiveness.

Lim Jeong-tae, now using kicks as well, unleashed a calf kick, an outside low kick, and then an inside low kick while retreating.

'He's relentless.'

However, after allowing one calf kick, Su-hyeon safely received the low kicks using the orthodox defense method of lifting his leg and releasing tension.

Then he aimed a powerful front kick at Lim Jeong-tae's solar plexus.

Lim Jeong-tae stepped back, receiving the kick with his guard, and smiled.

"You've been properly trained. I can see why Instructor Oh covets you."

"You're holding back quite a bit."

Su-hyeon said this because the impact of the low kicks was far removed from the kick power he remembered.

"Dissatisfied?"

"As a cadet taking an exam, it's fortunate."

"Hooh."

Lim Jeong-tae laughed at Su-hyeon's peculiar response.

"Well, this MMA style is fun too, but what I've learned most deeply is actually Sanda."

Sanda.

A modern Chinese combat sport based on Chinese martial arts like Tai Chi and Wing Chun, incorporating elements from sambo, boxing, taekwondo, karate, Muay Thai, and traditional wrestling.

Initially designed for military use, it later transformed into the realm of sport Sanda after modifications.

'No choking techniques, and instead of knee kicks, palm clinches, and dirty boxing, it places heavy emphasis on throws in close situations.'

Su-hyeon thought.

'Anyway, it can be said to embody the concept of "softness" valued in Chinese martial arts.'

Compared to major combat sports like boxing, Muay Thai, and jiu-jitsu, there aren't many awakened ones who use Sanda.

Therefore, its unique attack methods were inevitably difficult to counter.

'If the opponent weren't me, that is.'

A side kick with an irregular trajectory came flying, but Su-hyeon instead dug in with a forward ducking motion to slip past the kick and aimed a low kick at Lim Jeong-tae's unstable standing foot.

"Ho!"

Lim Jeong-tae's choice was neither defense nor evasion, but rather a Brazilian kick that changed trajectory and struck downward from a high point.

Ppaak!

Their kicks hit each other's guard and shin respectively.

'Where do you think!'

Lim Jeong-tae evaded Su-hyeon's attempt to grab his leg with a quick retrieval, and using Su-hyeon's forward-leaning posture, grabbed his collar and swung his waist to successfully execute a throw.

'No, only half successful.'

Su-hyeon, flying through the air with momentum, landed far away after performing an aerial somersault.

"You look like someone who's fought with a Sanda user before?"

"I've seen it in videos a few times."

"Huh."

Lim Jeong-tae laughed once and began his attack again.

'Damn it.'

Su-hyeon clenched his molars.

Dodging, blocking, thrusting, striking, grabbing and twisting.

The high-level exchange between the two continued fiercely, but as time passed, it was Su-hyeon who was being pushed back.

'It's really difficult to land even one effective hit.'

Lim Jeong-tae, understanding Su-hyeon's evasion techniques like slipping, weaving, and ducking, extended his attacks to where Su-hyeon would move, repeatedly breaking Su-hyeon's flow and inflicting damage.

Jjaak!

'Damn!'

When Su-hyeon's foot stopped due to a whip-like outside low kick, Lim Jeong-tae immediately followed with a series of attacks—a front hand straight, a rear hand hook, and then a front hand body jab—piling up damage on Su-hyeon.

'This is tricky.'

Lim Jeong-tae's low kicks countered Su-hyeon's pattern of evasive maneuvers through footwork and angular movement, preventing him from gaining angular advantage with kicks and follow-up strikes.

It was such a meticulous attack that Su-hyeon couldn't fully avoid it even with his Eye Power.

No, to be more precise.

'If I force myself to dodge, I'll suffer more from the subsequent attacks.'

A method where focusing on individual strikes would lead to being knocked down by the decisive blow created as a result of meticulously built setups.

That was Lim Jeong-tae's tactic.

'This level of technical fighting feels like the first time I've experienced it since transmigrating into this game.'

Su-hyeon thought.

Against Wild Wolf. Against Crusher.

At least in terms of technique and tactical operation, Su-hyeon had always had the upper hand.

That's why.

'This is fun.'

Su-hyeon smiled.

'This guy is really something.'

Lim Jeong-tae smiled in response.

The boxing game, the kick game, the grappling game.

And the technical battle that mixed all of them.

Lim Jeong-tae was using all available options without reservation to pressure Su-hyeon, but he had only succeeded in landing two clean hits.

'First of all, his stamina is good.'

Su-hyeon, who covered his operational disadvantage with more movement and footwork, showed no signs of fatigue yet, which surprised Lim Jeong-tae.

'Despite taking several low kicks, his feet haven't slowed down.'

Moreover, his distance control technique seemed to have reached almost complete mastery.

'Nevertheless, continuously chipping away at mobility with kicks is the right answer.'

Jjaak!

Lim Jeong-tae, after landing a long-range low kick, deflected an incoming front kick with a parry and then threw an irregular backspin blow.

However, Su-hyeon was too calm to stupidly take such a wide-motion attack.

Bwoong!

Su-hyeon, who greatly ducked his body to avoid the attack, chose an option far beyond Lim Jeong-tae's expectations instead of extending his fist toward Lim Jeong-tae's open body.

'Oh?!'

Namely, he utilized the momentum of ducking his head to grab Lim Jeong-tae's left leg and attempt a single leg takedown.

'Interesting!'

If Lim Jeong-tae had been taken down as intended, it would have been a perfectly clean grappling transition.

"Hreup!"

Lim Jeong-tae, who withstood and didn't fall due to his solid core and balance, instead trapped Su-hyeon's head between his side and arm, and only then fell as Su-hyeon wanted.

Kwaaang!

A technique often used as a signature move in professional wrestling.

The DDT resounded loudly on the bare floor.

"Dangerous!"

"Su-hyeon!"

It was such a powerful attack that the watching cadets were shocked.

"Keu."

Su-hyeon, who had reduced much of the impact by falling on his elbow first, made Lim Jeong-tae avoid him with a motion like an illegal eye poke, then succeeded in escaping by freeing his arm.

'I took a hit.'

But the damage remained considerable.

Momentarily dazed as if experiencing low blood pressure, Su-hyeon twisted his head from side to side and increased the distance backward.

"Good attempt. I'll give you credit for that."

Lim Jeong-tae nodded, thinking that even by his own standards, he had countered nicely.

"Don't you think we have good chemistry? Hm? You're fighting at just the right level for me to counter effectively."

'Hmm.'

That comment slightly grated on Su-hyeon's pride.

Although there was clearly an inevitable wall between them at present.

The situation where the veteran player's unique fighting style of overcoming spec differences with technique wasn't working well had left a scratch on Su-hyeon's pride.

'An opponent who offsets tactical advantages based on equal-level options to mine.'

While definitely a different type of formidable opponent from those he had met before.

'Then I should change my approach too.'

"Oh?"

Lim Jeong-tae inwardly admired Su-hyeon's guts upon seeing his smile.

'To be able to smile at this point. A born fighter.'

"Shall we finish this up?"

"It won't be easy."

Su-hyeon's fighting spirit began to blaze.