novelraw Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12 : Chapter 12
Chapter 12. Cooperative Training (3)
"Wow. This is really amazing."
Having entered the training ground, Kim Su-hyeok looked around and let out an exclamation of awe.
Honestly, it was a bit troubling for the group leader to show such behavior, but I didn't stop him right away.
Because I was feeling the exact same way Kim Su-hyeok was.
'It definitely is incredible.'
The scenery that had completely changed as soon as we stepped inside was literally incredible.
With water dripping from the ceiling and our voices echoing every time we spoke, the cave was realistic enough to be believed as an actual Gate.
It was truly an amazing manifestation ability.
I suppose this was how it became an academy with such high prestige worldwide.
However, we could not just stand there admiring it forever.
Therefore, I called out to Kim Su-hyeok, who was admiring the surroundings with his mouth hanging open.
"Kim Su-hyeok."
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I spaced out too much, didn't I? Let's get ready."
Kim Su-hyeok, who had a childlike expression just a moment ago, hardened his face as if he never did.
It was a good attitude, knowing how to act appropriately for the situation.
"Then, just like we decided at first, I will take the front, Jin-eon in the middle, and Ha-yeon at the very back. And Yu-seong will..."
"I will judge the situation on my own."
"Then I will leave it to you."
Kim Su-hyeok smiled brightly and said that.
To be relied upon by the protagonist, it was a good feeling.
"Then we will head out now."
"Good. Let's get going."
Kim Su-hyeok's departure signal and Oh Jin-eon's voice backing it up.
Like that, we began to move forward little by little.
***
While we were endlessly moving forward, Kim Su-hyeok's voice rang out from the front.
"Multiple Monsters appearing ahead. It looks like combat is unavoidable."
The news that the vanguard had discovered Monsters.
However, Oh Jin-eon and Ju Ha-yeon did not seem to be thinking about moving.
Was it because they had only learned the theory and this was their first actual combat, so they did not know what to do?
It could not be helped.
I had also only learned the theory, but for now, given the urgency, I had no choice but to give orders.
"He said there are multiple Monsters, so Oh Jin-eon, join the vanguard. Ju Ha-yeon, cover them from behind."
"Oh no, my apologies. I will join the fight immediately!"
Fortunately, as soon as I finished speaking, Oh Jin-eon immediately ran toward Kim Su-hyeok.
In response, Ju Ha-yeon also began to nock an arrow on her bowstring.
'This wasn't originally my role.'
Usually, the rearguard took on the role of giving orders in most cases.
There were occasionally cases where other positions took it on, but at the very least, the Joker position did not handle this role.
In the first place, it would be troublesome for a position that was already busy making its own judgments to double up on giving orders.
'Hmm?'
While I was briefly having such thoughts, a Monster that suddenly popped out was approaching Ju Ha-yeon.
It was likely a Monster that had slipped past the vanguard.
Ju Ha-yeon did not seem to have noticed it yet.
"Damn it."
I could not just watch Ju Ha-yeon get hurt here.
Therefore, I swiftly dashed toward Ju Ha-yeon.
Rushing toward Ju Ha-yeon rather than the Monster could reduce the unpredictable variables.
While frantically running toward Ju Ha-yeon, our eyes met.
"Y-You. What are you doing?!"
Ju Ha-yeon seemed startled by my sudden rush.
However, there was no time to leisurely explain the situation.
I immediately swung my sword.
"Kyaaak!"
CLANG-!
A clear, ringing sound echoed along with Ju Ha-yeon's fragile scream.
It was the sound created by my sword clashing with the claws of that lizard Monster.
I thought about whether I could cut it down just like this, but it was impossible.
No matter how many simulations I ran in my head, I could not take it out in one strike.
Having made that judgment, I shouted to Ju Ha-yeon.
"Get ready to shoot!"
"What? A-Understood!"
Still, her situational judgment was quick.
Thinking that, I angled my blade to deflect the charging Monster's attack again, and then threw my body to the side.
At the same time, an arrow flew through the air, cutting the wind.
SWOOOSH-
CRACK!
A direct hit.
The Monster died instantly as the arrow pierced perfectly between its eyes.
However, unfortunately, that did not mean the situation was over.
"There are more than I thought."
At a rough glance, about a dozen or so?
I quickly glanced over to where Kim Su-hyeok and Oh Jin-eon were.
Seeing that they were highly concentrated, it did not seem like they would hear me even if I shouted from here.
'Then it looks like Ju Ha-yeon and I will have to handle this ourselves.'
I briefly wondered if Ju Ha-yeon would actually listen to me, but I soon decided it would be fine.
Because she was a girl who clearly distinguished between personal feelings and professional matters.
I quickly relayed the situation to Ju Ha-yeon.
"It doesn't look like Kim Su-hyeok and Oh Jin-eon can come over right now. So the two of us have to do this, are you okay with that?"
"It is not a matter of being okay with it or not. I know that this is a situation where we have to do it even if we don't want to, you know?"
Was it really necessary to go so far as to say 'a situation where we have to do it even if we don't want to'?
I felt a bit disappointed, but I soon got over it.
Because if anything, it was a relief that she had at least agreed to it.
I should think positively.
"Then the plan is: I take the aggro, and you finish them off. Here we go."
With those last words, I dove into the middle of the Monsters.
I heard a muttered complaint of '...What kind of plan is that?' from behind, but I did not pay it any mind.
Because right now, the matter right in front of me was more important than such trivial things.
"Kieeeek!!!"
The lizard bastards letting out bizarre shrieks.
Right now they were staring at me, but as the battle continued, they would realize that Ju Ha-yeon was the bigger threat.
So first of all, I needed to firmly lock down their attention.
'Using the terrain seems to be the best option.'
When your strength is weak, you must know how to utilize everything around you.
The stalactites clustered on the cave ceiling caught my eye.
If I used those, I could easily draw their aggro while expending less effort.
Therefore, without hesitation, I wrapped my sword in a faint amount of mana and began striking down the stalactites.
RUMBLE!!
At the same time as my strikes, the cave began to echo with the fall of countless stalactites.
The Monsters began to grow agitated in response.
It did not threaten their lives, but it seemed to have drawn their aggro spectacularly well.
'I should get ready now.'
An arrow that just flew in from behind pierced through one of the Monsters.
No matter how much I had riled them up, it would be a problem if Ju Ha-yeon was the only one attacking the Monsters.
I immediately gripped my sword tightly in my hand and dug into the midst of the Monsters.
"Hmph!"
I deflected the attack of the first one that lunged at me and struck the next one away with the hilt of my sword.
Then, I evaded the subsequent pincer attack from the Monsters by driving my sword into the cave wall and using the recoil.
After continuing to hit and run like that for a while, the Monsters were gradually cleared out by the continuous rain of arrows.
Eventually, all that remained was a single limping Monster that had been grazed by an arrow.
SLICE-!
I cleanly sliced down the last one and let out a heavy breath.
"Haa, haa..."
Just then, a booming voice could be heard from ahead.
"Yu-seong!! Are you okay?!"
The owner of the voice was Kim Su-hyeok.
It seemed he had completely taken care of all the Monsters over there.
'But why is he so clean?'
There were definitely far more Monsters on that side compared to here.
His condition was so perfectly fine that you wouldn't think he was someone who had just fought a battle.
If I had not seen Oh Jin-eon's state beside him, I would have believed him if he said he had just returned from a picnic.
It was a natural result since it was Kim Su-hyeok, but it still felt a bit unfair.
"I am fine. What about you?"
"I have no problems. By the way, I'm sorry... If I had paid more attention, this wouldn't have happened."
What was he sorry for when he had done plenty well enough?
No matter how talented he was, he was still just a 17-year-old who had only just enrolled in school.
If he had the situational awareness to notice and rush over in the middle of that chaotic melee, why would he even attend the academy? He would already be active as a pro Player.
I gave a smile that meant it was fine and patted Kim Su-hyeok's shoulder.
At that, Kim Su-hyeok looked at me as if he were surprised.
"This is the second time I've seen you smile, Yu-seong."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah. You always talk so little and rarely smile, so I was worried thinking something bad was going on."
Was that the case? I was not really sure.
If I was like that, I figured it was probably because I had only been going through tough times lately.
I was doing nothing but training every single day, and not long ago, I even went and killed a Villain.
I would need something to smile about to actually smile, wouldn't I?
Still, if Kim Su-hyeok went out of his way to say that, I should try to smile more from now on.
Thinking that, I gave Kim Su-hyeok an appropriate reply and then shifted my gaze toward Ju Ha-yeon, who was standing quite a distance away.
Managing my facial expressions was one thing, but right now, looking good to Ju Ha-yeon was more important.
'Since we fought together, it should be fine to at least offer a greeting.'
I needed to get close to Ju Ha-yeon as quickly as possible anyway.
Therefore, after pondering for a moment, I soon offered Ju Ha-yeon a word of praise for her hard work.
"Good work out there."
"I didn't really do much."
"I know it takes a lot of concentration to shoot a bow. That's why I said good work."
"...You too."
Not bad.
I would have to be satisfied with this for now.
Unlike Kim Su-hyeok, she was someone who would have the opposite reaction if I tried to get close too quickly.
I turned my gaze away from Ju Ha-yeon and spoke to Kim Su-hyeok once again.
"I think it'd be best if we start moving again."
"Are you okay without resting more?"
"I'm fine."
"Got it. Then we will head out again. Is everyone okay with that?"
At Kim Su-hyeok's words, everyone nodded their heads.
Like that, the Group 7 members finished reorganizing and began to advance once again.
***
The subsequent battles were nothing special.
Perhaps the Monsters had been concentrated in the very first battle, as there were not many of them left.
The Boss Room we arrived at after that was practically Kim Su-hyeok's solo stage.
My only role was occasionally drawing its attention, you could say?
Oh Jin-eon and Ju Ha-yeon were the same as me, having no particularly noteworthy roles either.
The only good thing was that I gained Influence Points, albeit a small amount.
Like that, our group easily finished the cooperative training and shared a brief conversation with Im Seong-cheol, who was waiting for us.
"There will be an evaluation shortly, so head to your seats and sit down."
"Yes, understood!"
While we went to our seats and waited for the evaluation, I had some trivial conversations with Kim Su-hyeok and Oh Jin-eon, and we promised to grab lunch together after class ended.
Naturally, Ju Ha-yeon declined the lunch invitation.
Because for her, it would have been an unproductive waste of time in the first place.
After killing time like that for quite a while, the final group finally came out, marking the end of the training for all the groups.
"Great work today, everyone! This must have still been a difficult training exercise for you all, but I want to convey my thanks for following along."
Im Seong-cheol's words started in a calm voice.
However, that calmness soon turned into sternness.
"However, that doesn't mean the evaluations will be generous. There must be a clear distinction between what you did well and what you did poorly in order for there to be growth."
GULP.
At the word 'evaluation,' the sound of people swallowing their saliva could be heard from here and there.
Then again, for a Cadet, evaluations were probably more important than anything else.
"Then let's start with Group 1 first!"
Im Seong-cheol's subsequent words were brief, but they were evaluations that definitely hit the key points.
"Ryu Jin-oh. Your individual combat prowess was definitely outstanding. But you didn't communicate with your group members at all. That is a point deduction."
"Ugh!"
Because even the great Ryu Jin-oh could not refute it and had to just listen.
The evaluation for Group 6 finally ended, and it was time for our Group 7's evaluation.
The evaluation for Group 7 started with our group leader, Kim Su-hyeok.
"Kim Su-hyeok. You played the role of the Vanguard well enough, but it was a bit disappointing that you failed to properly check on the rearguard. I think you'll be perfect once you fix that one aspect."
"Thank you!"
"Next is Oh Jin-eon. You failed to properly execute the role of the Center. Despite there being some leeway in the vanguard, you were completely absorbed in the battle. That is a point deduction."
"I will try harder!!"
"Next after that is Ju Ha-yeon. There were moments when you panicked, but your quick response was good to see. From next time on, I expect you to show yourself taking on the role of commanding as well."
"Yes. Understood."
The evaluations ended faster than I expected.
Now it was my turn.
I was not nervous, but I was looking forward to what kind of evaluation I would get.
"Choi Yu-seong."
"Yes."
"It was the best judgment a Cadet could possibly show. Taking on the difficult position of Joker flawlessly while issuing orders at the same time is not an easy task, after all."
I said I was looking forward to it, but this was too much praise.
However, Im Seong-cheol's words did not end there.
"Furthermore, seeing you draw aggro so that attacks wouldn't head toward the Archer, and properly gauging your own skills to leave the finishing blow to Ju Ha-yeon, it was all very impressive."
Due to the continuing relay of praises, all the Cadets turned their heads toward me.
Ryu Jin-oh was also among them.
Then again, since a mere 899th rank was continuously being praised by the instructor, how could they not be interested?
But that embarrassment came to an end not long after.
In a way that was not fortunate at all.
"However, the areas where you still lack were also clear. As I mentioned last time, why do you turn the direction..."
Im Seong-cheol's lecture poured out right after.
This felt like a scene I had seen a lot before.
It felt like a memory of what happened last week was about to surface.
Still, I would have to endure it and listen...
Like that, thinking only about the lunch I was going to have with Kim Su-hyeok, I succeeded in enduring his lecture.
Fortunately, since I listened with my eyes open this time, I was able to save ten minutes.