Chapter 34

Chapter 34: The Exam (2)

—Screech.......

—Screeech.

Inside the Pale Monkey Forest.

It was exactly as Cha Eunwoo had described in his lectures.

Unlike outside, the monsters in here merely watched the unfamiliar visitors warily—they didn't attack first.

"Let's wipe them out and get out of here!"

Nam Hyeju made her enthusiasm clear, but An Seri raised an arm to stop her.

The scoring method was purely time attack.

They needed to take down the monsters quickly for a good score.

But rushing in headlong wasn't the smart play.

They had to leverage their one-time first-strike advantage to deal massive damage.

"Hyeju, Miseong. Herd the monsters into one spot. But don't threaten them enough to provoke an attack."

Nam Hyeju and Gam Miseong approached the monkeys.

The two drew their weapons and began whooshing them through the air.

"Shoo, get moving."

"Want me to kill you all?"

—Screeech.......

The monkeys began retreating reluctantly.

Riding the momentum, Nam Hyeju charged forward.

"RAH!"

—SCREEEECH!

The monkeys leapt in fright.

Watching them scatter, Nam Hyeju cackled.

Gam Miseong watched her and muttered internally.

'She acts exactly like a monkey herself.'

Nam Hyeju's eyes narrowed.

"Geum Taeyang, you just thought something rude, didn't you?"

"No I didn't."

Gam Miseong flinched, but played it off with a straight-faced lie.

Nam Hyeju withdrew her suspicious glare and went back to menacing the monkeys.

"Not bad so far."

While the front line herded, the rear line watched the battlefield from behind, centered around An Seri.

The defining trait of the Pale Monkey Forest:

The individual grunts weren't particularly strong, but their numbers were large and their patterns tricky—making it crucial to seize as much of an advantage as possible on the first turn.

The key was to gather them before they grew wary, then annihilate them in one sweep.

Seo Dayun felt a twinge of discomfort.

The faces and behavior of the creatures called monsters showed no hostility whatsoever.

Their appearance was a bit unusual, but they were closer to peaceful animals.

Marching into a nest of docile monsters to slaughter them all.

Is this how Heroes fight?

She'd already known this, but she couldn't help the complicated feelings.

"This kind of approach is just......"

"What was that?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

Seo Dayun brushed it off with a smile.

An Seri harbored no such weak sentiments.

She'd been raised as a member of a major guild from the day she was born.

She wasn't soft enough to waste paltry sympathy on monsters.

She gave the decisive order to annihilate humanity's enemy.

"We're blowing them all away with AoE magic. Get ready."

***

"I'll finish them all with AoE magic."

The same moment, inside a different dungeon.

A-team.

This was nothing like that shit practicum from last time.

Back then, he'd been ignorant. He hadn't known the caliber of his idiot party members, which dungeon they'd enter, or what they'd face.

Song Seokhwan recited the dungeon strategy he'd memorized in advance.

A walkthrough commissioned from one of Bisang Guild's top clearance specialists.

If he just followed this, acing the exam with an A+ would be a cakewalk.

—Young master, I put in quite a bit of work on this one too. The Pale Monkey Forest for a class of first-years? That's one eccentric professor you've got.

—Right? Oh, he also said we need to build the strategy around what he taught in class.

—Hahaha! Worry not. We're the experts in this field, aren't we?

Exactly right.

No matter how much that man liked to show off, he was just a professor at the end of the day.

Professors were ultimately second-rate when it came to real combat.

First-rate talent worked at guilds for salaries a professor couldn't dream of.

Professors were nothing worth fussing about.

"I'll show you a good time."

Against beast-type monsters, fire was king.

And with a forest environment on top of that—it was the perfect situation for fire magic.

When his teammates had finished the herding, Song Seokhwan was ready.

A wide-range spell that a small fry like Seo Dayun couldn't cast in her wildest dreams.

"Inferno!"

A massive fireball began forming above Song Seokhwan's head.

One shot of this would end it all.

Song Seokhwan grinned at the thought of earning the top score.

But reality didn't bend to Song Seokhwan's will.

"Huh? Wha—?"

"Why are they doing that?"

The monkeys they'd painstakingly herded with Aggro began scattering.

His teammates panicked and tried to menace the monkeys again, but things had long since spiraled past the point of control.

"What the......!"

The Pale Monkey Forest was not a dungeon calibrated for first-years.

At minimum, it was designed for third-years—typically a high-difficulty dungeon that fourth-years tackled for their practicals.

Because of that, there was one fact that even the top experts at Bisang Guild didn't know.

The monsters here were slightly sensitive to mana.

If that sensitivity had been severe, the trait would have been widely documented.

But because it was only slight, any mage who'd learned "Mana Domination"—a skill taught in second year—could easily fool their senses.

Since virtually no mage had ever entered this dungeon without knowing Mana Domination, the only person who'd accumulated that data was Cha Eunwoo, through the game.

Song Seokhwan had studied far more than his peers before enrollment and reached a high level of mastery.

But that mastery was limited to flashy, powerful elemental magics—his proficiency in the small, fundamental things was not particularly high.

In other words, Song Seokhwan had never learned Mana Domination.

The monkeys sensed his mana with ease.

A massive, malice-laden spell of mass destruction was bearing down on them.

The monkeys scattered frantically to maximize the number of survivors.

"What the hell went wrong?"

"This doesn't make sense... This shouldn't be happening!"

Song Seokhwan's party had executed the tactics correctly.

'So why did it end up like this?'

His molars ground together with a harsh CRUNCH.

There was still a chance. The proof was that the monsters still weren't hostile and remained passive.

Song Seokhwan finished his rapid assessment and barked orders.

"We start over from scratch! Hurry up and herd them back into—"

But then. One teammate, flustered by the unexpected turn of events, made a mistake.

One of the frenzied monkeys swung its arm and caught him—and he reflexively struck back.

SLASH!

The sound of rending flesh.

In that instant, every teammate had the same thought.

Ah. We're done for.

—SCREEEEECH!

Now that the first blow had been struck, A-team was no longer just unwelcome intruders to the monsters.

The creatures recognized them as clear enemies.

Song Seokhwan had no choice but to shout.

"God damn it! Just fight! Kill them all!"

The battle had begun.

***

C-team.

Just as Seo Dayun was preparing her big spell to sweep the monsters away—

Something went wrong. The monsters' movements changed.

"Those bastards, they're scattering!"

"Wh-why?!"

Everyone panicked.

A clean sweep was impossible now. That meant clearing would take far longer than projected.

Which meant the top score was out of reach.

An Seri had to make a choice.

'Do I tell Dayun to attack now? The payoff would be too small. But if I stall any longer......'

An Seri instinctively recognized this for what it was—a gamble.

If she gave the attack order now, she could salvage at least a B+. With their best effort, maybe even an A.

But A+ would be permanently off the table.

On the other hand, if she took the gamble, A+ was within reach.

But the fallout of failure meant B or lower.

Maybe even C+ or worse......

The stakes were her own grade—and every teammate's grade with it.

She had to choose.

A guaranteed B+, or a shot at A+......

What broke her out of her deliberation was a gentle voice.

"Sister, follow your conviction. The rest of us brothers and sisters will follow you all the way."

"Abraham......"

"That's right. We believe in you, Seri."

Abraham and Seo Dayun, standing beside her, had spoken.

Right.

An Seri had an obligation to repay their trust.

We do this my way.

"Hyeju, Miseong! Buy me just a little more time!"

"On it!"

This wasn't some sudden catastrophe.

The Professor had chosen this exam site.

He would have predicted a situation like this.

Which meant—

He'd surely left a hint as well.

An Seri calmly recalled the lectures.

'In theory, AoE magic makes it easy to handle large numbers of enemies.'

'But not every mage is an archmage whose spells can reach across an entire city. That's why other party members need to serve as herders beforehand.'

'And so herding is important. There's no single textbook for it. It's fluid and variable—depending on the situation, the dungeon, and the monsters.'

'That said, there are general principles. One: use Taunt skills or status-effect magic to restrict the monsters' movement.'

'Two: force their path, then apply pressure to direct their movement.'

C-team's initial approach of simply threatening had been effective herding.

But it lacked coercive force.

Which meant—if they applied enough force, if they threatened hard enough......!

"Dayun, can you cast twice?"

"Yeah. I'll try."

"Good. Aim where I point. There—and there."

Flames ignited in each of Seo Dayun's hands.

Magic she'd worked so hard to prepare for today.

A massive fireball.

It roared as if it would devour the forest whole.

"Fire Ball!"

KABOOM!

"Ah......"

The teammates let out hollow sighs.

The flames blazed as if they'd burn everything to ash, but the monsters—having sensed the mana in advance—had already cleared the area.

The fire, finding no targets, consumed only innocent trees.

Nam Hyeju muttered quietly.

"Are we... screwed?"

"No. Look closer."

Has our team leader lost her mind?

The monsters had all fled, and the spell they'd prepared was just burning trees—look at what, exactly......?

"Wait, what?"

The flames were spreading in an unusual way.

Normally, the monkeys would have scattered to every corner of the forest.

But with the fire blocking both flanks, they were besieged on all sides—the monkeys had no choice but to crowd into the center, where the flames hadn't reached.

It was textbook herding.

Abraham slapped his own knee and exclaimed.

"Of course... if those creatures had already turned hostile, they wouldn't fear burning their own bodies. But right now, they have no will to fight—so they're simply fleeing the fire!"

"Should I prepare the finishing blow?"

Seo Dayun asked, and An Seri answered.

"No. For a wide-area attack, a mage would have the advantage, sure."

She raised her bow and nocked an arrow.

"But when it comes to penetrating power, an archer is a cut above. If they're all huddled together like that, I might as well take them out in one shot."

IIING—

The arrowhead glowed blue.

The blue light spread rapidly across the entire shaft. The mana emanating from it was so enormous that Seo Dayun's magic looked like a parlor trick by comparison.

—Screech.......

—SCREECH!

The monsters, sensing mortal danger, tried to flee into the flames instead—but An Seri's arrow was far faster.

TWANG—

The instant the arrow left the string, the blue mana enveloping it swelled even further.

Before long, the elongated mass of mana spread a pair of wings and took on the shape of a bird.

KABOOM—!

The detonation thundered.

The blast generated a powerful gust that left the teammates stumbling, momentarily unable to keep their footing.

An Seri alone stood ramrod straight from start to finish.

When the dust cleared, nothing remained but an empty ruin.

Her teammates stood gaping, each offering their own impressions.

"Wow. That was incredible......"

"Holy... that's fucking insane. I think I'm actually falling for her."

"So this is what a top-five of the class really looks like......"

"Truly magnificent."

An Seri offered a brief remark.

"Don't be so impressed by just this much. I've still got plenty more to show. Let's go."