Chapter 57

Chapter 57: Baek Seolhwa (4)

"Scatter!"

When Baek Seolhwa shouted, B-team moved quickly.

The Fermet Golem MK-2 began flashing purple.

Then it fired a laser from its chest area.

BOOOOOM!

The laser swept along the ground as it shot forward.

Thanks to evading early, B-team took no damage, but their formation collapsed once again.

-- GROOOORRRKK-KKRRRK-KRRRRK!

The golem let out a raucous sound.

It was as if it were mocking B-team, and Baek Seolhwa nearly lost her temper.

'Hold it together, hold it together.'

The situation wasn't great.

Baek Seolhwa had taken on the control tower role for this practicum.

But if B-team's formation kept getting disrupted like this, she couldn't create a comfortable environment for the dealers.

That cunning golem kept scattering the formation before it could even form up.

"Damn! At this rate, we can't even mount a proper counterattack."

"Seolhwa! What do we do?"

Only one method came to mind.

Someone had to step up and stop the Fermet Golem from disrupting B-team.

The person most suited for that role in B-team was obviously Baek Seolhwa.

"I'll create an opening."

Baek Seolhwa moved.

A fight where she didn't have to worry about teammates began -- only herself and the enemy's movements mattered.

It was comfortable.

It felt like putting on clothes that fit Baek Seolhwa perfectly.

Of course, for Baek Seolhwa, teamplay was just--

'What am I thinking.'

Baek Seolhwa shook her head vigorously.

She suppressed her emotions and told herself.

It's not that fighting alone is comfortable.

I'm just used to it.

Keep at it, and coordinating with party members will become just as familiar.

CRASH--!

"Gkh!"

Baek Seolhwa took the Fermet Golem's fist and was knocked back.

Its strength was far greater than before.

In an Eruption state, she could've managed, but taking it barehanded wasn't easy.

'That's a pointless thought.'

Still, she'd accomplished her objective for now.

Because Baek Seolhwa had bought them time, B-team had a window to regroup, and from here they just needed to coordinate their attack and finish it.

Just as Baek Seolhwa was about to fall back.

-- GROOOORRRKK-KKRRRK-KRRRRK!

Once again, the golem let out a bizarre sound.

Uncertain of its intent, B-team hurried to form up first.

FLASH!

The golem's color changed.

The Fermet Golem's entire body shifted from purple to pink.

Then its whole body began to glimmer.

"Is this another laser pattern?"

The Fermet Golem flashed its body before firing lasers.

That was the pattern B-team had observed so far.

But this time was different.

The glowing Fermet Golem didn't do anything -- it just kept glowing.

B-team had no idea what was happening, so they watched the golem for now.

"Huh?"

"What's it doing?"

"Maybe the glow is some kind of body reinforcement?"

One teammate stepped forward.

"Whatever it is, let's take it down first! Let's bring it d-- ugh!"

The teammate's body swayed.

"What? What's wrong?"

He'd been trying to walk toward the golem, but his body wouldn't cooperate.

His body wasn't moving the way he wanted.

This disgusting sensation.

A memory of having experienced it once before surfaced.

"Nngh......"

"Damn!"

Before long, the same symptoms appeared in the other teammates.

It was the status effect they'd experienced in the Pale Monkey Forest -- Confusion.

"Damn, how do we......"

"I'll handle it."

Once again, it was Baek Seolhwa.

She'd been the one to clear the second stage at the Pale Monkey Forest too.

Baek Seolhwa possessed innate resistance to status effects, allowing her to fight back to some degree even while confused.

"Then, ugh!"

STAGGER--

But this time, even Baek Seolhwa couldn't keep her balance.

Why?

Was the Fermet Golem's Confusion stronger than the monsters from the Monkey Forest?

Baek Seolhwa found the answer quickly.

Ah, I see.

It wasn't that the enemy had gotten stronger -- I'd gotten weaker.

Baek Seolhwa without Eruption was fragile.

Fragile enough to crumble against a pathetic status effect like this.

CREAK--

The sound of teeth grinding came through.

It was Baek Seolhwa's.

"S-Seolhwa?"

Sensing something ominous, her teammates called her name.

But it didn't reach Baek Seolhwa.

An icy blue chill filled the swamp, and the temperature of the air changed.

The teammates froze in terror, clamping their mouths shut and huddling into a corner.

Baek Seolhwa's fury had erupted.

***

"It's over."

Just as the time limit was about to expire, B-team's run ended.

It ended as a Baek Seolhwa one-woman show.

Even so, the result wouldn't be very satisfying for those involved.

The final results: An Seri's C-team in first place by an overwhelming margin.

C-team was strong.

In the previous exam, they'd only managed an A due to bad matchups, but if any team could finish the remaining exams with straight A-pluses, it was C-team.

Perfect balance and standout individual performances -- the hallmarks of the best team.

Next was D-team.

They had a reputation as the weakest of the four, but they'd built solid cohesion.

No matter how special A-team was, they showed the staying power not to fall behind.

Third was A-team.

These kids had reached a level on par with others who'd been training for two months, all in less than two weeks.

Remarkable in every way.

Park Seohu in particular.

He'd proven the freshman valedictorian's skill beyond any doubt.

Dead last was B-team.

The result was dismal, but the process wasn't bad.

Not settling for one pattern and preparing a Plan B was a decent idea.

Even if it failed.

But Baek Seolhwa was clearly devastated by the outcome.

She was crouched in a corner of my office, digging at the ground.

She'd been at it for about an hour, by my estimate.

"Professor, I was pathetic, wasn't I?"

"I thought it was a decent attempt."

"Don't lie. I know you were laughing at me the whole time. Half-hearted consolation just makes it worse, so please treat me like before. Eating alone in an empty bathroom stall, no friends, bad personality, looking like a delinquent... You said plenty of harsh things."

There was more than one or two things I wanted to dispute.

I knew Baek Seolhwa held grudges, but I hadn't expected her to bring that up now.

Plus, those descriptions were considerably distorted, which was frustrating.

"I know too. That I'm pathetic. The Sword Department's second-ranked student thinking she can beat Park Seohu -- that was presumptuous, right? It was a ridiculous idea from the start, right? Right? And I didn't even realize it, shamelessly wasting the Professor's time, so I deserve whatever I get."

She was digging past the floor and straight toward the other side of the earth at this point.

Still, this was a lot better than the beginning.

At first, she'd been muttering incomprehensible things to herself like a woman possessed, and I'd genuinely worried about what to do with her.

"That's enough self-pity. Let's talk about what to do going forward."

"...Going forward?"

"Yeah. You must've learned something from this practicum."

"...I don't know."

Baek Seolhwa hung her head deeply.

She said she didn't know, but she'd surely realized it.

What the problem was.

How to fix it going forward.

"You need Eruption. Am I right?"

FLINCH--

Baek Seolhwa's shoulders jerked.

She dropped her head even lower.

"I'm right. You won in the end using Eruption."

Not wanting to accept reality, Baek Seolhwa shook her head side to side.

I kept poking her side with my finger.

"I'm right, aren't I? Aren't I?"

"......"

Poke, poke--

"Admit it."

Poke, poke--

"Just adm-- gkh!"

THWACK!

Baek Seolhwa hurled the cushion from next to the sofa.

Caught off guard by the ambush, I couldn't react in time.

I was hit by a cushion, but it hurt like I'd slammed my head into a brick wall.

"Seolhwa, you little......"

"No."

Baek Seolhwa covered her face with both arms and said,

"I refuse to accept it. Park Seohu did it, so why can't I? I can command a party like Park Seohu too."

"Yeah. You can."

"I knew you'd say that. But I-- huh?"

Baek Seolhwa removed her arms from her face and looked at me.

Her wide-open eyes seemed to ask what on earth I was talking about.

I felt a sense of deja vu for some reason.

"I said you can do it."

"...You just told me I'm nothing without Eruption."

"When did I say that?"

"You did."

Baek Seolhwa had twisted my words again, as she pleased.

Anyway, that wasn't the point.

"Then just use Eruption and do the support at the same time."

"What?"

"It's not easy, but it's not impossible either."

There were cases like that among high-ranking Heroes, in fact.

Edelin, the Guild Master of Unicorn Guild, for example.

It was different from controlling emotions.

It was about making instinctively correct decisions even while reason had grown faint.

Baek Seolhwa also possessed a similar aptitude.

Of course, she couldn't be exactly like Edelin.

"Seolhwa, your instincts and snap judgment are excellent. Being in an Eruption state won't necessarily shut down your function as a control tower."

"But I couldn't do it."

"That's not where the problem is. Think about it carefully. What was the real issue?"

Baek Seolhwa did as I said.

She closed her eyes and sank into thought.

Something must have clicked, because she opened her eyes.

"Ah! I couldn't see where my teammates were or what they were doing. So that's why you had me do that training."

"Exactly."

Explaining it in words was easy.

But conveying information and truly understanding it were entirely different matters.

Only now had Baek Seolhwa grasped the true purpose of the training she'd done with me.

"Now that you've experienced it firsthand, do you see?"

"Yes!"

Baek Seolhwa nodded vigorously.

She seemed to have recovered some of her energy.

"Now that you've identified the problem, can you find the solution?"

"...Straighten myself out mentally?"

"That's what you tried, and look how it turned out."

"True......"

Baek Seolhwa slumped again, hanging her head.

Her emotional swings were worse than usual today.

It seemed to show just how strong her desire to become a control tower really was.

"In an Eruption state, your vision narrows, your hearing becomes hypersensitive to specific sounds, and communication with allies becomes nearly impossible."

"Yes."

"But not every sense dulls. Try feeling the movement of things around you."

"...What?"

It might sound like grasping at clouds.

But I was certain. The Baek Seolhwa of right now could do it.

"What have you been learning all this time?"

"The drill where I don't leave the circle for 10 minutes?"

"And?"

"Fighting golems in the practicum......"

"Right. Seolhwa, you've already learned everything you need to do."

Baek Seolhwa still looked confused.

"Close your eyes."

"Huh?"

"Don't get excited. Calm your mind."

Baek Seolhwa gently closed her eyes.

Humans are animals that depend most heavily on sight.

Blocking sight would sharpen all other senses.

"Slowly. Reach out with your senses. If you do, movement will come to you. You'll feel it."

"Reach out... with my senses......"

Countless thoughts must be crossing through Baek Seolhwa's mind.

Everything she'd done until now.

"Reaching, reaching."

All the ingredients were in place.

Every piece of advice I'd given her.

The drills with two circles drawn on the ground.

Even today's experience fighting the Fermet Golems in the practicum.

The training she'd accumulated and the experience she'd built up merged and detonated.

WHOOSH--

Mana began seeping from Baek Seolhwa's body.

A luminous mana, the same color as Aura, spread outward.

Yes.

This was what I wanted.

Reach further. Explode outward.

FWOOSH!

The mana surged forth.

It shared properties with Aura, but it was not Aura.

There was no established name for it.

Both Aura and magic had been named out of necessity -- there was no predetermined correct answer for how to use mana.

Mana was a free force that could become anything.

It worked. She did it.

DING!

---------

> Hidden achievement unlocked.

-- Skill Creation (1/1)

---------

The system window rang.

An achievement.

Something that appeared in the game when specific conditions were met.

I'd seen one before when I'd banished the Evil God.

But this "hidden achievement" was something even I had never seen.

Then again, using mana in this way was itself a first.

Whether I'd simply never discovered it, or whether it emerged because the game had become reality, I couldn't say.

I spoke to Baek Seolhwa.

"Try moving slowly."

Baek Seolhwa's mana resembled extremely long, thin strands of Aura.

It had no killing power, but it moved far more freely than Aura. It was similar to thread-thin tendrils.

They wandered around the office before touching me.

Baek Seolhwa, eyes still closed, asked,

"Professor... is that you?"

"Yeah."

SLITHER--

The mana traveled along my body, moving here and there.

She'd be able to feel it with as much detail as touch -- no, far more precisely than that.

After all, the properties of mana were determined by the user's will.

Even Baek Seolhwa herself seemed awed by what she'd created.

"Wow......"

Baek Seolhwa said,

"If I connect this to my party members, I think I'll be able to picture their positions in my head even when I'm deep in combat!"

Baek Seolhwa was thrilled and moved her mana around.

It swept across my body.

SLITHER-- WHOOSH--

Starting from the shoulders, it slid down my back, turned upward around the waist.

The mana circled around to the front and climbed up, then spiraled along my arm before continuing forward.

"Ooh."

Baek Seolhwa's mana traced all the way down to my hand.

The mana threads spun and clumped together into a small mass.

The mana cluster filled about half my hand.

"Hehe, when I do this, it feels like I'm holding hands."

Was Baek Seolhwa perceiving it as a hand?

I was curious what would happen if she received a shock, so I squeezed it tight.

"Hyah! Y-You startled me!"

Baek Seolhwa shrieked.

It was apparently a more sensitive organ than it looked.

Baek Seolhwa's voice was normally low-pitched for a woman.

But when she shrieked, her tone shot up considerably. It was a pretty cute sound.

"Does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt, but... why, why?"

"What if it gets hit during combat and it hurts? That would be a problem."

"When it's spread thin, there's almost no sensation, so it should be fi-- eep! Stop squeezing it!"

"Alright."

When I released the mana cluster, Baek Seolhwa dispersed it.

The mana reverted to thin threads.

"If I research it a bit more, I think I can use it in all sorts of ways."

"That's great to hear."

"Hehe, just you wait."

My gambit had paid off.

A new skill never seen in the game.

This was only the beginning.

From here on, Baek Seolhwa would ride a rail all her own -- one nobody had ever traveled before.

I had no guarantee that the outcome would be better than the way I'd played it in the game.

Even so, I wanted to believe in whatever lay ahead for Baek Seolhwa.