Racoon-ta

,I’m a raccoon, you dumbass.”

I came to my senses at the sudden curse. Come to think of it, it looked a little different from the raccoon I had seen before. No, more than that….

,A raccoon is talking?”

,I’m a raccoon, you dumbass!”

The spear slung over my shoulder hit the armor, making a *tung-tung* sound. The raccoon moved its neck from side to side as if loosening up, making a refreshing *dudook* sound.

,Am I supposed to fight the raccoon?”

As I muttered to myself, the raccoon raised the corners of its mouth as if smiling.

,That’s right, I am the first trial. I am Racoon-ta-nim! If you defeat me, you can challenge the next trial.”

As he said that, Racoon-ta-nim pointed his spear at me, and I also pointed the Spear of Destruction.

,Enough with the explanations. Let’s get started.”

As Racoon-ta-nim said those words and moved his legs, I also instinctively moved my legs to adjust the distance.

It was my first time fighting against a spear. Most of my opponents used swords or magic. But I had studied how to fight against a spear in advance.

Since there was no teacher to teach me spearmanship, I learned the theory by reading books alone in the library.

Maintain the spear’s range, but don’t retreat too far. The place I am in now is not an open field, but a room surrounded by walls.

The more I am pushed back by the momentum, the closer I get to the wall. In this environment, I had to maintain enough space to swing the spear.

In the end, the key was to maintain each other’s range. Considering that the Spear of Destruction was slightly longer than Racoon-ta-nim’s spear, and the length of our arms, it was overwhelmingly advantageous for me to maintain the distance.

Don’t get closer or further away. It was important to maintain the distance and continue attacking.

Taking advantage of one’s advantages in a favorable battlefield. That was the basics of combat I learned at the academy.

Racoon-ta-nim’s feet moved forward little by little. He carefully calculated the distance. Two steps forward. The moment Racoon-ta-nim stepped into the range. The Spear of Destruction would pierce his body straight away.

At that moment, Racoon-ta-nim flew into the air as if performing acrobatics.

An unexpected approach. Such agility while wearing armor was close to cheating.

But as long as he was within my attack range, his agility didn’t matter. I immediately raised the spear and thrust it at Racoon-ta-nim.

In the air, movement was bound to be restricted. When I was convinced that Racoon-ta-nim had made a mistake to create a variable.

Racoon-ta-nim threw the spear he was holding, twisting the trajectory of the Spear of Destruction.

Due to the impact, the Spear of Destruction, which stabbed lower than its original target, was used by Racoon-ta-nim with his cute hands to grab the shaft. Before I knew it, he was right in front of me, extending a fist filled with magic.

At the same time as I thought I couldn’t avoid it, the magic-filled fist struck my face.

My nose bled from the impact, but I didn’t lose my balance by putting strength in my hind legs. Releasing the spear shaft. I swung my fist at Racoon-ta-nim, who was still floating in the air, to counterattack.

Rather, as if he had been waiting for me to attack, he used my outstretched fist as a stepping stone to fly backwards and pick up his spear that had fallen on the ground.

Speed and reflexes were all ahead of me. If so, I had to use variables rather than a direct approach.

At the same time as retrieving the Spear of Destruction that had fallen to the ground, I activated Magic Amplification. It felt like the bead inside my heart was burning hot.

Perhaps because of the boiling magic, a sense of elation filled my chest. The effective range of space magic. With the amplified magic, I recognized all the spatial coordinates within 50 meters.

Perhaps recognizing that my momentum had changed, the one-eyed Racoon-ta-nim raised one corner of his mouth, revealing his teeth.

,Kid. Now I’m starting to feel a little serious-“

Before Racoon-ta-nim could finish speaking, I created a dimension exit behind him as a surprise attack.

However, as if he had anticipated my attack, Racoon-ta-nim dodged the spear stabbing in from a blind spot by twisting his body, and instead thrust his spear at the dimension exit.

,Keuek!”

Racoon-ta-nim’s spear pierced my left shoulder. With the intense pain, my shoulder was stained with blood.

It was the first time an enemy had used space magic in reverse to attack me. Moreover, the fact that he had grasped what kind of magic it was with the first attack and used it in reverse. It was proof that Racoon-ta-nim’s instantaneous judgment ability surpassed that of humans.

Well, he was originally a raccoon. Maybe it was an animalistic sense.

At the same time as pulling the Spear of Destruction out of the dimension exit, Racoon-ta-nim also pulled the spear out of my shoulder. Because of that, when I staggered for a moment, Racoon-ta-nim charged towards me with cute *chong-chong* footsteps.

The injury to my left shoulder was more serious than I thought. It became difficult to move the spear.

The longer I dragged it out, the more disadvantageous it was for me. If so, I had to increase the destructive power of a single attack rather than the speed of swinging the spear.

I gathered magic in the hand holding the spear shaft. Red light poured out from the jewel embedded in the Spear of Destruction, and the spear blade turned red.

Racoon-ta-nim, who was charging, hurriedly stopped and looked at me with wary eyes. Was it an animalistic sixth sense?

This time, I charged instead. Racoon-ta-nim swung his spear with the intention of creating distance, but I deliberately allowed the attack, excluding vital points.

Pain came from the spear stuck in my thigh, but I was able to limit Racoon-ta-nim’s movements with minimal damage.

One Hit Kill (一擊必殺).

As someone who uses the power of destruction, I only need to succeed in one attack.

I immediately swung the spear greatly. Racoon-ta-nim, who was holding the spear shaft to attack, had no way to avoid it.

No, that’s what I thought.

Even though he clearly knew with his intuition that my attack contained tremendous power, Racoon-ta-nim instead raised one corner of his mouth.

Just before the swung spear touched his body, Racoon-ta-nim used his small body to push off the ground, momentarily jumping over the spear.

The red armor was shattered by touching the spear blade by a hair’s breadth, but it did not touch Racoon-ta-nim’s body.

Because of Racoon-ta-nim’s small body, the spear swung as if sweeping the floor lost its target and scraped the ground.

At the same time, Racoon-ta-nim, who had jumped over the spear, rotated his body and slammed the spear down with fierce momentum, as if intending to cut my body in half.

Unexpectedly, my body was leaning forward due to scraping the ground and losing balance. Using that, I rolled my body forward to avoid Racoon-ta-nim’s attack.

With a sound like tearing the air, Racoon-ta-nim’s plump soles passed over my head.

At the same time, each other’s bodies were twisted. I thrust the spear to pierce the other’s body.

*Pook-*

Piercing through flesh, the spear was embedded in my heart. As expected, I couldn’t catch up with Racoon-ta-nim in terms of speed. Moreover, the speed of the spear was dead due to the injury to my left shoulder.

Am I going to die so futilely…? Before the fear of death came to my mind. In an instant, the scene in front of me changed and my body flew backwards.

As if bounced off something, I flew away and rolled on the floor, and I came to my senses from the pain I felt in my back.

,Heo-heok, heo-heok…!”

Gasping for breath, I hurriedly examined my body. There was no trace of the spear that had pierced my heart at all. There wasn’t even a trace of the one that had pierced my shoulder.

,Ro, Ross…! Are you okay?”

When I raised my head at Luna’s worried voice, I saw a magnificent stone door in front of me.

Did I fail the trial and get kicked out? I felt cold sweat running down my back.

The pain of piercing my heart was so realistic that I really thought I was going to die for a moment.

Luna, who came to me with a worried expression, grabbed my hand. The warm temperature I felt in her hand gradually erased the fear of death.

Regaining my composure while catching my breath, I got up after a while and asked Luna.

,A, are the others…?”

,W, when I came out, Kane was passed out. Racar and Aria are still….”

Speak of the tiger, and he shall appear. No sooner had Luna finished speaking than the door opened and Aria was ejected out with her staff.

,Kkyaaaaak!!! My body is on fire!!! Water, water!!! Kkyaaaang…? Huh? Wh, what is it?”

Aria, who was rolling on the ground and screaming in pain, realized that her body was fine and groped her body with her hands as if she was strange.

,Su, surely my body was burned by fire magic…?”

Whether she was grasping the situation with a blank face. Aria, who was looking down at her body, suddenly tried to take off her clothes, so I hurriedly shouted.

,St, stop! What are you doing, Aria!”

,Huh? Ross? What! Were you next to me?”

When I hurriedly turned my head to the side at the sight of Aria lifting her clothes so that her pure white belly was clearly visible, Luna’s face, who was pouting her lips for some reason while looking at me, came into view.

,Ro, Ross… pervert.”

No, why me…?

,Wow…! I was definitely burned! What is it? Not a single wound! Was it an illusion?”

Luna answered Aria, who was chattering in a surprised voice, in a slightly lower voice than usual.

,I was too…. I was hit by wind magic and went up to the sky and fell to the ground…. I came out.”

Judging from Luna and Aria’s words, it seemed that everyone had been kicked out because they had failed the trial.

,Am I then in 2nd place?”

Aria put her clothes back down and said as she got up.

,What 2nd place?”

,I lasted the second longest!”

I sighed, feeling tired for some reason at the sight of Aria, who had lifted her chin and crossed her arms in an arrogant pose, as if the fuss from before had disappeared.

,Stop talking nonsense and take care of Kane.”

,Huh? You mean he didn’t just rest, but fainted? Why did he faint?”

Aria asked, discovering Kane lying unconscious on the floor at my words.

,I don’t know. He was like that from the first time I came out….”

If it’s Kane, maybe he thought he was really dead and fainted from the shock…? To be honest, if it wasn’t for Luna, I wouldn’t have come to my senses for a long time.

While Aria was poking Kane’s cheek with her finger, something *cheolpeodeok* sound came from behind.

I bit my lip tightly, almost bursting into laughter at the sight of Racar sticking to the ground in the form of a frog.

Racar, who barely raised his head, looked around and suddenly shed tears when he found us. When Luna and I exchanged glances, startled by the sight. Racar, who had gotten up, shouted.

,E, everyone might not believe it…! I just regressed!”

,What…?”

When I asked back blankly at the nonsensical words, Racar wailed, shedding tears and snot.

,If you go in there, you’ll all die! You must never go in!”

,No, Racar….”

Was the shock too great? I was flustered and tried to stop Racar, who was creating a dark history in real time. But Racar was already in a runaway state.

,It’s true! My neck was cut off by a raccoon…! I’ve returned to the past! You can’t go in there! Everyone will die!!!”

I knew that Racar was sincerely worried about us, but the fact that Racar, who had always shown a serious and reliable side, was showing such a side made me feel mischievous.

,Hey, what are you talking about? We decided to go in now, right?”

As if saying what are you talking about, I shrugged my shoulders and made an expression that I didn’t understand. At my words, Racar hit his chest with his hand as if he was frustrated.

,I’m telling you!!! I already went in and regressed!!! You can’t go in!”

While I was holding back my laughter at Racar’s desperate appearance, Luna slapped my back with a *chaltssak* sound.

,Ross… stop teasing him!”

At the sight of Luna saying that with a stern expression as if teaching a naughty child, I nodded, thinking that I should stop playing around here, and turned my gaze to Racar.

,Racar, actually….”

,If you can’t believe my words, I’ll stop you even by force…!”

At the sight of Racar suddenly drawing his sword, I shouted urgently.

,No, Racar! Calm down! It’s a misunderstanding!”

,This is all for you…. I’ll apologize later.”

When I frantically waved my hand at the sight of Racar, who seemed to have lost his mind. Suddenly, a red flash covered Racar’s back.

When Racar’s body flew up to my front and I was horrified by his unconscious appearance, Aria lowered her staff with a pathetic expression and said.

,Tsk, men… all they can think about is playing around, right?”

I felt a little wronged at the sight of Aria slowly shaking her head and looking at me with a condescending expression.

Honestly, you were having fun too….