Ch.17Holy Maiden! You mustn’t kill people!

All around, bluish walls appeared from every direction.

Those walls gradually grew in size until they completely covered the training arena.

With this, preparations were complete, ready for battle at any moment.

Lee Sekyung drew her sword and took her stance.

A basic posture, holding the sword with both hands, pointing it forward.

Her opponent was C-rank. Normally, this would be an easy win for her.

But she couldn’t let her guard down.

The boss had bet 500,000 won.

That meant her victory would be worth the difficulty of a million-won job.

She would fight with everything she had, without any arrogance.

With that thought, Lee Sekyung looked ahead and frowned at Aila standing before her.

“…Unnie. Aren’t you going to draw that sword?”

Aila was just standing there, looking exactly as she always did.

No stance, no drawn sword—just a casual posture like someone standing on a street.

When Sekyung pointed this out, Aila tilted her head.

“I can’t use a sword.”

That was her answer.

“Then why did you bring it?”

“It’s precious to me.”

“…So you’re saying you have no intention of drawing it?”

“I can’t draw it, and even if I could, I couldn’t use it. I don’t seem to have any talent for swordsmanship…”

Hearing Aila’s words, Sekyung let out a heavy sigh.

“What the… So I’m the only fool who brought a real sword…”

It’s already activated.

Should I just throw away the sword and fight?

As Sekyung pondered, a statement she couldn’t ignore reached her ears.

“Um… I don’t really mind if you use a real sword? Do whatever makes you comfortable.”

“Oh, feeling confident, are we?”

I’m unarmed, but you can come at me with a real sword.

Who wouldn’t be provoked by such words?

The corner of Sekyung’s mouth twitched.

“Fine. But no excuses about losing because you’re unarmed.”

“Come at me.”

Aila said this with a completely calm attitude, her posture unchanged from before.

“Oh really?”

Sekyung shifted her center of gravity forward and held her sword at a diagonal angle.

“Then, here I come!”

“Kugh!”

With a bursting sound, the distance between them instantly closed to mere inches.

The sword slashed diagonally upward to the left.

Aila dodged it by the literal width of a paper.

‘She’s fast!’

Aila was astonished.

It was fast.

Both the speed of the sword and the speed at which the distance closed.

Unnaturally fast.

‘She dodged that?’

Sekyung was also surprised.

From that posture, she dodged this?

What kind of reflexes does she have?

The distinctive feeling of hunters enhancing their bodies with magical power wasn’t present in Aila.

That meant Aila wasn’t currently enhancing her body with magic.

So she dodged my sword with pure physical ability?

Well, she’s someone the boss wanted me to fight, so it couldn’t be that simple!

As Aila tried to jump back to create distance,

“You think I’ll let you!”

Again, with a popping sound, Sekyung’s sword was right in front of her face.

The sword aimed for her neck, striking downward.

Despite the simple trajectory, Aila twisted slightly to escape the sword’s path.

And then.

Pop!

“!!!”

The descending sword suddenly bounced up at a sharp angle.

Tracing a V-shaped trajectory, the blade caught Aila off guard, sending droplets of blood flying from her forearm.

“This is…”

What just happened?

Aila quickly retreated.

“…[Heal].”

As she stroked the wound, the gap closed.

Seeing this, Sekyung’s eyes widened.

“Hmm… I thought you had something up your sleeve. Healing magic…”

So you know healing magic.

That’s why you’re not enhancing your body with magic.

Healing magic is the rarest and most useful magic.

A miraculous magic that treats wounds, regenerates severed parts, and neutralizes poisons.

But in return, healing magic requires far more magical power than other types of magic.

If she enhanced her body with magic like other hunters, she might not have enough magical power left for healing spells.

“But.”

Sekyung glared at Aila.

“How much magical power did you just use for that healing~?”

“……”

Aila’s expression trembled slightly.

Sekyung, realizing her hypothesis was correct, charged forward.

Aila was aiming for a war of attrition.

That was Aila’s strategy as Sekyung saw it.

‘Unlike me, unnie doesn’t need physical enhancement with magic. If she drags this out, eventually my magic will run out. She plans to endure until then with healing magic.’

Then she needed to press on.

With C-rank magical power, Aila could probably manage only two or three healings at most.

‘I’ll drain her magic before mine runs out!’

With yet another explosive sound, Sekyung charged again.

“Tch!”

Instead of slightly twisting her body to dodge as before, Aila now made larger movements to avoid the sword strikes.

Because…

BOOM!!

“Kugh-!”

The sword twisted along impossible trajectories.

Acute angles.

Obtuse angles.

Right angles.

Physically impossible movements.

Without external force, such trajectories would be impossible, yet the blade rushed at Aila in such paths.

Grazing her hair and clothes, she barely dodged the sword.

For blades she absolutely couldn’t avoid, she struck their sides to twist their trajectories.

When she tried to create distance, Sekyung closed it again with explosive sounds.

Though she was deflecting the sword well, it was impossible to completely avoid it, and small wounds accumulated on Aila’s body.

“Unnie.”

“Huff… What?”

During a brief moment of respite at a distance, when Sekyung would normally pursue immediately, she called out from afar.

“Why aren’t you attacking? You can’t win just by dodging, you know?”

“Thanks for your concern.”

“……”

“But I’m going to win.”

“Ha.”

Sekyung let out a short, mocking laugh.

She says she’ll win.

So that means…

“You’re saying I’ll lose?”

Her grip tightened.

The clear provocation made her blood boil for a moment.

‘No, stay calm. Unnie’s goal is a war of attrition.’

Slowly, with a deep breath, she gathered her thoughts.

Yes, at this rate, she would be the winner.

In fact, Aila hadn’t landed a single effective hit on Sekyung so far.

But Sekyung had inflicted many wounds on Aila.

Yes, those wounds right now—

“Huh?”

Momentary confusion crossed Sekyung’s face.

The wounds that should have been on Aila’s body had already disappeared, leaving only smooth, white skin.

‘She used magic on such minor wounds?’

That’s impossible.

It can’t be.

“What are you doing?”

Hearing Aila’s words, Sekyung refocused.

Right, nothing has changed.

Sekyung lunged forward.

But,

“…As I thought.”

Aila had already dodged to the side.

“Tch! You figured it out?!”

“I’m not stupid, you know.”

‘As I suspected, you can only move in straight lines.’

Aila hadn’t just been taking hits mindlessly.

In combat with humans or monsters, the most important thing isn’t strength or technique, but information.

Where are the weaknesses, what abilities do they have, how should one attack.

Aila had been gathering this information.

“Are you running away now?!”

Somehow, the opponent could instantly close straight-line distances.

It probably had something to do with those explosive sounds.

But right now, finding a countermeasure was more important than detailed analysis of the ability.

Aila began circling around the training arena, following the barrier.

Since the opponent could only accelerate in straight lines, it would be difficult to chase her moving in curves.

This strategy proved effective, as Aila managed to maintain distance from Sekyung.

After deflecting the sword a few times with her hands, she could tell.

This person could use sword energy, but didn’t have the proficiency to project it at range.

If she just kept her distance, she wouldn’t be attacked—

“You thought I’d have no way to attack if you kept your distance?”

—or so she thought.

If not for the red magic formation appearing in front of Sekyung’s outstretched hand.

Red lines raced through the air.

The lines formed shapes, and the shapes gathered to create a single pattern.

“Rapid Fire!”

With those words, countless flame bullets flew out.

Like dots forming a surface, the small fiery projectiles created a wall of fire.

A series of explosions echoed within the barrier, and dust rose.

She hit her.

Sekyung was certain.

She had deliberately made the magic’s range wider than usual.

Even if Aila tried to dodge by sight, she would inevitably be caught in the area of effect.

The question was whether this magic could take her down…

“As expected, it’s not that easy.”

As the dust cleared, Aila stood there completely unharmed.

“Magic… impressive.”

“You think? I find it more impressive that you’re standing there unscathed after taking that. Do you also have a fire-resistance artifact?”

“Now that all our cards are on the table, shall I try attacking once?”

“You can—”

Acceleration.

Aila was in a straight line.

Sekyung immediately accelerated, raising her sword and bringing it down.

“—try… Huh?”

She definitely swung down, but…

The sword was fixed in midair.

“I’ll hit you just once.”

What the hell?

She caught the sword?

Blood was flowing from Aila’s left hand.

Having caught the descending sword with her left hand, Aila thrust her empty right palm forward.

Palm strike.

Though it was the simplest attack, striking with a flat surface, Sekyung felt her life was in danger.

Bang!

“Ugh, gah?!”

A cracking sound came from her arm.

She blocked with both arms and jumped backward to reduce the impact.

Even so, Sekyung was pushed from one end of the barrier to the other.

“Crazy, how is this possible…?”

She could only laugh in disbelief.

Her arms trembled, and the impact site throbbed with pain.

If this happened after blocking and jumping back to reduce the impact…

‘What would happen if I took a direct hit?’

Cold sweat ran down her face.

“Unnie, have you been holding back this whole time?”

“No?”

With a snap, the sword broke in half.

The sword she had dropped earlier to avoid the attack.

It couldn’t be helped.

If she had kept holding the sword, she would have taken that attack to the solar plexus and been sent to the next world.

“That sword was expensive.”

“…Bill Seon-ah for it.”

“Like that bastard would ever pay.”

Unlike before when she had only been dodging, Aila now slowly walked toward Sekyung.

With a clinking sound, the halved sword rolled across the floor.

“Ahaha, well this is…”

Sekyung staggered to her feet and observed Aila.

The wound on her left hand had already healed.

‘Three times. She probably can’t heal anymore than that.’

Then I’ll go all out too.

“Are you going to continue fighting without a weapon?”

“A weapon…”

Sekyung, who had directed almost all her magical power into physical enhancement except for a small portion:

“Alright. I surrender.”

“Really? Then—”

She rushed at the approaching Aila and delivered a high kick.

CRASH!

Aila was slammed into the barrier.

“Actually, I’m pretty good at hand-to-hand too!”

Sekyung shouted.

It was an attack with all her might.

“Ow ow ow…”

Of course, it didn’t work on Aila.

“What the hell, really? Why doesn’t anything work?”

“It’s not that it doesn’t work. Everything hurt.”

To Sekyung’s trembling question, Aila answered.

“I just healed immediately, that’s all.”

At those casually spoken words, Sekyung’s face contorted.

Why was she reacting like that?

Aila couldn’t understand.

“And now I understand. The blade movements that defy physics, the straight-line acceleration, and that attack from earlier.”

“I hate the boss. I should have realized something was up when he so readily offered 500,000…”

“Localized explosions created with fire magic… right? Accelerating by exploding the ground beneath you, changing the sword’s trajectory by exploding parts of its path, and that attack earlier… enhancing the impact with an explosion at the moment of contact… Amazing. Such delicate control of magic.”

“That’s not something I want to hear from someone who’s walking around perfectly fine after taking all those hits.”

“Since all our cards are on the table now, shall I attack for real?”

“You can—”

Acceleration.

Aila was in a straight line.

Sekyung immediately accelerated, raising her sword and bringing it down.

“—try… Huh?”

She definitely swung down, but…

The sword was fixed in midair.

“I’ll hit you just once.”

What the hell?

She caught the sword?

Blood was flowing from Aila’s left hand.

Having caught the descending sword with her left hand, Aila thrust her empty right palm forward.

Palm strike.

Though it was the simplest attack, striking with a flat surface, Sekyung felt her life was in danger.

Bang!

“Ugh, gah?!”

A cracking sound came from her arm.

She blocked with both arms and jumped backward to reduce the impact.

Even so, Sekyung was pushed from one end of the barrier to the other.

“Crazy, how is this possible…?”

She could only laugh in disbelief.

Her arms trembled, and the impact site throbbed with pain.

If this happened after blocking and jumping back to reduce the impact…

‘What would happen if I took a direct hit?’

Cold sweat ran down her face.

“Unnie, have you been holding back this whole time?”

“No?”

With a snap, the sword broke in half.

The sword she had dropped earlier to avoid the attack.

It couldn’t be helped.

If she had kept holding the sword, she would have taken that attack to the solar plexus and been sent to the next world.

“That sword was expensive.”

“…Bill Seon-ah for it.”

“Like that bastard would ever pay.”

Unlike before when she had only been dodging, Aila now slowly walked toward Sekyung.

With a clinking sound, the halved sword rolled across the floor.

“Ahaha, well this is…”

Sekyung staggered to her feet and observed Aila.

The wound on her left hand had already healed.

‘Three times. She probably can’t heal anymore than that.’

Then I’ll go all out too.

“Are you going to continue fighting without a weapon?”

“A weapon…”

Directing all her magical power into physical enhancement except for a small portion, Sekyung said:

“Alright. I surrender.”

“Really? That’s—”

She rushed at the approaching Aila and delivered a high kick.

CRASH!

Aila was slammed into the barrier.

“Actually, I’m pretty good at hand-to-hand too!”

Sekyung shouted.

It was an attack with all her might.

“Ow ow ow…”

Of course, it didn’t work on Aila.

“What the hell, really? Why doesn’t anything work?”

“It’s not that it doesn’t work. Everything hurt.”

To Sekyung’s trembling question, Aila answered.

“I just healed immediately, that’s all.”

At those casually spoken words, Sekyung’s face contorted.

Why was she reacting like that?

Aila couldn’t understand.

“And now I understand. The blade movements that defy physics, the straight-line acceleration, and that attack from earlier.”

“I hate the boss. I should have realized something was up when he so readily offered 500,000…”

“Localized explosions created with fire magic… right? Accelerating by exploding the ground beneath you, changing the sword’s trajectory by exploding parts of its path, and that attack earlier… enhancing the impact with an explosion at the moment of contact… Amazing. Such delicate control of magic.”

“That’s not something I want to hear from someone who’s walking around perfectly fine after taking all those hits.”

“Since all our cards are on the table now, shall I attack for real?”

“You can—”

Acceleration.

Aila was in a straight line.

Sekyung immediately accelerated, raising her sword and bringing it down.

“—try… Huh?”

The sword was fixed in midair.

“I’ll hit you just once.”

What the hell?

She caught the sword?

Blood was flowing from Aila’s left hand.

Having caught the descending sword with her left hand, Aila thrust her empty right palm forward.

Palm strike.

Though it was the simplest attack, striking with a flat surface, Sekyung felt her life was in danger.

Bang!

“Ugh, gah?!”

A cracking sound came from her arm.

She blocked with both arms and jumped backward to reduce the impact.

Even so, Sekyung was pushed from one end of the barrier to the other.

“Crazy, how is this possible…?”

She could only laugh in disbelief.

Her arms trembled, and the impact site throbbed with pain.

If this happened after blocking and jumping back to reduce the impact…

‘What would happen if I took a direct hit?’

Cold sweat ran down her face.

“Unnie, have you been holding back this whole time?”

“No?”

With a snap, the sword broke in half.

The sword she had dropped earlier to avoid the attack.

It couldn’t be helped.

If she had kept holding the sword, she would have taken that attack to the solar plexus and been sent to the next world.

“That sword was expensive.”

“…Bill Seon-ah for it.”

“Like that bastard would ever pay.”

Unlike before when she had only been dodging, Aila now slowly walked toward Sekyung.

With a clinking sound, the halved sword rolled across the floor.

“Ahaha, well this is…”

Sekyung staggered to her feet and observed Aila.

The wound on her left hand had already healed.

‘Three times. She probably can’t heal anymore than that.’

Then I’ll go all out too.

“Are you going to continue fighting without a weapon?”

“A weapon…”

Directing all her magical power into physical enhancement except for a small portion, Sekyung said:

“Alright. I surrender.”

“Really? That’s—”

She rushed at the approaching Aila and delivered a high kick.

CRASH!

Aila was slammed into the barrier.

“Actually, I’m pretty good at hand-to-hand too!”

Sekyung shouted.

It was an attack with all her might.

“Ow ow ow…”

Of course, it didn’t work on Aila.

“What the hell, really? Why doesn’t anything work?”

“It’s not that it doesn’t work. Everything hurt.”

To Sekyung’s trembling question, Aila answered.

“I just healed immediately, that’s all.”

At those casually spoken words, Sekyung’s face contorted.

Why was she reacting like that?

Aila couldn’t understand.

“And now I understand. The blade movements that defy physics, the straight-line acceleration, and that attack from earlier.”

“I hate the boss. I should have realized something was up when he so readily offered 500,000…”

“Localized explosions created with fire magic… right? Accelerating by exploding the ground beneath you, changing the sword’s trajectory by exploding parts of its path, and that attack earlier… enhancing the impact with an explosion at the moment of contact… Amazing. Such delicate control of magic.”

“That’s not something I want to hear from someone who’s walking around perfectly fine after taking all those hits.”

“Since all our cards are on the table now, shall I surrender?”

“Having come this far, I can’t surrender out of stubbornness.”

Sekyung took her stance.

Feet slightly apart front to back, both hands in front of her chest.

It was the basic sparring stance from Taekwondo.

“Come at me.”

“Then I’ll go easy on you.”

“Like hell—”

She wanted to spit out a curse, but there was no time.

Aila was right in front of her.

Sekyung threw an explosion-accelerated punch.

Aila dodged the punch while aiming an elbow at Sekyung’s chin.

Attack, dodge.

Attack, block.

What followed was a flurry of blows.

‘This is trickier than I expected.’

Aila broke into a cold sweat.

The attacks were quite difficult to counter.

They came half a beat, a quarter beat faster.

Explosions altered attack trajectories, making them hard to dodge.

The simplest small-scale explosions were proving to be such a nuisance.

And occasionally, she would create reverse explosions as feints, which was truly annoying.

There was too much to consider with each punch.

‘Why won’t she go down?’

Sekyung was also breaking into a cold sweat.

Clearly her attacks were connecting.

She was hitting her.

But no matter how many times she struck the solar plexus, lower abdomen, temples, or any other vital points—from common ones to those that could be life-threatening—her opponent showed no signs of faltering.

Without any physical enhancement.

‘Healing magic…? No, that’s impossible. If she had enough magical power to spam healing magic, she wouldn’t be ranked as C-class!’

Is the person I’m fighting even human?

“Ugh!”

Distractions in battle create fatal openings.

Proving this adage, Sekyung’s body went flying.

“Cough! Cough…!”

“Hmm… If you’re this tough, maybe I could apply one more layer of physical enhancement… This is difficult…”

“Hack, huff….”

Sekyung gasped for breath.

The impact with the floor had knocked the air out of her.

“So, do you surrender?”

“Haha… This is driving me crazy…”

Seeing Sekyung get up, Aila asked:

“You want to continue?”

“With 500,000 won at stake, I have to try as long as I can.”

“Is that so? Then let’s continue. [Physical Enhancement].”

A pale green light enveloped Aila’s body.

Simultaneously, Sekyung felt an inexplicable chill.

“Wha— Kyaah!!”

She would soon discover why.

She was fast.

Even faster than before.

‘So she was holding back?’

Anger at being underestimated came first, followed by fear.

If she had fought with full power from the beginning…

Aila’s hand approached her neck.

Sekyung closed her eyes as if to avoid the imminent pain.

Tap.

“How about this?”

“Huh?”

When she opened her eyes, she saw Aila holding something red.

“This is it, right?”

“H-how did you…”

What Aila held in her hand was a red plate hanging from a long string.

D-rank artifact [Fire-resistant Talisman].

A simple effect that grants resistance to fire.

An essential artifact for Sekyung, who creates explosions near her own body.

“I asked earlier, remember? Whether you had one too. That meant you had something granting fire resistance.”

“Ahaha…”

“Now you can’t use those annoying accelerations or trajectory changes. Still want to fight?”

It was a gentle smile.

A complete defeat.

But pride doesn’t fall so easily, does it?

“Fine, I’ll surrender. But on one condition.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“I’ll show you the full power I can display right now. I’d like you to see it.”

“…Alright. If that will satisfy you.”

“Good.”

Okay, according to plan.

Sekyung smiled deviously.

I’m just using what I learned while working at this company, so the boss shouldn’t complain, right?

“Here I come!”

Sekyung charged forward.

Without the explosion-based acceleration from before, she ran using only pure physical enhancement.

Attacks rained down.

Aila couldn’t understand the situation.

Just ordinary punches, weaker than before.

This is supposed to be full power?

“Let’s just end this.”

Aila threw an uppercut, breaking Sekyung’s guard.

Both hands went behind her head, leaving her solar plexus exposed.

‘At this strength, it shouldn’t be fatal…’

Aila was gathering information.

Information about how much force to use when fighting humans.

She couldn’t revive the dead with restoration arts, so it would be extremely problematic if she accidentally killed someone with too strong an attack.

That’s why Aila deliberately took some hits and delivered weak attacks to gauge how much she should hold back.

As she was about to deliver a calculated palm strike to the exposed solar plexus:

She felt heat.

“Huh?”

There was clearly nothing there.

Empty hands, no sword nearby.

What is that black sword?

“Take this!!!!!”

Think I can’t use fire magic at close range without the fire-resistant talisman?

These are fire-resistant gloves!

A black sword engulfed in flames was gripped in Sekyung’s hands.

A burning sword created with fire magic.

It caught Aila completely off guard.

At this distance, at this speed, she couldn’t dodge.

Nor could she block this burning sword.

‘I’ve won!!’

It might be a bit underhanded, but who cares.

All’s fair!

The flaming sword descended toward Aila.

The sword that burns everything drew a line in the air.

Clap–!!

“Huh?”

The line was broken.

There was a strange smell.

The smell of burning flesh.

Aila had caught the flames with both hands.

It was what people call “catching the blade.”

“Are you crazy?!”

Before she could even express her shock, the world spun.

No, am I the one spinning?

Yes, it’s me.

I feel something hard against my back.

As the fallen Sekyung tried to get up:

“Is this your full power?”

What she saw before her was:

“Then let me show you my full power too.”

Aila’s fist flying toward her face.

“Huh? W-wait! I surren—-“

“I won’t fall for that again!”

CRASH!!!!

With a tremendous boom, the ground shook.