Ch.227222 – Trinity

“If you don’t know, you should get hit, right?”

Shin Yeon-ho let out a hollow laugh.

“Yeah, if you don’t know, you should get hit. But you can also dodge.”

Still, he couldn’t just give up. Yeon-ho gritted his teeth and infused mana into his wand.

“Of course.”

[Casting: Laminar Flow]

[Delayed Casting: Laminar Flow]

KWAAAANG-!

A beam of massive energy erupts.

Yeon-ho barely twists his body and breaks through the debris.

Moving behind NoName, Shin Yeon-ho catches his breath and finishes preparing his cast.

“…!”

Before NoName can turn her head, the magic she had cast earlier activates belatedly.

“I haven’t fired one shot yet.”

Even his escape route was perfectly read.

His barrier wasn’t sufficient to block, and it was too late to dodge.

Belatedly, he formed an electromagnetic wave disruption formula that had become second nature since high school.

The power of habit.

[Disruption: Electromagnetic Wave]

But once again, his instinct warns him.

This can’t be blocked.

‘Did I form the disruption formula incorrectly?’

That couldn’t be possible, but he trusted his intuition.

If it can’t be blocked, then slice through it.

Yeon-ho abandoned the disruption casting and extended his wand forward.

ZZZZZZT-!

The wand and body are connected.

A fiercely blazing vermilion aura split the water current and deflected it.

“Water…?”

Cold water droplets splashed on his cheek.

The barrier was a bit worn, but still in decent condition. What concerned him more was the wand that took the high-energy hit directly.

Shin Yeon-ho twitched his eyebrow and said:

“Was that just water-attribute magic?”

“You noticed quickly.”

“That’s impossible.”

“That wand. Is it broken?”

NoName points at Yeon-ho’s crude wand with her finger.

Was she aiming to destroy the wand from the beginning?

When he clenched his right hand, the overloaded circuit formula barely began functioning normally again.

“This is truly an impossible level.”

Even with innate combat sense, this was bizarrely advanced.

The maxim to always predict your opponent’s movements suddenly came to mind.

‘Easier said than done…’

Attack, movement, defense—that’s already three options, with hundreds or thousands of variations.

Could it be coincidence?

He shook his head.

It couldn’t be coincidence. There are no coincidences in this world.

His eyes blaze with fire.

He wraps his entire body in aura and takes a low stance.

From now on, Yeon-ho had no intention of giving her the initiative.

[Casting: Raon’s Spear I]

There was a rumor that promising students were scouted by major clans even before graduating university.

Shin Yeon-ho was exactly such a person.

PAAANG-!

Like it had a rocket engine attached, a long spear cut through the air and flew toward NoName.

NoName didn’t block but deflected it.

However, the innate magic Raon’s Spear doesn’t end with one shot.

“Behind…!”

The light spear that seemed embedded in the floor had disappeared and was now fiercely shooting from behind.

Without a moment’s hesitation, NoName used her right foot as a pivot and tilted her body to the extreme.

Supporting her upper body with her right hand on the floor, her left foot drew a large arc and deflected the spear.

KWAAANG-!

Before her skirt could even flutter, the spear embedded in the wall and exploded.

Yeon-ho couldn’t help but admire her acrobatic back kick.

“Wow… did you learn Taekwondo? How did you kick that away?”

Raon’s Spear I, once cast, emerges infinitely from the opponent’s shadow until it hits.

When Shin Yeon-ho received this magic from Raon partner mages, it felt like all his previous efforts in magic development had been in vain—that’s how sophisticated this innate magic was.

The disruption method itself is simple, but the spear suddenly appearing from behind inevitably exposes vulnerabilities.

However, NoName’s body, which had rotated 360 degrees, perfectly regained balance and firmly reestablished a defensive stance.

“Kaizen martial arts. Or rather, something like Capoeira.”

NoName replied, exhaling heavily.

That wand had endured even high-output energy.

NoName’s first phase of testing was more or less passed.

But another flaw of that wand was its clumsy handle.

The grip part was very thick, requiring strong hand strength just to hold onto it.

Shin Yeon-ho’s large hands somewhat offset this disadvantage, but it still seemed insufficient to NoName.

‘Let’s see if he can hold onto it without dropping it.’

NoName wiped away the sweat dripping down her face.

Then she clenched her fists tightly, and steam rose from them.

After lightly rubbing her hands together, she smiled with satisfaction.

“Don’t block. It’s better to dodge.”

* * *

SWAAACK-!

A fist creating a sharp ripping sound flew toward his abdomen.

He had no choice but to block.

The problem was that while the fist was only baby-sized, it contained a vast amount of aura.

Instead of the fist being blocked by Yeon-ho’s arm, golden aura scattered and engulfed his body.

His hand slipped.

He had seen techniques to make aura hot or cold, but making it slippery was completely new.

Shin Yeon-ho felt like he might drop his wand if he lost focus even slightly.

He pulled his body back as far as possible from another incoming fist.

This time, a kick aimed at the back of his knee tried to break his balance.

After initially stumbling a few times, NoName now showed perfectly loosened movements.

Having ‘no fear’ was her greatest talent above all.

Even when he tried to intimidate her with feint punches, she didn’t bat an eye.

She knew well that if Yeon-ho landed a direct hit on her, he would lose.

The close combat prevented any magic casting.

Aura-based brawling was Yeon-ho’s strongest area, but the problem was that his opponent was an eight-year-old child.

As the match dragged on, complaints erupted from his teammates in the distance.

“You’d understand if you experienced it…! This isn’t normal… tsk!”

There was no time for distractions.

Merciless strikes rained down on Yeon-ho as his stance crumbled.

He tried to resist her movement to sweep his heel, but when she lightly pushed his shoulder with her hand, he felt his strength completely drain.

‘This is dangerous…!’

NoName’s flexible waist turned quickly.

Grabbing his right wrist with her other hand, she put all her strength into a punch.

The Kaizen Knights’ special combat technique was crudely recreated.

BAM-!

Instantly, a sound like a bomb exploding came from Yeon-ho’s side.

Half of his particle barrier was shaved off in one go.

“What kind of power is this?!”

How could those kitty punches have enough power to pierce through steel?

As Yeon-ho lay face down on the floor, a fist flew toward his head.

Feeling his hair stand on end, he desperately ducked.

‘I dodged it…!’

This was his only chance.

[Casting: Friction Coefficient Adjustment]

The girl’s body staggered.

Regaining control from NoName was urgent. The strange martial arts movements that clouded his mind were making his head increasingly painful.

For now, he needed to get away, remove the slippery aura from his wand, and end this with one strike.

Yeon-ho gritted his teeth and stood up abruptly.

But perhaps his vision had become too narrow.

Focused only on the floor, Yeon-ho was completely unaware of the large magic circle that had been cast above his head.

[Area Casting: Eye of the Typhoon]

Strong winds swirled throughout the entire space designated as the arena, except for the center where they stood.

It was a tactic to interfere with magic casting.

“You…”

“You have to play with me. Where do you think you’re going?”

He had never regretted self-imposing the no-direct-hit rule more than now.

When he tried to create distance, she followed, and now she was using magic to interfere—he couldn’t think of any way to counter this.

‘Should I try casting magic at ultra-close range?’

He had never attempted it before.

But remember the National Martial Arts Tournament.

The powerful magic that the blind girl who stubbornly used only aura had used against him at the last moment.

‘I remember!’

[Casting: Magnetic Levitation]

PUNG-!

He thrust his outstretched palm forward forcefully.

After a slight delay, NoName’s body flew back several meters.

Simultaneously, as her body entered the range of his magic, the Eye of the Typhoon would naturally disappear.

Or so he thought…

“I’m tired of going easy on you, so let’s end this.”

NoName, hidden within the gray opaque wind, thrust a sharp blade toward Shin Yeon-ho.

His body reflexively curled up at the sudden situation.

The particle barrier was again shaved off in chunks.

The identity of the sword was NoName’s simple formula creation device.

From the small magic circle at the end of her wand, a blade as tall as her emerged.

Before he could protest ‘Since when did your wand have that function?!’ she swung the sword down diagonally.

CHWAAAACK-!

Slicing and cutting, finally thrusting.

NoName was aiming for Shin Yeon-ho’s wand, the masterpiece his team had spent two weeks creating day and night.

“No!”

Not that!

The aura surrounding Shin Yeon-ho’s body hardened like steel.

TING-!

His desperate effort to protect his wand blocks NoName’s sword.

NoName immediately recalled the blade and wrapped all her remaining aura around her legs, instantly diving into his embrace.

That fierce fist from earlier extends toward his chin.

‘I must block it…!’

And like a lie, it changes course.

The hand that was clenched into a fist. NoName’s five fingers spread wide, targeting his wrist.

TAK-!

Two hands rested on one wand.

Due to the oil applied earlier, Shin Yeon-ho’s grip was relatively slippery.

The ownership of the team project was about to change hands.

He reflexively swung his left hand to remove her.

A very minor struggle.

A punch that anyone could see and block.

But NoName, with eyes wide open, didn’t avoid his fist flying toward her face.

Instead, she cast a penetration spell toward his abdomen.

NoName’s eyes, staring at Shin Yeon-ho until the very end, were unwavering.

Her gaze seemed to imply:

‘You just hit me, didn’t you?’

KWAAAAAAANG-!

The punch thrown with full force by an adult male, infused with aura, was enough to send the girl flying to the corner of the arena.

NoName, who hit the anti-magic wall back-first, slid down to the ground.

“NoName!”

Students who had been watching the intensifying duel rushed down to the first-floor arena.

“Why… why didn’t you dodge…!”

Shocked by his own attack, Shin Yeon-ho’s legs gave out and he knelt in place.

NoName, leaning against the wall, coughed once or twice before finally raising the corners of her mouth.

Then she gestured toward the scoreboard to show Shin Yeon-ho the answer.

[A(NoName): 57%, 64%]

[B(Shin Yeon-ho): 21%, 45%]

[Team B: Wand destruction, Particle barrier destruction (Current: 21%), Custom rule violation (Direct hit)]

Conditions where NoName would win if any one was achieved.

It was a perfect victory without dispute, almost to the point of seeming obsessive.

Additionally, the stream exploded with comments.

-NoNameeeeeee!

-Did he really hit her? Did he really hit her? Did he really hit her?

-How is she okay?????

-You’re done for. You’re done for. You’re done for. You’re done for.

-Someone just flew 10m, how could they be okay?

-He should have shown some restraint.

-Hey clueless drone guy, go check on NoName now!

-Did someone just get destroyed? No way…?

-When sparring with a child, you should go easy, not punch them in the face!

-He hit her like an uncle going all out on his nephew during a holiday.

-Don’t know who he is, but I’m pretty sure he’s screwed.

-She got the triple victory condition, damn

-NoName’s physical barrier was new, so she should be fine, right?

-If she’s not okay, there’s going to be one more person who won’t be okay.