Ch.7124. Sparring with Soso (2)

‘What’s going on?’

I was caught off guard by Soso. I know how to deal with swordsmen and close-range fighters. No, I thought I knew.

‘Damn. Maybe I’m still not ready to face a close-range fighter directly… My reactions are too slow…’

No, that’s not it. I was just barely avoiding being thrown to the ground.

I did sense her approaching me, albeit barely. It’s just that the moment Soso’s body moved, her speed was far faster than my reaction time.

In that moment, I realized who Soso truly was.

‘The young leader of the Cheonma Divine Sect. The future Cheonmaji.’

She subdued me not with swordsmanship but with martial arts. But high-level swordsmen are also proficient in basic combat techniques. Just like Soso is now.

“Huu… haa… mmh…”

And Soso, who was embracing me, made strange noises. Like someone applying a jiu-jitsu technique or MMA ground fighting move.

I couldn’t escape from her body. So I couldn’t help but feel her body, that sensation, completely.

‘She’s not as muscular as she looks.’

Rather, the flesh I felt against my back was surprisingly soft. Even while restrained by Soso, I almost had different thoughts for a moment.

Of all things, Soso was binding me with just the right amount of pressure. I clearly couldn’t escape from her, but not enough to cause pain.

So when I tried to break free, Soso embraced me even more tightly. The strange breathing sounds kept reaching my ears, making me feel odd.

It seemed like Soso was indulging her personal desires.

“Huu… haa… haa… Even if you try to escape like that…”

“W-wait. I’ve already lost, so please let me go!”

Feeling like I might start getting strange feelings too, I stretched out my arm and slapped the training room floor. Soso, finally coming to her senses, said in embarrassment:

“A-are you okay? I’m sorry… my body moved faster than I expected…”

Instead of answering, I nodded and got up.

“Whew. So this is what an active hunter is like. You’ll soon be an S-rank hunter too, Soso. Your movements have improved a lot since Aince.”

“That’s not true… I’m still lacking a lot… hehe.”

Soso smiled broadly, seemingly pleased by my compliment. But I couldn’t smile.

‘Lacking, she says.’

If Soso is “lacking a lot,” then I have no hope. I pushed aside my momentary embarrassment and calmly analyzed why I had lost.

‘I can react. If it’s not a matter of reaction speed, then it must be my actual physical speed…’

I said to Soso:

“Ground fighting is still too much for me. Let’s try standing combat to warm up again?”

“Standing? I’d prefer to continue like before… that way…”

Recalling how we had rolled on the floor moments ago, Soso’s face turned red.

“N-no, don’t misunderstand… Ground fighting is actually the most effective way to neutralize an opponent. But if you want to fight standing up…”

Soso explained defensively as she took her stance again.

The young leader of the Cheonma Divine Sect. One might expect her to take some unique Chinese martial arts stance, but it’s just a normal kickboxing stance. The Cheonma Sect’s martial arts have already been modernized. That makes them even more fearsome.

“Then would you like to come at me first? Wait, d-don’t misunderstand! I didn’t mean it that way…”

I’m not sure what misunderstanding she’s worried about, but I focused.

‘I can’t use the System. Only my body…’

The System, or rather what I believed to be the System, took away all my qi and skills when I confronted the Doubt Demon.

In truth, by the time I was graduating from Aince, I didn’t rely on the skills provided by the System. My abilities had developed to the point where System-activated skills sometimes got in the way.

Instead, I had been receiving help from the System only for non-magical class skills like Infight.

‘My major was combat mage, so close combat was essential too.’

That’s why during rehabilitation training, I also did intense weight training. It was to be able to use my previous combat methods again without the System’s help.

‘I can do well enough without relying on that thing.’

My fighting style: high-powered flame spells when there’s distance, and when close-range fighters narrow the gap, I take advantage of their momentary carelessness for close combat.

Even without the System, my body remembers all those movements.

I charged toward Soso again.

***

“A-are you okay, Minsu? No… to dodge twice… you really are amazing…”

I could see the ceiling. And my whole body was numb. No, it was in severe pain. Enduring that pain, I reviewed what had just happened with Soso—or rather, the one-sided beating I had taken.

‘Ten attacks. I took five without any defense. I blocked three and barely dodged two.’

Still, my body loosened up toward the end. I couldn’t match Soso’s speed no matter what, but at least my body responded.

‘No, it would be more accurate to say I responded with mana rather than my body.’

With physical reactions alone, I could never keep up with the speed of an A-rank awakened like Soso, especially a first-class swordsman.

That’s why I had no choice but to take five of her attacks completely undefended. After that, I gave up trying to react to Soso’s attacks with my body’s senses.

‘Instead, I chose to react with mana.’

I concentrated solely on mana sensitivity. Soso’s mana moving through Cheonma Divine Technique. And my mana being generated by the Hong-ok.

Even if Soso’s strikes didn’t contain mana, I focused all my mental energy on making my mana respond to the subtle changes in the mana field emitted by an awakened person.

That’s how I was able to block three of Soso’s attacks. Though “block” might be generous since I still took the full impact.

‘But I was able to completely dodge twice.’

Of course, it’s disappointing compared to my time at Aince. Back then, I could dodge all attacks from swordsmen or close-combat monsters with pure physical reactions. Still, this is some progress.

‘Since my opponent is a monster, confirming my body’s condition through this level of sparring is actually beneficial.’

Soso is an A-rank awakened on the verge of becoming an S-rank hunter.

I clearly realized that with just the first-level seal of Hong-ok released, I had limitations in fighting equally against such a high-level swordsman.

‘I’ll need to release the second-level seal too. Only then can my body return to its Aince-era state through mana-based physical activation.’

The reason awakened people can display superhuman physical abilities is because of mana. Extreme physical activation through mana is possible.

At the time of my graduation from Aince, I was an A-rank awakened like Yuri or Soso, so my body was on a completely different level than now.

‘Since I won’t be getting help from the System anymore—or rather, can’t—at least my mana heart needs to return to how it was then.’

The System can’t be trusted. It took everything from me at the moment I needed its help the most.

But I was secretly afraid. Releasing Hong-ok’s seal means shortening my lifespan that much more.

‘No, this isn’t the time to worry about that.’

I steeled my resolve again. If my opponent were a high-level close-combat monster instead of Soso, or a high-rank villain, I might go to the other world even faster than my remaining lifespan.

“A-are you in a lot of pain?”

When I remained silent, lost in thought, Soso asked in an urgent tone.

She seems to think I’m still lying on the floor because she hit me too hard.

‘Well, that’s not wrong.’

The parts where Soso hit me, and the arms and legs I used to block her attacks, were starting to ache badly. Noticing my reaction, Soso exclaimed:

“Oh no! If we leave it like this, your body will be really sore later… This is bad!”

And before I could respond, Soso made me lie face down.

“W-what are you—”

“Just stay still!”

In that position, she suddenly started massaging my body.

“I’ll loosen your mana pathways and muscles like last time. That should help with the pain.”

Her body soon overlapped with mine from behind. At the same time, a subtle mana flowed throughout my body.

‘Is this the… massage I received at Elder Yeon Mun-woo’s hermitage before?’

In Muguk terms, it would be called “chugong-gwahyeol”—a type of treatment that loosens blood vessels, or mana pathways. The effect was definite.

Since mana activates the human body, whenever the specially refined mana from the Cheonma Divine Technique was transmitted to my mana pathways, the previous pain disappeared and my body felt refreshed again.

But at the same time, I could feel something soft pressing against my back.

‘Soso. She’s not deliberately making contact with my body, is she?’

No, honestly speaking, she probably does have such intentions, but this treatment method was genuinely helping me.

My mana pathways had never been normal since my mana heart collapsed.

Each time Soso’s mana passed through my mana pathways, I could feel those turbid paths being temporarily purified.

“Huu… loosening your pathways like this… will make it easier to use your body… mmh…”

Soso became more aggressive with her skinship. But it was still just a massage for mana pathway purification.

I decided to think of it that way and tried not to be conscious of Soso. Instead, I thought about the mission a few days later.

‘Given the dangerous mission, anything could happen.’

To the extent that I needed to hurry and release the second-level seal. But it’s impossible right now. Only a month has passed since I released the first-level seal.

Elder Yeon Mun-woo said that the shorter the interval between releasing seals, the greater the rebound and side effects.

‘In that case…’

The newly acquired Gear Windcutter. And the latest combat magic thesis that Secretary-General Choi Seung-hoon sent me.

I started thinking of ways to utilize both of them.

‘Wait. Soso is… too much.’

While I was lying still without complaint, Soso’s skinship—no, her chugong-gwahyeol—was becoming bolder. She was practically embracing me from behind, breathing heavily.

“Minsu’s… body… is so warm… haa…”

Worried that my body might start reacting, I quickly said to her:

“Enough! I’m fine now, so that’s enough. My mana pathways seem sufficiently loosened.”

“A-already? I… I want to do more… I mean, I can do more if you’d like… Unless my technique wasn’t good? If that’s the case…”

No, the effect was plenty good, but the skinship was too excessive.

‘If it were just shoulder massage or hand massage, I wouldn’t mind…’

But this was too dangerous. Though thinking about it, this sensation was strangely familiar.

‘At Elder Yeon Mun-woo’s hermitage… and when I lost consciousness after capturing Jang Gye-shin, Soso said she kept doing chugong-gwahyeol. Could it be?’

Then even back then, Soso might have been this bold with her skinship.

But mentioning that fact might make Soso more conscious of the current situation. I swallowed that thought.

“It was plenty good. I’ll ask for your help again next time. So let’s stop here…”

“Mmm… it… it was good? I’m glad. I… I enjoyed it too!”

As I said that and got up, Soso startled and moved away from me.

Then, turning her back to me, she began eagerly typing something on her smartphone.

***

Finally, the day of the cooperation mission arrived.

To be precise, it’s a bit earlier than the attack team’s deployment. The guilds assigned to reconnaissance had to complete their advance team’s mission first.

Flame’s field team was moving by car. Unlike the intern program business trip, multiple vehicles were heading to the destination as several people were moving together. The existing elite team was all in one van.

I was in the same car, assigned to main operations. Uncle Donghyuk and Arin were in the same car as the information team.

And right next to me was Yuri.

‘Yuri. She hasn’t really spoken to me since the last business trip.’

No, it would be more accurate to say she didn’t have the leisure to do so. As we were assigned the A zone for the advance team, we had to make thorough preparations.

“Sigh. It’s been so busy lately. I haven’t even had time to ask about… guild members’ recent situations.”

Before reaching the assembly point in Paju, Yuri, who had been silent, suddenly spoke up.

Then, bringing her lips close to my ear, she said:

“Minsu. What were you doing with Soso in the training room? I saw everything.”