Chapter 37 : Midterm Evaluation(2)

Bladelash Leopard.

Among the five types of magical beasts prepared, it was the one with the highest scoring potential.

Which meant it was also the hardest to take down out of the five.

“Grrrrr…”

It was a magical beast clearly intended and prepared by the testing committee for a high-risk, high-reward challenge.

“Hah, seriously. No openings at all.”

Unlike the other beasts that had clear strategies for being subdued, the Bladelash Leopard had no weaknesses.

As a feline predator-type beast, its balance was flawless.

Its claws and fangs alone were enough to tear apart an opponent with ease.

Among them, the most dangerous part was those razor-sharp fangs that were like actual blades.

If you got caught the wrong way in those long, protruding blade-fangs, losing a limb would be the least of your worries.

Crunch… crunch…

Despite being as large as a full-grown tiger, the beast’s footsteps were chillingly quiet.

Even I, with enhanced senses, had to focus hard just to hear it.

If the Bladelash Leopard had ambushed me in its natural habitat—some forest or mountain range—I would’ve definitely taken a hit.

But this was an arena, and I was fully aware of its presence.

“Grrrrr…”

That’s why it wasn’t recklessly closing the distance, just growling without charging in.

Still, there’s a limit to just standing in a standoff like this.

Fuuuuu…

As I exhaled the breath I’d been holding in my chest and activated my mana core, tension rippled through the leopard’s limbs.

Untamed and wild as it was, it could sense mana like a true magical beast, and it seemed to realize I was now in full combat stance.

Ka-kak… kakak…!

The tense standstill finally came to an end, and just as I reinforced my entire body with mana, the beast too began to power itself up with its own mana.

A reddish mana aura enveloped its already deadly-looking blade-fangs.

Now, if I got caught by those things, not even my mana-hardened body would save me.

I’d be sliced clean through in an instant.

Bang—!

Fully aware of that, the Bladelash Leopard didn’t hesitate.

The moment it finished reinforcing its most powerful weapon—its fangs—it slammed the ground and leapt.

In one powerful bound, the massive, quadrupedal feline beast closed the roughly 30-meter gap between us in a flash.

It was in front of me before I could even blink, jaws wide open, blade-fangs gleaming.

Fast as hell.

So fast that even tracking it with my eyes was difficult.

But that also meant—barely—I could still track it with my eyes.

And if I could see it—

“Now.”

It meant that my perfectly timed counter, based on prediction, was unavoidable.

Whoosh— KWAANG!!!

With a full-powered right hook, the Bladelash Leopard’s head twisted halfway to the side as it tumbled across the ground.

Crash—bang—bang—bang!

The mana I had separated through mana liquefaction and overlaid onto my knuckles—the Solar Limbs—exploded the moment my counter landed, dramatically boosting its destructive force.

Its jaw, wide open to bite down on me, couldn’t withstand the power of that explosion.

“Ke… keh-hehh…”

Sigh.

I walked toward the Bladelash Leopard, whose lower jaw had been completely torn off and was flailing helplessly, unable to recover from the shock.

“Go down.”

I placed my foot on its neck, coated the sole of my shoe with mana, and slammed down with full force and weight.

BOOM—!

With the blast, I felt the solid crunch of something thick and hard breaking beneath my foot.

At the same time, the massive body of the Bladelash Leopard trembled, then slumped completely.

A clean finish. So clean, it probably didn’t even feel pain.

“Well then, time to loot. I made sure not to damage the blades, after all.”

Aside from the missing jaw, the Bladelash Leopard’s body was in pristine condition.

After gathering materials from it, the air vibrated with a soft hum and a broadcast voice rang out.

[Cadet Yang Woobin. Elimination of Bladelash Leopard confirmed.]

The system had recognized my takedown and signaled the end of the trial.

[You pass.]

As the announcement echoed through the arena, I passed the practical exam.

As I felt that strange sensation of spatial transfer, there was only one thing on my mind.

Tsubaki, you’re doing okay… right?

The beast in the third trial chamber has a type disadvantage against her, so unless she panics, she should have this.

I even told her she’d be dead meat if she failed, so she shouldn’t be messing around.

Damn, I’m seriously worried.

Like a mom worrying after her kid playing near the water, I was stressing about Fuyuno Tsubaki.

But worrying wouldn’t change anything.

At this moment, everything depended on her.

“Huuu… I’ll be waiting, so please… do well.”

All I could do was sincerely hope.

***

Fwoooom—!

The blinding light that had filled my vision faded, replaced by a familiar scene.

It was the opposite side of the test site, where cadets who had finished the practical exam reappeared.

“Urgh… s-someone help…”

“Medics! We’ve got a seriously injured cadet here!”

“How did it go? You okay? I couldn’t even find an opening, so I just scratched it a bit before I gave up.”

“Yeah? It was super easy for me. Maybe I got the beast behind the fifth door?”

“Phew… damn, the test was brutal. I gave up the moment I saw the Bladelash Leopard.”

“For real? That thing is scary…”

Over here were all sorts of cadets—those who were seriously injured during the test, those who forfeited, those lucky enough to face the easier beast behind the fifth door, and those who were burying their heads in frustration at their lack of skill.

Seeing such a wide range of reactions from everyone who went through the test made me start to feel uneasy.

“If you forfeit the moment you see the beast, that’s gotta be the lowest possible score, right? Ugh, it’ll definitely go on my record… How am I supposed to explain this to my mom…?”

Especially that girl over there—the one who forfeited as soon as she saw the Bladelash Leopard—made me even more anxious.

What if Fuyuno Tsubaki did the same thing out of fear?

That kind of anxiety started creeping in…

“W-Woobin…”

“……”

While I was still caught up in worry, a voice I absolutely shouldn’t be hearing right now called out from behind me.

There were only two people in this whole Daecheon Academy who called me Woobin, and one of them was currently in a place far too high up for us to be meeting like this.

Which meant the person calling my name right now could only be one individual—and that was not a good thing.

Even though I knew in my head that the only person who could be calling me right now was Fuyuno Tsubaki… I refused to accept it.

Because she had entered the door at the exact same time as I had.

“……”

If she had already come back out, that could only mean one thing—something I really didn’t want to imagine: the worst-case scenario.

So I just kept facing forward, pretending I hadn’t heard a thing.

“Woobin…? Um, Woobin?”

But reality doesn’t wait around for your denial to catch up.

“Woobin…!”

Her face, pale but now tinged with a rosy blush, appeared right in front of mine.

At this point, ignoring her was no longer an option.

Sigh…

I let out a long breath, then looked at Fuyuno Tsubaki.

She was completely unscathed—just like she had been before entering the trial.

That spotless appearance, way too clean for someone who had supposedly fought a monster, told me everything I needed to know.

“I’m sorry, Woobin… I couldn’t keep our promise.”

“…I see.”

So this girl… Even after I said she’d be dead if she failed, she still gave up?

Was this what it felt like to be a parent who’d spent a fortune on tutoring, only for their kid to bomb their grades anyway?

A sigh escaped me again as I wondered how on earth I was supposed to fix this cowardly streak of hers.

I had told her she was dead if she didn’t pass, so I figured I’d at least give her a light smack to drive the point home.

I was just curling my fist when she suddenly said something totally unexpected.

“Woobin, even though you told me not to… I used Woobin’s power…”

“…Huh?”

“Right now… I still can’t handle the cold without

Woobin. I was scared… so I had no choice…”

Woobin?

Used my power?

That didn’t sound like something someone who gave up would say.

Realizing that, I asked her, just to make sure.

“So… are you saying you passed the test using that Woobin thing?”

“Huh? Yeah. When I used Woobin’s power, just like you said, it was super easy.”

“…Right. Yeah, in theory, it really should’ve been a walk in the park for you.”

The monster behind the third door that Tsubaki had entered was an Iceplate Squid.

A massive cephalopod beast that lurked beneath frozen waters, waiting to snatch prey with its tentacles through a hole in the ice.

It was the perfect matchup for someone like Fuyuno Tsubaki, who wielded cold-based powers.

For her, it was practically a free win.

Coming out unscathed made complete sense.

“…Ha.”

“Woobin?”

But even knowing all that, I couldn’t help but feel this surge of emotion rise in my chest.

Like a parent tearing up just because their newborn managed to hold their head up for the first time, I found myself moved by something that any seasoned player would’ve seen as a given.

“You did great. Really, you did amazing, Tsubaki.”

This same Fuyuno Tsubaki—known throughout Daecheon’s history as the weakest of the superhumans, the coward who couldn’t even take down a Littlehorn Rabbit—had taken out a giant monster that many cadets couldn’t even scratch.

Whether this result was expected or not, I knew what kind of life she’d lived to get here.

So I gently ruffled her hair, overflowing with pride.

“You did great. So, so great.”

Pat pat pat pat pat.

“Eek! Ha! Ugh! Ehh! Ngh!”

The moment my hand touched her head, Fuyuno Tsubaki froze up completely, letting out squeaky noises like a rubber toy, not knowing what to do with herself.

Of course, regardless of how flustered she got, I had to express how proud I was—so I just kept patting her head.

And just like that, the two of us smoothly earned the right to challenge for a promotion to the Jincheon Class.