Chapter 471: Assignment Check (3)

Waking up and frantically getting ready, Choi Hwayoung barely made it to the Association.

Somehow managing to meet Sungchul Hubae and apologize for her lateness, she walked beside him, regretting her mistake multiple times in her mind.

‘How could I have turned off my alarm and slept in like this on a day like today… You stupid bitch….’

A precious, precious reunion with Sungchul Hubae, returning after two months, no, almost three months.

Recalling that she could have missed that chance due to oversleeping, Choi Hwayoung still felt her heart plummet.

If Sungchul Hubae hadn’t even called her and had just left, when would she have even woken up?

And putting everything else aside, how awkward would their relationship have become?

Just imagining that heart-pounding situation made Choi Hwayoung’s heart still race.

She couldn’t help but feel an even stronger affection for Sungchul Hubae, who didn’t complain about her lateness and even comforted her.

‘Most guys apparently show their displeasure if a woman is just 10 minutes late for an appointment….’

But here was a man who, far from showing displeasure, actually worried about the woman who was late.

Choi Hwayoung couldn’t believe such a man still existed in this day and age, and even more unbelievable was the fact that she had already exchanged ‘bodily conversations’ with him several times in the past.

‘He certainly has what it takes to charm many women… Even though Sungchul Hubae in bed is just a pervert overflowing with lust.’

Still, thanks to that, she figured there was room for someone like her to squeeze in, which Choi Hwayoung didn’t think was so bad.

In fact, she secretly hoped he would continue his perverted behavior so that the number of women around him would decrease.

She figured it was a win-win situation if she could reduce the number of women around him through humiliating positions like doggy style sex or anal sex.

…Little did she know that he was actually involved with women with much harder kinks in places she didn’t know about.

‘I have to make up for being late today somehow. I need to make sure Sungchul Hubae doesn’t think I’m a washed-up senior… somehow….’

The two assignments she had given Sungchul Hubae in the last class.

Create improved versions of Flame Whip and Exploding Fist, regardless of the circle level.

For reference, Choi Hwayoung had also prepared improved versions of the two spells for tutoring.

She figured using these well would help her make up for her lateness today to some extent.

‘Given his talent, he probably made the improved Flame Whip easily… but he must not have finished the Exploding Fist version so easily.’

That spell had numerous problems from its initial design.

The idea of using fire magic as a close-combat technique was good in itself, but it remained just a creative thought.

He must have learned through hard experience over the past two months how inefficient it was for actual combat.

It was her role as the fire magic instructor to guide her junior disciple who was struggling and hitting a wall.

‘If I show him a reasonably well-made example spell, his respect for me will surely be rekindled. That should help me recover the image I damaged by being late today, somehow.’

Then, after finishing the business at hand, a subtly intimate atmosphere could naturally develop with Sungchul Hubae.

If things went well, she might not only make up for her mistake today but also share some long-awaited time releasing pent-up sexual desire.

However, Choi Hwayoung was still unaware.

That Sungchul Hubae had already perfectly improved Exploding Fist, which she had assumed was impossible.

And fundamentally, regardless of how she acted today, she was destined to be ‘taken’ by Sungchul Hubae.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

「C-Rank Dungeon, Ruins of Flame」

After a brief greeting in the Association lobby, Hwayoung Sunbae and I entered the Ruins of Flame, a C-Rank dungeon we had visited once before.

I remember catching about 50 monsters like Fire Lizards and Fire Spirits here using only the 3rd-Circle fire magic, Frost Burst. If today’s task was similar to what Sunbae assigned, I was confident I could finish much faster this time.

Small, agile monsters like Fire Lizards or Fire Bats could be easily caught using Flame Whip.

Against Fire Spirits, I could probably use the ambitiously improved Flame Sword to cut them down in one strike.

…Actually, considering the assignment Sunbae gave me, it probably won’t stop at just that level.

I also came prepared, imagining a higher level of magic.

“Ah, just in case you were wondering. We’re going a bit deeper today.”

“Huh?”

“Instead of the C-Rank monsters near the entrance, I’m going to have you face the A-Rank ones inside.”

“…A-Rank monsters?”

“If you properly improved Flame Whip or Exploding Fist, you should be able to handle B-Rank or even A-Rank monsters. Sungchul Hubae, if you have any brains, you wouldn’t have improved them while staying at the original 3rd Circle, right?”

“Well, that’s true.”

Ever since Sunbae emphasized ‘Improve them somehow, regardless of whether it’s 4th or 5th Circle’ when assigning the task, I could roughly grasp her intended direction.

It was natural to interpret it as a request to create actual 4th or 5th Circle fire magic.

Creating 4th or 5th Circle spells from scratch would be quite difficult, so she probably adjusted the difficulty by suggesting improvement of existing spells.

Judging by the number of concepts used, Flame Sword corresponds to 4th Circle, and Flame Whip to 5th Circle.

Purely in terms of raw spell power, Flame Whip is slightly stronger, but Flame Sword leans more towards being an auxiliary magic attached to swordsmanship.

In actual use, the one that can inflict more damage would naturally be Flame Sword.

…The question is whether Hwayoung Sunbae will consider this Flame Sword a proper 4th Circle fire spell.

It definitely possesses the identity of a fire spell.

Although it was a combo using ice magic, it delivered the expected power.

More importantly, since no one else could use this magic until now, I took pride in being its original developer, and its practicality was proven in the Crystal Spider Cave before.

I had some expectation that, by Hwayoung Sunbae’s standards, it would be sufficient for approval.

After all, she was the teacher who encouraged me, saying even the unstable versions of Flame Whip and Exploding Fist were quite usable.

I don’t know if she uses the carrot and stick method… balanced, but she certainly uses both approaches as a teacher.

Thinking like that, I gradually walked deeper into the ruins with Hwayoung Sunbae.

The deeper we went, the more the space became eerie, seeming less touched by human hands.

“About here.”

“Huh?”

“This is where the Magmarellos live. Usually, C-Rank hunters don’t come this far, so it’s relatively less disturbed.”

Magmarellos… they must be the highest level A-Rank monsters in this dungeon.

As seen with the Woodrellos from the Ancient Tree Graveyard, it’s obvious that a C-Rank dungeon doesn’t necessarily only house monsters of C-Rank or lower.

A dungeon typically gets classified as C-Rank if the number of C-Rank monsters exceeds a certain ratio compared to other monsters.

For example, let’s assume there’s a dungeon called ‘Goblin Nest’ inhabited by 100 C-Rank Hopgoblins and one A-Rank Ogre Lord.

The moment this dungeon is designated as A-Rank based on its highest-level monster, several problems arise.

First, C-Rank hunters can barely even enter an A-Rank dungeon, so they miss the opportunity to obtain materials by catching the Hopgoblins they could handle.

And from an A-Rank hunter’s perspective, they’d have to defeat 100 C-Rank Hopgoblins just for a chance to fight one A-Rank Ogre Lord, making it an inefficient hunting ground for them too.

In that case, it would be much more beneficial for both skill improvement and profit to gather materials from other dungeons inhabited solely by B-Rank or A-Rank monsters.

Eventually, that dungeon ends up being neglected by both C-Rank and A-Rank hunters.

From the perspective of a guild operating by selling materials collected from dungeons, the failure to monetize a dungeon inevitably leads to financial deterioration in various ways.

To prevent such situations, dungeons like ‘Goblin Nest’ are usually set as C-Rank dungeons, operated with accompanying warnings.

Something like, ‘An A-Rank monster, the Ogre Lord, appears in this dungeon, so please proceed with caution.’

The Ruins of Flame, where Hwayoung Sunbae and I entered, actually has a similar warning.

In the first place, most C-Rank hunters wouldn’t even be able to reach this point due to the sheer number of monsters.

Since I was moving with Hwayoung Sunbae inside the mobile fire barrier she created, we reached the dungeon’s depths without a single fight.

We arrived at the habitat of the Magmarellos, the strongest monsters in this dungeon.

…However, upon arriving, there were no monsters to be found; only rugged ruin walls and an empty altar greeted her and me.

“……Sunbae.”

“Yeah?”

“I don’t see any Magmarellos, or any other monsters for that matter. Did you perhaps get lost?”

“…In some ways, you seem like a talented monster hunter prodigy, but at times like this, you seem like an amateur hunter lacking practical experience.”

“Huh?”

As soon as I asked again, unable to grasp her meaning immediately, the fire barrier surrounding Hwayoung Sunbae and me vanished.

Immediately, two fireballs created from her hands flew towards and struck the rugged walls surrounding the altar.

-Grrrruuuumble….

“……Huh?”

Considering only two fireballs hit the wall, the vibration was quite intense.

Sensing something was amiss, I observed Hwayoung Sunbae’s expression standing to my right.

She was calmly gazing at both walls of the altar, as if waiting for something.

-Grrrrumble.

‘Grrr….’

-Kugung, Kuuung.

‘Gaaa….’

And then, from where Hwayoung Sunbae’s fireballs had struck, the rugged walls began to move slightly.

The walls, shifting from a mix of ochre and brown to a deep lava-red, slowly moved, beginning to take shape.

Only then did I realize that the rugged walls of this altar were not simple walls.

“Twenty Magmarellos. You can use the improved Flame Whip and Exploding Fist.”

“……”

“I’ll wake them up two at a time so you can face them sequentially, but don’t expect to leave this spot until you’ve defeated them all with your own hands.”

Simultaneously, Hwayoung Sunbae sealed the only entrance we used with a blazing fortress of flame.

Even on today’s lesson, returning after nearly two months, her passion for teaching was still burning fiercely.