Chapter 473: Assignment Check (5)

About an hour since Sungchul Hubae started catching Magmarellos with just the Flame Whip.

Watching him handle fifteen Magmarellos with only one 5th Circle Flame Magic, Choi Hwayoung was inwardly surprised.

‘No matter how much basic strength and tenacity he has, I never thought he could catch them to this extent….’

First off, I was surprised by the fact that he killed more than the initially expected ten A-rank monsters, but…

The fact that he caught those fourteen monsters with solely one 5th Circle Flame Magic was the part that surprised her even more.

‘Truly, his growth is fast.’

Even though he must have already been quite exhausted, the sight of him still holding on without collapsing was something else.

Of course, in Choi Hwayoung’s view, even that holding on was already close to his limit.

The mana he wasted too much while moving to catch Magmarellos with only the Flame Whip.

And his noticeably decreased stamina, which was evident even to her eyes.

‘If he squeezes out all his remaining energy to kill about two or three more, it seems like it’ll be over.’

There’s only the difference between his spirit breaking first and giving up to lie down, or his body hitting its limit and falling down with a thud like a puppet whose strings are cut, losing consciousness.

For now, if we only consider the tenacity he’s shown so far, it seems he’s closer to the latter.

She would have no choice but to restrain him at a certain point to prevent that from happening.

‘Since Sungchul Hubae is active while hiding his gender, taking him to a place like the Union’s infirmary would be difficult. The only option is to feed him stamina or mana potions and make him recover on his own.’

If that happens, an opportunity to show her own cool appearance wouldn’t come often, but since the situation wasn’t favorable, it couldn’t be helped.

If there were such an opportunity, it might be a little better personally, but as Sungchul Hubae’s teacher, not hindering his growth was definitely more important.

The moment she was about to intervene to stop him at an appropriate point, so that Hubae wouldn’t collapse from exhaustion.

‘I should make him stop soon… Huh?’

The blade of the greatsword, shining cyan, came into Choi Hwayoung’s eyes.

As soon as she saw it, a slight disappointment towards Sungchul Hubae bloomed in Choi Hwayoung’s mind.

‘…I clearly told him to use only the Flame Whip and the improved version of Explosive Fist.’

Since the situation went awry, is he habitually taking out the most familiar weapon to finish it?

Of course, if this training were actual combat, mobilizing all means he could use to defeat the monsters would be right, but…

After all, this moment right now was a lesson taking place under her supervision.

Arbitrarily breaking the given conditions in the lesson and swinging his sword first.

Choi Hwayoung, who was approaching to sternly warn Sungchul Hubae, who broke the rules, by stopping the test right now, but…

Not long after, she could sense that Kim Sungchul’s objective was slightly different from what she thought.

‘…Flames?’

“Hayaaaah!!”

Sungchul Hubae continued the Magmarello hunt again, swinging the Mithril Greatsword where flames bloomed.

Of course, the process of defeating the Magmarellos itself was mostly the power of cutting with a sword, but still, Choi Hwayoung could not stop his actions.

That’s because something estimated to be an improved version of Explosive Fist was blazing along the blade of the Mithril Greatsword held in his hand.

‘A flame attack used at close range, the handle part seems to be protected by applying cold magic, and it possesses the ability as an elemental attack…’

A usage method too absurd to call it an improved version of Explosive Fist.

However, the Mithril Greatsword Sungchul Hubae was swinging was clearly dealing even greater damage to the Magmarello with the help of flame magic.

While agonizing over whether to allow this as a teacher or not, Choi Hwayoung woke the next monsters up one by one.

All 20 A-rank monsters falling was an event that happened a little over ten minutes later.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“Hoo, haaaaah….”

After the Magmarello hunt, which spanned nearly an hour and a half, ended.

Completely drained, I lay right there on the dungeon floor and took tired breaths.

…I really had to catch all 20 A-rank monsters without a moment’s rest.

It seems I had a Spartan-style lesson with Eunyoung Noona just a few days ago, no less intense than this training.

No matter how I think about it, my teachers seem to overestimate their own disciple.

And Hwayoung Sunbae, for some reason, was standing still even after the lesson ended, looking like she was pondering something.

“Hwayoung Sunbae.”

“……”

“…Sunbae?”

Actually, I could guess to some extent why she was pondering.

She must be agonizing over how to judge the Mithril Greatsword I took out midway while solving the task she gave.

According to the conditions she initially gave, the usable skills to catch twenty Magmarellos were only two.

Only the Flame Whip and the improved version of Explosive Fist, which I developed over the past few months and also tried using in actual combat.

As for the Flame Whip, it would pass needless to say, but regarding the Flame Sword, the improved version of Explosive Fist, it seems Sunbae’s subjective judgment would have to come into play.

Of course, as Hwayoung Sunbae said, I did use the Flame Whip and the Flame Sword in the process of catching all the Magmarellos for now.

However, the magic itself called Flame Sword required the Mithril Greatsword to be accompanied by it to use the magic.

Conversely, because it was magic that couldn’t be established without a sword to wrap flames around.

“…Hoo.”

Sunbae, showing an expression that looked like her pondering was over to some extent, started walking stealthily over to where I was lying.

I too effortfully got up my tired body and sat down roughly.

Still, in its own way, it’s a lesson from my teacher, and it’s not something I can do rudely, lying down and just listening passively.

“…Who told you to arbitrarily take out a sword and swing it during the flame magic lesson?”

“But the Flame Sword, the improved version of Explosive Fist, cannot be used without the Mithril Greatsword.”

“It’s an improved version where the original form of Explosive Fist itself doesn’t even remain anymore.”

“The concept itself of using flame magic at close range still remains.”

“……”

I lightly answered Sunbae’s expected questions too, which I naturally expected her to ask.

Hwayoung Sunbae, after letting out a sigh with a somewhat strange feeling, quietly nodded and said.

“…For now, I’ll let it pass.”

“Yesss!”

“…Next time, I won’t let it slide. Don’t use tricks like this.”

“It’s not a trick, but a necessary process…”

“If you were really going to prove the power of your Flame Sword, you should have used a bit more ordinary and old sword, not a greatsword made of material like Mithril.”

“…That’s true.”

As expected, getting away with it carelessly doesn’t work.

To Hwayoung Sunbae’s extremely obvious sound reasoning, I had no choice but to nod instead of making excuses.

“I’m letting it pass because I confirmed your Flame Sword magic’s power is not lacking. If it were half-heartedly just wrapping embers, it wouldn’t have been enough at all.”

“Yes!”

“…And well, whatever a mage uses as their staff is their own freedom too. If you think of that greatsword as your staff, it wouldn’t be that strange.”

Saying that, Hwayoung Sunbae shook a tobacco pipe she took out from the front pocket of her robe in front of my eyes.

Last time too, it seemed she was swinging that pipe when using large-scale magic, and as expected, Sunbae’s staff seems to be that pipe.

In Do Yehee’s case too, she used a fan, which she arrogantly used to hide her expression, as a staff.

Practically, the only mage among the people I know who uses the most staff-like staff was Cha Yuri.

In the first place, the reason for using such an old-fashioned staff must be partly due to her admiration for her idol, Karin Rayner.

“Normally, I was planning to do the next lesson right away… but seeing your state, I can’t bring myself to do it.”

“…Please go easy on me, Sunbae.”

“That’s why, if you’re going to make improved versions, you should have made several more, not stopped at one. After using only the Flame Whip the whole time until all your strength is gone, how could your stamina not be drained swinging a burning sword?”

“…Making those two things also took a lot of thought.”

“That’s all because your effort to try and make something new is insufficient. I’ll roughly show you just a little as an example.”

-Hwareureuk.

Hwayoung Sunbae, leaving me be as I sat on the floor listening intently to my teacher’s lesson, fired a remade Fireball against the uneven wall.

The twenty-first Magmarello, which was still dormant, woke up reacting to her flame magic.

Immediately, streams of flame split into three shot out forward from Hwayoung Sunbae’s hand.

-Kwagwagwang!

‘Geuwoooook!’

The Magmarello, falling down instantly with three streams of flame causing explosions continuously, even with just one swing.

As soon as I saw that sight, the Flame Whip I had swung with all my strength until just now felt quite pathetic.

“This is an application of the Flame Whip. Its efficiency will be about two to three times greater than what you swung all day today. Of course, since this is 6th Circle magic, the difference in power is natural, but…”

“……”

“And the improved version of Explosive Fist… perhaps it can be utilized in this way too. Watch carefully how my mana flows.”

And this time, after waking a new Magmarello, she suddenly pointed her staff towards the ground.

The red mana that escaped from her body began to extend in a straight line from the altar floor towards the Magmarello.

‘Geuu….’

-Kwaaang!

‘…Uu.’

The Magmarello, falling down right there after hitting squarely the explosion rising from the floor before even taking proper steps.

This magic too, just like the magic just shown, was considerably powerful.

“This is something I tried making by applying it once after seeing the Explosive Fist you made last time. The advantage of magic used at close range is that the mana diffusion phenomenon decreases, making the power stronger, so by completely moving mana into the ground, we minimize loss.”

“……”

“I’m just telling you that you didn’t necessarily need to be bound only to the concept of close-range magic. If you minimize mana loss like this, even with 5th Circle level magic, Magmarellos can be blown up in one hit.”

“Ah, yes…”

To be honest, it was a usage method where the original form of Explosive Fist didn’t remain at all anymore, but…

As for the skill of applying just one or two usable concepts from failed magic, Hwayoung Sunbae was definitely much more skilled.

Indeed, simply thinking about age, she is several times mine, and moreover, her period of activity as a hunter is much longer.

As expected, can’t I contend against the power of experience?

“It’s not difficult, is it?”

“Seeing it directly, it seems so.”

“You must have rested enough by now, so try using the spells I just showed you once.”

…Huh?

“…Did I hear that wrong?”

“Since you saw it once, you know, right? How both of them were made and used.”

“…What?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Aren’t you starting quickly? If your mana is insufficient, drink this and replenish it.”

Even though it was a lesson where I received quite expensive mana potions, for some reason, my mind was not comfortable at all.

In the process of overworking my already tired body and mind again, one thought flashed through my mind.

Truly, I must have chosen my teacher wrongly.