Ranking Duel(2)

With not much time left until the hour and minute hands overlapped.

A woman who had been sweating nervously in the corner carefully approached me as I was humming and playing around in the waiting room.

“Th-then, Hunter Shin-yeon? I’ll be casting the curse soon, so could you show me your weapon and body?”

The woman holding a staff taller than herself while keeping time.

To describe her more precisely, she was a magician employed by the association to cast the Curse of Limit.

She approached me and bowed her head politely with that request, and I stood up holding Hwa-gon without saying anything in particular.

“Do I just need to stand still?”

“Ah, yes! First, I’ll cast the curse on your body, so please bear with it even if you feel a bit uncomfortable.”

The woman nodded and raised her staff when I stood up and asked.

Whether it was simply because I was an exclusive hunter of the General Management Team, or because of my face that could be called a peerless beauty, the woman’s appearance, shrinking with tension, looked quite unstable.

She looked so frail that I wondered if she could even cast the curse properly.

However, belying my worry, the woman swung her raised staff once in a big circle and gently placed it on my shoulder.

Jingle—

“《From now on, your body cannot exceed the set limit.》”

The bell attached to the staff jingled, and the woman’s words filled with mana became a curse that settled in my body.

“Oh… Is this the curse?”

“Can you feel the sensation of the curse?”

“My body feels quite heavy.”

“There’s no repulsion coming to me either… Then it’s successful.”

A heavy feeling as if a lock had been placed inside my body.

It was stuffy, but not to the point of being bothersome – an ambiguous sensation to which I gave that review, and the woman wiped her chest in relief at the successful casting of the curse.

However, I’m sorry to her, but I wasn’t paying much attention to this curse as I was having a mental conversation with Hwa-gon.

‘I didn’t expect a human’s curse to work on me.’

『It seems to be a curse with different roots from talismans or divine power. But it’s not that strong a curse.』

‘Yeah, honestly, I think I could break it easily.’

Compared to the divine power of the shamans or spirit-possessed priestesses I had seen a few times in the past life, it was a truly crude curse.

Certainly, my body had become heavier and the overall limit of my strength had lowered, but it was a strength that could be broken easily if I applied some force.

Moreover, even if I left the curse as it was, the limit of my strength hadn’t fallen to the point where I couldn’t kill a single human.

‘Of course, I don’t intend to break it.’

『Right, you shouldn’t break it.』

Of course, I’m just saying the curse is weak, but I had no intention of breaking the curse just because it was weak.

After all, the duel can only proceed if one is under the Curse of Limit, and with such a curse that makes it easier to control my power, wouldn’t it be easier to hold back?

With this curse, there would be no case of accidentally killing Se-young with one hit due to poor power control, so it was better to leave it as it was, whether necessary or optional.

And while I was making such an assessment of the curse with Hwa-gon, the woman, who had been sweating a bit as if she had used quite a lot of mana, now looked at Hwa-gon gripped in my right hand and said:

“Now, could you hold out your weapon, Hunter?”

“Ah, sure.”

At her words, I slightly raised Hwa-gon that I had been lowering.

As I lifted Hwa-gon horizontally, supporting the head part with my left hand, the woman swung her staff, jingling the bell just like before.

Soon, she brought the staff to Hwa-gon with a short incantation.

“《From now on, your weapon cannot exceed the set limit.》”

『Ugh, this is a somewhat strange sensation.』

Hwa-gon let out a groan, twitching slightly as if ticklish when the staff touched and the curse was cast.

However, regardless of Hwa-gon’s twitching, the woman’s words that had become a curse settled darkly inside Hwa-gon.

Or so it seemed.

Pachang—!

“What… Kyaak?!”

If only the curse that was about to seep in hadn’t exploded suddenly.

The curse that was just about to settle inside Hwa-gon exploded as if shattering and scattered around.

There was no physical damage as it was mana that had lost its form, but the woman who had cast the curse screamed and fell backwards from the recoil, and what remained after the fierce explosion was only Hwa-gon, intact as if nothing had happened.

Hwa-gon in the form of an iron bat, sparkling as if nothing had been done to it at all.

『Wh-what? I didn’t do anything…』

However, even Hwa-gon itself expressed doubt in a puzzled voice as if it hadn’t interfered with the current situation.

Hwa-gon’s words saying it didn’t know why the explosion occurred.

And right after, the woman who had gotten up from her seat looked at Hwa-gon I was holding and said while rubbing her fallen behind:

“Um… Hunter? What exactly is that weapon? I don’t know what material it’s made of, but I’ve never seen such repulsion before……”

“Well? I don’t really……”

If you ask what Hwa-gon is made of, I don’t know either.

After all, Hwa-gon was a bat that had been passed down to the great leaders of the goblin clan long before I was born.

Wondering if Hwa-gon itself might know, I secretly asked it, but…

‘Hwa-gon, what exactly are you made of to repel this curse?’

『I don’t know that either.』

‘……You really don’t know?’

『When I opened my eyes, I was already dwelling inside the goblin bat, so how would I know?』

The only answer that came back from Hwa-gon was that it didn’t know either.

In the end, there was nothing that could be an answer for the woman.

Therefore, in the state where only Hwa-gon that wouldn’t accept the curse remained, the woman was sweating coldly as if troubled.

“This won’t do… You have to use a weapon with the Curse of Limit cast on it to participate in the duel……”

“Can’t you bring other magicians to try?”

“Well… It’s a bit awkward to say with my own mouth, but among the magicians who can use the Curse of Limit, there’s no one more skilled than me.”

“Aha, so bringing others would be useless since they’re all worse than you.”

“What?! No! I didn’t say it that extremely?!”

According to the woman, bringing other magicians would be a useless action since they were less skilled than the woman in front of me.

And to make matters worse, the current time was now only about 5 minutes away from the start time of the duel.

Therefore, the woman fell into contemplation while holding her head.

“……”

After glancing at the woman like that, I gave an apology to Hwa-gon inwardly after a moment of silence.

‘Hwa-gon, I’m sorry. I’ll apologize in advance.’

『……What’s that ominous statement?』

Ignoring Hwa-gon who was questioning me with suspicion, where I headed was none other than the weapon rack in the waiting room.

It was a weapon rack where wooden practice weapons made of wood were hung.

And there, I picked up a very blunt wooden bat and returned to my spot, holding it out to the woman.

“I’ll participate with this weapon, so cast the curse on this.”

“What?! Wait a moment, are you serious?!”

『What are you saying, Shin-yeon! Are you, the great leader, going to use such a bat instead of me?!』

The woman and Hwa-gon’s cries burst out simultaneously at my single statement as I held out the weapon.

Especially Hwa-gon was writhing furiously, saying how could the great leader abandon the goblin bat that is itself and use such a wooden club, but this was why I had apologized in advance.

No matter what, I couldn’t say that I couldn’t participate in the duel that everyone was looking forward to because Hwa-gon repelled the curse, could I?

Therefore, I apologized to Hwa-gon once again and held out the wooden bat to the woman.

“This is enough to beat someone like that anyway.”

After all, what’s the need to use the Precious Water Lotus Bat to take down someone like that?

The Precious Water Lotus Bat is a weapon only for the great leader, a goblin bat that should be used only against strong opponents.

『……H-hmph! That’s not wrong.』

And at these words of mine, Hwa-gon, who had been very angry, cleared its throat and calmed down.

Indeed, it was a bat that was easy yet difficult in many ways.

---

Murmur murmur—

The 3rd Arena in the 11th District.

Although only hunters were filling the arena seats since edited versions were broadcast to civilians, over half of the nearly 20,000 seats in the arena were filled.

Thanks to that, the inside of the arena was bustling.

At the end of the arena spectator seats, leaning against the stairs and looking around, the S-rank 1st, Park Ye-in, looked down at the duel ground where a sand wind was blowing.

“It’s about to start soon……”

A historic matchup between the current A-rank 1st and the former A-rank 1st.

Excluding the S-rank duel that had happened only once in 70 years of history, this could be called a duel between the highest-ranking holders, so Ye-in could fully understand the excitement of those around her.

And as the start time gradually approached, Ye-in’s body also began to be filled with excitement, swept up in the surrounding heat.

“Hunter Ha Se-young’s side has her accumulated career, but Hunter Shin-yeon has almost nothing… At best, just the 23rd District gate clearance and participation in an undeveloped gate?”

Of course, solo clearing the upper A-rank gate of the 23rd District is an amazing feat, but that much is fully possible for Hunter Ha Se-young as well.

Moreover, the undeveloped gate incident hadn’t been properly revealed yet, so it wasn’t very helpful information.

Therefore, Ye-in next began to think while looking at their weapons written on the electronic board.

“On one side, dual swords, on the other side, an iron bat. That iron bat was certainly quite unusual.”

Hunter Ha Se-young’s weapon is dual swords made from the horns of the A-rank monster Lycano, and Hunter Shin-yeon’s weapon is a simple iron bat.

But it was obvious that iron bat wasn’t an ordinary item if you watched the video of her 23rd District gate.

With an unbelievable hardness that easily crushed steel and leather, and even growing at will, it was undoubtedly a strange item.

“Just looking at what’s immediately visible, Hunter Ha Se-young seems a bit more advantageous, but……”

Judging by the versatile and relentless attacks of the dual swords, it would be difficult to counter with an iron bat, but it’s unknown how it would turn out with that strange ability and Shin-yeon Hunter’s ability to handle elements.

In the end, having only increased her expectations, Ye-in stopped her continuing imagination and turned her gaze back to the duel ground.

[Ah, can everyone hear me well? The time has come now. So we will start the duel that everyone has been waiting for.]

And as she turned her head, the guidance announcement flowed out with perfect timing.

At the announcement that the duel would start soon, the gazes of all hunters in the arena, including Ye-in, turned to the doors located at both ends of the duel ground.

[First, the hunter on the left side will enter. Hunter Ha Se-young, please enter.]

The door began to open along with the dry guidance announcement.

Probably, in the footage that will be broadcast on TV, exciting commentary from the announcers will be added here.

Recalling that voice that seemed to be heard in her head for some reason, Ye-in threw her gaze at the woman walking out from the left door.

Clang, clang—!

“Everyone watch carefully! I’m going to return to 1st place today!”

Se-young entered while spitting out a spirited resolution befitting a hunter with multiple duel experiences.

The clear metallic sound of her clashing dual swords echoed, raising the excitement of the spectator hunters.

Eventually, she went to her position and glared at the opposite door with anger-filled eyes.

“……She seems to have been quite angry.”

Just from that gaze, it was visible how much resentment she had harbored at being pushed out of the ranking, so Ye-in swallowed a low mutter.

And as she took her gaze off her for a moment, the guidance announcement flowed again.

[Next, the hunter on the right side will enter. Hunter Shin-yeon, please enter.]

Along with the announcement, the tightly closed right door opened, and a girl walked out from there.

A girl with such a beautiful appearance.

At the girl whose appearance seemed more suitable for acting or modeling rather than hunter work, admiring voices flowed from the mouths of some hunters.

However, there was hardly anyone here who didn’t know her strength as a full-fledged A-rank hunter, and as such, Shin-yeon walked with a haughty gait while holding a wooden bat in one hand and stood straight in her position.

“……Wood?”

Yes, while holding a clearly wooden bat in her hand.

─────.

Silence fell over the arena for a moment.

All the hunters closed their mouths at Shin-yeon’s wooden bat, which they noticed belatedly after being distracted by her appearance.

A wooden bat that looked like nothing but a practice wooden weapon, certainly not her original weapon shown on the electronic board.

“……What’s she doing?”

“That’s too disrespectful.”

“Is she that confident……”

And naturally, murmurs arose among the hunters at her weapon.

Reactions ranging from incomprehension to saying it was disrespectful, to those harboring expectations or curiosity.

Ye-in, who had been quietly watching the duel ground, also tilted her head while joining in the confused murmurs.

“What on earth is the reason……? Is she trying to provoke Hunter Ha Se-young? Or did something happen to her original weapon?”

Various hypotheses about why Shin-yeon brought a wooden bat passed through her head.

But this was a question that couldn’t be answered unless she answered directly herself, and Shin-yeon, the only one who could answer, was.

“What? Aren’t we starting?”

As if this atmosphere didn’t bother her at all, she lightly tossed the wooden bat in her hand and caught it in mid-air.

With an expression so relaxed it was as if she had come out for a walk.

Shin-yeon threw out such an indifferent single line like that.