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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Misunderstanding (2)
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Instructor Baek Seolhui explained the joint training procedure for my benefit, as I had never experienced it before.
"Joint training involves summoning Mind illusions into this virtual space and engaging them."
'Oh.'
So there was a space like this behind the training ground.
My eyes widened as I looked around the facility.
A space about the size of a soccer field was enclosed by translucent square glass.
"Here, even if you get hurt, it's not a real injury. However, you'll still feel the pain, though mitigated, so it's quite a dangerous training exercise. Regular people, not Hunters, could even die from shock."
Indeed, Minds were the optimal opponents for practicing person-to-person combat in preparation for sparring with other groups.
"Five of you will enter as one party. Cadet Kang Dohui, who achieved the highest scores in training so far, will be the party leader."
Baek Seolhui said this, looking at me with a meaningful gaze.
'Kang Dohui… the party leader?'
I furrowed my brow.
'She can't do that, can she?'
Kang Dohui was the vanguard.
Her role was to lead the charge, clearing a path for her party members. Delivering massive damage up close without a weapon naturally narrowed her field of vision.
'She's the type who loathed parties and always went solo, anyway.'
I couldn't fathom how she had been doing joint training until now.
"As for the Minds you'll be facing, it's one A-rank Mind and ten B-rank Minds, same as yesterday."
Shin Sehee's face hardened, and she spoke to the instructor.
"Instructor, Dohui and I are currently wearing mana-restricting artifacts, aren't we?"
"What about it?"
"Even if we could use mana freely, with shackles like these, there's no way we can face them…"
"Isn't Jin Yuha participating from today?"
Baek Seolhui replied with an expressionless face.
"There are no changes. Enter."
*
As we stepped into the training ground.
*Whoosh—*
A fluctuation of mana occurred in the air opposite us.
It coalesced into a fluid, solid form like a slime, then took on a human shape without eyes, nose, or mouth.
There were a total of eleven such featureless humans.
Each of them held a weapon and pointed it at us.
I examined the weapons in their hands.
'Ugh, they brought out some tricky ones. This has to be on purpose, right?'
The ten B-rank Minds held long-range and mid-range weapons like whips, spears, and bows.
The single A-rank Mind held a sword.
Instructor Baek Seolhui had been consistently overseeing my sword practice, so she likely had a good grasp of my strength.
Even with Shin Sehee and Kang Dohui shackled, she must have known I wouldn't lose in a one-on-one fight against a decent opponent.
'So she made it difficult for me to handle alone.'
Assessing the enemies, I drew Moonlight from my waist.
*Shing—*
A live blade, which I hadn't held in a while, unlike the wooden sword.
The grip felt exceptional, as expected.
'…First, let's see how Kang Dohui gives orders.'
As I waited for Kang Dohui's command, her voice clearly flowed into my earphone.
[Everyone, prepare for combat.]
Kang Dohui clenched and unclenched her fist, lowering her body towards the opponents.
Then she tensed her thighs, ready to spring forward.
[…Attack!]
*Bang!*
She lunged forward the moment she spoke. I waited for her next instruction, but…
No further words followed.
'Huh? That's it for the combat orders?'
I turned my head with a dumbfounded expression.
Shin Sehee was preparing her magic, as if accustomed to this.
And the two allocation students were preparing their skills, biting their lips.
'Ha, don't tell me…'
I gaped in disbelief.
* * *
Kang Dohui couldn't hide her anxiety as she charged towards the Mind illusions.
Her body felt unusually heavy today.
Her mana-restricted body felt like a stranger's, not her own.
'I'm anxious.'
She was anxious.
Of course, with the instructor watching, the probability of Jin Yuha revealing her true colors was infinitely low.
But with her body not in its optimal state, her anxiety grew.
As usual, Kang Dohui threw a punch at the Mind in front of her.
Slow.
Normally, her punch would have, without a doubt, taken out one of them from the start.
*Whoosh—!*
But the Mind easily dodged the attack and retreated.
It was just a B-rank Mind.
Kang Dohui gritted her teeth.
Just then, an arrow flew from the side.
*Thwip—!!*
Kang Dohui rolled to the side, dodging the arrow.
*Whoosh—!!*
*Whack!*
This time, a whip.
"Damn it."
It felt like being hunted down.
Healing and support skills came from the allocation students behind her, but she couldn't even feel their effects.
With her mana restricted, Kang Dohui could only dodge the enemy's attacks.
Fortunately, after dodging the enemy attacks for a while,
a rain of fire poured down from above, unleashed by Shin Sehee.
However, she couldn't help but bite her lip at the sight before her eyes.
Unlike yesterday, when the Minds were thrown into confusion by Shin Sehee's magic,
with the weakened attacks, they either took it head-on as if it was bearable, or toughly swatted it away with their hands.
'What on earth am I supposed to do…!'
Her mind was already complicated enough worrying about Jin Yuha.
She wanted to rip off the artifact wrapped around her wrist right then and there.
*Whoosh—!*
Again, a whip lashed out from the side.
*Snap!* *Clench—*
Kang Dohui grabbed the whip with her hand and pulled the Mind towards her.
The Mind was dragged right to her.
*Crunch—!!!*
Kang Dohui slammed her fist into the Mind's head.
Its head shattered, and its illusion vanished.
'Ah, damn it—!'
A spearman, hidden behind the whip-wielding Mind, thrust a spear at her.
No time to dodge.
"This stupid training…"
Just as she was fiddling with her wrist, about to rip off the artifact.
*Slice—!*
The spear aimed at her was cut in half.
*Clink—!*
*Roll—.*
Her head snapped to the side.
"Hey, sorry to break my promise not to talk to you, but Kang Dohui, what are you doing?"
"…What?"
"The party leader isn't giving orders?"
Jin Yuha raised one eyebrow and asked.
"Snap out of it, Kang Dohui."
"…"
"Tsk, I'll take command from now on. I can't stand watching this anymore."
* * *
What is she even doing?
Damn it.
This is so frustrating I could die.
The joint training was a mess.
Kang Dohui would charge in, and the others would just join the fight on their own.
Shin Sehee would haphazardly shoot magic at the enemies,
and the two allocation students would focus healing and buffs on Kang Dohui.
Right, now I understood why Kang Dohui had been the party leader until yesterday, and why they hadn't complained about the joint training.
Special admission students.
Those with extraordinary abilities different from regular students.
Kang Dohui and Shin Sehee had only worn mana-restricting artifacts for the first time today.
'All this time, separate instructions simply weren't needed.'
Kang Dohui would charge in, disrupting the Minds.
Meanwhile, Shin Sehee would use area-of-effect magic to deal with the B-rank Minds.
And amidst that chaos, Kang Dohui would finish off the A-rank Mind.
The allocation students would just continuously apply buffs and healing to Kang Dohui whenever their skill cooldowns reset.
But now that shackles were placed on the special admission students' hands and feet, bringing them down to the level of regular students,
the party's shortcomings became glaringly obvious.
'At this rate, there's no way we can win against any group.'
I subtly shifted my gaze to Baek Seolhui.
She was nodding her head.
It meant she had already anticipated this outcome.
She probably expected us to identify and fix the issues ourselves.
"I had intended to respect Kang Dohui's command, but there *is* no command, is there?"
I narrowed my eyes and assessed our party members' stats.
'Looking at Kang Dohui's movements, her stats have probably dropped by about two stars. So, Kang Dohui is 3-star, and Shin Sehee is 2-star.'
Running simulations in my head,
I lunged towards the dazed Kang Dohui.
*Slice—!*
I cut the spear that was heading for her.
"Tsk, I'll take command from now on. I can't stand watching this anymore."
I usurped command from Kang Dohui.
I pressed the earphone in my ear and spoke.
[Kang Dohui, Shin Sehee, Kim Sohun, Kim Cheolhyeon. I'll be giving the orders from now on.]
Ah. This cool, heavy sensation.
It had been three weeks.
Yes, it was time to revert to being a Velvet Sura player.
I combined the enemies' and our party's abilities to make my judgments.
[First, Shin Sehee. Explosion on the swordsman in 12 seconds.]
[Kang Dohui. Take three steps back now. Fall back! Why aren't you falling back!?]
[Tsk, Kim Cheolhyeon. Heal Kang Dohui.]
[Kim Sohun, buff me in 3 seconds.]
*Clink—!*
I parried a sword swung at Kang Dohui while giving orders.
At first, they were flustered by my sudden commands,
but the allocation students were the first to follow the clearly defined orders.
Then Shin Sehee.
Kang Dohui was the last to start listening to my instructions.
[First, we'll deal with that archer. It's a long-range threat, so it's best to take it out quickly. Shin Sehee. Set up a wall of fire to its right in 10 seconds to restrict its movement.]
[Kang Dohui, come behind me. I'll clash swords with the spearman, and 6 seconds after that, punch the archer immediately.]
[Kim Sohun, heal me in 9 seconds.]
I was a Velvet Sura light user.
Velvet Sura was an easy game, one that could be cleared even without spending money.
But it wasn't a game without competitive record-keeping, where players compared clear times and ranked themselves.
A 'light user' who barely spent any money.
The ability I had cultivated to somehow survive among those wealthy 'wallet warriors' by only paying the monthly subscription fee.
'Strategy.'
Memorizing the types of monsters and Minds.
Precise judgment, calculating the skills, stats, and cooldowns of the few characters down to the second.
Even pattern recognition through infinite retries.
That was my weapon as a Velvet Sura player.
Of course, even so, the wall of VIP rank was high, and I couldn't get my name etched onto the leaderboard, but I managed to get right up to it.
Honestly, getting that far with just a monthly subscription was commendable.
But I couldn't just stand by and watch this idiotic command.
This was even worse than just letting it auto-play.
[Kang Dohui, duck your head in 2 seconds. Otherwise, your head will be sliced off.]
Kang Dohui quickly ducked her head, and Moonlight sliced past right above her.
*Slice—!!*
Another illusion vanished before my eyes.
Now, only the A-rank Mind remained. Just the swordsman.
"Hey, Kang Dohui."
I looked at Kang Dohui, who was making a dazed expression beside me, and opened my mouth.
"Why are you so tense today?"
"Tense? Me…?"
"Yeah. You look really ugly, you know. Come on, relax. It's just training."
I lightly chuckled and patted her head.
"Only one left now. Let's get him and rest quickly. I'm tired after training all day."
I lunged towards the swordsman first.
And Kang Dohui stared blankly at Jin Yuha's back as she led the way.