Chapter 83
Having safely climbed out of the canyon, Simon now entered the core region.
A jungle, denser and more lush than ever, spread out before him like a painting. From here on, even the atmosphere was clearly different.
Explosions rang out in various places, and the clashing of weapons echoed in chaos. Even monsters ranked Grade 3 and above, those at the top of the island’s food chain, appeared.
Having retrieved the Golem Core, Simon began his search with even more caution than before. A single mistake would make him the target of both students and monsters.
“Phew.”
Simon wiped the sweat from his brow and glanced around.
He hadn’t fought a single Keyzen student yet, but he had already earned over 127 points just from hunting. Even so, from this point on, he had to be prepared to fight at least two or three Keyzen students.
Fwoosh!
Sure enough. Feeling a sudden wave of heat, Simon looked up. Without warning, black flames were falling from above.
‘Same darkness flame type as Maelyn!’
Boom!
Simon dodged back, watching the black flames spread across the grass, when suddenly another burst of flame flew toward his flank.
‘Fast...!’
Boom! Boom!
The firepower alone was formidable, and it was coming in rapid succession. Simon darted around frantically, avoiding the attacks.
Just as he tried to leap off a tree to gain some distance, a massive flame came flying in and engulfed the entire tree.
Watching the tree burn down completely in mere seconds sent chills down his spine.
‘This is dangerous.’
Changing direction mid-run, Simon landed on the ground. At that moment, the attacker who had been raining down fire also descended from the trees and revealed herself.
Simon’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Maelyn!”
It really was Maelyn. With her arms crossed, she smiled and waved her hand playfully.
“So it was you, Simon.”
“I was worried! How’ve you been? Have you eaten…”
Flick.
Maelyn opened her palm and held it out.
A signal warning him not to come any closer.
“...Ma, Maelyn?”
“We’ve been in the same group since entering Keyzen. We’ve cooperated and relied on each other.”
Simon quickly assessed the situation.
Something felt off. Even the color of her eyes looked slightly hazy.
“Honestly, aren’t you curious?”
A black flame flickered to life in her palm.
“To see which of us is stronger.”
Simon summoned darkness with a stern face.
“You’re going to fight me?”
“Yeah.”
Maelyn replied without hesitation.
“There aren’t many chances to go all out like this.”
“Calm down. Wasting strength in a situation like this is inefficient for both of us.”
Her eyes sharpened.
“Just get ready!”
Fwoooosh!
The flames from her hand surged even more intensely. Simon calmed his head and thought calmly.
‘This isn’t right.’
He knew well that Maelyn was on her way to becoming the best, surpassing even Class A’s top rank. He also understood her competitiveness and desire to win. He had vaguely thought they might clash someday.
But this felt too sudden.
Believing something was wrong, Simon pulled skeletons from his subspace.
“Haaah!”
She leapt into the air using darkness as a platform and began firing black flames in rapid succession.
Fwoosh!
Fwoooosh!
Each shot was a terrifying barrage.
The projectiles flew in various angles and directions. And when the black flames hit the ground, they burned grass and trees, creating danger zones. The space Simon could move in was shrinking in real time.
“Haaaah!”
Maelyn was completely serious.
On top of that, she was preparing her signature move, Dark Flare, in her left hand while blasting away with her right, demonstrating the technique she showed during the previous duel evaluation: Multi-Casting.
Flawless in every sense of the word.
Using her overwhelming specs, Maelyn was driving Simon into a corner.
‘At this rate, I don’t have a choice.’
Simon also decided to fight seriously.
‘You know me well, Maelyn. But I know you just as well.’
What Simon pulled from his subspace was a 1-gold coin-grade bow. He gripped it with his left hand, grabbed an arrow with his right, and imbued it with darkness.
‘Let’s go!’
Simon jumped to dodge the incoming black flames, notching an arrow mid-air, and spun around.
He aimed at Maelyn, who was continuing her barrage of black flames.
Thwip!
He fired.
The arrow pierced through the black flames. Maelyn couldn’t see its trajectory due to her own attacks.
Thud!
The result: it struck her in the side.
Thanks to her protective suit, she wasn’t wounded, but her barrier gauge dropped significantly.
She stumbled backward in surprise.
‘In terms of pure firepower, Maelyn is top-tier in all of Keyzen. But she’s the type who pours everything into an overwhelming offense to suppress the enemy’s counterattacks.’
Simon notched another arrow and fired.
‘She’s vulnerable to clean, pinpoint physical attacks.’
Thunk!
The next arrow embedded itself into the tree beside her face. Sweat trickled down Maelyn’s forehead.
“Don’t underestimate me!”
Now she charged in more aggressively. As Simon maintained distance and kept firing arrows, she began circulating darkness inside her body.
Her speed increased rapidly, and Simon’s arrows struck the ground behind her.
‘If she’s good at magical combat too, this’ll be tough.’
Simon clicked his tongue and notched the next arrow.
It’s hard to hit a target moving at full speed.
The best timing was—
“Haaah!”
—as she released a black flame, Simon shot his arrow.
Both executed evasive maneuvers at the same time. Maelyn twisted her head to dodge, and Simon tumbled back to avoid.
Fwoosh!
Thud!
After exchanging blows, the two retreated across the ground.
Maelyn smiled.
‘No need to rush. If I just buy time like this until Dark Flare is ready…’
Thwack!
Suddenly, a jolt struck her thigh. Shocked, she turned her head.
‘What? Just now, who…?!’
Before she could even process it, Simon fired another arrow from the front. She leapt aside and glanced behind.
Whizz!
Whizz!
This time, two arrows came in from the sides, hitting her barrier gauge again. It had already dropped by more than half just from the arrows.
‘What the hell is going on!?’
Landing on the ground, Maelyn quickly began thinking.
An attack from three directions. She recalled Simon had three Skeleton Archers.
‘That’s it. He summoned the Skeleton Archers…!’
But due to the density of the forest, she couldn’t see their exact locations. And they were out of range for her black flames.
‘Reload.’
Simon notched another arrow. The three Skeleton Archers linked to his mind also notched arrows and aimed at Maelyn.
‘Your weakness is long-range physical attacks. And now it’s a four-directional assault.’
Summonology’s identity, no matter what anyone says, is numbers.
By maximizing that strength 100%, Simon had turned the tables and cornered Maelyn.
‘Don’t underestimate me. I’m not the only one thinking things through!’
She bit her lip and began unfolding a new magic circle.
Crackle!
Two of the four arrows grazed her, slashing her barrier gauge down again by a wide margin.
Simon and the Skeleton Archers began reloading once more. Maelyn, now with her back pressed against a tree, dropped to one knee and placed her hand on the ground.
<Dark Flare Magic: Dark Frost Realm – Wall of Ice>
Rumble!
A wall of ice sprang up, covering three directions at once. The next arrows all struck the barrier and bounced off harmlessly.
Seeing this, Simon lowered his bow with a lighthearted expression.
‘This is it.’
In truth, Simon had never intended to take her out. Since she had switched to a defensive stance, he could simply kick up some darkness and make his escape.
Just as Simon turned cleanly on his heel—
“Simon!!”
Maelyn's shout rang out from behind.
“Are you really going to end it like this? You’re going to wrap up our first real fight in such a boring way?!”
“......”
Simon turned back to face her.
“Let’s fight for real!”
Fwoooosh!
At last, Dark Flare was complete. The ice wall melted rapidly under its heat.
‘I don’t know what’s gotten into her, but...’
Simon gripped his bow once more.
‘If she insists this much, I can’t help but get fired up too.’
As the ice completely melted away, she started to run. She activated internal darkness to the extreme and gripped the Dark Flare with both hands.
A combination of speed and attack, with no regard for defense.
Simon, re-aiming his bow, focused darkness into both legs. The Skeleton Archers also readied their sniping stances.
‘I’m not skilled enough for precision preemptive shots yet. I’ll finish this with a close-range strike when she gets in.’
The distance between them shrank fast.
A moment away from a decisive clash.
Just as Simon was about to release the string—
‘...Huh?’
Next to Maelyn, the ground cracked open.
[Boy! It's him!]
Feer's urgent voice thundered in Simon’s mind.
[It’s Viccrum!]
Viccrum? Simon’s eyes widened dramatically.
The fissure in the ground was racing toward her at terrifying speed.
At this rate, they’d collide head-on.
‘Tch!’
Simon hurled away his aimed bow, then gathered all the darkness he could into his legs and dropped into a low stance.
Then he launched himself toward her with maximum-output darkness step.
‘What’s he doing? Why’s he charging at me all of a sudden?’
Maelyn’s pupils trembled.
Charging like that with Dark Flare in front of him was suicidal. She only had to reach out and activate it, game over. But… she hesitated.
That desperate expression, no matter how she looked at it, didn’t resemble an attacker trying to harm her.
Her arm faltered for a moment. And that’s when the question finally hit her.
‘Why… am I even fighting Simon in the first place?’
Smack!
Simon used that brief moment of hesitation to strike the back of her neck, knocking her out cold. Without delay, he grabbed her and flung himself backward in a full backflip.
KWAAAAA!
Simon felt as if the ground had turned upside down. With a thunderous explosion, something massive erupted from the fissure.
‘No way...!’
It was the arm of a giant monster, wrapped in something like green living bandages.
Its massive hand grasped at empty air, and the entangled Simon and Maelyn barely avoided it by a hair’s breadth.
‘Guh!’
Simon hadn’t prepared for the landing after his blind leap. He hugged her tightly and took the full impact on his back.
BANG!
With a sound like a spring recoiling, Simon’s body bounced up, and Maelyn rolled across the ground as well.
“Maelyn!”
Unconscious, Maelyn was being dragged toward the cliff's edge.
The giant arm swept around the area, as if searching for something, then planted its palm firmly on the ground.
“......!”
Simon froze on the spot. From the canyon, across the ravine on the other side, the massive face of the monster appeared.
‘That’s…!’
Viccrum, the former general of the Giant Troop.
Viccrum, his eyes blank like he was under a trance, looked around. Not finding what he wanted, he turned away.
[Boy! He’s escaping!]
“But...!”
Maelyn, still unconscious, was tumbling down the sloped ground. That way was a sheer cliff.
Simon looked between Viccrum and Maelyn and clenched his teeth.
‘Darkness step, again!’
He sprinted with everything he had. Just as Maelyn was about to slip off the edge—
Grab!
He caught her wrist, just in time.
Covered in dirt from head to toe, Simon lifted his head, panting.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A colossal giant was walking off toward the opposite cliff. His size was jaw-dropping. He looked around as if searching for something, then began to shrink slowly.
Eventually, he became smaller than the trees and disappeared from sight.
‘Haaaah.’
Simon pulled the unconscious Maelyn up.
Thanks to the protective suit, she didn’t seem injured. Her barrier gauge, however, was clinging to the last single digits.
‘What the hell is this?’
Then he noticed something odd, an unfamiliar white feather embedded in the back of her neck.
When Simon reached out to examine it, the feather dissolved into the air and vanished.
Plip. Plop.
‘Ah.’
Simon looked up.
Raindrops had begun to fall from the cloudy sky, one by one, then suddenly poured down in a heavy shower with a rushing sound.
‘I need to find a place to rest first.’
There’d be plenty of time later to ask questions.
Simon lifted the unconscious Maelyn into his arms and rose to his feet.
Superb.