NOVEL WEB Chapter 15 - How to Manage Your Connection (5)
As Na Yuri was holding my hand tightly and creating a friendly atmosphere, Choi Soojung intervened.
“Hmmm? This is Nahyun’s first simulation?”
“Yeah. Because I’m a government-supported awakener. The system here feels all unfamiliar.”
“Hmm, hmm. I seeㅡ. What is your position?”
“Sniper. What about Soojung?”
“I’m a wizard! A wizard who controls the wind!”
Choi Soojung grinned, revealing her overlapping teeth.
“Ah, by the way, Nahyun would work better with me than Yuri, right? Wind and sniping go well together, right?”
At those words, Na Yuri opened her mouth as if trying to refute something, but then closed it. It’s true that wind attributes and snipers go well together.
As a sincere person, no matter how much Na Yuri dislikes Choi Soojung, it would have been difficult for her to refute by being stubborn.
The reason she bullied Scammer at the training center before was because she hates Scammer so much. Your karma is great, Na Yuhan.
Na Yuri, held my hand tighter with a pouting expression on her lips without saying a word.
“But Nahyun is my friend. She isn’t Soojung’s friend.”
As she said that, her expression changed to a slightly triumphant one. I’m glad she came up with something to rebut.
The sight of a blonde-haired, red-eyed cat-like girl smiling triumphantly reminded me of a cat walking majestically.
Somehow, this one looks more like a cat than Choi Soojung, who is a real cat beastwoman.
“Aha, really? Nahyun, then let’sㅡ”
“It’s ready.”
Just as Choi Soojung was about to make a bombshell proposal, Calmy intervened and cut off the wick of the bomb.
“Instead of doing an extrude gate, we decided to tone down the difficulty. Is it okay?”
Scammer, who followed the words, approached me and spoke.
“Of course it’s okay! I’m rather worried that I might make a mistake.”
Since this was my first time practicing illusions, I looked appropriately nervous.
I’m a beginner, so I’m sure I’ll make mistakes. Let’s lay some foreshadowing in advance.
As I was thinking about that and was about to continue speaking, Calmy looked at us and opened his mouth.
“It’s natural to make mistakes. It’s practice, you know.”
To be exact, he said it while looking at me.
“We’re practicing to avoid making mistakes in real life, so there’s no need to feel pressured. If you’re nervous, your skills won’t come out. What’s important is the will to work hard.”
Is he being considerate of me in his own way?
Thanks to Calmy’s kind words, the atmosphere lightened up.
As expected, his personality is different from everyone else. I won’t necessarily say who it is.
“That’s right, it’s wrong for people to blame a child who is just trying to walk for not being able to walk at once!”
Na Yuri added.
“If there is someone like that, I will get angry on your behalf!”
I felt like I was a tense balloon, feeling a little deflated.
Although I was prepared, I was worried that I might fall behind in the actual competition. They’re all from the awakened society.
“…Yeah!”
If I fall behind, I might get noticed. It might give a bad impression.
Thanks to their comments, even if I make a mistake, they can no longer blame me openly.
They’re all good kids.
I’m a bad person who tries to take advantage of that.
After a while, the simulation finally started.
As a one-deal, I was deployed to the rear with the leader, Scammer. Choi Soojung is a wizard, so she should be in the back, but she insisted that she was free in the formation, so she was positioned in the middle distance. Calmy and Na Yuri naturally moved to the front.
“It’s coming! Formation ready!”
Scammer raised the flag.
It was a new flag with several functions, different from the old academy entry-level flag.
***
Everyone tensed and glared at the gate.
It was a single gunshot that announced the start of the war.
Bang-!
A fast-flying flying monster is hit precisely in the core and falls helplessly.
As expected, her sniping ability is better than expected. I nodded in satisfaction and gave instructions.
“Front, repare for the charging monsters ahead!”
“Wizard, drive the flying monster with the wind and make it crash!”
“I know even if you don’t say it!”
“Okay~!”
Na Yuri swung her fist of flame and shattered the armor of the elephant-like charging monster. Kang Nahyun took advantage of that gap to shoot the core and destroy it.
It’s more stable than I thought. The two have good chemistry. No, I should say the four of us, to be exact.
I watch the overall flow and give instructions, and Choi Soojung uses the wind to drive the flying monster and make it crash. Na Yuri deals with the fallen monsters and the incoming monsters.
They will destroy the core of the monsters with a protruding core and the armor of the monsters with an armored core right away. If the armor is destroyed, Kang Nahyun’s sniper will destroy the core inside the armor and finish it off.
Monsters that often overcome Choi Soojung’s wind and fly away are quickly dispatched by Kang Nahyun with magic bullets.
The flow turned out to be more ideal than I expected. I think it would be nice to plan a party like this.
Park Siwoo?
He’s wielding all kinds of weapons by himself, destroying the armors and cores in front of him. So, I just leave him to the role of preventing too many monsters from coming in.
Anyway, that monster. When did he become that strong again?
Of course, that didn’t mean this side had an advantage.
Usually, the rule is that multiple parties gather together to attack an extrude gate in a united manner. Because it wasn’t an amount that one party could handle.
While the fight continued for a long time,
“Ugh!”
Kang Nahyun’s mana has run out.
“This…!”
Bang! The fired bullet accurately hit the monster’s core, but the bullet that didn’t contain mana only left scratches on the core.
Shrieeeeek!
The monster began to rush towards Kang Nahyun.
I used the flag’s skill to create a shield.
“Shrieeeek!”
The sharp claws of the flying monster hit the shield.
Bang! Bang! The shield shakes precariously.
Kang Nahyun frowned as if she was trying to squeeze out all her mana, yet it didn’t seem to work and all she could do was huff and shoot.
This is difficult. I didn’t think about Kang Nahyun’s specifications. Maybe it was because of the equipment, but she held on longer than I expected, so I left her alone, but was that a mistake?
“Choi Soojung! Kang Nahyun is now unable to fight! Protect this side!”
“Okay~”
Choi Soojung’s wind was shot towards the flying monster. The monster, cut into pieces by the wind, disappeared in an instant.
“I can still fight!”
“You’ve run out of mana. You’re no good now. Take a rest.”
An awakener without mana is just a burden that makes it difficult to defeat monsters. There are magic potions, but it would be a waste to spend them on a simulation like this.
“Tsk…!”
As Kang Nahyun’s support disappeared, Na Yuri was slowly being pushed out, as if there was more pressure on the front line.
Park Siwoo took charge of more monsters, and Choi Soojung drove the monsters and occasionally went on the attack, but it was too much to handle all the increased burden.
In particular, since Kang Nahyun, who was handling some of the monsters that Choi Soojung missed, has disappeared, the burden on Choi Soojung must have increased.
The battle, which had been slowly waning around the time Kang Nahyun left, eventually collapsed when several flying monsters that Choi Soojung missed broke the rear defense shield.
Kang Nahyun fired her gun hard as if she was trying to protect me, yet the magic-less bullet couldn’t destroy the core and only left scratches.
The simulation ended when us behind the monster were declared dead.
“Hicc… Because of me…”
Kang Nahyun cried.
However, unlike her clouded expression, I wanted to compliment Kang Nahyun.
Kang Nahyun’s passive, <100-Shoots-100-Hits>, is a skill that adds correction to normal accuracy.
However, the more corrections you make, the more mana it takes away. In the case of this girl who is still at level 1 in grade E mana, the efficiency of her skills is also absolute garbage.
Nevertheless, the reason I maintained the routine for so long that I didn’t care about this girl’s mana was because of the help of her gun, but this girl’s accuracy rate was so high that her mana was hardly taken away by the <100-Shoots-100-Hits> skill.
…Why didn’t such a fellow even appear in the game? Is she a scrapped character?
I found an unexpected gemstone. I felt the corners of my lips rise.
“No! Thanks to Miss Nahyun, I was able to fight for a long time!”
“That’s right. It was hard to believe you were a beginner.”
Park Siwoo and Na Yuri were also comforting Kang Nahyun, who was depressed.
“Nyahaha! That kid, so she really doesn’t know what kind of talent she has?”
Choi Soojung looked at this side and smiled.
“It’s a really user-friendly environment and an easy-to-use personality. Right?”
It seemed like I could hear the words behind it, like, ‘you’re planning on using her, right?’
“I’m not sure.”
Right. I plan to use her.
“More than that, Senior, aren’t you interested in experiencing the actual gate? I plan to go to a nice place later.”
I mean, you too.
I threw a bait that Choi Soojung might find interesting.
***
He’s doing it again.
While swearing in my mind, I worked hard to portray the concept of a ‘depressed innocent pretty girl.’
Because Scammer had to be able to successfully complete the secret meeting with Choi Soojung!
“If we had been able to use magic potions, you definitely could have done it longer. There was no problem with your skills.”
“That’s right! If you just raise your magic level, it will improve in no time!”
“Is that right…?”
Thanks to this, I had to work hard to get Calmy and Na Yuri’s attention.
End the story quickly, you self-indulgent bastard.
After some time passed, it seemed like Scammer had reached a reasonable agreement with Choi Soojung, so I ended the pure pretty girl acting show.
Afterwards, the joint training continued for several hours.
We simulated it several times, adjusting the environment in various ways, but I continued to have problems due to my lack of mana.
Calmy and Na Yuri worked hard to comfort me when I was depressed. Nice fellows.
It’s okay because I’m planning on leveling up and putting points into my magic level right after clearing the gate with Scammer today.
…It’s really okay.