I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

“Everyone, do you have the plan memorized?”

When Jin Yuha asked, the party members nodded firmly.

“And, Teacher…”

“Yes, I understand.”

Baek Seol-hee nodded calmly.

“Then, I’ll pull it out.”

Baek Seol-hee grabbed the sword stuck in the ground and pulled it out. We kept our distance and prepared to face the fire dragon.

Soon after…

The ground shook, and the floor began to crack.

The vast underground space trembled violently.

Hwarurururuk!

A fierce flame began to rise from the cracks in the floor.

Kwaaaaaaaang─!

Soon, the fire dragon broke through the floor and revealed itself.

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With each breath, a hot flame rose from its mouth. Its yellowish eyes gleamed with destructive desire. The air sizzled over its membranous wings and crimson scales. It resembled a giant winged lizard.

Roooar-

The dragon opened its mouth wide and let out a roar as soon as it saw the Utopia party members. It was a sound that evoked a primal sense of rejection.

‘That’s Dragon Fear…’

Yoo-ri clenched the shield Jin Yuha had made for her, gritting her teeth.

‘I never thought I’d be fighting a dragon here…’

Dragons were known to be among the highest-ranked monsters. After forming a united front with the party members and coming here to rest with Jin Yuha, I never expected to be fighting a dragon so suddenly. I thought we would be able to go back without any incidents this time, but it seemed like Jin Yuha had something up his sleeve.

‘The order hasn’t come yet.’

Yoo-ri remained unfazed by the dragon’s imposing and overwhelming presence, keeping her eyes on it. As she watched the dragon, a question arose in her mind.

‘But why did Lina leave this guy alive?

If she had frozen the entire dungeon and come here, she should have killed it. Why didn’t she?’

‘Could it be that she couldn’t kill it and sealed it instead?’

….If that were the case, it wouldn’t make sense for Jin Yuha to set up an operation to catch it. How could we catch it if Lina couldn’t? Jin Yuha was usually very thorough in such matters.

However, Yoo-ri’s thoughts couldn’t continue any further.

Grrrr─

Jin Yuha had explained this movement in advance. The dragon was about to tilt its neck up.

At the same time, Jin Yuha’s voice pierced her ears.

─ Yoo-ri, it’s time for the breath attack! Provoke it!

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Following my signal, Yoo-ri banged her shield.

Kwaah!

The dragon’s breath was directed at only one person.

“Haaaaaaaat!”

Yoo-ri boldly held up her shield against the dragon’s breath, which seemed capable of burning everything in its path. The fiery flames were blocked by her small shield, converging into a single point.

‘She won’t be able to hold out for long.’

I immediately opened my mouth.

“Now, Kang Do-hee!”

Paaaaaaak─!!!

At my signal, Kang Do-hee rushed forward and kicked the dragon’s jaw, forcing it to tilt up.

-Kuuuu

The dragon closed its mouth, which had been firing its breath, and ended up hurting its own neck instead.

─ Get out of the way now, Ichika!

Swooosh

Before my order could be given, an ice platform flew in front of the party members and me.

Then, as the entire party stepped onto the ice platform, hot lava spread across the floor like a wave.

‘As expected, huh.’

I grinned.

In fact, I had never seen a fire dragon before.

So, how could I know about the fire dragon, prepare for it, and come up with a strategy?

‘Hmm, well… If you’ve played Velvet School Life for three years, you can come up with tactics just by hearing the name of a monster.’

In the game, certain species of monsters had the same mechanics.

You know how it is, right?

There are games where they make the same monster stronger or give it a different attribute by simply changing its color.

In Velvet School Life, dragons were like that.

The dragons I had caught were the water dragon and the earth dragon.

Since these two dragons almost always appeared as you progressed through the game, I had so much data on them that I could confidently say I knew almost everything about them.

‘In other words, all you have to do is change the attribute to fire.’

Segek─

I dodged the pattern again and slashed at the dragon’s wings.

─ Grrrrr!!

But it would take forever to catch a dragon like this in a battle like this.

They had ridiculously high health, after all.

‘Well, usually…’

I asked my teacher to do it.

If she did it, she could catch it just like that.

I had seen my teacher’s true strength during our dungeon raid.

It had taken two days because she was a melee character with limited mobility.

If it weren’t for that, the dungeon raid might have been over in a few hours.

‘It was all one-hit kills, though.’

Fire dragon?

If my teacher were to seriously rush at it, the dragon’s head would be cleanly sliced off.

But now was Utopia’s chance to gain experience.

Experience against a dragon, no less.

So, at the beginning, I had specifically asked my teacher to intervene and help only when a party member was in real danger.

Now, we could catch a dragon while ensuring everyone’s safety!

This was an unbelievably sweet farming experience, even in the game.

So, the most important person right now was Shin Se-hee.

Since the start of the battle, I hadn’t made a single attack, just quietly observing Shin Se-hee as she cautiously approached the dragon.

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Shin Se-hee, wearing the ice armor Jin Yuha had made.

‘That’s the fire dragon…’

It was just gigantic.

Overwhelming.

Gulp.

Shin Se-hee swallowed nervously as the fire dragon breathed fire right in front of her.

It had been a long time since she had been in a real battle, and the spear in her hand felt awkward.

‘But I haven’t slacked off in my training either.’

Even though she wasn’t a combat role as an operator, Shin Se-hee had participated without complaint in the training sessions that Jin Yuha held for the party members.

Even if she wasn’t a melee character, she had to be ready to step in if Jin Yuha was ever in real danger.

Shin Se-hee was the kind of person who prepared for the unexpected.

However, she couldn’t help but feel nervous, and her palms began to sweat as her heart pounded.

‘But Jin Yuha entrusted this task to me. I have to do it perfectly.’

Shin Se-hee cautiously approached the fire dragon, repeating to herself the strategy Jin Yuha had told her in advance.

─ Huh? You’re saying I’m the key to the operation…?
─ Yeah, Shin Se-hee. When you hear the name fire dragon, what do you think its weakness is?
─ Well, it’s obviously water since it’s a fire dragon, right?
─ Hmm, that’s right, but… Sometimes it’s wrong. The fire dragon’s weakness is water, but it’s also fire.

At that, Shin Se-hee looked at him with bewilderment.

Was he saying he had been drinking, but he hadn’t been drinking and driving?

Jin Yuha chuckled and continued his explanation.

─ Dragons have a common weakness.
─ A weakness?
─ Yeah, reverse scales.

Reverse scales.

According to Jin Yuha’s explanation, reverse scales were a weak spot that could be hit normally, but there was one more peculiarity about them.

While the fire dragon, born with the power of fire, was inherently weak to water, ironically, the reverse scale, just one scale growing in the opposite direction, was also a weakness to the same attribute.

Her mission, according to Jin Yuha, was:

─ Since you have high fire resistance, you need to get as close as possible to the fire dragon and find its reverse scale. Its location is randomly determined every time… Well, anyway, you can’t find it from a distance.
─ Hmm… So, what do I do when I find it?
─ You have to stab your fire mana into the reverse scale.

Kwajik!

Segek!

Even now, the Utopia party members were attacking the fire dragon in perfect harmony.

Krara

The fire dragon continued to vent its anger.

Every time it twisted its body, the ground shook as if an earthquake had struck, and dirt fell from the ceiling.

“Kwit!”

Kwang dang tang!

Kang Do-hee had ventured a little too deep and was knocked to the side by the dragon’s tail.

“…..”

But she didn’t step forward. She knew that if she made a clumsy attack, she might draw aggro to herself.

All she had to do was stay quiet and focus on sneaking up on the fire dragon while the party members were drawing its attention.

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As she got closer to the fire dragon, the flames became more intense. Even with her fire resistance, the heat was so intense that she could barely keep her eyes open. Shin Se-hee’s whole body was drenched in sweat.

Whoosh─

When she got close enough, Shin Se-hee widened her eyes and stared at the dragon’s crimson membrane.

‘Reverse scales, reverse scales, reverse scales…’

But soon, Shin Se-hee had to bite her lip.

There were just too many scales. In this situation, where she could barely keep her eyes open, she was supposed to find a single scale growing in the opposite direction among the countless scales. It would be easier to find a needle in a haystack. She could use a magnet for that.

‘Isn’t this expecting too much of me…?’

However, if it was a task she had been given, she had to do her best.

Shin Se-hee kept her eyes open, despite the sweat getting into them, and turned her mind.

‘First of all, if it’s a weakness, it’s definitely not in an easy-to-attack location.’

So, the front was out.

Hands, feet, tail, and wings were also frequently used for attacks, so they were unlikely to be the weak spot. When it spread its wings to use fire, they became an easy target.

‘The front, hands, feet, tail, and wings are out of the question…’

That’s when it happened.

Paang─! Paang─! Paang─!

Sophia, who was far away, shot an ice arrow that embedded itself in the dragon’s body.

The fire dragon let out a painful cry as if it was hurt by the arrow.

And at that moment, Shin Se-hee’s eyes narrowed sharply.

‘Did it just subtly twist its body…?’

She curled her lips up.