NOVEL WEB Chapter 70
“Ugh… Ugh!”
As I was being swept away by telekinesis, I propelled myself upward, forcing myself to halt just outside the arena.
The dull impact throbbed deep within my bones. It hurt, and I wanted to give up. But still, Blanca was cheering me on.
I couldn’t just let it end like this.
Desperate to escape the unrelenting pressure, I drove the raised wall back down into the ground and somehow broke free from the flow of telekinesis.
I launched five stone spears with all my might, but of course, they disintegrated into dust just before they struck.
Im Changwon still hadn’t moved an inch.
I knew it would be a tough fight. Nobody understood better than I did just how hard it would be. But seriously, I never expected him to not budge even a single step.
Just as I felt a wave of defeat wash over me, the flow of telekinesis crashed into me and violently shoved me back toward the outside of the arena.
I had my hands and feet firmly rooted to the ground, but the earth itself was shaking and threatened to rip me free.
With that level of force pushing me, my limbs ached as if they might break off.
I couldn’t shake the terrifying thought that my arms and legs might really be torn away. Now, that was scary.
In that moment, fear crept in. But then I thought of how Blanca would handle something like this.
She would surely be calm, trying to find an opening in her opponent. That’s how Blanca had always been in the situations I’d seen.
Whether it was fighting the suiciders, practicing in drills, dealing with villain ambushes, or just now sparring with that A-class Hunter.
She was always looking for gaps and was willing to risk her body to exploit them.
So surely, I could do it too.
With almost my entire body buried deep into the earth for stability, I focused on the still-standing Im Changwon, who seemed too fixed in place to even notice me.
He stood there with his arms crossed, appearing utterly indifferent.
If a stranger saw it, they might just think it was a high school student standing there with crossed arms doing nothing.
However, the magical aura surrounding him twisting and flaring demonstrated that he wasn’t just standing idly by.
…There had to be a reason behind his stubborn stance.
Like, maybe it required an insane amount of concentration to use his powers, so he literally couldn’t even twitch a finger.
Or instead, maybe he could unleash tremendous power at the cost of being unable to move at all.
After all, during the villains’ ambush, Im Changwon had also stood there without moving.
In any case, if there was a reason he had to remain still, didn’t that mean he could be forced to move?
By the time I reached that conclusion, I was practically on the verge of being pulled out completely.
If I was right, it would open the door to victory, but if I was wrong, that could be it. With that all-or-nothing mindset, I sent a surge of my golden magic into the earth and violently shook it.
It was nowhere near the level of causing an earthquake like Grandma or being powerful enough to bring down a building, but it was enough to make one person stagger.
As his footing wavered, I felt the telekinetic force tugging at me suddenly diminish.
I was right.
With that tenuous connection to the ground cut loose, I dashed straight at Changwon.
He tried to regain focus, pressing his fingers against his temples, but I stomped down hard into the ground again while simultaneously throwing a large boulder to obstruct him.
Rather than being crushed like before, the rock barely managed to graze him, clearly showing the strain of my efforts.
Shaking and tossing, and sometimes even blasting the ground beneath me, I finally reached him.
“Finally, I reached…!”
I yanked a rocky hammer from the earth and swung it with all my might toward Im Changwon.
However, just before it made contact, the rock came to a halt just in front of his body.
In a dizzy state, despite losing focus, he could still wield this much power. What a bummer…
“So, how long can you hold out?”
Changwon thrust the arena floor outward into the outside world.
Throwing rocks in between, swinging the hammer, and making sure he couldn’t concentrate was just an added bonus.
Indeed, he was weak in close combat. Considering his abilities, it made sense he wouldn’t need to master that. If he could keep all attacks from hitting even when unfocused like this, why bother with melee?
But he was being pretty arrogant. Just because he didn’t need to fight close up didn’t mean he should completely ignore it.
I felt no particular animosity toward him, but it irked me to think he had only focused on his powers while others rolled around learning martial arts.
Blanca must have rolled around a lot too. I pushed forward in her frustration.
Having pushed Im Changwon almost to the edge of the arena, I was about to deliver the final blow when suddenly my body felt weightless and I was absurdly flung outside the arena.
Completely caught off guard, believing I had won, I couldn’t even respond properly.
With a thud, I hit the ground, but rather than feeling pain, I was left in a daze.
“Lapiz is out!”
This is how I lose? I was so close to victory! I still felt so energetic.
I wanted to argue. Instead, I turned around silently and exited the arena.
“Good job, Lapiz. That was really unfortunate; you were practically there.”
In the hallway leading outside, I met Blanca who had been waiting for me. Only then did I truly realize I had lost.
“B-B-Blanca… I, I’m sorry…”
“What’s there to apologize for? It’s just that guy is strong.”
I had proudly declared I would win against her, and now I felt embarrassed for being unable to uphold those words, almost bringing me to tears.
“You did well enough. Honestly, I thought you’d lose the moment it started.”
“Th-that’s a bit much…”
No way, that was too harsh.
As I expressed my mild dissatisfaction, Blanca apologized, insisting she hadn’t meant it that way.
“It’s impressive that you saw an opportunity against someone like him, rather than just stalling. So… it’s okay to brag to your grandma.”
With that, I felt a bit better, despite still being disappointed.
“I can win next time, right?”
Blanca’s expression was slightly bittersweet as she said that, and I couldn’t understand why.
– – – –
“Hah… Hah. I think I might have won, Yeonhwa. You should start surrendering now…!”
“Hehe, I guess so… I concede. Ah, what a shame…”
After an outrageous fight that left the boundaries of the arena barely recognizable, with fire, ice, breaks, and debris flying everywhere.
With her entire body covered in ice, Yeonhwa surrendered and the final match of the round of 32 between Yeonhwa and Tooju Ageha came to an end.
The winner was Ageha. Her clothes were burnt and her usual poise completely unraveled, but…
The audience was cheering her on wholeheartedly, even if the camera’s zoom was suspect, well.
The media would sell anything for ratings, so it wasn’t surprising.
Jinhyeon was torn between feeling sorry for Yeonhwa’s loss or congratulating Ageha’s victory.
It seemed he couldn’t figure out who to root for as both Yeonhwa and Ageha were at least able to stand on their own.
What a pathetic guy. Shouldn’t he support the girl who likes him? Oh right. That dense fool probably had no idea.
Poor Yeonhwa. She would have been better off genuinely pouring her heart out to another guy.
Stifling those thoughts, I scanned the now much quieter player waiting room. As expected of the main character, eight people were still around.
Including myself, that made nine. Ageha should be coming soon, so it could be counted as ten.
And all those eight were people I either knew or that the main character knew.
Seolhwa, Jinhyeon, Ageha, Minho, Changwon, me, Lucia, Katyann.
Even if the other two would eventually connect with the main character, it meant the core cast was all gathered here.
Then, I guess that makes me a key character as well.
In a story… No matter if it’s a novel or a game, I absolutely won’t appear, but thinking about it feels kind of odd.
I can’t tell if that odd feeling is a good one or a bad one.
Finally, as all wins and losses were decided, the round of 16 matchups were announced. The reactions from those who saw it varied widely.
“…Could it be Misfortune?”
“We’re not in the same class, but… that makes me even more uneasy. A Hunter.”
“Is it just me, or do I keep getting matched with familiar faces…?”
“Probably just your feeling, Ageha. Just a feeling. But, brace yourself. I’m not backing down either.”
“…I’m in the same boat. Seolhwa. I have a promise to keep with Blanca.”
Was that so? I barely remembered. Or maybe I just couldn’t think of anything else but the matchup charts.
My opponent in the round of 16 was none other than Jinhyeon.
Jinhyeon was looking at me with a complicated expression. However, I felt an unrivaled sense of peace.
Always.
Ever since I fell into this world, I’ve always wanted to land a punch on that face.
“Let’s both do our best. No regrets left. We both have our reasons to climb higher, right?”
So, please give it your all.
So there’s more fun in trampling you.