Chapter 26

< Chapter 26: The Second Ruins (1) >

Pwook-!

The sound of my dagger, ‘Horn of the Sleeping Dragon’, piercing the neck of the carnivorous deer echoed.

Thud.

The carnivorous deer fell to the ground, dead.

“Huff, huff.”

I was out of breath.

I thought it would be easy because it was a deer.

But it was so strong.

I barely won.

I also collapsed on the ground.

Then Goldie, who was watching from afar, came over and licked my face.

“Goldie. I’m dying.”

He looked so cute that I pretended to be weak for a moment.

“Rrr!”

Goldie became restless at my words. He was cute too. It was a fatal cuteness that didn’t match his size.

“I’m kidding.”

I lifted my upper body and stroked Goldie’s head.

“Why are you so cute?”

I pinched his cheeks with both hands. He wagged his tail happily.

I felt Goldie’s fur and got lost in thought.

Carnivorous deer.

A monster that lives in the Golden Rest, with speed and reproduction as its advantages.

In other words, a monster is set as Goldie’s prey.

I almost lost to him in a 1:1 fight.

And I had an A-rank dagger.

And I even used the Wind Path.

“Ah. I feel inferior.”

Of course, I have an excuse.

I didn’t use the ‘The Predator’s Killing Intent’ in this fight.

If I had used it, it would have been easy.

I just had to wait for the moment when the deer’s body stiffened and stab it with my dagger.

But then I wouldn’t have been able to test my dagger and physical abilities, so I didn’t use it.

“But I won anyway. Right? Goldie?”

I changed my mind.

It might seem like a mere deer, but if I think about when I first possessed this world, it’s a huge improvement. I beat a monster that is estimated to be D+ rank by myself.

“Krrr.”

Goldie nodded his head.

He seemed to not understand what I was saying very well, but he just agreed with me because it was my words.

Well. To him, a carnivorous deer is just food. He wouldn’t understand why I’m happy about beating such an opponent.

“Then Goldie. Shall we go to the next training?”

I climbed on Goldie’s back.

“Let’s go to the Guardian’s Room first.”

“Rrr.”

Soon after, we arrived at the Guardian’s Room.

The largest and highest-ceilinged room in this ruin.

This is where I plan to train flying.

“Goldie. If I fall, you have to catch me, okay?”

“Rrr!”

Goldie answered confidently as if to say leave it to me. He doesn’t know what I’m going to do though.

Swoosh-

I immediately spread my angel wings. Goldie looked at my wings with surprise, then looked at my face again. He repeated this action.

“Then I’ll try flying. If I fall, please help me?”

“!”

He finally realized what I meant.

‘Oh, that’s what you meant!’ He nodded his head as if he understood.

I lightly stroked Goldie’s head and focused on my wings.

I roughly knew how to move my wings. I also roughly knew how to fly up.

I flapped my wings right away.

Whoosh-!

“Woo!”

I felt my body slowly floating in the air.

I looked down and saw that I was about 2 meters above the ground.

“Wow.”

It was a thrilling and scary feeling.

I wonder if this is how humans felt when they first flew into the sky.

My flying speed was not fast at all. The flying speed of the angel race varied depending on their abilities, so my flying speed couldn’t be fast either.

But it felt good.

It was indescribable how it felt to fly freely in the sky with my own will.

I flew for about 5 minutes like that.

My leisurely flight also came to an end.

Moving the wings is also a muscle, that is, strength.

In other words, my muscular endurance reached its limit.

“What!”

It was sudden.

My wings stopped moving and froze.

Naturally, my body fell freely to the ground.

It would hurt a lot if I fell like this, but I wasn’t too worried.

“Krrr!”

Fortunately, there was my reliable protector below. Goldie was waiting for me.

Thump!

He jumped and caught me in mid-air, absorbing as much shock as possible and landing on the ground.

I didn’t feel any shock in my body.

“Woo. Goldie, do you know the law of action and reaction?”

“Krr?”

Goldie turned his head and smiled.

He looked like he was saying nonsense.

He just did it instinctively.

“No, I mean, you did well.”

I hugged Goldie and smiled.

The flying experiment was successful.

The flying time was about 5 minutes, but having air superiority was a big advantage.

I was very satisfied.

* * *

A cafe near the school.

Ha Si-yeon, Kim Chul-jin, and Choi Ji-hoon were having a conversation.

“Si-yeon, you tend to trust people too much. Kang Seo-yul is suspicious from head to toe.”

Choi Ji-hoon said coldly.

“Seo-yul is not as suspicious as you think.”

Ha Si-yeon said with frustration. She understood Choi Ji-hoon’s mind. From the Black Iron Greatsword incident to the recent demon appearance incident.

Kang Seo-yul’s actions were hard to see as normal.

“What’s your evidence?”

“That’s…”

Ha Si-yeon closed her mouth. She knew that Kang Seo-yul’s identity was an angel.

But this fact was a secret between them. She couldn’t tell Choi Ji-hoon or Kim Chul-jin.

“Well, just a feeling! Anyway, Seo-yul is really nice!”

“So the conversation goes back to the beginning.”

Choi Ji-hoon sighed.

They couldn’t talk.

It felt like talking to a brick wall.

No matter what evidence he presented, Ha Si-yeon always ended up saying ‘Seo-yul is not a bad person.’

‘What did Kang Seo-yul do to cook and boil for Si-yeon?’

The more he thought about it, the more suspicious Choi Ji-hoon became.

“Ah. It’s already this time. I’ll go first.”

Suddenly, Ha Si-yeon got up from her seat.

“If you’re going home, I’ll take you.”

“Huh? No. I have an appointment with a friend, so I have to go back to school.”

“An appointment? At this time?”

“Yeah. Anyway, I’ll let this challenge go for now. But don’t do it again next time. Seo-yul is really a good person.”

Ha Si-yeon left that word and ran out of the cafe.

“Is this Si-yeon falling in love with Kang Seo-yul?”

Kim Chul-jin said with a smug expression.

“Nonsense.”

“Why? I think it’s possible. Honestly, he was cool when the demon incident happened. Leave this to me and go ahead!”

The demon incident.

Those two words made Choi Ji-hoon’s expression darken.

He remembered his shameful self who couldn’t stop Ha Si-yeon from going back alone because of the fear of the demon.

“Kim Chul-jin. Do you really think that demon disappeared by itself?”

“I guess so. There was still one seal left when we ran away. The seal release wasn’t perfect.”

Kim Chul-jin answered casually. There was no other way to explain how the demon disappeared.

“You. Don’t tell me you think Kang Seo-yul did something to that demon?”

“Yes.”

“Hey. Even if you say so, that’s not possible. It would have taken at least 10 S-rank superhumans to deal with that demon. You think Kang Seo-yul did it by himself? Does that make sense? And in such a short time?

“…”

“Hey. Wake up. I know you’re confused because of Si-yeon. But I think you need to be more rational.”

Kim Chul-jin’s cold words made Choi Ji-hoon think.

Is that really the case?

Is he just seeing Kang Seo-yul in a bad light because of Ha Si-yeon? He couldn’t deny it honestly. Choi Ji-hoon liked Ha Si-yeon that much.

“No.”

Therefore, this could be just stubbornness.

“There’s something about Kang Seo-yul for sure.”

Choi Ji-hoon’s eyes sparkled with determination.

* * *

After returning from the Golden Rest and going back to the dorm room.

I took a quick shower and headed to the park where Ha Si-yeon was waiting.

“Seo-yul!”

Ha Si-yeon waved her hand from afar. She looked beautiful smiling in the faint moonlight.

“You came early.”

“A disciple should always come earlier than the instructor, right?”

She took a clumsy salute pose as if she had seen it somewhere.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“A sloppy salute makes the instructor angry, didn’t you learn that?”

“Oops. Hehe.”

Ha Si-yeon smiled innocently and hid her hands behind her back.

The surroundings were quiet as usual.

That’s why we train in this park on the outskirts.

“What kind of training is it today?”

“Huh? Oh. I’m going to teach you a more practical way to use it.”

“Practical!”

I’ve been studying magic lately because of Ha Si-yeon.

It’s ridiculous to study magic without magic, but I think it doesn’t matter whether I study now or later, since I’ll have to get magic someday anyway.

Well, it’s fun in its own way.

I feel a strange catharsis when there is an intersection between the rudimentary knowledge I know from novels and the professional knowledge of this place.

“Before that, let’s test it. Make any five shapes you’ve made so far.”

“That’s easy!”

Ha Si-yeon smiled triumphantly and raised her magic.

Sssss…

The air around us froze with a bleak wind.

It was an amazing mastery in just a week.

“Done!”

In just three seconds, five ice sculptures floated in the air.

“The shape is pretty stable too.”

“I worked hard!”

She posed as if to emphasize her hard work.

She worked hard and it paid off.

“By the way, did you do any long-range magic radiation training again?”

“No, I didn’t?”

Her eyes fluttered.

She avoided my gaze.

I sighed.

“You did. You did.”

“No, just a little? When I had time…”

I knew it.

“Your talent is not a talent that can do long-range attacks.”

Ha Si-yeon’s magic is special.

It means something different from being special because she was born with an attribute of magic that only a thousand people in the world have.

Ha Si-yeon is overwhelmingly special among those thousand people.

No, maybe I should say peculiar.

“I told you, your magic only works normally within 3 meters of you.”

“Yeah.”

Ha Si-yeon’s expression became gloomy.

Her magic has both ‘ice’ and ‘close-range specialization’ characteristics.

That’s why no one noticed her magic unless she used a completely different activation method than the official one.

I looked at Ha Si-yeon who was bowing her head deeply.

I understand how she feels. She’s anxious.

“You were born with the potential to be the best mage, but your range is 3 meters. Where is that? What about this?”

“!”

Ha Si-yeon’s shoulders trembled.

She knows what I’m saying.

“Trust me.”

She trusts me, but…

She’s just anxious.

“Okay. Then let’s finish the basic training. I’ll show you how awesome your talent is today.”

Ha Si-yeon’s magic is ‘ice’ and ‘close-range specialization’.

How amazing is the synergy when those two combine?

The current Ha Si-yeon doesn’t know yet.

“I guarantee you, there’s no one you can’t beat if you just get within 3 meters.”

“Thank you for the empty words.”

“Do they sound like empty words?”

She thinks my words are empty. But they’re true.

Only I know the future of Ha Si-yeon.

She is called this in the future.

Ice Empress

That’s right.

“Oh, and after I teach you all this, there will be a real training tomorrow.”

“Real? Where?”

“There’s a suitable ruin.”

“A ruin?”

“Yeah.”

Ancient relics.

The ruin where [Whisper of Fire Spirit] sleeps.

I can conquer that place with Ha Si-yeon.

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