Chapter 24: S Class Advancement Test (4)

To forfeit after coming all this way.

Isn’t that too wasteful?
If a man draws a sword, he should at least slice a radish.

Of course, there was a slight mix of a provocative attitude beneath it, but.

More than anything, there was no complete absence of him seeing Ho-jun’s appearance overlaid with a certain rogue he had met in the fantasy world.

That guy, while saying it was for his own good, would actually give up his own things.

And in Yu-shin’s eyes, Ho-jun, despite saying he would forfeit.
His fighting spirit within had not yet been broken.

Yu-shin began to carefully rack his brain.
How could he get that guy to revoke his forfeit?
Was it because of that?
Yu-shin immediately found the answer.

“You’re going to forfeit?
Aren’t you ashamed?”

“What?”

“The only way to know what’s long and short is to measure it.
But to be scared beforehand by a junior and forfeit, your future is clearly visible even without looking!”

The first method Yu-shin chose was provocation.

He would be provoked and angered into revoking his forfeit.

However, despite the considerable taunting, Ho-jun merely stared at Yu-shin in silence.
He took no further action.

‘What benefit would I gain from fighting a difficult battle?’

Thanks to such thoughts, Ho-jun did not fall for the provocation.

When Ho-jun didn’t fall for the provocation, Yu-shin quickly began to search for another method.

‘Yes!
That’s it!’

“Principal!
You said this academy is about survival of the fittest, didn’t you?!”

“Indeed, but what is it?”

“Then I will not accept that guy’s forfeit!”

“What the fck are you talking about?!”

At the incomprehensible nonsense, Ho-jun couldn’t help but shout in shock.

He won’t accept his forfeit?
No, why the fck not?!

Ho-jun felt a headache coming on from the unfathomable situation, but Yu-shin showed no sign of backing down.
Ban Se-rin, confirming his tenacity, smiled and said.

“It certainly makes sense.”

“It makes sense?!
That?!”

“Life doesn’t always go as one wishes, child.”

Thanks to her uttering lines that sounded like something a certain pair of ballet witches would say, Ho-jun felt like he was going crazy.
He clearly had no chance of winning, so he was going to forfeit on his own.

Did this mean he couldn’t even forfeit as he wished now?

Since Principal Ban Se-rin had said that, naturally, Ho-jun’s forfeit was not accepted.
Thanks to that, Yu-shin gained the opportunity to properly fight Ho-jun.

Ho-jun, who ended up fighting due to Yu-shin’s provocations, sighed but finished preparing for battle.
Since things had come to this, he would fight that guy with all his might.

“Even if I lose, I won’t just lose.”

It could be seen as a kind of stubbornness.

It would have been better if he could have just cleanly given up.

Since he ended up fighting because he stubbornly held on, naturally, as a human, he couldn’t help but get angry.
So even if he lost, he would land one blow before he went down.

Thanks to that, Ho-jun felt his completely broken fighting spirit reignite.

‘Surely that guy isn’t aiming for this…?’

Such a thought briefly crossed Ho-jun’s mind.

But there was no time to think for long.

As soon as the duel began, Yu-shin immediately closed the distance.
When Ho-jun was flustered by the speed, which was much faster than expected, Yu-shin swung his sword.

However, though he swung with the momentum to cut Ho-jun down.

Yu-shin’s sword could not reach Ho-jun.

Because he had instantly disappeared from view.

Yu-shin quickly looked around.
Ho-jun was not visible in the arena.
That meant he was surely hidden inside his own shadow.

And that thought was not wrong.

Ho-jun, hidden in the shadow, seized an opening and launched a counterattack.

Ho-jun’s counterattack was faster and more accurate than expected.

A counterattack aimed at the moment when the shadow went behind Yu-shin due to the arena lighting.
An attack from a blind spot wouldn’t be easy to evade or defend against.

防域
Defense Field (Bangyeok)

痛避遮斷
Pain Avoidance Blockade (Tongpichadan)

However, Yu-shin simply accomplished that difficult task.

It was clearly an attack aimed at his blind spot.

But before Ho-jun’s dagger could even reach Yu-shin, it was repelled by a powerful force.

Ho-jun clicked his tongue.
It was the same technique used in Selena’s duel before.
A technique close to perfect defense, parrying all incoming attacks from all directions.

‘As expected, that guy is not on a second-year level.’

His skill was one thing, but more importantly, his experience in adapting to situations was no joke.

Where on earth did such a monster come from?

There was no way such a strong individual could have remained unknown until now.

But no matter how much he thought, he had never heard the name Baek Yu-shin.

Yu-shin, having parried Ho-jun’s surprise attack, immediately continued his assault.
Ho-jun, whose attack was blocked, tried to retreat into the shadow again, but his opponent was faster.

Just before Ho-jun could enter the shadow, he plunged his sword into the shadow.

Normally, it wouldn’t have been a problem.
But the biggest problem was the timing.

Thanks to the exquisite timing, if he had entered the shadow directly, the sword would have pierced him.
Thanks to that, Ho-jun had no choice but to immediately retreat from Yu-shin’s shadow.

Yu-shin immediately launched a fierce assault on Ho-jun, who popped out of the shadow.

‘Entering the shadow is very troublesome.’

At first, he couldn’t use Unique Name Slash because he hadn’t fully grasped Ho-jun’s shadow stealth.

Unique Name Slash was a slash akin to a mutual kill.
If he were to mistakenly suffer a counterattack.

He couldn’t guarantee his own safety.
Therefore, after receiving an enemy attack once.

Create a perfect opening, and then attack again.
That was the conclusion Yu-shin reached through experience.

必殺
Killing Blow (Pilsal)

固有名斬
Unique Name Slash (Gonikbegi)

A slash that disregarded the consequences instantly struck Ho-jun.
A slash that predicted the enemy’s defense, evasion, and counterattack.
It could truly be called a guaranteed hit.

In response to Yu-shin’s Unique Name Slash, Ho-jun tried to hide in the shadow.

But Unique Name Slash was a technique that predicted the opponent’s movements.
Naturally, it also predicted Ho-jun hiding in the shadow.

“…?!”

However, the Unique Name Slash, which could be called a guaranteed hit, cut through the empty air.

It wasn’t that the opponent evaded Yu-shin’s Unique Name Slash.
Unique Name Slash was a slash that perfectly grasped all of the opponent’s movements and was swung based on that.

Conversely, what if the opponent displayed completely unexpected movements before his eyes?

Then Unique Name Slash would lose its power.

Just like if one were to try to use an incorrect “Unique Name Slash” based on wrong information, it would backfire.

Yu-shin frowned and looked at the situation unfolding before his eyes.
He had clearly grasped all the shadows cast within the arena.

In other words, if he had hidden in a shadow within the arena.

He could have definitely cut him down wherever he was.

But the shadow that appeared before him now was not an ordinary shadow.

The shadow that should have been attached to the ground had taken shape and stood within the arena.
Dyed in deep black, it looked more like a golem.

‘What is that again?
Is it a hidden technique?’

Surely, when he was fighting the red-haired guy, Ho-jun wasn’t going all out, was he?

Yu-shin clicked his tongue and resumed his stance.
Calmly, he reassessed the battle situation.

Because if he didn’t, he would die.
In a precarious situation that felt like it could explode at any moment, the black humanoid shadow suddenly raised its hand.

[Okay, I’m done here.]

“…?”

[I’m sorry, but this is a technique I only succeeded in today for the first time myself.]

Ho-jun looked at his hand.
Unless he was a fool, Ho-jun already knew his weaknesses.
He was utterly powerless without shadows.

Because when an opponent could create light, he became too passive.

He needed another way to overcome that.

For example, deep shadows unaffected by light.

Of course, that was close to denying reality.

He practically thought it was impossible unless he reached the Bloom stage.
Nevertheless, Ho-jun didn’t give up.
He continued to train himself.

Then, just today, after a desperate struggle, Ho-jun finally caught a glimpse of a clue.

How to materialize his shadow and use it for stealth or attack.

Of course, it still had the weakness of being vulnerable to light, but it was a method that could significantly compensate for the passive drawback.
Its name was, Shadow Armor.

“Thank you, thanks to you, I was able to break through my limits.”

He had been giving up on himself, thinking he couldn’t do it alone.

If he was going to fail anyway, he might as well fail without doing anything.

Perhaps he was already exhausted from continuous failures.

However, his opponent did not give up.
On the contrary, he spurred on someone who might even become an enemy.
Telling him never to give up, to keep fighting until the end.

Otherwise, why would he have talked to the principal and.

Not accepted the opponent’s forfeit?

He surely wasn’t a fighting cock desperate to fight.

Thanks to that, Ho-jun fought against Yu-shin without giving up until the end, and ultimately gained the power to partially overcome his weaknesses.

This was all thanks to Yu-shin not accepting his forfeit.

Thanks to that, Ho-jun couldn’t help but be grateful to Yu-shin.

Because he was the one who made him realize his shortcomings.

Though Yu-shin’s intention was not that at all.