Regardless of what situation might be unfolding outside the capsule regarding them.
The fight between Su-hyeon and Ji-su sparked flas from the very beginning.
"Hwaaaaap!"
Overwhelming volus of ice bullets surrounded Su-hyeon from all directions and were fired indiscriminately.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
Su-hyeon demonstrated overwhelming defensive capability, not getting a single piece of clothing wet or frozen in the downpour through his sword, shield, and solid evasion.
"Insane."
Seeing Su-hyeon playing like an immortal in the midst of the bombardnt she had intentionally unleashed, Ji-su gave a hollow laugh.
"Hey, this is annoying enough to be irritating, you know?"
"Aren't you pushing too hard from the start?"
"Ah, well. I get stronger when I'm a bit pissed off."
Weeeng.
Avoiding four streams of massive ice lances, and slicing through rising ice pillars with sword energy.
Crash!
After leaping over the creeping cold air like fog using footings created in midair, Su-hyeon suddenly created a position at the sa eye level as Ji-su in the air.
"That ability is really troubleso. You're doing things Yu-jin can't."
"On the other hand, I can't push forward cutting everything down with sword energy like Yu-jin."
"That's funny. You could if you wanted to."
Ji-su smirked.
"I've been wondering about sothing."
"What is it?"
"Did you hide your strength during the entrance ceremony?"
"Hmm."
At that ti, he didn't even have the physical ability to use "Liberation," and.
Both his body and mana had a long way to go.
"I didn't particularly hide my strength."
That was Su-hyeon's answer.
"I see."
If that was the case, then his current form represented developnt that had occurred in this short period of ti?
'So flowers crouch for a long ti before blooming all at once when they et rain. Is Jeong Su-hyeon that kind of person?'
Ji-su, trying hard to comprehend, spread both arms.
"We're not done yet!"
A massive wave made of cold energy engulfed Su-hyeon.
'This, I can't dodge.'
But it was clear that even Su-hyeon would be in danger the mont he was engulfed.
He stepped on a shield in midair and charged toward the ice wall, becoming like a javelin as he pierced through the wave.
Crash!
Ji-su wouldn't leave Su-hyeon's form alone as he erged, carving through the ice wave.
"Just freeze!"
Crackle-crackle.
Around Su-hyeon, who was already partially covered in frost, Ji-su's attack amplified all at once the cold energy emitted by the ice wave, forming a massive ice sphere in the area.
'She's gotten much sharper. Has she already created this much improvent after the afternoon's fight!'
Ji-su's fierce offensive, complented by watching and improving upon Yu-jin's breakthrough thods.
If considering hours earlier, it would clearly have been Su-hyeon who would be overwheld.
'She maintains her reason coolly even when provoked, and easily modifies her actions based on feedback. A genius is a genius.'
Su-hyeon wrapped his entire body with a Mana Shield.
Woong.
Thanks to this, he could barely isolate himself from the cold energy, but.
'I can't hold out for long.'
The frigid cold trying to invade his shield made his body tremble terribly.
"Hmph!"
Sothing like Yu-jin's true stance was still beyond his capability, but.
Instead, Su-hyeon deliberately destabilized his Mana Shield while injecting a large amount of mana, creating a similar release effect that allowed him to escape from the ice prison.
'She was already preparing a follow-up attack. Her ability to maintain pressure is truly amazing.'
Su-hyeon smiled as he watched Ji-su gathering strength for her next big attack.
'She's making this quite fun.'
However, the weakness was that Ji-su's additional attack timing was delayed because Su-hyeon's escape had happened too quickly.
Woong.
Five small platforms were created where Su-hyeon's vision reached, and.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang!
With explosive leg strength as a foundation, Su-hyeon maneuvered in a zigzag pattern, disrupting Ji-su's attack coordinates and instantly getting behind her.
"Tsk!"
Blue sword energy rippled on Su-hyeon's hwando as he cut down the rising ice wall.
"Hwang Ji-su, you've allowed
to approach again!"
Though Su-hyeon's body had been partially infiltrated by cold energy in several places to get this far, it wasn't a problem for exchanging attacks, and.
Clang-clang-clang!
Having reflected on her fight with Yu-jin, Ji-su had created a massive round shield of ice on her left arm and blocked Su-hyeon's sword.
'Good choice.'
One-handed shield and one-handed sword.
It was a choice made to focus on defense in a fight against an opponent with whom equal exchanges were impossible.
But.
'A shield isn't a cure-all.'
When Su-hyeon swung his hwando toward her face, Ji-su naturally raised her shield to block it, and.
"!?"
Using the blocked line of sight, Su-hyeon tripped Ji-su's legs and knocked her down.
"Tch!"
However, Ji-su barely blocked the descending blade with her shield, raised an ice pillar to push Su-hyeon back, then rolled and got to her feet.
Swoosh!
Su-hyeon's sword strikes pierced the upper, middle, and lower sections almost simultaneously.
Clang-clang!
Ji-su successfully blocked the middle and lower attacks with her shield and avoided the upper one by tilting her shoulder.
But once within Su-hyeon's range, it was impossible even for Ji-su, whose close combat sense was also top-tier, to regain her composure.
"Ugh!"
The attack Su-hyeon chose next was to forcibly grab the shield down with his left hand covered in a Mana Shield, then imdiately trip her inner leg and bring her down.
Thud!
For Ji-su, who had smoothly fallen to the floor as if possessed, the best counterasure she could take was.
Crackle!
To wrap cold energy around her body and imprison herself in ice.
'His mind gas are really incredible. Was Yu-jin facing this kind of pressure every ti?'
In terms of strength and speed alone, he didn't seem particularly superior to Yu-jin, but.
Su-hyeon's style of evading and receiving all her attacks while setting up traps at every mont to force choices was sothing Ji-su had never experienced before.
'Having faced this, my fighting must have seed monotonous to Yu-jin.'
After catching her breath and organizing her thoughts, Ji-su shattered the ice and fired ice fragnts like a shotgun, but.
"Oh co on."
Su-hyeon showed the magic of passing through the barrage of fragnts by fluttering like a leaf, utilizing footwork and upper body movent.
"Anyone watching would think you're Instructor Kang Jun-man."
Ji-su laughed dryly.
"Your dynamic vision is no joke."
"Not just that, but it is one of my weapons, that's true."
"It's annoying that you don't just use a sword like Yu-jin."
"That's my style, if you could call it that."
Since this wasn't a fight to the death anyway.
Ji-su sighed and said to Su-hyeon.
"We would have fought anyway even with kind words, did you really need to agitate ?"
"You seem to act impulsively at important monts."
Su-hyeon answered.
"However, when that impulse stems from carelessness driven by the desire to win, that impulse invariably becos a trigger for bad results."
"!"
"But you didn't let your guard down against , and you conducted the fight according to reason, rembering my warning that your 'temperant is like fire.'"
Ji-su finally understood Su-hyeon's intention.
"If that hadn't been the case, the match might have already been decided. With my defeat."
"Perhaps."
Ji-su nodded with a slight smile.
'You're more sensitive than I thought, Jeong Su-hyeon.'
She felt she could understand why her friend Seung-yeon showed goodwill toward Su-hyeon.
"I won't be obsessed with winning or losing now."
Having temporarily set aside victory as her primary goal, Ji-su instead wanted to display as much as possible.
That is.
This ti, she chose the attack option of directly grabbing and freezing, which had failed against Yu-jin.
"Hwaap!"
Ji-su's eyes flashed as she successfully induced Su-hyeon to duck his head with an ice lance drawn from mid-air after closing the distance by protecting herself with ice spikes.
'Good, he's caught!'
In response to Ji-su's move—lowering her stance and montarily eliminating attack options by covering herself with an ice shield—Su-hyeon chose to circle to the side and create distance, and.
'I knew it!'
The white hand of Ji-su, who had been waiting for precisely that mont and had "placed her hand" along Su-hyeon's path, grabbed his arm and imdiately began freezing.
"Hmm!"
Even Su-hyeon couldn't avoid an attack launched with foresight, and he frowned at the cold energy that pierced through his Mana Shield and instantly reached his bones.
'Her firepower is impressive. It wouldn't be strange to beco frozen at in the blink of an eye.'
But.
Su-hyeon didn't allow that to happen.
Bwack!
"Urgh!"
Before she could freeze him, a body blow starting from the shoulder struck hard.
The strike, with a Mana Shield covering his shoulder and the full weight of his body behind it as he pushed off the ground, successfully inflicted significant damage to Ji-su and sent her flying.
'Danger!'
Even in that mont, Ji-su instinctively made the surface behind her into smooth ice, safely sliding to dissipate the impact.
'So that's how she uses her ability too.'
It was such sensible ability usage that even Su-hyeon was newly impressed.
"Ah, that really hurts."
Ji-su got up with a groan.
"Is this what they call the Iron Mountain Strike?"
"Well, it's not exactly a technique deserving such a grand na."
Su-hyeon shrugged.
"Let's continue then."
??????°??☆????°??????
After that.
Against , who had no ranged attacks like flying slashes, Ji-su unleashed her specialty of ranged firepower in complex and sophisticated ways.
Thanks to this, the entire map was on the verge of becoming a winter wonderland with Ji-su's ice.
It was cold enough that my body would get chilled just standing still from the cold air emitted by the ice.
"Haa. Haa."
Ji-su, who had drawn out all her mana and concentration, stuck out her tongue at , who was still standing without any significant damage.
"What's with your stamina?"
The attacking Ji-su and the defending .
It was obvious which side's stamina would wear out faster, yet surprisingly, my side hadn't even disturbed its breathing, which seed unbelievable to her.
"You're big with lots of muscle. And even with all that sprinting, your speed doesn't drop."
"Because my energy level is different."
That was also what the training was for.
"Stamina is quality. No matter how excellent your technique is, it's useless if your stamina hits bottom."
"Hmm."
Ji-su nodded.
"Then I guess I'll have to settle this now."
Those words were quite aningful, and.
'Could it be?'
Feeling the movent of mana through my ki sense, I imdiately understood her intention.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
The ice covering the entire map.
Ji-su's mana was intervening with the cold air rising between them, creating essentially one massive chunk of ice.
'Once trapped in this, escape by oneself would be impossible!'
The rit of being able to control the distance of the fight, as I had ntioned earlier.
And the mind ga of pushing a hard-to-catch opponent into a trap.
The fact that all this was developnt shown in just one day surprised
a little.
Therefore.
'Liberation.'
I had no choice but to use Liberation, which I had no intention of using, to escape this massive area attack at maximum speed.
'This is unexpected.'
Separate from my surprise.
I approached Ji-su, who was looking at
with desolate eyes after pouring out all her strength, and put the match to an end by pointing my sword at her neck.
"I didn't expect you could escape from there."
Ji-su said dejectedly.
"Is it because you saved enough stamina to use that doping technique?"
"I suppose you could say that."
I said.
"I didn't intend to use the doping technique against you. Your fighting clearly exceeded my expectations."
"Hmph. Unnecessary kindness. What's important is that I still lost. Twice today."
Ji-su spoke with a hurt pride, yet sohow transcendently.
"Anyway, thank you."
"Don't ntion it."
[You have won the sparring match with Hwang Ji-su!]
[Great achievent! You've achieved a comfortable victory against a top-tier cadet!]
[Achievent points 250 awarded!]
"Next ti."
Knocking away the sword pointed at her neck, Ji-su said.
"Next ti I won't be defeated so helplessly."
"Is that so?"
"So, join
again next ti."
At those words.
I think I smiled a little while shrugging my shoulders.
"I don't see why not."
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