While Si-Hyun was locked in fierce combat, Ji-Ah faced her own battle.
Her sharp gaze remained fixed on her opponent.
A spearman from this otherworld.
A woman with strikingly long, crimson hair.
The spear in her hands burned with the sa fiery red mana, flickering like a living fla.
‘So it’s finally co to this.’
Ji-Ah had thought about this mont for a long ti.
If those bastards from the hero’s party ever appeared before her, she would rip them apart with this spear.
She would make them pay for gaslighting Si-Hyun, the most versatile and reliable person she knew.
‘At last…’
The ti had finally co.
Ji-Ah pressed her lips together, steeling her resolve.
She tightened her grip on her spear, fingers digging into the shaft.
And at that mont, her opponent moved.
Almost simultaneously, Ji-Ah lunged forward.
Swish— Clang!
The sharp clang of colliding spears rang out as both won charged at each other with relentless speed.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The rhythmic clash of tal echoed through the battlefield, each strike accompanied by bursts of brilliant sparks.
Ji-Ah focused on exploiting her opponent’s openings, her attacks swift and precise.
anwhile, the otherworldly spearman t her head-on, countering with raw, overwhelming power.
The chill of frozen air clashed violently against searing flas, the opposing energies spiraling into a raging storm that twisted the very air around them.
Shraaak!
A sharp sound split the air as the ground beneath them froze and burned at the sa ti.
This wasn’t just a battle of skill.
It was a clash of mana, raw power colliding head-on.
Neither woman intended to back down as they traded blows with their pride on the line.
‘She’s strong.’
Ji-Ah could feel the impact of each strike reverberate up her arms, numbing her hands.
Her instincts told her—this woman had both speed and destructive force.
She was nothing like the undead Yoo Byung-Jun from the past.
Whoosh!
Slash.
Ji-Ah barely tilted her head in ti as the enemy’s spear sliced past her cheek.
A thin trickle of blood ran down her face, but the sting was fleeting.
‘…Si-Hyun is with !’
Her friend had said it herself—
That she felt reassured, knowing Ji-Ah was by her side.
That she trusted her.
And Ji-Ah had responded, without hesitation.
Of course.
They were a party.
She trusted Si-Hyun just as much.
‘I said I’d protect her!’
And she wasn’t one to go back on her word.
Ji-Ah clenched her teeth.
She was getting pushed back, but she didn’t care.
She pushed her body to its limits, continuously striking back.
Rather than taking a beating, she returned each blow in kind.
She refused to yield.
Boom!
The enemy’s spear ca down hard. Ji-Ah barely managed to block it, but the impact rattled her entire body.
Her fingers tingled.
Her muscles scread.
Her lungs burned as if set ablaze.
But—
‘I can go even faster!’
Just as she always had, Ji-Ah refused to stop moving.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Faster.
Stronger.
She honed her focus to the extre, moving instinctively.
Her consciousness faded into the background as she let herself be carried entirely by the flow of her spear.
Her speed accelerated to the point where her attacks left afterimages, seamlessly transitioning from one strike to the next.
Her strikes beca sharper, deadlier.
And then—
Whoooosh!
A familiar warmth enveloped her.
‘Si-Hyun…!’
Ji-Ah felt the amplification surge through her body.
Power coursed through her veins.
Her adrenaline spiked.
“I’m coming for you—!”
Her spear shot upward like lightning.
The freezing arc of her attack sliced through the air, streaking toward her opponent with terrifying force.
“……!”
For the first ti, the otherworldly spearman’s once-composed expression cracked.
Sothing new flickered in her eyes.
Shock.
Panic.
And—
Fear.
For the first ti, her spear wavered.
***
anwhile, Yeo Dohyung found himself locked in a relentless battle of magic.
‘So this is what a real magician looks like…!’
He was facing off against the hero’s party’s mage, a fierce duel of raw magical prowess.
This was on an entirely different level from simply wiping out hordes of monsters with large-scale spells.
Every mont was a test of strategy—predicting, countering, and adapting—where a single lapse in focus could an defeat.
Rumble!
Boom!
Explosions erupted as their spells clashed, the violent energy shaking the battlefield.
The two mages locked eyes, sharp and unyielding.
‘…I’m falling behind in skill.’
Dohyung’s expression hardened.
In terms of sheer firepower, he had the advantage, thanks to Si-Hyun’s buffs.
But magic wasn’t just about brute force.
His opponent far surpassed him in finesse, precision, and technique.
Gradually, Dohyung found himself being pushed back.
A single mont of distraction, and his spell would be erased mid-cast.
Unpredictable variables kept appearing, forcing him on the defensive.
Speed, adaptability, and the ability to exploit gaps in his defenses—
His opponent was, without a doubt, the real deal.
This was the first ti Dohyung had ever experienced a true mage’s duel.
As a Hunter, his expertise lay in fighting monsters, not rival sorcerers.
And the history of magic in this otherworld was vastly different from Earth’s.
“…Heh.”
Then, suddenly—
A smirk flickered across his opponent’s lips.
And above Dohyung’s head, a magic circle began to form.
“This is—?!”
Dohyung had been so focused on the spell in front of him that he realized too late—
It was a fake.
A feint designed to draw his attention.
Before he could react, the real spell struck.
Crackle! BOOM!
“Gah—!”
Agony shot through his body as lightning surged through him, scorching him from the inside out.
His entire being trembled under the jolting force.
It was a calculated attack—
She had deliberately chosen lightning magic, his own specialty, to mock him.
A psychological blow ant to shatter his pride.
Dohyung gritted his teeth, forcing himself to remain standing.
Even as his vision blurred with pain, he refused to look away.
His opponent’s eyes glead with cruel amusent.
Mockery. Contempt.
‘…Yeah, she’s strong.’
But that didn’t an he was going to lose.
For so reason, he just knew—
He wasn’t going to let it end like this.
Dohyung steadied himself.
The pain that had consud him monts ago was already beginning to fade.
‘Thank you, Si-Hyun.’
Even while dealing with that monstrous swordsman, she hadn’t stopped supporting them.
The buffs remained intact, and the mont he was injured, a healing aura wrapped around him.
Had they been thrown into this fight without warning, the psychological pressure alone might have crushed them.
But Si-Hyun had prepared them.
A great evil was coming, she had said.
And they would stop it.
She had spoken with unwavering confidence—declaring them the strongest party on Earth.
But more than that—
‘She called a real magician.’
She had told him, without hesitation, that he was the truest mage she had ever seen.
Dohyung recalled that mont.
Then he looked at the enemy before him.
‘I can’t let her down.’
He took a deep breath and readied his next spell.
This ti, he carefully observed his opponent’s use of mana, analyzing the structure of her magic.
BOOM!
Another collision of spells.
But this ti, Dohyung didn’t just defend—he studied her techniques.
And, just as she had tricked him earlier, he prepared a feint of his own.
“……!”
The instant she attempted to dispel his magic—
Dohyung saw it.
A gap.
A flaw.
Right then, he understood.
He was learning. Adapting.
His understanding of mana manipulation was evolving in real-ti.
‘Just a little more…!’
Dohyung’s eyes locked onto his opponent.
And then—
Whoooosh!
A surge of power flooded into him.
‘Si-Hyun… she’s growing stronger too!’
He recalled what she had always said—
That they were a team.
That trust was what made them powerful.
That he was a real magician.
“…Guess I should show them what that ans.”
Dohyung twirled his staff.
Crackle!
A sudden burst of mana—
The magic circle forming above him shattered into nothing.
The enemy’s spell was canceled.
“What the—?!”
The hero’s mage’s eyes widened in disbelief.
She had never expected to fall for the sa trick she had used.
She scrambled to cast another spell—
But this ti, it was Dohyung’s turn.
CRACKLE! BOOM!
Lightning rained down in rapid succession, his magic seizing control of the battlefield.
Electricity surged through her body, her form convulsing violently.
Dohyung smirked and spoke.
“Co on, then.”
Let’s see who the real magician is.
There would only be one winner between them.
Whether or not she understood his words didn’t matter.
What mattered was giving her a taste of her own dicine.
Her expression twisted in rage, as if she had swallowed a bitter insect.
Seeing that only fueled Dohyung’s confidence even further.
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