The Novel's Extra - chapter-39

The duel arena was a miniature version of the Roman Colosseum. The
central arena was slightly bigger than a standard soccer field, while the
seats circling the arena could seat about 5000 people.
The design was a great success.
Ten minutes before the start of a duel, the guest seats were packed full
of people.

“How did you get such a nice seat?”

The high rank Hero, Oh Junhyuk, asked in surprise as he handed Seo
Youngji a hotdog. The seats she grabbed were the frontmost seats, which
had the best view of the arena.

“You tell me to focus on the mission, but you come here first thing in
the morning to grab the best seat…”

“Shut up and sit down.”

Oh Junhyuk snickered and sat down next to her.

“…Wow, it sure brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

“You must mean bad memories. I remember you saying you were beaten so
hard that you couldn’t even watch mixed martial arts afterwards.”

“…I’ve gotten better because it’s always on TV. My son loves it
too.”

Mixed Martial Arts was one of the most popular sports worldwide. It was
especially popular among kids and teenagers.
The sport featured one-on-one or team battles between superhumans.
Naturally, the fights were extremely flashy, with magic power blowing
like storms and strikes cutting the earth in half. The might they
displayed served as the perfect motivation for young children to pursue
strength.

“Really? That’s nice to hear.”

“Nice to hear? Please, the world must be coming to an end. Djinns are
more active than ever but nowadays, becoming a sports star is ranked
third for cadets choice of career path. They’re saying they’d rather
go into sports than joining a small to medium sized guild.”

“I don’t see what’s wrong with it.”

“You don’t see what’s wrong with it? Because of people like you,
the Association is in this pitiful state…”

In the middle of his sentence, Oh Junhyuk felt an extremely battle
thirsty gaze.

“…Who’s that guy?”

He stared at the seat on the opposite side of the arena.
A man was giving a menacing look and smiling with his teeth out. His
fearless and unrestrained smile was clearly aimed at Oh Junhyuk and Seo
Youngji.

“He’s been doing that for a while. He must be a fan.”

“A fan? He can see through our disguise?”

“I guess so. Ah, it’s starting.”

The host announced the start of the day’s duels, and Seo Youngji
immediately took out her laptop.

“Typical Associate executive… Alright, who should I be looking out
for?”

“Kim Suho and Chae Nayun. They’re on the top of their class. And I
guess Yi Yeonghan and Kim Horak too.”

“Oh! Two of the top 6 are here? Who are they fighting?”

Kim Suho and Chae Nayun were well-known even in the Association. Even Oh
Junhyuk, who wasn’t into watching duels, couldn’t help but be
interested in their match.

“Kim Suho is fighting Yi Yeonghan. Chae Nayun is fighting Joseph. Kim
Horak is fighting Kim Hajin.”

“Other than Kim Horak, it looks like most of them chose appropriate
opponents. So, who’s Kim Hajin?”

“Kim Hajin, rank 934”

“…Rank 934? Isn’t that too low? Is there anything special about
him?”

Seo Youngji pushed up her glasses.

“There are bad rumors about him. My cousin in Cube told me that he’s
quite distasteful.”

“Ah, so Kim Horak’s punishing a delinquent. I see, I see. Who would
have thought Kim Horak had a sense of justice? He’s sacrificing his own
grade to do this too…”

Tak. Seo Youngji closed her laptop.

“It’s starting.”

“…Tsk.”

Oh Junhyuk crossed his arms and leaned against the back of the seat.
The first duel was between the two aforementioned cadets.

—The first duel is between rank 18, Kim Horak, and rank 934, Kim Hajin!
How will Kim Hajin overcome the difference in their rank? Why did Kim
Horak nominate such a low ranked cadet?

The unfortunate host tried his best to hype up the match which had an
obvious result.
A mana barrier went up around the arena. It was to prevent the two
cadets’ attacks from leaking out.

“That must be him.”

“Yep.”

Oh Junhyuk looked at the man walking out from the right passageway. He
looked… average. So average in fact that he wouldn’t even remember
his face the next day.

**

Cadets were prohibited from using their personal weapons during exams. It
was because scouts wanted to observe cadets based on their ability rather
than the power of their weapons. As such, I couldn’t use the Desert
Eagle. I also wanted to hide Aether if possible.

In other words, I only had a training handgun and a protective armor
provided by Cube to rely on. With just these two, the chances of me
beating Kim Horak was slim to none. But that didn’t mean I planned on
losing one-sidedly, especially against that bastard Kim Horak.

“Let’s go.”

“…Yes.”

Led by the staff, I walked up to the stage.
First, I took a good look around the arena. A translucent mana barrier
surrounded the arena with thousands of spectators looking down. Both an
indescribable pressure and excitement overwhelmed me.
While I was shaking from this strange sensation, Kim Horak walked up from
the other side.

“Oh~ Kim Horak.”

I smiled and waved my hand.

“How did you do on your written exams?”

I provoked him, but Kim Horak equipped his gauntlet without talking. I
also held up my handgun. Our physical stats should differ by at least 4
points. It was the difference between an ordinary human and an adult
elephant. He would snap my body in half the moment he closed in on me.

“Let’s take it easy, alright?”

—Counting down! Three!

The host must have thought we were ready, as he started counting down.

Crack— Crack— I could hear Kim Horak cracking his knuckles from all
the way here.

—Two!

He ignited his magic power, drawing it above the surface of his body.
Layering magic power around one’s body was a technique called qi
reinforcement. Kim Horak was still inexperienced in it, but my bullets
were unable to penetrate his incomplete qi reinforcement.

—One!

His center of gravity leaned forward and he dug his feet into the ground.
Currently, we were 150 meters away. It was a distance Kim Horak could
close in just three seconds.
But I didn’t come unprepared.

—Start!

Kim Horak immediately charged forward like a savage beast. My sense of
time slowed down. I had activated Bullet Time.

I released Stigma’s magic power which flowed into my handgun and
adhered to a single bullet. Fusing with Stigma’s magic power, the
bullet then carried a special property as I set beforehand.
‘Anti-magic’.
When it clashed with reinforced magic power, it would shatter it
instantly.

“Ehew.”

I had to use half of Stigma’s magic power, but it was worth it.
I pulled the trigger at the wild boar charging towards me. He didn’t
even try to dodge my bullet. In his mind, it wasn’t even a question
whether my bullets could threaten him in any way.

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Clang—

But when my bullet clashed with his qi reinforcement, a strange explosion
occurred. The explosion shattered Kim Horak’s qi reinforcement as
though it was a glass window.
Now that he was bare-skinned, he was nothing but a target with a huge
surface area.
I pulled the trigger freely.

Kim Horak jumped to the side, clearly aiming to circle around me. I
followed his movement and shot my bullets accordingly, and Kim Horak
backed off helplessly. The barrage of gunshots didn’t stop. I
continuously pulled the trigger, bullets endlessly seeking after Kim
Horak.
He held on, jumping up, rolling to the side, and lifting the arena’s
tile to use as a shield.

“…Hm.”

After stopping for a moment, I rubbed my chin and stared at Kim Horak. A
blue aura was rising from his body once again. His qi reinforcement had
regenerated.

But qi reinforcement wasn’t a technique one could use repeatedly. Even
now, it was easy to see that his qi reinforcement was thinner than the
one he initially created.
It was likely that this was his final one.

“Huu.”

He licked his dried lips and charged at me once again. This time, his
movements were quite complex. Like a crab, he zigzagged as he steadily
charged forward. His movements weren’t as predictable, as it had no set
pattern. Furthermore, I couldn’t just shoot at him, as he moved faster
than my bullet.

But I came prepared in case this happened.
I took out a dagger from my belt and tethered the blade with Stigma’s
magic power. Then, I lightly threw it.
Master Sharpshooter also applied to throwing. The dagger flew forward
like a boomerang, but this dagger didn’t have any special power. It
likely couldn’t even scratch his qi reinforcement.

“Fuck!”

But Kim Horak didn’t know that.
He was likely worried, thinking there was something special about the
dagger. Just like how my first bullet carried an unexpected power, he had
to have suspicions about this dagger.

In the end, Kim Horak hopped to the side to dodge the dagger. I pulled on
the string of magic power tethered to the dagger, changing its
trajectory. The dagger turned in a ninety-degree angle and chased after
Kim Horak. Judging by his widened eyes, he must be thinking this.

‘There’s definitely something about this dagger.’

However, Kim Horak didn’t try to dodge the dagger. A dagger wasn’t as
fast or as small as a bullet. As such, Kim Horak tried to grab the
dagger. And he succeeded. It was an incredible display of hand-eye
coordination.
But in order to catch something, one had to stop moving.
A bullet I fired penetrated his qi reinforcement.

“Uk!”

The bullet cleanly shattered his qi reinforcement. While Kim Horak
staggered, I also retrieved the dagger.
Now, Kim Horak was completely open. The question was what he would do
next…

“…Damn it!”

As expected, he rushed in recklessly. He didn’t back off or move to the
side. He simply charged forward while taking all my bullets.
Right arm, left arm, right thigh, left calf…
He held on even after being shot in multiple places.

“Huaaaap—!”

After finally closing in on me, he swung his fist. I immediately tumbled
back to dodge his attack, and Kim Horak chased after me.
Eventually, I arrived at a dead end with the wall behind me. But before
Kim Horak could feel any joy, I climbed up the wall.
With Parkour’s power, I could climb anything that was considered a
wall. My hands and feet adhered to the wall like magnets, and I continued
to fire from a distance Kim Horak could never reach.

“Hey! You fuck, this is cheating!”

Taking this exact situation into account, I had focused my bullets on his
legs. Kim Horak didn’t have the strength to jump this high.

Now, it was a completely one-sided attack.
Demoted to a mere target, Kim Horak constantly moved around hoping to
dodge my bullets. However, even a single hit was enough to strike him
with pain. Thigh, shoulder, foot… Injuries continued to pile up, and
Kim Horak continued to slow down as a result.
Eventually, he stopped completely.

I aimed for his stomach for a final attack. Every cadet had a device
around their stomach that would automatically end the duel if one side
received a critical injury.

Click—

“…?”

But no bullet went out. I rummaged through my pockets. I had no bullets.

“Ah.”

I had brought 240 bullets, but it seemed I had used them all.
With no other choice, I jumped down.
As I completely used up Stigma’s magic power, I only had my dagger to
work with.
All I had to do was to approach Kim Horak and stab his stomach… But it
didn’t look like Kim Horak would surrender.

“Huu… Huu…”

He was glaring at me with ferocious killing intent. If I got close, he
would undoubtedly rip me to shreds. To make things worse, one of his arms
was unhurt.
I looked around.
I remembered the crowd being excited at first, but now the arena was
eerily quiet. It was as though I was in a library.

“Mm…”

This was a good enough payback.
Kim Horak was unable to hit me single time, but I had pummeled him
continuously. Not to mention, my score would go up even if I lost this
duel.
I sneered at Kim Horak and raised my hands.
Then, I spoke quietly.

“I surrender.”

Hweee—

The referee immediately blew his whistle.
The mana barrier surrounding the arena disappeared.
I walked away, whistling leisurely.