Chapter 14 - Trial of Competition (3) (1/2)
Chapter 14: Trial of Competition (3)
「 The teams have been formed. 」
「 The citadel’s front door will open in 10 minutes. 」
「 Finish harmonizing by then and start the trial. 」
Voom….!
The two unmoving portals started to vibrate.
Teams of three…
I guess that information wasn’t wrong, since two people I’d never seen before walked out of those portals.
“…Competition, this shit is really the 4th trial?”
A fully armored giant murmured with a scowl on his face.
It looked like he just saw the last message that the tower sent.
He also probably didn’t know that this was actually the objective of this trial.
Conversely, the woman challenger didn’t seem very surprised.
“First thing’s first. Shall we introduce ourselves?”
In fact, she took a look around and suggested that we exchange pleasantries.
She seemed overly calm but that eliminated a need for small talk.
“I’m Han Sungyoon. Nice to meet you.”
The woman flipped her hair back and replied.
“I’m Lee Hayeon. Likewise.”
An eye-catching, cool beauty.
‘Just one left.’
The large man opened his mouth, almost reluctantly.
“…I’m Lee Sunghoon. Don’t get in my way and we won’t have any problems.”
Don’t get in his way?
It was an interesting introduction but we quickly switched the topic.
“Firstly, did anyone look up any information about the trial?”
Lee Hayeon replied calmly to Sunghoon’s question.
“Yeah, I used my questions to find out some extra information.”
“Good. What did you find out?”
“…I used quite a few questions so I should know all the basics.”
“Hm, I guess I didn’t completely lose the teammate lottery.”
I felt similarly.
That Lee Sunghoon guy seemed a little arrogant but didn’t seem like a bad guy.
These kinds of people are usually the strongest.
It would be a pain in my ass if he was a permanent teammate but…
‘I can take this for a trial.’
Our paths would diverge after we cleared this trial.
“Let’s reveal our abilities before getting started.”
Lee Sunghoon wanted to skip the small talk and discuss our abilities.
That seemed like a given for people who need to work together.
Lee Hayeon seemed a little hesitant but opened up.
“I have an exploration-based innate ability and I can use magic. I’m not fit for close-range combat.”
Lee Sunghoon’s eyes gleamed when he heard magic.
He seemed a little dim, but even he knew how valuable mages were.
“Oh, a mage. What kind of magic can you use?”
“Nothing offensive. I specialize in support magic.”
A mage who couldn’t use offensive spells…
After hearing that, I finally opened my mouth.
“But you can use at least one offensive magic right?”
Even support mages should be able to use at least one attack spell.
Although she probably wasn’t lying about close combat due to her lack of weapons…
There was no way she got up the tower without any offense.
Although I couldn’t say anything if she just said all her trials were some supporting ones…
She didn’t look like she had any other way of fighting other than magic.
Lee Hayeon’s eyes widened for a second and she admitted it.
“…It’s not much but I can also use some elemental magic.”
I could tell she was considering hiding it for a bit but she gave in.
I understood why she wanted to hide it though.
‘She probably thought that she might need to use a hidden skill in the worst-case scenario.’
The failure condition is the death of the entire team after all.
That meant as long as you were alive, what happened to your team didn’t matter.
That also meant you couldn’t do anything to them as long as they stayed alive.
‘There’s a decent number of loopholes if you want to abuse it.’
She probably wanted to keep at least one thing hidden just in case.
After all, anything could happen in the tower.
“You said you’re a mage, but you’re probably more fit in a supporter role.”
…Lee Sunghoon didn’t seem that interested in any of that.
I also thought about what I should reveal before speaking up.
“I specialize in close combat and I have physical-enhancement-based innate ability.”
Just enough for them to work with me.
I also wasn’t lying about anything because my innate ability actually does strengthen my body.
They didn’t seem to doubt it because it matched my appearance.
“What a coincidence. I’m also a close combat specialist with a mana resistance innate ability.”
“Resistance… That’s a pretty high quality innate ability.”
“It’s on a different level from the mid-level losers”
He smirked as he talked about himself.
I guess I knew where his arrogance came from.
‘It’s because he has an innate ability like mana resistance.’
Mana resistance could help you resist all things involving mana like magic or mana-based skills.
It synergized very well with those specializing in close combat.
“We should also reveal what our hunter ranks were in the outside world.”
He slipped that in as the corner of his mouth rose.
“I was a D rank hunter before I came here.”
“That’s probably a good idea. I was an E rank.”