Chapter 28 (1/2)

Joint Operation (1)

“Sparring? Okay.”

Il-hyun nodded without a thought at Ghost’s proposal.

This was not the first time he had sparred against him.

In addition to practicing alone, he wanted to have hands-on experience, so whenever they had time, Ghost sparred with him.

He flipped over the mask hanging on the chair and stepped out.

The sparring room was not far from the training room.

The inside of the sparring room was quite large and high, and it was made of reinforced material all over the place so that it would not break easily in the fight between the Awakened.

Each of them wore a defensive coat hanging in the room.

It was not the usual coat used in missions, but a special defensive coat made specifically for sparring.

The coat has a feature of sending a signal when it reaches a certain amount of damage taken.

“Let’s go according to the original rules. No magic, don’t crush the wall, and blow the coat first to win,” Ghost said as he readied himself.

“Okay.” Il-hyun replied, and both sides pulled the sword at the same time.

But before they started, the door suddenly opened.

It was Seok Pil-jun.

“Is your inspection over?” he said.

“Yes, it’s over”, Il-hyun replied comfortably.

They have not spoken much to each other since Il-hyun joined, even during operations.

Although they were not close, they were the same age, so Il-hyun decided to speak comfortably.

Seok Pil-jun took the sword that Ghost had.

“Fight with me instead.”

“Well? What’s going to happen here?” Ghost said as he handed over the sword.

It was also true that he knew the relationship between them was not that good.

“Whether we like it or not, we have to work with him on the team. I need to know if I can trust him”, Seok Pil-jun answered bluntly.

Ghost’s eyes alternated between Il-hyun and Seok Pil-jun and stepped back.

This fight will be interesting, he thought.

As Seok Pil-jun put on the defensive coat, he asked Il-hyun:

“Is it okay?”

“It’s good for me,” Ilhyun nodded.

Upon hearing his answer, Seok Pil-jun pulled out the sword and readied himself.

“I heard it was a B-rank this time?”

Il-hyun slowly stepped back and thought.

Seok Pil-jun did not come here to the sparring room by accident.

It was probably related to him getting a B-rank, a huge improvement from his last rank.

He may really want to test Il-hyun’s ability to make sure that he won’t be a burden to the team.

Or maybe, he didn’t believe the rating and came in here to test him.

Il-hyun was deep in thought as he raised the sword.

But soon, all thoughts flew away.

Caen!

Two swords struck each other, and the intense sound reverberated in the large chamber.

Il-hyun was surprised at the impact, and Ghost, who was watching from the side, reacted.

“Oh, shouldn’t it be playful in the beginning?”

The sparring teammates are not saying anything.

They simply moved their bodies and extended the swords.

Numerous attacks and defenses came and went.

And once again, two swords collided strongly.

Hard!

The two faced each other tightly, with their heavy swords between them.

“Shhh!”

When Il-hyun faced Ghost, he did not have to use this much power, but that effort would not work against Seok Pil-jun’s sword.

Seok Pil-jun’s attack came down, and it was as if he’s hitting a real enemy, not a teammate.

Il-hyun put on strength and blocked the attack.

However, Seok Pil-jun immediately narrowed the gap and continued to inflict bitter attacks upon him.

Il-hyun retaliated after blocking each stroke, pushing himself hard.

The predator’s ability was gradually heating up his body, and concentration and reflexes appeared in a different dimension than usual.

However, he was being pushed to the limit little by little by Seok Pil-jun’s attacks.

‘Oh, they’re really going at it…’

Ghost was amazed at the battle before him.

Among the B-ranked Awakeners, Seok Pil-jun had the best swordsmanship.

Il-hyun was blocking off his attacks and was even able to fight back.

But what surprised Ghost the most was that Seok Pil-jun was really serious in this battle…

Seok Pil-jun noticed the difference in Il-hyun’s strength and surprised that the progress took less than a month.