“...Should I take that to mean you intend to fight barehanded?”
“Yes.”
Dae-hyun nodded.
Normally, if this had been before he went to the Demon Realm, he would have picked up a spear.
Because that had been the most comfortable option.
Because he had judged it to be the weapon best suited to him.
But now, things were different.
‘As expected.’
The weapons lined up for practice, or for sparring.
To him, who had fought barehanded in the Demon Realm, there was not a single weapon here worth using.
If anything, they would only get in the way of combat.
‘I do not need any cumbersome blades.’
Above all, if he wanted to learn the limits of his body, fighting with nothing but his bare body was best.
There was also the decisive fact that he possessed the greatest talent for barehanded combat.
“I have no intention of going easy on you just because you have no weapon.”
“I know.”
Of course he knew.
He knew that very well.
Dae-hyun nodded with an expressionless face.
‘Park Se-chan, was it...?’
His combat power was around the middle ranks, but in close combat, he was said to be among the upper ranks.
He was the chief culprit who had tormented Dae-hyun like a madman in his first life.
‘...Well, he is adequate enough.’
He was not a bad first opponent.
Dae-hyun steadied his stance along with his fists, and at the same time, the teacher spoke.
“Injuries caused by sparring will not be grounds for disciplinary action. Know that there is no point in complaining about it later.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”
After confirming both of their answers, the teacher stared at Dae-hyun for quite some time.
‘Kang Dae-hyun...’
A Healing Type accepting a fight against an Assault Type was one thing.
Refusing to carry a weapon on top of that was another.
He could not understand at all what this boy was thinking.
‘What a foolish brat.’
But he decided not to think too deeply about it.
In any case, if the boy failed again this time, he would be expelled without mercy.
Whatever the boy did at the end, what did it matter?
All he had to do was referee moderately and submit his report afterward.
‘Phew...’
Meanwhile, Dae-hyun steadied his breathing.
Memories of countless battles now settled in him like instinct, sweeping over his opponent’s entire body.
‘In terms of physical ability, I am overwhelmingly disadvantaged.’
An unfavorable fight.
That only piqued his interest even more.
His fighting spirit, the desire to win, blazed up within him.
How long had it been since he last felt this tense?
Dae-hyun clenched his teeth and tightened his fists.
‘I can only hope my instincts have not dulled.’
Just as he was about to enter combat—
DING―!
[Newly Unlocked Quest: Debut Match]
A new window appeared before his eyes.
***
[Newly Unlocked Quest: Debut Match]
It was transparent, yet clear.
Its hanging form resembled the Status Window, yet it was somehow different.
‘...A quest?’
A hallucination?
Dae-hyun glanced aside at the teacher and Se-chan.
“Is something the matter?”
“Stop wasting time and hurry up. I will end this in an instant.”
The teacher’s calm and gentle appearance.
And Se-chan’s still arrogant and irritating attitude.
Judging by them, it did not seem like they could see this.
‘What is this...?’
A long time had passed since he awakened his Status Window, but this was the first time something like this had happened.
The Status Window was presenting an answer within the situation? And in the form of something called a quest?
Dae-hyun tilted his head and reached toward the window before him.
SWISH―.
Then the small window vanished, and a new window, far larger than the previous one, appeared.
[Quest]
[Debut Match]
[Details: The current dignity of the Fist King is crawling along the ground. They do not know what kind of existence you are. At this very moment, show them who you are.]
[Completion Condition: Buy 1 minute of time against your sparring opponent, ‘Park Se-chan.’]
[Reward: Divine Shield (LV.1) and 2 others.]
Starting with the window labeled ‘Quest,’ explanations flowed down in rapid succession.
Dae-hyun quickly scanned the whole thing from top to bottom.
The details were one thing, and the rewards were peculiar in their own way.
But there was something that bothered him more than anything else.
‘One minute.’
The completion condition was not to defeat his opponent, but for him to endure.
Dae-hyun nodded and repeated the number one minute to himself over and over again.
He did not think it was a hallucination in the first place.
One day, he had fallen into the Demon Realm and lost his Status Window.
On top of that, after closing and opening his eyes there, he had found himself in a different world.
At this point, nothing would surprise him anymore.
‘...It does not seem impossible.’
No, it would actually be simple.
Above all, did it not sound entertaining?
How long had it been since he had deliberately focused only on defense in a fight?
He could no longer even remember.
In truth, he was also curious how long he could last in this body.
“Hmm.”
Dae-hyun nodded and tightened his fists again, while Se-chan lifted his wooden sword with both hands.
Once the teacher confirmed that both sides had finished preparing for the sparring match, he shouted,
“Begin!”
“Hup!”
The moment the sparring began, Se-chan widened his eyes and charged forward.
Swift and precise acceleration.
It was a powerful move, aimed at a momentary opening.
WHOOSH―.
He quickly reached Dae-hyun and swung his wooden sword.
His target was the head.
He intended to knock Dae-hyun unconscious in a single blow and end the match.
“This ends it!”
Kang Dae-hyun. He had already sparred with him several times.
As expected of a healer, the boy’s reactions were slow, and his body was weak.
Today, however, he had not even taken up a weapon, and because he was strangely overflowing with confidence, Se-chan had wondered if he had some trick up his sleeve. In the end, though, all he had to do was knock him down before he could show it.
TAK!
But Se-chan’s sword did not reach Dae-hyun.
No, it was blocked.
“...He blocked it?”
When Se-chan tilted his head in shock, Dae-hyun was standing there, holding the wooden sword with a trembling bare hand.
“What... No, how?”
‘I can do this.’
The moment the boy charged toward him, Dae-hyun’s eyes had read it.
His body was slow and frail, but the instincts he had forged through years of battle remained intact, and his eyes could follow those instincts, however faintly.
‘So this is what happens when I block it.’
The hand that had stopped the sword trembled severely. Park Se-chan’s sword was halted before his eyes.
As expected of an Assault Type superhuman in the middle ranks of the training school.
Even though he had seen it coming and reacted, this was the result. It was proof that although his eyes could see, his body could not fully respond yet.
‘It will be harder than I expected.’
If he misread even one move, it would be a guaranteed hit.
If he happened to take a blow to a vital point, it would be over immediately afterward.
For a simple evasion game, the difficulty was far too high.
However...
‘Compared to the Demon Realm, this is nothing.’
Only the stage had changed.
Had he not already played that game like a madman?
Had he not overcome dozens, no, countless trials and hardships until now?
‘This is enough.’
Dae-hyun pushed Se-chan’s sword away with all his strength and stepped back.
Although the distance would be closed again in no time, it was to buy even a few more seconds.
“...It must have been a coincidence.”
Left standing there alone, Se-chan muttered quietly to himself, but whether he did or not, Dae-hyun steadied his breathing.
“Hmm.”
The hand that had taken the attack trembled violently.
It was because of that last blow.
‘My condition is worse than I thought.’
There were roughly fifty seconds left until one minute.
There was still more time to endure than he had already endured.
Dae-hyun exhaled and steadied his breathing.
The hardship was only just beginning.
TAK! THWACK! TAK!
Even after that, Se-chan poured out many attacks, and Dae-hyun predicted them as he continued defending by the narrowest of margins.
‘Left.’
He dodged attacks he could not block.
‘Right.’
He redirected attacks that were awkward to evade.
‘Head.’
For attacks his body could not completely keep up with, he added prediction and found a way to break through them.
The combat sense he had acquired over many years led the battle more easily, more efficiently.
How many exchanges had passed like that?
“...Are you messing with me?”
Se-chan spoke with an irritated expression.
He had attacked dozens of times, yet he had not touched the boy even once.
The fact that Dae-hyun had evaded all those attacks could only be called luck.
But what mattered even more was that during all of that, Dae-hyun had not attacked even once.
Se-chan pointed at Dae-hyun with the end of his wooden sword and said,
“Stop annoying me and attack.”
Se-chan also knew that Dae-hyun’s expulsion was riding on this sparring match.
No, that was something every student watching the match knew.
“You cannot win by continuing to do nothing but block.”
That was why it became even more puzzling.
If he did nothing but block and lost, Dae-hyun would be the one to suffer, and Dae-hyun would also be the first one to run out of stamina.
Se-chan raised his head and looked at Dae-hyun.
‘A guy like that should not be making that kind of face.’
But Kang Dae-hyun, the representative failing student of the Superhuman Training School, had an expression full of ease.
It was not a simple expression of confidence in victory.
It felt as if a master several levels above him were briefly playing along with a beginner.
As if he placed meaning not on the result, but on this sparring match itself.
‘...Is it a trick? A surprise attack? No, that is not it.’
If that were the case, he would have gone for the decisive move at the start of the sparring match.
From Dae-hyun’s perspective, his only chance of victory would be to attack while he had even a little more stamina.
But the boy had stayed still.
No, if anything, he had casually blocked Se-chan’s attacks and then refused to counterattack.
“I do not know what you have prepared, but if you keep enduring like this, I am the one who wins.”
Se-chan lightly swung his sword and laughed.
However, at the same time, Se-chan did not know.
‘Hmm.’
At that very moment, Dae-hyun...
[The quest condition has been fulfilled.]
[Rewards will be issued.]
‘It is finally done.’
...was not looking at Se-chan’s eyes.
***
DING! DING―!
As if fireworks were going off,
the clear sound of water droplets rang in his ears.
[Trait, ??? (EX), has been issued.]
[Skill, Divine Fist (LV.1), has been issued.]
[Skill, Divine Shield (LV.1), has been issued.]
At the same time, another notification window appeared in rapid succession.
It was only a few lines, but Dae-hyun did not have time to read them one by one.
“This time for sure...!”
Perhaps he had noticed that Dae-hyun’s gaze had shifted for a moment.
Park Se-chan seized the opening, lunged in, and swung his wooden sword.
Just as he had done until now, Dae-hyun lightly evaded the wooden sword and widened the distance once more.
‘If this is luck, then it is good luck, I suppose.’
One minute. During that brief span of time, Se-chan had attacked many times, and Dae-hyun had deflected them all.
This was the result.
His breathing was ragged, his stamina was nearly exhausted, and he did not know how much longer both his arms could hold out.
In his current state, at best, he could manage one attack. If he was lucky, perhaps two.
“What is with that expression? Have you finally decided to attack?”
“...”
As Dae-hyun clenched his fist and smiled, Park Se-chan glared at him sharply.
Dae-hyun lightly shook out his hand and clenched his fist again.
TAT―!
Seeing that, Park Se-chan kicked off the ground and charged in, his wooden sword moving toward Dae-hyun.
An attack flying in from the right, aimed at his head.
It was slow enough to dodge, but instead of evading, Dae-hyun raised his hand.
‘...If I do this, I will not be able to use my right arm.’
As long as his arm could withstand it, he instinctively knew this would be his final defense.
But that was all.
It was not as if it would be cut off. It would simply lose strength and become unable to move.
It was not a bad trade in exchange for victory in the sparring match.
‘I will let you have one hit.’
WHOOSH―!
The wooden sword flew toward his trembling arm, and the very moment Dae-hyun clenched his teeth hard—
[Damage exceeding the designated threshold has been detected!]
A notification window that had appeared from somewhere hung before his eyes...
CLANG―!
At the same time, a dull sound rang out.