NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6
Chapter 6: Not Needed
Yoo Ji-han successfully dodged all the shurikens flying at him for about three minutes.
Next up was the arrow pattern, which the man from earlier had failed to navigate.
Whoosh!
A wooden arrow flew towards him.
Soon, two more arrows, then three arrows, came flying simultaneously.
The arrows targeted various parts of his body, legs, arms, everywhere.
Having kept his lower body steady till now, Yoo Ji-han had no choice but to lift his feet.
Gulp!
A man watching him from outside swallowed hard.
He was a Rank 5 Hero belonging to a Rank 5 Party.
However, his evasion skills could be considered on par with a Rank 3 Hero or higher.
He had failed to overcome the hellish difficulty in the past.
This specific stage with the arrow pattern was one where he failed every single time.
‘It’s no use; I’m bound to fail here anyway.’
The training center was usually visited by heroes from small guilds.
Yoo Ji-han, who thought of himself as just another ordinary hero, never imagined he would make it this far.
But this was it.
It was almost impossible to dodge a long, thin arrow when their numbers became overwhelming.
In a real battle, he could have bounced off ordinary arrows with armor or smashed them before they hit.
But since this was purely a dodge-focused training, such actions were off-limits.
“Go for it, hyung!”
Kim Si-hu cheered from afar.
Even though it was just a simple training exercise, Yoo Ji-han’s success in dodging the attacks gradually eased Kim Si-hu’s anxiety.
As a Guild Master, it should not be in vain for him to share precious guild shares with others.
“Phew!”
Sweat beads formed on Yoo Ji-han’s forehead as he dodged the arrows.
Looking up at the sky, he saw dozens of arrows falling above his head.
It was truly a rain of arrows.
‘The training area’s a bit small, so I need to be careful…’
With goggles on, Yoo Ji-han ran through the grasslands, considering the size of the AR training area.
What appeared to be a vast meadow was actually a virtual backdrop, and he couldn’t move beyond a certain boundary.
Whoosh—!
As he darted through the falling arrows, a gust of wind effect activated in the meadow, causing real wind to blow through the training ground.
Thanks to that, the arrows swayed and changed their trajectories.
‘…!’
One arrow narrowly grazed his collar.
Fortunately, it didn’t hit his body directly, so it was counted as a dodge.
About five minutes passed like that.
“Huff!”
In the end, he successfully completed the arrow pattern.
The man who had been taunting Yoo Ji-han gaped in shock.
He was anxious but never expected him to get through.
[You can now choose the next pattern.]
[Arrow Speed X2]
[Arrow Speed X4]
[Bullets]
[Fireball]
……
……
[You can now choose the terrain.]
[Grassland]
[Beach]
[Cliff]
……
……
“I’ll end the training.”
Regardless of the difficulty, anyone who passed the arrow pattern would gain the right to choose a more advanced training session.
Yoo Ji-han decided not to select the next pattern and concluded his training session.
He judged that this was no longer significant.
As this was a paid training center, he didn’t want to spend too much time here.
Exiting the AR training area, Kim Si-hu approached him.
“Hyung! That was amazing! Why are you so good?”
“Actually, I’m a ranker at this.”
“Huh?”
The AR program used for hero training was exclusively produced by a certain developer for several guilds.
This program featured a ranking system to encourage competition, and Yoo Ji-han ranked within the top 100 heroes for dodge training.
He had just registered under an alias, so no one recognized him.
Kim Si-hu was astonished and asked.
“If you revealed your name, you could add it to your profile, right?”
“It’d be hard. Rankings can change frequently. You can’t use that in your profile.”
“Well still…”
Yoo Ji-han looked around the vicinity of the AR training area.
He couldn’t see the man who had been taunting him and waiting for his turn.
“By the way, where did that guy go?”
“Right after the arrow pattern ended, he ran off like the wind.”
“There was no need to run away.”
Yoo Ji-han chuckled.
If he ran off feeling ashamed after being called out for his ignorance, that was just how it was.
*
At Rank 2 Monster Area in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi-do,
Kim Hyun-tae’s Party was in the midst of hunting, performing the crucial role of the main party.
“Gyaaaak!!”
“Gyaaaak—!!”
Crashhhh!!!
Giant worms, monsters that looked like massive earthworms.
As they twisted and thrashed about mercilessly, everything around was swept away, and a tremendous shockwave engulfed the area.
Not only were the nearby fields and trees ruined, but even the large tractor and power poles nearby were smashed to bits.
Each one, with thick skin, didn’t care about the injuries they received and rampaged indiscriminately.
“Damn…!”
Kim Hyun-tae, supporting himself with his sword stuck in the ground, grimaced at the fallen power pole.
With that pole down, there would surely be a blackout in this area.
This wasn’t the expected flow of battle.
They had initially begun fighting in an empty area, but because the giant worms were rampaging even more than anticipated, they had reached the barrier set up to trap the monsters.
Kim Hyun-tae spoke into his wireless earphones, which he had connected in advance.
“Hey! Are you guys okay?!”
—Grrr! We’re reaching our limit!
The communication was with other parties positioned at a distance.
They were doing their best to prevent civilian casualties by minimizing the impact from outside the barrier.
But that was now reaching its limit.
If the giant worms continued to rampage, the barrier might break.
“Are there any people left nearby?”
—We’ve confirmed there are no people around!
“Stay on standby outside the barrier!”
“Hey, everyone!”
Hwang Joon-ho, donned in heavy armor, called his party members.
As Kim Hyun-tae and the mage Lim Si-yeon nodded slightly, Hwang Joon-ho stepped forward with his shield and activated a skill.
“Look over here!!”
[Taunt]
“Gyaaaak!”
“Gotcha!”
The taunting skill drew the enemies’ attention.
The giant worms ensnared by the skill charged towards them, leaving trails of blood on the ground.
It was a chance to strike.
“Freakin’ bastards!!”
Kim Hyun-tae jumped high into the air and swung his dual swords down.
[Meteor Smash]
A powerful attack surged forward.
It plunged deep into the exact spot where he had injured it previously.
The mage Lim Si-yeon supported him, casting attack magic at other giant worms nearby.
“Gyaaaak!”
Boom!
After a fierce battle that lasted several minutes, the largest giant worm finally lost its strength and collapsed to the side.
As the one resembling a boss fell, the remaining ones shrank back in fear.
Thanks to that, it didn’t take long to wrap up the situation.
“Huff, huff!”
“Did we take them all out?”
“I’m so exhausted…”
The site had turned into a graveyard for giant worms.
As the situation began to settle, Lim Si-yeon, holding a staff nearly as tall as herself, plopped down on the the cracked ground.
Her pale face indicated she had exhausted her magic to the very limit and had no strength left to stand.
Hwang Joon-ho, likewise, set his heavy shield down onto the ground.
“Ugh… today’s battle feels harder than usual.”
“This guy here. The boss giant worm was tougher than I expected.”
“Guess that’s it, huh?”
“Of course. What else could it be?”
“Uh, um.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Hwang Joon-ho spoke up.
“Is it perhaps because one person is missing from the party…?”
“No way.”
Kim Hyun-tae interrupted him and shook his head.
‘It’s just Yoo Ji-han who’s missing.’
Starting from Kim Hyun-tae’s dissatisfaction, other party members banded together, which ultimately led to Yoo Ji-han being kicked out of the party.
To put his role in perspective, he was merely an inventory in the game that carried decent items.
There was no way the party’s combat would suffer just because he wasn’t around.
“There’s Mia.”
Lee Mi-a, who had been assisting other heroes separately from the Kim Hyun-tae Party, walked up to them.
As she approached, her body was completely covered in the monster’s blood, from her toes to her hair.
She possessed a very aggressive fighting style, unafraid of the enemy, despite her quiet personality.
Kim Hyun-tae looked at her as she got closer and said, “Mi-a! Didn’t I tell you not to act recklessly?”
“What’s the problem?”
“There’s no one left in this party to take care of you now.”
Yoo Ji-han used to take clean towels from his bag to wipe the muck off her whenever she returned from battle messy.
That had become a sort of ritual after every fight.
But now that he was gone from the party, no one was left to kindly help her.
“I know that.”
“Then show it in your actions. I can smell the blood from here.”
“……”
Lee Mi-a lightly brushed off his grumbling and began to shake some of the blood off of her.
Kim Hyun-tae clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“Tsk, anyway, someone’s going to join the party next week.”
“Who?”
“A sub-damage dealer recommended by the Guild Master. They were originally from our guild’s 11th-ranked party. They say they’re way better than Yoo Ji-han.”
“Really? That’s great.”
“So don’t even think about that worthless trash who left the party anymore.”
The new sub-damage dealer slated to join soon was a promising candidate recommended by the Guild Master.
Finally, a stable party was coming together.
“If the Guild Master guarantees it, I can trust that.”
While Guild Master Park Joong-seob focused mostly on guild administrative work instead of being out in the field, he always treated Kim Hyun-tae kindly and reliably.
This was because Kim Hyun-tae brought in considerable money and had the most recognition within Keroes.
‘He’s probably at home, crying right now.’
Kim Hyun-tae imagined Yoo Ji-han weeping pitifully at home.
Yoo Ji-han was unnecessary for his party.
It had to be that way.
*
“Are you kidding me?!”
The two members of Sweet Fun wandered around the public training ground, enjoying various exercises.
Since this was Yoo Ji-han’s first activity after joining the guild, he didn’t want to overexert himself.
But Kim Si-hu was different.
Frustrated by the results of training not going his way, he erupted.
“Hyung! I definitely hit that! But the system keeps saying I missed!”
“Of course. You missed.”
“No way?!”
“Try again.”
In the spacious magic training area, the training involved hitting small targets that reacted to mana.
As magic skills become harder to control the further away they are, hitting targets from a long distance isn’t an easy feat.
“Once more!”
[Wind Arrow]
As Kim Si-hu waved his staff, a wind arrow appeared in the air.
He was deeply influenced by his Spirit Master mother and excelled in wind magic as one of the elemental magics alongside water and fire.
Like spinning a ballpoint pen, he made the arrow rotate 360 degrees in midair and pointed at the target with his short wand.
Whoosh!
The wind arrow sliced through the air and hit the center of the target perfectly.
But……
[Failure]
Another failure message appeared.
“Ugh, seriously!”
“Pfft!”
Yoo Ji-han finally burst into laughter.
Despite Kim Si-hu hitting the target several times, he still didn’t pass the training.
The reason was simple.
The target was broken.
‘They called you a top graduate, but man, you’re really something.’
The reason he didn’t do anything about knowing the target was broken was that he wanted to see more of Kim Si-hu’s skills, who was the Guild Master and Party Leader.
And Kim Si-hu actually performed better than expected.
Though he hadn’t seen him employ large-scale magic directly, his ability to control even the magic could contend with Lim Si-yeon from his previous party.
He far surpassed the level of a Rank 5 Hero.
‘This guild is going to be great, and this party will be awesome.’
Yoo Ji-han had no doubts that Sweet Fun would grow into an excellent guild.
Now, the only task left was for him to develop into the main damage dealer.