Sinuiju Free Market (11)

The arena fights progressed faster than expected. Hyeonyeong quickly fulfilled the condition of three consecutive wins, and Hyeonseong somehow managed to win her second match as well.

‘Then that means I only need to win one more time.’

As Hyeonseong sat in the waiting room, Hyeonyeong, who had gone to see the arena manager for a moment, came back.

“What did they say?”

“They processed everything properly.”

In response to Hyeonseong’s question, Hyeonyeong answered while showing her a sheet of paper.

“So it’s a contract item used to certify promised words… Then it really was handled properly.”

Hyeonseong muttered while checking the paper Hyeonyeong showed her.

Hyeonyeong had gone to see the manager to have her fulfillment of the condition confirmed. She had worried that they might suddenly change their tune, but seeing them certify it with an item, it seemed they had no intention of going that far.

“They took your name off the arena participant list too?”

“Yeah.”

“Then once I win just one more time, the condition is cleared.”

Hyeonseong handed the paper back to Hyeonyeong.

“Are you going with the same combination again this time?”

Hyeonyeong asked.

“Hmm, well.”

This time, Hyeonseong also hesitated for a moment.

She had already used the same tactic twice. It was about time an opponent against whom that tactic would not work well started appearing.

‘If the arena side has any brains, they’ll try to send out a counter to this skill combination now.’

If Hyeonseong had just been an ordinary participant, they might have let it slide once or twice more. But Hyeonseong was carrying out a mission to obtain an entry ticket to the Heukwol Auction House.

The arena—or rather, the group connected to the auction house—had no reason to let her complete the mission so easily. That was an obvious conclusion from even a little thought.

‘If they were going to let people solve it easily, why would they bother filtering entrants through such a troublesome method in the first place?

And judging by that mall owner’s reaction, there’s a high chance we got marked as suspicious from the very start. But Hyeonyeong has already fulfilled the condition. The only person they can interfere with now is me.’

As long as they did not change the rules of the mission itself, the only way left to interfere was to raise the difficulty of Hyeonseong’s match.

They had already given Hyeonyeong a token guaranteeing she had met the condition, so they could not very well try to change the rules now.

The chances of them attempting an attack outside the match were low as well. If they had watched Hyeonyeong’s matches, they would know that attacking this side carelessly would not be much fun.

‘They’ve either figured out what Hyeonyeong really is… or even if they haven’t, they’ve at least realized she hasn’t revealed all of her real strength.’

So now she had to replace at least one skill. Hyeonseong recalled the skill cards she had.

‘Most of what I have are attack skills. Aura or magic. And the kind of skill I need is also an attack skill.’

She had had relatively few chances to make defensive skills into cards. And to begin with, she had no defensive skill with power and versatility that surpassed Infinite Corridor.

The fact that Infinite Corridor’s original purpose was not defense was not especially important here.

‘…Anyway, in that sense, Infinite Corridor is fixed. Mad Gatherer’s Eye is fixed too. It’ll help in striking vital points even if I don’t have a weapon for destruction.’

Therefore, if she changed the skill list, the one to be replaced would be Magician’s Hand.

‘An attack skill that can replace reducing combat power, or confusion…’

Just as Hyeonseong was about to think while looking through the item list in the skill-card storage compartment within Infinite Corridor—

‘Wait, there was also that quest the Constellation gave me earlier.’

Now that she had decided to replace a skill, the Constellation’s quest came to mind.

‘Considering that, I either have to keep using the current skills as they are, or use a defensive skill.’

But right now, it was a better situation to replace a skill. And among the defensive cards, there was nothing particularly useful.

‘…Looks like this is going to require a bit of negotiation.’

Hyeonseong opened the quest information given by the Constellation Steel again.

“I have something to ask for a moment.”

Hyeonseong said to the Constellation Steel while pointing at the quest information screen.

“This part about attack skills being prohibited. Does it mean I absolutely can’t bring the skill cards themselves?”

“Then first, we need to clarify the exact purpose of this mission. It seems like, Mr. Steel, you want to see me win without directly attacking the enemy… Am I wrong?”

“In other words, as long as there’s no ‘direct hit,’ whether I bring an attack skill or not doesn’t really matter, right?”

No matter what complaint the Constellation might make, Hyeonseong said what she had to say.

“That won’t happen, so don’t worry.”

After confirming that the quest condition was being changed in the system message, Hyeonseong ended the conversation carelessly.

“Is it okay to talk to a Constellation like that?”

The moment Hyeonseong finished speaking with Steel, Haesu asked with a flustered face.

“If it weren’t okay, my head would probably be hanging somewhere other than here by now, right?”

Hyeonseong replied lightly while pointing at her own neck.

“Ah, yes…”

Turning her gaze away from Haesu, who answered awkwardly, Hyeonseong began to think.

‘Now then, most of Hyeonyeong’s skills are out.’

Most of the cards made from Hyeonyeong’s skills were powerful and aggressive. They were too valuable to use for mere simple harassment.

‘Other than those, I have plenty more, but…’

After that, all sorts of aura and magic skills caught her eye. Since she had collected many of them here and there by accident, all kinds of forms, attributes, and grades were mixed together chaotically.

‘Exclude anything with needlessly wide range or excessive firepower. Exclude things with low versatility. As for attribute…’

Staring at the skill card list, Hyeonseong soon chose one card.

What Hyeonseong chose was none other than the skill used by her very first opponent, the mage. Since it had been fired so often and in such large quantities, a card with a generous number of uses had been created.

‘Light Spear doesn’t have enough uses stacked up. And I don’t really need penetration anyway.’

The moment she picked the card, Hyeonseong immediately manipulated the guide panel and reported the skill replacement. As soon as she replaced Magician’s Hand with Light Bullet, the change was reflected right away.

After changing the skill, a little while later, Hyeonseong’s final opponent was matched. Hyeonseong rose from her seat and headed for the arena.

When Hyeonseong stepped into the center of the arena and faced her opponent, she confirmed that her decision to switch skills had been the right one.

‘This person doesn’t have a single auxiliary piece of equipment in the form of accessories.’

Her final opponent was a participant Hyeonseong was seeing for the first time since coming to this arena.

Perhaps because he had traits related to martial combat, he wore knuckles on his hands and clothes similar to a martial arts uniform. Other than that, he had nothing except a face covering to conceal his face.

Of course, if he had auxiliary equipment attached inside his clothing, Hyeonseong had no way of knowing that right away. But seeing how he had blatantly removed every visible accessory, that possibility seemed low.

‘If the goal is to snipe item theft, it’s best to take everything off for sure.’

If he left anything on halfway, there was a chance that an item could be stolen by a skill used on a maybe. Then there would be no meaning in a tactic meant to counter Magician’s Hand.

‘Then that person is… the type with excellent pure physical stats and passive skills.’

As she was inferring her opponent’s traits like that, an announcement rang out declaring the start of the match. Hyeonseong clicked her tongue inwardly and gripped her pickaxe tightly.

—Whoosh—

Hyeonseong ducked and avoided the fist that shot toward her face without warning.

‘Whoa, I almost got hit.’

Just as Hyeonseong, having dodged the attack, was about to catch her breath, more punches came flying.

After narrowly dodging several of them, Hyeonseong unfolded Infinite Corridor and blocked the attack. With a thunk, her opponent’s fist bounced back.

Thanks to Infinite Corridor appearing in the middle, the flow of the attack was broken. In that opening, Hyeonseong widened the distance from her opponent a little.

‘That attack just now didn’t have any particular form to it. It wasn’t an active skill. His punches are just that fast.’

Her opponent closed the distance again. While dodging the fist aimed at her head, Hyeonseong continued to analyze her opponent’s strength.

‘Given the equipment, it does seem like fists are his main focus… but he seems to use kicks quite a lot too.’

She deflected the kick that naturally followed the punches with Infinite Corridor. The recoil twisted her opponent’s posture slightly. Seizing that gap, Hyeonseong swung her pickaxe.

But her opponent quickly recovered his stance and casually dodged Hyeonseong’s attack. Even accounting for the fact that it had been an attack aimed only at creating a visual threat effect, he had dodged it too easily.

‘Well… figures.’

Hyeonseong was not disappointed even though her attack had not worked. It had not been a desperate attack, so it was only natural that he could avoid it easily.

‘Still, it’s about time I landed one on him too.’

Dodging the punches that flew rapidly from left and right in turn, Hyeonseong activated Mad Gatherer’s Eye. Then she could see several golden dots on the martial uniform and the knuckles.

‘So equipment destruction works normally.’

She had wondered if there might be some special effect preventing destruction, but it seemed he had not prepared to that extent.

Once she learned that the equipment could be destroyed, Hyeonseong began swinging her pickaxe more aggressively. She did not worry that her opponent might die.

‘The attack speed, the rhythm, the power I can feel indirectly. Taking all that into account, even lowballing it, he’s B-rank. Highball it and he might even be A-rank. There’s no way he can’t stop mere pickaxe swings that would be, at best, around C-rank.’

Sure enough, her opponent simply blocked the pickaxe Hyeonseong swung. Seeing the tip of the pickaxe lodge precisely into the knuckles, Hyeonseong withdrew her weapon with an expression that said she had expected as much.

A few similar exchanges went back and forth. Every time Hyeonseong swung the pickaxe, her opponent lightly dodged or blocked it. He did not even need a skill for that.

‘So this much is easy for you.’

Dodging the fist that flew in as a counterattack, Hyeonseong clicked her tongue. As expected, it was impossible to win by clashing head-on fairly and squarely.

‘I just need to create a single opening.’

—Whoosh—

Hyeonseong hastily dodged another menacing punch that came flying.

‘More importantly, what skill did this guy prepare?’

A question rose in Hyeonseong’s mind after dodging the latest attack. Come to think of it, up until now her opponent had not used a single skill. Every punch and kick had been thrown directly without any skill.

‘If it were me, I don’t think I would have brought a long-range aura skill that separates from the body in this situation, but…’

Most long-range attacks that separate from the body or weapon could be swallowed by Infinite Corridor. And the skills swallowed like that could be used by Hyeonseong as they were.

This was a match with restrictions on usable skills, so she could not use such acquired skills right now. But once the match was over, those restrictions would disappear.

Once the match ended, it would be as if a new weapon had been added to Hyeonseong’s hand. In the end, it did not seem likely that the other side would want to do something that benefited her.

‘If he was sent to interfere with my completing the mission… then he must have chosen his skills within one of three categories. Skills that directly wrap around his own body, buffs cast on himself, or debuffs cast on others.’

As she kept avoiding the continuing attacks, Hyeonseong became certain.

She could tell from his attitude of throwing punches without hesitation. Her opponent had great confidence in his punches themselves. So he would have chosen skills that would make those confident punches stand out even more.

‘As for exactly what skills he brought… I’ll have to induce him to use them before I can know.’

That was the most troublesome point in the current situation.

Normally, there were two times when someone used a big move. Either when they themselves were under major threat, or when they had clearly seized a sure chance to knock the other side down.

But for Hyeonseong, neither was easy to aim for right now. The former went without saying, and the latter was also hard to stage when her own combat ability was lacking.

‘Would anyone really feel the need to use a skill just to take down some weakling?’

Still, of the two, the latter was the only method even worth attempting. Having reached that conclusion, Hyeonseong naturally started thinking about how to expose an opening.

‘An opening is, in short, revealed when equilibrium is broken.’

Whether it was after failing a major attack, or when the flow of exchange that had been fitting together well became twisted, the point was the same: it was a situation where equilibrium had broken. If she was going to make a fake weakness, using those two situations was the simplest way.

‘The easiest would be… creating a situation where an attack fails.’

Deliberately breaking the flow of the exchange carried too much risk. There was a high chance she would unconsciously dodge or block the attack.

‘Well, since I’m trying it consciously too, it’s not like there’s zero chance of failure…’

While dodging the rapidly consecutive punches, Hyeonseong soon unfolded Infinite Corridor in a small shape at the right timing. One of the fists bounced off the severed space, and her opponent’s balance twisted slightly.

Having seized an opportunity for active offense, Hyeonseong began swinging her pickaxe with all her might.

In a situation that had occurred for the first time since the match began, her opponent briefly chose to dodge the attack instead of counterattacking as he assessed the situation.

After retreating for a moment, her opponent soon lifted one arm as if he had obtained his chance. His arm was quickly covered in fragments of stone.

‘So one of his skills is that.’

After the stone-covered arm knocked away the blade of the pickaxe, it flew straight at Hyeonseong’s face with terrifying speed.