Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"Villed!"

Nixie suddenly frowned.

If I shone the torch forward, it would reveal our position to the monster, making it impossible to launch a surprise attack.

I understood that was why she got angry—at least to some extent.

"Doesn’t it not matter?"

I feigned ignorance and tilted my chin toward the monster.

I really meant it.

The monster’s name was One Head Plant.

It was a plant-type low-grade monster that used roots as limbs.

It had no eyes, and its most prominent feature was a mouth larger than its body.

It sensed enemies within a certain range by using its sense of smell.

‘So even if it sees the light, it’s fine.’

As I thought, the monster seemed unaware of us and just stayed still.

Nixie looked at the motionless monster, was at a loss for words, then finally replied.

"……It’s only fine because it doesn’t have eyes. Don’t act recklessly next time."

I nodded at her response and glanced at the monster.

Something still bothered me.

‘Something feels off.’

The monsters in the exam had been injected with a special drug, making them smaller and unable to exert even half their original strength.

That should have been the case.

‘Was it always this fierce-looking……?’

Its grotesque appearance was vastly different from what I had seen on a monitor screen.

Sure, seeing it in reality instead of in a game would feel uncanny, but even accounting for that, it was still strange.

‘……Did the drug not work properly?’

It should have been reduced to about half its size, but by my estimation, it was about the size of an adult man.

‘Don’t tell me.’

Something was wrong.

I felt it instinctively.

‘It’s a dud.’

Very rarely, a monster appeared where the drug injection had failed.

‘This isn’t 3 versus 1—it’s 2 versus 1.’

I was excluded from the fighting power calculation.

If only two people recklessly charged in, it would take a long time to defeat the monster.

Worse, we might fail to defeat it at all and be unable to avoid failing the exam.

More importantly, this wasn’t a game.

‘In the game, failing an attempt only meant getting injured.’

But in reality?

We could lose our lives.

This might be the game’s world, but it wasn’t functioning like a game.

"Step back for now."

I moved forward and blocked Nixie’s path.

‘We should retreat now while we can.’

At least the monster still hadn’t noticed us.

It wasn’t too late yet.

"It’s a waste of time. Going back and taking another route would be faster."

"Arowell, I’m going to charge."

I knew Yggdrasil was a game full of variables…

But I didn’t expect my ally to become one.

"Stick to the plan… prepare the protection spell."

Nixie didn’t even acknowledge my words and took her stance.

"Stop."

This time, I wasn’t going to give in either.

I absolutely had to avoid failing.

"I said stop, Nixie."

"Who’s the dog barking at?"

Shrrring! She drew the sword from her waist, and red sparks flashed in her eyes.

Just from her stance, I could tell she was planning to use her Unique Skill, ‘Charge’, to rush at the monster.

It was a high-speed technique to close in on the enemy and strike, offering huge bonus damage due to its surprise nature.

She had earned the nickname "First-strike Victory Nixie" with that one skill alone.

‘But this is different now.’

Even if Nixie was an honor student, it had only been one month since enrollment.

Her level was low, and she had few learned skills.

It was still too early for her.

Arowell looked back and forth between me and Nixie, sweating nervously.

She seemed a little conflicted.

"Are you really sure about this……?"

"Don’t worry, let’s do it like we practiced."

"Uh, okay… But still, be careful."

Arowell swallowed hard and nodded.

Then, as she chanted her spell, a cross-shaped barrier formed around Nixie.

Nixie confirmed it and lowered her stance, ready to leap out at any moment.

"Here I go."

The moment she said that—

BANG!

I heard the sound of her kicking off the ground.

KA-BOOM!

She collided with the monster at high speed, and the shield surrounding her shattered into pieces.

The One Head Plant was caught off guard by the sudden attack and staggered.

But Nixie, protected by the barrier, took no damage.

As if she had predicted everything, she slipped into the monster’s lower side, lowering her posture.

Her red eyes gleamed.

‘So that was her plan.’

She hadn’t used Arowell’s barrier for defense, but as a battering ram to collide with the enemy at full speed.

It was like charging into it with a solid shield—enough to throw the monster into momentary confusion.

It was an unconventional tactic—exactly the sort of coordinated play an honor student would think up.

"Hhup."

Phew.

As she exhaled, her blade flashed crimson.

SWOOSH!

CRUNCH!

The red blade sliced through the air twice, and the sound of something thick breaking filled the cave.

‘She was so fast I could barely follow with my eyes.’

The fact that it had taken less than three seconds was astonishing.

All the vines serving as the monster’s limbs were severed, leaving only its giant mouth behind.

It was clear that every move had been planned in advance.

It was an excellent coordinated attack that made each person’s strengths work in synergy, and I wanted to praise that.

But that was as far as it went.

"Fall back immediately!"

I shouted as I ran toward Nixie.

Just then, as she was raising her sword to deliver the final blow—

Krrrk!

The monster’s mouth spewed out freshly regrown roots at high speed.

‘If it were an animal-type monster vulnerable to physical attacks, that would have been the end of it in one strike.’

There were only two ways to kill a plant-type monster.

Aim for its weak point, or burn it with fire.

"Uh…?"

Nixie was momentarily flustered by the monster’s sudden reaction.

She realized she had failed to strike its weak point.

Krrrk!

Plant-type monsters had strong regeneration.

If you failed to kill them in a single blow, it meant they would counterattack.

‘She’s supposed to be an honor student, and she doesn’t even know that?’

I thought I should have mentioned in advance which part to attack.

"Urgh…!"

At some point, the monster’s vine had tightly coiled around Nixie’s sword.

The weapon’s control had shifted to the monster.

Thwack!

The monster threw away the sword it had taken from Nixie.

It spun in the air before slamming into the ground.

It landed at a distance too awkward for me to retrieve quickly.

"Ah."

A swordsman without a sword couldn’t do much.

Her voice carried the late realization that charging at the monster had been a mistake.

"Nixie!"

Just then, I heard Arowell’s scream.

"Get down!"

At the same time I yelled, I lunged in front of Nixie.

The Soul Flame ‘Hwayo’ has reached Level 3!

You have awakened ■■■■.

You have acquired ■■■■.

The message appeared before my eyes.

"…Villed?"

When I came to my senses, I was standing in front of Nixie.

Krrrik!

The monster’s vines were burning, forcing it to retreat for the moment.

There was a torch in my right hand.

But unlike a normal torch—

‘It looks like a sword.’

Explosive firepower.

It was as if artificial gas had been poured onto it; the flames roared powerfully, almost as if the blade itself was ablaze.

And in my left hand…

‘A card.’

It was a rectangular card depicting the form of Hwayo.

Young Salamander

Borrow the power of a young flame lizard.

The text was different from Yggdrasil’s usual script, but I could still read it.

‘So that’s what this is.’

It was an amazing coincidence.

Just before Nixie was attacked, Hwayo had reached Level 3.

This flaming sword must have been Hwayo’s ability.

When I focused on the card, information flowed directly into my mind.

Consumes 3 Cost – Temporarily borrow the flame of the Young Salamander.

Consumes 2 Cost – Temporarily summon the Young Salamander. It breathes fire and then returns to the card.

‘Cost?’

There were no characters in Yggdrasil that had such a stat.

‘I can kind of understand, though.’

Piecing the puzzle together wouldn’t be difficult.

‘It did say I’d obtained something before.’

I recalled the earlier message.

You have awakened ■■■■.

You have acquired ■■■■.

The bug made it impossible to see exactly what they were.

But my gamer’s intuition told me—

The thing I had acquired was Hwayo’s ‘card’.

‘The thing I awakened was probably…’

The ‘Cost’ mentioned on the card.

In other words, the number needed to use magic, called Mana Points or MP, was the standard in Yggdrasil.

That was common knowledge in the game.

‘But I’m using Cost instead of MP?’

The requirement on the card wasn’t MP—it was Cost.

If my understanding was correct, then that was the truth.

‘Alright, so how long does it take for Cost to recover?’

MP wasn’t infinite.

It had a fixed amount, decreased as skills were used, and recovered over time.

I could check my current Cost in the form of a hologram.

In one second, about 10% of a single gauge was restored.

Estimated recovery time: 1 unit every 10 seconds.

‘So I can probably use a skill once every 20 to 30 seconds.’

I couldn’t spam magic.

But this much was enough.

Now I had a rough understanding of my own ability.

‘And to think I just acted on instinct and used up Cost without even knowing this.’

It was something that had surprised me.

In the time it took me to run toward Nixie, I had instinctively consumed Cost and created a flaming sword.

‘Villed, I thought you were just some talentless guy.’

The fact that I moved purely on instinct meant the influence of my body’s original owner was undeniable.

He was already a sly fox, but maybe he had a natural talent for improvisation as well.

‘Come to think of it, I even tried to save Nixie at the cost of my own body.’

The reason I threw myself in to save her wasn’t because of some tear-jerking sense of camaraderie.

It was purely an action based on calculation.

‘If Nixie took a critical hit, there would be no avoiding failure.’

In Team F4, the only “dealer” position was Nixie.

Without her, we had no offensive resources.

‘If anything, I’m the most useless one in this team.’

I charged in planning to take the attack in her place and buy her time to retrieve her sword.

‘If she gets hit, our chances of avoiding failure drop—but if I act as a meat shield, they go up.’

If I failed this exam, I’d be in for hell for several chapters—no, maybe even until graduation.

That was why I was determined to save her no matter what.

So my body moved before my mind could think.

The result of that instinctive action was exactly this situation.

‘It’s thanks to Hwayo leveling up.’

Not only did I avoid injury, but I also succeeded in protecting Nixie.

On top of that, I figured out how to use my ability.

‘Absolutely perfect.’

The tide of battle was starting to turn.

"You…"

I didn’t turn to look behind me, but from the tremble in her voice, Nixie was probably staring wide-eyed in shock.

She might have been surprised at seeing my ability, but more likely, she was startled that I’d thrown myself in to protect her.

"You actually…"

Speechless.

It seemed she wanted to say something, but couldn’t get the words out.

I didn’t care if she was lost in her own sentimental thoughts.

What mattered to me right now was the exam.

"What are you doing?"

I said over my shoulder to Nixie.

"Hurry up and go pick up your sword."