The effects of the methods used to hunt a monster became more prominent the more evenly matched hunter's strength was to the monster's. EunAh's opponent just happened to be a lake dragon with electric affinity—a bad match-up.
Flash! Tup!
EunAh challenged the dragon using her own specialty: speed.
Woosh!
She dodged a swipe from its claws and ran to the side, drawing its gaze towards her. It was a piece of cake for her to avoid the attacks from a monster of its size.
"Grr!"
Next was Sumire's turn.
"E-everyone, aim and fire!"
With her cry, the skeletons under her command drew their bows made of bone and targeted the lake dragon.
Woosh! Twang! Twangtwangtwang!
Arrows shot into the air, flying straight towards the dragon's body. Instead of blocking or trying to avoid the barrage, however, the lake dragon roared at it instead.
"Kraaaaa!!"
The arrows lost their momentum and clattered to the ground. An attack of that caliber would not affect it.
Sumire began mumbling to EunAh with a serious expression on her face. "EunAh-ssi… a-all of the arrows fell out of the sky. Its scales are too hard for them to pierce, too…"
The A Class girl bit her lip in reply. The scales on the lake dragon could both block any attacks from the skeletons and absorb any electricity she threw at it.
"…If it just didn't have those scales!"
The hardened exterior of the dragon looked to be impossible to pierce with either girl's firepower.
But they couldn't give up just because of that. EunAh quickly scanned their opponent in an effort to find some way to defeat it.
'A place without any scales…'
Her eyes landed on the dragon's one weakness: its belly.
However, if one aimed for the dragon's stomach, they would naturally have to get closer to its front legs. Death knights and skeleton nights weren't mobile enough to approach the dragon in time before its claws decimated them.
'…I'm the only one out of everyone here who can do this.'
There was another problem: electricity didn't work on the dragon. EunAh racked her head, trying to figure out what to attack it with.
'Let's… let's think about it. A way to finish off the lake dragon in one shot…'
"Grrr!"
Right then, the dragon took a swipe at EunAh, claws just barely skimming above her head.
Sumire covered her mouth in shock at the sight.
"Hieek!"
"Don't worry! I'm fine!"
EunAh put up a brave front in order to calm the other girl. Even so, her hands were shaking. Her opponent was a gigantic monster that her Trait had no effect against—it was no wonder she was scared.
'So that really is the only method, then.'
Bzzzt!
EunAh's hands crackled with lightning.
"Grr!"
The lake dragon bared its teeth.
The girl flew towards its stomach and planted her fist into the flesh, leaving an afterimage of her electricity behind her.
Flash! Zap! Bzzzt!
The dragon roared in pain.
"Kuaaaaa!"
Its electricity-absorbing ability only extended to its scales. EunAh's attack was absolutely doing damage to it.
"EunAh-ssi! Your side!"
Thwack! Bam!
But the price she paid to get close to the dragon was steep. EunAh was struck in the shoulder by the monster's claws and was flung into the dirt, forced to roll for some time due to the force of the hit.
"Eu-EunAh-ssi!!" Sumire shrieked. The girl in question staggered up to her knees, arms keeping her steady on the ground.
But that was not the end of the dragon's attacks.
Boom!
Next, it struck her back.
It whipped its tail like a mace and struck her hard, forcing her to collapse in the opposite direction. The mana barrier that she had prepared in advance shattered, leaving her body streaked with dirt and dust. Blood was flowing free from her forehead. The force of the attack was enough to make her woozy.
YuSung, who had done nothing but watch that entire time, finally entered the battlefield to support EunAh with his body and help her escape from the dragon.
"I-I can. I can still…"
The girl kept muttering the same thing over and over again, even while YuSung was half-dragging her outside of the monster's attack range.
"The next attack could drive you unconscious," was his calm reply.
He had seen plenty of EunAh's courage. Even if she quit the fight at that point, her value as a comrade who he could entrust his back to had been more than proven to him.
Even so, EunAh shook her head frantically. The next words that escaped her mouth were incredibly clear.
"…I can still do this."
She wasn't saying that as some half-hearted attempt to recover her pride. It wasn't out of stubbornness, either. EunAh had thought things over and made a rational judgement.
Even if her opponent was a bad match-up against her, there was still a chance she could win if she found its weak point. EunAh's palms crackled with lightning once more, and she glared at the lake dragon.
Sumire, anguished, watched the other girl face off against the dragon once more.
"Why are you pushing yourself so much…?"
EunAh smirked at the question.
She was the type of person who laughed in the face of those who lost and the efforts they had put in, thinking it had all been useless.
Just why, though, had she not given up on the fight, even when blood was running down her forehead? All she had to do was ask YuSung for help, and everything would be taken care of.
"…Who knows."
EunAh didn't know why herself.
There were countless reasons that one could point to as the definitive one if one was inclined.
—Because she couldn't rescue her brother from the villain due to her own weakness.
—Because she had fled from any opportunities to make human connections, fearful of getting hurt.
—Because she had ignored the reason as to why Kim JunHyun had taken supplements for far too long.
However, what EunAH was struggling with was nothing nearly as complicated as any of that.
"It's just that… I don't wanna run away this time."
* * *
* * *
Making up her mind, EunAh took out a dark meteorite from her Pocket and threw it on the ground.
Shatter!
The sky was instantly covered with dark rainclouds as the stone shattered into pieces.
The skeletons around EunAH were shattering under the force of the lake dragon's cry. While scanning the area, her eyes zeroed in on a certain object.
"Hey! I'm gonna borrow this, okay?"
The object she was pointing at was a giant sword that the death knight had let out of its grasp.
"B-but its weight…" mumbled Sumire. The sword was completely made up of gold, all the way to the hilt. Basically, it was a sword-shaped lump of metal.
"Doesn't matter!" EunAh shouted.
Bzzt!
She surrounded her entire body with electricity. With it, she focused on boosting her speed and the strength of her muscles.
A body enhancement technique of that caliber exceeded her limits, consuming several times more mana than usual. It was an inefficient method of combat and put the user at risk of collapsing from mana depletion.
But she knew…
'I won't be able to defeat this monster… with a half-hearted attack!'
The lake dragon was going on a rampage, swinging its legs and claws every which way. EunAh gripped the sword tightly in her hands, then ran towards the lake dragon, hair flying behind her. As she kept putting in more speed to her movements, it created a crackling sound wave that became louder as she approached the monster.
'A bit more!.'
She could no longer control the speed she was running at. EunAh shot towards the dragon like an arrow that had left its bow.
'Still not enough! More!'
Even so, she accelerated even more, leaving a blue afterimage behind her like the tail of a comet.
She was solely focused on her goal: the dragon's belly.
Swipe!
The monster noticed her and swung its claws at her with incredible reflexes.
However, it was meaningless.
EunAh, as if insulting its act of resistance, heightened her speed even more and dove in between the thrashing paws.
Flaaaash!!
"Uuu…"
Sumire managed to let out a breath amidst her nervousness. The scene, completely bathed in white light, was only just starting to regain its s.
The lake dragon was collapsed on the ground.
EunAh, next to it, was catching her breath.
"Eu-EunAh-ssi!" she cried out.
The A Class girl had truly done the impossible. In fact, that was her first victory as a member of YuSung's party.
EunAh had a vibrant grin on her face, a contrast to her usual expression.
"S-see that? Even a bad match-up is nothing …"
Wobble!
EunAh began losing her balance, tired from over-expending her mana. YuSung walked up to her and grabbed her from the side in order to support her.
"Are you alright, EunAh?"
"…Uh. Mhm."
She stared up at the boy, then laughed. Her body was in a sorry state.
Tilt.
With no other choice, she leaned against YuSung. It was hard for EunAh to even stay standing, as her legs were shaking from exertion. Her body felt heavy.
Despite all of that, she felt emotionally lighter than ever. All of the complicated worries and problems she had in her mind had disappeared as if washed away. EunAh grinned bashfully, ecstatic about her win.
"I knew it… I could do it."
"Good work, EunAh."
YuSung, as her comrade, was also sincerely happy for her about that achievement.
"Eu-EunAh-ssi!"
Sumire ran towards the other girl and embraced her, crying all the while.
"Sob! But there's blood on your forehead… waah, I bet it hurts a lot…"
"Aw, c'mon… I'm fine. Why are you crying? It's not like anyone died or anything."
"S-Still…"
Sumire treated EunAh as preciously, if not more so, than how she treated herself. The monster hunt had strengthened the bond between the two girls.
Flash.
Something golden glinted off the body of the fallen dragon.
YuSung slowly approached the corpse and took out an orb.
"…This is?"
A Golden orb had been hidden inside the dragon's body. EunAh's eyes widened as she saw it— another rare sight from her. Sumire's gaze was also drawn to the orb.
"N-no way, is that an artifact?"
"I-it is! It's an artifact!"
EunAh had managed to find a subspecies of lake dragon. On top of that, the dragon just happened to drop an artifact. Her luck truly was incredible.
An increase in overall power for the party was always good news. YuSung smiled proudly and extended his hand, and the orb, towards EunAh.
"You check its properties yourself, EunAh."
"…Sure."
She nodded, then carefully pressed a button on her Pocket.
Flash!
The Pocket flashed, then began displaying information about the artifact on a hologram.
Thankfully, the 'Tower Records' hand an entry about the Thunder Dragon's Orb.
Strengthens electricity-based Traits…
The effect of the artifact was simple. It was an elixir that the user had to consume, like Adela's 10,000-Year-Old Ice Crystal. In that sense, the owner of the artifact had already been decided.
"Mm…"
EunAh turned her eyes away from the other two and scratched her cheek, embarrassed. YuSung let out a quiet laugh and placed the orb into the girl's hands, closing her hands over it.
"Congratulations, EunAh."
"Huh? What? We all worked hard together to obtain this, it's a little weird that I'm the only one to…"
Sumire frantically waved her arms as a sign of dissent at the flustered EunAh.
"I-I'm fine! And besides, the artifact suits you really well, EunAh-ssi!"
"But I'm the one who kept insisting we hunt the dragon my way! if I take this, too, then…"
Say she took the artifact. Wasn't there something she could do for her party members as payment? EunAh pondered this for some time.
"Oh, how about this?"
But not for too long.
YuSung wanted to obtain a room for his party. However, even if he managed to gain permission from the school to do so, he needed a staggering amount of money to buy one.
EunAh finished her calculations and grinned. With a flippant gesture, she took out her black credit card from her wallet and held it up.
"Will this suffice for you guys?"
It just so happened that EunAh was up to her ears in cash.
.
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