I Became a Genius Swordsman in the Pretty Girl Game

As we walked, following the footprints and receiving Sophia’s periodic heals, we couldn’t help but feel a bit strange about the situation.

Bang! Bang!

‘Why do you keep shooting me in the butt?’

I glanced back and saw Sophia with an innocent look on her face.

“Hehe, doesn’t it feel like getting a shot?”

“Hmm, I guess so.”

It was hard to argue with her, so we continued walking, following the footprints.

Finally, we arrived at a spacious clearing surrounded by white trees and white statues.

The surreal landscape resembled a sacred temple.

A statue lay on an altar, its head resting on its arm, while six other statues stood guard around it, each holding a weapon.

“This is…”

The party members, who had been slightly awestruck by the dreamlike scenery, gasped when they noticed the piles of wounded people on both sides of the clearing, like heaps of luggage.

“Huff!”

“Oh…”

“They’re all injured.”

Red blood flowed from the wounded, staining the white dust on the ground.

“Ugh…”

“Hmm…”

Groans could be heard from the pile of bodies, indicating that not everyone was dead, but it was only a matter of time.

“Where’s the demon?”

Kang Do-hee asked, and I pointed to the white statues in the center of the clearing.

“Are those statues demons?”

Soup asked, frowning.

“Yes, the demon is the one in the center, but the surrounding statues are its minions. They will attack us first.”

The party members seemed a bit taken aback by the unusual appearance of the demons, which was quite different from what they had experienced before.

The demon of deception didn’t give off the typical ‘I’m a demon’ vibe.

The demon of sloth, with various weapons in its hands, was a statue with three heads and six arms, lying on the altar.

It looked more like a well-crafted work of art than a demon.

‘The previous party must have been attacked by the minions without realizing that the statue was the demon, and they were probably damaged by the white dust.’

Creak—

As we took a defensive stance, the demon’s three heads slowly turned towards us, and its eyes glowed red, focusing on us.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The statues surrounding the demon moved, brandishing their weapons, and thick white dust filled the air.

“You must definitely dodge their attacks. They are more powerful than they appear. Don’t counterattack just because you don’t feel the damage. Only attack when I give the signal. Soup, protect Sophia and Lim Ga-eul. Kang Do-hee, you and Alice each take two. And Sophia, you know what to do, right?”

“Yes!”

I had explained this to the party members several times, but it was worth emphasizing.

Alice, who was facing demons for the first time due to the previous group battle, gripped her spear tightly with nervous hands.

Fortunately, she didn’t seem overwhelmed by fear or hesitation.

‘After training with the Sword Master and playing with the drakes, she should be fine…’

I turned my head to look at the demon of sloth again.

[ More insects have come to disturb my peaceful slumber. ]

The demon stretched out its hand towards us and shouted in a deep, rumbling voice.

[ Minions, exterminate these insects! ]

And the battle began.

.

.

.

Kang Do-hee watched as a large mace tore through the air towards her. She quickly jerked her head back to dodge the attack.

But she felt a strange sensation.

Although the mace appeared to be fast and powerful, she didn’t feel any wind pressure or impact.

It was as if the menacing mace was hollow, like a balloon.

This sensory discrepancy caused her to react slightly slower, and the tip of the mace grazed her forearm.

Pshh!

Her skin was slightly torn, and blood flowed out. Kang Do-hee clicked her tongue in annoyance.

Now she fully understood what Jin Yuha had meant when he said, ‘The attacks might not feel like attacks.’

Despite being wounded, she didn’t feel any pain or sensation.

As Jin Yuha had predicted, the white dust in the air was probably damaging them.

Moreover, the discrepancy between what they saw and what they felt made it difficult to rely on their instincts for dodging and timing their attacks.

‘There are all sorts of strange creatures in this world.’

If it weren’t for Jin Yuha’s warning, Kang Do-hee might have charged in without hesitation, given her personality.

Knowing the future was indeed a cheat ability.

However, Jin Yuha’s reckless behavior, as if he had ten lives, was still frustrating.

At that moment, another demon swung a large sword horizontally towards Kang Do-hee.

This time, she remained calm and dodged the attack by bending her upper body.

It was then that Jin Yuha’s voice came through the artifact in her ear.

[ Kang Do-hee, attack for the next three seconds. ]

Smirking, Kang Do-hee waited for Jin Yuha’s signal.

‘I haven’t shown this to Jin Yuha yet.’

She had achieved this during her training on Emperor Mountain and had even hidden it during the return test, intending to use it in a separate sparring session with Jin Yuha.

However, due to various events like the entrance ceremony, she hadn’t had the opportunity to show it to him.

When they fought the demon previously, she had planned to use it at a decisive moment, but Jin Yuha had single-handedly taken care of everything, leaving her with no chance to demonstrate her skill.

This skill, called ‘Avatar of Fire,’ had a daily limit due to the strain it put on the meridians.

‘Since the demon won’t be able to move once it starts using skills, now is the perfect time.’

[ Avatar of Fire ]

Flames of mana surged through her meridians, heating her body.

It felt like driving on a highway without brakes.

She only had three seconds, but that didn’t matter.

She would move faster than ever.

All her senses were heightened, and the scenery before her eyes seemed to slow down.

One second felt like ten.

White dust floated like snow, and the statues slowly retracted their weapons.

Jin Yuha, who had been watching her, widened his eyes in surprise.

‘I wanted to see this expression on Jin Yuha’s face during our sparring session…’

But she was satisfied with seeing it now.

Kang Do-hee turned her head and looked at the enemies, licking her lips.

She moved at a normal speed while everything around her seemed to be in slow motion.

Jin Yuha had given them three seconds to attack, but she had thirty seconds to move.

No, with Lim Ga-eul’s acceleration, she might even be faster.

One second.

She kicked off the ground, spinning her body and striking the sword statue’s hand with her foot, causing it to drop its sword.

Kang Do-hee then grabbed the statue’s wrist and pulled herself up, hanging upside down behind the statue.

She grabbed the statue’s two heads with both hands and slammed them together.

Boom!

The impact sounded a beat slower than usual.

She felt like she was moving at a normal speed, but to the statues, it was much faster.

Even a slight impact became ten times stronger.

Two seconds.

Using grappling techniques she had learned from Jin Yuha, Kang Do-hee hung upside down behind the sword statue and grabbed its ankle, twisting it 180 degrees.

The statue lost its balance and fell to the ground.

Kang Do-hee immediately pressed her knee against the statue’s back and twisted both its arms.

Perhaps she used too much force, as the statue’s arms snapped off with a sickening sound.

‘Hmm… Is its durability low, or is it because I pulled it with ten times the force?’

Either way, she had successfully neutralized one of the statues.

The mace statue, unable to bear seeing its companion disabled, raised its mace to strike.

Kang Do-hee noticed a crack in the mace statue’s head, probably from the previous clash with the sword statue.

She quickly stood up and countered with a punch aimed at the crack in the mace statue’s head.

Three seconds.

Boom!

The impact sounded a beat slower, and the mace statue tried to fall backward, but Kang Do-hee grabbed its head and stopped it.

She then punched the statue’s head again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

She punched with all her might, and the mace statue seemed to be sturdier than the sword statue.

However, when she delivered ten consecutive punches with ten times the force, the statue couldn’t withstand it.

Crunch!

The statue’s head broke, and Kang Do-hee’s fist passed through it.

Ssss…

As the mana’s frenzy slowed down, time returned to normal.

“Phew…”

Kang Do-hee felt a sense of relief and turned her head.

Jin Yuha, who had been watching her, was now looking at her with a baffled expression as he slashed the arm of another statue.

Kang Do-hee felt a deep sense of satisfaction and ran her hand through her hair.

“Phew. Jin Yuha, do you need any help?”