Hunter Academy’s Battle God - Chapter 109

[Translator –  Daniel Shin]

[Proofreader –  ilafy]

Chapter 109

Round 2 was about to start.

Sumire fell into thought while looking at Lee SiWoo.

‘If Lee SiWoo wins this match…’

The rules of the competition were three matches, and two wins.

If he won, Sumire wouldn’t need to go on to the 3rd round, and she wouldn’t need to face Isshin.

Thinking about ‘that incident’ with Isshin made her hands tremble. She forced herself to clench her fists.

‘I…’

Sumire looked at Shin YuSung. If the opponent wasn’t Japan, Sumire wanted to show YuSung how strong she’d become, but the idea of fighting Isshin frightened her.

Sumire had stopped going to school and left Japan—she’d ended up hurting Isshin and her party members.

That’s why Sumire was so scared of Isshin’s eyes, and that was why she wanted to avoid fighting them if she could, but every time such cowardly thoughts appeared, she looked back at herself.

‘Am I… really suited to be YuSung’s party member?’

Grab.

Sumire bit her lips and lowered her head. She wasn’t going to hesitate.

‘Even if I’m not…’

Sumire raised her head confidently and looked at the screen.

‘I’m going to change… I’m going to become worthy of joining YuSung’s party…’

Sumire couldn’t think of a life without YuSung.

The time she’d spent with him meant everything to her, so she only had one choice from the beginning.

*

[- Echo Forest -]

As soon as he saw the map’s name in the hologram, Lee SiWoo quickly hid.

‘The place of the battle is a forest…?’

A forest had clear advantages and disadvantages for a shooter.

It was quite good that there were many places where you could hide, but the number of trees, rocks, and the irregular surface made it hard to aim.

‘Well, this kind of forest is easy for me.’

Northern territories that featured extremely cold weather, humid tropical jungles, extremely hot deserts…

He’d experienced all sorts of terrains due to his father’s training.

‘I must drag my opponent to a place where I have the advantage.’

As Lee SiWoo held his breath and used Clairvoyance, he could see everything up close as if he were using a magnifier. 

‘I can’t see any traces of her…’

Still, all he could see with Clairvoyance were surfaces within his view.

‘In cases like this, I have no other choice.’

Lee SiWoo looked around, picked a place, and calculated the distance. He’d picked a place with many fallen tree branches.

‘If it’s a place in a corner like that, I’m sure she’ll be tempted to scout the location.’

After finishing his thoughts, Lee SiWoo took something from his Pocket.

‘Let’s see. The ground is dirt, and it’s a forest. In that case, it’ll be number three…’

He picked a small speaker with the number ‘3’ written on it. He hung the speaker onto an arrow and shot it toward the place he’d seen before.

Swish! Paf!

The arrow hit the grass, and the speaker began to emit the natural sound of steps.

Tap, tap.

Not only that, but it wasn’t just a simple repeating sound of steps. The sounds of moving through the grass and stopping as if he were hiding were also heard.

Slide.

He heard the sound of someone carefully sliding through leaves. A smile crept onto SiWoo’s face.

‘Idiot. To think that she’d fall for this…’

SiWoo aimed toward an empty spot in the grass. Soon, Sakura, who was hiding in the grass, came out. It seemed like she was looking for the source of the sound.

Lee SiWoo aimed more carefully.

‘A little bit more…’

They were really close, but Sakura couldn’t find Lee SiWoo due to how he’d hidden his presence. Lee SiWoos’s arrow was pointing toward Sakura, and he was holding his breath.

‘Come a bit closer… one more step.’

Slide.

The moment came.

Sakura saw the speaker, and her eyes widened. At that moment…

‘It’s the end!’

SiWoo loosed the arrow.

Pang-! Swish!!

https://discord.gg/MaRegMFhRb

It lacked a bit of strength because of his posture, but it was precisely aimed toward Sakura’s head.

“Ugh! You-!”

She tried to use the strength of the wind to block the arrow.

Whir-!

Since she’d activated her Trait quickly, it didn’t display much strength.

Crash-!

The only thing she was able to do was to slow down the arrow.

Sakura’s barrier broke, and holographic fragments poured in all directions.

[You’ve destroyed 79% of the barrier.]

[Remaining barrier: 21%]

SiWoo narrowed his eyes while looking at the hologram.

‘So I couldn’t end it with one attack.’

“A bow…?” Sakura mumbled while she watched Lee SiWoo’s escape.

It was strange, there was no way he would use a bow and arrow…

‘Especially you…’

Lee SiWoo didn’t remember, but for Sakura, it was an unforgettable memory.

‘You…?’

Sakura’s confused expression soon filled with anger. She clenched her teeth.

‘You were the ones… who laughed about archery…’

It had been seven years, but she still remembered it.

Korea’s city guard chancellor, Lee SungHwan… 

If she thought about it, that was the moment the dojo started to decline.

[Is it this place?]

His face didn’t show any expression.

As Lee SungHwan looked at the dojo with a cold expression, Okinawa’s chief of police pointed toward the dojo.

[Yes. This is a place with a long history. It’s the only place in Okinawa that serves to train the city guard in archery…]

After looking at the Korean chancellor and Okinawa’s chief, Sakura’s father came out while wearing his hakama.

[Chief! Why did you suddenly…]

[You see…]

The atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

Lee SungHwan didn’t seem to care about Sakura’s dad.

[As expected, the bow is an antiquated weapon. It would be better if we stopped training in archery.]

[What do you mean so suddenly?!]

As Sakura’s dad complained, Lee SungHwan frowned and answered.

[I said that the bow is an antiquated weapon. That’s why this dojo should cease to be a training location for the city guard.]

More than 70% of the dojo’s membership was composed of Okinawa city guards. If they all suddenly left, Sakura’s dojo would struggle to remain open.

Lee SungHwan didn’t seem to care about that.

[How many years would it take for someone to be able to fight a monster in a real-life situation with training from this dojo?]

The chief seemed to hesitate but ended up answering.

[To use it in a real-life battle… it takes someone between three to four years.]

[The city guards aren’t being trained to become martial artists. They’re training to become stronger in order to protect the people.]

Lee SungHwan sighed.

[Nowadays, there’s hunter equipment all over the place… so is there a need for someone to spend three years training in a rusty dojo like this?]

Plaf-

Sakura, who was only 10 years old back then, couldn’t handle it anymore. She ran toward Lee SungHwan while still carrying her backpack.

[Don’t make fun of archery!]

[Sakura!]

Sakura’s dad shouted, but that day, she didn’t stop.

[You can definitely become strong with the bow and with archery!]

Lee SungHwan laughed at Sakura’s words and then spoke to the chief.

[I’ll show you how easy it is to use hunter equipment.]

Lee SungHwan looked at the target field and called someone over.

[SiWoo, bring the gun.]

Sakura then finally looked at the target field. There was a boy she’d never seen before standing there.

He was smaller than her and holding a gun that had been specifically made for his size.

The boy gripped his handgun and shot it a few times while standing there.

Tang, tang, tang, tang!!

Blue light shot out with very controlled movement. The bullets blew the target away. 

It had an overwhelming destructive capability and precision.

Sakura looked at the boy while making a surprised expression; that was also the case for Okinawa’s chief.

[Th-that’s…]

Lee SungHwan was once again making a sly smile. Sakura’s father was at a loss for words.

[If it’s a gun with the strength of a mana stone behind it… even a kid can pull the trigger and easily eliminate monsters.]

From the moment bullets were shot, the winner was decided.

[A month is enough time to teach someone to shoot a gun. Not only that but, depending on the type of gun, you can use it for diverse strategies.]

Sakura’s dad couldn’t help but remain silent at the explanation. It was a complete defeat.

Lee SungHwan spoke loudly on purpose.

[Is there a need for us city guards to be so obsessed with old traditions…?]

As Lee SungHwan finished talking, the chief made a troubled expression at Sakura’s dad.

[That’s what happened… I’m sorry, but from now on, we won’t be sending people here anymore…]

That was like a death sentence to Sakura’s dojo.

[Dad…?]

Even if Sakura desperately called for him, her dad, who used to be always so confident, was looking at the target while making a blank expression. It was a memory that Sakura couldn’t forget. She gripped her bow tighter as she remembered that.

“You made fun of archery! Of my dad…! Why would you use a bow?!”

Just like the name of the forest, Sakura’s shout became an echo and spread through the forest.

“Are you making fun of me?!”

Lee SiWoo’s arrow went flying toward the angry Sakura.

Swoosh.

WHOOM!

As Sakura swung her hands, the arrow stuck to the ground.

Paf!

“So that’s the limit…?”

Sakura quickly returned to her senses and aimed toward where the arrow had come from. FWOOSH- Wind began gathering around the arrow.

With the thought of blowing up the entire forest…

BOOM!

Sakura let go of the string. 

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