I Became a Swordsmanship Instructor at the Academy Chapter 29

Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy

Chapter 29

Hong Lee Seol kept opposing, but Teacher Kim took my side, and due to the majority vote, we eventually applied for and were assigned a B-rank portal.

The assigned portal was near a mountain in Yongin, so I tried to rent a car, but since Hong Lee Seol had a car, we moved with her vehicle.

It wasn’t like Hong Lee Seol was giving me attitude or anything, but after the earlier trouble, riding in her car made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

I hadn’t felt the need for a car while staying at school all this time, but I should buy a used one soon.

Upon arriving at the entrance, I showed my ID and confirmed our portal assignment through the app to the soldiers guarding the portal area, and then entered the portal.

Portal environments vary from portal to portal—some have boiling lava and desert-like conditions, but the one we were assigned this time is the most common mountain type.

“Then you two wait here.”

“Are you really okay going alone?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just cancel and leave…”

“I told you I’m fine. I’ll be back soon.”

As I leave the safety zone tinted blue, a dense forest comes into view.

I draw up my internal energy and spread it around, sensing life responses from various places.

For now, there are three nearby.

I don’t know what kind of monsters they are, but since the portal has a mountainous terrain, they probably won’t use troublesome magic or be undead-type monsters.

Usually, in this kind of terrain, animal-type and mineral-type monsters appear frequently, and I hope they’re animal-type.

It’s not that I can’t catch mineral-types, but they have high defense, so it takes longer and they’re heavy, making them difficult to move.

First, I headed toward the closest group.

Just when I thought I was almost there, I discovered creatures jumping around in the trees.

They’re Giant Monkeys.

These creatures generally resemble monkeys, but they’re about the size of an adult male—not that big, but they’re fast and good at climbing trees, making them quite tricky to catch.

Moreover, they have many individuals but a very low drop rate for magic stones, so despite being weaker than other monsters from B-grade portals, hunters don’t really prefer them.

Giant Monkey hide sells for a decent price, but it’s not that expensive considering the effort required to catch these agile creatures.

Of course, being challenging is only applicable to ordinary hunters.

OOOKIKI—

KIKI.

One of them playing above seems to have spotted me and charges quickly. I run toward it, dodging its elongated claws and swinging my sword.

SWOOSH.

With one slash, its head falls off.

Since Giant Monkeys are monsters, they always attack humans, but they’re quite intelligent and will run away if they determine they can’t win.

But there’s no problem if you don’t give them a chance to escape and kill them instantly.

Their hide is quite tough and durable enough to be used as armor material, but it’s cleanly cut like slicing tofu in front of sword energy.

The black blood flowing out from the monster is a bit gross, but since I’ve seen this scene many times in VR at school, it’s not enough to make me vomit.

OOK!

OOKIKI!

Having smelled their companion’s blood, the remaining two rush at me. I cut their necks just like I did to the first one.

SWOOSH! SWOOSH!

Both died without even letting out a single scream.

I gathered their corpses by kicking them into a corner and spread my internal energy again.

It seems some have smelled the blood and are coming this way. I could wait, but I deliberately moved in the direction they were coming from.

The quicker I finish, the more I can flatten the nose of Hong Lee Seol, who was subtly looking down on me, saying why am I being reckless when she’s an A-rank.

***

“Sergeant Kim, the portal seems a bit strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“It was blue before we went to eat, but now it looks closer to indigo.”

Thinking it was nonsense, I looked at the portal, and indeed, it’s now indigo.

“Hey, why are you only saying this now! Indigo means it’s changed to A-rank.”

I heard about this possibility during portal guard training, but I’ve never experienced it, so it’s perplexing.

“I, I just noticed it. Hunters went in earlier, what should we do?”

“L-let’s report to the company commander first.”

I immediately took out my phone and called the company commander to report.

“Sergeant Kim, what did the company commander say?”

“He said to stand by for now.”

The company commander’s voice was very flustered, as if this was his first time experiencing this too.

“Stand by? What about the hunters who went inside? Shouldn’t we let them know and have them come out?”

“How are we supposed to go in there?”

“During portal guard training, I heard there’s a safety zone right after entering, not monsters right away…”

“So what if there’s a safety zone? They’ve been in there for quite a while. They’ve probably already passed the safety zone.”

“Then…”

“Jinsu, there’s nothing we can do. We’re not hunters. The company commander will contact the Hunter Management Bureau to request support from nearby guilds.”

***

I’ve been moving around and spreading my internal energy for over 10 minutes, but no monsters are being detected.

I think I’ve caught about 50 so far, is that all?

Looking at the sky’s color, it doesn’t seem like I’ve caught them all… Wait, could this portal be a fixed type?

Usually, portals are disappearing types that turn the sky yellow after all monsters are eliminated and then disappear after 12 hours.

But sometimes, like the portal where my master resides, fixed portals are discovered that don’t disappear even after all monsters are eliminated.

In fixed portals, new monsters don’t appear even after eliminating all of them, and the portal doesn’t disappear.

Generally, such fixed portals become the territory of the country where the portal exists.

Of course, they’re not large enough to be used as residential areas, but they have high utility value for resource extraction and research of metals or plants that don’t exist on Earth.

I heard that hunters who defeat monsters in fixed portals receive additional rewards… This is amazing.

Who would have thought the first hunt would be at a fixed portal?

Is this what they call beginner’s luck?

BAAANG!

Haha… It seems there’s still one I haven’t dealt with.

Damn, it was going so well.

But if it’s beyond the range of my internal energy detection, it must be quite far… Judging by the sound, it doesn’t seem to be a Giant Monkey.

Could it be a Troll?

Troll blood, with its excellent regenerative ability, is more expensive than the same weight in gold.

With a heart full of anticipation, I moved toward where the sound came from, and couldn’t believe my eyes.

Standing at about three times—no, four times my height was a huge green-skinned monster.

The green monster in front of me isn’t the Troll I was expecting.

It doesn’t have the Troll’s characteristic fur, doesn’t carry weapons, and is much bigger than Trolls, which only grow to about 4 meters even as adults.

This creature is known among hunters as the “Nightmare of the Forest”—an Ogre.

It’s my first time seeing one in person, but I’ve seen it in the monster encyclopedia, and it matches the description from the original novel.

But why is it here?

I heard Ogres rarely appear even in A-grade portals.

The portal we were assigned is B-grade.

When we entered, the portal entrance was definitely blue.

In the original novel, the protagonist goes on a field trip in his third year and, due to a mistake by a guild hunter in charge of guidance, enters an A-grade portal and fights an Ogre, struggling quite a bit.

Of course, the Ogre the protagonist fought then was a two-headed one that would normally appear in an S-grade portal.

I heard that Ogres can grow up to 10 meters when they become fully mature, so this one doesn’t seem to be a full adult, but an Ogre is still an Ogre.

Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have noticed me yet, should I go back?

Maybe because we’re similar in height, I didn’t feel scared at all when catching Giant Monkeys despite them being monsters, but seeing this creature makes me feel a bit intimidated.

There’s even a saying that if three A-rank hunters fight an Ogre, one will definitely die, and if four fight, one will be seriously injured, so you need at least five.

But I heard that Ogre byproducts are traded quite expensively, though not as much as those of Trolls.

The bones are solid, the tendons have good elasticity, and even the skin is very tough, only getting scratched by sword energy.

Above all, the probability of getting a magic stone is close to 100%.

A-rank magic stones start from 10 million won depending on purity.

Alright, let’s try catching it.

I think I can handle the odds of 5:1 like A-rank hunters.

Come to think of it, the protagonist used sword force to take down the Twin Head Ogre, and I can also use sword force though it takes a bit more time, so if I ambush it, I definitely have a chance of winning.

KWAAAANG!

It suddenly roared, making me startle, thinking I might have been spotted, but there was no further movement.

Man, you scared me.

Just like before, it seems to be roaring for no particular reason. I drew up my internal energy and channeled it into my sword.

The blue light surrounding the sword gradually deepened, and after a while, it completely enveloped the sword, creating sword energy.

“Teacher Kang, where are you!”

What now?

I was about to close the distance a bit more to ambush it, but Teacher Kim’s voice was heard from behind.

I told them to stay at the entrance, why are they suddenly looking for me… This is frustrating.

KWAAAANG!

Damn. This time, it doesn’t seem to be a meaningless roar.

As expected, the Ogre is rapidly running toward me.

I had wanted to finish it with one ambush…

If by chance it passes me and goes toward Teacher Kim, that would be trouble, so I also charged straight at it.

I hadn’t gone far, but because of its fast speed, we quickly encountered each other.

KWAAAANG!

Having spotted me, it roars and immediately throws a punch at me.

Given its size, its fist is bigger than my face.

I was about to parry with my sword but sensing the tremendous power behind it, I twisted my body to avoid it and slashed at its tree trunk-like wrist.

CLANG!

The sword went in smoothly without resistance until about halfway, but then it hit something—probably bone—making a sound like metal hitting metal, and wouldn’t go further. I withdrew my sword and stepped back.

KWAAAANG!

This roar might be a scream of pain, as black blood drips from its half-cut wrist.

Fortunately, Ogres aren’t monsters with good regenerative abilities like Trolls, so I’ve definitely dealt some damage, but honestly, I’m a bit perplexed.

I never expected that I wouldn’t be able to cut through its bones, even though my sword energy wasn’t perfect.

I thought I could handle it since it wasn’t a fully mature adult, but it seems I misjudged.

KWAAAANG!

Its eyes, glaring at me, are much redder than when I first saw it.

Although the possibility is slim, I thought it might flee since it was injured…

But it doesn’t seem to have any intention of doing so.

As expected, it charged at me again.

Approaching much faster than before, it swings its healthy fist from the other side.

WHOOSH!.

I tried to slash it while avoiding it the same way as before, but as if it has learning ability, its foot flies toward the space I was trying to dodge into.

I had no choice but to throw myself to avoid it, but then it immediately stomps down at me with its other foot.

THUD!

I barely avoided it by rolling ungracefully on the left side of the ground.

I immediately got up, took a stance, kept my eye on it, and glanced to the side, seeing the ground deeply dented as if it had been bombed.

Is this Berserker mode?

Judging by its speed, it’s almost on par with Resonance.

As for strength, being an Ogre, it’s probably stronger rather than weaker.

But what about an attack that even Resonance couldn’t avoid?

After the vacation started, I trained more fiercely than before.

The students and people around me said my defeat wasn’t really a defeat, and honestly, I don’t think I lost either, but I felt my own limitations.

Now, I don’t have time like during the sparring match, my posture is unstable, and I’m not in perfect condition.

But somehow, I feel like I can do it.

Heaven Demon Sword Technique (天魔劍法) Fifth Form.

Meteor Burst Demon Energy (流星爆滅魔罡).

It avoided my sword by a hair’s breadth, literally by the thickness of a piece of paper.

It would have been better if it had hit, but it doesn’t matter.

BOOM! BOOM!

BAAAANG!

Because the meteoric sword energy released from my sword started to engulf its entire body.