Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 72: 72-I’ll Pummel Them

Read chapter 72 of Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

Janeth clenched her chin as she was forced to once more evade the ice breath hurled her way. She had outdone herself by jumping over the railings, now her legs ached bitterly, and she couldn’t get herself to keep her stance for as long as she was supposed to. If Instructor Taehyun saw the way she was now he would smack her at the back of her head. She was pitiful. Unable to move as her days of training required of her. And to make matters worse, her absence from camp would have definitely been noticed by now. If she didn’t achieve a good result here, her morning laps would be doubled—no, tripled. She had snuck out; only by defeating the Ice Wyverns could she have even the minuscule chance of being spared from punishment under the pretence that she was good enough to act however she pleased. But, alas, her performance was poor. Really. What a pitiful excuse for a Warrior she was. Another ice breath came seeking Janeth from the dark sky above. She immediately tightened the fist of her arm resting just above her waist, behind her back, and danced out of its way, sending the gentle stroke of a cleave. The ice breath was cut in half, just like she had intended, but this time it was a lot more shallow, and few of its flaky specks made it through, freezing her shoulder just for a bit. Janeth winced and her poise finally faltered completely. But she couldn’t afford to give her attention to the pain for too long. A Warrior was made by their focus in battle. No matter the pain, or what hurdle they had to face, they couldn’t let it bleed into their minds. Unlike Mages, they were not blessed with the liberty to fall back and cast ranged spells, they were the ones who took the monsters head on, who fought knowing in a second their lives could be snuffed from them. They were the vanguards, and the vanguards never buckled. Janeth had had this notion drilled into her from the very first day she’d stepped into camp. She was not letting it depart from her at this moment—not in battle. She gritted her teeth and regained her stance. A loud screech reverberated through the sky then; the eyes of the Ice Wyverns glowed with a blue intensity that showed they’d had enough of her, and she wouldn't deny that she’d had enough of them too. The shore of Han river had turned to a hellscape of patches of ice. If she hadn’t stepped in in time, someone would have definitely died. Or had anyone? Janeth spared a brief glance over her shoulder, and sighed in relief when she didn’t find a single body frozen or laying dead. Then she saw Merlin a couple of meters away engaging a couple of people who were still close to the battle scene and felt relieved. She had not meant to keep who she was a secret from him, or from Nora, she had never just really been the type to put everything about herself out there at once. Apologizing when all was done was definitely the right thing to do. Her mind flew back to his confession a moment ago and her heart shook; however, she swiftly discarded that thought in an instant. She did not have the liberty to bring another person into her life the way she was. Her world was unsettled, and bringing anyone else in would only throw them into a turmoil they were most likely not expecting. At the end of the day they would leave. It was better to save them the stress. She tightened her fingers around the hilt of her sword and narrowed her eyes at the Ice Wyverns. She’d counted them, they were twenty strong, which was too much for her to handle; and they were C-Rank monsters. She was not yet powerful enough to cut them in a single strike, and she couldn’t depend on Merlin for help. He couldn’t cast magic, and from what she’d witnessed during his training with Nora, he seemed more like a support type who needed to be in the midst of those far stronger than himself for his anti-magic to work. She wasn’t that type of person. Even if he was able to stop the ice breaths of the Wyverns, she was unable to cut them down. She couldn’t involve him. This