Hunter Academy: Revenge of the Weakest - Chapter 1071 253.4 - Mission
Astron tilted his head slightly, her weight against his back like a quiet anchor, steady and close. He didn’t shrug her off, didn’t move. He simply stood there, letting her warmth settle into his spine, even as his voice—ever calm, ever measured—cut through the hush between them.
“Your demands,” he said slowly, “aren’t something I can control all the time.”
Irina’s arms tightened slightly around him, and the corner of her mouth lifted into a crooked smirk he couldn’t see. “Why not?” she murmured, voice low, teasing. “Try your best. Isn’t that what you always say?”
Astron didn’t miss a beat. “I do say that,” he admitted. “But I also don’t like making promises I may not hold onto.”
“That’s life,” she said, half-laughing under her breath. “Isn’t it?”
He paused, then turned his head slightly toward her voice, his purple eyes flicking sideways with the faintest note of amusement. “That’s strangely deep.”
“You like to talk like this,” she pointed out, leaning in a little closer, her cheek brushing against his shoulder lightly. “Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten where you picked it up.”
His brow rose. “Learned from you?”
“Learned from me,” she confirmed, soft and certain.
A silence stretched between them—long, but not empty.
Then, without a word of warning, Irina shifted her chin, tilted her head, and leaned in further.
And bit him.
Right on the shoulder.
It wasn’t a hard bite. Not a serious one. But it was deliberate. Sharp enough to be felt. Sharp enough to leave something behind.
Astron didn’t react. Not with a wince, not even a blink. His pain tolerance was high—absurdly so—and this, compared to training wounds, was nothing. But still… he glanced down slightly at the spot, then over his shoulder.
“Irina.”
She leaned back with a smug little grin, resting her head against his back again like she hadn’t just bitten him.
“This mark of mine,” she said softly, “will stay right here.”
He looked at her—really looked at her—and the edges of his mouth twitched ever so faintly.
“Don’t act strange,” Astron said, his voice still calm, but the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth betrayed him.
Irina didn’t need to see his face to know what he meant. That was his version of a warning. Not a real one. Just a gentle nudge that said, Don’t go too far.
But she liked it. That faint flicker of life he rarely showed to others. The subtle shift that said he wasn’t unaffected.
She stepped back then, slowly letting her arms fall from around him. Her fingers trailed for a moment longer than necessary, as if reluctant to break the contact completely. Then she stretched both arms above her head and turned away, casting a glance over her shoulder with a little more mischief than before.
“You said you’re leaving tonight,” she said, voice lighter now, casual—almost sing-song. “So that means we still have time, don’t we?”
Astron raised a brow, already knowing where this was going.
Irina didn’t wait.
“Wanna play?”
The words came with a grin.
Astron exhaled through his nose, the sound dry. Familiar.
“Fine by me,” he said, shrugging faintly. “I’ve got nothing to do anyway.”
Irina’s eyes gleamed. “Perfect.”
******
The match queue buzzed softly on the screen, and Irina leaned forward, one elbow propped on her knee as she twirled the edge of her controller’s cord between her fingers. The ambient light of the room bathed her in a subtle, flickering glow, the only other illumination coming from the faint digital hum of the monitor.
Astron sat beside her, posture relaxed, hands resting on his lap with that quiet, contained energy that always made it seem like he was either about to act—or had already finished doing so before anyone noticed.
She threw him a sideways glance.
The match queue hummed in the background, a gentle pulse of sound beneath the quiet tension between them. Irina twirled the controller cord absently, her eyes scanning the screen while her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
It had been weeks since they last played together.
She hadn’t realized how much she missed it until just now, sitting beside him again in the dim room, the warmth of their earlier moment still lingering faintly on her skin. But what caught her curiosity now wasn’t nostalgia.
It was anticipation.
Because apparently—Astron had been playing.
Quietly.
Methodically.
Without telling her.
Her lips curled up at one corner. “So,” she began, not looking at him yet, “how far did you get, anyway?”
Astron didn’t answer right away. His eyes remained on the screen, calm and steady. “Far enough.”
That made her pause.
She turned her head, narrowing her gaze slightly. “Far enough for what?”
He flicked the analog stick, navigating through the menu until the screen highlighted a glowing prompt—
RANKED MODE: UNLOCKED.
Irina blinked.
She stared at the screen. Then stared at him.
“…Wait. You’re eligible for ranked?”
Astron nodded once. “Reached the minimum level last night.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You… grinded? You actually grinded levels?”
“I wanted to understand the full structure of the game,” Astron replied, as if explaining something as simple as tying his shoelaces. “Casual mode lacks pressure. I wanted a setting where real patterns would emerge.”
Irina just stared. “You leveled up by yourself for two weeks without telling me?”
“I didn’t think you needed to know.”
“Oh, I needed to know.”
Astron glanced sideways at her, catching the small spark of challenge in her expression.
“So.” Irina leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “Now that you’re eligible… let’s see how far that perfect pattern recognition of yours really got you.”
She opened the queue for ranked duo.
Astron accepted the prompt without hesitation.
Moments later, the countdown began.
MATCH FOUND.
Irina licked her lips unconsciously, a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. “You ready for actual opponents now? The kind that don’t just run in a straight line and die when you breathe near them?”
“I’m aware,” Astron said mildly. “I’ve done my research.”
“Research?” Irina echoed, an eyebrow lifting. “You’re treating this like a thesis project.”
He didn’t deny it.
Instead, as the champion select loaded up, Astron smoothly locked in his pick with a confidence that sent a flicker of unease through her.
It wasn’t arrogance.
It was precision.
‘He’s too calm.’
Irina squinted at him, then selected her champion with a dramatic flourish. “Alright, InfernoKnight. Let’s see if you can still keep up with your queen.”
His lips twitched. “I intend to.”
****
From the very start of the match, Irina could feel the difference.
Astron didn’t just know what he was doing.
He knew what everyone else was doing, too.
Enemy positioning. Cooldown timers. Wave control. Rotation timings.
He moved like he had been playing for years, not weeks.
“Wait, wait—don’t go there yet—”
“I know.”
“Rotate top now, I think their jungler—”
“Already did.”
Irina’s eyes flicked to the map and froze. Astron’s champion had already arrived at the precise moment the enemy laner overextended.
BAM.
Kill secured.
And not just once.
Again and again, Astron made plays that shouldn’t have been possible for someone this new to ranked.
By the time the 20-minute mark hit, Irina had more assists than kills. Not because she was playing badly—but because Astron was now setting the pace.
‘What… what is happening right now?’
She stared at her screen, barely hearing the announcer as it called out another double kill in his name.
She’d always been the carry in their duo. That had been the rule. The structure.
But now—
Now she wasn’t sure anymore.
Astron’s voice broke through the silence. “They’ll surrender soon.”
And two seconds later—
SURRENDER VOTE PASSED.
VICTORY.
Irina set her controller down slowly, blinking at the results screen.
10 kills.
Zero deaths.
Clean rotations.
Flawless execution.
