First and foremost, approaching was the priority.
They were clearly on the defensive, and charging blindly seemed foolish, so I decided to sneak around behind them.
I completely broke away from the front, where a solid defense magic and a large shield were waiting, and positioned myself behind them.
“Wow, crazy. This is so fast.”
The performance of the dodge itself had improved, and on top of that, the delay was gone.
The speed felt incomparable to anything I had experienced before.
Thanks to that insane speed, getting behind them was quicker than they could respond.
At this point, Mitaine, who had been hiding behind Ratein, had no choice but to step forward.
Realizing that his back was exposed, he hurriedly raised his sword and took a defensive stance.
Even in that desperate moment, prioritizing defense was impressive, to say the least.
However, there was already a solution to this defense.
Guard break. As he swung the shield he was holding, a terrible sound came from Mitaine’s sword.
Crack-!
Oh, it seems like the judgment was made perfectly.
It was just a training shield, so if Mitaine had been holding a high-quality shield, the weapon might have been close to destruction.
Of course, if I destroyed someone else’s weapon, especially a good one, it would cause serious trouble, so I wasn’t planning to do a guard break with a high-quality shield.
The noise from the weapon and the unexpected shock made Mitaine step back in surprise, and in that gap, Ratein quickly intervened and cast defense magic again.
Seeing this, I hesitated for a moment before reaching out… and placed the defense magic into my inventory.
Boom—!
The explosion was incomparable to when I had infused Seria’s magic earlier.
It was clear just how carefully Seria had used a small amount of magic back then.
If Seria had used a large amount of magic back then… just imagining it sends shivers down my spine.
Anyway, I had no intention of being swept away by the explosion like before.
As soon as the magic was in my inventory, I quickly retreated with a dodge.
It felt a bit tight, but I successfully gained some distance before the explosion could affect me.
Honestly, it was a risky move.
It was a sudden test born from the thought of “Maybe it’ll work?”
Since the delay was gone, I tried a sneaky move… and fortunately, it worked out.
Meanwhile, Ratein, surprised by the explosion of his own magic, hid behind his large shield.
From the perspective of being attacked, it must have been absurd.
The magic he cast for defense suddenly exploded, and the one who triggered the explosion was now far away, watching the situation unfold as if it was a distant event.
You could sense the confusion, not just from Mitaine and Ratein, but even from the spectators in the stands.
This would be enough, but… I couldn’t stop here. I still had some tests I wanted to run.
I closed the distance again before the twins could recover their senses.
Ratein, seeing that I had reached the front so quickly, seemed to decide that it was too late to cast more magic and tried to block with his shield.
…Looking at it, the human race is not particularly known for its endurance.
Even Alkine, the strongest at the academy, has an endurance score just in the low 30s, and the highest endurance in the entire world for humans doesn’t even reach 60.
Compared to the endurance of monsters or demons, it’s absurdly low.
Because of this, humans usually reinforce their bodies with magic, or use armor or, like Ratein did, enhance their shield with magic to cover their low endurance.
At this point, the issue was that my attacks were not being effective.
The cooldown for the guard break had long since passed, but I decided not to use it.
Instead, I honestly swung my sword and hit the center of the shield.
There was no sound at all.
It seems that the impact sound was erased due to the snake trait.
I hadn’t properly hit something until now, so I didn’t realize this before, but it seems that this too is an erased judgment.
It’s a strange judgment. Sounds from parries or guard breaks are clearly heard, but this one doesn’t make a sound. It’s quite bizarre.
Thanks to this, sounds that would normally be drowned out by noise were clearly heard.
“Ugh…”
I hear Ratein’s groan from behind the shield.
This confirmed that damage was being dealt just by making contact with the shield.
It seems there’s a penetration effect since he’s in pain after being hit on the shield.
Looking carefully, there doesn’t appear to be any visible wounds, but this must be some sort of game-like damage system where the effects are applied randomly.
Whatever it is, it was undoubtedly an incredibly overpowered ability.
From then on, the flow continued to be so overwhelming that it could be described as a massacre.
The twins, realizing the situation too late, began to hurriedly attack, but of course, their attacks didn’t land.
The disappointing part was that even though they attacked, they still felt defensive, so there wasn’t an opportunity to use a parry.
First, I had to deal with what I could. I carefully responded to Mitaine’s attacks and Ratein’s magic while casually swinging my sword.
Though I wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship and only grazed their armor or shields, that was enough.
Every time my attack grazed, their expressions twisted, and I could feel their movements slow down.
I don’t know how long it passed like that.
“Ugh….”
At some point, Mitaine, whose complexion had rapidly worsened, collapsed to the ground, and only then did I realize what had happened.
The atmosphere turned cold, and I realized how excited I had been.
Perhaps it was because there were no visible wounds. I hadn’t been thinking about how the damage was dealt or how powerful it was.
“Damn… Aaaaah!!”
However, I couldn’t stop here. Ratein, seeing Mitaine fall, suddenly lunged toward me in a frenzy.
A mage charging with a shield. It seemed like he had given up.
Even though he was a mage, his specs were probably around second place, so it was still somewhat threatening… but still, it was less impactful than using magic, wasn’t it?
In any case, I wasn’t planning to respond with an attack.
Instead, I used the parry I had been holding back for a while to deflect Ratein’s charge… Ah, this wasn’t a pattern that could be parried.
It seemed like I would have to investigate parrying later.
Unfortunately, I used a dodge to respond to the charge.
Naturally, he didn’t stop and charged again, so I dodged again.
After several dodges… Ratein eventually collapsed, exhausted, falling alongside Mitaine.
Looking at the fallen twins, I wondered what to do next…
“Umm… Seria? Could you bring Professor Reina?”
I thought it would be best to start with healing, so I called for Seria.
Though the atmosphere was cold, the distance was far enough that I wasn’t sure if she could hear me, but… Seria would surely hear it.
Rudion. A first-year male student who had just enrolled… his name was quite bothersome.
Normally, someone who was just a first-year student wouldn’t attract much attention.
At the very least, a princess or at least a saint would have been the ones to receive proper attention.
Right. Normally, that’s how it would go.
“But in his case… his surroundings aren’t normal.”
A commoner, yet strangely always with the princess. I’ve heard that he’s often seen with the saintess as well. He joined the student council as soon as he enrolled, and although no one knows what exactly he’s done there, recently, he’s been seen constantly with the student council president by his side.
It wasn’t all that strange to see him surrounded by women; after all, he was quite popular himself. However, the women in question were extraordinary people: the princess, the saintess, and even the student council president.
In this case, the student council president is only the president within the academy, but in reality, she is the daughter of the northern duke. A commoner who attracts the attention of such important figures inevitably becomes famous.
Of course, I wasn’t thinking of looking down on him just because he’s a commoner. Talent is not determined by class, and after all, he had become an assistant under Professor Reina’s direct supervision.
Joining the student council might have been understandable given he’s a first-year student, so it could be assumed that he still had some room to grow, but his position as a direct assistant? That wasn’t a position given to someone based on potential alone. Only those who could be truly useful were given such positions.
I’m not sure if the expression “used by people” is correct, but… that’s just the way I’ve heard it from the seniors.
Whatever the case, it was certain that he was no easy opponent. Yet, the reason he had been able to reach this point was… because there was something that Mitaine believed in.
He had never harmed anyone before. For some unknown reason, he had never attacked anyone.
From the entrance exam to the midterms. Even the spar with Senior Rias just a moment ago, he had never launched a proper attack on anyone. He simply overwhelmed his opponents by evading and neutralizing all their attacks.
Of course, most of this was hearsay, as I had only witnessed the spar with Senior Rias firsthand. But when similar stories keep repeating, they start to gain credibility.
It was unclear whether he lacked the means to attack or simply chose not to, but… I didn’t expect him to suddenly launch an attack now after failing the exams and never showing one before.
Thus, I decided to thoroughly avoid and withstand any attacks. If this plan worked, it would expose his weaknesses.
The goal was to exploit his inability to attack, undermine his arrogant image, and make him seem like an easy opponent. That was the purpose from the beginning.
Of course, anyone can come up with a seemingly plausible plan. But all such plans are shattered when faced with unexpected circumstances.
“…!”
In the blink of an eye, I found myself caught from behind.
He completely disregarded my defense in the front and circled around to attack me from behind.
The act was so foolish that I couldn’t respond quickly enough… because it had happened so fast.
Even the top students, the twins who had held the first and second positions, could not match that speed.
‘This is impossible.’
Even those who specialize in speed couldn’t make such a move.
How could such speed come from a stationary position? It didn’t make sense.
If the ground had cracked under his feet, I might have understood, but his steps were surprisingly light.
But… his response was excellent.
Compared to the speed at which he had grabbed my back, his attack was actually quite predictable and slow.
‘This is all he can do?’
At least his attacking movements were truly at the level of a first-year student… They were no better than those of any ordinary students.
That gave me a bit of confidence.
I could block this attack, regain some distance, and return to my defensive stance. I had learned about his impossible speed, so next time, I would be better prepared.
But Mitaine’s plan fell apart the very next moment.
Crash!
“Ugh?!”
The sound that shouldn’t have come from my raised sword echoed through the air.
The shock forced me to stumble back several steps.
…Had I just blocked something I shouldn’t have?
My doubts were quickly overshadowed by even more incomprehensible events.
‘This can’t be happening.’
I couldn’t react.
No, all my responses felt absurd.
When I blocked his attack, he swung again with the force to shatter my weapon.
He exploded my defensive magic on the spot.
No matter how hard I attacked, he effortlessly dodged and closed the distance with strange movements.
And… whenever his sword grazed me even slightly, my life force drained away.
It wasn’t the accumulation of wounds. In fact, my body looked perfectly fine on the outside.
How could I even describe this?
‘Is he… pushing me towards death?’
It was a strange sensation. Even though my body appeared unharmed, I felt myself moving closer to death with each touch.
It was as if he was some kind of reaper, controlling death itself.
…Wait a second.
Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.
What if the reason he hadn’t attacked before was because…
His attacks were so lethal, they would push anything they touched toward death, and he was hiding that fact?
…What have I done?
Had I been so complacent thinking he wouldn’t attack?
Instead, I had just given this monster the perfect opportunity to attack.
I couldn’t win.
The moment that thought crossed my mind, all strength left my body.
Though I had no visible injuries, the pain from the accumulating attacks was unbearable. Breathing itself became difficult.
I couldn’t even control my body as it collapsed to the ground.
At least he didn’t seem like someone who enjoyed killing.
Even if I closed my eyes here, I would probably wake up unharmed.
I might lose consciousness, but I would survive.
In the fading haze of consciousness, I saw… the princess in the stands, whom I had been so focused on.
She was looking at a man named Rudion with affection.
‘Damn it…’
Before I could finish my curse, Mitaine lost consciousness entirely.