chapter_0215

The battle between Eichenhart, who was embarrassed about her dark history, and Leona, who felt guilty for teasing her from the start, was quite intense. The largest magical tool on the upper deck was illuminating their duel, and most of the spectators were watching the fight between Leona and Eichenhart, especially those from Laila Academy. Even though Leona was holding back, the fact that the Knight of Light and the top student of their academy were fighting fiercely made them feel proud.

Leona let out a battle cry as her rapier flashed several times. The holy sword blocked all the thrusts, and the deflected strikes created craters the size of a person in the nearby ground.

The pace of the battle intensified, and as the mana flashing on the blades became as brilliant as a river, exclamations of surprise erupted from the audience. She would have been knocked out with a single blow, but her fundamental skills were indeed exceptional.

Sensing something, Leona quickly dodged, and a small hole appeared in the rock behind her. The hole immediately exploded, shattering the large rock into pieces.

Eichenhart, who had momentarily retracted her rapier, exclaimed in admiration.

“As expected of the Knight of Light. If you weren’t holding back, I would have been defeated long ago.”

“Uh… Thank you for the compliment?”

“If it weren’t for this situation, I would have liked to ask for your guidance, even if only briefly… But alas, this is a battlefield. Sadly, one of us must fall. The time of destiny is upon us.”

How could she say that without feeling embarrassed?

Leona responded with an ambiguous smile, but everyone except us was genuinely enthusiastic about Eichenhart.

Well, the name of the Renitus family in the Empire was enough to garner such a reaction. Especially if the next head of the Renitus family was fighting on equal footing with the Knight of Light.

“So, I will give it my all.”

Eichenhart, who had momentarily sheathed her rapier, brought it back to her chest and held the blade vertically. A vast amount of mana flowed out of her body and converged on the rapier.

The ambiguous smile faded from Leona’s face. The holy sword also began to glow with a light as if it had melted the sun itself. It signified that she would take the fight seriously.

Eichenhart, holding the rapier, gave a slight bow.

“I see that you intend to face me seriously. I appreciate your gesture, Knight of Light.”

“Yes. I made a mistake at the beginning, so I must face you properly now.”

“…”

Eichenhart’s lips twitched slightly, seemingly taken aback by Leona’s words.

Leona truly felt remorse for what she had done. She had no intention of bringing up Eichenhart’s dark history, but she lost the bet and unintentionally hit a sensitive spot.

Although Leona apologized, it was a separate matter how Eichenhart would take it. The mana that had been rising from the rapier intensified as her flushed cheeks became a source of motivation.

The mana that had been swirling around them now converged into a single stream, and the tip of the blade pointed at Leona.

-Style 1: Rushing River.

Eichenhart’s body sprang forward like a coiled spring. Leona gathered divine power and swung the holy sword. For a moment, the rapier and the holy sword crossed paths.

-Kwaaaaang!

A burst of blue and golden light erupted.

“… …”

In the aftermath of the light, Leona’s rapier grazed her cheek, and the holy sword reached Eichenhart’s neck, both blades locked in a stalemate.

-Warning: Detected divine power or mana exceeding the permitted limit.

An alarm sounded from the magical tool on her wrist. It indicated that Leona had used more divine power than allowed to block and counter the attack, resulting in her defeat.

“Waaaaaaaah!”

“Renitus! Renitus!”

Cheers and thunderous applause erupted from the audience, especially from those affiliated with Laila Academy. It didn’t matter if her strength was restricted; she had defeated the Knight of Light.

Leona sheathed her holy sword and scratched her cheek awkwardly.

“Congratulations on your victory.”

“Thank you. It was a splendid fight, Knight of Light. It was an honor to face you.”

Eichenhart also sheathed her rapier, slightly lifted her skirt, crossed her legs, and bowed. She indeed had a well-mannered personality, befitting a daughter of a ducal family.

Eichenhart’s team instantly jumped to the top of the scoreboard, as expected, since Leona’s assigned score was the highest.

“You don’t seem worried about your score.”

“Are you referring to the last monster that appears for the first-place team? Thank you for your concern, but I humbly decline. Whoever comes, I am confident that I can defeat them.”

“Ah…”

Leona offered an ambiguous smile again. It was only natural, given that she knew I was the last monster.

“And it’s only 1%, right? I’m sure Chairman Ereshika didn’t set an absurdly low probability. She probably made it just barely achievable, so that it would be a challenging but doable task. So, even if someone stronger than I expect comes, I won’t give up without a fight.”

Leona nodded, looking at Eichenhart with the eyes of an older sister toward a slightly lacking but kind younger sister. After exchanging final greetings, Leona disappeared through a dimensional door, heading somewhere else.

Soon, someone sat down next to me. I turned to see Leona, with a few beads of sweat on her neck.

“So, was I right?”

“Yeah. You really came to me first.”

Leona gave an awkward smile and snuggled up close to me. Our shoulders touched. I could smell a sweet fragrance, slightly mixed with the scent of sweat.

“What are you going to do? Are you going to defeat her?”

As we watched Eichenhart amicably through the magical tool, Leona suddenly asked a question.

“I’m still thinking about it, but even if I do defeat her, I’ll probably let her keep her pride, just like you, Leona.”

If she were the type to act arrogantly, relying solely on her status as the next head of the ducal family, I would have crushed her without hesitation.

However, the Eichenhart Renitus I had seen possessed a pride befitting her skills, and even without her family background, she was quite level-headed and well-mannered.

It would have pricked my conscience to treat such a person unfairly.

“I thought so too. Mira, you and I think alike—”

Leona, who was about to turn to face me, froze. Our faces were too close, almost touching, as our shoulders were pressed together.

Leona let out an unintentional breath, and it caressed my lips. My exhaled breath would have done the same to her. I noticed her cheeks, which had been pale, gradually turning red.

“Um, Mira… Could you… Could you please… move a little… further away…?”

Despite her request to move away, her throat moved slightly as she swallowed, and her flushed cheeks inched closer. Her slightly protruding lips also drew nearer—

-Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!

A mix of ecstatic and horrified screams shook the entire Colosseum. Startled by her own reaction, Leona jumped back and exclaimed, “Why is it so hot?!,” fanning herself frantically.

Curious about what had happened, I looked at the magical tool.

Priscilla emerged confidently from the flames that engulfed everything in sight.

…

The time for me to appear as the hidden boss came sooner than expected. Perhaps because there were many spectators, everyone actively hunted for the bosses.

Most of the students playing the role of bosses failed to significantly reduce the scores of their opponents.

Priscilla managed to burn three teams to ashes, sending them to the bottom rankings, but she eventually lost to Eichenhart, exceeding the mana limit and giving away points.

Naturally, expectations for Eichenhart soared through the roof.

[The final monster has been activated.]

As I stepped through the dimensional door and arrived at the event venue, a narration echoed in the air.

I put on a mask to conceal my identity as the hidden boss and slightly altered my physique using the Necklace of Transformation. Finally, I covered myself with a robe and a hat and did some light stretching.

‘Now, where should I go?’

I checked the location using the magical tool. As the chairman had mentioned, it only showed the position of the currently first-placed team. Eichenhart was standing still in one spot, as if waiting for someone.

Waiting for me, perhaps?

Then it was only polite to oblige. I headed toward the red dot on the magical tool, and as expected, Eichenhart was there, holding her rapier and waiting for me.

“Are you the student playing the role of the final monster? It’s nice to meet you. I’m Eichenhart Renitus, the next head of the Renitus ducal family and the top student of the third year at Laila Academy.”

“If I intended to reveal my identity, I wouldn’t have come in this form.”

A perfectly modulated voice emerged, distorted with noise, similar to the voices used in broadcasts to disguise the identities of criminals.

“That’s true. I had my suspicions, but I wanted to confirm. May I ask if you are truly that strong? Strong enough to restrict your mana output so much against me?”

“Talking about it won’t give you a sense of it.”

“That’s true. Actions speak louder than words. I like your style.”

As Eichenhart infused her rapier with mana, her teammates scattered and ran in different directions.

“Are they running away?”

“Please call it a strategic dispersal. As Chairman Erestika explained, you are likely to be a difficult opponent, so this is a strategy to prevent our scores from being affected by getting caught up in your fights.”

“Hmm, is that so?”

I clenched and unclenched my fists a few times. Eichenhart tilted her head, looking at me.

“Don’t you have a weapon?”

“I think this will be enough for the second time.”

I made a punching motion, and Eichenhart’s eyes, which had been frozen for a moment, widened.

.

.

.

“Where’s the guild master?”

“I don’t know. She said she had to leave for a while and asked us to refrain from contacting her unless it was an emergency.”

“Hmm… I see.”

Kang Yuna sighed. The secretary raised his eyebrows slightly at her reaction.

“Is it an emergency? If so, we can activate the emergency contact network, but you’ll have to give a proper explanation.”

“No, it’s not that… It’s just that something happened that would usually warrant an immediate report, but it doesn’t seem like an emergency.”

“What happened? Most matters can be handled by me, so please tell me.”

At his words, the bag tied to Kang Yoo-na’s waist opened, and several documents were taken out.

“You know about the S-grade gate that appeared in Busan recently, right? The one with a human-shaped boss inside.”

In fact, it wasn’t just human-shaped; it was almost identical to a human.

The brown hair, the sky-blue iris, though only on one side, and the yukata-like, flowing clothing—all of these sparked much discussion. Some even wondered if it was truly a human.

“Yes, I know. It was quite a unique boss.”

The appearance of an S-grade gate in the middle of a city was a major emergency, and Eternal Guild had been on high alert. However, to their surprise, the gate contained only one boss, a female figure that resembled a human.

And this boss was incredibly powerful—she had effortlessly subdued and released an A-grade hunter team from the Eternal Guild without a single scratch.

Considering that subduing an opponent without causing harm was several times more difficult than killing them, and being subdued by such a powerful boss without sustaining injuries was even more challenging, it spoke volumes about the boss’s strength.

“It seemed that the boss wasn’t hostile to humans, so we decided to observe for the time being. Have there been any problems since then?”

“I only received the report today, but it turns out that the boss has been used as a sparring partner for A-grade hunters for the past few days.”

“Sparring partner?”

“Yes. The fact that no matter how many times they attacked, they couldn’t kill her and only ended up being subdued and released, spread…”

The secretary’s face contorted in disgust. Were they out of their minds? Did they have nothing better to do than use an S-grade gate boss as a sparring partner?

“They must be crazy. But that’s not why you’re considering calling the guild master, right?”

“No. There’s more. The youngest son of the head of the Yeomhwa Guild…”

“Haa…”

The secretary quietly grabbed the back of his neck as he sighed deeply. Kang Yuna continued, her brows furrowed.

“According to the hunter who collected the body, even a 60-year-old traditional radish master wouldn’t be able to cut it into such neat cubes.”

“… I understand. Please continue.”

“And an hour ago, the head of the Yeomhwa Guild, seeking revenge for his son’s death, entered the gate alone and came out in the same state.”

The secretary’s hand was now unconsciously fiddling with the emergency caller in his inner pocket.