chapter_0015

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
15

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
15

With Possell’s declaration,
the orc, as if freed from some restraint, stumbled forward but barely
managed to regain its balance.

Then, it turned its head here
and there, surveying its surroundings before finally looking at me.

The raw gaze of the orc met my
own, and the orc exhaled.

In the crisp autumn air, its
breath was so hot it was visible as white smoke.

At that moment, I realised.
This orc had deemed me weak.

It would run towards me in an
attempt to flee.

As soon as I understood this,
I raised my shield.

I looked at the orc.

I saw the muscles in its legs,
honed in the wild, tense up.

I watched it charge towards me
at the speed of a wild boar.

It was straightforward. But it
was strong because of its simplicity.

Without any embellishments,
relying solely on its physical prowess, its unrefined rush was truly
dangerous.

I knew that such a simple
charge was something I could easily dodge.

This method was something I
had learned over the past few days, enduring under Possell’s harsh
training.

Yet, my body didn’t move well.
Was real combat really this nerve-wracking?

A moment of hesitation could
be fatal in battle.

Before I knew it, the orc and
I were within striking distance. There was no option to dodge now.
Moving clumsily would only result in getting caught by the orc’s
rush.

In that case, what I needed to
do was simple.

If I couldn’t evade, I just
had to block it.

After all, I was a tank with a
shield.

[Iron Wall] spoke to me.

Raise your shield. Strengthen
your legs. Clench your teeth.

Since the opponent’s power
moved in a straight line, if I used that, blocking it wouldn’t be
difficult.

I followed what [Iron Wall]
instructed. Watching the narrowing distance, I calculated the timing.

Three. Two. One.

Now.

Just before the orc’s body
could collide with my shield, I stepped forward, pushing into the
orc’s body.

Then, I raised my shield
diagonally and received the orc’s impact.

Boom!

For a moment, the shock took
my breath away. If I let my legs go weak now, the orc would crush me.

So, I had to hold firm.

I clenched my teeth and
tightened my core.

It wasn’t just about using the
strength of my legs. My entire body became one with the ground, like
a deeply rooted tree.

The orc, charging blindly
without thinking, couldn’t control its own body.

The orc, colliding with my
angled shield, lost balance and flew past me.

I could feel a numbing
sensation in the arm holding the shield, but now wasn’t the time to
worry about that. The fight wasn’t over yet.

Seeing the orc staggering to
its feet in the distance, I ran towards it.

From our collision just now, I
was sure that the orc’s body wasn’t as sturdy as I had feared.

Unlike the monsters Possell or
Karl who I could strike with all my might with a mace without leaving
a scratch, this orc felt pain when hit.

Talking about it this way
makes it hard to tell who the real monster is.

The orc hastily got up and
swung its fist at me as I charged.

A crude, brute-force punch
typical of a monster.

There was no reason to take
the hit. No reason to block it either. Evasion was the key.

As I ducked, the orc’s fist
just skimmed past my hair. Although I had manoeuvred inside the orc’s
guard, aiming for its head was out of the question. The orc and I had
too vast a height difference.

But that didn’t matter. The
abdomen, where vital organs were located, was also an excellent
target.

I strengthened my grip on the
mace and swung it at the orc’s abdomen.

Thud!

The mace, with its metal
spikes at the end, was more than just a blunt weapon. It was a cold
weapon* designed to tear through flesh. (*Doesn’t use firing
mechanisms/explosions.)

Blood splattered as the orc
screamed in agony, ringing in my ears.

Now was the opportunity to
strike. When the opponent is terrified, that’s the time to press
the attack even harder.

I struck with the mace again,
and the orc staggered back.

Breathing heavily from the
excitement of the fight, I looked ahead.

There was fear in the orc’s
eyes.

The orc, who had deemed me
weak, now stood before me transformed into the weaker one.

“What are you doing? Are you
going to run away, you sloppy orc?”

“Grunt.”

“Come at me, you disgusting
trash♡”

If provocation like this could
affect monsters as fearsome as Possell and Karl, it was sure to work
on this sloppy orc.

As if having forgotten its
fear from just moments ago, the orc roared and charged forward again.

Previously, the orc had
charged at me recklessly, without any strategy, driven only by its
anger.

Fueled by that anger, strength
surged through my body.

Feeling the unique omnipotence
and strength from the buff provided by the [Mesugaki] skill, I raised
the mace once more.

There was no need to hold up a
shield. [Iron Wall] seemed to agree.

I had only one task.

To ram the mace into the face
of the charging orc.

The orc, lost in its rage, was
nothing more than a moving target.

Aiming at it was exceedingly
simple.

The metal spikes of the mace
shattered the orc’s face.

No matter how sturdy an orc
might be, it couldn’t withstand the shock that rattled its head.
The orc fell to the ground, just as it had been charging toward me.

The fallen orc didn’t move
an inch.

The only movement it made was
the faint, shallow breath it took, as if it were trying to crawl away
inside itself.

“This was your first real
battle! That was excellent. Truly impressive!” Karl exclaimed.

‘…Was it?’

“Of course it was.”

“Now, you should finish it
off.”

Finish it off?

At those words, the
adrenaline-filled reality of the battle overwhelmed me.

I had just wielded a weapon
against a living being. Desperately, hoping that it would die.

And now, I had to bring an end
to this dying orc.

“Miss.”

‘I know. So, just—‘

“I know. So, hold on. You
fool.”

Defeating the monster is the
right thing to do. That’s the common sense of this world.

Monsters are beings born to
harm humans, so killing them is just an act of survival. It’s called
self-defence.

I’ve done this countless
times in games. The number of monsters I’ve killed must be in the
millions.

And not just monsters. What
haven’t I killed in games?

People. Dragons. Spirits.
Fairies. Gods.

I had even experimented to see
what happens if you kill all the NPCs in a game. I was nothing short
of a slaughterer.

So, this should be nothing to
hesitate over. Have I really killed hundreds of thousands of orcs,
only to get scared now?

I raised my mace high above.

At that moment, my eyes met
the orc’s. Its pitiful eyes were filled with a mix of anger and fear.

I slightly bit my lip and
repeated the movements I had practised countless times before.

When it comes to
transportation in a fantasy world, what comes to mind?

It’s a carriage!

A horse-drawn carriage is a
staple in mediaeval fantasy settings, and it’s no different in the
world of Soul Academy.

Having never ridden in a
carriage before, I was excited at the prospect of taking one to
Evans.

Listening to the clattering of
hooves and leisurely watching the scenery outside—what a dream!

With a heart full of
excitement, I gladly got on the carriage.

But after a few hours, my
illusion was shattered.

The carriage was the worst.

Besides the uncomfortable ride
that left my hips and back aching, the biggest problem was that there
was nothing to do.

Travelling by carriage was
boring.

Sure, looking at the scenery
outside was fun for the first minute. But after an hour or two of the
same forest scenery, I was left thinking, ‘Oh, more forest?’

Talking with the maid was only
entertaining for a short while; we didn’t have much to converse about
for long stretches. I found myself staring blankly outside for most
of the trip.

So, when we took a break in
the middle of the journey, I made the mistake of mentioning that I
was bored.

Possell, the Allen Family’s
top training enthusiast, didn’t miss a word of my quiet complaint.

“Are you bored with the
carriage ride? How about training with the knights on the way!”

What Possell meant by training
was running alongside the horse.

I wondered if there was any
point in having prepared a carriage if this was the case, but I
accepted Possell’s suggestion, thinking it was better than staring
blankly inside.

And then I learned something:
horses are incredibly fast.

You can’t feel it when you’re
riding inside.

From inside, the horses
pulling the carriage seemed to be walking leisurely.

But, being outside and trying
to keep up, you could really feel the horse’s speed.

The speed at which a horse
leisurely walked while clattering along was about the same speed as
me running at full sprint.

Moving my legs to keep up was
exhausting, to the point where I wanted to swear.

After running for about ten
minutes, I thought I might fall behind, but Possell and the Bald
Knight, along with other knights, didn’t let that happen.

They pushed me from behind,
forcing me to keep up with the carriage.

Thanks to them, I had to chase
the carriage until I collapsed from exhaustion.

Possell wasn’t the only
training fanatic.

All those who managed to
endure under him were the same as him.

Resting in the carriage and
then getting off to run whenever I’d regained some strength, by the
time evening came I was exhausted.

Having run around like crazy
all day, I was incredibly hungry, but when I saw the meat on my
plate, I couldn’t bring myself to touch it.

I could eat the vegetables and
soup, but I couldn’t bring myself to touch the meat.

It has been like this since
yesterday.

To be more precise, it started
the evening of the day I smashed the orc’s head with my own hands.

Why is my stomach so weak?
Usually, other possessors don’t hesitate to hunt monsters.

Maybe it’s because I’m such a
coward, trembling in fear even at the sight of a cockroach.

While I was stirring the meat
with my spoon, I sensed someone behind me and turned around. It was
Karl.

“Miss, are you not
satisfied with the meal?”

He asked this as he sat down
next to me.

‘No.’

“Not really.”

“Then why aren’t you
eating?”

I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t
tell him that ever since I killed the orc yesterday, that scene kept
flashing in my mind.

To a knight like Karl, hunting
monsters must be a mundane task he’s done countless times.

From his perspective, it would
seem ridiculous if I worried about each and every little thing.

“Are you thinking about
the orc you killed yesterday?”

Even though I hadn’t said a
word, Karl pinpointed the exact problem. As I flinched, he smiled.

“Miss, you must have a
gentle heart.”

‘Shut up.’

“Shut up, Sloppy Knight.”

Despite my sharp retort, Karl
didn’t seem the least bit discouraged.

Before we made our vow, he
would have at least shown some annoyance, but now there was nothing
like that.

Is he enduring it? Or has he
just gotten used to it?

“You don’t need to worry
too much about it, Miss. That’s normal.”

Normal?

“Everyone goes through
that at first. No matter how monstrous it is, it’s still a living
creature. Everyone hesitates, gets lost, and struggles. I did too.”

‘Then…’

“Then how do I overcome
this?”

“It’s something time will
solve. Like how rust accumulates over the years, your sensitivity
will dull.”

Ha. What the…

So, there’s really no way to
overcome it?

Useless sloppy knight.

I thought he was saying
something profound, but it’s of no help at all.

When I glared at him, Karl
stepped back and held up his hands as if to apologise.

“Karl!”

Just as I was about to provoke
him further, Possell called out to him.

“What are you doing here!”

“Captain, I was just…”

“Your probation isn’t over
yet! If you’ve finished your meal, go run around the forest!”

“What? But—”

“Do you have a problem with
that?!”

“No, sir!”

“Then go!”

“Yes, sir!”

After Karl ran off into the
distance as ordered, Possell turned back to me, his expression now
softened with a gentle smile.

“Finish your meal and rest.
Make sure to take care of yourself until we enter the dungeon.”

‘Yes.’

“Got it.”

After Possell left too, I just
stared at my meat for a while before taking a bite.

Ugh. What is this? It’s tough,
smelly, and salty.

Is all camp food like this?

It’s really terrible.

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