chapter_0154

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
154

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
154

Karl has one major problem
right now.

Of course, it’s not his
prowess. How could there be an issue with the skill of a monstrous
knight who continues to overwhelm me even after months of training?

It’s something different.
Specifically, a mental or disciplinary issue.

Currently, Karl is pushing me
harder than usual.

Due to the [Mesugaki] Skill
making him lose his rational, his sword strikes, though faintly,
carried magic, rattling my shield.

Being able to withstand it by
getting used to parrying Karl’s sword strikes, if I wasn’t used to
it, I would have already been knocked down.

Think about it. What would
happen if an ordinary person got hit by that sword?

The wooden sword Karl is
holding now is basically a club without a blade. But if you get hit
by a club the wrong way, it can break bones or, in the worst case,
kill you.

Particularly, the wooden sword
Karl wields is more dangerous than most real swords. If any student
in the Academy got hit by it, they would be on the edge of death!

The one who knows this better
than anyone is Karl. As a knight skilled enough to be acknowledged by
Grandpa, there’s no way he’d be unaware of the weight of his own
sword.

Despite this, the reason he
swings that sword is because he’s confident I can block it.

So, imagine this. If a
situation arises where Karl’s wooden sword might give me a serious
injury, how would he react?

Doesn’t it sound interesting?

Hiding behind my shield, I
wait for the right moment.

Block it. Block it. Block it
again.

Then, at some moment, an
opportunity appeared.

I could definitely parry that
sword strike.

Certain that I could parry the
incoming sword strike, I stepped forward without any hesitation.

Ting!

As [Parrying] activates,
Karl’s sword strike is deflected, creating an opening.

At first, Karl was bewildered
by this phenomenon, but after sparring with me and getting used to
[Parrying], he frowned slightly and adjusted his stance.

Swinging the deflected sword
back around, the strike was even fiercer than before.

As the trajectory is etched
into my vision, the [Iron Wall] Skill advises me.

That sword is aiming for my
head.

It was perfect.

The more dangerous the attack,
the more flustered Karl would become.

Karl was confident that I
would block his sword even now.

Because I always had so far.

I hadn’t allowed a single
effective strike.

But this time was different. I
didn’t move my shield.

Instead, I stepped forward.

If you’re going to take me
down, then go ahead and try it properly.

At that moment, the cloudy
look in Karl’s eyes cleared, and his rationality returned.

Now, what will you do?

It’s already too late to
withdraw the sword.

No matter how good you are,
you won’t manage to handle this situation.

Karl quickly made a decision.

Gritting his teeth, he tried
to slow his sword.

Though he couldn’t stop the
attack completely, he aimed to avoid inflicting any severe harm on
me.

I knew you’d do that. I
smiled at him and took another step forward.

At the same time, I infused
divine energy into the end of my mace.

Not just any divine energy,
but the burning divine energy for [Divine Martial Arts].

Simultaneously, Karl’s sword
reached my forehead.

There was an impact, but it
wasn’t too severe.

This was partly because Karl
desperately tried to stop his sword and also because the divine
energy I had enveloped absorbed some of the shock.

As a sharp pain spread from my
forehead I unleashed my attack, it was clear I would end up with a
bruise, but so what?

More importantly, Karl’s
efforts to stop his sword gave me an opportunity to attack.

The technique I used to throw
the punch earlier applied directly to wielding the mace.

Rather than swinging it with
just my arm, I put the strength of my entire body into it, swinging
it forward. Despite Karl’s keen observation of my movement, it was
too late for him to swing his sword in response.

Instead, Karl decided to block
my mace with his sword.

This was all according to the
plan I had envisioned in my mind.

All I needed to do now was
deliver the finishing blow.

“Alright, Karl. If you can
block my attack without taking any damage, you win.

But that’s impossible!

Before, when I first resolved
to land a blow on you, I was weak.

I was just an arrogant kid who
didn’t even know how to properly swing a mace.

Even now, I’m still weak. But
I’m not as weak as I was back then.

I don’t know what kind of
power you’ve imagined my attack might have, but one thing I can tell
you for sure:

It will be stronger than you
expect.

My mace struck down upon the
wooden sword that Karl used as a shield.

Wow. This guy really is a
monster.

He’s trying to withstand my
attack with just his own strength?

An attack imbued with all the
divine energy I have left? I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the
sheer absurdity of his approach, which was far beyond common sense.

He’s really a monster.

But you know, Karl, even if
you are strong, that wooden sword you’re holding isn’t as strong.

Even with magical enhancement,
a wooden sword is still a wooden sword.

There’s a limit to how much
force it can withstand.

In that seemingly endless yet
somehow fleeting clash, a crack began to form in the middle of the
wooden sword, and then it split in half.

The mace that shattered the
obstacle continued toward its original target.

My aim was Karl’s abdomen.

Thud!

As my mace struck, Karl’s body
was pushed back and then lifted into the air.

Feeling the impact through my
hands, I was certain.

My attack had hit its mark.

Seeing Karl tumble through the
air, I let out a refreshing laugh and collapsed to the ground.

‘Yes.’

I had to pour everything into
a proper strike, given that half my energy was already spent testing
[Divine Martial Arts] in reality.

Thanks to that, my arms and
legs won’t move now.

I suppose I’ll have to stay
like this for a while.

Well. Still, I’m satisfied
because I managed to land a hit on Karl.

Now I can call him a sloppy
weakling who got beaten by his master.

Considering how many comebacks
are flooding my mind, I must have really looked forward to this
moment.

As I giggled stupidly while
gazing at the uselessly bright blue sky, a thought suddenly crossed
my mind, making me go serious.

Skills like [Divine Martial
Arts] or [Iron Wall] slowly increase in proficiency each time I use
them.

Then, doesn’t that mean the
proficiency for the [Mesugaki] Skill can also go up?

The fact that numerous
Mesugaki-style taunts come to mind as soon as I think about mocking
Karl, is that because the proficiency for the [Mesugaki] Skill has
increased?

Alert!

Super alert!

Yeah. If I think about it,
there are more than just one or two strange things.

For instance, these crude
words like sloppy or trash have become a part of my vocabulary.

Or how I’ve started to
mentally call out sloppy more frequently.

Or how my vocabulary naturally
becomes richer when I provoke others.

Am I slowly being consumed by
the [Mesugaki] Skill? Is that it?!

As I was trembling with the
shocking realisation, I heard footsteps approaching from beside me.

I didn’t have the strength to
turn my neck and see who it was, but I knew the person’s identity.

“Miss. You did amazing.”

It was Karl. Despite taking my
full-powered strike, Karl was smiling leisurely as if he hadn’t taken
any damage.

“It hurt just like when
we spar in the Allen Family. You’ve become so strong. As expected of
someone inheriting the blood of the Allen Family.”

I had launched that attack
believing that even if badly injured, he could be treated at the
Academy.

What? It just hurt? That’s
all?!

Although Karl probably
intended to compliment me, it felt like mockery to me.

It was like a villain in a
comic saying, Oh my, you managed to wound me. Impressive.

Ugh, Karl. Just wait and see.
You’re laughing and talking like that now, but it’ll get tougher and
tougher over time.

Because I’m a veteran of the
Soul Academy.

Someday, I’ll make you say,
This sloppy mutt can’t possibly beat Miss Allen.

As I thought that, I realised
I had mentally called him sloppy again and let out a silent scream.

I spent the rest of the day
agonising over the proficiency of the [Mesugaki] Skill, but
ultimately concluded nothing.

Is it even possible to not
increase the proficiency just because I don’t want to? Whenever I
open my mouth, the words automatically turn into Mesugaki language.

Unless I plan to keep my mouth
shut for life, as long as I’m alive, the proficiency of the
[Mesugaki] skill will inevitably build up.

Even if it weren’t mandatory,
I would still have to use the [Mesugaki] skill.

Except for having to speak
like a Mesugaki, the performance of this skill is overwhelming.

It has an absolute taunting
ability, a semi-forced anger debuff on the opponent, and on top of
that, my stats go up as my enemies get angrier.

I’ll face countless crises
worse than those I’ve experienced so far, so there’s no way I can
survive without the [Mesugaki] skill, right?

So, it’s unavoidable that the
proficiency of the [Mesugaki] skill will increase and that words like
sloppy and trash will stick in my mouth.

I’m a bit scared that later,
even if the [Mesugaki] skill disappears, I might still keep calling
things sloppy and trash, but what can I do?

Soon, I might even call
Grandpa a rusty old grandpa in my mind.

No, that might actually be
kind of fun.

Maybe I should call him that
for fun when we’re training in Practice Mode later on.

After pondering this deeply
and realising that thinking about it further would only lead to more
sighs, I decided to change my mood by going to the dining hall.

When you’re in a bad mood, you
have to eat something delicious.

Meat and sweet things are the
best when you’re feeling down!

‘…Grandpa, do you really
have to point that out?’

It’s a huge faux pas (tactless
remark) to ask someone who’s eating alone why they’re eating
alone.

Why are you, someone who knows
so much about social etiquette and all that, doing this to me?!

‘That’s true.’

The initial reason I ate alone
at the Academy was that there was no one to eat with me.

But things are different now.

Now, if I want to, there are
people who would eat with me.

Someone like Bisi or Avery
would have to follow my orders and join me.

Joy or Phoebe would leave
whoever they were originally eating with to join me if I asked.

Arthur is a bit uncertain.

Frey? She never listens to me
in the first place, so who knows if she will come or not.

And the perverted Fox… I
just can’t stand her. Watching her eat makes me truly feel like I
might get indigestion.

In summary, I’m in a position
where I can avoid eating alone if I want to.

Nevertheless, there’s one
reason I’m still eating alone.

‘What if they end up
disliking me?’

If the [Mesugaki] skill messes
up and lowers the affection level I’ve worked so hard to raise, after
putting my body on the line to do so, what would I do then?!

‘I know that too.’

But you see, if I start
criticising the way they eat, calling it sloppy and whatnot, even if
they don’t mind, I would feel uncomfortable.

I realised this last time
during a field trip when we had a meal together.

Instead of feeling uneasy and
reading useless signals during the meal, I prefer eating alone!

‘Quiet, Grandpa.’

After giving a light retort to
Grandpa, I waited for the ordered menu to arrive when I noticed
someone approaching me from afar.

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