episode_0041

“Captain-nim! It’s not over yet, is it?”

Idra approached Alicia, who was sitting alone in the spectator stands, and spoke to her.

“Idra, did you make that?”

Alicia kept her eyes fixed on the arena as she spoke to Idra.

What Alicia was referring to was the landmine Ropri had stepped on, which then exploded.

“I made it, but Loki Student-nim gave me the idea. He’s so adorable for thinking of something like that.”

“Considering you made it yourself, the power seems too weak, doesn’t it?”

Ropri was injured from stepping on the landmine, but not to the extent that he couldn’t move.

Of course, it was likely due to the artifact protecting him to some extent, but if Idra had truly put her heart into making it, it would have pierced through the artifact in one go and knocked Ropri out.

“Loki Student-nim requested it, you know? Not to make it too strong.”

“Loki did?”

Alicia didn’t understand what Idra said.

Was there a need to intentionally make it weaker?

“Loki Student-nim asked me to make it just strong enough to make it difficult for the person hit to regain their senses.”

Idra adjusted the power as Loki requested. As a result, Ropri was now struggling to regain his senses.

‘What was I hit with?’

He remembered something the guy threw exploding, covering him in light and sound.

And in preparation for the guy approaching and swinging his sword, he shamefully swung his own sword wildly.

He bought time by swinging his sword wildly, and when he could finally see, he opened his eyes. And that guy hadn’t even approached; he was just sitting on a chair, watching him.

That gaze seemed to mock him, so he charged to kill the guy, stepped on something, and an explosion occurred.

“Why aren’t you coming over?”

While he was thinking, the guy’s voice reached him.

The guy’s voice was full of laughter.

“I’ll kill you—”

Ropri was about to charge at Loki right then, but he flinched.

He was afraid another landmine would explode like before.

“Someone once told me, ‘What’s important for a Swordsman is their footwork.’”

Loki said to Ropri, who was flustered.

It was amusing to see the bug stand still, not knowing what to do.

It was indeed a good idea to ask Professor Idra to adjust the power.

Ending the duel by hitting him with a landmine would have been too merciful.

He still had many items prepared for the bug.

‘That’s why I couldn’t hold back my laughter earlier.’

He couldn’t help but laugh at the bug speaking confidently, unaware that Loki was intentionally prolonging it.

What was going to happen in today’s duel would follow that bug around forever.

“So, first, I’ll take away your footwork.”

Loki said that and extended his hand while sitting in his chair.

“What’s that?”

“Looks like a frog?”

A frog was sitting on Loki’s outstretched hand.

“Isn’t that a magic tool?”

A third-year mage noticed that the frog was a magic tool.

The frog on Loki’s hand opened its mouth wide.

Whoosh!

A tremendous amount of water shot upwards from the frog’s mouth.

The tremendous amount of water that shot upwards then fell downwards.

Splatter, splatter, splatter.

As a large amount fell onto the arena, the arena floor became soaked with water.

Ropri couldn’t avoid the water either.

Ropri’s head and clothes were soaked from the falling water.

But unlike Ropri, Loki’s hair and clothes weren’t wet at all.

“Looks like it’s raining. Since it stopped quickly, was it a shower?”

Loki, holding an umbrella, said leisurely.

“Oh dear! You’re all wet. You should always carry an umbrella. Should I lend you one now?”

Loki spoke to the drenched Ropri.

“You bastard!!!”

Ropri couldn’t hold back and charged at Loki.

In preparation for the landmines exploding, he blocked the lower part of his body with an artifact and reinforced his physique with mana.

Since he had reinforced his body with an artifact and mana, he was in better shape than when he was first hit. However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t injured.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As he kept stepping on landmines and charging forward, the defensive barrier created by the artifact also slowly began to crack.

“I didn’t expect him to charge so recklessly.”

Whoosh.

Loki said that and threw a dagger.

Ropri saw the flying dagger. It looked exactly like the dagger that had exploded with light earlier.

The vivid memory of light strong enough to blind him and a sound powerful enough to deafen him still lingered.

Instinctively, he closed his eyes, covered his ears with his hands, and cowered.

However, even after some time passed, he didn’t hear an explosion.

Feeling something was off, he looked forward and saw the dagger lying on the ground.

“I’m not foolish enough to use the same trick twice, you know.”

Loki said in a voice full of amusement.

Ropri realized he had been played.

“I will tear you apart and kill you!”

“But you know, I thought it would work on you, so I used it one more time.”

Screeeech!

“Aargh!!!”

A light and sound bomb exploded from the dagger belatedly.

Blinded by rage, Ropri couldn’t react.

“Then, shall we move now?”

Ropri covered his eyes with both hands and recalled what Loki had said.

That bastard said he would move. If he lost in this state and got expelled, the throne would surely pass to his younger brother.

Ropri shamefully swung his sword wildly again. He kept going until he could open his eyes.

As soon as he could open his eyes, Ropri immediately opened them to confirm Loki’s position.

Loki was sitting in his chair, tying his shoelaces.

“Oh dear, I apologize. I forgot to tie my shoelaces.”

“You fucking bastard!!!”

Ropri charged at Loki.

‘I will definitely kill that bastard.’

Because of that bastard, he had become a laughingstock in front of so many people.

“Isn’t this a bit scary?”

Thud.

As Ropri charged at Loki, a wall suddenly appeared, blocking his path.

‘Clearly fake. Does he think I’d fall for something like this?’

Ropri had investigated Loki to some extent before the duel.

He hadn’t found much, but he knew what Loki’s unique magic was.

Ropri was certain the wall in front of him was fake and charged, ignoring it.

Crash!

But the wall was real. Ropri crashed into the wall at maximum speed.

“Ouch! That looks painful just watching.”

Ropri endured the pain to somehow kill Loki, climbed over the wall, and charged.

Thud.

Once again, a wall appeared in front of Ropri.

Ropri leaped towards the wall, extending his foot to climb over it, but his foot passed right through the wall.

This wall was fake. Ropri lost his balance and stumbled forward.

“Pfft!”

Hearing the sound of laughter, Ropri instinctively looked at Loki.

“It wasn’t me who laughed this time.”

Ropri listened to Loki’s words and turned his gaze towards the spectator stands.

Several students were trying to hold back their laughter as they looked at him.

Some students couldn’t hold it back and burst into laughter.

Shame and rage enveloped Ropri as those bastards, who would easily be defeated by him in a direct fight, mocked him.

“You know, I’ve been practicing archery lately.”

Ropri, who had been glaring at the laughing students as if to kill them, looked back at Loki when he spoke.

Loki was holding a bow, aiming at Ropri, but his posture was awkward and clumsy, clearly looking like someone holding a bow for the first time.

Whiz.

The arrow, shot from his clumsy posture, didn’t even reach near Ropri.

“As expected, practicing for only three minutes before coming here doesn’t help much with accuracy.”

“Are you insulting me now?”

“Well, half of it is, yes.”

Loki shrugged and said.

“Just because an arrow misses doesn’t mean you should let your guard down, you know?”

Ropri, hearing Loki’s words, quickly looked at the fallen arrow.

But the arrow was just an ordinary arrow.

Whiz.

While Ropri was distracted by the already fallen arrow, Loki shot another arrow.

Clang.

But Ropri batted away the incoming arrow with his sword.

The arrow Ropri batted away fell straight to the floor.

“Is this all you’ve got?!”

“Oh, come on~ No way. I told you, didn’t I? Don’t let your guard down just because an arrow misses.”

Crackle.

Electricity was flowing through the arrow that had fallen to the floor.

Since the arrow and Ropri were separated, it shouldn’t have caused any damage.

However, due to the water the frog had sprayed earlier, the arena floor and Ropri were completely drenched.

Zzzzzzt!

“Aaaaaaaaaahk!!!”

Ropri took a few more hits from traps before finally reaching Loki.

Ropri was in shambles. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes were torn in several places.

“Now, there’s nowhere left for you to escape, you bastard.”

Ropri now pondered how he would kill Loki.

If they fought only with swords, without any traps, Ropri was confident he could crush Loki.

Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap!

Loki clapped his hands towards Ropri while sitting in his chair.

“Oh! It’s impressive that you made it this far.”

Ropri thought that relaxed appearance was just a bluff.

He was about to charge at Loki, who was sitting in the chair.

But Loki, chair and all, vanished from his sight.

“What?”

While Ropri was still trying to grasp the situation, a voice came from behind him.

“Then, please come back here again.”

Loki was sitting in his chair on the opposite side of the arena.