Ch.9191. Everyone Has a Plausible Plan

First, I needed to approach.

Since they were so obviously on the defensive, charging in recklessly seemed unwise, so I decided to slip around behind them.

With my excellent evasion skills now free of delay, I completely avoided their front line with its formidable defensive magic and large shield, and secured their rear position.

‘Wow, that’s insane. It’s way too fast.’

Not only had the evasion performance improved, but the delay was gone too.

The speed was incomparable to anything I’d experienced before.

Thanks to that ridiculous speed, I got behind them faster than they could respond.

“…!”

In this situation, Mitein, who had been hiding behind Latein, had no choice but to step up.

Realizing his rear was exposed, he hurriedly raised his sword and assumed a defensive stance.

Even in such a desperate moment, he prioritized defense—impressive in its own way.

But I already had a counter for such defenses.

Guard Break. As I swung my shield, a terrible sound came from Mitein’s sword.

Crack-!

Oh, that seemed like a clean hit.

Since this was just a training shield, it wasn’t too bad, but if I’d been using a high-quality shield like Mitein’s sword, it might have nearly destroyed his weapon.

Of course, I had no intention of using a high-quality shield for Guard Break, as breaking someone else’s weapon—especially a good one—would be quite troublesome.

Startled by the noise erupting from his weapon and the unexpected impact, Mitein stumbled back several steps. Latein, who had precisely caught this opening, stepped in and once again deployed his defensive magic.

Seeing this, I hesitated briefly before reaching out… and putting the defensive magic into my inventory.

BOOM-!

An explosion incomparable to when I had previously inserted Celia’s mana occurred.

It showed just how carefully Celia had used only a small amount of magic back then.

If Celia had deployed a large amount of mana at that time… the thought alone was terrifying.

Anyway, I had no intention of getting caught in the explosion like before.

As soon as I put the magic into my inventory, I quickly retreated with evasion.

Though it felt a bit tight, I successfully created distance before getting caught in the explosion.

It was actually quite a gamble.

I had simply experimented based on a sudden thought that “this might work.”

It was a sneaky move I tried because the delay was gone… and fortunately, it worked perfectly.

Meanwhile, Latein, startled by the explosion of his own magic, hid behind his large shield.

It must be frustrating from his perspective.

The defensive magic he cast suddenly exploded, yet the person who caused it was already far away, watching like a spectator across the river.

I could feel the confusion not only from Mitein and Latein but also from the audience in the stands.

This would probably be enough, but… I couldn’t stop here. I still had more things I wanted to test.

Before the twins could regain their composure, I closed the distance again.

Seeing me instantly reach the front, Latein seemed to judge it was too late to cast another spell and appeared intent on blocking my attack with his shield.

…Come to think of it, humans as a species aren’t particularly durable.

Even Alkine, considered the strongest in the academy, only has a toughness rating in the low 30s, and throughout the entire world, the highest toughness for humans doesn’t even reach 60.

Compared to the toughness ratings of defense-oriented monsters or demons, it’s ridiculously low.

That’s why people typically enhance their bodies with mana or, like Latein is doing now, cover their shields with mana to compensate for that lack of toughness.

And that’s been the problem until now—my attacks wouldn’t work at all against such defenses.

The cooldown for Guard Break had long since ended, but I decided not to use it this time.

Instead, I simply swung my sword and struck the center of the shield.

….

No sound was heard.

It seemed that even the sound effect of my strike was erased due to the snake attribute.

I hadn’t noticed until now since I hadn’t properly hit anything, but even this sound gets erased.

The judgment here is quite ambiguous. The sounds from parrying or guard break were perfectly audible, yet this one isn’t—quite strange.

Thanks to this, I could clearly hear sounds that should have been drowned out by noise.

“Ugh….”

A groan came from behind the shield.

This confirmed that damage was indeed being dealt just by my attacks connecting.

Considering he was in pain after I hit his shield, it seemed the penetration effect was applied as well.

Looking closely, it didn’t seem to cause visible wounds. Perhaps this was also some game-like judgment where damage was being dealt arbitrarily.

Whatever it was, it was certainly an absurdly overpowered ability.

What followed could only be described as a complete domination.

The twins belatedly realized the situation and began to attack urgently, but naturally, their efforts were futile.

If there was anything disappointing, it was that while they were attacking, they still maintained a defensive posture, so I didn’t get much opportunity to use parrying.

I should start with what I can do. While appropriately responding to Mitein’s attacks and Latein’s magic, I casually swung my sword.

Though I lacked sword expertise and merely grazed their protective gear or shields… that was enough.

With each grazing attack, their expressions contorted, and I could feel their movements becoming increasingly sluggish.

After some time had passed…

“Urgh…”

At some point, Mitein’s complexion rapidly deteriorated, and he collapsed to the ground, making me realize I’d gone too far.

The atmosphere turned cold, and I realized I had gotten too excited.

Perhaps it was because there were no visible wounds. I hadn’t considered how the damage was being inflicted or how powerful it was.

“You, damn… AAAAARGH!!”

But I couldn’t just stop here. Seeing his fallen brother, Latein charged at me in a frenzy.

A mage rushing with a shield—he seemed quite desperate.

Even for a mage, with specs at the level of second place, it’s quite threatening… but it’s still less impactful than casting spells, isn’t it?

Regardless, I had no intention of countering this with an attack.

Instead, I tried to deflect Latein’s charge with the parrying I had set aside earlier… ah, this isn’t a parryable pattern either.

It seems I’ll have to look into parrying separately later.

Regrettably, I used evasion to counter the charge for now.

Naturally, he charged again without stopping, and I evaded once more.

After several such evasions… Latein eventually collapsed from exhaustion, just like Mitein.

Looking at the two fallen figures, I pondered what to do for a while…

“Um… Celia? Could you bring Professor Reina here?”

Thinking that treatment should come first, I called for Celia.

Though the atmosphere was tense and the distance considerable, I wondered if she could hear me… but knowing Celia, she’d hear it just fine.

///

Ludion. The name of a first-year male student who had just enrolled… and a bothersome individual.

Normally, someone who was merely a first-year wouldn’t attract much attention.

At the very least, one would need to be a princess, or at the very minimum, a saint to receive proper attention.

Yes, that would be the case normally.

‘In his case… the people around him are far from normal.’

A mere commoner, yet strangely often seen with the princess and, from what I’ve heard, frequently with the saint as well.

A man who joined the student council immediately upon enrollment and, whatever he did there, now even has the student council president by his side.

Having only women around him wasn’t particularly strange in itself. I was quite popular myself, after all.

However, those women were exceptionally remarkable individuals.

The princess, the saint, and even the student council president.

And the student council president, while just that within the academy, is actually the daughter of the Northern Duke when you look deeper.

A commoner who attracts attention from those who should be receiving attention themselves. He couldn’t help but become famous.

Of course, I had no intention of looking down on him for being a commoner.

Skill isn’t determined by class, and he was a talent who had entered as Professor Reina’s direct assistant from the start.

While joining the student council could be attributed to him being a first-year with shortcomings, the position of direct assistant? That’s not a position given merely for growth potential.

Only truly useful individuals can step into that role.

I’m not sure if “being useful” is the right expression for a person… but honestly, I don’t know. I’m just repeating what I’ve heard from seniors.

Whatever the case, he was certainly not an easy opponent. Despite that, the reason I had brought things to this point was… because I had something I believed about Mitein.

The fact that he had never harmed anyone until now.

For whatever purpose, he had been remarkably consistent with all targets.

From the entrance exam to the midterm exam, and even in the recent duel with Senior Lias, he had never properly attacked anyone.

He simply overwhelmingly evaded and neutralized all attacks to subdue his opponents.

Of course, most of this was hearsay, and the only thing I had seen directly was the duel with Senior Lias… but even so, when similar stories keep overlapping, they naturally gain credibility.

Whether he lacked offensive means or had them but chose not to use them wasn’t clear… but I didn’t think he would suddenly show an attack he had never displayed before, especially after failing exams in the same manner.

So, we would thoroughly exclude offense and endure. If this strategy worked, it would be as good as exposing his weakness.

Targeting his inability to attack to tarnish his arrogant and insolent image and make him appear as an easy opponent—that was the only goal from the beginning.

Yes, everyone has a plausible plan.

Until they get beaten up by an unexpected situation.

“…!”

In an instant, he got behind me.

Ignoring the front where I was defending, he simply circled around to the back.

The reason I couldn’t respond to such a foolish, almost stupid action was… because it happened too quickly.

It was a speed that even the twins, who held the first and second ranks, would find hard to match.

‘This is absurd.’

Even those specialized in speed couldn’t show such movement.

To achieve that speed from a standing position? It was unthinkable.

If he had at least kicked the ground hard enough to create a crater, it might have made sense, but this man’s footsteps were incredibly light.

But… the response was quite excellent.

Thanks to the predictable and slow attack compared to the speed at which he took the rear position.

‘Is this all?’

Whatever else, his attacking movement was truly at a first-year level… and even then, it matched that of just average students.

So I had room for thought.

Block this attack, create distance again, and continue the defensive stance.

Now that I knew about his impossible speed, I could handle it better next time.

Mitein’s plan was immediately shattered the next moment.

Crack-!

“Ugh?!”

An unnatural sound erupted from the sword I had raised for defense.

Unable to withstand the impact that pushed my body backward, I retreated several steps.

…Had I just blocked something I shouldn’t have?

The question didn’t linger long.

What followed was even more incomprehensible.

‘This is impossible.’

I couldn’t counter.

No, every counter returned as absurdity.

If I blocked his attack, he struck with enough force to nearly break my weapon.

He made defensive magic explode on the spot.

No matter how much I attacked, he effortlessly deflected it and immediately closed in with bizarre movements.

And… the moment his sword grazed me even slightly, my life force was chipped away.

Wounds didn’t accumulate. On the contrary, my body appeared perfectly fine on the surface.

How should I describe this?

‘Driving towards death?’

It’s truly a strange sensation. The body hit by the attack is fine, yet one feels closer to death.

Isn’t this as if he’s a grim reaper governing death?

“…Wait.”

Such a thought suddenly occurred to me.

If this was the reason he hadn’t attacked.

If his attacks drove everything towards death, and he was trying to hide it.

‘…What have I done?’

Was it naive to think he wouldn’t use it?

Instead, I had given this monster a reason to attack.

I can’t win. The moment that thought crossed my mind, strength left my body.

Though there were no wounds, each accumulated attack brought equivalent pain, and now even breathing was a struggle.

I couldn’t control my body as it collapsed to the ground.

Perhaps the only fortunate thing was that he didn’t seem to enjoy taking lives.

Even if I closed my eyes here, I would wake up fine.

Though passing out was inevitable.

At the end of my fading consciousness, what I saw was… the princess in the audience, whom I had been constantly aware of.

She was looking at the man named Ludion with love.

‘Oh sh…’

Before the curse could be completed, Mitein’s consciousness was completely cut off.