Chapter 109: Whip (7)

When I sliced open the Bondage Master’s belly, a thrill of victory coursed through my veins.

As I withdrew Wolffang, feeling the exhilarating sensation of severing his spine, the Bondage Master’s body split in two and fell limply to the ground.

It had been a razor-close fight. Without the doping drug, even my Baldo technique wouldn’t have stood a chance.

‘That’s one down…’

It was just the first, but at this rate I’d take down all the remaining possessed and prove once and for all that Baldo was supreme.

Renewing my resolve, I shouted into the air.

“Did you see that, you bastards?!”

I wasn’t certain, but whoever sent those whips must have been watching this fight too.

Pointing at the sky in what I hoped was the right direction, I yelled at those unseen observers.

“You’re next! I’ll cut you down just like this, so wait your turn!”

[Master, who are you talking to?]

I sheathed Wolffang and made my way down, stepping on the floating debris in reverse of how I’d climbed up. I landed on the ground, dodging the erupting rocks.

The seemingly endless rock eruption gradually subsided, then stopped completely as if doused with water.

“Phew…”

After confirming the eruption had stopped, I found a suitable spot and braced myself for the impending side effects, realizing considerable time had passed.

‘What? You’re asking about side effects? Hehe… You’ll find out when you try the drug yourself!’

The fact that she deliberately avoided explaining suggested the side effects were either trivial or excruciatingly painful.

At the time, I thoughtlessly dismissed it since I didn’t plan on using it right away. But how idiotic not to even check the side effects of a drug you might ingest.

“Wolffang, if I collapse, please support me.”

[Collapse? Master, why would you collapse?]

“That’s because—ugh!”

Mid-sentence, I felt the familiar metallic taste and sensation of fluid running from my nose. I quickly checked to find an endless stream of thick blood pouring out.

‘A nosebleed…’

Continual bleeding like this could be dangerous, but compared to the drug’s potency, this side effect was practically nothing.

As I turned my head carefully to avoid staining my uniform, my vision suddenly turned red.

“…Huh?”

With that dumbfounded utterance, I staggered like a drunk with a shredded inner ear before collapsing to the ground.

The stench of blood from my nose grew stronger by the second, and like a canary in a coal mine, I immediately recognized this as a danger sign.

“M-Master!”

Wolffang, now in human form, cried out with a face contorted in shock.

“A-Are you alright?! Blood is gushing from your face!”

“My… face…?”

Ah, so it wasn’t just my nose bleeding, but every orifice on my face?

‘So that’s why my vision turned red…’

As I started to think I might actually die here, I managed to pull myself together and slowly raised my body, bracing against the ground.

“Ugh… urrrgh!”

With every movement, pain surged through my body as if my heart was being forcibly squeezed to expel blood.

Supported by Wolffang, I barely managed to stand. Placing a hand on my chest, I used energy manipulation to slowly stabilize my heart and the blood coursing through my body.

After some time passed and my body stabilized, the familiar skill window appeared before me, filled with its usual nonsense.

[Baldo Art: Eight Shaku Leap.]

[Grade: S]

[A technique that accelerates eight times by stepping on obstacles or footholds, surpassing the speed of sound to strike the enemy. If it were a thrust or downward strike instead of Baldo, it would have split a forest in two by maximizing that speed.]

[You have successfully acquired a derivative skill of a higher grade than the base skill.]

[The grade of Baldo Art increases.]

[The grades of derivative skills that were restricted due to insufficient base skill grade increase.]

[Baldo Art] [Grade: S+]

[A technique that instantly draws a sword from its scabbard to strike the enemy. Hey… couldn’t you just fight normally for once, as a favor?]

“Heh, bullshit…”

Even if the sky split in two and my body was torn to shreds, I would never abandon Baldo, the supreme sword technique.

I dismissed the skill window with my hand, filled as always with nothing but nonsense, and spoke to Wolffang.

“Wolffang, quickly turn back into a sword. We still have one thing left to do.”

“One thing? What do you mean?”

Instead of answering, I pointed at the dark clouds visible in the sky above the Academy, even from this distance.

The sky above the Academy was divided between crimson clouds that seemed to contain fire rather than rain or lightning, and blue clouds that looked freezing cold just to look at.

One was obviously the cloud Marina created, so the other must have been from that wizard I saw before coming here.

That puppet presumed to be an Archwizard that I left behind to rescue Jessica—now that I’d dealt with the whips, it was his turn.

“Master, what nonsense are you spouting? How can you fight in that condition…?”

I smirked and pulled out a vial of luminous liquid from my breast pocket to show Wolffang.

“It’s fine, I still have one left.”

“…Huh.”

Apparently impressed by my foresight, Wolffang could only gape in silence.

Now that I’d rested enough, it was time to head back to the Academy and finish the job. As I took my first step, sheathing Wolffang who had returned to katana form—

Clop-clop, clop-clop.

Hearing the familiar sound of hoofbeats, I turned to see Jessica and Silence approaching, Jessica’s face flushed as if to say ‘I’m angry right now.’

“Ian! There you are! Hurry and—!”

Jessica couldn’t finish her sentence, staring at me blankly with trembling eyes as she saw my blood-soaked state.

“I-Ian! Your body…!”

“This? It’s nothing. More importantly, Jessica, you’ve arrived at just the right time.”

I mounted Silence, gripping the reins, and my body pressed against Jessica’s as she sat in front.

After cutting down nothing but hard men, the contact with a soft body felt somewhat healing.

“Come on, let’s go quickly! We might miss them if we’re late!”

“M-Miss what…?”

Instead of answering the slightly stammering Jessica, I pointed to the sky above the Academy.

Seeing the two dark clouds covering the sky, Jessica finally grasped the situation. She turned to me with sharp eyes and spoke in an accusatory tone.

“Are you insane?! You’re going to fight whoever made that in your current condition?!”

“Hey now! How often do you get the chance to beat up an Archwizard? Silence, let’s go.”

“Silence, stay put.”

I scoffed at Jessica ordering Silence around as if she were the owner.

No matter how well Silence followed Jessica, I was clearly the real owner. There was no way he’d ignore my order and follow Jessica’s instead…

“What’s this? Why aren’t you moving?”

“……”

Silence simply turned his head away as if he hadn’t heard me at all, stubbornly refusing to budge.

“Hey, you want to get butchered?”

“What kind of vile joke are you making to your own mount right now?!”

“…It’s a joke for now, but it might become reality if we don’t get moving soon.”

This was no joke—it was dead serious. Was there really any value in keeping a horse that wouldn’t obey its master?

“Move right now. Or I’ll really cut you down.”

“……”

Even after that, Silence still wouldn’t budge. As my patience wore thin and I reached for the sword hilt, Jessica turned and grabbed Wolffang’s hilt first to prevent me from drawing.

“…Jessica, are you crazy?”

“…Y-You’re bleeding so much, how could I possibly let you go?! Even if I have to get cut by you here, I absolutely won’t let you leave!”

“……”

As I stood there, unable to move forward or back, one of the dark clouds that had filled the sky above the Academy slowly began to dissipate.

Eventually, one cloud vanished completely, leaving only the cold blue cloud to cover the Academy skies.

“Ah, shit…”

“Silence, it’s okay to leave now.”

At Jessica’s command, Silence finally started moving. Seeing this, I sincerely wanted to butcher this damn horse.

—Raei  Translations—

[Doctor, it’s over. We can return now.]

[I see. Then I’ll begin the return process now.]

After ending the communication, I looked up to see Marina’s face, panting from the long battle.

The mana emanating from her body suggested she could fight for several more hours, but her physical stamina seemed to have reached its limit.

This was a common tendency among mages who spent more time at desks than on battlefields.

“I don’t know if there will be a next time, but if we meet again, I hope you’ll have built up some stamina by then.”

“Hah… What? Are you trying to run away because you’re starting to struggle?”

“That kind of provocation only works if you consider the opponent and the situation. Saying such things while gasping for breath just looks pathetic.

Well then…”

Despite my words, she seemed to inherently understand how much stronger I was, as she made no move to pursue even after withdrawing her magic.

“……”

As I activated the transfer magic, I looked in the direction of the Baldo House where, according to plan, the Baldo prodigy should have fought the whip’s possessed.

This disappearing act of mine was surely the most infuriating situation for him right now.