End of Exam

I placed my bracelet against Lakar’s. As we had agreed beforehand, we divided the score in half fairly.

,I didn’t really do much…’

I smiled silently at Lakar scratching the back of his head with an awkward expression.

The truth was, I did everything, but Lakar was my club member and a friend who trusted and followed me.

That alone is enough.

,I cooperated with you because I wanted this from the start.’

Lakar looked puzzled.

,The Messiah Club now has the top and second-ranked fighters, right?’

At my words, Lakar checked the score and nodded.

,I guess so.’

Even though we would lose all points if we failed the exam. The last points we had became our grades.

We earned a huge score by annihilating the monsters at the foot of the mountain, creating a massive point difference with third place.

Even after deducting the theory scores, it was clear that we would secure the top two spots.

I sighed at Lakar, who still couldn’t hide his apologetic expression.

,Lakar, if you haven’t done anything yet, you can show it now.’

,Huh…?’

I deliberately provoked Lakar, who asked back with a blank face. I felt like this would ease his burden a little.

,Fight me and win. That’s all you have to do.’

I raised the corners of my mouth at Lakar, who still had a stiff expression, and added.

,If you’re thinking of slacking off now just because you think you haven’t done anything, I might be really disappointed.’

After hearing my words, Lakar was silent for a long time. Eventually, he roughly wiped his face once and nodded vigorously.

,I have no intention of looking down on the club leader. You’re saying all that, so I can’t disappoint you. Sorry, but I’ll have to take the top spot.’

I shrugged with a bright smile at Lakar, who was finally smiling playfully.

,It won’t be easy. I’m only saying this now, but I’ve already passed the first trial.’

,Already…? As expected, the club leader is amazing.’

Lakar, holding his sword and shield, stretched his body and distanced himself from me as if preparing for a sparring match. Narrowing his eyes and glaring at me, he seemed truly determined.

With a satisfied smile, I pointed the Spear of Destruction at Lakar.

A spear needed to maintain distance, but I was a little freer from such restrictions thanks to space magic.

Whether close or far, within 50 meters, it was within my attack range with space magic.

And Lakar had already experienced that enough.

As I sensed the surrounding space, Lakar raised his shield and charged at me, trying to close the distance.

He knew better than anyone that the more distance there was, the more disadvantageous it would be for him.

I waited for Lakar to approach, then shortened my grip on the spear and swung it to maintain the distance.

Tang-!

Lakar immediately deflected the attack with his shield and thrust his sword in with terrifying momentum, but this was an action that had already been calculated to be blocked.

I had created a dimensional entrance in advance in the trajectory of the spear that had bounced off the shield.

At the same time as deflecting the sword that was thrust at me, I threw the spear I was holding, took the spear out through the exit, and greatly rotated my body to swing the spear widely.

Lakar momentarily twisted his body to the side at my sudden counterattack, barely managing to block the attack. Lakar leaned back to regain his balance, creating distance.

I slightly bent my legs, preparing to stab the spear at any moment, and caught my breath.

Lakar was far from the typical sword and shield style. He had neither a heavy shield nor sturdy armor.

He wore light armor to maximize mobility, a round shield in his left hand, and a slightly short two-handed sword in his right hand.

Using Lakar’s surprisingly excellent reflexes. The quick offense-defense transitions based on mobility made the opponent’s hands dizzy.

As if wielding dual swords, even the shield was used as a weapon to block the opponent’s attacks.

He relentlessly pushed the opponent without giving them a chance to respond, waiting for the opponent to counterattack to change the situation. It was a combat style that created openings by deflecting attacks with the shield.

But in a situation where my spear could fly from behind at any moment, that method was too risky to face me.

Knowing that, Lakar closed the distance, but he was cautious, saving his shield to block the spear that could target his back at any time.

I deliberately created dimensional entrances around me as if warning of attacks. Lakar was the one who was impatient, not me, who could target his back at any time.

At that sight, Lakar’s eyes gleamed behind his shield. As if understanding my intentions, he diligently turned his eyes, and I smiled and immediately launched a barrage of attacks towards the dimensional exit.

Spear blades pouring out from unpredictable angles.

Twisting his body and using only his reflexes to deflect the spears flying from behind with his shield and sword, Lakar charged at me.

At that sight, I didn’t get impatient and thought of the next move. Lakar, who had to close the distance, would somehow come within my range.

I was in an advantageous position where I could simply stab the spear from this spot and calculate the next move.

I relentlessly adjusted the dimensional exit to prevent Lakar’s approach and launched attacks. Eventually, Lakar came right in front of me.

Evading the spear I reflexively swung, he swung his sword greatly at me, whose movements had become larger from swinging the spear.

However, I had already thought of the next move long before Lakar approached. The dimensional entrance I had set up earlier remained in the trajectory of Lakar’s swinging sword.

Simply by adjusting the position of the dimensional exit as planned, Lakar was attacked in the back by the sword he had swung.

Lakar’s artifact, which had been green, turned yellow. Lakar, belatedly realizing this, pulled the sword out of the dimensional entrance.

Although he had fallen into my trap, Lakar’s expression as he looked at me was full of enjoyment, just like mine. Our first meeting, where he couldn’t withstand even a single blow.

Now I had grown to the point where I could calculate moves in a split second, predict the opponent’s attacks, and create a framework for battle to achieve victory.

As Lakar stepped back with his shield raised, I rushed at Lakar to pressure him this time.

If I maintained the distance and tightened Lakar’s breath, I would definitely win, but for some reason, I had a desire to show Lakar how much I had grown.

As a friend, as a club leader. I wanted to show my growth to Lakar, who trusted me.

To give him no respite, like Lakar’s method, I began to swing the spear and push him relentlessly. The practical combat with Rakunta was really helpful to me, who didn’t have a separate spear technique teacher.

Even though Rakunta grumbled like Rotten, he gave me advice during the battles and corrected my spear techniques.

The Trial Room was not a room for pain, but a place to learn and overcome trials. Rakunta was a good teacher to me.

While relentlessly swinging the spear, I used space magic in between to strike Lakar’s body with attacks that were out of sight.

But Lakar defended against the relentless attacks without wavering, reading my attacks with unwavering eyes.

Arms, legs, chest, thighs. The spear that emerged from the dimensional exit stabbed Lakar’s body in various places.

Lakar, who was busily moving his hands to block the attacks, momentarily allowed an attack on his thigh.

Seeing him lose his balance because of the attack, I immediately created a dimensional exit behind Lakar’s back and launched the final blow.

I expected that this attack would be the final blow, seeing the artifact that had been attacked on the thigh turn red.

But Lakar, as if he had been waiting for me to do so, twisted his entire body, using his right foot as a stepping stone, in the same posture as when he had lost his balance.

The Spear of Destruction grazed Lakar’s shoulder as he quickly turned his body back, and Lakar thrust his sword into the dimensional exit.

As Lakar’s sword that had emerged from the dimensional entrance touched my chest. With a heavy pain, the artifact instantly turned red.

Looking at Lakar in the face of the unexpected counterattack, Rakunta’s figure overlapped with the grin on his face.

The way he used my space magic in reverse to attack. Lakar didn’t know Rakunta’s method, but he instinctively read my attack and allowed the attack on his thigh to induce the blow from behind.

A battle of wits that took place in a short time.

I wasn’t the only one who grew in the Trial Room. Lakar was still an opponent I couldn’t let my guard down against.

Looking down at the artifact that had turned red, I smiled at Lakar.

,The one who succeeds in attacking first wins.’

At my words, Lakar tightened his grip on the sword he was holding. His eyes were full of heat as he looked at me.

,I’m going.’

,Alright.’

Without anyone saying who would go first, we rushed towards each other.

***

Lakar was similar to Rakunta. The reflexes to avoid the spear targeting his back, the quick judgment of the situation.

But Lakar was still a lacking first-year student. Unlike Rakunta, Lakar couldn’t withstand the attacks using several spears from the space warehouse, and in the end, he couldn’t avoid the spear that fell from above as I intended.

As planned, I, who had become the first place in the survival exam, was immediately moved to the underground auditorium with Lakar.

As Lakar and I appeared in the auditorium, the underground auditorium, which had been noisy to the point of being deafening, fell into silence as if sound had disappeared from the world.

Preparing myself for everyone in the auditorium to start criticizing and pointing fingers at me, starting with someone’s shout, I took a deep breath and steeled my heart.

I was prepared to be cursed at, so there was no fear.

I could just listen with one ear and let it out with the other, putting on a brazen face.

But for some reason…. No one was criticizing me. No, rather than criticism or anger, they were looking at me with a strange gaze that I couldn’t understand.

Just as I was feeling strange, Lykan’s voice suddenly rang out.

,The first-year survival exam is over. Wait in the dormitory while resting until further notice.’

At Lykan’s words, the students began to rush out of the auditorium. They glanced at Lakar and me, but no one spoke to us.

They even turned their heads in surprise when they made eye contact.

Not knowing why, Lakar and I looked at each other with blank faces at the sight of them being wary of us, then shrugged and returned to the dormitory.