episode_0046

Mark and Lopel, who simultaneously charged towards each other, with Mark, who possessed overwhelming talent and skill, naturally making the first move.

Lopel, the mage, instead of widening the distance, charged forward, and his movements were faster and bolder than expected, causing Mark to flinch in surprise, but he soon targeted the opening of Lopel charging in with quick reflexes.

And towards that spot, he swung the Serion family’s treasured sword, a two-handed sword of considerable weight, lightly yet sharply as if handling a one-handed sword.

This was to leave a large gash on his body, as planned initially.

Mark soon anticipated the effeminate scream of the man before him that would echo in the empty sub-space.

Clang!

But what reached his ears was not a painful groan but the cheerful sound of steel clashing and rubbing against steel, echoing loudly.

It wasn’t that Mark’s actions were slow or that he made a mistake by underestimating Lopel too much.

His attack just unleashed was indeed a meticulously planned preemptive strike, aimed at Lopel’s empty body while narrowly avoiding the path of the mace he was swinging.

However, Lopel, with incredible reflexes, changed the direction of the mace he was swinging and instantly accelerated rapidly, deflecting Mark’s sharp preemptive strike.

Lopel’s movements didn’t end there.

Maintaining the posture with which he had parried Mark’s greatsword, he thrust his shoulder forward and tackled using his sturdy body.

Mark, too, staggered from the impact and his legs wobbled without being able to regain his stance, and he soon discovered the mace flying towards his face.

He quickly drew his head back to evade, but a thin scratch ended up appearing on the bridge of his nose.

“This bastard…!?”

And without time to be astonished by this, Lopel’s leg soon flew towards Mark’s knee.

Mark, who was in a posture with his waist and head drawn back, was attacked on one knee and soon found himself in a state where he could fall over at any moment.

He somehow regained his posture and quickly took a stance to swing his greatsword in order to overturn the current situation.

What soon filled Mark’s vision was a red-lighted orb of intense heat flying from Lopel’s hand.

Lopel, while delivering a low kick to break Mark’s posture, had simultaneously finished casting the fireball in advance.

Upon discovering this, Mark, from the posture of swinging his sword, belatedly set the sword vertically and blocked the high-temperature fireball with the back of the blade.

However, perhaps because he raised his guard too late, he couldn’t properly absorb the sudden impact and was soon pushed back with a searing, burning pain felt at his fingertips.

“Khhuk…!”

Without even a moment to lower his greatsword and secure his vision, Lopel’s mace came flying at him again at high speed.

Lopel, while casting flame breath behind himself with one hand to gain propulsion, rapidly closed the distance towards Mark and simultaneously swung the mace with that force.

Not stopping there, he used the inertia from swinging the mace to rotate his body and changed the direction of the flame breath magic, which he had been casting backward for propulsion, directly in front of Mark.

As a result, Mark’s body was instantly engulfed in a tremendous amount of hot flames.

“Khuhuk…!”

I can’t let the pace keep getting dragged like this.

Mark instantly re-gripped the greatsword with one hand.

And, anticipating the position of Lopel who was closing in on him again, he quickly threw a punch targeting his flank.

“Kuk…!”

It was a surprise strike, so it hit directly, and Lopel let out a small groan.

Of course, he didn’t stop his right hand swinging the mace because of that, but in the meantime, Mark, who had regained his stance, could lightly block it with the greatsword held in one hand.

It was an opportunity!

Mark, riding this momentum with the thought of landing a blow, swung his sword again.

However, this time, as if knowing the trajectory his sword would take, Lopel ducked his waist, burrowed in, charged with his elbow, and struck Mark’s solar plexus.

“Khak…!?”

He swung the greatsword held in one hand to try and create distance from Lopel, but he soon charged closely towards him again.

And only when he was soon exchanging difficult blows with him, engaging in combat, could he calm down a little.

“Damn it…”

It’s an unexpected situation.

Lopel Teufel, if the pre-investigation was correct, he should definitely be a nobody with mediocre physical skills and magic.

In fact, even now facing him, I don’t feel any special monstrous strength or vast amount of magic power from him.

But conversely, his combat experience and sense are considerable.

Moreover, I don’t know where he gets his endless stamina, but he’s constantly pushing me without rest.

And he seems to understand the Serion sword style to an unusual degree.

Is it because Seraphina helped him?

No, simply sparring with her shouldn’t make him grow this much.

….

I had no expectations for today’s sparring, thinking I might just sweat a few drops, but I never expected to struggle this much.

Furthermore, though shallow, I unexpectedly ended up bleeding.

At this point, I started wondering if I was having a bad nightmare.

I don’t even need to look far; didn’t I overwhelm that Seraphina Serion just yesterday?

Although weaker than myself, she was also a strong person whom I acknowledged in my own way.

And this bastard Lopel in front of me, I heard before that his skill wasn’t enough to beat Seraphina, so it should be normal for him to be easier to deal with than her.

But why, why on earth am I struggling this much?

A degree of unpleasant irritation and anger surges up.

In that collapsing dungeon, I desperately obtained the artifact and gained an absurd amount of luck.

It was inevitable that numerous attractive women and high renown would follow.

In this world, I am the protagonist, and my path should be a smooth one.

But for that to be blocked by just, this kind of bastard!

…Damn it, what’s the point of thinking like this now.

I didn’t want to use it fighting just this kind of bastard… but I guess there’s no other choice.

I was just thinking of unilaterally harassing him, but if it turns into a battle of endurance like this, I won’t be able to hold out either.

Mark swung his greatsword in a wide circle around himself, stepped back, and widened the distance from Lopel.

And assuming a strange posture, kneeling while keeping his waist straight, he plunged his two-handed sword, that is, the Serion family’s treasured sword, into the ground.

Thereupon, the brilliant decorations on the greatsword began to emit an even greater bright light.

Following this, repulsive energies gathering around Mark could be observed even with the naked eye.

I don’t know what he’s doing, but I can’t leave him be.

Lopel, realizing that the opponent in front of him had something planned and having no intention of just watching, immediately charged in.

Just as he was about to swing the mace held in his right hand towards Mark’s skull, with some instinctive sense of threat, he ended up holding the mace in reverse and moving its direction to his side.

CRASH!

Along with a roar, the sound of metal being crushed echoed.

Mark, who had been standing in a posture with his greatsword plunged into the ground just moments before, had unleashed a sword strike of speed invisible to the eye.

Due to the tremendous impact as much as the speed, Lopel could confirm that his mace had been slightly bent.

“You blocked that?.. You’re lucky.”

“…What did you do?”

“Ha, you finally opened your mouth.”

“….”

“Well, alright, I’ll answer you specifically.

The Serion’s treasured sword isn’t just sturdy and sharp; that’s not all there is to it.

If you pour magic power into it, it draws out the user’s potential to its limits, proportional to their talent.

Though I didn’t expect to have to use something like this against the likes of you.

Since it’s turned out this way, I’ll show you something else.”

As Mark raised one hand and gestured in the air, a magical form soon appeared.

“I have quite a few talents, not just swordsmanship.”

Soon after, a faintly wavering flow of magic power was felt.

Magic power in the form of smoke, extending from Mark’s hand, rapidly advanced towards Lopel.

He instinctively swung his mace to intercept the magic power flying towards him as an attack spell and cast Dispel, but strangely, those faint black light smoke didn’t disappear.

“It’s different in class from the magic you use; I learned it from none other than the Magic Tower Master, Shangri Kshatri.”

Soon, a massive barrier of black light began to form around Lopel.

It was in the shape of a small sphere, just large enough for one person to barely fit inside.

Since it wasn’t within touching distance, Dispel was impossible with Lopel’s skill level.

And beyond that, not only could he not see, but he also couldn’t hear any sound, falling into a state of complete isolation.

Lopel, in the darkness where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, looked around and felt that the situation was going wrong.

“…This is your doing. I was just going to lightly injure your arms and legs, but you’ve really angered me.

I’ll make you unable to stand up for several months, no, several years.”

. . .

“Huff… huff… Where… Where is he? Lopel… Where on earth are you?”

Seraphina was in the Academy Sparring Exam Entrance Hall, that is, the building where numerous portals for individual exams were gathered.

The reason she was profusely sweating cold sweat and looking around there was naturally to find Lopel Teufel’s sparring space.

While she was worried about his condition facing Mark, it was also because for some reason, she felt she absolutely had to watch his sparring with her own eyes.

But there was something strange.

No matter how much she searched, she couldn’t find a portal leading to the sub-space where Lopel would be sparring.

Sub-spaces where sparring is in progress basically prohibit entry from others, but they don’t forcibly block it.

This is to prepare for accidents such as collapses occurring within the sub-space or return magic not working for severely injured students.

That is why all portals leading to sub-spaces have observation magic inscribed on them for safety accident prevention reasons, before spectators’ entertainment, and.

Even if sparring is in progress inside by anyone, the design is such that finding the portal is not difficult.

But the sub-space for Lopel, which she was currently searching for, was different.

Even using the small runestones inscribed with search magic that allows querying sub-spaces where sparring is in progress, she absolutely couldn’t find it.

Once she started getting closer, at some point, the signal would cut off.

It was as if someone was deliberately making it impossible to find Lopel’s sparring space.

“Ah… Lopel… May you be safe…!”