episode_0097

Loki’s weapon, pulled from subspace, looked like a staff, but it was a sword-stick that could become a sharp-ended sword whenever Loki wished.

“Everyone knows, right? Even though it looks like that, it’s a sword.”

“Of course. We won’t be careless anymore.”

“I’ll clearly show you the difference between a second-year and a first-year.”

Of course, no one in the academy was unaware that the staff Loki carried was a sword.

Naturally, Daron’s subordinates also knew about the sword-stick.

“Pffft! You’re not going to be careless anymore?”

A voice full of ridicule was heard by Daron’s subordinates, who had just steeled their resolve.

They looked in the direction of the sound and saw Loki, twirling his staff with one hand.

“Anyone would think the reason you haven’t landed a single hit on me until now is because you were careless. Hehehe.”

-Thud!

One of Daron’s subordinates, provoked by Loki, kicked off the ground and charged at Loki.

The speed of his body, enhanced by an artifact, was on a different level compared to before.

Daron’s subordinate swung his greatsword at Loki, imbued with that very speed.

“Try dodging this one too!!”

The greatsword tore through the air, heading towards Loki’s head.

Clang!!!!!!!!!!

Contrary to the man’s expectation that he would dodge again, Loki did not avoid it. Instead, he swung his sword-stick towards the greatsword aiming for his head.

As the greatsword and Loki’s sword-stick clashed, a resounding sound echoed through the academy grounds.

“Sorry, but my strength is far superior!!!!!!”

The man, speaking with a smirk, tried to overpower Loki with brute force in that position.

But the smirk on his lips, his confident expression, began to crumble without a trace after a short while.

‘I’m being pushed back by strength?’

The man started sweating profusely as he was pushed back in terms of strength, even after using an artifact.

Seeing the annoying way Loki had continuously dodged his attacks until now, he had thought he would definitely win if it came down to a test of strength.

“I didn’t quite catch that, could you say it again? Who did you say was stronger?”

Moreover, contrary to his own image of pushing with a greatsword held with both hands, Loki was pushing back the greatsword with his sword-stick held in just one hand.

His pride, self-esteem, honor, mental fortitude—everything began to shatter.

He had even abandoned his pride and borrowed an artifact to maintain his grades.

As the man’s resolve wavered, so did his greatsword.

Loki didn’t miss that opening and struck away the greatsword.

-Thwack.

As the greatsword fell to the ground, the man’s body was left defenseless.

‘If I stay like this, I’ll be stabbed!’

The sword-stick jabbed his solar plexus, but it didn’t feel like being stabbed by a sword. It felt like being struck by a massive blunt weapon.

“Cough!”

The man collapsed to his knees from the impact felt in his solar plexus.

“Ugh-aack!”

“Even so, I can’t really swing a sword at my senior, can I?”

As he knelt there, vomiting, a mocking voice came from above.

The sword-stick was far tougher than any ordinary famous sword, and if Loki wished, it could become sharper than any famous sword.

However, if Loki didn’t wish it, the tip wouldn’t sharpen, and it would remain just an incredibly tough staff.

“If I leave you like this, you might attack me again, so I’ll ‘reluctantly’ have to subdue you.”

The man, sensing an ominous feeling, tried to surrender, but Loki swung his staff faster.

-Thwack!

-Thwack!

-Thwack!

Loki began swinging his staff at the man who had collapsed to his knees.

“Gah!”

Every time the staff swung, a scream escaped the man’s lips.

Loki’s hand stopped only when no more sounds came from the man’s mouth.

“Beating up a fallen senior, no, ‘subduing’ him, makes my heart ache a little. Hahahaha!”

A man who had been watching Loki beat up his comrade, biding his time, began to move.

‘Now’s my chance.’

The man, holding two daggers, concealed himself with an artifact.

He then approached Loki from behind, making as little noise as possible.

Loki, seemingly unaware, was tapping his fallen comrade with his staff, muttering, “Is he still alive?”

‘I’ll finish him off like this.’

The man, having gotten behind Loki, swung his dagger without hesitation, but.

-Whoosh.

Loki was no longer where he had been just moments ago, and the man’s dagger cut through empty air.

‘When did he move? I didn’t sense anything!’

An ominous voice came from beside the bewildered man.

“If you’re going to hide yourself, you should do it a bit more convincingly. It was harder to pretend I didn’t notice than to actually notice.”

Loki was someone who habitually concealed himself with illusions more than anyone else, and often got scolded by Professor Alicia for it.

Such a shoddy concealment was completely perceptible even without actively trying to sense it.

Loki’s fist connected with the man’s face faster than the man could turn his head to the side.

“……………”

The man collapsed to the ground without even a scream.

“””………………..”””

Daron and his subordinates finally realized that something was seriously wrong.

They had all come together to exert pressure during the negotiation, but this much wasn’t enough.

To catch Loki, they should have brought several times more people.

“No way! Surely! Really! I’m just curious, but you’re not going to be scared and not come forward after all that talk, are you?”

Following that, the man confident in his fists was knocked out by Loki’s punch, and the woman confident in her bow was defeated by Loki who pulled out a bow from subspace.

“Hmm. About half left, I suppose? Come on, everyone! Work harder! Otherwise, you’ll be abandoned by your master, you know?”

Loki, who had subdued more than half of them in an instant, looked around at the remaining people.

As the woman who had just used a bow fell, struck by a bow, Daron’s subordinates also realized something.

“That guy is currently toying with us by fighting us in the very areas we’re confident in.”

When facing an opponent confident in strength, he used strength. When facing an opponent confident in speed, he used speed. When facing an opponent confident in sniping, he used sniping.

As if to show the difference in skill.

He was crushing their spirits with both his words and actions.

Daron’s already defeated subordinates were bound with strings in a pathetic state.

The remaining people had no more will to fight.

The only emotion left was fear.

“Toying with you? I didn’t particularly intend to. It feels like I’m being misunderstood, I might cry.”

“I’m so sad,” Loki said.

“This isn’t toying around; it’s an experiment.”

An experiment to test the rapidly growing body due to the mask.

And while experimenting, he also got to relieve some stress.

Above all, Daron must definitely be beaten up.

“You might get hit by me, and I get to hit you. Isn’t that a win-win for everyone?”

Despite Loki’s provocation, Daron’s subordinates didn’t get angry or excited, not because they were calm, but because they lacked the courage to charge at Loki.

“Even so, wouldn’t magic be difficult for him?”

“Th-that’s right! He said he couldn’t use magic!”

Daron’s subordinates were trembling in their voices, though they weren’t even aware of it themselves.

The thought of winning no longer existed for them.

Their goal, unbeknownst even to themselves, had shifted to simply not getting hit by Loki.

“If you can hold out as long as possible, I’ll ca-cast a spell.”

“You want me to hold out against *that* guy?!”

“You’re the tank!

“Ah, alright.”

A man with a different shield than before was pushed forward.

The shield looked good, but the man’s expression was not.

“Haaah~~ How much longer do I have to wait?”

While Loki yawned as if bored, the woman also closed her eyes and began to chant.

“Water, gather in my hands…………..”

The woman’s voice trembled, but due to the artifact, the power and speed were incomparably strong and fast compared to before.

“You got faster than before, though.”

*Slam!*

When the woman finished her chant and opened her eyes, what she saw was the man lying on the ground, his shield shattered.

As the woman watched with trembling eyes, Loki also looked at the dozens of water arrows the woman had created.

“Hmm~ Ahahaha! Thinking of Clara-ssi’s magic, it feels somewhat cute.”

The woman, trembling, unleashed the water arrows at Loki.

But Loki easily dodged all of them.

He had once dodged multiple fires created by Clara during the practical exam, and even one of those fires would be stronger than all these water arrows combined.

The woman’s mana was rapidly depleting, but Loki had no intention of getting hit.

“And I clearly said earlier, didn’t I? That I can’t use magic?”

Anxiety arose in the woman’s mind upon hearing Loki’s words.

No way, is he going to use magic here too?

“O, blazing flame.”

That madman really began to chant.

Flames gathered in his hand and began to grow.

Even his chanting was much faster than hers, and the mastery of the magic was excellent.

“Does it still look like I can’t really use magic?”

“Wa-Water Shield!!”

The woman hastily activated a defensive spell.

Water Shield.

It was weak against physical attacks but effective against fire magic, and with the aid of the artifact, it could now block most fire magic.

Loki threw the flame in his hand at the woman.

*Whoosh.*

The woman saw the incoming flame and used more mana to strengthen her Water Shield, but for some reason, just before the fireball touched the Water Shield, it transformed into a sword-stick.

“Cough!”

The woman was hit by the sword-stick, unable to dodge it, and fainted.

“Ding-dong-ding! That’s correct! Actually, I can’t use magic at all.”

* *

Sepia stared with dazed eyes at Loki, who had easily subdued all of Daron’s subordinates and was now approaching Daron.

-Thud thud.

“Why on earth are you doing all this!!!!!”

Daron, who had been backing away from Loki, now yelled at Loki as he sat slumped on the ground.

Sepia quietly listened.

For once, her thoughts aligned with Daron’s.

While it was satisfying to see Daron like this,

there was absolutely no reason for Loki to fight.

No, there were many reasons why he shouldn’t fight.

Fighting itself was a loss.

But Loki turned his head without answering.

“……………….”

Though it shouldn’t have been possible due to the mask, Sepia somehow felt as if she had made eye contact with Loki.

“Sepia-ssi.”

“……Huh?”

“How are you feeling right now?”

“……Good.”

The guy who had been cursing, harassing, and constantly bringing up the village’s tragedy was now trembling.

Of course, she felt good.

“That’s enough.”

Loki said that and began walking towards Daron again.

“…………………..”

It wasn’t because the sun was strong. She wasn’t sweating. She wasn’t tired. There wasn’t a fire spirit nearby.

Nor was her head aching.

Her face felt like it was burning, about to burst.

No matter how much she fanned herself with her hand, her face remained hot.

“This is just because it’s satisfying to see that bastard Daron getting what he deserves. Yeah. That’s it. It’s definitely not anything else.”

Sepia began muttering excuses, not even sure to whom she was speaking.

“Huh? What did you say, Sepia-ssi?”

“Nothing!”

Loki shrugged his shoulders upon hearing Sepia’s words, then stopped right in front of the trembling Daron.

“Wait………”

-Wham!

Daron tried to say something upon seeing Loki, but Loki bringing his staff down on Daron’s head was faster.

“Ah! You should have said something a bit sooner. Seeing that disgusting face, my hand just moved on its own, you know?”

Loki lightly kicked Daron, who lay motionless on the ground without even a scream, and scratched his head.

With this much commotion, the student council would surely come.

Thinking of the student council coming, a famous Korean proverb, known to anyone living in Korea, came to mind.

“Crayfish side with crabs [a proverb about siding with one’s own kind], and the student council president is on my side.”