episode_0181

Two days after attaching a fire spirit to Agnes and receiving a punishment-like skinship from Edan.

In the final class of Harold’s 2nd semester swordsmanship course, I stood facing Harold with tension, preparing for a sword duel with him.

Approaching the sword duel with him, which could be likened to the final assignment of this semester.

“….”

“….”

-Clang.

The sword master, holding only one sword handle in silence, fixed his gaze on me, waiting for my attack.

Despite it being a handicap match, there was still an unbelievable gap between a sword master and an academy student like me.

Moreover, unlike Harold, who had been living on swordsmanship his whole life, swordsmanship was not my major.

Although as a mage, it was possible to imbue the sword with stronger magic, overcoming physical limitations was still challenging.

I simply gripped the dagger I held a little tighter, seeing no openings in his stance.

‘…It’s okay, just stick to the practice.’

This was the final opportunity of the semester, the final duel.

The outcome of this match would determine the difference in grades for the 2nd semester.

Whether I could achieve an A+ in Harold’s “Applied Magic Swordsmanship” exam.

Of course, failing to get an A+ wouldn’t drastically lower my grades, but I still wanted to strive for the highest grade possible.

I had already confirmed in the previous semester that additional rewards varied based on academic achievements, so I wanted to win at least one match for the sake of stat growth.

…In a lifetime with only four years, I had to seize everything I could get.

“You may attack at any time, Relis.”

“…Yes, Master…Professor.”

“However, if you do not attempt an attack within a minute, I will come to you. I cannot spend time on just one duel.”

“…Understood.”

Knowing it would be much harder to counter Harold’s attack than to initiate one, I had to make the first move and utilize the new dagger technique I had learned.

“Dagger Slash: Increases the attack power of blade weapons immediately after the battle begins.”

The first-tier dagger technique, Dagger Slash.

I didn’t want to invest more in the dagger side, but I knew I couldn’t defeat Harold in the first place.

Hoping for rewards for completing the subject and grade evaluations, I rushed towards Harold with the new technique.

I also didn’t forget to apply a sharp blade buff.

-Clang!

My body, charging forward, headed straight for Harold’s lower body.

While aiming for the neck or heart would be more effective for a decisive blow, that was a choice for those with the ability.

For someone like me with short reach and a significant height difference with Harold, it wasn’t a suitable strategy.

The target was the abdomen or waist.

With the thought of stabbing his side or waist firmly in mind, I closed the distance with Harold.

First, I attempted to stab Harold’s throat with the blackwood-patterned dagger in my right hand.

-Aaargh!

“Kuh….”

Confirming my attack towards his waist, Harold calmly moved his sword to block the attack.

I didn’t expect a fatal blow from the first attack.

It was just an attack to counter one of Harold’s moves. Nothing more, nothing less.

Fortunately, the impact was partially absorbed, preventing me from losing the dagger in my hand. In that state, I proceeded to use the newly learned Vision Magic.

“Energy Bolt: Launches a medium-sized magical bullet at the enemy.”

Mana Blast and the principles were the same, but it was a type of lower magic that could be fired much faster.

Of course, the power was significantly lower compared to Mana Blast.

Still, it was not something that couldn’t cause damage if it hit properly. Even Harold had to choose whether to dodge or block.

And when three of these came flying at him at once, he had to block at least one or two with his sword.

Even in the hazy light where he couldn’t see with his own eyes.

-Identify!

“….”

With a momentary flash, a hazy, blurry light mist enveloped Harold’s body.

Three magical bullets flew towards him within that temporary blockage of sight.

If lucky, maybe two would flow into the trajectory correctly. Since the opponent was the opponent, he couldn’t directly cause significant damage.

After forcing Harold to block the attack with his sword, I prepared the next technique to knock him down immediately.

The rule of sparring in applied swordsmanship class was to use all available means to defeat Harold.

“Now, Sally! Say!”

“Take this!!”

A huge fireball flew from the hands of the high-ranking fire spirit, Sally.

Even though I had consumed about a quarter of my maximum mana, the size wasn’t that huge.

Since the contract with Sally was temporary, the efficiency wasn’t that high yet.

But it didn’t matter. With Say, even Sally’s mediocre power could be much more efficiently utilized.

“Ugh, hoo…!!”

I gathered my hands to my mouth and exhaled a fierce breath towards the direction where Sally’s fireball flew.

Sally’s fireball and Say’s auxiliary magic clashed in the air and were sucked into the hazy light.

Immediately after, with a quite noisy explosion, the inside of the light mist burst out loudly.

-Kwagwang!!

“….”

For now, the explosion itself seemed to have entered correctly without being canceled or blocked.

I probably wouldn’t die from this. Considering the opponent, he could withstand this level of explosion in terms of physical strength.

However, the question was whether my attack had hit Harold properly….

Since I couldn’t be sure of victory yet, I prepared the next technique in this state.

My heart became a little more urgent at Sally’s cursed muttering from the side.

“…Did I knock him down?”

-Tahk!

“Oh, no….”

The disappointed fire spirit muttered as she saw Harold reappear through the dust cloud of the explosion, splitting it with a sword.

I wanted to punch Sally’s mouth with my fist, but unfortunately, I didn’t even have the luxury to turn a blind eye right now.

In a hurry, I threw Seraphine’s dagger in my left hand at Harold rushing towards me with ‘Dagger Throw’.

-Swish!

“….”

Harold, as if dismissing any threat, slightly tilted his head and avoided the attack.

His body was only slightly dirty from the clothes he was wearing, with no signs of burning or scorching.

In the end, the recent explosion didn’t cause any significant damage to Harold.

“He’s not a real monster….”

How could he dodge and emerge unscathed from a follow-up attack that would turn most monsters into monster barbecue with just one hit?

The thought that he might have blocked it with his energy or mana naturally came to mind during the time my sight was blocked in the hazy light.

Harold, now exuding a terrifying presence to the point of being frightening, raised his sword against me.

Facing him, I tried to withstand him using auxiliary magic and dagger skills, but it wasn’t that difficult for him to overpower me, as I had almost exhausted all my trump cards.

-Kang!

“Argh…!”

-Kkaaah!

“Ugh, agh…!!”

In his right hand, the Blackwood dagger, and hastily re-gripped in his left hand, Riz’s stance.

After several exchanges, Harold accurately parried the weak points of my sword, leaving me with no more means of attack.

In a state that was practically a complete victory, Harold’s gaze quietly shifted towards me as the sparring came to an end.

“…Not a bad attempt.”

“…”

However, Harold’s expression as he turned back to say that it didn’t work on himself.

Well, if it had been a good attack, it would have been me who had taken the blow just now, not Harold.

Thinking that he had definitely subdued me, Harold continued to evaluate the battle we had just had as if he were finishing the sparring.

“Starting off with a defensive attack that forced you to block with your sword, limiting the opponent’s movements, and then immediately following up with the next attack.”

“…Yes.”

“I should have refrained from using the hazy light. Blocking the opponent’s view isn’t a bad choice, but it didn’t work on me. Once you reach this level, you can feel where the magic is coming from even if you close your eyes. Besides, you also failed to find my faint presence and missed a spell.”

…It wasn’t that I missed because my vision was blurred. It just missed because of a low hit rate.

Of course, I couldn’t just interrupt and raise objections to what the professor was saying, so I had to listen quietly.

“It seems like you have a pretty good affinity with the spirits. It must have taken quite a bit of practice to use linked magic with such precise timing.”

“Yes. And this semester, I also took a course on communicating with spirits.”

“It will probably be quite a useful skill in your life. If you can fight by distributing mana well with the spirits.”

“…Yes.”

Lowering the sword he held in both hands quietly, Harold slowly relaxed his tense posture from the sparring.

His final evaluation, coming from his mouth, was also nearing its end.

“Your swordsmanship has improved significantly compared to the beginning of the semester. Especially that attack you rushed in with at the start was the sharpest among all your sword strikes so far. …The swordplay in the final exchange was a bit disappointing though.”

Well, what can you do, the effect of the combo strike had ended. It couldn’t be helped. It was also a buff skill that couldn’t be used again during combat.

After that, Harold continued with various explanations and evaluations of my performance.

Listening quietly to Harold’s words, I secretly prepared for a slow final strike.

…To take advantage of Harold’s fatal mistake that he had overlooked in this sparring.

“So overall, I think your performance, Rilis, will probably be…”

“Professor Harold, before you evaluate my performance, I have something to say.”

“Hmm, what is it?”

“…The sparring isn’t over yet.”