Lakar’s Growth

***

The triathlon was over. Now, the only official event left in the second semester was the promotion exam. I participated in the triathlon and, thanks to my joint victory, I’ll receive bonus points on the promotion exam. Whatever the details, the fact is I produced a result.

When I arrived at the classroom, there were fewer accusing glares than I expected. I was kind of hoping someone would call me out for ruining the race… but it seems they’ve decided to treat me like I don’t exist, as usual.

As soon as class ended, I headed straight back to the clubroom. It’s practically a routine. The academy is vast, but my radius of activity is extremely fixed: the combat department classroom and the clubroom. Leaving the main building is only for special occasions.

From the moment I woke up in bed today, I had this cool feeling like a thorn that had been stuck deep in my temple for a long time had finally been pulled out, and I was strangely full of energy. Because of that, I had this weird urge to push my body to its limits.

I hadn’t been able to challenge the Trial Room because I was participating in the triathlon and being dragged around here and there. If I feel this light today, I feel confident that I can break through the second trial that I’ve repeatedly failed.

When I arrived at the clubroom and was about to head straight into the cave beyond the closet, Lakar stopped me, saying, “Club leader, can I talk to you for a minute?” I hadn’t had a one-on-one conversation with Lakar like in the old days recently, so I gestured to the sofa, thinking the conversation would be long. But contrary to my expectations, Lakar shook his head.

“Let’s talk in front of the Trial Room.”

The location of the conversation didn’t really matter, so I nodded, feeling a little nervous. Could it be a conversation that the club members shouldn’t hear? All the academy’s classes were over, but the club members hadn’t returned yet. Maybe the topic of the conversation is Lakar’s personal worries. I might have to play the awkward role of club leader. First, let’s listen carefully and answer sincerely.

I passed through the cave beyond the closet and headed to the temple. There’s a wooden chair that Kane made himself in front of the huge door leading to the Trial Room. As I sat down, Lakar cleared his throat once and opened his mouth.

“Actually, I already passed the second trial a few days ago.”

I was relieved internally by Lakar’s words, which were different from my worries, but a question remained. Considering the flow of the story, it was worth asking a question.

“A few days ago? Then why didn’t you say anything? The other members don’t seem to know either.”

Lakar scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile at my question.

“I didn’t want to bother you, club leader. You had to focus on the triathlon.”

Lakar is a really good friend. If I had to pick someone to have my back at the academy, Lakar would be my first choice. Luna would be matching bellies, not backs… Maybe it’s because the important event of the triathlon is over, but I feel like I have more random thoughts than usual. I shook my head to shake off the random thoughts, then smiled and said.

“Thanks for always being so considerate.”

“It’s nothing, really. Anyway… I want to show the club leader how much I’ve grown during the summer vacation. More than words, let’s do it with this, after a long time.”

I raised one corner of my mouth at the sight of Lakar smiling with a sword in his hand. The diligent Lakar must have trained hard even during the vacation. Seeing that he passed the second trial faster than me, I must say that he has definitely made tremendous progress.

But I’ve also worked hard during that time. It was rare to end training normally instead of passing out. The calluses on both palms prove it.

I took out the Spear of Destruction from the spatial storage. Lakar, who realized the meaning, nodded with a satisfied expression.

***

Lakar even wore armor, as if he was serious about the sparring match. Lakar, who looked sturdy beyond being reliable, was holding a black shield that I had never seen before. Lakar, who noticed my gaze staying on the shield, said.

“I got it from my father after passing the training.”

I see. I nodded and warmed up by throwing the spear I was holding in one hand and catching it with the other. I was happy to be able to freely use spatial magic after a long time.

“Then let’s start.”

At my words, Lakar lowered the visor of his helmet. The breath flowing out between the air holes sounds quite threatening. Lakar, holding his sword, approaches me little by little. If it were the old days, I would have blocked Lakar’s approach with spatial magic and poured out unilateral attacks by controlling the distance using spatial magic. Lakar is also aware of this and is approaching me step by step.

I used that point in reverse, lowering my center of gravity and rushing towards Lakar without any hesitation. Lakar, surprised by the unexpected rush, pressed his left arm holding the shield against his body.

The first is a light feint.

Kang-!

The center of the spear that bounced off the shield was tilted downwards. Using that, I turned my body as if rotating and aimed for Lakar’s lower body with the back of the spear. Lakar, who pulled his leg back to avoid the continued attack, missed the timing of the attack. Without missing the chance, I quickly unleashed a three-hit combo, extending my left foot forward.

Kangkangkang-!

Lakar has some of the best reflexes among the people I know. His instantaneous judgment and response are excellent, and I was often able to learn a lot from sparring with him. But Lakar is still an incomplete student. Sparring with the perfect physical type Lykan taught me about speed and momentum.

He reflexively raised his shield to deflect all the attacks, but as a result, Lakar’s posture was completely broken. I aimed for this from the beginning. I put strength into the spear and thrust it forward. Lakar raised his shield to defend and curled up his body with all his might.

Kang-!

“Keuk…!”

Lakar blocked the spear blade with his shield, but he couldn’t block it completely because he slightly twisted the direction at the moment of thrusting the spear. It was an attack that cracked the pauldron of the armor. Lakar, who groaned, calmly stepped back.

But he couldn’t escape from me, who is practically unrestricted in distance in a one-on-one situation. I create dimensional exits at the recognized spatial coordinates and pour out continuous attacks. It’s a fatal attack that aims for the vitals one by one without any disturbance in breathing. Lakar is barely blocking the attacks with his sword and shield, but his breathing and posture are disturbed, and his stamina consumption is greater than mine, who is pouring out attacks.

I am clearly different from the old days when I fought haphazardly. The training I received from Lykan during the vacation focused on maximizing the advantages of the spear, controlling distance, and using spatial magic to create variables. The simple attack pattern has also made tremendous progress. I finally mastered 19 attack patterns.

I added speed to the attack. Also, just by creating a dimensional exit behind Lakar’s back, Lakar couldn’t easily counterattack. It’s too risky to swing a sword while excluding the attack from behind. Given Lakar’s tendency to lead the flow of battle to his advantage using his sword and shield, he will never be able to exclude the dimensional exit behind him.

Shuuk-!

The spear cut through the air. Lakar, who rotated his body using his knees touching the ground as if dancing a waltz, rushed towards me. I recovered the spear I had put into the dimensional entrance and deflected the sword that Lakar swung menacingly with magic power. The moment the sword and spear imbued with magic power met, a roar echoed.

Kwang-!

The spear and sword rose above our heads while touching each other. Lakar swung his shield towards my empty body. But the distance was not enough for the shield to reach my body. Thinking about that, I heard something creaking in my ear as I took a half step back to maintain my center of gravity as much as possible. My intuition is screaming like crazy.

―――!

Lakar’s purpose in swinging the shield was not just to feint. A line was drawn in the center of the round shield, and it transformed into a sword. The range of the attack increased more than I expected. Lakar’s sword rushes towards my abdomen.

Kang-!

I would have suffered a fatal wound if I hadn’t prepared in advance as my intuition warned. I created a dimensional entrance right in front of the spear that had come to mind, and I was able to block the sword by creating a dimensional exit in front of my abdomen momentarily.

Lakar’s eyes, visible through the helmet, widened as if surprised that I had reacted to his hidden trump card. I smiled and recovered the spear from the dimensional exit, and at the same time, I created a larger dimensional entrance than usual behind my back. Lakar swung his sword once again to regain momentum, but the sword passed me by because I moved my body as if falling backwards.

At the same time, I eliminated the dimensional entrance I had created in the air a moment ago, and instead created a dimensional exit in its place for my body to escape through. I twisted my body in the air as I was pulled by gravity and accelerated, and then slammed the spear down on Lakar. The power is transformed into a powerful blow by adding speed.

Kwang-!

The shield that had become a sword returned to its original form and blocked the attack. But it seemed that he couldn’t absorb all the impact, and I could see Lakar’s left shoulder twitching. As soon as my feet touched the ground, I dug in to attack Lakar. I can feel it. Lakar is not keeping up with my attack speed.

I breathed a little faster and increased the speed of thrusting the spear. It’s a simple repetition of thrusting, but it has the advantage of not requiring large movements like swinging a shield or sword. It was a very efficient attack for depleting stamina.

“Ha――!”

As if trying to change the situation, Lakar took a step into my spear’s range with a shout. It was his intention to approach me by taking advantage of the short gap in the moment of recovering the spear. I changed Lakar’s intention into a mistake just by stepping back slightly.

Lakar reflexively pulled his head back at the Spear of Destruction that suddenly popped out from under his feet. But no matter how good his reflexes are, it happened after he recognized the attack with his eyes.

Tung-!

The spear hit Lakar’s helmet. The visor fell off, tattered from the impact. Lakar’s senses are messed up by the all-around attack that can fly from anywhere at any time. That was why I had no choice but to be unilateral in a one-on-one situation.

Lakar, who took off his helmet, wiped the sweat from his forehead. With a small sigh, Lakar gave a bright smile.

“As expected of the club leader. I don’t think I can ever win with ordinary methods now. I didn’t know it would be this hard to even approach…”

I scratched my eyebrow, feeling awkward for no reason at Lakar’s appearance of sincerely rejoicing in my growth.

“At this rate, I think I can use it without worry. My trump card.”

“I thought the shield that turns into a sword was your trump card.”

When I threw that joke, Lakar grinned.

“I told you. I got this thanks to passing the training. I haven’t shown you the real result of the training yet.”

With those words, Lakar untied his armor. As if that wasn’t enough, Lakar even took off his top.

I’ve trained with him several times, so I’ve used the shower room together a lot. So the changes from before were too noticeable.

“Looks like it was quite a harsh training…?”

His whole body is full of scars. Moreover, not only are there scars, but there was a tattoo that didn’t suit the diligent Lakar. Looking closely, the letters of the tattoo looked like runic characters. Lakar stroked the tattoo with his finger and warned me.

“I’ll warn you in advance. I can’t handle this technique perfectly yet. I might lose my mind. So you’ll have to run away on your own.”

I smiled and held up my spear at Lakar’s appearance pointing to the door to the Trial Room.

“Show me. The results of your training.”

At my words, Lakar transformed his shield into a sword without answering. As Lakar, who was dangling two swords, pulled up his magic power, the tattoo reacted to the magic power and emitted a red light. Somehow, I feel like his eyes have also turned a little red. Lakar, who was exuding an ominous aura, suddenly shouted loudly.

“I am Lakar―!!!”

With a fierce cry, Lakar charged. Lakar, who approached with a speed that made me feel like he had disappeared from my sight for a moment, swung his sword menacingly at me like a madman with his enemy in front of him, without even thinking of dodging my attack.

“W-wait a minute…! Wait, you crazy bastard…!!! This is sparring…!”

Lakar didn’t seem to hear my urgent cry, and swung his sword with a smile on his face.

“Die, die, die…!!!”

Lakar’s saliva splattered on my face.