Chapter 12 - Magical Beast Test (3)
The thod of attack wasn't about the ‘Mont of Decisive Battle.’ There was no need to use it, and it was much better not to reveal that skill in any form. It was literally my finishing move.
My trump card was…….
Wheeeeeeem-.
With a loud roar, a huge sphere of mana ford on the Living Armor's chest. The massive purple sphere of mana shimred as if a beam would be fired at any mont.
“No, just a little more…….”
Wheeeeeeeeeem-!!
“……Now!”
Exactly right before the beam was fired, I thrust my arm forward.
The opposite of the hand holding the sword, the left arm with the bracelet on it.
-You might wonder what happens if the bracelet gets damaged, but the monsters will avoid the bracelet when they attack you.
The test supervisor, Jenna's words, flashed through my mind.
And, with my right arm, I took a stance to thrust my sword, aiming for the core.
It was a decisive judgnt.
‘The monsters will attack while avoiding the bracelet.’
Jenna's seemingly passing remark had sparked an inspiration in Rain.
‘Then couldn't I appropriately thrust the bracelet at the monster to deflect the attack's trajectory?’
And to judge if that inspiration could lead to success, Rain had tested the possibility little by little during ten regressions. There was even a ti when he died absurdly because his movent got tangled while thrusting the bracelet in the middle of a fight……. but the results were clear.
Whoosh-!
The first ti he tested it was during the third……. so, the 203rd regression. He had used it while fighting the Owlbear.
‘The hypothesis itself has been proven.’
The theory beca reality. But perfectly applying this elent was another matter.
‘If the timing is too early, even if I extend my arm to the right position, it will attack another part of my body.’
‘Conversely, if it's too late, it will shatter my arm along with the bracelet. A unleashed attack cannot be taken back. Then there's no reason to extend my arm.’
Just before the attack was unleashed, to divert the attack to the desired trajectory, it was important to suddenly present it to the enemy.
To perfectly match the timing of the enemy's attack with the action of extending the bracelet.
As one could tell just by hearing it, it was close to the realm of acrobatics. Especially against the Living Armor, which fired its beam instantly after a certain charging ti, rather than the attack slowly approaching.
If the timing was off by just a little, it was clear that the beam fired from the Living Armor would blow away Rain's lower body.
But there were two factors that made it possible. And those two factors were Rain's combat sense, honed by dying 210 tis, and his knowledge of which made him aware of the Living Armor's exact attack ti.
In fact, even Rain himself felt like, ‘it would be nice if it works, but it's fine if it doesn't.’
Just reaching stage 8 with ten regressions was a big gain, but if he could cheese stage 8 using the bracelet, it would be an incredible outco.
Even if he failed, he thought it would be enough to just get a feel for the timing.
In other words, if it succeeds, it's a gain; if it fails, it's experience.
Either way, it wasn't a bad situation. To gain an advantage in that situation, a reasonable amount of luck was required…….
And Rain had just the right amount of luck.
In any case, through that process…….
Rain thrust his sword, and with a light sound, pierced the Living Armor's purple core.
Stage 8, the Living Armor, was cleared like that. I managed to deflect the beam's trajectory as much as possible, ending with just my left shoulder getting hit, and in the end, I broke the Living Armor's core.
As for stage 9……. I did my best but was eliminated.
The Gargoyle that appears from stage 9 is an interdiate-to-high-level monster. Needless to say, it was far beyond the level that an ordinary academy student could handle.
Out of 800 first-years, only about ten were able to break through stage 8. The fact that only three could break through stage 9, which was even higher, said it all.
That's not to say I was defeated helplessly. I stalled for as long as possible and grasped the Gargoyle's patterns. This experience would be a great help in the near future.
The reason I didn't repeat regressions to clear it was because there was no guarantee I would succeed in the preceding stage 8 again.
I had benefited from a bit of luck, after all. In other words, this was the peak of efficiency.
Anyway, as I was ejected into the waiting room for eliminated students, the nurous gazes of the Combat Departnt's Class B, who had been eliminated earlier and were waiting, focused on . Murmurs and whispers were a bonus.
Why is that failure coming now, could he have been holding out until now, did he clear past stage 6, no way……. It looked like they were having a whole festival by themselves.
“……Haa.”
As I quietly observed the farce that naturally drew a sigh, nurous gazes were fixed on .
Just as I was about to move away to avoid those unpleasant gazes.
Step.
A male student approached and stood before .
To describe him, the student exuded the aura of a beast.
An animal hide cloak worn over the academy uniform, dark gray hair, and a scar on his left eye that looked like an animal's claw mark.
In a way, he gave off a feeling of refusing to be tad by the conveniences of civilization.
“…….”
That male student, who was about a hand's span taller than , stood silently in front of and looked at .
-What is it, what's going on?
-Is a fight about to break out?
-Is it the barbarian and the failure?
Perhaps because of his uniquely intimidating appearance and gaze, the other students seed hesitant, but I could remain composed.
I knew that he wasn't being hostile to right now. Rather, he was feeling curious.
Coming out later than him ant he had achieved a better result than him.
If you were to ask how I knew that, the answer was simple.
‘Is that Khan.’
Because he was Khan, one of the playable characters in .
‘This is an event that used to happen when he wasn't a playable character in the ga. If you got a better score than Khan when taking the sa class, he would approach you like this. He had a habit of quietly observing anyone he judged to be superior to him, I believe.’
In , Khan had a gentle personality, contrary to his intimidating appearance. He was probably the easiest to win over among the regular characters.
His appearance was a bit beastly, but his heart was pure. I could probably treat him comfortably.
“Is there sothing I can help you with.”
After that thought, I calmly opened my mouth.
“…….”
“…….”
A silence flowed that might have looked like a hellish confrontation or a battle of wills to others.
To be precise, Khan was observing up and down, and I was waiting for him.
And after a mont.
“I want to test my skills against you.”
What ca back was such a belligerent statent.
“…….”
It was a very Khan-like first sentence. Especially his belligerent side that wanted to fight whenever he saw soone strong.
What happened after that? I couldn't just agree and fight right here.
“Since we are in a position to learn together, there will be many opportunities to compete in the future. Let's just get to know each other's nas for now.”
I swallowed hard. Honestly, it might have looked like I was running away……. No, I was running away.
And, to my words, Khan replied with a serious expression.
“That is also a valid point. My apologies.”
Phew.
Anyway, there was nothing much after that. I exchanged nas with Khan, was told by the test supervisor, Jenna, to wait until the next test, the sparring test……. and ended up with a lot of free ti.
Usually, at this point, other students would either talk with friends from pre-ford cliques or make new friends……. but of course, that didn't apply to . Who was I?
It was also a bit awkward to kill ti at the training hall, so I decided to just sit in a secluded spot in the examination hall and organize my thoughts.
About how I would win in the duel with Milo today.
‘Victory itself is important. But what's more important is the presentation.’
Although my stats had increased to so extent, by absolute standards, beating Milo was not an easy task.
Milo himself is classified as an upper-middle tier at the academy, a strong individual at the quasi-knight level. In terms of specs, I am at a disadvantage.
Well, it's not like I think I'll lose, though.
But the bigger problem was the thod of victory.
What was my original purpose? Wasn't it to show an overwhelming performance in this test and acquire the status of a promising knight candidate?
If I win against Milo in an ordinary way, I'll just be treated as a so-so upper-middle tier student.
But if I win overwhelmingly, the story changes.
‘I must leave a strong impact.’
To put it simply, using ‘Mont of Decisive Battle’ would be easy, but I wanted to win without showing my hand as much as possible, not knowing where an adversary might be.
And the way to do that……. well, I had already prepared it.
My observation of Milo yesterday wasn't just for killing ti.
Just as my thoughts were slowly getting organized, I felt sothing lightly land on my shoulder.
To be precise, it was the sensation of a slender hand.
And at the sa ti, a voice was heard.
“Oh my, did you get ho safely yesterday?”
It wasn't difficult to recognize the owner of that voice. It wasn't a familiar voice, but it was so sweet and enchanting that it was unforgettable.
I calmly turned my head to look at the owner of the voice.
And there stood a girl with straight white hair and burning purple eyes.
The First Princess, Regina Eliade Abellon.
“Thanks to you, I got ho safely.”
I couldn't think of anything else to say, so I replied like that, and Regina answered with a laugh as if she had heard sothing funny.
“Fufu, thanks to ?”
“……I wasn't quite sure how I should answer.”
“Aha, that's right. You did have a period of seclusion, didn't you, Rain-ssi?”
In truth, I was just awkward with this style of conversation because I ca from the modern era……. but it was fortunate that it could be explained that way.
But that wasn't what was really important.
“More importantly, is it alright for you to speak to like this.”
“Hng?”
Regina expressed her doubt at my words, and I answered by gesturing with my eyes towards the other seats in the auditorium.
And, where my gaze was directed, other students were sitting, looking this way with puzzled expressions.
“Why is the princess with a guy like that……?”
“Isn't he trying to act like a servant?”
“But the House of Enlight is part of the prince's faction.”
It was a natural reaction. The princess of the empire and a despised illegitimate child having a friendly chat. There was no way anyone would accept that naturally.
“I fear that casually exchanging words with soone like might tarnish Her Highness the Princess' dignity.”
Following my gaze, Regina slowly scanned the students and……. opened her mouth.
“Well, let's just say it's a preemptive asure to get rid of any miscellaneous bugs that might get attracted, shall we?”
“To keep the pests from being attracted, you say?”
The answer that ca with a still triumphant expression was quite puzzling.
And at my question, Regina smiled once more.
“You put quite a lot of effort into this sparring test, didn't you? To prove yourself. For instance, by announcing a nomination spar with the young master of the Gloss family?”
I had a rough idea from what she said last night, but had it already reached her ears? A word without feet travels a thousand miles, but this was certainly fast. She probably had her own information network as a princess.
“The result isn't out yet, but if the 'proof' is successful……. wouldn't bugs be attracted to the flower, aiming for the honey?”
I see. Regina was thinking about what would happen after the sparring test from the beginning. About what would happen after I successfully completed the sparring test.
And those words also ant that Regina had no doubt in my victory.
“Even though the blow to your reputation would be significant if I were to lose.”
In a way, this attitude of Regina's was close to a gamble.
Just being close to , who had a poor public image, would damage her own image, but if I were to lose on top of that……. wouldn't she be branded with the image of a princess who was so cornered that she had to associate with a loser?
But Regina's face was confident, as if such a possibility was not even in her considerations.
“So, are you going to lose?”
To the provocation that ca from such a confident face, what could I say?
“Of course not.”
I just stated the plain truth.
“That's how it is, Rain-ssi. You wouldn't want to say my judgnt was wrong, would you?”
“……Haha.”
I let out a small, dry laugh. Maybe I was relieved because she was exactly as I had thought, and as I had seen in .
Confident and dignified, never losing her smile in any situation.
“Ah, and if you wish to be with ……. you'll have to fix that way of thinking a bit.”
And Regina, who was watching my laughter, walked in front of and made a playful expression.
“What way of thinking do you an.”
“Shall we say, the way of thinking that minds the gaze of the crowd?”
“……You're talking about what I said earlier, about how being with might not be seen favorably by others.”
But I still didn't quite understand, so I tilted my head slightly.
“Rember this, Rain-ssi.”
As if reading my expression, Regina playfully poked my forehead with her index finger.
“A monarch is not one who is swayed by public opinion, but one who makes public opinion their own.”
…….
Indeed, Regina Eliade Abellon was……. a person with a way of thinking far greater than I could have imagined.
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