Ch 65
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 65
The duel location didn't need to be far away—we decided to use the duel arena in the basement of the association, so I took the elevator down to the second basement floor with Kim Dae-chan.
"Even now, if you apologize and ask for forgiveness, I could let this slide."
"I'm fine."
It's not like a cat is looking out for a mouse, and now pretending to be considerate with such talk is a bit disgusting.
When I applied for the duel, there was only one thing I was worried about.
Kim Dae-chan's strong pride might make him refuse to accept the duel.
He might refuse, thinking that competing with me, an A-rank Hunter, would be beneath his status.
In reality, at first he laughed as if it was absurd and asked if I was serious, so I thought he was going to refuse and was surprised, but when I said I was serious, he thought for a moment and then accepted the duel.
The condition I set for when I win was that he wouldn't force or pressure Se-jin in any way to let her do all her training on her own, but the condition Kim Dae-chan proposed was my resignation.
He said that a rude and impolite teacher like me wouldn't be helpful to his daughter or other students, so I should quit school.
I had set a condition purely for Se-jin's sake, but resignation—the cost-benefit didn't match at all, but I thought if I objected he might refuse to go through with it, so I had no choice but to accept.
Anyway, if I win, that's the end of it.
"Let's go in."
I followed Kim Dae-chan who was walking ahead into the duel arena.
The duel arena looked similar to the magic duel arena at school, but the scale was much larger.
However, there were no people except for three who appeared to be staff members, probably because it was 5 o'clock now and operating hours would end in an hour.
"Director, you've arrived? I'm Park Won-il, the duel room management team leader."
"Yes, Team Leader Park. Did you receive the contact?"
"Yes. I received the contact from the secretariat. Um, by any chance, are you personally going to duel, Director?"
"That's right. You can serve as the referee."
"Ah, understood. Is this person your opponent? According to regulations, the opponent also needs to be registered..."
"Yes. What do I need to do?"
"Please sign here and could you show me your Hunter license once?"
I signed the documents the staff member handed me and gave him my Hunter license.
The procedure wasn't too complicated, so I was able to go up to the duel arena quickly.
They said the preparation time would take a bit, so I did some light stretching to warm up my body, and before I knew it, a transparent barrier had formed around the duel arena.
"The setup is finished, would it be okay to start right away?"
"I don't mind."
"I'm fine too."
"Then we'll start right away."
The staff member serving as referee raised his hand and signaled the start.
"I'll yield the first attack."
What an arrogant expression—I wonder how long he'll be able to maintain such composure?
I nodded once in agreement and immediately threw my sword.
He seemed to panic slightly since he didn't expect me to throw my sword from the start, but he lightly twisted his body to dodge my sword.
"This is ridiculous. A swordsman throwing his sword from the start, what are you trying to... Huh!"
Because Kim Dae-chan dodged, my sword that was flying toward the wrong place changed direction and flew toward Kim Dae-chan again.
The target was his thigh.
He seemed to have no idea this would happen.
Still, perhaps because he was an S-rank Hunter, he managed to dodge, but he couldn't dodge perfectly, so the edge of his clothes was slightly cut.
But unfortunately, it seems like it only grazed his clothes since I don't see any blood.
"Didn't that person's Hunter license say he was a swordsman?"
"It did, but how is the sword floating like that?"
The staff members below were murmuring in surprise as they saw the sword still floating around Kim Dae-chan.
"Are you controlling the sword with magic? You use an interesting technique."
Whether he was conscious of the murmuring staff members, he spoke as if he was calm, but his face was rigidly hardened unlike before.
"Then did you think I threw my sword without any thought?"
I considered attacking a few more times, but since he reacted and dodged even when he didn't expect it, it would probably be hard to get results now, so I called my sword back.
There was no need to insist on using Igi Eo Geom, which consumes a lot of internal energy.
"Since I yielded the first attack, now it's my turn to go."
A blue aura rose from Kim Dae-chan's sword and completely enveloped the blade.
The only thing that can counter Aura Blade is Aura Blade, so I also created sword energy.
"Wow! It's an Aura Blade!"
"Huh? That person's sword, isn't that also an Aura Blade?"
"Hey, don't you know that only S-rank Hunters can use Aura Blade?"
"No. I heard that there are people who can use techniques similar to Aura Blade even if they're not S-rank Hunters... Maybe that person is one of those cases?"
"Even so. You can imitate it, but it won't work against the real thing, right? Just looking at it, Director Kim's side has a much deeper and brighter color."
Again, I could hear the staff members murmuring, but they're talking without knowing anything.
Even if not as much as Igi Eo Geom, Aura Blade is also a technique that consumes quite a lot of internal energy.
So the more accustomed one becomes to Aura Blade, the more they create Aura Blade with minimal internal energy, which makes the color of the Aura Blade fade and the light weaken.
Just because the color is faint and the light is weak doesn't mean it's not Aura Blade.
Kim Dae-chan quickly approached and swung his sword filled with Aura Blade.
PWOOONG! PWOOONG!
I didn't dodge either and met his attack head-on.
Since we were both using Aura Blade, when our swords clashed, explosive sounds erupted like we were bombing something.
Following the first attack, he pressed on relentlessly, and his speed alone seemed much faster than the Vice Principal I fought last time.
Of course, the Vice Principal had absolute superiority in strength.
But it wasn't to the degree that I couldn't react.
It was faster than the Vice Principal's level to begin with, but compared to my master whom I've sparred with the most, it wasn't that fast either.
Decisively, while Kim Dae-chan's swordsmanship wasn't without different aspects, it had quite a few similarities to the swordsmanship taught at school.
I responded to irregular attacks by matching the speed, and for attacks using swordsmanship taught at school, I applied Breaking Form techniques and met them with my sword without dodging even once.
After about 30 exchanges, Kim Dae-chan's expression grew increasingly rigid.
And rightfully so, since he hadn't succeeded in landing a single effective attack.
Just when I was thinking 'Is this all there is? How disappointing,' Kim Dae-chan, unlike his pattern so far, thrust his sword out greatly once, then used the recoil from my block to create distance.
"Are you already tired?"
This wasn't baseless provocation.
Kim Dae-chan's sword energy had become fainter in color and dimmer in brightness compared to the beginning, while my sword energy remained unchanged from the start.
"Nonsense. You don't seem to be all talk, so I'll face you seriously from now on."
As soon as he finished speaking, he charged in again, and his speed had definitely increased a bit compared to before.
The attacks were also irregular attacks, not the swordsmanship taught at school.
But I still didn't feel they were threatening.
***
When he ignored my words to leave and mentioned Hunter methods while applying for a duel, I thought he was joking.
I couldn't understand what kind of nerve a rookie who just became an A-rank Hunter had to apply for a duel with me.
When I asked if he was serious and he answered yes, I was beyond angry—I was dumbfounded.
Even when I set the condition that he should write a resignation letter if I won, he wouldn't bend his will, which left me speechless.
They say a day-old puppy doesn't know to fear a tiger—I decided to show him what's what.
Still, he wasn't all talk, because when the duel started and I yielded the first attack according to custom, he showed a strange technique of controlling his sword with magic and nearly made me lose face greatly.
Not only that, but when I created an Aura Blade, he also created an Aura Blade just like mine.
At first I was slightly surprised, but seeing his pathetic Aura Blade that was faint and dim in color, I found it laughable.
Aura Blade is definitely not a technique that just anyone can use.
It might be possible to squeeze out magic to make the appearance similar, but you can't copy the power too.
If he had any thought of lasting a bit longer, it would have been better to fight in his own way rather than copying me, but being young, he seems to lack experience.
'A fake like that will probably disappear after a few clashes,' I thought as I started my attack.
Of course, I didn't give my all from the beginning.
He's a rookie who just became an A-rank Hunter.
Ending the rude bastard who applied for a duel without knowing his place in one blow would be too light a punishment, so I thought I'd gradually raise the level and make him properly feel the wall.
Something's strange.
I definitely thought he'd show his bottom soon...
I kept raising the level and now I've brought it up to 80... No, 90%, but he's blocking all my attacks without even changing his expression.
The fake Aura Blade that seemed like it would disappear any moment is still intact, and he's even counterattacking intermittently.
'What the hell is this bastard?'
Thinking that I'd really lose face if I was careless, I thrust my sword out greatly and used the recoil from his block to retreat.
"Are you already tired?"
To hear such words from a rookie who just became an A-rank Hunter—I feel like my blood is flowing backward.
"Nonsense. You don't seem to be all talk, so I'll face you seriously from now on."
I abandoned my mindset of looking down on him as a rookie and really gave my best.
But my sword never once reached him.
No matter how much I increased the speed and made irregular attacks, he met them all as if he knew in advance, which drove me crazy.
How does a guy who's not even thirty yet have such skill...
I thought I'd make him feel the wall, but I'm getting the illusion that I'm the one fighting against a wall.
'At this rate, I might really lose,' I thought, so I retreated and raised my hand.
***
"Director, what's wrong?"
"What?"
'Could it be a forfeit?'
'If so, that would be really disappointing...'
"Could you add one barrier... No, two more barriers?"
"Ah, understood. You two below, please add more barriers."
Fortunately, it doesn't seem to be a forfeit.
I don't know what great technique he's planning to use by doing this, but I'm not particularly afraid.
Before long, two more barriers were created outside the existing barrier.
"It might be dangerous, so you should go down now."
"Yes? Um, then what about the referee...?"
"Can't you judge the victory or defeat from below?"
The staff member went down, and after a brief whistle sound, the duel resumed, and I could immediately understand why Kim Dae-chan made such a request.
Instead of charging in like before, he swung his sword from a distance and shot out Aura Blade energy.
BAANG!
I also created Aura Blade energy to block it, but it wasn't just one—they came flying consecutively.
Thinking that blocking them all would be inefficient, I used footwork to dodge the ones I could dodge as much as possible and only met the ones that were hard to dodge with my sword.
BAANG! BANG! BANG!
When the Aura Blade energy chunks that I dodged or blocked and deflected hit the barriers, the barriers burst with explosive sounds.
Fortunately, they were immediately restored so the duel wasn't interrupted.
'Does his magic overflow or something?'
Shooting out Aura Blade energy should consume much more magic than creating Aura Blade energy on the sword to fight, but he's pouring out Aura Blade energy at bombardment levels.
But as they say, even if you have a cartload of beads, they're only treasures if you string them—no matter how many attacks you make, they're meaningless if you can't hit.
"You dodge well like a little mouse."
"Then try aiming properly. Do you think I'll get hit if you shoot indiscriminately like that?"
I responded to provocation with provocation while continuing to use footwork to dodge and block.
It seems like the outcome is already decided.
No matter how much magic Kim Dae-chan has, it's not infinite.
He must know that continuing like this would be disadvantageous for him, but I don't understand why he's conducting such a mindless war of attrition.
I thought his magic would run out in about 10 minutes, but the Aura Blade bombardment continued for almost 20 minutes.
'I really have to acknowledge his magic amount if nothing else.'
Still, as expected, the Aura Blade energy he was shooting out gradually decreased and the intervals slowly increased, then finally stopped.
"I guess we'll have to stop here."
"Are you admitting defeat?"
It's anticlimactic that he's forfeiting after attacking to his heart's content, but anyway, I won, so that's fine.
"Admitting defeat, what are you talking about? The match hasn't been decided yet, has it?"
'This guy, really.'
"Then let's continue."
"I'd like to do that too, but the circumstances don't allow it, so there's nothing I can do."
'Suddenly talking about circumstances... No, wait. Could it be?'
Haah... I was completely played.