Chapter 45
Chapter 45
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: That's Why I Didn't Want to Accept It
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#45
‘That’s why I didn’t want to accept it.’
Instructor Ludein was a top-class knight.
He was one of the strongest in the Empire, strong enough to count on one hand, and he was also the captain in charge of an entire knight order.
That was why, when he was offered the position of instructor at the academy, he honestly hadn’t been keen on it.
He was too busy training the knights under his command in preparation for the coming Descent War.
But in the end, he had no choice but to accept.
It was an order from the one he served, and he couldn’t overcome his curiosity about the heroes either.
But the heroes he actually saw were nothing but greenhorns.
Weaklings who couldn’t even withstand a troll’s killing intent and lost their minds.
‘Can these guys really face the Demon King?’
Doubts arose.
A sigh escaped him, but on the other hand, a sense of duty ignited within.
A sense of duty to properly train these pathetic heroes.
“Next.”
The respect and awe for the heroes had long vanished from his voice as he called the next one.
‘Hm?’
Ludein examined the expression of the hero slowly walking out.
It was completely different from the greenhorns he’d seen so far.
There was a moderate tension, but more than that, he exuded composure.
‘Even after seeing what happened to the heroes before him, he’s that relaxed…’
He double-checked the name of the hero he had called.
‘Seo Woo-jin?’
Rank and level were secondary; he’d heard this name before.
‘He was said to have performed quite well in the recent subjugation.’
Among the knights dispatched for support in the subjugation were some under Ludein’s command.
He had heard stories about this hero from their reports.
‘Calm, experienced, and skilled in swordsmanship.’
That was the summary, as far as he remembered.
It was far too different from the evaluations of the other heroes.
There was no way his subordinates would file false reports, so he must have considerable skill.
On top of that, there was the training ground destruction incident a few days ago.
Ludein released the troll, a flicker of long-forgotten expectation stirring within him.
And…
He was stunned.
It was an impossibly clean downward slash.
‘Skilled.’
It felt like he had hunted countless trolls of that level.
Unlike the other heroes, he wasn’t gripped by fear or swallowed by killing intent.
Just from this, one could tell how much experience Seo Woo-jin had accumulated.
His subordinates’ reports had been accurate, as expected.
But what surprised Ludein even more was something else.
‘How can he have such skill?’
Ludein knew well how heroes grew stronger.
He had personally witnessed Baek Si-woo, supported by the Empire, leveling up.
But that kind of strengthening was different from swordsmanship.
The single downward slash Seo Woo-jin had just performed wasn’t merely crushing with brute force.
If it had been, it couldn’t have bisected the troll so cleanly.
It was as if the sword had severed along the grain from the troll’s head to its groin.
‘Is that even possible?’
The heroes had only been summoned for a year.
It was impossible to master swordsmanship superior to that of average knights in that time.
Or so he had thought.
But after seeing Seo Woo-jin, he couldn’t think that way anymore.
“Where did you train for the past year?”
He asked Seo Woo-jin, who looked somewhat flustered for some reason.
“…Massive Guardian.”
Ludein nodded at Seo Woo-jin’s answer.
He understood why Seo Woo-jin hadn’t reacted to the killing intent at all.
Having been in Sion, where they fought monsters every year, it was perhaps only natural.
“Then, who taught you that swordsmanship? Could you tell me?”
“I learned it from the lord of that place.”
Ludein froze for a moment.
His eyes widened slightly.
“I see. Understood. You may go in now.”
As Seo Woo-jin tilted his head and left, Ludein chuckled inwardly.
‘Ban Slaine.’
The lord of Massive Guardian could only be that man.
He wasn’t famous enough to shake the entire continent, but any knight pursuing the pinnacle of the sword would know of him.
Ludein watched Seo Woo-jin’s retreating back and thought he should keep a close eye on him from now on.
* * *
‘Damn. I drew my sword without thinking.’
He hadn’t meant to stand out so much.
All the guys called before him had been a mess, so if he alone overwhelmingly killed the troll, he’d draw attention inevitably.
But while he hesitated for a moment, he instinctively swung his sword at the troll’s killing intent.
As a result, the troll was sliced in half and died.
Seo Woo-jin sighed and glanced at the heroes.
Naturally, they were all staring at him in shock.
At least Lee Ji-ah and Kim Da-hye looked like they had expected it.
Seo Woo-jin shook his head and returned to his seat.
“Next.”
The combat test resumed.
But this time, it unfolded a bit differently from before.
Unlike the disgraceful performances of the early ones, they were showing slightly more stable form.
‘…Because of me?’
They still looked terrified, of course, but proper fights were breaking out.
And the troll couldn’t hold up against heroes who could move.
Splash-!
The troll’s disgusting green blood spilled onto the floor.
It was a tricky monster thanks to its excellent regeneration, but it was no match for heroes regaining their confidence bit by bit.
Torn, pierced, burned.
They died in all sorts of ways.
‘It’s starting to feel a bit pitiful.’
It wasn’t for Seo Woo-jin, who had bisected the first troll, to say, but that’s how overwhelming it was.
“Next.”
Seo Woo-jin took interest when he saw who was called this time.
‘Oh, the elite crew.’
Among them was Kim Tae-jin, who had introduced himself as the ‘Super Flame Mage’.
His injuries from the fight with Gerald seemed fully healed; he looked fine.
He entered the training ground with a fairly relaxed expression.
S-grade was indeed on another level from the other heroes.
“Let’s begin.”
At Ludein’s words, Kim Tae-jin snapped his fingers.
“‘Volcano’.”
Kwaaaaa-!
A volcano erupted.
The scale was minuscule compared to a real volcano, but at least in appearance, it was no different from a volcanic explosion.
Magma burst forth and swallowed the troll whole.
Before the tremendous power, the troll melted away without leaving a single bone fragment.
It was overwhelming.
But Kim Tae-jin clicked his tongue, seemingly dissatisfied as he glanced at the training ground floor, then returned to his seat.
‘What’s that about?’
At one point, Seo Woo-jin felt their eyes meet.
‘No way… is he glaring at me for not breaking the floor?’
The training ground destruction incident caused by Seo Woo-jin was quite famous among the heroes.
It had even sparked a brief trend of “floor-breaking challenge.”
But no one else had managed to break the training ground floor.
The protective magic on it was that powerful.
He thought the hype had died down after a few days, but seeing Kim Tae-jin, it seemed it hadn’t ended yet.
Seo Woo-jin chuckled inwardly and shook his head.
He had impressive abilities, but he still seemed childish.
“Next.”
The test continued.
Diamond Warrior Park Jin-han, Dragon Tamer Lim Tae-eun, Saintess Sung Yu-ra.
All of them crushed the troll with overwhelming displays like Kim Tae-jin.
Especially Sung Yu-ra summoning a massive cross of light and smashing the troll’s head—it was a spectacle.
Thanks to that, the frozen heroes had regained some stability.
Laughter and cheers erupted here and there.
After dozens of tests like that.
Only one person remained.
“…Next.”
Baek Si-woo stood from his seat.
Seo Woo-jin watched him with a face full of curiosity.
It was a chance to see his true skills.
Unfortunately, during the subjugation, Gerald had prevented that.
‘How strong is he?’
He planned to observe carefully this time.
Like the other elites, Baek Si-woo was fully recovered.
Last time he’d seen him, he’d lost limbs and was confined to a wheelchair.
Now he was perfectly fine.
‘Leveling up is cheat-like.’
As long as you didn’t die, it perfectly restored any condition.
Could it be that the Demon King had lost all this time because of the heroes’ cockroach-like vitality?
Seo Woo-jin smirked.
Of course, it was unlikely.
As levels rose, required experience increased exponentially.
It was feasible now, but later it would be nearly impossible.
Leveling up once would take an enormous amount of time and effort.
While Seo Woo-jin was lost in such thoughts, Baek Si-woo reached the center of the training ground.
“Are you ready?”
Baek Si-woo nodded at Ludein’s question.
“I’m ready.”
He hadn’t even drawn his sword, but Ludein didn’t mind.
Baek Si-woo was the hero supported by the Empire.
He was the one Ludein had seen more than any other hero.
“Begin.”
At the same moment, the troll was released, and Baek Si-woo’s sword flashed.
“‘Blink Sword’.”
Swish-
The sound was small.
But the troll’s movement stopped.
No one could tell what had happened.
Not the heroes, nor even the instructor Ludein.
Seo Woo-jin was the same.
The moment the sword left Baek Si-woo’s sheath, the fight ended.
Crack crack crack-
The troll’s body began to split.
One, two… four… sixteen… 256…
Cracks too numerous to count etched into it, and the troll’s flesh soon crumbled.
Like a sandcastle.
‘Insane…’
Seo Woo-jin let out a hollow laugh.
He already knew Baek Si-woo was strong.
He was SSS-grade, after all.
Level 50, no less.
A guy with that much overwhelming talent and potential who never slacked on effort.
It would be weirder if he were weak.
‘But I didn’t expect this much.’
If that skill were aimed at him, could he block it?
Seo Woo-jin ran simulations in his head, but no answer came.
He couldn’t even see what happened, so how was he supposed to block it?
‘Impossible.’
Seo Woo-jin couldn’t block the ‘Blink Sword.’
‘Of course, if I struck first, it’d be different…’
Just as he couldn’t block that skill, Baek Si-woo wouldn’t block ‘Abyss’ either.
Nor any of his other skills.
But Seo Woo-jin felt uneasy.
What if his identity as the Demon King was exposed and he had to fight Baek Si-woo?
He couldn’t be absolutely confident of victory, so unease was inevitable.
As Seo Woo-jin’s expression hardened slightly, Baek Si-woo turned and looked his way.
It was a face that seemed to brag, ‘How about that?’
‘This isn’t the time to be relaxed.’
His swordsmanship was definitely superior.
His experience was overwhelming.
Yet with such a level gap, it seemed he couldn’t win.
‘It’s not that I doubt Ban Slaine’s words.’
Still, he needed to change his thinking a bit.
“I need to level up.”
At least to Baek Si-woo’s level.