The Blind Man Versus the Squinty-Eyed Professor
The students were momentarily stunned by the blind man’s audacity. They never expected the supposedly quiet blind student to pull off something so insane. Yet at the same time, everyone came to the exact same thought.
'That felt so damn good. Seriously.'
Just look at that sly, obnoxious smirk. No matter how much of a professor he was, getting toyed with like that would piss anyone off. Even the final piece of feedback somehow managed to be infuriating. Maybe that was why almost none of the students felt like calling him out on it.
“How amusing. I never imagined I’d receive mirror therapy like this.”
“Isn’t that how the world works, Professor?”
“Indeed. Very well, then. Let’s see if your skills match that clever tongue of yours.”
Dale kicked off the ground. He charged forward at the exact same speed as before. Normally, this was the part where most students would panic. Watching from the sidelines and facing it directly were two completely different things.
But Baran had the Calm trait.
Whoosh—!
Without flinching, he fired a mana arrow straight at him. Dale watched the incoming projectile and lifted the corner of his mouth.
'He’s certainly calmer than the other students.'
Not only that, his sniping technique was on another level. Every arrow was aimed directly at the eyes. He was clearly trying to obstruct his vision.
“Your sniping is excellent, but the power is severely lacking.”
Still, that was all it amounted to. No matter how refined the technique, without sufficient strength it would only ever reach a certain point. Even now, the arrows were flying at a disappointingly slow speed.
Dale spun his body in a relaxed circle and dodged them all. Then, with one more powerful kick, he closed the distance until he was right in front of Baran.
“It seems I expected too much from you.”
With a bitter smile, he swung the edge of his hand. He was certain the boy wouldn’t be able to dodge it.
“Hm?!”
Contrary to his expectations, Baran narrowly avoided the strike. In that instant, Dale and every student watching the match widened their eyes in shock.
“He actually dodged that?!”
“No one’s ever dodged it before, right?!”
“What the hell is that guy?”
While everyone was reeling in surprise, Baran was secretly swallowing dryly on the inside.
'Shit. That was way too close.'
To others it might have looked composed, but in reality it had been incredibly precarious. Even with the Mind’s Eye trait, dodging Dale’s attacks was no easy feat. What good was seeing the strikes if his stats were too low to actually move properly?
'Good thing I sparred like crazy with that Skeleton Knight.'
If not for that, he would’ve been knocked out in a single exchange.
'Still, I can handle this for now.'
He had dodged without using High-Speed Movement. If things continued according to plan, landing a valid hit should be possible.
The moment Baran thought that—
“You should focus, student Baran.”
Dale, now right in his face, thrust the edge of his hand forward. Baran tilted his head back and barely avoided it. At the same time—
Whoosh.
He released the bowstring with one hand. Another mana arrow shot toward Dale.
'First, I’ll create as much distance as possible and make him drop his guard.'
With that thought, he continued pouring attacks at Dale, who was now wearing a spine-chilling smile.
At the same time.
Sherry, who had been watching the match, was overcome with shock.
'How is that even possible?'
She had sparred with Dale before as well. Unlike Baran, she hadn’t even been able to react to a single one of his attacks.
'So how can that man keep up like this?'
Baran was actually holding his own against Dale. Of course, he was still being pushed back, so his gauge would clearly hit zero if things continued. But one thing was certain—he was lasting longer than anyone else against Dale.
Wondering if she was the only one surprised, she looked around. The other students were just as stunned as she was.
'So I wasn’t the only one.'
Even Luden, whom she considered her rival, had his eyes wide open. Even Lillia, who usually wore a relaxed smile, looked genuinely surprised.
'At this rate, Father won’t acknowledge me.'
To earn her father’s recognition, she had to take first place in the first-year class. Only then would the family head acknowledge her.
'I need to work harder.'
With burning eyes, Sherry quietly watched the duel between the two men.
Before I knew it, my gauge had dropped to around ten percent.
My breath had climbed all the way to my throat. A sweet metallic taste filled my mouth, and ragged gasps escaped on their own.
“Huff… huff…”
I watched Dale, who was still grinning slyly. Unlike me, he looked perfectly relaxed. At this rate, I would lose without landing a single valid hit.
'This should be enough.'
I steadied my breathing. By now, he must have let his guard down.
'No. More accurately, he probably thinks I’m already going all out.'
That was why this was the only chance I had to land a valid hit.
“Let’s wrap this up now.”
I fired an arrow at him.
“Oh?”
The mana arrow flew noticeably faster than before. A smile formed on Dale’s lips as he watched it.
“So you were hiding your strength.”
“As if I would do that against you, Professor.”
While answering, I waited to see how he would respond. As expected, he charged straight at me the next moment.
Then—
Swish!
He dodged every mana arrow as if it were the most natural thing in the world and moved behind me. It looked like he was planning to knock me out by striking the back of my neck, just like he had done to the other students.
Normally, this would be where I lost track of his movements and got hit. But what was my trait again? It was none other than a 5-star trait.
As long as he wasn’t using mana, there was no way I would lose sight of him.
Vrrrr—!
I concentrated mana at the soles of my feet. Then I kicked off the ground with everything I had.
High-Speed Movement.
“Oh!”
I successfully moved behind him instead. Dale’s back was now completely exposed.
I quickly created an arrow and released the bowstring.
Shaaak—!
The arrow sliced through the air. But a single shot wouldn’t be enough to land a valid hit. As expected—
“A good attempt, but unfortunately your opponent was me. If your professor didn’t have High-Speed Movement, that might have actually worked.”
He turned his head and dodged it with ease. But at that exact moment—
“Hm?”
The final mana arrow flew straight toward his face. Dale’s squinty eyes opened wide.
Just as it seemed about to hit—
Grab!
He caught the mana arrow with one hand at the very last second. The watching students let out disappointed groans.
“Wow, that’s actually so close.”
“I agree.”
“If it had been just a little faster, he might’ve landed a hit.”
While the students were talking among themselves, Dale burst into laughter with that same sly smile.
“Ahahaha, what a shame. If student Baran’s power had been just a little stronger, that would have been a valid hit.”
His lips curled up in clear delight. Anyone watching would think the match was already over.
“Professor.”
“Yes?”
“Didn’t you say earlier that a sudden ambush could happen at any time?”
“I did say that. Though I just blocked that ambush myself~”
“Who said that was the ambush?”
“Pardon?”
The moment Dale looked confused—
Fwaaaah—!
The mana arrow he was holding began to emit a bright light. Caught completely off guard, Dale’s face showed genuine surprise for the first time.
Just as he tried to throw the arrow away—
Boom.
The mana arrow exploded in a small burst. Startled by the unexpected blast, Dale swung one arm to clear away the dust cloud and looked in my direction.
As if asking what the hell had just happened.
“How interesting. Then let’s see what else you have—”
“I surrender.”
I cut him off mid-sentence and raised both hands. For a brief moment, both Dale and the students stared at me with dumbfounded expressions.
Ignoring their reactions, I continued.
“There’s nothing more. If we keep fighting, I’ll just get beaten anyway. So I’ll surrender here.”
“……”
My words must have been incredibly irritating, because the corner of his mouth twitched violently.
Yep. Surrendering ends it. Laughing at the world on the inside, I checked his gauge.
'As expected, it only went down by one.'
That was only natural. All I had done was concentrate as much mana as possible. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Tsk. Looks like Mana Application Level 1 still isn’t enough.'
Well, according to the plan, I would be able to use the completed technique later anyway. That wasn’t important right now.
Even if his gauge had only dropped by one, the fact that I had successfully landed a valid hit remained unchanged. Therefore, it was as good as completing the quest.
So.
'Hand over the reward.'
[…….]
The system looked like it had a lot to say, but that wasn’t particularly important.