A Mediocre Performance
I stepped back a little. The hologram projected from the drone had already drawn the boundary lines for the duel. If I retreated too far, it could declare an out-of-bounds loss, so I only gave a little ground.
“Haaaaah!!!”
The crazed Dixie let out a wild roar and thrust his sword. Or rather, he swung it downward from above. ‘He’s actually coming in like that?’
I didn’t even need to heighten my senses. I simply sidestepped lightly. Clang! The longsword that sliced through empty air slammed into the asphalt. Since it was probably infused with aura, it should have left a pitiful scratch on the pavement.
“Y-you bastard!”
Yet the only scar on the face of the world was the crumpled expression on his own face. There wasn’t a single mark on the asphalt. He hadn’t even properly channeled his magic power. An attack that could hurt no one but himself. A genius at fighting. It honestly looked like watching a freshman who had just enrolled.
This was an incredible display even Kang Sian, a first-year himself, could acknowledge. Seeing Robin nearly slip and get called out of bounds, Sian showed genuine curiosity.
“Hey, what’s your grade point average? You don’t look like you originally used a sword.”
“Shut up!”
“Was it a spear? Poleaxe? Or maybe a warhammer? That kind of vibe, right?”
“I said shut up!”
I only asked about his grades and weapon and he gets this angry. Was that really something to get so worked up about? Kang Sian thought Robin’s insides must be just like Lim Hana’s. In short, it was a really nasty insult.
Naturally, Robin poured every ounce of strength into each muscle and every pore. Immediately after, he swung his sword again at Sian, who was showing curiosity toward his senior from the side. Tragically, the sword carrying all his desperate wishes never reached Kang Sian. The attack, which didn’t even show a tenth of the execution power he had before getting rained on, was full of questions.
“Ugh! Argh! Gah!”
“No, seriously, what’s your GPA?”
“Shut up!”
Setting aside issues of willpower, it just felt slow. In Sian’s opinion, this level would have been enough even if he had Shannon standing there. She probably could have taken this guy down easily with her sturdy tail. Of course, she might have been a bit scared and teary-eyed, but still.
“Why should I tell my proud grades to a pathetic inferior like you!”
Robin declared proudly. However, while he was proud, he didn’t tell the truth. It wasn’t because his GPA was a mere 1.8 out of 4.5. Rather, Robin considered his grades a proud scar worthy of a Southerner. After all, obsessing over grades was something only New England nerds and California girls did. To someone who diligently discriminated according to the path God guided, such things were unnecessary. Moreover, the old saying went that heroes don’t study. There was nothing strange about keeping it as his own precious secret scar.
Of course, thinking he wasn’t strange and other people’s gazes turning into a complete mess were two different things. Kang Sian made a mocking face as if he were looking at an idiot.
“What, is it in the 2-point range or something?”
He said while dodging every incoming attack. Soon he realized why Robin was in that club.
“What?! You damned reptilian!”
People who hated furries more than anyone, yet loved reptilian furries more than anyone. What could you possibly expect from those who believed reptilian humans were secretly working behind the scenes like a conspiracy theory hub? In a reality where an excellent reptilian like Shannon walked around openly, insisting that reptilians were still hiding was enough to call them outdated humans.
“Your voice is getting loud.”
Kang Sian stopped dodging as if he couldn’t listen anymore. He stared straight at his opponent, Robin. It was time to put to use the experience he had built throughout his teenage years.
Robin swung his sword with the same large motion as before. ‘The dagger’s condition is pretty bad. If I block with it, it might break. So……’
At that moment, Kang Sian raised all his senses. The attack that already felt slow became even slower. Raindrops fell, splashing against the blade. Watching the descending strike, he moved his left hand.
Thwack! He slapped the flat of the sword away with his palm. Then he closed in faster than the falling raindrops.
“Huk—?!”
He grabbed the opponent’s face with his palm. To be precise, he covered both eyes. Before Robin could even think of struggling, Sian poured a significant amount of his magic power into his left palm.
“Penetrate!”
Penetrate
With a thud like something bursting, a shockwave slammed into his head. Robin was sent flying backward as if bounced off, spun several times in the air, then crashed heavily onto the ground. He dropped his weapon. Dirty puddle water flooded into his mouth. It was an attack that would have undoubtedly killed a normal human. But since he was an awakened, there was no real worry.
“Ugh… uuuuugh……”
A groan leaked out as he tried to grasp the situation. Soon that groan turned into a scream of rage at having lost his sight.
Kang Sian gripped the dagger tightly, from which faint greenish rust dripped. Unaware of that, the opponent stood up and flailed around as if groping the air. It would have been enough to stop the duel, but he had only lost his sight and could still fight. That meant the threat was still present.
Sian quickly approached. His footsteps echoed in Robin’s ears.
“Surren— mmph!!!”
The words that almost came out from the instinct that he might die. They were silenced as Kang Sian covered his mouth. Sian’s blue-green eyes held firm determination. On the other hand, Robin’s eyes…
“There’s a reason people say to think twice before speaking.”
“……!”
They were completely crushed, leaking only a mix of blood and rain. He felt terror at the reality he could no longer see. He trembled so violently he didn’t even notice his pants getting wet. The moment he tried to clasp both hands together as if begging for his life—
A raindrop flowed along the dagger, slipping into the gap of the oxidized metal. Then it was expelled as faintly yellowish rust water. The rust tried to flow down the blade. That wish, however, did not come true.
“Ugh?!”
The dagger dug into his stomach. And it went in incredibly smoothly. Even though Robin hurriedly wrapped his whole body in magic power, even though the dagger’s edge was dead, it still functioned perfectly as a weapon.
Before he could even say how or why, the dagger was pulled out without hesitation and plunged in again. A scream burst out, but by the time it emerged the dagger had already made another round trip. As if wishing for Robin’s death, the dagger struck repeatedly. His stomach, chest, waist—indiscriminate attacks landed everywhere. Murky water entered, red water poured out.
The attack that looked like magic brought silence to the surrounding people. Until the start of the fight it had been full of mockery. Now that their side was losing, they had gone quiet. Kang Sian thought it was truly ugly. After all, who was it that had driven the situation this far in the first place?
“Keurgh, keuuuurgh!!!”
So he decided to end it quickly. He stabbed the dagger into one of the many holes in the body—into the side of the abdomen. Then he tore the stomach open from left to right as if slicing it. Clang— It was around then that the dagger finally gave out and broke. The blade remained embedded in the stomach and wouldn’t come out; only the hilt remained uselessly in his grip. The old dagger couldn’t withstand the rough use and magic power operation.
Still, it was somewhat expected. After all, it was a weapon he had asked those discrimination-obsessed bastards to provide. Logically, there was no way they would have given him a weapon with good durability. ‘Idiots. Do they even realize what they’ve done?’ Especially since he had deliberately asked for an old weapon, it was even more so. For Kang Sian, who had intentionally used a contaminated weapon, this was actually perfect.
Even if the guy survived, he would suffer for a while. Maybe the suffering would go beyond that and completely finish him off.
“Ugh… uuuuurgh……”
When Kang Sian let go, Robin collapsed. His body, just before going rigid, rolled across the ground.
“That! What the hell is that……!”
“U-urgh!!!”
“This crazy bastard!”
The crowd was horrified. For people who were supposed to kill a knight, they seemed overly sensitive. On the other hand, Kang Sian didn’t show even a hint of panic. It wasn’t because things had gone as he intended, but simply because he had seen this kind of thing plenty of times before. When you ran dungeons with F and E-ranks, the sight of guts spilling out was extremely common. Whether it was people, monsters, or bosses.
Put another way, it meant the club members’ words and actions were nothing but empty bravado. It meant they hadn’t lived very intense hunter lives from their teenage years until now.
— Robin Hawkins, can you stand?
“K-kheuk, kkeuk……!”
— If you cannot stand, we will declare Kang Sian the victor.
“Kuaaak……! Aaaak……! N-no—!”
A green hologram shot out. The cartoonish picture and clear text created a stark contrast of joy and sorrow.
[Robin Hawkins VS Kang Sian]
🏆 Winner:Kang Sian
Kang Sian’s first victory at the academy. However, since he was standing in the rain, it wasn’t exactly a clean win.
Sian casually turned his gaze. In response, the discriminators showed an even more discriminatory attitude. They immediately avoided his eyes. And separate from that attitude, their sneaky actions were pathetic.
‘Huh?’
A few people wearing white hoods were secretly approaching Robin. It was a heartwarming scene of trying to save their injured comrade, overflowing with camaraderie. Kang Sian quickly heightened his senses, picked up the sword that had fallen on the ground, and charged toward the club members trying to move Robin.
“His condition looks really bad.”
“How are we supposed to fix his stomach?”
“For now, just roughly move… huh?”
A sword was thrust at their throats. The club members jumped back in shock.
“Get lost. Unless you want to end up like him.”
“W-what? Then what about the injured……”
“That’s not a problem for you to solve right now. Get lost.”
“A person is dying right now……!”
“Can’t hear me because the words are coming from a lowly bastard? I said get the hell out right now!”
Kang Sian swung the sword that shimmered with blue particles. At the sight of the asphalt splitting from just a graze, every hooded club member fled.
Sian glanced at Robin, who lay collapsed on the ground waiting for death. He wasn’t dead yet, but he would be soon. He should have been sent to the hospital, but now was the time to use his condition. He couldn’t waste the card that would completely drive them away.
It was a bit cruel, but sometimes you just had to do what had to be done. He steeled his heart.
“Listen up, everyone! This guy will die in thirty minutes from now!”
Thirty minutes. An excessively long survival time for someone with their guts spilled out. It would have been wrong for an old-generation human, but it was accurate for an awakened, a new-generation human. People like Kang Sian or Robin could endure fatal injuries for a while. ‘Of course, they only endure. And they do it in excruciating pain.’
That was why, even though the other side was anxious, they didn’t take any sudden actions. It was a situation where the sense of crisis was somewhat low, which Kang Sian found a little disappointing. What he needed now was a board where he controlled the situation and everyone fell into his moves.
It would be difficult, but the action needed for that was cruel yet extremely simple.
“K-kkeuuu…… Aaaaaagh!!!”
Kang Sian stomped on one of Robin’s spilled organs. The scream grew even louder, and the club members’ hearts shook violently.
“If you want to save this guy, defeat my friend in a duel!”
Murmurs spread. Confused gazes shot in every direction. The club members stamped their feet in panic. But now was not the time to stamp their feet—it was time to act aggressively. So he provoked them shamelessly.
“You’re not just going to let your precious club member die here, are you?”
It was pure verbal abuse.