Chapter 24
Chapter 24
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: Knight
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Anti-gravity.
Literally, a force that opposes gravity.
If gravity is the force that pulls things down, then anti-gravity refers to all forces that counteract gravity.
I had crammed this concept into a single firearm as best I could.
"Let's begin."
The power of anti-gravity reveals itself in the gun itself.
It happened during the first experiment. When I applied the anti-gravity circuit to the shotgun, all the recoil vanished.
The 'Anti-Gravity Shotgun,' which had lost even its romance along with the recoil, nearly got scrapped. But soon after, I discovered a new possibility.
If there's absolutely no recoil, couldn't I ramp up the firepower as much as I wanted?
Well...
Seeing is believing, better than a hundred words.
I placed Professor Cecil in the center of the sights.
"Ah, now I see. It's that weapon from before."
Professor Cecil, recognizing the shotgun, let out a sigh.
"...Time was short, after all."
She drew her sword and began approaching me.
"That weapon's lethality won't be enough to take me down."
A scoffing reaction. She had no idea. It might look similar, but performance-wise, it was completely different.
"You'll regret that."
I issued a light warning and pulled the trigger.
A satisfying gunshot rang out, pellets spraying wide.
At the same time, Professor Cecil swung her sword.
A red sword aura fitting for her slashed across the ground. Some kind of 'barrier' reminiscent of a defensive spell rose from the scored earth, blocking the pellets' path.
And then came the sound of glass shattering.
The barrier broke.
"...??"
Cecil's expression twisted in an instant.
Partly because her barrier had shattered, but also from the pain of the pellets hitting her body.
Of course, the pellets were non-lethal. They used 'mana spheres' enchanted with recognition magic, which vanish the moment they detect a body, so they don't embed or pierce.
Instead, they blast you away. Far away. Pretty damn far.
"Ngh...!!"
The overwhelming output from anti-gravity pushes 'instantaneous acceleration' to its limit, exerting extreme physical force on the target.
Professor Cecil's body was flung backward in an instant. She smashed through a couple of large trees, kicked up massive clouds of dirt, and rolled across the ground.
"What... is this...!"
Professor Cecil let out a bewildered voice. She looked surprisingly unharmed.
No matter how much I'd modified it to avoid 'direct damage'...
Was it really possible to fly that far and come out fine?
Honestly, I'd hoped the first shot would take her out of the fight.
"Ha ha...! This is ridiculous!!"
As she rose to her feet, the system immediately warned me.
No time for thought. Just action. I raised the shotgun to guard my left shoulder.
It was a split-second moment. In the blink of an eye, Professor Cecil was right beside me.
She'd covered a serious distance. Truly astonishing speed.
Ka-gagagak!!
The sword struck the barrel, grinding with a bizarre screech.
If it had been the original material, it would've been sliced clean through. I'd have lost the weapon and had to forfeit.
Not this time!
This shotgun, made with the world's hardest metal, 'crohatten alloy,' and reinforced with protective magic, wouldn't be cut easily.
Procuring the materials? My supervising professor handled that.
Thank you, Professor Rachel!
"It didn't cut...?"
My body was pushed back about three meters. Thanks to the body enhancement potion, I barely stayed on my feet, but the shock rippling through me burdened my whole body.
Still, I forced my arm to move.
As I said before, this gun has no recoil.
"You little shit—!"
The second shot.
The pellets hit the target dead-on.
Professor Cecil, now adapted to the impact, twisted mid-flight and slashed a tree in the pellets' path.
Reload time.
I broke open the shotgun, and the spent shells ejected. Grabbed fresh ammo from my bag, loaded it, snapped it shut. Done.
Ku-uuuung—!
The tree she'd just cut came crashing down. By now, Professor Cecil had probably landed.
'System, where next?'
A figure slowly approached through the thick dust.
"Rain Ortiz..."
An angry voice.
She seemed to be in a tough spot, but I had no intention of backing down.
"Fine, your invention is impressive. I'll give you that."
"Thank you."
"But a 'knight' isn't that easy to deal with."
Was it my imagination?
Her eyes seemed to gleam faintly.
"..."
Holy shit.
It wasn't my imagination.
"Releasing aura against a student?"
"Show me your knightly qualities. Dragging this out like this won't earn you high marks."
Aura release.
A technique where knights unleash a portion of their steadily accumulated aura during battle to multiply their power several times over.
Like a knight's secret art.
"...I wouldn't know. What I like isn't 'knightly honor' or whatever."
I ejected the unfired shell.
Then loaded a slightly different one.
"But I do love experiments. They're fun."
"What are you talking about...?"
"Professor, do you know what the most fun experiment is?"
I aimed.
Locked on target.
"Human experimentation."
Fired.
A somewhat unusual shell launched. A single large one, not scattering like shot. Slower than before.
Professor Cecil now knew evasion beat defense. No reason to not dodge a visible shell.
However.
"You think I'd fall for the same trick three times?"
It's not the same trick, Professor.
Drip.
The shell flying straight vanished right beside Professor Cecil.
The shell was a single mana sphere, compressed to high density. No matter the mana, it couldn't just disappear in an instant.
Sensing something off, Professor Cecil immediately dodged.
Too late.
Let me say it upfront: I'd named this shell the 'Anti-Gravity Shell.'
"Ha ha...!!"
I burst out laughing.
The shell hadn't actually vanished.
It had merely contracted to invisibility.
And the opposite of contraction is expansion.
Did you know?
Academia sometimes defines the force expanding the universe as anti-gravity.
────!!!!
The anti-gravity shell expanded explosively in an instant, striking Professor Cecil. Slammed into the ground, she was pushed back dozens of meters and didn't move anymore.
"Huff, huff..."
Did I win?
Did I actually win?
"..."
I won.
I did it.
I'd pierced through all the bullshit and seized victory.
"It's not even 30 minutes yet. Should I wait?"
Feels refreshing.
Like I slept like a baby, even without sleeping.
Is this what achievement feels like?
Feels so damn good...
Eh?
Kwa-ang.
A roar exploded in my head.
Tinnitus followed, then pain.
It hurts.
"Gahk..."
What?
It's dark.
Bitter taste.
...Ah.
I got slammed into the ground.
"You make all kinds of crap!!"
Professor Cecil, blood streaming from her head, yelled.
Dozens of question marks popped up in my mind.
She survived that?
...The accelerating, expanding mana barrier?
"This is the Knight Department! You think I'd allow carelessness?!"
Even now, she's nitpicking my carelessness, not the gear.
"Professor..."
I know she hates my guts.
Why would she like some punk who skipped her classes?
But I hate you too, Professor.
You haven't forgotten orientation, have you?
I swallowed the words I couldn't spit out and gritted my teeth.
I hate losing.
"Rain Ortiz, high combat ability, but completely unqualified as a 'knight.' Final grade: C+."
What kind of bullshit is that?
This is too much.
Can't you give me a little higher for fighting well?
Professor Cecil loomed right in my face, eyes bulging.
That glare. Any funny move, and I'd taste dirt again.
Best to stay still...
But...
"Professor, you're unpopular, aren't you?"
I couldn't hold it in; the words slipped out.
Ah, whatever.
I'll make it work somehow.
One shell left loaded.
Fired.
Right there.
Just shot.
And consciousness faded.
—Cecil Belliet.
I remember that day.
—What is a knight?
The day I became a knight.
—A knight is...
A true knight must possess unshakable convictions.
That's why, at the inauguration ceremony, they ask the ritual question.
'What is a knight?'
—The humble.
Cecil's first answer proclaimed maturity.
—Also, the diligent.
Her second answer emphasized the importance of diligence.
—One who gives their all and never retreats.
Her final answer asserted the nobility of courage.
It was like a vow. A creed she must uphold for life.
"..."
She surveyed the devastated forest.
Thanks to some student's insane invention, it was a wreck.
She'd have to write a report. After destroying nature like this...
Cecil looked down.
A black-haired someone, covered in blood, unconscious.
The culprit behind the forest's ruin was in this state, and she couldn't help but chuckle.
"You're out of your mind."
Rain Ortiz.
Now she got it. She could sum him up in one line.
This guy's a madman.
She'd never seen such abnormal competitive drive. Wanting to win that badly was one thing, but who suicides like that?
Couldn't figure out his obsession with grades either...
Anyway, he was still green. You have to know when to retreat.
"..."
Huh.
"...Heh."
Strange.
Didn't I say it myself? The nobility of courage.
I...
Why am I here?
Why did I retreat?
What reason...
No answer came.
Evasion. She was evading the fact that she'd evaded.
Because she didn't want to return to the battlefield.
She had retreated with all her might.
Cecil looked up at the sky.
Disgustingly clear.
"Rain Ortiz."
Without even glancing his way, she declared to the one who couldn't hear.
"You're arrogant."
Overconfident, failing to humbly obey the mission to 'retreat.'
"Lazy."
A rotten punk who skipped lectures for a month without notice.
"And you didn't retreat."
But he possessed the courage to seek victory.
Cecil Belliet's arbitrary grading criteria were thus.
'Be a knight.'
As if piecing together her shattered convictions, she said.
"Final grade: A+."
And the final exam drew to a close.