Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Comprehensive Evaluation Week (5)
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After wrapping up the duel evaluations for Imperial Swordsmanship and Dungeon Practice in a satisfactory manner,
I headed to the F entrance for the Alchemy duel evaluation and waited my turn.
Isabel had entered the arena quite some time ago,
and after her, a few more cadets were called in. A few minutes passed—
Cadet Aden, please enter.
At the announcement calling my name, I stood up and headed toward the exit.
Passing through the dark exit, I saw the arena and Baal standing in its center.
Spotting him, I stepped inside,
and Baal looked at me before speaking.
"Welcome, Cadet Aden."
'Why's he acting like this...?'
For a brief moment, I wondered at Baal's greeting and his noticeably displeased expression,
but soon he began explaining his duel evaluation method.
To sum it up simply: he would only defend, and I had to land five attacks.
I nodded lightly, intending to get it over with quickly...
"Cadet Isabel successfully landed two attacks..."
But even after finishing his explanation, Baal kept talking, suddenly going on about Isabel.
Starting with how she had landed two attacks on him,
his words turned to praise, but before long,
they began laced with strange criticisms.
Rude, lacking respect for a professor—subtle barbs hidden in what seemed like ordinary compliments.
Realizing this, an automatic scowl twisted my face from the sheer unpleasantness.
'Petty bastard...'
I could guess why he was beating around the bush like that.
As he mentioned early on, Isabel had hit him twice,
and for someone with Baal's pointless ego, getting bested by a disciple he usually dismissed must have stung.
Truly a narrow-minded prick.
After rambling on for a while with his backhanded praise,
Baal finally seemed satisfied and said,
"Ah, I've only praised other cadets. You may attack now, Cadet Aden."
Shamelessly claiming he'd only given praise,
he gave the go-ahead.
Hearing that,
I wrapped my body in mana and prepared to attack.
I'd originally planned to just throw five half-hearted swings and be done,
but...
'Can't end it with normal attacks...'
He seemed to need a little lesson.
With mana cloaking my body and preparations complete,
I kicked off the ground and lunged at Baal with blinding speed.
A straightforward punch aimed right at his face.
Since it was a honest strike with no skills, just pure momentum,
Baal easily caught my fist.
After my fist was gripped in his hand,
I could see the complacency on his face—like, "That's it?"
Since the first blow was bait to induce carelessness,
confirming it worked, I swiftly activated a skill.
{Defying Heaven}
Attack damage increased by 1000% for 1 minute.
My aura shifted in an instant.
Sensing it, Baal panicked and tried to release my fist and retreat,
but in a flash, the hand that had thrown the punch seized his wrist.
Preparing a strike with my other fist,
I activated another skill.
{Moonlight}
Moonlight infuses your strike.
In that moment, moonlight mana enveloped my hand, amplifying its power even further.
Sensing danger, Baal struggled fiercely to pull free,
but with 1000% enhanced strength, he couldn't escape,
and soon—
BAM—!!
"Guhk—!"
The ominous punch slammed into Baal's face, driving him straight into the ground.
A cadet slamming a professor into the dirt—an unthinkable, unbelievable scene.
'But he started it...'
He'd basically advertised, "Please knock me down first~,"
so it was intolerable.
'Anyone would snap at that.'
As I rationalized it inwardly,
Baal, reeling from the shock, staggered to his feet.
Seeing that, I prepared another attack.
'Might as well go all in now...'
As long as he hadn't revealed his true nature, this was the perfect legal chance to hit an academy professor.
{Defying Heaven} lasted a minute,
and I had three attacks left, so I intended to capitalize,
but...
"Stop...! That's enough, Cadet Aden..."
Baal desperately called out to halt me as I geared up, frustratingly blocking my momentum.
'Should've landed one more before he opened his mouth...'
Swallowing my regret at his plea, I lowered my hand,
and Baal, relieved, slowly rose.
Looking humiliated,
he suppressed his rage and declared the duel over.
'Tch... So petty.'
Either way, the duel was done.
No point hitting more now,
so with inward regret, I clicked my tongue and headed out of the arena.
Normally, taking down boss Baal this easily with my current power would be impossible.
But his initial carelessness,
his inability to use Ixion's demonic mana inside the academy,
and failing to reinforce his body with mana in time—
those three factors let me land a devastating blow.
Feeling satisfied, I exited F and headed to the dorm when—
"Aden!"
A voice from behind turned my head.
"Huh...? Isabel?"
She should've finished her duel before me, so why was she behind?
"I was watching the other cadets from the spectator seats."
Her words cleared up my confusion, as if she'd read my mind.
"It was satisfying, but... you okay?"
"Yeah, it's a duel—what's the issue?"
I gave a simple reply to Isabel's worried question,
then added,
"By the way, he said you landed two hits?"
with genuine awe about her success against Baal.
I truly wondered and admired it.
Landing hits on Baal seemed tough for even the current Isabel.
She responded by conjuring a simple ice spear.
'Huh...?'
Puzzled by the sudden ice spear for a moment,
I noticed the small lightning arcs trailing from its tip with each swing and understood.
'Magic stacking...'
Layering one spell atop another—
a unique magic only Isabel could pull off in Frontier Chronicles.
'Did Libia inspire her? Faster than I thought...'
Whether stimulated by Libia's rapid growth,
it was quicker than expected,
but if she could use that in combat, hitting Baal wasn't impossible.
"Impressive magic."
With my doubts resolved, I praised her spell,
and we walked to the dorm together.
'She looks pretty happy.'
I could sense faint joy from Isabel on the way back,
meaning she'd had great results in today's duel.
Chatting casually with her as we walked,
we soon reached the dorm building.
We exchanged simple goodbyes and headed to our rooms.
Tomorrow was duels against the core subject professors.
I had no intention of striving for top results
or knocking one down like today.
'Impossible from the start.'
Without using Life and Death Resolve,
even going all-out, taking down even one core professor was near impossible,
and my ranking wouldn't change based on this week's results anyway.
Just do enough,
within my limits.
And elsewhere.
At the pinnacle of the Magic Tower,
Magic Tower Lord Bella—
the tower's master and greatest mage—gazed at the document in her hand with a faint smile.
"Heh... I was curious about the one who took top spot over my disciple..."
And then—
Whoosh—
Magic flared in the blink of an eye, incinerating the paper without a trace,
and her smile vanished as if it had never been, her face now expressionless as she spoke.
"Nothing there."
The document that had burned away detailed
one person's life.
Born and raised ordinarily in an imperial village,
a boy who simply practiced the sword in pursuit of his dreams.
If that story was just an ordinary rural boy's life, no issue.
But if it belonged to the one who outdid the Sword Saint's disciple and the Magic Tower Lord's own,
claiming academy top honors? Then it was a problem.
The file was cross-verified multiple times—pure fact.
So the truth it pointed to was one of two:
Belonging to an organization capable of fabricating such a history,
or possessing truly overwhelming talent.
"Guess I'll have to check myself."
The latter would be nice, but...
'With Ixion stirring lately...'
As long as the former was possible,
it couldn't hurt to verify personally.
With Comprehensive Evaluation Week underway at the academy,
she had ample excuse to visit her disciple,
so the Magic Tower Lord set out.