Handles Taesan Well (2)
Handles Taesan Well (2)
On day four of midterm evaluations, the tournament preliminaries took place.
Since most cadets across all years participated, many matches overlapped in the same time slots.
In other words, gaps in the schedule were unavoidable. Besides, outside personnel couldn't attend the preliminaries to begin with, so empty seats were the norm.
"Whoa~, it's jam-packed though."
That's the norm, at least.
Even at Siyoram, which overflowed with prodigious chicks, crowds flocked wherever an especially talented prospect had a match.
And this arena had the most extreme concentration of all.
Even a sharp eye couldn't find a single empty seat, let alone standing room; it was completely sold out.
Cadets, faculty, and Siyoram residents packed every spot. The man who'd looked around clicked his tongue.
"Is it really okay not to run a live broadcast? A ton of people who couldn't get in are gonna miss this..."
"A replay video goes up later. They probably figure that's enough."
"But the sense of being there matters... Tch. Then again, guess it can't be helped."
The man, looking unsatisfied, shrugged. Then he turned his eyes toward the person beside him.
"So, come on, spill. How was the combat exam yesterday?"
"I told you, strict confidentiality. Keep pestering me and I might just report you to headquarters."
"Harsh... Ugh, you think I'm asking for state secrets?"
The man was an administrative staff member at Siyoram. His friend sitting beside him, Nation, was one of the combat major teaching assistants.
"I'm just asking for your impression. Rumors already circulated overnight anyway. Point is, I want to hear it straight from someone who saw it up close."
"......"
At the man's question, Nation let out a murmur.
He had handled the combat-major practicals yesterday.
It was a routine he'd grown used to over several years, yet yesterday's memory remained vivid.
Because Lee Ha-yul had been in his group.
That was also the reason the friend clinging to him kept chattering nonstop.
"It was just..."
"Just?"
Nation briefly groped at his memories. Since they were that intense, recalling them wasn't hard. He gave a shuddering shake of his head.
"...I can't describe it. No point trying, either. You'll see faster with your own eyes."
"Oh, come on. You dragged it out that long."
The man grimaced and turned his head.
In that moment, his ears pricked up. As cadets rose through each entrance tunnel, exclamations rang out from all sides.
"Whoa..."
On one side stood a name so famous it was almost painful to repeat by now—three syllables, Lee Ha-yul.
Photos and videos of him circulated everywhere online, but the real thing was overwhelming. The ongoing chatter clamped shut in an instant.
"...I'd thought, no way."
Opposite him,
Aiden climbed up wearing a hollow look and let out a humorless laugh.
.
.
.
"Isn't this actually rigged? I ran into you in last year's tournament. And in the second-semester midterms. Huh? Just how many times am I supposed to get smacked around?"
- Ahaha...
A short distance separated them. Even though the gap was packed and buzzing, he didn't miss the sound. Lee Ha-yul gave an awkward laugh.
- They said it was randomized... coincidentally, we got matched again.
"Is it really random? Be honest with me. Is this because I suddenly challenged you to a spar early last year and you held a grudge, so you're picking me on purpose?"
- Absolutely not...
Artifacts such as the Sky Wing Feather or the Confession Necklace were not allowed in the tournament.
Sending a sound transmission instead of using a necklace, Lee Ha-yul shook his head left and right.
He felt just as sour about it.
Again, again, again—Aiden.
There were roughly six hundred first-year cadets. Even discounting the ones from crafting or support majors who didn't participate, out of hundreds, Aiden had been drawn as his first opponent.
How flabbergasted had he been yesterday, while crafting undead, when he checked the published bracket?
[Contacts: Vice Headmaster]
▷Me: Are the brackets ever manually adjusted?
▷Vice Headmaster: The tournament brackets were randomly assigned.
▷Vice Headmaster: Is there a particular opponent you wish to change?
▷Me: No no no no
He'd even contacted the Vice Headmaster just in case and gotten outright confirmation.
"Sigh, I have the worst luck in the world... Or wait, is it actually good luck? At least I'm getting proper attention. I did reveal my Expansion Ability and got a ton of invitations last year."
- ...Congratulations.
"But I'd like to at least make it to the main tournament... I went and bragged to all the folks back home during break, told 'em to watch the main-round broadcast..."
- That's... unfortunate.
A bitter look crossed Lee Ha-yul's face as he averted his gaze. Aiden let out a sigh of his own and drew his sword.
Striving for victory in any situation was the proper attitude.
But against Lee Ha-yul, Aiden simply couldn't imagine winning.
'Until last year, I could at least cross blades...'
Granted, the other side had gone easy on him, but they'd traded steel and produced something of a contest... Now he was confident a single gesture would lay him flat.
[The tournament preliminary matches will now commence.]
A sign of the start. Aiden steadied his breathing and circulated mana through his body.
[The rules are Virtual Sparring. Full combat is permitted, including Body Reinforcement, Aura, magic, and Unique Abilities. Please be advised that the match proctor overseeing mediation may halt the spar at their discretion.]
'Even if I can't win, I've got to show what I can do before I go.'
[Both sides, ready.]
Aiden leveled his sword, narrowing his eyes. His enhanced vision meticulously tracked Lee Ha-yul's movements.
How would Lee Ha-yul come out?
'How should I know?'
Lee Ha-yul possessed a countless array of skills. Combine several of them? No point racking his brain; the answer wouldn't come.
[Evaluation, begin!]
At the same moment, Aiden kicked off the ground and charged. His body, blazing with the Body Reinforcement Technique, closed the distance in an instant.
Aiden didn't have much in the way of ranged harassment. Whatever the case, closing in was the right call.
- Kugugung!
As expected, he couldn't close in.
Faster than Aiden could close the gap, Lee Ha-yul's hands flew together into a hand seal.
A thick rock pillar surged from the middle of Aiden's path. Coarse surface, with engraved patterns etched into it. It radiated a sense of refinement, as if advertising itself as a work of art.
And that wasn't all. An unmistakable Innate Talent emanated from it—completely brazen.
'Taesan.'
Aiden's face instinctively crumpled. He'd seen it inside the tower, but it still didn't make any sense.
Calamity Flame, sure—he could buy that. But Taesan? And on top of that, Azure Sea? How could one person hold all of those?
It shocked him more than the rumor that Lee Ha-yul was actually a war weapon assembled by the Tower Masters.
'What now?'
Dodge sideways? A trap? The basis of a formation? No need to think about it.
Thwuck—! An ashen gray hand burst through the archaic pillar and jutted out.
A grotesque hand. Compared to the arm, the hand was oversized—a Hungry Ghost. The talon-like fingers emanated a sharp lethality, as chilling as blades.
The hand grabbed the rock pillar and pulled a body free. The pillar crumbled, revealing the presence inside.
A gray-tinted, slender frame overall. Its legs were reverse-jointed, and it stood nearly eight cheok tall.
What grabbed the most attention was the right arm.
Calling it an arm was a stretch, really. From the elbow down hung a long, massive blade.
'Gotta be an undead. Looks damn strong.'
Undead were generally thought of as mere meat shields—and in truth, they often were—but Aiden couldn't perceive that undead as a meat shield in the slightest.
The aura it gave off was murderously severe. A dizzying chill rose on his skin, as if a blade were paring it away.
- Kki-geek?
The undead's head tilted. Three eerie pairs of eyes swept the area and then focused on Aiden.
The moment the creepiness thickened, Aiden didn't hesitate and wrenched his head aside.
- Seogeok!
A spine-chilling flash grazed right before his eyes. The tips of his hair went cold. The massive blade filled his vision.
'So damn fast...!'
There wasn't even time to clench his teeth. He snapped his sword upward. A clean arc aimed at the undead's head.
- Clang!
The thick hand of the undead blocked his sword. His Body Reinforcement Technique was already pushed to its limit, and his blade was coated in Aura.
Yet it was still stopped.
The black mana wrapped thickly around the undead's hand. He had cut into it, but the mana acted like a buffer. He hadn't managed to slash the hand properly. That was because the undead's hand was absurdly tough to begin with.
The undead's eyes narrowed.
Its blade-like fingers bent. Crunch! Mana and Aura clashed, screeching against each other. At the same time, a blade sliced through the air, flying straight for his throat.
'Shit, stop breaking my precious swords!'
Aiden, eyes wide, twisted his blade. Screech! With fluid skill, he pulled his sword free and immediately thrust it against the incoming blade.
- Skrrrrik!
The swords intertwined. They pushed and pulled against one another.
It was a level of skill that could only be called swordsmanship. A look of shock spread across Aiden's face.
The common perception of undead was that they were mostly meat shields. And in practice, that was how they were usually used.
Because they were already dead, injuries didn't matter. The standard tactic was to overwhelm the enemy by force, using the sheer bulk raised through necromancy.
'Is that thing really an undead?'
The undead in front of him was different.
Sword in the right hand, hand in the left.
The trajectory of the fluttering blade twisted repeatedly.
It feinted and struck true. It was difficult to read. And even when he did read it, the swordsmanship that dug into his defenses was chillingly sharp.
Its left hand, not holding a sword, was just as threatening.
If he focused solely on the blade in its right hand, he would be snatched by the left hand that shot out without warning.
If he was lucky, he could tear his Aura free in chunks and escape. If he was unlucky, he would lose a limb, or it would just be over.
And its defense, not just its offense, was effective. Its broad hand would spread out like a shield, constantly deflecting his thrusting sword.
'This piece of crap is an undead?'
He could understand being outmatched in raw power, but he couldn't even overpower it in terms of pure skill.
It was common knowledge that the undead couldn't fully utilize the skills they possessed in life. Yet here, that common knowledge was being casually denied.
He had heard that undead raised through Taesan had different performance, but he hadn't heard it was to this extent.
- Clang!
After hundreds of exchanges, their bodies rebounded apart. In the brief moment of distance, Aiden steadied his breathing.
- Keeerik...
The undead didn't immediately lunge back in. It rolled its multiple eyes, as if assessing the situation.
Only then did his gaze move to the figure behind the undead.
Lee Ha-yul was standing still, his hands clasped in front of his chest.
At a glance, one might think he was controlling the undead. But considering Lee Ha-yul's known level of skill... he was just standing still.
"...Is the gap really this big..."
Aiden let out a hollow sigh.
The sight was almost comical: the caster was left completely alone while Aiden was locked in a fierce brawl with a single summoned undead.
He had been beaten like a dog last year too. But this time... it was almost too ridiculous to even evaluate.
'Jeez.'
The gap was so staggeringly vast that he could only laugh bitterly. The sword he was holding felt laughably useless.
'The world is just too unfair.'
He aimed his sword. But these rising thoughts were something he had already come to terms with long ago.
Talent was different for everyone, and it was relative.
To an ordinary person, a superhuman was a lucky and gifted category of being.
To a superhuman without a Unique Ability, Aiden was a lucky and gifted category of being.
'And there are so many people far more talented than me.'
People more talented than Aiden. In terms of Unique Ability, natural aptitude, raw talent, and so on. There were countless numbers of them.
Probably, the one standing at the very peak of that was Lee Ha-yul.
The prodigy of talent he had been so curious about.
"Huu..."
The tip of his aimed sword trembled. His formless, colorless essence flickered.
He decided to stop comparing talent.
It had been a wrong-headed thought from the start.
Even the name of the concept itself was 'Innate Talent'.
It was a quality that only he possessed. What was the point of comparing it to others?
'I just need to surpass who I was yesterday.'
Competition might be an unavoidable part of the world, but at the very least, cultivating one's Innate Talent had little need for comparing oneself to others.
Aiden had come to this conclusion. This too was Aiden's own unique answer.
- Crunch!
In the time it took to blink, the undead was right in his face, bearing down on him.
Aiden swung his sword horizontally.
Swordsmanship Arts Expansion Ability
Severing Iai
The wind was sliced.
A horizontal arc carved through the air. It didn't connect. The undead, bending its waist back so low its head nearly touched the ground, smiled. A blade, scooped up from the floor, shot upwards.
'Again.'
The undead's eyes flew open wide.
A sword, deflected to the lower right, slashed diagonally. Severing Iai. A sword strike like the teeth of a comb flew in. The undead extended its left hand.
- Screeeek—!
Its bending fingers snapped upwards. The mana was cut. The slash hit the palm dead-on. A sound like tearing metal exploded as the palm split apart.
- Keeerik...!
Its left hand was rendered nearly useless. The moment Aiden realized this, the undead swung its right arm. Its intact blade surged forward, wreathed in black mana.
'More.'
His sword rose to the upper left. Gritting his teeth, Aiden squeezed his Heart Power again. His Innate Talent expanded over his Aura.
Severing Iai. A blade of light descended vertically, slamming down onto the oncoming weapon.
- Crrk, screech!
A sound similar to before. Metal was torn away and sent flying through the air.
"......."
In the brief silence that fell, something slammed into the ground.
It was a blade. The black mana coiled around it dissipated.
- Keeeruk...
The undead's eyes swiveled wildly as it examined its own arms.
The left hand was slashed. The right hand had been torn off and blown away.
- Riiiip!
Its mouth, which had been drawn like a hairline crack, split wide open.
Mana welled up within the gaping maw, but a blade of light split through the mana.
Slash! The already gaping mouth flopped open, nearly severed top from bottom. Black blood gushing out, the undead stumbled and reeled backward.
"Huff... huuu..."
Soaked in sweat, Aiden finally released the breath he had been holding.
"Oh, oooh...."
Along with him, the spectators who had been engrossed in the match also let out their breaths.
Almost everyone had come to the arena thinking of Lee Ha-yul, yet somewhere along the line, their attention had been divided, shared with Aiden.
'Wow.'
From behind, Lee Ha-yul, who had been quietly watching, let out a breath of admiration.
'That's impressive.'
His admiration was genuine.
A body stitched together by taking only the necessary parts from monsters close to the original and precisely grafting them on.
Suitable thought residue, captured nearly perfectly intact by the Authority of Knowledge.
On top of that, it was an undead raised and corrected through Taesan.
Of course, he had limited its raw power somewhat to observe its skill, but he hadn't expected it to be suppressed this quickly.
'Well, Aiden is a cadet who got in via recommended admission.'
It was something he had thought during the last Dungeon Practice. If anything, it was only natural for him to become this strong.
Nodding to himself, Lee Ha-yul formed a hand seal.
Rumble! Two pillars rose up on either side of him, one on each side. The people who had been clapping froze.
"...Uh."
Aiden, who had been catching his breath and feeling something akin to a sense of achievement, blinked at the strange feeling of déjà vu.
"No way, wait—!"
Pop! As if confirming his guess, something burst out of each stone pillar. One held a hammer, the other a spear blade.
The stone pillars crumbled away.
One was similar to the undead from just before.
A long, slender body. Both hands were intact, but it was gripping a long spear.
The other was a bit different.
A bulky, thick body. One hand was wrapped around a hammer taller than itself, and in the other was a large tower shield big enough to cover its massive frame.
Their presence?
It seemed no different from the undead he had just barely suppressed at the end of a desperate, life-or-death struggle.
Aiden's face crumpled miserably.
"Fucking talent gap."
The two undead lunged at him.
.
.
.
"Gaaaah..."
3 minutes later.
After a desperate, final resistance, Aiden was left rolling on the ground.