Chapter 17
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: Avatar (3)
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On the first day of class, Professor Cigarette instructed the cadets to "match your breaths."
Back then, an accident during sparring prevented us from synchronizing properly, but afterward, whenever our schedule wrapped up, we'd tried practicing it in our spare time.
Yeah.
Practice only.
At best, a few practical drills against low-grade monsters—a joint effort with zero real combat experience.
Kagagagak-!!
The axe, swung with crushing weight, scraped across the ground as it charged forward with ferocious momentum.
It was the same force that had crumpled three layers of steel shields.
Their swords clashed against the axe in unison.
A deafening explosion rang out, sending an overwhelming recoil surging through their bodies.
All of Laila's created weapons rushed in desperately. Her telekinesis—limited to her creations—pushed back against the axe at maximum output.
Finally, Harlan's axe ground to a halt.
They had blocked the attack.
"Impressive!! To think even I, Harlan, couldn't end it in one blow!"
They shared the burden of an attack that not even one of them could have dodged alone.
Laila naturally took the lead in defense. Her leg was injured, after all.
This "cooperative defense," executed without any prior coordination, seared itself into the minds of all three as a success.
There was no room to let their focus slip.
The next strike was coming.
This one came crashing down from above.
With their lives on the line, their minds raced faster than usual.
'It'll carry even more weight.'
That thought flashed through all three minds in an instant.
Laila prepared her sturdiest possible shield, tilting it slightly.
Straight on, it would shatter along with the shield no matter how tough it was—but the other two weren't about to stand by.
They charged in from the left together.
Aiming for the side of the falling axe, they swung their swords.
Kwang!!
The mana-clad swords struck true.
Kaduduk!
Laila's weapons followed up in a frenzy.
The axe's trajectory twisted off-course, sliding across the shield before slamming into the ground.
The three didn't miss their opening.
Laila conjured three more weapons. Greatswords.
She slammed them down onto the embedded axe, pinning it in place.
The cost of overtaxing her blessing would come crashing down soon enough.
"Let's go!!"
"Yes!!"
While the weapons held it fast, Sera charged straight ahead.
Roel followed, preparing the strongest technique she could unleash.
Sera outpaced the wind itself.
The speed even the demons they'd faced in the dungeon couldn't react to.
A graze sliced his side, another carved his back.
Two faint wounds bloomed on Harlan's body.
"......Ugh."
A sharp sting shot through her wrist.
No matter. She tore off the ripped section of her uniform and wrapped it around her sword hand.
Kwak.
This way, even if it broke, she'd keep her grip.
Sera charged again.
The strain on her legs screamed in real time, but she didn't hesitate.
She needed to buy time for Roel.
"Got you, little rat."
Even with Laila harassing him, Sera's sword was tracked on the fifth swing.
Harlan, predicting her path, seized the blade with his clawed hand and crushed it.
Sera was grateful her arm hadn't been caught too.
"Now!"
She kicked off his torso to pull away.
Almost simultaneously, Roel's sword arced down vertically.
The distance was too great to call it a true slash, but Harlan instinctively assumed a defensive stance.
A technique she'd never once succeeded with on her own.
She poured every ounce of her heightened mana into her sword, unleashing it in the form of a blade.
Cleave.
The mark of a master swordsman—and Roel's final resort—devoured the enemy before her in a storm of momentum.
The shock kicked up a massive cloud of dust.
It had torn up the ground as it went, so it was only natural.
Silence fell. As hope flickered—'Did we get him?'—that's when it happened.
Hwaak-!
Sharp claws rent the smoke.
"Excellent!!"
Harlan's form had changed.
His fur was dyed red, his muscles even more swollen.
The wolf, now closer to a beast than ever, began laughing maniacally.
"Kuhahaha! Perfect timing—things were getting dicey with the delay. Killing you lot will more than cover the 'losses'!"
Harlan effortlessly yanked free the axe pinned by three greatswords.
That alone hinted at the raw power of this form.
Harlan lowered his stance.
One hand slammed into the earth, coiling like a spring ready to launch.
Instinct screamed danger.
"You're first!"
Something burst with a boom.
Harlan vanished, leaving only a deep gouge.
Just his launch had caused that sound.
Roel's gaze snapped belatedly to Laila.
Uujik.
All her weapons, shields included, shattered as Laila's body cratered into the ground.
Her ankle was snapped; she couldn't stand anymore.
"Laila!!"
Sera rushed in a beat too late.
Not to fight—just to drag the fallen Laila away.
Sera took a fist to the side and went flying, smashing into a building and vomiting blood.
"Alone again, are we?"
Harlan chuckled.
"Human, your strikes were impressive."
The giant over three meters tall approached Roel.
"Here's a deal. Kill those two still breathing with your own hands. Bow your head and beg forgiveness. I'll let you live—alone."
Humans are emotional creatures.
Beyond instinct, they carry seven emotions akin to "sin" itself.
Of course, emotions never truly override instinct.
Instinct is humanity's innate survival system.
"......Don't talk nonsense."
But.
"Kill my friends with my own hands...?"
Roel's emotions clearly suppressed her instincts.
She leveled her sword at an opponent she could never defeat.
Her fury-locked gaze met the others'.
"I want none of your mercy. Don't take life so lightly."
With that declaration, Roel charged.
Harlan sneered at her, moving to end it.
Kwang!!
Another thunderous clash.
Hard to believe it came from metal weapons colliding.
The outcome seemed obvious.
Roel's sword would snap, her body cleaved in two.
Harlan was certain.
"......You."
Roel endured, defying expectations.
'How?' The question rose in Harlan's mind.
It was a full-force strike.
He was confident even all three together couldn't have withstood it.
Yet the weakest human held?
"Something's changed."
Muttering, Harlan unleashed a barrage.
As if his prior efforts weren't serious, he hammered her with dozens of devastating blows.
Roel faced them head-on, eyes wide open.
Twisting, ducking, weaving to evade.
Blocking or parrying what she couldn't dodge.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
A focus she couldn't comprehend herself.
How could she see them? React?
Her body simply moved.
"How long will you just defend?!"
Harlan's onslaught intensified.
Vibrations rattled her skull.
Her physical limits, long exceeded, now clawed to the surface.
Now was the moment.
As Harlan wound up for a heavier strike, Roel's body moved on instinct.
The sudden counterforce flung the axe wide, as if shattering a vampire's blade anew.
The follow-up was obvious.
A straight thrust at the heart.
The technique once shown by someone who was Roel yet not Roel.
"......Truly impressive. I'm honestly in awe."
If Harlan hadn't guarded his chest with his hand.
It would have been fatal.
"So, you were the one who killed Kehelrn."
Harlan had planned another surrender demand.
Force her to slaughter her comrades herself, then sever her head and hang it from the academy's highest spire.
Not anymore.
Dragging this out would only let her grow further.
He had to kill her a minute sooner—no, a second sooner.
If a true hero emerged, it would be this girl.
"Today, I kill the hero."
Death was sealed.
For some reason, Roel saw no life flashing before her eyes.
Her blue eyes gleamed.
Eyes more alive than any other's, even in the throes of death.
She wouldn't close them.
She'd stare it down.
Even if death came ugly, refusal to submit meant true victory.
That was a hero.
The very next instant.
Peueok!!
Harlan flew dozens of meters back, struck by something.
"......?"
A stranger stood before her.
He glanced once at Roel, once at Sera, once at Laila.
Then he spoke.
"Good work. You fought well."
His hand rested on Roel's head.
Gently stroking twice before pulling away.
It wasn't unpleasant. Strangely comforting.
"......! Behind you!"
No time to savor it.
The flung Harlan barreled back with terrifying speed.
"It's fine."
The man spoke reassuringly.
Her death-grip on the sword—handle half-broken—relaxed as she naturally handed it over.
Roel didn't understand why.
"You can still hold on, right?"
She nodded.
Death loomed, but her consciousness clung stubbornly.
"Then watch closely."
The man advanced, sword in hand.
"I'll show you firsthand how to wield your swordsmanship."
[Currently possessing the 'Avatar'.]
[Dual Soul perk operating normally.]
[Sharing talents with the target, 'Roel Griffith'.]
I'd been an idiot.
From the moment I brought back the item the demons were hunting, I should have prepared for something like this.
No denying it—I'd been too fixated on the avatar.
'......What an idiot.'
We'd nearly lost all three.
A little later, and Roel would've been unrecognizable.
Even rushing the second I spotted the orcs in the woods, it had been razor-close.
My teeth ground together.
I was furious at my own stupidity—and at the demon who'd reduced my girl to this state.
"You're no human."
"Everyone says that. What do they even know?"
The demon charged with terrifying speed.
Fast compared to foes so far, but not undodgeable.
"......Can't kill him yet. Got questions."
Restraint is its own battle.
Swallowing the urge to decapitate, I severed his leg.
Thud.
Tendons snapped; one knee hit the dirt.
Ignoring his panicked face, I began swinging.
Fast, concise, powerful strikes.
Each chaining seamlessly into the next—a relentless combo.
Precise. Measured. No openings.
"Wh-what......!"
Sliced dozens of times in seconds, the demon let out a startled yelp.
Not yet.
I loaded each strike with Cleave, carving him up.
Roel.
Watch closely.
You need to grow stronger than this.
"Uwaaaah!!"
The demon roared, flinging a bloodied fist.
I stared down the face-shot and lopped off the arm.
The roar turned to a scream.
"Orcs popping up all over the academy— not your doing, right?"
I stomped his head.
Enough pressure to pin, not crush.
He strained to rise, then gave up and bellowed.
"Sitla!! Teleport me!!"
A gate spawned beneath him.
So that's how they brought the orcs.
I snatched the wolf demon's nape and hurled him outside just in time.
The gate slammed shut as I glimpsed beyond.
"There you are."
My gaze lifted skyward.
High above, a tiny human-like silhouette.
"I'll kill youuuu!!"
The enraged wolf demon dragged his legs, swinging fists in place of lost weapons.
I stabbed my sword into the ground, blocked the punch, then smashed my fist into his elongated snout.
Chaining momentum, I twisted and cratered that massive head into the dirt.
The avatar was more useful than expected.
Stronger than Roel's current self, and its properties made channeling mana effortless.
[Current Avatar damage: 20%]
But as a disposable, its durability sucked.
Made my excitement over reusability look foolish.
Whatever. Fine.
The wolf demon wasn't moving anymore.
One down, at least...
I drew my sword and stared at the sky from before.
"Hey, you. Come down here."