The Final Boss Event That Started Way Too Early
The spar with Rachel had triggered the final boss event way too early. Because of that, an event route with her that I was never supposed to see at this stage had activated, leaving me with a divine weapon setup that should have been impossible to possess right now. A legendary-grade whip-sword and greatsword combo. This was never part of my plan. After obtaining the Iron Lion's Greatsword, I had intended to secure a spear-type divine weapon next, but everything had gone off the rails. Now my workload had doubled. I would need to hunt down that spear divine weapon while also grinding whip-sword skills on the side.
“Asbel!!”
“Yeah. What is it, Rachel?”
On top of that, I now had to haul the clingy Rachel around with me everywhere. Out of nowhere, this sudden obsession. I never imagined my to-do list would explode like this. Still, I didn’t mind. This was the thrill of tackling a brand-new difficulty for the first time. Besides, no man alive would complain about a beautiful girl pressing herself against him and smiling like that.
Rachel followed me exactly like a cat glued to its favorite stuffed toy. She didn’t have any friends to begin with, and she seemed to think my weak body meant she had to protect me at all times.
“Asbel! Food!”
“Oh, thanks.”
“Asbel!! I’ll carry it!!”
“Sure. Thanks.”
Thanks to her, I had somehow acquired a personal maid who stuck to my side without being asked. She brought me food, carried my things, and kept track of my schedule. Escorted by her bodyguard service and constant attendance, I headed to class.
“The Sonic Sword requires a supple flow of mana as its foundation. A whip-sword is inherently flexible. It moves in a fluid motion, and centrifugal force travels from the hand all the way to the tip. You must never fight that flow.”
The whip-sword class was taught by Professor Vilda, a dark-skinned woman with an exotic appearance.
“You let the mana flow gracefully along that supple tip. Then, the instant the very end of the whip-sword snaps with a sharp crack and exceeds the speed of sound, you focus all that smoothly flowing mana at the tip.”
Professor Vilda demonstrated. The two-meter blade whipped around flexibly before exploding outward with a sharp bang. A crescent afterimage flashed in the air and lingered for about half a second before vanishing. The students burst into applause.
“That afterimage is created when mana condenses at extreme speed and remains in the air for a moment. Only when that perfect crescent is drawn can you call it a true Sonic Sword. All right! Let’s begin practice! I’ll be watching over each of you.”
Like the other professors, Vilda went around giving individual guidance. Everyone trained with fierce concentration. Everyone except Rachel, who simply stood beside me and stared blankly.
“Student Asbel. I heard you were taking greatsword and spear classes. Are you adding whip-sword lessons now as well?”
“Yes.”
“You certainly take a wide variety of courses. However, keep this in mind. Simply learning many different skills does not automatically make you stronger.”
She was right. It was far more stable to pick one main weapon and one secondary, then train those two to the bone. Yet here I was, attending spear classes without even owning a spear, or only taking the absolute basic skill lessons for each weapon type. Raising a character this way usually turned them into a jack-of-all-trades mess.
But I had my reasons for doing things this way.
“Thank you for the advice. I’m not attending these lectures without a plan.”
Professor Vilda studied me for a moment, then nodded. She probably figured that a senior student should be capable of making that kind of judgment.
Her gaze then shifted to Rachel, who had been quietly watching me the entire time.
“Miss Rachel Catel? About the whip-sword?”
“I don’t know.”
The sudden blunt reply left Vilda slightly flustered.
“Didn’t you come to take the class?”
“I came because I want to stay next to Asbel.”
While Vilda’s eyes widened at the bewildering answer, I stepped in.
“She just wants to stay by my side. Please don’t worry about her.”
“The young lady of the Catel Marquisate…”
It seemed she had heard the rumors. Realizing Rachel had some intellectual challenges, Professor Vilda left without further comment.
You've received outstanding instruction!
1% until new enlightenment
My increased intelligence stat had sharpened my mana sensitivity, letting me handle the whip-sword with far greater precision. I poured mana into the blade, applied centrifugal force to draw a wide arc, then, at the exact moment the tip snapped like a whip and accelerated explosively, I rapidly concentrated the supple mana at the forefront.
The timing was—nnngh. Snap.
Just like with Stingray and the mountain scar last time, this stupid sound effect actually helped with timing more than I expected. By repeatedly channeling mana on the “nnngh” and focusing on the “snap,” my whip-sword began leaving faint crescent afterimages in the air.
“Excellent. Asbel, that was truly excellent.”
Professor Vilda didn’t hold back her praise after watching my Sonic Sword. She also offered useful advice without reservation—when to infuse the mana, how pulling back slightly at the moment of peak acceleration helped concentration more than simply pushing it to the tip, and so on. The instruction was genuinely outstanding.
You have received exceptional teaching!
Enlightenment value rising rapidly!
It was an incredibly satisfying class. I left with a pleased expression, and the moment I smiled, Rachel glued herself to my side again.
“Feeling good?”
“Yeah. Pretty good.”
“If you’re happy, I’m happy too.”
“Thanks, Rachel.”
“What now?”
I already knew exactly what we were doing together.
“Want to spar for a bit?”
I had no more classes left. I had already learned the basic skills for both spearmanship and greatsword. Mana sensitivity lessons were no longer useful either. They were designed for beginners, and with my intelligence now approaching the 230s, simple foundational drills no longer provided meaningful growth. I still needed to acquire curved-sword skills, but whip-sword proficiency was notoriously slow to rise. For the time being, I had to focus solely on whip-sword techniques. And nothing raised skill proficiency faster than actual combat.
“Spar? Like fighting?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay! I’m really good at fighting!!!”
Rachel puffed out her chest with pride. Since she had been placed in the seventh-year class from the start, her raw talent had to be exceptional. She would make an excellent opponent.
We headed straight for the training hall.
“The Iron Lion's Greatsword has too much destructive power and range, so I’ll only use Blood Thread's Poison Fang.”
“Mommy’s stingy sword?”
“Yeah. But since we don’t want anyone getting hurt, here. I’m going to enchant it with the Dull Blade debuff.”
Some students at the Imperial Academy brought their own divine weapons. They often sparred with them to grow more familiar. To reduce lethality during practice, the training hall kept Dull Blade debuff scrolls on hand. I tore one open, applied the enchantment to Blood Thread's Poison Fang, and prepared for our duel.
“All right. Let’s begin.”
Rachel looked at me with the face of a cat who had just discovered an interesting new toy.
“Fight starting now?”
“Yes. It’s starting. Don’t injure your opponent. This is just to test each other’s skills. Got it?”
“Got it.”
“Good. Then let’s go.”
Honestly, I didn’t know the exact details of Rachel’s combat ability. In my original strategy guide, I had never even sparred with her. But since things had already deviated this far, I needed to gauge her current strength.
“Fight starting?”
“Yeah. It’s starting. Come in whenever you—”
Before I could finish, Rachel shot forward from across the room like she had teleported and threw a punch. The speed was almost instantaneous. I urgently fired Blood Thread's Poison Fang, slamming her fist sideways. Thanks to the Dull Blade effect, the edge bounced off her arm without piercing it.
“Hmm?”
Rachel looked genuinely surprised that her attack had been blocked.
“Asbel. You blocked it.”
“I did. Now it’s my turn.”
The blade shot out like a bullet, slicing a wide crescent through the air. The seven-meter-long whip-sword flew toward Rachel at impossible speed. But she was no pushover.
“Fast. Amazing.”
With an expressionless face, she lightly leaped over the blade aimed at her waist and charged straight at me. She raised her hand, claws extended like she meant to tear me apart. The mana packed into her fingers was terrifyingly dense. Such skilled and powerful mana control could only be called a natural gift.
Did all the intelligence she lacked get converted into pure combat instinct instead?
“But I win…”
She swung her hand down, ready to unleash the mana stored in her nails. There was just one thing she hadn’t anticipated.
My whip-sword could perform maneuvers completely different from ordinary ones.
The flying blade suddenly stopped mid-air, then bent at a 160-degree obtuse angle and shot toward the back of Rachel’s head. It was an unnatural direction change that no swordsman wielding the weapon with both hands could ever replicate.
“Kya!”
The whip-sword wrapped around Rachel’s neck and slammed her into the floor. She sprang back up with wide eyes.
“How?”
Instead of answering, I made the blade zigzag through the air in every direction and smiled.
“My blade is alive, Rachel. If you only think about the path of a normal two-handed swing, you’ll get hurt badly.”
Rachel huffed in frustration, yet her eyes sparkled with strange enthusiasm. She had looked bored following me to classes, but now she had found something fun.
“Again.”
“Sure. Let’s go again.”
The moment the words left my mouth, she hurled herself at me with mana-packed nails. She had probably held back some strength, but the training hall floor still cracked where the mana grazed it. Getting hit would clearly be dangerous.
She really can’t hold back at all, can she? Typical heroine.
I easily coiled the blade around myself like a shield and blocked the strike. Rachel tried to circle behind me, but Blood Thread's Poison Fang refused to let her. Like a living serpent, the whip-sword darted through the air with incredible agility. She was sent tumbling again. By now she looked thoroughly worked up.
“I’m going to win.”
“Sure. Just don’t get hurt.”
“I know.”
The exchange continued. Each time she attacked, she changed tactics. Incredible speed and raw power. She kept launching mana-infused nail strikes from a distance like flying slashes. She was an incredibly strong character, but—
She’s actually kind of cute when she fights.
To someone like me who had played at the highest level, her movements were too straightforward and simple. They were actually easy to predict. For nearly two hours, she charged in and I sent her flying.
Current mana remaining: 81.
Victory achieved against a strong opponent!
Training hall buff greatly increases enlightenment value!
13% until new enlightenment.
Successfully performed complex and precise mana manipulation! Intelligence stat increased by 6.
As expected, sparring was the correct answer. Thanks to the whip-sword’s unique ability to perform incredibly intricate and complex maneuvers compared to normal swords, my repeated practice had raised my intelligence stat. From now on, the same amount of mana would let me control it with far greater power and precision. On top of that, attempting to use Sonic Sword during the spar had dramatically increased my enlightenment value. One session had yielded massive gains.
“Good work, Rachel. Let’s call it here for today.”
When I spoke with satisfaction, Rachel stared at me like she was dying of frustration.
“Do it again tomorrow.”
“Sure. Let’s do it again tomorrow.”
There was no way I would pass up an event this sweet.
“Tomorrow I will definitely win!”
“Yeah. I’m sure you will.”
When I answered that way, Rachel finally relaxed and let out a small laugh.
“Asbel is strong. I was surprised.”
“Thanks. Shall we head back now?”
The moment I stroked her cat-like hair, the message appeared.
Strong stimulus detected.
Heroine Rachel's hidden potential is beginning to bloom!
Hidden Skill Descent of the War God acquisition progress: 2%.
“……Huh?”
I couldn’t help but widen my eyes at the sudden status window. Descent of the War God. A skill that could never be obtained by a playable character. If my memory was correct, it was a growth-type skill that could reach SSS-rank at maximum potential. One of the strongest skills in the entire game.