Chapter 411
Chapter Title: The Unveiling
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“You bastard...!”
Rement's eyes flashed with fury at Luke's words.
“The real fight starts now? Who do you think you are, spouting such arrogant nonsense!”
His opponent was a failing first-year student at Lumerne.
A worthless nobody who should have been expelled, not even allowed to remain at the academy.
Just the fact that he'd been knocked to the ground by a surprise attack from this Luke was enough to make his blood boil.
On top of that, seeing Luke talk as if he were about to launch a counterattack made him feel like he was about to lose his mind.
Rumble-!
As the ground began to shake, Luke readjusted his grip on his sword.
Crash-!
A wave of earth surged toward Luke like a massive tidal wave.
It was on a different level of power and scale from the magic Rement had used so far.
Luke lowered his stance and tightened his grip on his sword.
‘No time to dodge!’
This was clearly different from the previous attacks.
An attack meant to annihilate him completely.
Luke clenched his hand on the hilt of his sword.
‘If there's no opening, I'll have to make one!’
He focused his aura onto the very tip of his blade.
Flash-!
Shwwwiiing-!
As he swung his sword, a silver flash erupted.
Craaaash-!
With that, the earthen tidal wave swallowed Luke whole.
“Insignificant little thing.”
Just as Rement's face twisted into a scowl.
Whoosh-!
“What?”
Luke burst through the thick cloud of dust, charging toward Rement.
Clang! Crackle-!
Luke's attack, clad in silver aura, struck Rement's shield magic.
Thwump-!
Luke was thrown back.
“You bastard! What kind of trick did you use?!”
Rement shouted in agitation and began to fire off spells indiscriminately.
Boom! Craaaash!
***
“No way.”
“He can use an aura like that?”
“What in the world is going on!”
The entire first year was in an uproar over the unexpected movements of Luke, whom they had always looked down on.
“Wow, he was hiding something like that?”
“Hmm. So he did have a trump card, just as I thought.”
Juen's eyes widened, while Shasha narrowed hers, covering her mouth with a folding fan.
Haviden, who had his arms crossed, scoffed.
“This much is to be expected.”
Aina simply stared intently at Luke with a blank expression.
“Wow, I knew it wouldn't end easily since he's the class president, but to think he was hiding a trump card like that.”
From the second-year stands, Iliana exclaimed in admiration while eating popcorn.
“But the way he's using that power is pretty clumsy.”
“He's bound to be bad at controlling his power. It's his first time using that much.”
“Oh! President!”
Iliana waved at the voice that answered from behind her.
Leo reached for Iliana's popcorn.
Iliana desperately defended against the sudden plunder, but Leo managed to snatch a handful of popcorn, leaving her with a pout.
As Leo sat down, Chloe tilted her head.
“If he had that much power, was there really a need to let him be labeled a failure?”
“The unique nature of his training method required him to suppress his power for a long time.”
Leo said, bringing the stolen popcorn to his mouth.
“Luke's background is unusual compared to the other hero candidates. He learned everything on his own.”
“In that sense, he's a bit like you, Young Master Leo.”
‘He's completely different from me.’
From birth, everything about Leo was already complete, except for his vessel.
But Luke is different.
Literally a blank slate.
He couldn't even handle his own vessel properly.
It was only after coming to Lumerne that he learned a proper aura heart technique.
No matter how special Luke's mana affinity or how outstanding his talent, with an incomplete vessel, his starting line was inevitably different from the other Lumerne students.
‘Even if he had trained conventionally, he would have shown surprising growth. But he wouldn't have achieved the explosive growth he's showing now.’
That's why Leo focused on building Luke's vessel through an extreme method.
That path was undoubtedly a very difficult one for Luke himself.
‘Especially when his starting line was so far behind, and the students around him were racing ahead while he alone seemed to be running in place... it would have been easy to fall into despair.’
Of course, if Luke had wanted to, he could have taken an easier path that would have allowed for faster growth.
But it was Luke himself who walked that difficult path to the very end.
“He's only just now formed his vessel, but...”
Leo let out a small laugh as he watched Luke.
“If the strongest first-years underestimate him now, they'll be in for a surprise.”
‘He always had good eyes. Good powers of observation, too. And on top of that, he had combat sense.’
All Leo did was provide him with a large, blank canvas.
Now, how to fill that canvas was up to Luke.
***
Boom! Boom! Craaaash!
“I'll finish you!”
Rement, his eyes bloodshot, roared.
Having half-lost his sanity, Rement was firing spells indiscriminately.
But despite the countless spells raining down, not a single one hit Luke.
Luke's eyes darted, tracking the trajectory of the spells.
‘My body feels light. And I'm not getting tired.’
It wasn't just mana that Leo had sealed.
He had sealed Luke's physical abilities as well.
In that state, Luke had pushed his body to its limits in training every single day.
He had run like a madman day after day, yet he always seemed to be in the same place.
Days of stagnation, with no progress to be seen.
But it was as if all that stagnation had been for this very moment.
Even as he moved now, Luke's body continued to evolve.
As if the hardships of the past days were all for this moment.
All his diligent, non-stop training was being rewarded in this instant.
Thud-!
Luke leaped, using a massive rock spear flying toward him as a foothold.
Spinning, he deflected the stone arrows raining down from the sky.
Clang-clang-clang-
Rement's attacks were relentless.
Seeing Luke dodge and block every single attack, a vein bulged on Rement's forehead.
“Ha! Are you trying to drag this out into a battle of attrition?! You'll either tire out or get hit by a spell long before that happens!”
He was right.
No matter how tireless Luke was, or how well he could read the spells' trajectories.
Rement wasn't just standing still either.
Just as Luke read the trajectory of Rement's magic and moved, Rement was also analyzing Luke's movements and attack patterns, launching even more complex assaults.
Rement Morlak.
He came from a prestigious family of mages and was ranked third among the first-year magic students.
He possessed an overwhelming amount of magical power compared to other students.
‘If this turns into a long fight, I'll be at a disadvantage.’
Although he had released the seal and gained an incomparable amount of mana, Luke's reserves weren't overwhelming.
For a knight, aura was fuel to be burned.
The moment his mana was depleted, his physical abilities would plummet.
‘Closing the distance to Rement won't be easy either.’
He had tried to close the gap several times, but failed on each attempt.
Rement was blocking his approach with countless protective spells.
Rement hadn't earned his third-place spot in Lumerne's Magic Department, a place where extraordinary talents gathered, by sheer luck.
He not only had magical skill but also abundant combat experience.
He was more than accustomed to fighting knights who wielded aura.
‘If I get grazed by even one attack, or if I tire out, I lose.’
Luke's silver eyes turned to Rement.
Luke's eyes glowed silver.
Whoosh-!
Seeing Luke suddenly change direction and charge at him, Rement's lips curled into a smirk.
‘Foolish bastard!’
He had been momentarily flustered by Luke's sudden, dramatic increase in abilities.
He had also been enraged that Luke had managed to land a hit on him, even if for just a moment.
But Rement was quickly regaining his composure.
‘There's no reason for me to lose to Luke Elda!’
Rement's attacks were overwhelming Luke.
‘He's pretty fast, but that's all!’
Rement, too, was aiming for the position of year representative.
For a traditional mage like him, the most troublesome opponents were Haviden and Aina from the Knight Department.
Both were knights who overwhelmed their opponents with incredible speed.
Rement had anticipated fighting them.
The element he specialized in was earth magic.
And the specialty of an earth mage was defense.
‘The moment you step into my domain, you're finished.’
Rement's eyes gleamed.
Thud-!
In that instant, Luke broke through the numerous defensive spells and entered Rement's domain.
Craaaash-!
Rement's magic activated, targeting Luke.
Fwoosh-!
In that moment, Luke quickly put distance between himself and Rement.
Clang-clang-clang-clang-!
Spells erupted from the ground, aiming for Luke, but he swung his sword and deflected them all.
Thud-!
Kicking off the ground, Luke instantly appeared behind Rement.
Whoosh-!
And he launched an attack from a blind spot.
“Useless! This magic has no blind spots!”
As Rement roared, another spell activated, targeting Luke.
Luke once again escaped Rement's domain.
A situation where he couldn't attack, only dodge and defend.
It was like being stuck in a swamp.
Just as Rement was smiling triumphantly.
Halt-!
Luke's movements stopped.
Seeing Luke stop so suddenly, Rement, who had been firing off spells, paused for a moment.
Then, his lips curled into a smirk.
“Giving up? Sorry, but I have no intention of letting the bastard who humiliated me off easy...”
“Here I come.”
Taking a deep breath, Luke readjusted his grip on his sword and lowered his stance.
“What?”
The moment Rement's face contorted.
Thump-!
‘He disappeared?’
The moment Rement was stunned.
His detection magic caught Luke's movement.
‘No, he's just moving faster!’
Rement focused his mana into his defensive spells, further expanding his domain.
Vwoom-!
The moment Luke set foot in Rement's domain, the magic reacted.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
All sorts of earth magic erupted from the ground, surging toward Luke.
Deflecting and dodging all the spells, Luke rapidly closed the distance to Rement.
“Foolish brat! You think just because you're a little faster you can reach me?!”
Rement scoffed.
In that instant.
Whoosh-!
Luke broke through Rement's first line of defense.
Seeing that, Rement's face hardened slightly.
‘No, he can't reach me.’
Rement drew forth even more mana.
Rumble-!
The ground rose up, trying to ensnare Luke.
In that moment.
Flash-!
Luke's silver eyes glinted, and a flurry of silver flashes erupted.
Slice-!
The sharp sword energy bisected the spells.
Rement's face filled with astonishment.
For the entire first semester, Luke had been making the most of his almost non-existent mana.
Thanks to that, he had acquired delicate mana control, which maximized his mana efficiency.
He had constantly practiced how to produce the maximum effect with the smallest amount of mana.
Seeing Luke break through his second line of defense, Rement squeezed out every last drop of his mana.
“Not yet!”
Vwoooom-!
A massive magic circle formed around him.
Every spell he could use manifested, targeting Luke.
In that instant.
Whoosh-!
‘He's... even faster?!’
The silver flash reached right in front of Rement's nose.
Thump-!
Luke kicked off the ground with his left foot.
“Wai—”
Using his left foot as a pivot, Luke kicked Rement in the abdomen with his right.
“t—”
Crack-!
“Gah?!”
The aura concentrated at the tip of Luke's foot instantly pierced through all of Rement's shield spells.
Bam-!
Hit head-on by Luke's attack, Rement flew back and slammed into the wall.
Rubble-! Thud-!
Rement, his eyes rolled back in his head, collapsed unconscious to the floor.
“Hoo.”
Luke exhaled and stood his ground.
“Victory, Luke Elda.”
Mel announced Luke's victory with a smile.
“Woooooah!”
Cheers erupted from among the upperclassmen.
“The way he reads attack trajectories and dodges is practically an art form.”
“His eyes are incredible. I like him.”
A completely unexpected victory.
Moreover, the process of how Luke took down Rement was a spectacular sight.
A round of applause broke out among the upperclassmen.
In contrast, most of the first-years stared at Luke with faces of disbelief.
“N-No way.”
“That failure...”
“Wait. If he beat Rement, doesn't that make him one of the strongest first-years?”
“I've been openly ignoring and mocking him this whole time... How?!”
Among them, the faces of several first-years turned pale.
“That's not all he's got.”
“Indeed. He hasn't used 'magic,' after all.”
Shasha narrowed her eyes at Juen's words.
At that, Juen stood up.
“Do your best, top student of the Magic Department.”
“I'll go win.”
Juen scoffed and headed for the waiting room.
Meanwhile, Aina also stood up.
Haviden, who was nearby, spoke.
“Looks like you're concerned about Luke Elda.”
Aina still hadn't taken her eyes off Luke.
“Not at all.”
Aina replied curtly and headed for the waiting room.
Watching her go, Haviden scoffed and muttered to himself as he looked at Luke.
“He's finally become worth defeating.”