A Brief Lesson (2)
Instructor Ziel was an extraordinary man.
Every single first-year in the Sword School agreed on that point without hesitation. Throughout their training, he had personally guided each student without showing the slightest hint of exhaustion. In both reflex conditioning and monster combat drills, he had traded hundreds, even thousands of blows without permitting a single attack to graze him. On top of that, his ability to pinpoint each student's weaknesses and offer immediate solutions was nothing short of miraculous.
Yet, there was still one thing none of them had ever witnessed: actual combat.
Not once had they seen Ziel fight for real.
The instructor is going to show us?
Against a monster like that...?
Just what is he trying to demonstrate?
No matter how many times they had marveled at his prowess during practice, none of them imagined he could stand against a Ruinbark. Most of the students did not even know the beast's name, but its sheer presence made the reality abundantly clear. A single graze meant death.
"Instructor, it's too dangerous," Celia urged, trying to stop him.
Ziel replied with his usual calm detachment. "It is not dangerous, Student Celia Rihardt."
"How can you say that!"
"It is dangerous if you are left alone. Even if all of you pooled your strength, you could not defeat a Ruinbark right now."
Exactly. If it was that perilous, then why—
"However, with me here, it is not dangerous."
It was a perfectly logical conclusion—at least in Ziel's mind. To the students' ears, however, it sounded completely devoid of reason.
Yurio, who knew at least something about the beast, muttered blankly, "I heard you need at least five Great Knights to even stand a chance against one..."
A Great Knight. In simple terms, that meant five warriors on par with Professor Elcanto. Yet their elective instructor was claiming he would handle it alone. He was not even treating it as a life-and-death struggle; he spoke as though he were merely picking up a piece of classroom chalk for a demonstration.
To put it bluntly, it sounded insane.
"Instructor, please, instead of this, let's join forces and—"
"You cannot right now," Ziel cut in. "You are exhausted, and you have not been trained to fight a Ruinbark."
"Still!"
"Therefore, take this opportunity to learn how to deal with a giant monster."
Thud! Thud!
In the span of their brief exchange, the Ruinbark had closed the distance to barely ten paces.
"Graaaagh!"
Its objective was unmistakable: Ziel and the clustered first-years behind him.
Whoosh!
Its massive arm descended like an artillery shell.
Clang!
A blade struck back, deflecting the blow with effortless grace.
"Gruk?!"
The Ruinbark stumbled back several paces, startled.
"...!"
"Wh-what just happened?"
"Did he just parry that?"
"With a sword? That easily?!"
The students fractured into two distinct reactions. Most froze in sheer, disbelieving horror, while a select few—Deleb, Celia, and Yurio among them—fell into a stunned silence after catching a glimpse of the truth.
He didn't take the impact head-on... He evaded at the exact moment of contact and slapped the side of the blow!
Their silence proved the latter assessment correct.
"When facing a giant monster, evasion takes absolute priority over meeting force with force," Ziel explained, his voice even and instructional despite the battle unfolding before him. "The moment you allow an attack to connect, it will result in a fatal wound. Therefore, your first rule must always be to evade."
Naturally, none of the students felt particularly enlightened by the advice.
Dodge it?
How? We couldn't even see it moving!
Driven by the creature's immense bulk, the Ruinbark's downward smash possessed terrifying weight combined with blinding speed. How on earth were they supposed to dodge something like that?
Swish!
Ziel dodged again. This time, the strike swept in along a vicious diagonal trajectory—an angle notoriously difficult to evade. Yet Ziel simply stepped back, letting the strike slide past harmlessly, exactly as he did when deflecting his students' clumsy practice swings.
Clang!
His blade cracked against the back of the monster's hand, redirecting the momentum outward.
"Graaaagh!"
Two failed attacks, followed by two counter-strikes. The Ruinbark was visibly enraged.
"When evading, focus on the moment right before the attack is launched," Ziel continued. "Monsters' attack paths are predominantly linear. If you verify the direction their arm is raised and the alignment just before the swing, you can avoid it."
To the students, it felt like an ancient swordmaster cleaving a boulder in two before turning to a child and asking, Simple, isn't it? Just swing downward.
Still, several of them took his words to heart.
Right before the attack... the split-second posture.
I need to watch when it swings again. I completely missed it just now.
Deleb, Celia, Yurio, Karen, Ann, and several others narrowed their focus. Unexpectedly, Quantus was also among them.
"Hmph. Instead of dodging, I kind of want to give it a taste of my fists!"
His brand of seriousness leaned in a rather different direction, however.
"Grooowl!"
The Ruinbark lunged once more, this time sweeping both massive arms inward to envelop and crush Ziel between them. It was a pincer assault that sealed off both flanks.
Yet in that very heartbeat—
Tap!
Ziel sprang forward, slipping directly inside the beast's reach. Stepping into the dead angle between the sweeping arms and the torso, he leaped straight up.
Crack!
His blade whipped upward, striking the Ruinbark's chest from below.
"Graaaaaagh!"
The creature staggered back with an agonizing shriek. It hurriedly clamped its arms inward, trying to trap the intruder against its chest, but Ziel was already rolling across the turf, clearing the danger zone with seamless economy of motion.
Popping back to his feet, he resumed his lecture without missing a beat.
"When an enemy possesses a long attack reach, close the distance and exploit the opening inside. It operates on the same principle as closing in on a pikeman to render their weapon ineffective."
Now that was a lesson they could actually comprehend—even if rushing headlong into a towering behemoth required a level of courage they had yet to discover.
At least he's not telling us to just 'look and dodge' anymore.
Nods rippled through the ranks. Gradually, the suffocating terror that had gripped them began to thaw. When the monster first appeared, its towering frame had inspired sheer hopelessness, but now...
"Graaagh!"
"Utilizing the terrain as I am doing now is another viable approach," Ziel noted, weaving between thick tree trunks. "Disappear from the enemy's field of vision, and when possible, aim for the front rather than the back."
One student was even bold enough to raise a hand and call out.
"Why aim for the front instead of the back, Instructor!"
"A good question, Student Peak Digron. When an enemy vanishes, most beasts instinctively become wary of their rear and begin looking over their shoulders. Striking from the front takes them by surprise instead."
"Ah, I see!"
Before they even realized it, the chaotic life-and-death battle against a high-grade monster had transformed into an active, eager seminar.
"When giant monsters charge using their mass and momentum, dodge laterally. If you hastily hide behind natural cover, you will suffer collateral damage when the trees snap under the impact."
"What matters most is maintaining your concentration until the absolute last instant before the strike lands. Do not chase the speed; read the direction, and move half a step ahead."
"Do not become greedy with counterattacks unless the opening is absolute. When engaging giant monsters, patience and prudence are paramount."
Boom! Crash! Bam!
As the lecture continued, the Ruinbark swung, smashed, and charged with deafening fury, but its massive claws struck only empty air. Fear had vanished from the students' chests entirely, replaced by crisp, invaluable lessons settling firmly into their minds.
Then, a collective doubt surfaced.
Wait, if he's only dodging, how will this end?
You can't bring it down just by smacking it around.
Right on cue, Ziel spoke.
"I shall wrap this up. Keep this in mind for the future: should you ever encounter a giant monster, you must choose between two options. Either avoid combat entirely, or evade its attacks while searching for an opportunity to flee."
Celia raised her hand high. "Is defeating it not an option?"
"With your current abilities, your blades cannot cleave through a Ruinbark's bark-like hide."
Which implied that the instructor could.
"Could it be... a Magic Sword?" Deleb gasped, his eyes widening.
A Magic Sword was an advanced technique that coated a weapon in internal mana, heightening its sharpness to lethal extremes. While not an absolute requirement, it was widely acknowledged that only warriors at the level of a Great Knight could wield it with ease. The invention of this art had allowed knights to cleave through enemy plate armor and heavy shields with bare steel alone.
Is the instructor capable of that?
To the students of the Sword School, manifesting a Magic Sword was one of the highest milestones, and for many, their ultimate ambition. Wielding one was proof of reaching a transcendent realm—an unassailable badge of mastery.
Their hearts drummed against their ribs at the prospect of seeing it in person.
Yet as Ziel drew his weapon, the characteristic blue haze of a Magic Sword was nowhere to be seen.
Is he going to manifest it right at the moment of impact?
"Attacks against giant monsters must be concise," Ziel instructed. "Unless you are striking a fatal weak point, your blows must be precise and measured. If an attack fails, disengage without hesitation. Never let greed tempt you into seeking a second strike immediately after the first."
Thwack!
The moment the words left his lips, Ziel lunged forward and opened a clean gash along the Ruinbark's leg before springing backward almost simultaneously.
The students who understood the nature of the Magic Sword were left dumbfounded.
That wasn't a Magic Sword!
There should have been a faint blue shimmer. Yet both when the steel drove in and when it pulled free, they saw only bare, polished silver.
Did he manifest it for a mere fraction of a second?
Deleb strained his eyes, desperate not to miss a thing.
Ziel slipped past another desperate swing from the beast and countered once more. Yet the result was identical. It happened too quickly to trace every nuance, but the blue haze was unequivocally absent.
How is he cutting it without a Magic Sword?
Ziel drove a third thrust into the beast's arm, withdrew his blade, and stepped back to unravel the mystery.
"Simple thrusts and slashes cannot overcome the hardness of a Ruinbark's hide."
"Then... did you use a Magic Sword just now, sir?"
"No. I did not infuse mana into the blade. Instead, I infused mana into my arm."
His arm? Infusing mana into the arm itself?
"With your current level of comprehension, forming a Magic Sword is unrealistic. Even if you managed it, employing it efficiently where and when it is needed would require immense time. Channeling mana into an object outside your own body is that difficult."
Everyone present knew that truth. That was precisely why true mastery was typically restricted to seasoned Great Knights.
"However, if you strike while channeling mana through your own limbs, you can achieve the results you just saw."
"Instructor, do you mean reinforcing our physical strength with mana?"
"Channeling mana naturally strengthens the musculature, which certainly aids in thrusting and cutting. But this relies on the concept of discharge."
Seeing that they had not fully grasped the principle, Ziel sheathed his sword.
"Watch closely."
He stooped and picked up a thick branch lying discarded on the forest floor.
"Graaaagh!"
Whoosh!
Ziel slipped beneath the descending claw, closed the gap, and—
Tap.
He touched the tip of the branch to the Ruinbark's forearm. It was so light that 'nudged' was the only accurate term.
Yet in that instant—
BANG!
The branch splintered violently, and the Ruinbark unleashed a piercing shriek of agony.
"GRAAAAAAGH!"
The beast thrashed in torment. He had merely touched it with a fallen stick!
"Ah...!"
The sharper students caught on immediately. They finally understood what Ziel meant by 'discharge.'
He stored mana within his arm... and discharged that mana through the medium into the target!
Deleb shuddered, feeling the exact same rush of euphoria that had overtaken him when he finally shattered the bottleneck of the Seventh Form. Several other students displayed similar expressions of awe.
"As you saw, its sheer destructive output falls short of a genuine Magic Sword, but it is more than sufficient to inflict meaningful trauma on hardened targets. Even if you cannot manifest a Magic Sword, this serves as an effective substitute."
Simply dodging and possessing the means to fight back were worlds apart.
"I shall hold a lecture on this method in the near future. However, as none of you have attempted it before, ensure you are properly prepared."
Excitement surged through the students' veins. Naturally, the technique was not without its drawbacks.
"Bear in mind, this is merely a method to buy you a fighting chance. As I stated, learning this does not change the fact that your priority against such an enemy is still to flee or evade until an escape route opens."
As he spoke those final words, a cold blue haze ignited along the length of Ziel's sword.
Step.
Slash!
In a single soaring leap, Ziel severed the Ruinbark's neck clean through.
It lasted only a fraction of a second, but every student saw it clearly—a blade blazing with a light so fierce it made their eyes ache.
"Until you are capable of wielding this, that is."
Click.
As the blade clicked back into its scabbard, the colossal bulk of the Ruinbark crashed to the earth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Against that utterly surreal backdrop, Celia raised a trembling hand, her voice dazed. "Um... then how long does it take until we can use that?"
"I do not know, Student Celia Rihardt."
It was the blunt answer they expected. What followed, however, was not.
"However, if you remain faithful to my classes and training, it will not take very long."
"...!"
In that fleeting instant, a clear, burning ambition took root in every student's heart.
Mana discharge.
And beyond that...
The peerless Magic Sword that had felled a Ruinbark in a single stroke.
Alongside that ambition, something else took hold.
The instructor is... ridiculously strong.
He makes no sense whatsoever.
Since when did the bar for an elective lecturer get set this high...?
A boundless, unshakeable reverence for Ziel washed over them, sweeping away the last lingering remnants of doubt.
"Class dismissed," Ziel declared. "Squad leaders, step forward. I will instruct you on which materials are worth harvesting from the Ruinbark's carcass."
Not long after, having stripped every valuable byproduct from the beast, the first-years departed for their campsite with remarkably light steps.
Some time later...
"Ugh..."
Agent 8 groaned, blinking his eyes open. The first thing to greet his vision was the colossal carcass of the Ruinbark.
"Wh-where did everyone go?"
The clearing was utterly deserted. Scrambling down from his perch among the branches, he rushed over to inspect the scene, finding nothing left behind except the fallen beast.
"..."
As he examined the remains, Agent 8's jaw went slack.
"How could a cross-section be this clean...?"
The neck had been severed in a single, flawless sweep. There was only one possible explanation.
A Magic Sword.
A Magic Sword on its own was not unheard of—at least, not at Agent 8's level of operational experience. What stunned him was the sheer perfection of the cut, smooth as polished glass.
There's definitely something about that instructor.
And then there was one more detail.
The carcass was extraordinarily bare.
"...Does he run a monster parts shop on the side?"
The Ruinbark looked almost pitiful in death. Not a single scrap of harvestable bark had been spared.