Chapter 24: Midterm Exam (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 24: Midterm Exam (5)
Chloe ran, pushing her way through the underbrush.
She forged ahead across the mountainside, hacking away at the dense vegetation with the sword in her hand.
She had no destination. She simply had to scour the area and find any sign of another person.
The words Geomma-kun had spoken as he grabbed her shoulders echoed in her mind.
“Chloe, no matter what, bring people back.”
His eyes, usually heavy with weariness and boredom, had been filled with an unprecedented gravity. The image of him turning to face the Majin alone after saying those words flashed through her mind.
A back as broad and vast as the sea. Two sashimi knives gripped in his hands.
What was happening now? No one in the academy knew the true extent of Geomma-kun's strength better than she did.
Kang Geomma was stronger than anyone she had ever met in her life. Yet, she couldn't shake her anxiety.
His opponent was a magic-wielding Majin. For Geomma-kun, who relied solely on his sword, it was an incredibly unfavorable matchup.
She had to find another group as quickly as possible. Steeling her resolve, Chloe activated every single Blessing she could muster at once, channeling the strain into her legs. Steam carrying the faint scent of blood began to rise from her tightly contracted leg muscles.
With her gaze locked dead ahead, the surrounding scenery blurred into a dizzying smear of colors in her peripheral vision.
A wind so cold it felt sharp whipped against her cheeks, and even the sound of her movement struggled to keep pace with her trailing red hair. Though her steps were faster than ever, each stride struck the ground with a heavy, resonant thud.
Yet, this was barely half of Geomma-kun's usual speed. Even so, a mind-numbing agony surged up her legs, piercing straight to her core.
A sudden realization struck Chloe. Could Geomma-kun be enduring this level of pain—or even worse—every single time he moves?
Come to think of it, he had always seemed reluctant to fight. He avoided conflict whenever possible, only drawing his blades in the most dire situations. As the pieces clicked together, tears welled in the corners of Chloe's eyes.
They were not tears born of the agony racking her legs, but of a profound sorrow squeezing her chest.
If only I were just a little stronger.
To protect his teammates, Kang Geomma was burning his own life force to fight. Even against a Majin, he had charged forward without a single shred of hesitation.
Geomma-kun, I'll be right back. Please, just hold on.
CRASH—!
As she ran with enough force to burst her calves, the sound of splintering wood and a massive explosion echoed from the direction of the pool.
Immediately after, a sudden downpour began to fall from the clear sky. Something was definitely happening.
She desperately wanted to turn back, but she bit her lip and forced herself forward. The metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue.
She was desperate enough to accept help from anyone, yet the forest remained cruelly devoid of life. Chloe gritted her teeth, opened her mouth wide, and screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Is anyone there?! Anyone, please!”
She had never screamed this loudly in her entire life. She didn't care if her vocal cords tore, so long as her voice reached someone.
All she could do was wash away her frustration and helplessness in the pouring rain while desperately crying out for help. A young girl's desperate plea, echoing uselessly through the mountains.
It was then.
Chloe’s eyes widened. A streak of dark blue flashed in the corner of her vision. Using a nearby tree trunk as a springboard, she pivoted sharply toward it. The sheer force of her turn kicked up a violent gust of wind, splintering the bark of the ancient tree.
With a sickening pop, she felt the muscle fibers from her calves to her knees tear in bundles. But Chloe didn't stop.
Moments later, she skidded to a halt in front of several blurry figures.
“““““Huh?!”””””
The same exclamation burst from their mouths in unison, their faces painted with shock.
Time was of the essence, but Chloe's throat burned with a dry, sour taste, her ragged breathing so erratic that her mouth had gone completely dry.
Her vision blurred, the figures before her overlapping and splitting apart. It felt as though every ounce of her strength had suddenly drained away, a massive backlash from pushing all her Blessings to their absolute limits.
“...P-please... help...”
A dry, raspy voice squeezed past her cracked lips. Her small, trembling hand reached out for help, and someone quickly caught it. The palm that held hers was rough and heavily callused.
She didn't even have the strength to lift her head. Swaying on her feet, Chloe collapsed forward into the person's arms, slowly forcing her gaze upward.
Before her stood a female student with long, flowing blue hair and brilliant golden eyes. She looked familiar, but Chloe's blurry vision made it impossible to place her. The girl and her four teammates were staring down at Chloe with a mixture of shock and deep concern.
As her consciousness began to slip away, Chloe mustered the last of her strength to raise a trembling finger and point back the way she had come. The others seemed to be shouting questions, but their voices were drowned out by a high-pitched ringing in her ears.
“...Please... help... Geomma-kun...”
With that final plea, Chloe's memory of her first midterm exam went entirely black.
* * *
Speed Weapon wondered if he would ever experience another day as shocking as this for the rest of his life. One thing was certain: the scene unfolding before him would remain burned into his memory forever.
Kang Geomma extended his blade and drew a simple diagonal line through the air. There was absolutely nothing special about the movement or the execution.
Yet, a chill far more terrifying than mere goosebumps swept through Speed Weapon and Rachel, as if a freezing wind were blowing directly through their veins.
It was a single, simple swing of a blade.
Yet, they had just witnessed that physical motion transcend into an abstract concept.
As someone who loved analyzing and explaining things, Speed Weapon desperately wanted to put this moment into words.
It was a phenomenon far beyond his comprehension, but surely there was some way to describe it?
If he had to put it into words, the only way to describe it was:
He slashed, and so it was cut.
It was impossible to explain it any better than that. The swordsmanship Kang Geomma displayed was on an entirely different dimension—not metaphorically, but literally. Any further attempt at explanation would be a waste of breath.
Even the massive horde of mermen had fled in unison the moment they witnessed his strike, as if by prearranged agreement. It seemed even brainless fish possessed enough survival instinct to recognize absolute death.
Speed Weapon glanced over at Rachel. Her heart-shaped pupils were wide with shock, her face completely blank. A moment later, she collapsed to her knees, looking utterly hollowed out.
He had known her for over a decade, but he had never seen her look like this. Perhaps, as a fellow martial artist who wielded a weapon, she had perceived something entirely different from what he had.
Then again, even as the successor of the prestigious Spear Saint family, she had likely never seen or heard of anything like this. Speed Weapon stared blankly at Kang Geomma's back.
He had sliced through a water ball that had been launched like a torpedo.
Because the spell had condensed all the surrounding water using immense magic power, the aftermath of its destruction caused a sudden downpour to spill from the clear sky.
What on earth are you...?
He hadn't just sliced through water; he had sliced through magic itself. At this point, Speed Weapon could only let out a hollow laugh.
It defied all common sense. In less than a single minute, how many laws of reality had this guy shattered?
It was pathetic, but he couldn't stop shaking. Instead of a groan, a breathless chuckle escaped his lips. Perhaps he was finally losing his mind.
People often said that the Majin were the ultimate source of terror.
And with good reason, considering a mere tens of millions of them posed an existential threat to billions of humans.
There were no survival guidelines for encountering a Majin. The only advice was to pray for a quick, painless death.
“A... orl... orl... orl...”
Yet, paradoxically, that very source of terror was now trembling in sheer fright. The natural order of the apex predator and the helpless prey had been completely inverted.
Watching this, the suffocating tension in Speed Weapon's chest finally dissolved, replaced by a strange, swelling sensation.
Step.
Another step forward. The Mermaid tried to scramble backward, but with only one leg remaining, she lost her balance and tumbled onto her back.
“Aorl—!”
He couldn't understand a word she was saying, but one thing was clear: it was a desperate, pathetic plea for her life.
She tried to drag herself backward with her scaly arms, but Kang Geomma easily closed the distance.
In a final, frantic effort, the Mermaid repeatedly snapped her fingers. But with her magic completely depleted, nothing more than a tiny, fingernail-sized spark sputtered and died.
Step.
As Kang Geomma drew closer, she squirmed and thrashed like a fish flopping on dry land, desperately trying to escape.
“Aorlorlorlorlorlorlorlorl!”
As the Mermaid thrashed in terror under the suffocating pressure of the killing intent radiating from his sashimi knives—
Slick—
A brief, clean sound. A precise diagonal line traced itself across the Mermaid's throat.
The trajectory of the blade was so effortless it seemed to meet less resistance than if it were merely slicing through empty air.
A beat later, the Mermaid's head slid cleanly off her shoulders and fell into the pool with a soft plop. Her headless torso twitched once before collapsing limply like a fallen bowling pin.
Instantly, the downpour drenching the ground ceased, and the low-hanging mist began to dissipate.
Kang Geomma stood perfectly still, his back turned to them.
He won.
He had defeated a Majin. Single-handedly. And as a mere first-year.
Speed Weapon and Rachel stared, their trembling pupils slowly dilating.
They could feel it deep in their bones. That single strike had made one thing undeniably clear. This was no longer a trivial debate about who was stronger or weaker.
While Speed Weapon watched the surreal scene in a daze, Kang Geomma suddenly dropped his weapons. He coughed up a violent spray of blood and collapsed heavily to his knees.
“Geomma!”
Snapping out of her stupor at the sudden turn of events, Rachel rushed toward him. Nearby, Leon was barely managing to prop himself up, gasping for air.
Speed Weapon was completely drained as well, but he forced his trembling legs to move.
He was determined to save that crazy bastard, even if it cost him everything. Swallowing his groans, he began to crawl toward the pool.
The backlash of dumping all his healing Blessings into Leon had left his joints completely hollowed out, devoid of even a shred of strength.
Thud, thud, thud—
At that moment, the sound of multiple footsteps approaching from behind reached his ears.
Had the mermen returned? There could be no worse nightmare.
Cold sweat poured down his stiff spine. Fearing the worst, Speed Weapon forced his head around.
It was Abel, sprinting toward them with Chloe cradled in her arms, followed closely by her teammates.
They're finally here.
“Ha...”
A wave of profound relief washed over him, draining the last of his strength. He collapsed backward, sinking into the muddy ground.
Lying flat in the mud, Speed Weapon stared up at the sky.
Through the rifts in the scattered clouds,