Chapter 47
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: What Matters is an Unbreakable Spirit
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Hold on! Yuria! Please just hear me out!”
Dane clung desperately to Yuria's waist, the girl looking ready to charge out swinging her staff at any moment.
“Let go! This time I can really blast it away! Don't you know preemptive strike wins?”
“Wins my ass! Forgot how your preemptive strike got you launched back to the entrance in ten seconds flat?”
“Opportunities are infinite! We learn by getting hit!”
“Our mental strength isn't infinite, you battle maniac! Don't treat that thing like some run-of-the-mill monster from the northern snowfields! It's leagues above!”
Dane forcibly dragged the fuming Yuria behind a boulder and made her sit down.
“Cool your head. That monster isn't something you take down by hyping yourself up.”
“Then what do we do? We have to take it down to finish, right?”
“Who said take it down? How the hell are we supposed to do that? It's impossible from the start.”
Dane stole a glance at Belial in the center of the colosseum and whispered.
“Think about it. Would that lunatic really tell us—trained for a measly two months—to eliminate that thing?”
“......Then what?”
“I overheard what he said at the entrance earlier.”
Dane swallowed hard and recounted Kasian's words.
“One effective hit.”
“...Pardon?”
“It's not about winning. Just land a scratch on that monster. That's the passing mark for this exam.”
Yuria's eyes went wide.
“Just... that? One hit and we're good?”
“Just? You moron!”
Dane grabbed Yuria's shoulders and shook her furiously in exasperation.
“Hey, remember how we got flung away earlier? We couldn't even get close—swatted like flies. And it hasn't budged a single step from its spot.”
“......”
“That thing was your master's party sparring partner back in their prime. How are we supposed to beat something that toyed with the legendary hero's crew?”
Only then did Yuria's gaze turn serious. Close-range combat like this? Zero chance of victory. But it had restrictions too.
Dane recited the chains binding Belial, and Yuria nodded.
“Arrogant bastard.”
“Totally arrogant. And that's our one shot.”
Lives were infinite. So mindless charges were off the table.
Chaeng.
Dane drew her sword. Brilliant golden aura wrapped the blade.
“Let's die once and see.”
“Agreed.”
Yuria snapped her fingers. Gravity magic hoisted house-sized boulders into the air.
Pattern recognition time. Leverage their infinite lives to uncover its weaknesses.
Dane kicked off the ground and leaped forward. The distance shrank in a blink.
At the same moment...
“Fall!”
Kwaaaang-!!
A colossal roar echoed as house-sized rocks plummeted like rain over Belial's head.
But Belial merely drew his greatsword on the spot and swung it as if it were nothing. The blade swept out in a fan arc.
Whoosh-!
A plain swing, no finesse. Yet its sheer mass and speed ripped the air apart.
Kwajajak-!
The airborne boulders shattered completely, cascading down like debris.
That was the moment.
Pat-!
Dane burst through the dust cloud. Golden aura cloaking her sword, she kicked off the ground and slipped into Belial's rear blind spot.
'I see it!'
Its attention was fixed on Yuria. Its massive bulk left the rear exposed. Dane dropped low and sprang.
'Just one hit! Even a graze...!!'
She poured every ounce of power into her gripped sword. Target: the helmet's nape.
“Haat-!”
The sword tip was inches from contact.
Kiiik.
A chilling metallic screech rang out. Belial didn't even turn. He simply flicked his unoccupied left hand backward.
Kwang!
The iron-hard fist sideswiped her sword before it built momentum, then drove straight into Dane's solar plexus.
“Keheuk...!”
Her breath caught; her vision flashed white. Amid bone-jarring agony, Dane's body rocketed like a cannonball into a tree behind her.
“Kuh... Ugh...”
As Dane rolled on the ground, gasping for air, Belial turned his head toward her.
“Do you have any idea how many of those sneaky ambushes I ate from that damn bastard?”
That guy stabbed from the back without so much as a grunt, casual as grabbing lunch. The bloodlust from greenhorns like you? I can sense it blindfolded.
Belial muttered as much, hoisted his greatsword, and brought it crashing down.
Kwaaaang!
“Fucking... shit..!!”
Dane's vision faded to black.
“Huk... Huk...”
Dane, respawning at the entrance, wiped away cold sweat. The phantom pain from her crushed solar plexus lingered vividly.
Right—no way a sloppy ambush would've worked. She'd overlooked that it was Kasian-trained. The thing was a master of dirty tactics.
“Yuria, see that?”
“Yeah, saw it.”
“Good. Go low. Upper body's guarded by that greatsword, so legs are open. And it can't move its feet.”
The pair charged again. This time, Yuria barraged fireballs head-on to draw its gaze while Dane targeted below.
Peueong!
As Belial swatted the fireballs with his greatsword, Dane's blade lunged for its ankle.
'This time it'll connect...!'
Before her sword made contact, Belial lifted a foot and slammed it into the ground.
Kwaaang!
The earth cratered, shattering Dane's balance. As the exposed Dane floated helplessly, a massive palm loomed before her.
“Huh?”
Belial snatched her flailing ankle in one hand. Then he swung her like a flail, smashing into Yuria on the opposite side mid-incantation.
Peuk!
Dane-the-human-club and Yuria-struck-by-club tumbled into a heap. A pathetic teamkill.
As the tangled duo groaned, Belial's sword aura rained down on them.
“Agh, fucking hell!”
Dane respawned at the entrance, snatched her sword, and spat curses. Venom burned in her eyes. Pride had ignited now.
“Yuria, you're main this time. I'll pull aggro. Max output—blow it away.”
“Got it!”
While Dane clashed head-on with Belial, Yuria finished her massive gravity orb.
Gravity Magic: Gravity Press
Kugugung!
The house-sized black sphere bore down, crushing Belial. But he thrust up his greatsword to meet it.
Kikikik-!
The armor shrieked under the gravitational strain. Belial's knees buckled; the ground beneath spiderwebbed with cracks.
“It worked!”
Dane was on the verge of cheering.
“Haat!”
A sharp grunt erupted from the helmet. The greatsword cleaved upward vertically. Raw physical might shredded the spell's formula.
Kwaaang!
The gravity sphere split in two. The unleashed mana surged outward like a tsunami, vaporizing nearby Dane and Yuria into light together.
And so, after what felt like ages...
Dane sprawled flat on the ground, heaving for breath. Her lungs felt shredded. She’d lost count of the respawns.
“Heuk... Heuk...”
“Uueuk... Gonna hurl...”
Her fingertips trembled; even gripping her sword was a struggle. Yuria beside her was no better—hair a mess, leaning on her staff like a crutch.
Dane gazed up at the reddening sunset sky, on the verge of tears.
“My spirit... it's breaking...”
No good. No answers. Magic ignored, physical attacks bounced, tricks failed.
Plain and simple: specs on another level. Two students against that? Newbies after two months' training versus a demon lord exec? This was balance-shattering bullshit.
“Milady... should we just... play dead here?”
Yuria muttered with glazed eyes.
“Monsters get hard to spot once the sun sets...”
“You know your master's and Kasian senior's tempers. Miss the deadline, and they'll torch the place to drag us out.”
Dane hauled herself up. She felt wronged. Furious. And above all...
'Give up now, and that guy's mocking me forever. Even after graduation, it'll be his dinner-table fodder.'
No way in hell she'd endure that. Better to die for real.
“But... no method...”
“No, there is one.”
Dane clenched her fist tight. Frontal assault was doomed. No contest in power or skill.
Malice clouded her once-clear eyes. She turned to Yuria.
“That thing's a knight. A prideful dark knight. We charge straight, so it parries everything. Doesn't even move—just humors us.”
“Yeah...”
“Then we use that.”
Restrictions meant it wouldn't budge first unless they entered range. Sneak attacks were DOA anyway.
Flip side: outside range, they could pull any insane stunt they wanted.
Exploit every damn thing available.
Dane leaned in and whispered the plan to Yuria. Her expression shifted—first confusion, then horror.
“You?! Possible? Theory holds, but... what if the body can't take it?! Your arm could rip clean off!”
“Doesn't matter. We'll be tapped out after anyway. Don't worry about after. One hit passes us.”
“Ha... seriously...”
“Last shot. All or nothing. Bet even 500 years ago, they never dreamed this up.”
“How can you be sure?”
“My ancestor was too perfect.”
Dane recalled Kyle, whom Kasian praised endlessly.
He'd sent the black dragon packing with a few slashes. After claiming the holy sword, he crushed two demon legions' commanders head-on through sheer force.
Too strong for tricks. Just swing and win. But they were different. Their only shared trait: a body with freakish regen.
“Yuria, you were right. Preemptive strike does win.”
A vicious smirk curled Dane's lips.
“Milady, you know that's a batshit insane idea, right? Not something any normal person thinks up.”
“So, not doing it?”
“Doing it right now.”
Yuria grinned with enlightened resolve and readjusted her staff grip.
“Screw patterns. From the jump, dump everything we've got.”
The two girls rose, their dirt-caked bodies battered but defiant.
The sun was setting.