Academy’s Barbarian

Death upon death piled up in the chaos of battle, and as always, the weak and the unlucky were the first to fall.

Even among the elite of each race, chosen and refined, they fell like common soldiers in the chaos. In the end, only a handful of the strongest, capable of preserving their lives in any chaos, survived.

“Haah… haah…”

Even those strong ones couldn’t emerge unscathed from a battle fierce enough to alter the terrain.

Even with my near-perfect evasion technique, “Reversed Heaven,” I was cut and torn in various places, to the point where I could no longer fly and had to fight by leaping around on Nidhogg’s body. Imagine how the others fared.

Everyone was covered in wounds, and everyone was exhausted.

—

Contrary to my expectations, Damien’s group and the two guardians were gradually overwhelming the enemy.

Milia’s arrows, compressed with the corpses of dragonkin, exploded upon impact, while Asha’s lance charges pierced through the bodies of high-level spirits, causing them to collapse.

Most of the spirit arrows fired by the guardians were shattered before Nigel and Ja-han’s weapons.

“Not a chance!”

“Haaaah!”

The fire spirit arrows were absorbed by the Red Lotus Blade, and the lightning spirit arrows were sucked into Eberond’s Holy Spear.

Despite being clearly weaker, we gained an advantage thanks to our weapons… but equipment differences are a key factor in determining victory. If they’re upset, they should’ve brought better weapons, right?

“My mana’s running low… Can’t they just die already?”

Ophelia also erected walls of fire to block ice spirits and tore apart wind spirits with blades of air, maintaining an ironclad defense.

Though her mana was nearing its limit, her red hair soaked with sweat clung to her chest.

Adding to that, Jin, who seemed to have already internalized my advice, wielded his greatsword with impossible flexibility, and Damien’s strikes, which ignored inertia and maintained maximum speed while changing trajectories, made it nearly impossible for the guardians to counter.

To deal with this in close combat, one would need to be overwhelmingly faster in fundamental movements.

“You… how are you…?!”

In fact, the guardians weren’t just losing because of the power of swordsmanship. There seemed to be another reason mixed in.

Seeing their shocked faces pointing at Damien…

“How are you using that swordsmanship?!”

It was as if they had suffered a similar humiliation from someone who fought in a similar way.

—

In the end, only sixteen remained.

Three fairy guardians, two patrols, three winged dragonkin, seven humans including me, and one dwarf.

Nearly a hundred master-level combatants had been wiped out in the chaos.

If Lacey and Leopold had seen this, they might have hugged me and cheered.

With things reaching this point, the hellish chaos naturally subsided. There simply wasn’t enough strength left to continue the battle.

Even the survivors were injured and exhausted, with no one left who could fight as fiercely as they had minutes ago.

“The losses… are too great…”

Beherikes, with one of his wings torn off, muttered in a somber tone.

The once thunderous strikes that could summon lightning were gone, and now even generating small sparks from his spear seemed difficult.

“…This is not elegant.”

Another dragonkin, who had been ranting about elegance, responded to Beherikes’ lament.

Shockingly, it was a slender dragonkin covered in pinkish scales. What was his name? Macaoros?

Yes, that was it. Macaoros, one of the Omaryong, who introduced himself as a true demon dragon.

Unlike Beherikes, who fought with a spear and lightning, Macaoros used his claws, talons, and tail to dance around and attack. His tail, which he had been swinging so skillfully, had long been bitten off by Nidhogg.

“……”

The remaining dragonkin, with blue scales and forward-curving horns, had remained silent throughout the battle.

Despite his imposing appearance, he was the weakest of the three, surviving more out of luck than skill.

Incredibly lucky, he had no missing body parts despite being covered in wounds.

The fairy guardians were no better off.

“To suffer such humiliation at the hands of short-lived races…!”

Tergilius, clutching his broken Bow of the Divine Tree, knelt on one knee, grinding his teeth. He used the flames of a spirit to seal the gash in his abdomen.

“The Council of Elders…! They said we alone would be enough, but enough for what…!”

Ereneisia, covered in blood, glared at me and spat out her words, while Iberfalos, who had barely joined them, looked utterly defeated.

“Lord Tergilius, Lady Ereneisia, the problem isn’t just the current target. That blond short-lived one…”

He whispered something, but it was so quiet I couldn’t make it out.

“…What?”

Seeing the two guardians react in shock to Iberfalos’ whisper, it seemed to be about Damien’s fighting style.

Wait, wasn’t there one more guardian?

Disgelpier, having lost his momentum, was split into Disgel and Pier, lying scattered on the battlefield.

—

“Haah… haah…”

Our group wasn’t in great shape either.

Though we had avoided being swept up in the chaos and managed to survive, everyone was too exhausted to fight.

“I can still… yes, I can still move!”

“Damien…!”

Damien, who had performed brilliantly, was now covered in burns after cutting Disgelpier in half. Milia, exhausted, was gasping for breath beside him.

“This is the hardest I’ve ever worked…”

Asha, having discarded her fuel tank and machine gun, supported her lance with her remaining mechanical arm, staggering. Ophelia, having run out of mana, had retreated far away.

“Gasp… gasp… Already tired, Ka’har…? In a battle of stamina, I win…!”

“Stop talking nonsense… if you have the strength to speak… then stand up properly…”

Nigel and Ja-han, with no strength or stamina left, leaned on each other for support.

Ja-han, with one eye injured, and Nigel, unable to remove the rock fragment embedded in his thigh, were in no condition to fight.

“Gasp… gasp…”

Rana, who had overused her holy power, was panting like an overheated puppy. Without her, someone would have fallen long ago.

If one had fallen, the rest would have followed in a chain reaction.

Though the Healing Miracle couldn’t regrow severed limbs instantly, it could heal minor wounds in minutes, making it invaluable in such chaos.

But with Rana completely spent, we couldn’t expect more.

If she continued to perform miracles despite her depleted holy power, her lifespan would be cut short.

‘Somehow… we made it this far.’

I muttered, surveying the battlefield now filled with exhausted survivors, forcing strength into my limp body.

The chaos was over. The fairies, the dragonkin, and we were all left gasping for breath, only able to glare at each other.

Instead of gathering the last of our strength to deliver a final blow, we waited.

Why?

Because—

【 Khrarararararaaaaaa! 】

The final victor was likely to be that bug.

—

Nidhogg, half-submerged in the Lake of Magi, roared at the sky as mountains moved.

I sighed, looking at him, then turned to the fairies and dragonkin staring at the insect-dragon with similar expressions.

“Pointy-ears, lizard. What are you going to do about that? Because of you, it’s stronger than before.”

The surrounding magi, though not reaching the level of the Arm of the Evil God, was close enough, and smooth scales were replacing the broken carapace.

It seemed twice as strong as when we faced it one-on-one on the mountain peak.

“That thing… spouting nonsense again!”

“How is that our fault! It’s your fault!”

Ereneisia, bleeding heavily, and Beherikes, eyes blazing with anger, shouted back.

These shameless brats. How is it my fault? It’s yours.

The magi explosion was because the fairies recklessly consumed mana, firing spirit arrows and summoning high-level spirits. The dragon-like scales growing on its body—

“Not your fault? You, who gathered to become dragons, ended up as food to grow one?”

Nidhogg had devoured the corpses of the dragonkin scattered across the battlefield, digesting them and adding their scales to its own body.

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