Entering the Game with a Cheat Physique

Episode 29: The Gang (2)

Episode 29: The Gang (2)

*Bang!*

I step forward, hard.

It’s to crush their spirit.

After beating Jackson in the recent inter-grade exchange, these b*stards shouldn’t be so cocky facing me.

No matter how much they outnumber me, their hearts are bound to waver.

See?

“……!”

The eyes of the first student to attack me twitch.

It’s just a fraction of a second in the overall fight.

Just a momentary tremble, a feeling that travelled from his heart to his body.

But that’s enough.

“Hah!”

I reach out.

I reach for the wrist of the b*stard swinging his wooden sword in a half-circle towards me.

Originally, he would’ve had no openings following the practiced sword path.

But that slight tension from earlier created his weakness.

*Crack!*

“Kuh!”

I deflect the wooden sword and grab his wrist.

If this were a mock duel, I wouldn’t have put in any extra strength here.

But sadly, this isn’t WWE, it’s UFC.

No holding back; I twisted his wrist.

“Gyaaah!”

He screams and drops the wooden sword.

I kick the screaming guy in the gut.

*Thud!* His body flies back weakly, like I pushed over a scarecrow.

Because of this, the next one who was about to charge me from behind loses his momentum, getting caught up in it.

*Crash, bang…* I take a breath, having sent two of them flying out of bounds.

“Hoo.”

A near acrobatic act.

I can’t afford to get hit; the fatigue is heavy in my entire body.

Because their goal is for me to be injured, even a little, before the duel.

To prevent that, I have to overwhelm them at once, hence the intense recoil.

“…….”

Civil, who had been quietly observing, gestures with her chin.

And then the remaining two b*stards rush at me.

Whoosh!

Two wooden swords cross, creating a gust of wind.

The range of the wooden swords, flying in diagonal directions, is all around.

If I try to dodge, my stance will crumble, and I’ll be vulnerable to the next attack.

But defense isn’t easy either.

I have Vajra Body, but it’s still hard not to take damage from opponents of this level.

So, what’s the most appropriate move?

Tap!

I lift my foot slightly.

I stare directly at the tips of the wooden swords hurtling towards me.

My senses, honed to a razor’s edge, dissect my vision.

The range where the wooden swords will reach.

My body, having grasped it perfectly—

“What…!”

—barely avoids the tips, creating distance.

Whizz— the wooden swords, having failed to enter range, plummet downwards.

Belatedly understanding the situation, I grab the collar of one of the two b*stards trying to retreat.

No need for a lengthy sequence.

I pull him down by his collar, and raise my knee.

“Guh!”

Crack. A sound that shouldn’t come from the human body.

Having crushed his face, I approach the other one.

He’s already regrouped and is swinging his wooden sword at me again.

‘Aura.’

A blue light ripples along his wooden sword.

Even if it’s not a real sword, getting hit by that is pretty dangerous.

But dodging it isn’t easy.

My breath’s already coming in ragged gasps from the strain of this relentless barrage of moves.

…Then there’s only one way.

I stretch my arm out, grazing past the wooden sword coming down on me, aiming for the b*stard’s solar plexus.

*Zzzzzzzzt!*

“Ugh…!”

The price of this close-call tightrope walk is a tear in my skin under my clothes.

Even if my body is tough as diamonds with this invincibility, Aura is still Aura.

Without easing the tension in the arm where blood is seeping out, I smack his solar plexus again, full force.

“Crack!”

That’s it.

Four down.

“Haa, haa….”

A rapid-fire succession of attacks leaves me breathless.

I tried not to allow a single hit, but…

in the end, that last one landed.

“……”

Blood wells from my right forearm.

Not a deep wound, but one I should have seen to at the temple.

But I can’t leave right now.

Sybil is still standing before me.

“Impressive.”

Sybil takes a step forward.

He, who had been passively watching the others’ attacks, has finally decided to step in.

“…It wasn’t a fluke that you beat Jackson. Your physique would be among the top ranks in the Knight’s Department.”

“Compliments out of the blue are a bit awkward.”

“And, that power… What is it? How can you take a glancing blow from Aura and end up with just a scratch? Even for knights like us, that’s difficult to do.”

“No idea.”

The mana layer on my skin that Margaret mentioned.

The skin, hardened and fused with Vajra Body, seems to puzzle him quite a bit.

“…No, whatever. You’re not walking out of here in one piece.”

Aura surges into Sybil’s wooden sword.

A more powerful and purer blue than the guy I just took down.

He grips the wooden sword tightly, slowly closing in.

“As long as you’re a threat to Apollo, I’ll eliminate you.”

“Don’t you ever think about defying his orders?”

“It’s better to abandon justice than dream the impossible.”

Sybil takes his stance.

I know the stance he’s taken.

‘Twin Circle.’

A technique that attacks twice, drawing a semicircle each time.

The range and damage of each semicircle are considerable,

but the attack interval is so short that it’s practically a combo.

‘Hard to dodge.’

I could avoid the first hit, but not the last one.

But such a wide-ranging attack leaves him open.

A dangerous technique where Sybil himself could be badly hurt if he messes up.

And yet, he still used it…

“You… really don’t care about your own defense, do you?”

“Even if my body breaks, it’s enough for me if I can injure you.”

That was the end of his words.

“Too bad.”

*Thwack!*

Sybil charges.

First strike, raising the wooden sword high.

That’s the start of the downward slash in a half-moon arc.

My body is already considerably drained.

It’s not a matter of will. It’s the exhaustion of the flesh.

Evading or attempting a counter here is a bad idea.

Thus, my response is this.

*TUKWANG!*

“……!”

A technique I hadn’t used until now, the Finger Flick Strike.

I hadn’t used it even once when taking down the other four, so it must have slipped their minds.

I deliberately avoided using it to exploit that, and it worked.

*TUNG—* The wooden sword loses its balance.

As the descending wooden sword wavers, a gap in his defenses is exposed.

I surge forward towards it, putting power into my fist.

“You think I’ll let you…!”

But Sybil’s response is swift as well.

As expected of the 4th-ranked second-year in the Knight Department, he quickly regains his footing and brings the wooden sword down.

If he draws a semi-circle upwards, it’ll be the second strike of ‘Twin Circle.’

“…….”

I’m already within the range of his attack.

It’s impossible to avoid his wooden sword.

If I keep going like this, there’s a high chance I’ll get hit in the waist and be injured.

But retreating here is pointless.

Either way, he’ll try to whittle me down regardless of how he hurts himself.

It’s a lose-lose situation, so I made my choice.

‘No choice.’

I give up on the premise of not getting injured before the duel.

Right now, I have to accept the injury and bring him down.

And as I steel myself for his wooden sword rushing towards my waist and throw my fist,

“Point Burst.”

Magic flickers on the hand holding the wooden sword, and with a burst of sound, flames erupt.

*KWANG!*

“KUGH!”

The fierce explosion even breaks through the mana surrounding his body, and he drops the wooden sword.

Sybil’s body, posture broken.

I slammed my fist right into the center of it.

“……”

Thud. Finally, the last of the gang went down, and exhaustion surged through my whole body.

“Hah……”

I’d expected to take a hit in that last exchange, but I’d managed to avoid it.

There was no need to ask why.

“…You okay?”

A woman approached from the end of the hallway.

Berry had used a Point Burst to help me.

“Care to explain what’s going on?”

After casually tossing the sprawled-out thugs against the wall,

she asked me, as I sat there, drained.

“Guys who came to mess with me before the duel with Apollo, what else? Nothing more to say.”

“Huh?”

Berry’s eyes flashed at my words.

As if she was the one who’d been attacked, she angrily stamped her foot on the floor.

“What kind of cowardly crap is this? They tried to keep you from getting to the dueling arena?”

“Yeah. It’s a standard, underhanded tactic. It’s been forgotten lately since duels haven’t happened much.”

“Wow… that’s seriously messed up.”

She muttered, rummaging through her pouch.

Then she pulled out a potion, must be something she carries as an alchemist.

“Here. Your arm looks hurt, use this.”

“……”

If she’s offering, I won’t refuse.

I poured the potion on my arm, where the aura had caused blood to seep, and the wound healed.

“Did that guy who used magic on me do that?”

“Huh?”

I looked up at the sudden question.

Berry’s eyes were sharp.

She was glaring at the fallen Sybil, seemingly thinking he was the one who hurt my arm.

“Nah. Not that guy. It’s someone else.”

“……Hah. Okay.”

Berry grumbles, sounding relieved.

At least she doesn’t want me getting hurt because of the guy she took down.

“Anyway, he’s a bad son of a b*tch. Just now, it felt like he was gonna break something for real. He’s not right in the head.”

“Don’t resent him too much. He has his reasons.”

“What? Why are you defending him?”

“If it weren’t for Apollo, he could find his way back again.”

Berry’s lips are puckered, like she doesn’t understand what I mean.

But I know Cybil’s setting from the original story, so I vouched for him.

‘I could maybe nurture this guy.’

If we cross paths later, I’ll teach him a few things.

Then, as a senior, it’ll help Isolet too.

Anyway, seems like the situation’s roughly settled, so I decided to ask what I was curious about.

“But, you know.”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you here? How did you know?”

“What, what do you mean?”

“The main building isn’t a place for students or instructors to just wander around. There’s no way you’d show up at such a perfect time.”

“……”

Berry subtly avoids my gaze.

She hesitates for a moment, then clears her throat and offers me something.

“I was gonna give you this. This thing.”

In her hand is a chunk of meat.

Seeing it, like a meatball, I knew what it was.

“[Werewolf’s Lung], you finished processing it.”

“Yeah. I was just gonna hand it to you. That’s why I stayed behind to look for you, and then I heard the commotion and came. Yeah.”

‘So that’s why she said she’d see me later.’

Seems like she was already planning to meet me again from that point on.

……But the question remains.

“No, but couldn’t you have just given it to me later when we met up? There’s no need to do it here. Isn’t it too sudden?”

“Huh?! No, it’s not like that, okay? It’s not like I wanted to meet you or anything, okay? I mean, I could give it to you later, sure? Or when I just have some time? It’s not like I wanted to see you or anything, is it?”

“……”

Why is his tongue so long?

Berry, who had been rambling about unnecessary explanations while sweating profusely, calmed down and caught his breath.

“……Anyway, I’m glad I could help. It looked pretty dangerous.”

“It actually was dangerous. If you hadn’t helped, the duel might not have been easy.”

“……Really?”

Then Berry subtly checked my expression.

His dark pupils slightly trembled behind his round glasses.

“Was I… helpful?”

“Yeah.”

What meaning was hidden in that question?

I didn’t really know, but I just nodded appropriately.

“That’s a relief.”

Berry’s face, smiling in relief at my affirmation,

Looked pretty good.

*

Rumors spread through Olympia Academy.

Whispers about Apollo, the figure in the upcoming duel, engaging in shady backroom dealings.

And the conclusion that Herak had defeated all of Apollo’s gang who had been acting on his orders.

Even when he emerged from the main building, he was only slightly torn but had no injuries, so the students began to murmur.

─That b*stard Apollo, is he crazy? What a cheap shot before a duel.

─And he even sent out a gang to do it on the sly? He’s supposed to be the son of a noble family, but his honor’s in the dirt.

─But he lost, right? Herak is seriously amazing. How did he win without getting hurt?

─Anyway, serves him right. I was rooting for Herak in this duel to begin with, but now I even more want Apollo to lose.

The students’ gossip started in the Magic Department and spread to the Knight Department.

Even the Knight Department students, already disappointed by Apollo’s unpopular actions, joined in on the insults.

─So embarrassing, so embarrassing. He used his lackeys and still lost?

─Seriously a disgrace to the Knight Department. Man, I don’t even wanna go watch the duel. It’s so shameful.

─Apollo, can’t you just lose? That b*stard winning seems like a bigger problem…

And, there’s no way Apollo wouldn’t know that.

*THWACK!*

Apollo’s fist, slamming down on the armrest, trembles.

His ears have been relaying a deluge of backstabbing all day.

And as if that weren’t enough, he was holding a newspaper in his other hand.

────────────────

[Head of Second-Year Journalism Department’s Ugly True Colors?!]

[Apollo Sends Fellow Students to Sabotage Rival Herak!]

[This reporter has obtained shocking information last night. Apollo, one of the duelists scheduled to fight shortly, is suspected of plotting a conspiracy…

…The students involved in the incident were given a month’s suspension, and the fallout regarding Apollo was hushed up thanks to the influence of his instructor, Robert…]

────────────────

The person who wrote the article was some b*tch named Ruby or something.

Actually, it didn’t matter to Apollo in the slightest.

“Useless trash.”

He told them to just injure them, it didn’t matter if they died, but they even failed at that?

They got beat so badly that even rumors spread.

“Fucking hell…”

But Apollo did gain something out of it.

They might be stuck with suspensions and be in the temple as patients, but those b*stards must have found some intel.

Then he just had to go ask them.

What Herak’s secret was.

“I will crush that b*stard, no matter what.”

Apollo declared, grinding his teeth.

A crumpled corner of the newspaper, Apollo’s photograph was ugly and creased.