My Students Regret It After I Retired

71 – Slaughtering Two Heavenly Assembly Members

Briggs, looking flustered, deployed his power again. Black arms began to thrash about, but once again, with a thud, the man’s arm fell to the ground.

“I recall you being easily defeated before… what the hell did you do? Were you hiding your ability before?”

Briggs himself knew that couldn’t be the case. If he’d had the ability before, he wouldn’t have been groveling like an idiot, he would have responded in some way. Even so, he blurted out those words because the current situation made no sense.

It had only been a few weeks since his last fight with Leos. It was already absurd that he’d awakened his power in such a short time, but even more baffling was the fact that he was controlling his ability as freely as if it were his own arm. It had taken Briggs almost two years of practice to properly control his power after awakening it, so Leos’s growth rate was truly astounding.

Leos spoke, his five swords floating in the air.

“From the start, it was absurd that I lost to you. I was fighting in the worst possible state, due to a combination of misfortunes. Even without any ability, I wouldn’t have been defeated so easily if I had been in a normal state.”

“That’s just an excuse. That was your skill.”

Leos nodded in response.

“Yeah, if you say that was my skill back then, then so be it. And this is my skill now.”

– *Thwack!*

Leos’s sword grazed past Briggs’s cheek. Blood trickled down his face, and Taken, who was next to him, cried out in panic.

“Sir Briggs! Are you alright!”

“Shut up!”

Briggs yelled at the hapless Taken, then immediately began to gauge Leos’s energy. He was completely different from before. He had been considered dangerous even without the ability, but now it felt like facing a huge boulder. The swords in the air, aligned in rows and columns, moved quickly, slicing through everything as if they were alive. Their sharpness was no different from a reaper’s scythe, and their movements were similar to the techniques of a master swordsman.

Because it was only the swords moving without bodies, the precision and speed of the techniques were unmatched, and even the cutting power in that situation was overwhelming, making it impossible for Briggs to believe what was happening.

Awakening an ability was difficult, but mastering and controlling that power was even harder. Even if one was lucky enough to awaken through a stroke of luck, very few were able to wield it. There were many who didn’t even realize how great their abilities were and let them rot away.

But Leos was different.

‘Damn it… I have to admit it. There isn’t anyone in the Heavenly Assembly who’s adapted to their ability this quickly. No, I can confidently say that no one in the empire has ever mastered an ability faster than that b*stard.’

Briggs held onto hope, even as he thought it.

“Leos. Calm down. If Tacken and I go all out, you’re risking your life too. If we seriously injure you, how will you handle the Dark Shadow guys? It’s better to back down here than have us both in mortal danger. I’m saying this for you, not for us.”

Leos was silent for a moment at Briggs’ words, then quickly extended his hand.

– *Whirr!*

A sword sliced through the air, surging towards Briggs. Briggs deployed dozens of arms to block it, but four swords tore through them, and a fifth, charging straight through the center, didn’t lose momentum, quickly sinking into Briggs’ heart.

“Ku-heok…”

Briggs mumbled in disbelief at Leos’ sword in his heart.

“Me… I… this kind of… attack…”

“Why? Can’t understand the situation? Just like you almost killed me in one go, I’m just doing the same.”

Leos was returning the previous encounter. As if teaching that he had absolute dominance at full power, he brought the opponent down with a single, effortless, yet powerful strike.

As the sword was pulled from Briggs’ heart, blood splattered everywhere in an instant.

– *Thud*

The man’s corpse fell to the ground, and Tacken, who was beside him, muttered as if seeing a ghost.

“Get… get away… This is insane… You didn’t say he was such a monster! Heavenly Assembly Lord! Damn it!”

As he faced death, the man started screaming and even insulting the Heavenly Assembly Lord. But his mouth was closed soon after.

– *Thunk*

Tacken’s corpse falls to the ground, pierced by Leos’ sword. The moment Tacken reached out to use his ability, Leos used the sword he had turned behind his back, and it pierced straight through his neck.

*Shhhrrrrr!*

An enormous sound began to spread, and the dark barrier that had been blocking all sides was slowly disappearing. Naturally, the corpses of Briggs and Tacken were completely gone.

Leos, who had killed two members of the Heavenly Assembly, waited for the barrier to completely disappear, and whispered to where the corpses of the Heavenly Assembly members had been.

“You’re not the only ones up there in the sky. Now my sword too faces the heavens.”

*

While Leos was gone, Rakarte fought tooth and nail to protect his comrades. His orders were to prioritize guarding Herisia and Benedict above all else, and no one in the group voiced any dissent.

But the mana bombs raining from the sky were relentless. Before, Leos had been deflecting them all, but now, with him vanished within the barrier, Rakarte and the others had to deal with them directly.

Paron spoke in a hurried voice.

“Rakarte-nim. I’m trying to trigger premature detonations of the mana bombs with daggers and thrown weapons, but it’s no longer working. At this rate, we’ll be wiped out. We have to retreat. You need to pull back all forces and flee.”

“What about Leos!”

“…”

“Are you saying we abandon Leos?”

“There’s no other way right now. If we don’t, we’ll all die. We don’t even know when he’ll emerge from the barrier!”

“No. I made a vow. The moment Leos stood his ground and endured, I vowed not to falter either. I recently realized that the more I try to escape fate, the more miserable my end becomes.”

“Dying here is just a dog’s death!”

Herisia, who had been watching the scene unfold, approached and spoke.

“Go.”

“…?”

Paron, with a bewildered look, stared at her as Herisia said.

“If you’re going to leave, then just *you* leave. We’ll stay and protect Leos-nim.”

Immediately following her words, Benedict scooped Herisia up onto his back.

“Thank you for protecting us up until now. From now on, we’ll handle things ourselves, so please act as you see fit. You’ve saved our lives countless times, especially in this death trap, so we can’t ask for anything more.”

Benedict stood there, devoid of any of his usual playful demeanor. Unable to bear it any longer, Paron shouted at him.

“Benedict, you need to look at the situation coldly. If Leos is delayed even a little bit longer getting out of that barrier, we’re all going to be annihilated! No matter how big the skill gap is, how can we possibly hold out when the artifacts stolen from the Emperor’s vault are attacking us from all sides!”

“He’ll be out soon.”

“…?”

“Leos will be out soon. He will, definitely.”

The moment Benedict said that, mana bombs started raining down from the sky again, and Benedict grabbed the iron balls scattered on the ground, flinging them all at once.

*Kwaa-gwa-gwang!*

With a deafening roar, the bombs began to explode haphazardly, and Lakart muttered as he watched the scene unfold.

“Benedict. How did you do that, with just iron balls…?”

“I’ve improved in several areas while sparring with Leos. Thanks to him. I apologize for staying back. I was keeping an eye out in case of an emergency, but I’ll move now, so please all step back. We will wait for Leos.”

Lakart realized that Benedict was lying. To be able to throw several iron balls hundreds of meters away and detonate bombs like that, just after a few life-or-death battles, was simply impossible.

‘Could it be…’

Lakart didn’t press Benedict further. Paron also wore a troubled expression, then swore and said,

“Shit…I can’t be the only one to be a bad guy, so let’s hold on. Yeah…either way, we have no future if we run away now.”

Benedict loosened his wrist, and with a different expression than before, spoke,

“If you’re not going to flee, then please all support me from behind. Until Leos arrives, I will hold off the attacks.”