48 – Midterms – 3
Cordelia was staring at me. This time she made eye contact, but she didn’t avoid it. Very intense eyes. Those are eyes filled with longing and envy.
There is a saying that you can see as much as you know. These short, concise words contain great truth. People only see what they really know.
The same goes for Cordelia. Even on the first day of class, I definitely had a sparring with Mr. Halford. But at that time, she had never looked at me like that. At that time, wouldn’t she have longed for the knight like she does now? Or has her skill grown enough to impress her in her short time of a month and a half?
It can’t be. It was just that Cordelia’s eyes grew. On the first day of her class, she saw Helford and I fighting and felt nothing. After only a month and a half of growth, she came to know how great my skills were. She, who didn’t know anything at that time, was able to see my skills again as much as she knows now.
Saying this makes me feel like I’m putting a lot of gold on my face, but what about being proud? I don’t feel it because I don’t usually use it, but according to Seol-ah, this body is the body of the world’s strongest. As this world is not a high fantasy, I cannot cut mountains or split the sea like tofu, but the fact that I am the strongest among humans remains unchanged. For reference, the second place is Wilhelm.
Anyway, Cordelia has grown considerably in a short period of time, and she found out that I, who always jokes with her, is more talented than she thought. Not exactly me, but Mikhail.
Cordelia seemed quite shocked, but she showed no interest in the match after that, and she kept staring at me. I wanted to sit next to her and tell her if her respect for me was just springing up, but I held back because I wasn’t in a situation like that. She and I were still in a cold war, and I couldn’t continue talking to her when I sat next to her.
“Next, Cordelia! And Max!”
Helford called her Cordelia’s name out loud. Cordelia walked out to the center of her gymnasium, nervous but not hiding her excitement. Her steps were light, but her lips were parched. Her opponent, a student named Max, got up from his seat trembling with an uneasy look in his eyes.
It may seem absurd at first glance to assign a male student to a female student. However, Cordelia is the only girl who is a beginner in the swordsmanship class in the first place. It was because the only female students who dared to take such a sweaty class were those who were interested in swordsmanship in the first place.
On the contrary, the average ability of male students is much lower. In the case of basic swordsmanship, it is a prerequisite for taking other subjects. Adepts like me also take this class because they have no choice but to take other advanced courses.
On the other hand, there are quite a few students who take the course because their family ordered it, for exercise, or because they wanted to try it once. Max, who came out as Cordelia’s opponent, was one of those students.
Although Cordelia has grown up, she has only been holding the sword for a month and a half, and it is absurd for her to engage in sparring with female students who have already wielded swords for nearly 10 years.
The student called Max was still trembling about what was so unsettling. Her posture holding her sword is quite stable, so she doesn’t seem to be a beginner enough to be so nervous against Cordelia. Why is she doing that?
Helford also tilted his head, perhaps feeling puzzled by Max’s condition.
She said, “As I said before, she won’t divide the score by win or loss. What’s important is how well you use what you’ve learned and don’t get hurt. So you don’t have to be too nervous. Got it?”
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Max didn’t even make eye contact with Helford, but only gave her a slight nod. Rather, after hearing that, he seemed more nervous. Cordelia was restless, as if she wanted to write what she had learned as soon as possible.
I guess it’s a style that puts a lot of tension on you. Helford seemed to think so as well, so he just took a step back. Helford, who took turns checking the two for a while, announced the start of the match.
“Let’s get started.”
At the same time Helford announced the start, Max rushed at Cordelia. He pushed her hard, putting her nervousness to nothing.
Several workshops followed. Cordelia perfectly blocked Max’s successive flat slashes. Confused for a moment, he momentarily applied force to his thigh and stabbed him hard, but he also knocked it aside.
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Max took a step back, leveled up his momentum, and went back on the offensive. Classic top cut. Cordelia also raised her sword to block it. The tip of Max’s sword trembled as if her strength was running. He tried to push Cordelia’s sword away by force, but he couldn’t defeat Cordelia by force, who blocked his attack with Strong, that is, a part close to her body.
It was possible because swordsmanship is not something that a strong person wins unconditionally. Of course, it is true that it is much more advantageous, but it is also possible to overcome power with technology like that. If Wick, the farthest side of the sword, collides with Strong, the side closest to the body, Wick cannot push Strong away no matter what. If there is an exception, would it be the use of mana?
By using mana, you can generate power that transcends humans. If you infuse the sword with mana, you can emit an aura. In the first place, a person with that level of skill would of course also have the skill, but if you use mana, you can simply push through the skill by force.
Of course, the basic swordsmanship lecture doesn’t tell you anything related to mana. First of all, using mana is impossible for most students. Forming an aura, as well as turning mana into the body to improve physical abilities, is also a fairly advanced skill. In addition, teaching students who are still immature about skills to develop strength risks serious injury.
Cordelia ran the sparring hotly according to her impetuous temperament. She chased after Max, who briefly distanced herself from her. An ultra-close battle in which the swords of the two are completely intertwined.
She raised her left hand and grabbed her blade. Half Sodding. It is a posture that can effectively deal with opponents with a difference in weight class by using the principle of leverage. It’s easy to think of when you’re shoveling. If you were working while holding only the shovel handle, the senior who was watching behind you would stab you in the back of the head. It is the same principle that shoveling is easier when one hand is held close to the shovel handle and the other hand is close to the shovel blade.
If you hold the sword with one hand, you can naturally give the sword more power. It is dangerous because it can easily allow an attack with the hand when the distance between the two is wide, but it is one of the very useful skills in such close combat. Helford smiled as he used what he had learned correctly. Looking at his expression, Cordelia wants to get a pretty good grade too.
This time, Cordelia started pushing her Max aggressively. Max was taken aback as to whether Cordelia’s skill was unexpected. She probably knew she would end up in the first contest of strength. His top cut was once again blocked by Cordelia. Cordelia didn’t finish there and she let his sword slide aside.
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Max’s sword cut through the air. Cordelia took advantage of her gap and tried to stab him, but alas, it was faster for Max to back her. Max, who almost fell back, glared at Cordelia.
“Damn, I said I wouldn’t have to use it… !”
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Max muttered what he was so dissatisfied with. His pupils were shaking just as fast as when he first stepped onto the gym. Can I not use it? What?
In an instant, his prayers became incomparably stronger than before. I couldn’t hide my astonishment and screamed.
“Mana… !”
This was impossible. Max was never a student at the level of using mana, and he actually couldn’t use it. If his skills were this level, he would never be able to compete with Cordelia in the first place.
Helford, Cordelia, and the other students are all staring blankly at him as if they were embarrassed. Max’s sword approached Cordelia lightly and lightly struck Cordelia’s sword.
Cordelia, who had blocked all of his swords until just a moment ago, lost her sword and fell. Her sword flew away and fell. Blood flowed from her hand, as if her grip had been torn.
Cordelia grunted and groaned in her shock. There is a huge difference between the physical abilities of superhumans who use mana and ordinary humans who do not. It was reckless to block his power with Cordelia’s body, and she was paying the price for her recklessness.
I grinded my teeth. And she quietly raised her mana in fear of raising her head. Mikhail’s memory was required to use complex swordsmanship and use of auras, but raising his physical abilities could now be done by himself.
It would be nice if Max resigned like this, but…. If he just withdraws like this, it would be a simple accident. Whether he had a chance or whether he was awakened through this sparring, it was just that a student who was not able to use mana suddenly became able to use mana.
It is definitely wrong to use mana during sparring, but she can cover it up to the extent that she couldn’t control it because she just learned it, or she did it out of anger because she wanted to win.
But it couldn’t be. A student who has never stood out before suddenly becomes able to use mana during sparring? It’s nonsense.
He was strangely nervous and trembling. And the mana she suddenly became available to. Clearly something is happening. I got up and prepared to run out.
Are you a teacher? I looked at Helford. He started screaming as if he still hadn’t judged the situation properly.
“Stop! Dalian is stopped!”
However, Max did not pretend to hear and aimed his sword. A stream of aura erupted from his sword. The target is Cordelia, who is still groaning in shock. Even if the blade is not sharpened, the sharpness of the sword is not a problem at the moment of using Aura. A human body could be sliced lightly.
Cordelia looked up and saw the sword pointed at her. She couldn’t even scream, she just watched the sword approaching her. Her body stiffened with excessive fear. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“What a crazy bastard!”
I ran out onto the gymnasium, spitting disgust. Helford also ran out, but it couldn’t be faster than me, who was preparing to run away.
Everything around seemed slow, as if time had stopped for a moment. The eyes of the other students who were shocked to see me who had suddenly jumped in, Max’s sword slowly approaching Cordelia, and the teacher running towards me a beat later, everything came into view clearly.
And the moment my body collided with him, the flow of time returned to normal.
-f*ck!
I blew Max away with a torso headbutt with all my might. In my head, the conversation I had with Seol-ah last week kept lingering.
‘I don’t know why men like it so much because who’s strong and who wins. There’s no reason to fight anyway.’
‘No need to fight?’
‘There are no monsters or anything like that, and the electrons of war didn’t come out until the end of this work. An assassin targeting Lily? When Lily sent an assassin, she sent it, but I never got hit.’
I was tricked by her again.
“I heard there was nothing to fight!”
What happened is that there is a possessed chair who came in knowing about the novel, but nothing fits!
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