TRPM 458

chapter 458

Everyone hoped the opening ceremony would start early, but in the end, it began right on time.

Even though it was the opening ceremony, it wasn’t held in the auditorium. As usual, it was conducted in the classroom via TV.

After the dull speech by the principal, the ceremony ended, and Teacher Son Ji-hye continued with the homeroom session.

She said it would end at 11, but it seemed like she had planned to start homeroom immediately after the ceremony.

“See you all tomorrow.”
“Yes.”
“Teacher, good work today.”

As expected, once homeroom ended, the students got up to go home…

Thud.

Someone grabbed my shoulder just as I was about to leave the classroom.

“Geon-woo, shall we spar?”
“Ah, yeah.”

I almost went home without thinking. But a promise is a promise, so I decided to spar with Elliott before heading back.

“What? You guys are sparring? Can I watch?”
“Why only Elliott… Hey, Geon-woo! After your spar with Elliott, spar with me too!”

When Elliott and I had arranged the sparring, some students hadn’t arrived at school yet, so they didn’t know we were sparring. Now, they either wanted to watch or wanted to spar themselves.

‘… Right. If I agreed to Elliott’s spar, others would naturally want to watch or join too.’

Thinking that, I headed toward the sparring arena with the students from our class.

… Or at least, I thought I was heading there with just my class.

“Why are there so many people?”

When we arrived at the arena, the number of people following me had grown.

“You posted that Geon-woo would be sparring on the school community board,” Ryu Ah-young explained.

Apparently, since I rarely sparred privately, many had come out of curiosity.

“They just want to see you fight, Geon-woo.”
“I know that already.”

They must have been drawn by the chance to see an artist fight firsthand.

‘They won’t get the scene they’re hoping for.’

The crowd probably expected me to showcase my usual sword techniques as an artist, but I wasn’t going to use those in a sparring match.

“Geon-woo! We’re ready on this side!”

While I was thinking that, Elliott waved from the opposite side of the arena, shouting cheerfully.

“Alright. Whenever you’re ready, come at me.”

I said that to him, curious to see how much he had grown over the break.

“Then here I go!”

Elliott darted forward.

Arthur’s Zedel, Chapter 1: Lunge.

A straightforward thrust.

A thrust I had seen many times before. But this one felt different.

‘Back then, I could catch Elliott’s blade with my bare hands…’

Now, that seemed impossible.

[Not really. I know exactly when, how fast, and how strong his attack will be.]
[Besides, a sword’s weight is centered on the hilt, not the blade, so it’s not that hard to manage.]

In the past, I explained why I could grab Elliott’s blade barehanded. And Elliott remembered what I had said.

‘Of course, he hasn’t completely fixed the weakness I mentioned.’

Naturally. A lunge is a direct attack; its timing and force can’t be faked. And a sword’s balance can’t be changed unless the sword itself is modified. Changing the balance artificially would just create new problems. For ordinary Aura users, it’s an unsolvable weakness…

‘But he compensated with magic.’

Elliott is a Magic Swordsman. Not a knight awakened to Aura, but a magician awakened to magic. He tried to trick the timing of his lunge with illusion magic and shifted the sword’s balance toward the blade using gravity magic. He had overcome the weakness I mentioned using magic.

“Impressive.”

Paang…!

I praised Elliott and deflected his thrust with my training sword.

“Ugh…!”
“Now, let me show you another weakness of the lunge.”

I lightly struck his unguarded stance with the training sword.

Bang!

“Ah…!”
“When you thrust, your sword extends. During that motion, the distance between your body and the sword increases, creating openings.”

Depending on the technique, openings can vary. In Elliott’s case, a charging lunge naturally leaves many gaps.

“Many monsters are good at spotting such openings, so try training to minimize them.”
“Arthur uses it just fine…!”
“That’s because it’s Arthur. He’s exceptional.”

Even if Arthur, an Aura Master, leaves gaps, they’re minimal. Besides…

‘Arthur’s sword style emphasizes showmanship over efficiency, so the movements are large.’

Arthur’s style is not practical for real combat. But anyway…

“So? Ready for the next attack?”

I asked because Elliott was preparing another strike. In a real fight, I would prevent him from preparing, but this is sparring.

“Of course!”

A complex magic circle appeared in front of Elliott. It was not the kind of spell even academy students would normally use.

‘A shield spell…’

He wasn’t using it because my previous strike hurt. Then…

“Here I go!”

Elliott swung his sword swiftly. I recognized the stance from before.

Arthur’s Zedel, Chapter 4: Hack.

A fast slashing attack meant to leave no room for counterattack. For an experienced swordsman like Arthur, it’s perfect. For novice Elliott, openings were visible.

‘So that’s why he used a shield spell.’

The casting took time, but the sturdy shield protected Elliott, making low-level counters ineffective. I couldn’t swing my sword widely either; the gaps were minimal.

“Not bad…”

I met his blade with mine.

Clack!
“Huh?”

Elliott couldn’t execute his technique properly. My sword subtly disrupted his movements. Naturally, he tried to retrieve his sword…

“Nope.”
“Whoa…!”

I blocked him from reclaiming it. Elliott’s eyes shone with surprise.

“Incredible! How did you do that?!”
“Just a technique.”

A technique possible only because my swordsmanship far exceeds his. I didn’t even need to use internal power. The principle is simple: place your blade in the path of the opponent’s blade to block its movement. Easy in theory, hard in practice. This is a sparring-only technique.

‘Before regression, Yeon Mi-rae used this method to correct my stances.’

Then…

“It’s not over yet!”

Elliott shouted while clashing blades, casting another spell.

‘Is that… transmutation magic?’

Usually for reshaping objects, not for combat. It’s slow and difficult on magical items. Often used for traps. But Elliott used it to reshape his shield around his body.

‘Changing the shape of a shield is inefficient…’

He forcibly and quickly reshaped it, draining his mana. Yet he shouted as if it were enough.

“Go…!”

His shield became dozens of sharp needles, shooting straight at me. We were close, clashing swords.

‘Dirty technique, but… effective.’

“Ugh!”

Of course, I wasn’t going to be hit by that.

‘Even if it became needles, it’s still a shield.’

So I forcibly deactivated the shield. I had to attack him directly, and the needle transformation left him defenseless.

“Ugh… it’s blocked…”
“Not bad for an improvised method, but pay attention to defense next time.”
“Uh… okay…”

Thud.

Elliott collapsed, unable to maintain consciousness due to mana exhaustion and the damage from my strike.

“Wow…!”
“Incredible…!”
“Geon-woo! Next is me!”
“No, me too! I want to go!”

The cheering began. Other students from different classes started bringing weapons to spar with me.

‘Oh no…’

If I only sparred with Elliott and Lee Doo-min, a riot might happen. I understood why they acted this way.

‘I used only training swords while explaining Elliott’s weak points. That’s why.’

Those aiming for an academy and dungeon conquest wouldn’t miss this opportunity to train under a master.

“Ha… okay. But only ten. Decide among yourselves.”
“Okay!”
“How do we pick ten?”
“Rock-paper-scissors?”
“Lottery?”
“Or by grades…”

The students began seriously selecting ten participants. That’s better than I expected.

When the crowd grew rowdy, I called Lee Doo-min.

“Doo-min, come quickly. We need to finish before lunch, so let’s move fast.”
“Got it!”

He came down with his gauntlets, his main weapon—not training equipment.

“… Why did you bring that?”
“I need it for my new technique. Training gear would break.”
“Oh… really?”

I felt a bit excited. What new technique could be strong enough to destroy even proper training equipment?