The students looked up at the screen above the training ground.
The situation inside the barrier was being broadcast on it.
Those seated in the stands stared blankly at the scene.
“...What exactly is happening right now?”
“Can anyone actually see what’s going on?”
They were fast.
Inside the barrier, the two moved too quickly for the eye to follow.
Only fierce sparks from their clashes flashed through the empty air.
The only things visible were faint, fleeting shadows and the aftershocks pounding against the barrier walls in time with their clashes.
“What? Nobody put the video on fast-forward, right?”
“They’re both way too fast! If I don’t focus, I can’t even follow them with my eyes...”
“Forget understanding what moves they’re exchanging. It’s hard enough just keeping track of where they are...”
It was a match at a level beyond comprehension.
The students darted their eyes around, chasing the two figures as they vanished in flashes.
“What did he do? Class E’s top student is ridiculously quick! He’s almost keeping up with Professor Valteric!”
“Fuck... is he really a student like us?”
“The situation just flipped. It looks like even the professor is caught off guard.”
“He keeps trying to shake him off, but Class E’s top student gets past every attempt with room to spare.”
The students could only stare in a daze.
They were witnessing common sense shatter.
“Hasn’t it completely reversed now? Class E’s top student is chasing him, and Professor Valteric can barely evade...”
“He completely caught up to Professor Valteric’s speed! That lunatic is matching movements mixed with teleportation through pure speed alone!”
“This makes no sense. He’s overwhelming Professor Valteric...?”
“Is there something special about that barrier? I’ve never seen a spell like that before.”
“Let’s gooo!! My six months’ living expenses!!!”
The atmosphere grew louder.
The students’ excitement rose.
The movements became harder and harder to catch.
“This is insane. Is he actually going to win? Professor Valteric is going to lose?”
“Bullshit! There’s no way a first-year cadet can beat a faculty member!”
“Beat him senseless!! The long-shot bet is hittingggg!!!”
The fight raged across the screen.
Then the boy on-screen finally caught up to the young man.
A jet-black glove settled against Professor Valteric’s cheek.
《Release.》
It was a brief, quiet whisper, yet one that clearly reached everyone’s ears.
A blinding white explosion followed.
The screen was drowned in white, making it impossible to see anything.
The violently trembling barrier dissipated, and a figure shot out like an arrow.
Kwoooong-!!!
A person was driven straight into the ground.
The young man had been unable to resist at all, left embedded there.
“...That can’t be.”
“...Professor Valteric?”
Valteric lay there helplessly.
Then the boy took a step forward.
Shrrrrk.
The black barrier behind him dissolved.
He slipped his left hand into his pocket and casually shook out his right.
《Oh? Did you pass out? I hope not...》
《I may have misjudged my strength a little.》
《I still want to play some more.》
Dust drifted across the training ground.
Shadows stretched over the arena.
The boy’s black robe fluttered as he stepped forward.
His voice was bright, as bizarre as the upturned mouth of his warped mask.
《It’s all right, isn’t it? I can play with you a little longer.》
The air turned cold.
* * *
“Hmm.”
I let out a short breath.
Valteric was literally stuck in the ground at my feet.
Looking down at him, I poked at the parts sticking out.
“Urgh... ugh...”
Was he still conscious?
A groan leaked from his mouth.
“Oh.”
Was that what it meant to be one of the faculty Big Three?
He hadn’t passed out even after taking that slap.
Being worth about 0.7 Javert, he seemed to be holding up pretty well.
Curious about what expression he was making, I pulled Valteric out of the ground.
“Professor, are you all right?”
“Ugh...”
He looked pretty hilarious.
His teeth had been knocked out, and only his unfocused pupils trembled.
“Pfft.”
I couldn’t hold back a laugh.
The young man was a complete wreck.
Still, I had held back. Once someone poured a few potions down his throat, he’d recover.
Of course, given the damage, he’d have to walk around with his right cheek swollen for a while...
‘What do I care?’
You slapped Rin across the cheek.
I was only getting revenge for her.
“Y... t-trash... l-like...”
Was he trying to call me trash?
When his bleary gaze met mine, Valteric forced out a breath.
He was muttering despite having lost all his teeth.
How could he still try to keep his pride in that state?
He was one tough bastard.
‘One tough bastard.’
...What was that? Why did I suddenly find him impossible to forgive?
An inexplicable anger rose inside me.
I lightly raised my hand.
“Take that, take that. This is revenge for the young lady!”
Tap. Tap.
My playful hand patted his cheek.
Each time my hand touched him, his unfocused eyes quivered.
“You... son of a...”
Valteric was even muttering curses, which didn’t suit him.
Well, why did he make me angry?
I gave him a neat smirk.
Then I rolled Valteric over onto his stomach.
“All right... time to see that back of yours.”
Commence involuntary deflowering-by-cannon Marine Corps brotherhood!
...Not really. I had something to take care of.
“This might sting.”
“Wha... are...”
I pressed down on Valteric’s back.
I kept to a set pattern.
Five times on the left, three times on the right. Then I changed the count and did it again.
As I repeated the process, a prickling sensation ran through my fingertips, and a bug activated.
‘Freezing.’
A bug that made a character stiffen like ice.
Valteric’s body froze completely.
At a glance, it looked like he had been paralyzed.
His consciousness must have remained, though, because his eyes still blinked.
“Noice.”
Now that the bug had taken hold, Valteric wouldn’t be able to move for thirty minutes.
I pulled a Balloon Knife from inside my clothes.
“The exam isn’t over yet, you know? Nobody has passed out, and nobody has declared their surrender.”
There were exactly thirty minutes left until the exam ended.
Since I had time, I planned to have a little fun.
The mouth of my mask curled up.
“I told you, didn’t I? I said I’d shake you down until there wasn’t a speck of dust left.”
I rummaged through the front of my uniform.
Then a thick, long cord came spilling out.
Ding!
[Stretchy Rubber Band]
-Category: Material
-Rank: D+
-Status: Springy, resilient
-Description: A rubber band that stretches well. It does not break easily.
“Noice.”
I had brought this item for this very moment.
I started tightly binding Valteric’s body with the rubber band.
“Ugh, ugh...?”
“What? Your pronunciation is so poor that I can’t hear you.”
He seemed to be asking what I was doing, but I ignored him.
Smack.
Since he annoyed me, I gave his cheek one more pat.
The thick rubber band was firmly tied around Valteric.
I even made sure the knot wouldn’t come loose.
“Ball complete.”
I secured the other end of the rubber band to the training ground floor.
The spectators watched me while holding their breath.
I hoisted Valteric into the air.
Then I threw his frozen body with all my strength.
“...???”
Question marks seemed to float over the spectators’ heads.
Valteric’s body shot through the sky.
But the fun was only beginning.
Stretch.
The rubber band stretched long.
Before long, its elasticity began putting up a desperate resistance.
Valteric, who had been launched away, soon came flying back toward me.
“Batter ready.”
I drew my Balloon Knife.
Planting my feet, I drew back into position.
“Hup!”
The instant Valteric’s body rushed in, I parried that pitch with all my strength.
Whoosh!
The incoming ball’s trajectory was cut perfectly.
The young man’s body bounced back toward the sky.
“Yesss! Home run!”
Valteric flew in a perfect parabola.
I clenched my fist in delight.
Then his body, pulled by the rubber band, came flying back at me again.
The Balloon Knife, no different from a baseball bat, sent Valteric flying again and again.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The scene repeated for a full thirty minutes.
I finally set the astounding record of sixty-seven consecutive home runs.
“Whew.”
This was Bug-Hunt Game First Form, Character-Parrying Baseball.
I wiped away a bead of sweat, full of accomplishment.
Thirty minutes had already passed.
Thud.
Freezing wore off, and Valteric fell facedown onto the ground.
He trembled, then began foaming at the mouth before passing out.
“Oops, I broke him.”
I had used him for a long time, after all.
Grinning from ear to ear, I turned toward the stands.
“...Huh? The exam’s over. Why isn’t anyone cheering?”
Rather than cheering, everyone sat there with stunned expressions.
As I tilted my head, the host, who had been frozen stiff as well, finally came to their senses.
The signal announcing the end of the exam rang out in a hurry.
《Th-the exam has ended...!》
And so, the exam came to an end.
The students had nothing to say.
In the end, the only thing that rang across the training ground was the shout of some insane gambler.
-Fuuuck!!! Let’s gooo!!! Three hundred times my moneyyy!!!
I’m seriously jealous of 300-to-1 odds.
Buy me a cafeteria meal.
Footnotes:
“Time to see that back of yours” and the following Marine Corps line preserve a deliberately grotesque Korean internet meme reference.
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