Chapter 19
BOOM!
A noise like an exploding shell echoes through the dueling arena.
It was the result of my fist colliding with Jackson's blade.
"Kuk...!"
Normally, when a fist and a blade collide, common sense dictates that the fist would lose.
Deliberately putting your hand against a blade is essentially self-harm.
But Jackson couldn't do that.
My dash was much faster than he thought, and he barely managed to defend with the side of his blade, unable to react properly.
Thud.
Jackson's body staggers from the impact.
The sword that touched my fist is pushed back, and I don't miss Jackson's stance crumbling.
Whoosh─
My other fist advances, creating a gust of wind. Aiming for Jackson's abdomen.
A spot difficult to dodge, but one that will definitely accumulate damage if hit.
"You, bastard...!"
It's a simple feint.
If Jackson defends his abdomen, he won't be able to recover his stance.
He'll be too busy constantly responding to my attacks.
Even if he tries to avoid the abdomen, the hit area is wide, making it difficult.
If he tries to dodge recklessly, he'll take an even bigger effective hit.
BOOM!
Jackson also reads my intention and hurriedly lowers his arm.
The sword hilt belatedly reacts and collides with my fist, and Jackson loses his balance again.
Now there's no need to hesitate.
I just need to keep cornering him in the same way and beat him.
To use a game analogy, it's a fighting method that chips away at stamina bit by bit.
BOOM!
With each punch I throw, Jackson is barely able to defend.
If I had given him just a little breathing room, he might have switched to offense, or at least landed an effective counter.
But from the first dash, he completely lost the flow and got caught up in my pace.
'It can't be helped.'
Jackson Percival.
A delinquent character who appears as the 7th rank in the Knight Department's 2nd year in <Song of Sword and Magic>.
His characteristic is a solid physique that allows for bullying.
'His fighting style is a power struggle using his weight class.'
That's why Jackson is particularly vulnerable to a 'stronger weight class'.
Because he's lived off weight class battles alone, he has no answer when he's outmatched there.
This was also information I learned while playing the original game.
'Act 1 Chapter 3, Discipline. That's where he appeared in the role of bullying the protagonist.'
As a veteran player, I couldn't not know that once he loses the flow, he becomes a fool...!
BOOM!
Once again, an explosive sound.
"Huff, huff..."
No longer able to defend properly, Jackson's body bounces greatly.
He was already driven to the edge of the dueling arena.
A position where he might roll off if he missteps even slightly.
His eyes, precariously standing on the edge of the arena, turn towards me.
Trembling pupils, shocked by an unbelievable reality.
The expression that was mocking me until just now is nowhere to be seen.
Only the despair of a mob character who sensed defeat lingered.
"Come to think of it, what did you say earlier?"
Thud.
I take a step closer to him.
Jackson tries to back away, but realizing he has no room, he grits his teeth.
"Whether I declare surrender myself, or get driven out of the dueling arena... You said you bet on me saying it with my own mouth."
"Kuh, ugh..."
"I wonder how it will be for you?"
Jackson desperately grips his sword.
A spark flies in his bloodshot pupils.
They say a cornered mouse will bite a cat.
It's just like his stance.
"Will you voluntarily surrender, or will you roll out of the arena in an unsightly manner?"
"...You bastard!"
"Well, I think I already know the answer."
Jackson roars, spitting saliva.
He grabs his sword and rushes at me.
A dash that's slow compared to mine earlier, desperately gathering momentum.
There's no way he can reach me with that.
I raise my arm.
I bring my index finger and thumb together.
With the remaining three fingers spread wide, I tense the touching fingers.
'Ground-Striking Art.'
A technique gained from 【Twelve Star Cloud Fist】.
Not just competing with weight class, but learning technique to win wisely.
My strategy.
"Those who rely only on their weight class and act cocky."
BOOM!
As I flick my index finger and thumb, a tremendous shockwave is shot towards Jackson.
"What...?!"
He probably didn't expect there to be a ranged attack at all.
Jackson tried to turn his body belatedly, but how could he stop the dash he had put all his strength into?
Like a moth flying into fire, he thrusts his body into the Ground-Striking Art.
"─Kek─."
WHOOSH!
A sound that shouldn't come from a human body.
The Ground-Striking Art, which accurately hit Jackson's abdomen, immediately sent him flying far away.
Crash!
The dusty ground outside the dueling arena.
That's where Jackson was flung.
"Kuh, huh..."
The Ground-Striking Art that directly hit his abdomen.
Jackson, who took a clean hit, couldn't even try to get up and fainted on the spot.
The foam spewing from his mouth was an unsightly sight.
"...You're not qualified to stand in the dueling arena."
Declaring that I wouldn't even give him the chance to surrender himself.
With that, I ended the duel.
It was the clearance of Act 1 Chapter 4, the Inter-year Exchange Competition.
***
"......"
The venue is enveloped in silence.
An unbelievable sight.
Not a single student could open their mouth, holding their breath.
Knight Department 2nd year, 7th rank, Jackson.
Lost to Magic Department 2nd year loser, Herak.
And with just physical strength!
The first to react were the Knight Department students.
"Shit, what is this...?! Jackson lost? Seriously?"
"What did I just see? Am I seeing things?"
"That was just a physical fight, right? He won with his fists, damn it!"
"He didn't use any magic at all!"
A shocking result.
A matchup they expected to win naturally.
When the upset properly exploded, the Knight Department students' heads spun.
Moreover, Jackson's defeat wasn't just Jackson's problem.
"This... Are we losing the championship?"
Gulp.
At someone's muttered words while swallowing,
Everyone's spine chilled.
The next reaction came from the Magic Department students.
"What? Shit? Why did Herak win?"
"He didn't use any magic? What's a magician doing using his body?"
"But... he did win, right?"
"...Wait. The loser beat the 7th rank. This, this is a winning angle...?!"
Those who initially didn't have any expectations for Herak.
Finally start to change their evaluation bit by bit.
There were still many who questioned how Herak won without using magic.
Nevertheless, the fact that he protected the pride of the Magic Department's 2nd year remains unchanged.
The loser beat the 7th rank, no less.
The underdog's victory receives insane bonus points.
Even though Penel lost, there's a very high possibility that the championship itself will go to the Magic Department...!
Of course, it's not just the students who are shocked by the result of this match.
Far above the dueling arena, in the VIP seats.
In the seats where the instructors who prepare and evaluate the matches sit.
A heated discussion was already underway.
"What was that? Was that really magic?"
"What kind of eccentricity did he perform? A magician beating a knight with physical strength?"
"Did you see him flick his finger? Could it be 'Wind Gun'?"
They're each analyzing Herak's winning secret.
There are many interesting points.
A robust physique that even pushed back Jackson, who ranked 7th just based on his weight class.
The sensory movements that skillfully use it.
If we were to count each one, there would be countless.
But the most noticeable point is.
"No."
What on earth was that technique that flicked wind with his finger and sent Jackson flying!
"That wasn't magic. At least, it's completely different from the concept of magic we know."
"What do you mean, Instructor Angelina?"
"I've seen that technique of Herak's recently in [Introduction to Elementology]."
"No, such a thing...! Please tell us quickly!"
Angelina's eyes shine.
She remembered clearly.
The assignment she gave, the 'rock breaking' that had always been included in the first week since Angelina took charge of [Introduction to Elementology].
"You all know my assignment, right? The rock that even 2nd year students find difficult to scratch."
"It's famous."
The one who responded was Digory, the 1st year guidance instructor.
He pushed up his rimless glasses and asked.
"A difficult level that no student has ever passed in the first week. What about it?"
"Would you believe it if I told you Herak was the student who passed it in that very first week?"
"...!"
Digory swallows.
The same was true for the other Magic Department instructors around.
"Herak's technique clearly carried mana. But there were many aspects too alien to define as magic."
"......"
"After analyzing it a bit since then. The magic name I've thought of for Herak is..."
Angelina named it there.
Herak's special combat method.
That unique power where the body itself is magic.
"'Battle Mage'. I think this would be appropriate. I thought of it seeing his fighting style that seems to mix knight and mage."
"......"
Silence.
None of the Magic Department instructors can open their mouths.
Battle Mage.
This concept that Angelina just named here is unheard of.
A unique build that uses one's own body to wield magic.
Yes, now Olympia Academy had to acknowledge.
The student they had so despised.
The one they even had separately interviewed to properly humiliate and expel this time.
That Herak was now shouting in this Colosseum.
─Can you see, remnants of the old era.
Chivalry that only knows how to raise aura on swords, but struggles to wrap it around the body.
Magicians who only know how to blast magic from afar like nerds, unable to move their bodies directly.
Neither one nor the other, but a trend setter combining both.
It was the emergence of the 'Battle Mage'.