Raid The Academy

Chapter 244 : Chapter 244

There is a saying, 'The protagonist appears at the very end.'And I like this saying.

The protagonist is the main character who leads the story.

And the very end means it is the important moment that concludes the act.

It is a bit awkward to say this with my own mouth, but whenever an important event heavily covered in 'Heroes of Frey' erupted here, I was the one who resolved it.

Therefore, for that limited time, the protagonist was me, and it was also me who always received attention and became the center of the topic.

But not as much as now.

Clank! Clank!

Seeing the last pillar that fell belatedly, a person flashed through my mind, and at the sound ringing through the open lot, my heart also pounded following that sound.

Clank.

What appeared from inside the pillar was a man in armor covering his entire body in pitch-black plate armor.

At such an appearance of his, some twinkled their eyes, and some made puzzled expressions.

And.

One person stood blankly as if shocked.

'......Why is Professor Evan here?'

Yuria’s expression, standing blankly with her sword drooping, was asking that.

Following that, she looked at me, seemingly questioning why he appeared as if he was in cahoots with Shadow.

'Why would it be? Because that human is also Shadow.'

That wasn't what was important right now.

It is important that this human has finally returned.

The undeniable, widely acknowledged strongest power of Shadow.

Evan.

"You look to be struggling. Master."

A smile was drawn automatically as his voice was heard heavily.

"If you know, please help a little?"

"What should I do?"

It was before I even finished speaking.

Crack!

The trees next to him shattered in heaps.

A giant shadow cast over the open lot.

Kyaooooh!

The crazy drake Laiadon, who had left its nest, finally arrived here.

"......I guess I don't need to say it."

"I leave it to you."

"Do not worry."

Worry?

There is no way I would.

No matter if Laiadon is a named magical beast that drove Roenberg City into fear, when it comes to fighting skills, Evan is a human who ranks within the top ten even in 'Heroes of Frey'.

Evan stared at Laiadon for a moment, then gripped his massive greatsword and ran at full speed with thudding steps.

Running without an inch of hesitation, he drove the sword into Laiadon’s wide-open maw to fix it, then struck Laiadon’s fangs hard with his tightly clenched gauntlet.

Smash!

Starting with that, the battle began again.

Lorenz Edric, who was watching Evan and Laiadon’s fight for a moment, adjusted his glasses and looked at me.

"He is a complete combat weapon."

"Right? Even if he looks a bit ignorant, he is the strongest in our guild."

"Is that so? Then this fight. You lost."

"Eh? Why?"

"The strongest human should have come to me."

The glasses-wearer suddenly spouted strange nonsense.

"Ah. Since you are lowly beings anyway, it would have been the same whoever came."

It was so absurd that a hollow laugh burst out automatically.

Self-consciousness was a mental illness at that level.

I took out daggers and scattered them all at once.

I didn't change their trajectories one by one with [Telekinesis].

Because I knew it was meaningless anyway.

And as expected, he didn't dodge the daggers and took them all. With his entire body changed to iron armor.

Five daggers bouncing off powerlessly.

But in the meantime, I had already used [Dark Sprint] to preempt the spot behind him.

Shing!

The milky-white blade revealing itself from inside the staff.

Throwing the staff as is, I grab Raven with both hands, rotate once, and slash down powerfully from above my head.

However.

Clang! Along with the sound, tremendous recoil traveled up my grip, making my arm numb.

"It's useless, right?"

The back of his head, which should have been split in two, was perfectly fine.

Only a few strands of hair were cut.

So even his scalp hardens.

Tsk, clicking my tongue, I used [Ghost Step] to quickly widen the distance.

'Even Half-Moon Slash doesn't work.'

Half-Moon Slash, the superior technique of Lion Slash, had the strongest power among the swordsmanship I possessed.

If this doesn't work, the conclusion is one.

With my swordsmanship, I can't do anything to him as he is now.

'As expected, it seems impossible without aura.'

I tried it once because swordsmanship killed him in the original work.

It might be obvious, but what is more important than the technique is who uses that technique.

The one who killed him in the original work was the Southern Knight Commander, one of the Empire's Masters. And naturally, he is a skilled person who can use Aura Blade.

I say again, I just tried it once.

Because I was so at a loss.

'Magic doesn't work, and swordsmanship doesn't work.'

Swordsmanship, dagger arts, etc., all physical force I executed didn't work on him.

With the situation like this, I have no choice but to admit it now.

He was the trickiest opponent among the enemies I had faced.

'What do I do about this......'

I thought about a plan while dodging the flying vines here and there.

Magic resistance and physical resistance.

On top of that, bizarre regenerative power that creates a severed arm in less than 5 minutes, dynamic visual acuity, fast movements, and even strong strength.

Invincible in theory.

The more gloomy fact is that Raven’s [Power Seizure], which can be called my ultimate move, doesn't work on him.

The reason is that the power he uses is not a vision but the inherent ability of a spirit beast.

'I'm screwed.'

I got caught properly in a bad matchup for humans.

'No, no. A walkthrough exists. Unconditionally.'

There is no perfect Enemy.

This is exactly the first realization I gained while playing 'Heroes of Frey' for the first time.

This case is the same.

Although there wasn't a moment he appeared in the mainstream, anyway, that bastard is also a character living in the 'Heroes of Frey' worldview.

'He pulled this bullshit to gain the power of a spirit beast because he himself recognized he wasn't perfect in the first place.'

Therefore, a weakness must exist somewhere in him.

And.

Finally, I was able to discover it.

Wild grasses and weeds lying dead black.

They were definitely growing fresh green until just a moment ago.

How did this happen?

My eyes, with the trait [Memory and Understanding] fully utilized, shone sharply, and my brain rotated at tremendous speed.

The glasses-wearer stood in place and only attacked by stretching vines and arms long toward me.

From start to finish.

When I attack, he defends by changing his skin to scales and iron armor.

However, attack and defense largely repeat only these two patterns.

'It is a strange thing. Definitely, he has twenty-five abilities of spirit beasts absorbed, but he doesn't even use more than ten for actual combat.'

And he continuously checked the surroundings.

I mean, he checks the war situation periodically in the middle of fighting me.

Especially when watching Evan and Laiadon, his gaze lingered exceptionally long.

I could read the emotion of nervousness in that.

Even now.

Kuaaah!

When the crimson breath spewed by Laiadon covered Evan, he showed a gleam of delight, but when Evan came out of it unscathed, he was visibly disappointed.

Then meeting my eyes, he smiles leisurely again as if asking when he did that.

'......This bastard.'

I saw through him.

'You need resources, don't you?'

Just as an energy source called mana is needed to use magic, resources were equally needed to use the power of spirit beasts.

And the identity of that required resource seemed to be...... life force.

'As expected, there is no free lunch in the world.'

Still, verification work was needed.

I only evaded while stalling for time here and there, then suddenly poured out a fierce attack at some moment.

Moving to the daggers scattered just before, I swing the sword.

At the same time, I poured magic unsparingly and drove him frantically.

Inducing him to consume by alternating between magic resistance scales and physical resistance iron armor.

"Ugh."

As a result, his posture, which had maintained composure, began to collapse rapidly.

It was clearly visible that he was flustered by the sudden change of stance. Here, I could identify one more of his weaknesses.

'He is poor at dealing with variables.'

In other words, he lacks actual combat experience.

It was from then.

A strange heat surged from within my body.

That is the conviction that I can win.

My movements became bolder, and as confidence arose, my vision widened, giving me the leeway to analyze the overall situation.

I saw the wild grasses and summer flowers, which were fresh green until just before, withering rapidly along the path he moved.

Certainty was added to the conjecture that he consumes life force to use spirit beast power, and seeing him hurriedly escape after deliberately pressing into the spot where Laiadon’s breath passed and life force disappeared, I became perfectly convinced.

"You look very desperate, hey."

"Haa. Haa."

"Wait. Looking now, you seem a bit aged?"

It was true.

It wasn't that he looked momentarily old due to fatigue from the intense battle, but actual aging had come.

Since the stored life force was depleted, he drew from outside, but when even that was hindered by me, he eventually used his own life force.

"It takes a lot of life force to control that guy, right?"

I grinned while looking at the glasses-wearer who kept glancing at Laiadon.

"So why bring and raise something you can't even afford the maintenance cost for. Tsk tsk."

While life force is continuously consumed to maintain Laiadon, he even has to fight me, so there is no way the life force can be handled.

The reason he uses only the minimum things for actual combat despite having twenty-five absorbed spirit beast abilities was all because of this.

"......Huhu. You look to be in a good mood?"

The guy who was catching his breath at that moment suddenly burst into a low laugh.

Just when I was about to use magic wondering what he was going to do again.

Swish!

His both arms stretched long again.

But, for some reason, the direction was not me.

The fierce battlefield where the battle between thieves and poachers was in full swing.

What his hands aimed for there was not Shadow, but his own subordinates.

"Damn it! What is this!"

The two mercenaries caught in his hands shriveled up like mummies in an instant, and Dayle, who witnessed that terrible sight right in front of his nose, looked this way and spat out curses.

Before I knew it, the glasses-wearer's skin had become taut again.

"It is too early to be happy just because you saw through my weakness. Because this place is full of life force, isn't it? Huhuhu. Now, shall we start again?"

"......Monster-like bastard. Making me annoyed."

I trembled my fist in genuine anger.

Even if they were eaten by parasitic magical beasts, a scene where people are used as auxiliary batteries for a monster cannot be pleasant.

I didn't like his rotten mind and behavior.

But what is more annoying here is that I can't think of a means to respond to that shitty logic.

As he said, for a guy who uses life force as collateral, this place was the optimal location.

Although Luis and the kids are fighting hard, there were still many poachers left who could replenish his life force at any time.

Even if not poachers, this place was the Iron Tree Forest of the Ludain Mountain Range, rich in life force.

Just leaving this open lot, trees were dense.

'I can't burn it all down either.'

The location is too disadvantageous──,

It was when that thought occurred.

'Wait.'

At that moment, one method flashed through my head.

And that was the only method to defeat him, utilizing the numerous visions, armaments, and walkthrough knowledge I possess.

"Come."

I used [Telekinesis] to pull the staff and put Raven back into it.

"Hm? Why put the sword back in? Did you perhaps give up?"

"I can't use it holding the blade."

"Yes?"

"If you don't know, shut up and just watch."

Because it will be fun.

I recited the last words inwardly and immediately opened Raven’s special ability.

"Snatch and swallow, Raven."

Caaaw──

A black beam of light shooting from the crow's head.

The guy, not knowing what this was, defended his body with scales first, but [Power Seizure] passed right through him.

He wasn't my target in the first place. Since he can't be copied anyway, I didn't care about him.

The place the beam of light reached like that was the battlefield of the open lot.

[Power Seizure] pierced the head of Luis, who was just cutting a poacher.

"?"

To Luis, looking at me with bewildered eyes, I spoke kindly with the shape of my lips.

'Let me use your ultimate.'