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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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I had used one second of ‘Selection and Concentration’ on agility to get here quickly, one second on mana, and three seconds on mana synchronization.
All five seconds were used up. My arms, swollen and bruised, were unresponsive. I couldn’t cast any decent spells or draw my sword.
I was practically incapacitated.
But it didn’t matter.
“You talk too much. Just like graduate students. Trying to start a debate? I understand now why you’re all stuck in the lab, unable to graduate. You’re all losers.”
“You bastard!!!”
I was strong. At least, that’s how I appeared to them. They wouldn’t dare attack someone who had just sliced an ancient monster in half.
And who would suspect that this incredibly powerful being would revert to a weakling after a mere five seconds?
Henderson had underestimated me and died. Two thousand soldiers had attacked me and retreated with three hundred casualties. It was a feat worthy of Gawain, the strongest human warrior.
As expected, they hesitated, yelling and screaming, but not attacking.
“What’s wrong? Weren’t you prepared to die the moment you took off your hoods? Are you begging for your lives now?”
“Schlus Hainkel! Shut your mouth!”
“Very well. I’ll show you mercy. The first five to surrender will be spared. The rest will be killed.”
“You think we’ll fall for that?!”
Well, your friends seem eager to accept my offer.
Yusek glared at the hooded figures behind him as they fidgeted nervously. It seemed Yusek was indeed the leader of this group.
They had some semblance of discipline, but their chain of command was clearly a mess. If I eliminated Yusek, there would be no one to take his place. They would likely surrender en masse. It was a perfect opportunity to expose the cult.
“We will not surrender! Kill us all if you can, Schlus Hainkel!”
“Professor Ludwig, draw my sword.”
“What…?”
Their attack was imminent.
I whispered to Ludwig, who stared at me as if I were insane.
“You can’t even hold a sword?”
“Yes. Do you not know how to use a sword?”
“…I know how to use a sword.”
Ludwig sighed and drew my longsword from its sheath.
“Charge!!!”
Yusek roared, and the hooded figures lunged at me. They were incredibly fast. Too fast for weak graduate students.
Were they empowered by a Majin?
“Die!!!”
Magic spells began to form around me, but they were too slow. I easily dispelled them with my computational abilities. Ludwig intercepted the ones I missed.
Yusek, unfazed, lunged at me with a dagger.
“Ugh?!”
He was fast, but not fast enough to hit me if I activated my internal circuits. I tried to draw Vafe, but my arm wouldn’t move. I had overused it.
“Die, Schlus Hainkel!”
Yusek raised his dagger again.
It was a difficult angle to dodge. An idea occurred to me.
What if I let him stab me? My body was overflowing with mana from using my internal circuits without Vafe. I was on the verge of collapsing. I hadn’t always been this resistant to mana. I had coughed up blood and collapsed the first time I had generated even a small amount.
My body had adapted through repeated exposure.
But what if the mana within me, mixed with my blood, erupted from the wound and engulfed Yusek? He wasn’t likely to be as resistant. It could have a devastating effect.
“Stab me! Yusek!”
“…”
I puffed out my chest, inviting the attack. Stab me, and you die.
Yusek hesitated, his eyes darting between my face and my exposed chest. Then, he lunged.
Swish…!
Something wrapped around my waist, and I was pulled backwards.
I was falling—
“Haa! I got you!”
—into Trie’s arms.
She had pulled me back with magic from fifty meters away. She had come a long way from the girl who couldn’t even cast a simple flash spell.
“Ugh…”
Ludwig was clutching his back, groaning in pain. Trie had pulled all the professors back to safety.
Some of them seemed to have sustained minor injuries, but a slipped disc was better than being stabbed to death.
KABOOM!
A wave of heat washed over me. A massive pillar of fire had erupted beside me, scorching the earth where the hooded figures had been standing. Three of them had vanished, but Yusek was still alive.
“Schlus! We’re here to help!”
“Ha…”
I turned around to find Ainz giving me a thumbs-up. He was always reliable in battle.
“I-I surrender! The first five! Is that still valid? I’m the first—”
“Who said you could surrender?”
“Gah!”
A blade pierced through the chest of a hooded figure as he jumped down towards us. Yusek twisted the blade, ending the graduate student’s life. He then kicked the corpse towards us.
“One down. Four more. Any takers?”
“…”
Yusek twirled his bloodstained dagger. The remaining graduate students backed away, their mouths shut tight.
Damn it.
Ainz was out of mana. Now, all we had was Trie’s sword. But she had too many people to protect.
Could she protect the professors while fighting multiple opponents? It was unlikely.
I needed to provoke Yusek and get myself stabbed…
“You’ll die if you do that.”
“Iris?”
“You fool. Your plan will kill you.”
“…”
A warm hand took mine. It was Iris. Her eyes were filled with tears.
She was saying I would die… It was a vision of the future. I had to trust her.
“Can you heal my arms, Iris?”
“I’m afraid I can’t. The cellular damage is too extensive… Ugh. Even if I used all my mana, it wouldn’t be enough.”
“…”
Iris’s ‘miracle’ wasn’t omnipotent. But I was in danger if I couldn’t use my sword.
I struggled to move my fingers when—
“Teacher, stay down. I’ll take care of this.”
“Kill them all!!!”
I was distracted by Trie’s confident expression, and the fanatics charged.
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“Damn it! This is impossible… impossible…!”
Yusek felt his throat tighten. She looked like an ordinary female student. He had initially thought it was comical, a girl wielding a longsword. But after engaging her in close combat, he realized she was far stronger than she appeared.
He couldn’t defeat her, even with multiple attackers.
“Gah!”
“Ugh!”
And he couldn’t target the other professors either. Every time he tried, a flash of light would whip towards him like a lash. And Schlus Hainkel was blocking all his long-range magic attacks.
“She can’t use magic while wielding a sword! Now’s our chance! Attack!”
“Raaaagh!”
He ordered his followers to attack the girl while he lunged towards Ludwig. He wanted to eliminate that detestable professor first.
“Huh?”
He was suddenly flying through the air. He had been hit in the stomach and sent flying. He saw his followers being cut down, their bodies torn apart.
She was protecting Ludwig with magic while simultaneously wielding a sword.
‘She’s using internal and external circuits at the same time?’
Magic and swordsmanship combined.
Only one person in history had achieved such a feat.
The hero, Gawayn.
She was the first ‘magic knight’ since then.
“Where do you think you’re going?!”
One of his followers tried to run. He had been fidgeting under his hood, waiting for a chance to escape.
He had chosen the perfect moment, and Yusek couldn’t catch him. The escape had a devastating effect on his followers’ morale.
They had received the power of a Majin, yet they were being defeated by a single girl…
“You useless fools!”
The true warriors of the cult wouldn’t be so easily intimidated. These newly converted followers were unreliable. He had to use his last resort.
“Protect me!”
Yusek roared and activated his internal circuits.
His body burned, and he ripped off his shirt, revealing a large scar on his chest. He saw Schlus Hainkel flinch.
He had recognized it. But there was nothing he could do. This wasn’t a spell he could dispel with his computational abilities.
Swish…!
A barrage of light spells, like whips, flew towards him, but his followers intercepted them, sacrificing themselves.
There was nothing to stop him now.
Blood trickled from his nose, and his eyes rolled back. He was already dead, but his heart continued to beat, ready to explode.
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