My Disciples Think I’m Strong – Chapter 167

“Guh?!”

“I don’t know who you are, but I can’t just stand by while you try to kill my friend.”

Just before the tip of the black-clad man’s sword touched Maria’s neck, Tina drove her own blade into his forearm. The man yelped in pain, unable to move.

“As my teacher said.”

With the sword still embedded, Tina shoved it upward.

“Gah!”

The man who had attempted the ambush clutched his dangling right arm and screamed. It looked like he was going to collapse, but he pulled out a dagger with his left hand to threaten Tina.

“Die!!”

“Too slow.”

With minimal movement, Tina severed the man’s wrist. Blood sprayed as his hand dropped to the ground.

The grotesque sight was far more disturbing than anything you’d see in a movie, yet I found myself staring at the severed hand with unexpected calmness.

“Gah!!”

“Die, Praus!!”

With the scream as the signal, countless shadows appeared all around us. I couldn’t tell if they were from the Black Light Corps or the White Light Corps. No, maybe they could be from both.

There were at least dozens of them. They must have come prepared.

“Pasma.”

At my call, Pasma released his aura. I braced myself, watching the ones charging at me.

“‘Phantom—”

Just as I was about to activate my skill, screams erupted from the figures floating in the air.

“No one will lay a hand on my teacher within my domain.”

It happened in an instant. By the time I noticed Iris had vanished, she had already subdued all those who had attacked us.

Rather than causing fatal bodily harm, she expertly sliced muscle to prevent them from exerting their full strength.

The Spirit Kings had already retreated. Given they couldn’t fight directly, hiding was likely their best option.

“Not yet! Keep pressing!”

“Not yet, what?”

Swish!

Tina swept through the arm and side of the Black Light Corps member who had been facing Iris.

“Gah!”

“Iris, fall back. This is only going to complicate things. When you subdue them, do it decisively—”

Clang!

While speaking to Iris, Tina sensed the enemy’s attack just by aura and swiftly deflected the weapon, slashing their abdomen in the process.

“——Cut them down. That way, they won’t get up again.”

The member, having received a wound from Tina’s attack, knelt while clutching their bleeding stomach, desperately trying to prevent their insides from spilling out.

“…Teacher requested that we don’t kill them if possible.”

While Tina and Iris exchanged a few words, the ones who had attacked Iris before chugged potions and charged at Tina again.

However, every attack was effortlessly deflected by Tina. The members who lost their weapons pulled out backup ones, but those were cut down as well.

“When I was ten, you know what I learned?”

In the midst of this sudden conversation, Iris glanced at Tina while fending off attacks.

“Never leave a trace. I got my ass beaten by that Dink brat whenever there was a loose end.”

Seeing the members falter, Tina spread her legs wide and took her stance.

“‘Phantom Wave Slash.’”

She swung her sword in a wide arc, as if to slice through a large area. The swarming sword energy claimed each member, all of whom suffered fatal wounds.

Some lost both arms, others both legs, while those who were slow to react had their bodies deeply cleaved as their insides spilled out.

“These guys are guaranteed to come back for revenge if we let them go. So we have to either kill them for good or leave them incapable of fighting back.”

“But…”

“Die, Praus!”

While Iris was momentarily distracted by Tina’s words, a man radiating immense pressure surged towards me.

It was Manes, the leader of the Black Light Corps.

Clang!

I received Manes’s powerful blow head-on. Compared to Peremus’s fist, it was utterly non-threatening.

“Our target has always been you, Praus! Atone for the disrespect shown to His Majesty the Crown Prince and His Majesty the Emperor with your life!!”

“Teacher!”

I shook my head to stop Iris from intervening.

Right now, Maria had to maintain the meteor spell, and they needed to protect her until the Emperor judged it hopeless.

“Focus on protecting Maria!”

At my words, the two nodded and continued to take down the incoming members without hesitation.

Once Tina heard her words, she began decisively severing arms and legs.

“Teacher, I want to fight too!”

“Not now. Endure.”

As I answered Maria, I noticed Manes’s expression contorting with rage.

“You’re quite calm facing me!”

After deflecting my sword, Manes lunged with a dagger, threatening my life at a speed I could never counter.

But now, my body was possessed by Pasma. The title of Sword Master wasn’t something just anyone could claim.

“I believe I’ve shown enough courtesy.”

I read and deflected the incoming assaults one after another, knocking the dagger from his hand.

“Are you planning to drop that thing on Pretéum?!”

“Not sure! The Emperor hasn’t said anything yet.”

I kicked at his side. “Kugh!” He groaned as he stumbled back slightly.

“If he still has nothing to say, then it’s time to obliterate the area.”

“I won’t let you!”

Drawing a dagger from his pocket, he rushed me with swift strikes aimed for fatal wounds. Each strike of the dagger was as fast as lightning, precisely targeting all my vital points. It was not a skill set for someone who hadn’t killed before.

However, he was still nothing more than a pathetic NPC who couldn’t even reach S-Class.

“‘Phantom Sword.’”

As I swung my blade with the skill, Manes swiftly tried to evade, but a diagonal gash appeared on his chest as blood splattered.

“I thought I dodged that…!”

“Your defeat.”

Gaining distance from me was equivalent to signaling me to use my skill.

“‘Phantom Puncture Slash.’”

In an instant, I thrust eight times at him.

Thanks to his quick defense with the dagger, he avoided a fatal blow, but his forearm was left with a massive hole, rendering him unable to continue the fight.

“Gah!”

“Quite a finish.”

Just as I was about to regain my stance, Manes opened his mouth.

“Sirius!”

“!”

Sirius? Did he bring that psycho S-Class adventurer along?

Pasma moved my body to quickly turn around. Sirius suddenly appeared behind me and slashed at me with his sword.

Clang!

I couldn’t withstand the might of an S-Class blow, causing me to tumble backward. I struck my back against the castle wall, immediately bouncing back to my feet.

“Phew…”

It was much heavier than I had anticipated.

“Oh? You blocked it? Good job. I didn’t want to kill anyone.”

“Sirius, that’s an order! Kill Praus!”

“Ah… I don’t want to kill anyone… I’ll just end up in prison again.”

Even amidst the surrounding screams and sounds of battle, he maintained an unfazed attitude, scratching his head in confusion.

Sirius.

I knew him as someone with a quirky personality.

When he was an adventurer, he had killed all his party members out of anger.

Later, when the knights asked him why, he simply stated it was because they drew blood from his precious body given to him by his parents.

At that time, conflicts arose within the party, and the party leader couldn’t hold back and punched him in the face. After seeing his own blood, Sirius turned and killed every adventurer present.

Since he was an S-Class adventurer at the time, the news spread wide, leading to his imprisonment.

If Chris hadn’t included him in the Black Light Corps, he would still be in jail.

“He’s a traitor! Killing him would actually reduce your rewards!”

“Oh, so it was fine to kill him? Then there’s no reason to hesitate!”

He tossed the dagger into the air and struck the hilt with a long strike. I leaned back to avoid the sword.

“Haha!”

He smiled at me, continuously throwing daggers. As he did so, he quickly closed the distance.

That was some serious speed. He matched up with Urka without a doubt.

Clang! Clang!

As I deflected the daggers he threw, Sirius had now stepped within my sword range.

“Could you please die when I’m asking nicely?”

“Dying isn’t what I should be doing; it’s you!”

His precision and sharpness aimed for vital points stood in stark contrast to Manes. If it weren’t for Pasma’s possession, I would never have been able to block him.

I took an incoming attack and attempted to counter, but he swiftly slipped away from the sword range.

Whenever I tried to use my skill from a distance, he would dive back in with fierce attacks. It was incredibly annoying.

“Damn it! Where did those White Light Corps bastards go?!”

At that moment, Manes was about to let loose his rage born from pain.

A sound slicing through the air reached my ears from somewhere. My gaze briefly darted away from Sirius.

A massive ice dragon was rising proudly atop the castle wall. The immense pressure and noise made Sirius suddenly remember he was in a fight as he turned around.

“Oh! That girl…!”

Seeing the ice dragon flying towards the meteor, I kicked Sirius’s leg out from under him.

“!”

As he lost his balance and fell, I swung my sword down at him.

“‘Meteor Fall.’”

In that brief moment, he threw a dagger at me. As I momentarily flinched, he managed to yank himself out of my sword’s range.

“…Praus, how about we halt the fight for a moment?”

“Shut up.”

I moved closer, swinging my sword.

Clang!

Sirius parried my sword with two daggers and spoke seriously.

“I’m serious.”

“Sirius! You—what the hell are you doing?!”

“Oh… well, you see, there’s someone I really want to kill.”

As he said that, his gaze shifted back to the ice dragon.

“‘Breath of Frost!’”

An enormous blast of frost erupted from the ice dragon’s mouth. It had enough chill to engulf the entire meteor, but it couldn’t extinguish Maria’s ninth-tier flames.

Realizing he couldn’t counter the magic, Soro immediately turned the dragon’s head towards Maria, its caster.

In a moment of distraction, I kicked Sirius in the stomach. Seizing the brief opening, I dashed towards Maria and assumed my stance in front of her.

“Pasma.”

“‘Phantom Wave Slash.’”

As I swung my sword, the emerging sword energy split the dragon’s mouth in two, causing its body to burst.

“Praus!!”

Soro cried out my name as he gathered frost in his grasp.

It was then—

“This girl is mine!”

“……!”

I noticed Sirius had closed the distance beside me. Oh no, my reaction was too slow!

However, contrary to my expectations, Sirius threw the dagger not at me but at Soro.

The dagger flew fiercely towards Soro’s left side, embedding itself in his ribcage.

“Ugh!”

“Got it! Direct hit! Just die! That’s retribution for injuring my body given to me by my parents!”

The unexpected team kill left not just me but most of those fighting in utter shock.