The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 14

Fists moved before words could.

– Bang!!

Something in the shape of a human flew through the air.

That something, launched with tremendous force, crashed into the wall after creating a ruckus with a few bodies that stood in its way.

As a person flew through the air, chaos began to erupt around.

“Whoa!!”


“Ahhh!!”


“It’s a… person!!”

The one who crashed into the wall was none other than Edgar Lemnos, who had just walloped River.

Edgar, with his eyes wide and face puffed up, was unconscious, but besides his mangled face, he looked fine otherwise.

It must be the result of being an intermediate Sword Expert; rather, it seemed that the students entwined with Edgar fared worse in their injuries.

It’s as if the so-called five pillars led him to underestimate the situation too much.

“He… He hit five pillars?!”


“Who did this??”

Students gathered in the hallway to gawk at the fight that just erupted.

The rumors spread like wildfire that a madman struck down five pillars, leaving everyone halted and ready to watch the commotion.

As Lemnos soared like trash, his entourage appeared bewildered.

It looked as though they never even imagined a situation like this would arise, and all they could do was watch Lemnos take flight.

They came here thinking they could lay low… That’s why rookies can’t be relied on.

“What are you doing just standing there? Should I go first?”


“!!”

At my shout, the goons surrounding Edgar whipped out their weapons strapped to their waists.

“Atlas… You…”

Even River, who had been knocked over by Lemnos, stared at me in surprise.

Her expression showed a mix of emotions: confusion, worry, sadness… and fear.

I wondered what kind of expression I had right now.

I couldn’t see it without a mirror, but it must be a terrible one.

“Dwarf…!! Do you have any idea what you’ve just done?!!”

A long-haired man standing to Lemnos’s right raised his longsword and yelled.

I didn’t know which family he belonged to.

If I couldn’t recall him, it couldn’t be from a notable family.

He was trying to warn me, but it was pointless.

I knew very well how risky it was to oppose the five pillars within the Empire.

But wait… Did he just call me a dwarf?

“Dwarf? Did you just call me a dwarf?”


“Exactly! I don’t know how a dwarf like you got into the Academy, but you think you can survive antagonizing five pillars…”

– Wham!!!

The long-haired guy spewing nonsense had his jaw snapped back.

So eager to threaten me, yet failing to notice the enemy right in front of him… What a waste of a nice longsword.

His height was obnoxiously tall, which made it irritating that I had to throw a wide punch just to land a hit. I hit him even harder in annoyance.

Along with some teeth, he too flew toward the same position as Lemnos.

A dwarf? Me?

Just because I’m a bit shorter, you call me a dwarf?

Dwarves are about half the height of an average human, and while they aren’t exactly overweight, their bodies are quite plump.

Unlike dwarves, who grow wild beards, a dwarf might just look like a shorter person at first glance, but there’s one significant difference between dwarves and humans.

Dwarves have uniquely structured feet, which means they don’t wear shoes.

How can you just look at someone and immediately assume they’re a dwarf without knowing any of this?

Still not enough.

If words could prevent a fight, that’d be great, but since it had already escalated to this point, what was left to say?

Unpleasant feelings surged up to my throat.

Emotions bubbling like hot tar threatened to consume my reason.

Half of my sanity was already gone, anyway.

“Ughhh!!!”


“Take that!!!”


“Kill him!!!”

With the long-haired guy smashed, perhaps they thought there was no other option—they all brandished their weapons and charged at me simultaneously.

Coordinated attacks from several people is pretty advanced tech; obviously, they hadn’t practiced that.

There were a total of four weapons swinging from all directions: a hand axe, a shortsword, a dagger, and of course, the longsword, which would reach me first.

Missing this chance would make me a rookie.

I reached out a beat earlier to grab the wrist of the person thrusting the longsword toward me, pulling them closer.

“I…!!”


“Eh?!!”

As I pulled them in, the longsword, losing its balance, uncontrollably tipped forward.

With its feet off the ground and no longer under control, I yanked the longsword and jabbed it into the shoulder of the male charging behind me with a dagger.

“Ughhhh!!!”

As the longsword plunged deep into his right shoulder, the man screamed, and the dagger slipped from his hand.

Then, just as the coming hand axe and shortsword were inches from me.

“I’m an imperial-born human!!!!”


“!”

I seized the arm of the longsword-wielding man just in front of me and swung it like a throw to knock over the dude with the shortsword.

I made sure the hand axe didn’t come in close from behind as I did so.

“Eh?!!”

The man with the shortsword tried to stop upon seeing the longsword guy tossed in his direction, but it was too late.

– Thunk!

The shortsword embedded inside the longsword-wielding man.

No matter how you look at it, it was still a shortsword, just relatively shorter.

One could control a shortsword in one hand, and since it was shorter than a longsword, said shortsword must be at least around 60cm long, piercing into the side of the longsword guy.

“What the…!!”

After the shortsword slid into his companion’s body, the now panicked male turned to find the hand axe wielder charging again from the opposite side.

Reading the trajectory of the hand axe swinging toward my head, I plunged to the right and threw a strong punch into his right side.

“Ugh…!!!”

Thanks to my strike’s ferocity, the guy felt slightly airborne, pressed in the direction I hit.

I could feel a few ribs shatter with my blow.

With his grip failing, he dropped the hand axe, and I caught it to stab it into the shoulder of the man who fell beside me, clutching his side.

– Thud!

As I snapped the collarbone, the man forgot about the pain in his side and kneeled down, screaming in confusion while blood sprayed on his face.

As three men who had charged with him lay defeated, the male with the shortsword turned pale.

“You… Do you think you could get away with this…?”


“……I…”

There was still this guy left.

He was raising his voice, but his face was as white as a sheet.

His voice trembled, and even the finger he pointed at me shook, as reality seemed to spin around him.

“If… if you’re willing to make it right now… I can convince them! I’ve opposed such unethical behavior before… I’ll try to negotiate…!”


“…You racist bastards.”


“Racist…?”

The guy’s mind halted.

He looked bewildered, clearly shocked by my sudden accusation.

It was understandable, as he came out with such words without realizing what they had said.

“I’m not a dwarf or anything… I’m still an unblemished human yet to fully grow!”


“What?!!!!”

– Bam!!!

My fist arced down, smashing the man’s face into the ground.

“Uh… it wasn’t me?”

In the now quiet hallway, a familiar voice tickled my ears.

——————————————–

I thought it would be pleasant to be at the Academy… but it was completely the opposite of what I expected.

“Are you Russell?”


“…”


“Come out tonight for a duel.”


“…Dueling is prohibited for me.”


“Don’t say boring things. Who will be the pinnacle of this generation’s five pillars… you or me?”


“I won’t engage in a duel.”

An unpleasant person I encountered on the first day…

I was educated about what the five pillars were, so I was well aware Russell was one of them and how significant my family’s role was… I knew it all.

My father had mentioned it would be beneficial to maintain proper relations with peers of the five pillars.

So I looked forward to it.

Having only been educated at home so far, it was my first time meeting someone around my age in a similar situation.

But the five pillars I met in reality were all bizarre individuals.

Lemnos, who rushed in with rude challenges every time I saw him, Albion, who always brought his underlings to the lounge and belittled others, Perda, who pretended to be friendly but used speech to expose my weaknesses, and Prigia, who was beautiful but spoke so incomprehensibly… None of them were normal.

Perhaps to them, I looked the same.

I didn’t want to meet them again, but for now, I couldn’t afford to disregard my father’s orders.

However, that didn’t make class easier either.

With students constantly gathering around creating a racket, my head was spinning.

I had never experienced so many eyes on me at once, unsure what to say, simply feeling flustered.

It seemed they hoped I would lead them, but considering I’d only wielded a sword up to this point, any expectation would just fluster me further.

The only comfort was that I was in the same class as the dwarf… Atlas.

I was glad to be in the same class as Atlas, but because of the daily influx of people, I couldn’t even have a proper conversation with him.

‘I wanted to get closer…’

But at least, it didn’t seem like he harbored any negative feelings toward me.

He didn’t look upset when we met… just watching him waddle around made me feel relieved.

Though interpersonal relations at the Academy seemed very challenging, just catching glimpses of him helped me endure.

I never once thought that Lemnos would perceive this as my weakness.

One day, while I was looking at Atlas as usual, someone deliberately bumped into him and walked past.

It wasn’t just once or twice. That day alone, five different students targeted Atlas, jabbing at him impatiently.

‘Those guys… they’re Lemnos’s crew…?’

They were the entourage of Edgar Lemnos who sometimes dropped by the lounge.

I went straight to Lemnos, but he barely paid me any heed.

What should I do?

If I engaged in a duel as he wished… would I give up?

‘But dueling is… prohibited by Father…’

While I was agonizing over whether it was an order from my family or Atlas’s safety…

“Hey, hey! I heard Lemnos is fighting a dwarf!!”

The next day, the incident unfolded.

The impatient Lemnos immediately leaped into action.

‘Atlas is in danger!!’

Lemnos must be at an intermediate Expert level.

Considering the skill Atlas showed on the first day, he would likely be an Expert level at least. However… it would be tough against Lemnos.

But as I arrived at the hallway, I realized that was all just my misconception.

Students were writhing on the floor like earthworms.

“Sa… save me…”

Someone collapsed, letting out their last gasp.

One of his feet was half severed, left in a pitiful state.

“If you’re going to carry around such a weapon, no wonder you’re losing, idiots.”


“Run away!!”


“Let them hit first and run? Not a chance!!”

Atlas was butchering Lemnos’s gang with a shortsword he must have found somewhere.

With his short stature and shorter sword, attacking the upper body wasn’t very efficient, so he diligently targeted the ‘lower half’.

“My… my leg!!!”


“Ughhh!!”

Someone’s calf got chopped off again.

The members of Lemnos’s crew, now attacked in their legs, were going down like corpses in the hallway.

At some point, the spectators no longer dared to surround Atlas.

Feeling fear toward the machine-like execution he was performing, students began to inch back, holding their breath, merely watching him work.

Thus, the wide hallway filled with only Atlas and the goons of Lemnos.

Lemnos, lying there in a miserable state, was unconscious, while Atlas stood proudly among those who were groaning with weapons embedded in them and severed ankles.

After causing this massive scene, he stood unapologetically, wiping the blood off his shortsword onto the uniform of a fallen student.

Atlas stood there alone in the hallway where all of Lemnos’s crew were crawling on the ground, perceived as immense despite his diminutive stature due to his confident demeanor.

“How…?”

How can you stand there so confidently?