The Academy’s Ankle Reaper – Chapter 173

The sultry heat was palpable.

Before her stood the opponent she had to face right away, Edgar Lemnos, brandishing his sword and radiating scorching heat.

From the very first meeting, Lucia disliked Edgar Lemnos.

It wasn’t just his rudeness and rough demeanor that bothered her; she also detested that he was a hulking man.

Clang!!!

The blazing magic sword clashed with his two-handed sword.

Edgar’s escalating attacks brought a heat so intense that it was hard for anyone to endure.

When she countered his sword strikes, the suffocating heat drained her stamina even further.

But not a drop of sweat fell from Lucia’s face.

The intense heat emanating from Edgar did not penetrate Lucia, who had already dominated her surroundings.

Right now, while Edgar Lemnos stood directly in front of Lucia, her gaze was fixated on something further away.

At the edge of her sight was Atlas, surrounded by numerous students.

She wanted to finish quickly and clash swords with him.

The reason she wanted to clash swords was simple enough.

For Lucia Russell, who struggled to express herself verbally, swordplay was the most definitive way to convey her feelings.

She hoped Atlas would notice her through the thing she was most confident about.

“Do you have the luxury to look away?!!”

Annoyed that Lucia was glancing at someone else while he was right in front of her, the magic sword of Lemnos ignited even more fiercely.

“… Why do you want to fight Atlas?”

“Is there a need for a reason to want to prove oneself by battling the strong?”

“… That makes sense.”

In the end, they thought alike.

This fact, however, didn’t lift Lucia’s spirits.

Once again, Lucia brought down her sword.

Lemnos tried to counter her strike, but it was impossible.

The space around her Aura Blade was distorted.

An invisible force field captured his heat and sent him flying far away.

The distance felt impossible to gauge.

From just a moment ago, Lemnos had been thrown about several times by that force field, being pressed down each time.

“Slow and yet unable to escape… What a nuisance!!!”

Realizing the more he swung wildly, the more his stamina would be drained until he was defeated by Lucia, Lemnos decided he must quickly take her down with strong techniques.

The foolish notion of conserving his stamina for the fight with Atlas behind him was absurd.

As he pulled a massive amount of internal energy, a strong heat began to radiate around him, distorting the air.

“Mirage!!”

As Lemnos began to charge with his sword, his figure wavered and split into eight.

The multiple Lemnos figures all charged towards Lucia simultaneously.

This wasn’t just a simple illusion.

Each wavered copy possessed weight, resembling sword qi.

“I’ve seen that… last time.”

Despite witnessing the spectacular flames, Lucia remained completely unfazed.

She calmly sought out a countermeasure.

Lucia raised her sword high, took a deep breath, and then swung it down.

“…Rockfall.”

The ground of the arena erupted.

Thick stone plates shattered and flew upwards, shockwaves resounding in all directions.

As a result of the impact, all of Lemnos’s heated copies vanished, leaving only his main body.

If he had let even a bit of power loose, he would have flown away with the copies, but Lemnos broke through the impact.

“If I can just use a similar countermeasure as that guy!!”

Though he took a fierce hit, the flames of Flamburge still blazed brightly.

‘I’ll finish it with this attack!’

The crimson flames grew stronger, shifting to a blue hue.

“Lightning Strike!!”

What burned blue was not just Flamburge.

Lemnos, engulfed in blue flames, charged towards Lucia like a beam of light.

From the start, he had anticipated the mirage would be countered and had prepared a follow-up.

Seeing the blue lightning approaching him, Lucia focused the aura into her sword while simultaneously drawing a massive amount of meridians from the ground, merging it with her body and circulating it.

In that moment, Lucia was more than just a person—she was the very essence of the earth.

The space around her Aura Blade warped.

“…Earth Shaking.”

Lemnos’s blue lightning clashed with Lucia.

The world-shattering strike shook the entirety of the arena.

The shockwaves reached even the protected spectator seats.

Dust shot skyward as no one could ascertain the situation where the two techniques collided in the central arena.

Who was left standing at the end?

Amidst the swirling dust, a black silhouette appeared, but both figures were tall, making it hard to distinguish just from the shadow.

However, one thing was certain: only one remained at the center.

One among them had been eliminated, cast out of the arena.

“…!”

As the dust settled, the figure standing at the center became clear.

It was Lucia Russell.

Cheers erupted from the spectator seats at the realization that the hierarchy between the two swords had been decided.

It was a reaction as if she had won the tournament.

But it was just a test.

“Look at this… I’m stronger, aren’t I?”

Though she said that, Lucia was not unscathed.

She hadn’t been able to fully unleash her “Earth Shaking” technique against Lemnos’s subsequent lightning-fast attack.

As a result, she hadn’t been able to properly counter Lemnos’s blow.

Though she had taken considerable damage, nonetheless, Lucia emerged as the last one standing.

Had it not been for the arena, her left arm to her side would have likely suffered burns from the lightning.

And the test was not over yet.

She had merely gained the qualification to face him alone.

Lucia steadied her breathing and surveyed the arena.

In that time, she hadn’t worried about being left all alone.

“Is it over now?”

She heard the voice she had longed to hear.

Turning her head towards the source of the sound, she found Atlas standing there, waiting for Lucia.

By now, other students had disappeared from the arena.

While Lucia had been fighting Lemnos, Atlas had taken care of all the other students.

Now only the two of them remained in the arena.

—————————

Cindy Lue had received the proposal just yesterday.

A different Beastman, not the tiger beastman Bolt Jin she often saw, had come directly to her.

Having recently faced confusion over the revised tournament’s testing method, he brought news that it would change once more, stating everyone must join forces.

She was curious how the Beastmen knew about it, but he said there were certain channels of information.

Though she wanted to question why she, a member of the Lue family, wasn’t among the targets, upon confirming the opponents, she understood.

Each and every one was a strong individual, reaching or nearing the expert level.

Or they were just annoying figures during a fair test.

Certainly, joining forces to take down one would be incredibly advantageous.

‘In order to achieve a good result in this test… I have to assume I’ll have to fight that man.’

Cindy, the second daughter of the prestigious Lue family from the forest, vividly remembered the events that unfolded after coming to study in the human empire.

Soon after enrolling, numerous incidents occurred, all centered around one human being.

Atlas Nemea.

Although a very small human male, his prowess was vast compared to his peers.

He effortlessly defeated Edgar Lemnos, who was close to the expert level at the time of enrollment, and faced numerous students without sustaining any damage.

And during the Hunting Festival, he had shown a remarkable ability to easily subjugate the legendary monster Cyclops.

She was convinced he was far from an average student.

While he seemed laid-back during lectures, when he wielded his sword, even the simplest moves flowed with incredible finesse.

Though his height was short, he was older than he appeared, sparking speculation that he might be a secret agent infiltrating the academy.

Accepting the Beastman’s proposal, Cindy now had to prepare to take down those experts led by the monstrous Atlas.

‘Atlas defeated the legendary monster Cyclops in an instant… so even gathering together will only be a last-ditch effort, but it’s still better than facing him alone.’

She began preparing to hunt him, certain he was stronger than even the Cyclops.

Above all, she had confidence in her hunting skills, having lived in the forest.

Atlas had already become a target she needed to overcome.

—————————-

“Enough with the boasting; you’re just a human after all!!”

Before Cindy could finish her statement, the ground beneath my feet turned into an endless swamp.

In an instant, I was engulfed without a chance to escape.

I sank into the soft earth, now transformed by earth elemental magic, up to my ankles.

If I didn’t take any other action, I would be submerged up to my head in no time.

No matter how strong a warrior one is, without any foothold, there’s little they can do.

Unless you’re a magician using levitation magic, a warrior without a stepping stone cannot unleash their power.

‘Unless they’re an average warrior.’

As I sank quickly up to knee height, the magicians kicked off their second attack immediately.

Dozens of magical blasts were fired at me simultaneously.

It seemed they had no intention of coming close until my lower body was entirely buried.

That was a sound judgment.

If they approached vaguely, I would have taken one down immediately, but it seems they intended to safely wear me down from a distance.

Binding my feet with a trap and then planning to pick me off from a safe distance was a method typical of hunters catching beasts.

‘I can confirm they won’t come closer under the pretense of being trapped, so let’s begin in earnest.’

I needed to move quickly before I faced all those magical attacks.

“Ugh…!!!”

I focused my energy in the legs that were sinking into the swamp and released it all at once.

-Boom!!!

An explosion erupted where the ground had become a swamp, propelling my body upward.

I had detonated my energy, freeing myself from the quagmire.

An expert at or above the expert level can manage this much.

A plain expert may have found it a bit challenging due to the swamp’s viscosity, but they wouldn’t be able to discern the difference.

Perhaps only Cindy might have noticed.

The magic beams, missing their targets, struck the ground a beat late.

“That jerk has flown up!!”

“What are the magicians doing? Attack!!”

“How are we supposed to attack when he moves faster than our magic?!”

“Don’t charge in like that; are you crazy??”

“You guys are the ones charging in without a plan!!”

“Hey… it’s coming!!!! Get your swords ready!!”

“Ahhhhh??!!”

Having emerged from the swamp, I reached their position in an instant.

Each of them tried to raise their weapons to oppose me, but my sword was already flashing before they could react.

“Alright, you all go ahead first.”

In the blink of an eye, five students vanished.

The arena’s magical field activated, automatically expelling students who had taken sufficient damage.

Their names appeared in red on the display board.

With around 50-60 students in each round, that one strike had eliminated about 1/10th of them.

This means if I swing my sword about nine more times, the round will end.

‘What will you do now?’

If they had no plan, they were nothing more than a disorganized mob.

In about a minute, I could tidy them all up.

I glanced over at Cindy, who was glaring at me from a distance.

“Everyone, spread out! Don’t try to fight alone!!”

Cindy directed the disorganized students, pointing fingers at them.

It seemed she wasn’t ready to give up just yet.