Book 1 Chapter 274

"Healer! Healer!"

"Eget's arm is twisted at an unnatural angle!"

A commotion arose among the Demian students.

"Then I guess I'll take a look at the weapons."

Of course, Leo, unconcerned, approached the weapons Eget had displayed.

"To make someone like that and be so nonchalant."

Aru shook his head as he watched Eget being carried away on a stretcher.

Meanwhile, confusion clouded the eyes of the Azonia students watching Leo.

"How can he have that much strength with an arm like that?"

"Eget's strength was real…!"

Even though the Azonia students, who prided themselves on strength, rushed in, only five won the arm wrestling match.

And excluding Aru, all the students were bigger than Leo.

"It's technique."

At that moment, Borrman, a tiger beastman, spoke.

"Technique?"

"Yes. Leo Frob not only has great strength, but he has clearly reached a high level of technique in concentrating his power. That's why he unleashed explosive power in an instant."

"Ooh."

"As expected of Borrman!"

"To see through that fact!"

"I'll be able to have a great match with him!"

Borrman blocked Leo's path.

"That was an impressive match, Leo Frob. Your technique in handling brute strength was splendid!"

Leo looked up at Borrman.

"Your excellent technique! And my strength! Don't you wonder who has the upper hand?"

Borrman pointed to a steel table.

Looking at Borrman, Leo asked Aru,

"Could you ask your friend to step aside?"

"I've never had a muscle-bound idiot like him as a friend."

"Come on! Leo Frob! Let's settle this with an arm wrestle!"

At Borrman's words, Aru crossed his arms and said,

"You'd better step aside if you don't want to get hurt."

"Ooh! Aru, are you worried about me?"

Borrman feigned an emotional expression.

"But I, Borrman the man! I have sworn not to back down from a match until the day I become a man worthy of you! Come on! Don't hide! Step forward! Leo Frob!"

"A man worthy of me?"

"He started spouting nonsense like that after I petted him at the beginning of the semester. Well, it's all thanks to my charm."

Leo looked at the smug Aru with pity and said to Borrman,

"If you want to show off your strength, there are plenty of things to show off behind you."

Leo pointed to Eget's weapons with his finger.

"Hmph, that's true. But it won't be easy for you to handle them with your strength, will it?"

'Does this idiot really think the black rabbit defeated Eget with technique?'

Aru looked at Borrman with an incredulous expression.

Leo's defeat of Eget was pure brute force.

'Besides, the black rabbit is a monster who passed the Lumern entrance exam without even using Aura.'

And he had taken the representative spot for the freshmen at that time.

From the point where a candidate who didn't even use Aura took the representative spot, surpassing Lumern's fierce second-years, one should have been able to guess the extent of pure strength.

'Well, our school's students aren't very interested in students from other schools. Sigh!'

As Aru let out a deep sigh, Borrman followed Leo to Eget's weapons.

He reached out to a massive two-handed sword.

Lifting the two-handed sword, which boasted immense weight, with one hand effortlessly, Borrman said,

"Magnificent. I don't primarily wield swords, but this weight… I can definitely feel it's an excellent weapon…"

Borrman turned his head towards Leo and was startled.

"Wait! These displayed weapons are the heaviest Eget ever made!"

Since Eget, the smith, had been taken away, Leo, who hadn't heard the explanation of the weight class, was reaching for the heaviest battle axe.

*Grab-*!

However, Leo lifted the enormous battle axe without much difficulty.

"It's Amantadium material."

Leo examined the battle axe.

Watching Leo, Borrman froze.

"Does that still look like technique?"

Aru asked Borrman, chuckling.

'With a body like that, he has the same raw strength as me?'

"He can lift it, sure! He has to be able to swing it like this!"

Borrman swung the two-handed sword with all his might.

*Whoosh-!*

A heavy sound of cutting through the wind echoed.

Swinging the ultra-heavy greatsword, which could only be handled with Aura, Borrman grinned confidently.

"Well, what do you think! Leo Frob!"

As Borrman stood with a triumphant expression, Leo held the battle axe with one hand.

And…

*Swish-!*

Leo swung the battle axe.

A sharp sound, as if it could cut through anything, was heard.

A single swing, concise but imbued with strength and destructive power.

Borrman's expression changed upon seeing it.

Aru also looked at Leo with surprised eyes.

'The force is definitely concentrated at one point.'

It was the movement of someone who perfectly understood the weapon's characteristics.

After that, Leo began to swing the battle axe through the air as if testing it.

The Azonia students' eyes widened at his perfect movements.

"Oooooooh…!"

At that moment, Eget, who had been taken away on a stretcher, rushed back.

And seeing Leo perfectly wielding the ultra-heavy battle axe he had made, he shed tears of joy.

"To be able to wield the weapons I made so perfectly!"

*Thump-!*

Eget rushed to Leo, who was placing the battle axe back on the display, and said,

"Leo Frob! It seems I misunderstood you! You are the man worthy of the weapons I, Eget, made! Just say the word! I will craft a custom-made weapon for you!"

As Eget, excited, grabbed Leo's hand and shook it vigorously, Leo said,

"You made it well."

"Of course! I make the most ultra-heavy weapons among the second-years! I'm sure you were satisfied with the perfect balance of my weapons!"

"The balance was terrible."

"Wh-what?"

"The advantage of these ultra-heavy weapons is their weight. The heavier they are, the stronger the destructive power applied to the weapon."

Leo said with a listless expression.

"But your battle axe focused too much on increasing weight. So the balance is terrible."

"Nonsense! I perfectly balanced the weight distribution! The balance of my weapons is perfect! Look at this! To maximize destructive power, the part where force is applied is made heavy, and the handle is made light!"

"Yes, it would be perfect in terms of maximizing the weapon's destructive power. But it completely disregarded the person wielding it. You. Can you perfectly wield the weapon you made?"

Eget flinched at Leo's question.

"Our lives will depend on the weapons you make. And yet, you would deceive us? Is creating something that looks good on the outside the spirit of a descendant of Dweno?"

Hearing Leo's words, Eget fell to his knees with a thud.

He then placed his hands on the floor and cried out as if wailing,

"Yes, yes, you are right. I cannot wield that weapon perfectly! I focused on increasing destructive power and made a weapon that even I cannot properly handle… Yes! I balanced the weight only on the appearance! I… I made trash! And I, who made trash, am trash myself!"

Wailing, Eget put all his weapons into his spatial storage.

The Azonia students, who had been admiring the weapons, looked surprised.

"I'll throw this trash into the furnace!"

As Eget ran out of the great hall crying, Leo muttered,

"There was no need to discard the other perfectly fine items."

"Were the other items fine?!"

"Of course. He was a very skilled weapon maker, so the weapons within his usable range would be perfect."

"Why didn't you tell me? What a waste."

"He wouldn't have listened even if I told him."

Leo shook his head.

"Dwarves are not a race that can be reasoned with."

Saying that, Leo looked at the other items.

Following that, similar situations to Eget's began to occur.

As if to prove his claim that he could perfectly wield all weapons.

Leo perfectly wielded all the items made by the Demian students.

And he clearly pointed out the flaws in each of their weapons.

"The magic output is too high. It won't last long like this."

"An orb to help summon the four great spirits? It's too mediocre to properly assist in anything."

"Perfect? You keep insisting it's perfect, but does this look perfect? Apologize to the minerals."

With every word Leo spoke, the Demian students were shocked and left the great hall weeping.

Eventually, as Leo was about to appraise the weapon of the 56th Demian student.

"Student Leo. I understand your greatness, but please stop rendering our students incapacitated."

Depeto approached and dissuaded Leo.

Leo looked around.

"The things I made are trash…"

"Great minerals! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for making this!"

Some Demian students were despondent, while others prostrated themselves and apologized to the minerals.

Other Demian students averted their eyes when Leo looked at them.

Before long, Leo had become a figure of fear.

There is nothing more terrifying for a creator than having the flaws in their creations perfectly pointed out.

Even if it is valid, the blow to the creator is immense.

Looking at the Demian students trembling before him, Leo said,

"Shall we stop here?"

'What is this student's true identity?'

Depeto looked at Leo with an incredulous expression.

The Demian students Leo had rendered incapacitated were all high-achieving students.

Of course, as students, there were bound to be shortcomings.

The Demian students acknowledged that.

The problem was that Leo, a fellow student, had pointed out those shortcomings so precisely and ruthlessly.

Aru asked Depeto, who was looking at Leo with weariness,

"Was it necessary to go this far?"

"An old blacksmith I knew once said this."

Leo said calmly.

"A smith is the one who decides the hero's final moments."

"The one who decides the hero's final moments?"

"Yes. He said that in battle, the only thing a hero can ultimately rely on is their weapon. So, you should never overconfide in your own skill."

Leo looked at the weapons.

"One must pursue perfection, but there can be no perfect weapon, was his argument."

"It means to strive constantly. That's good advice."

Depeto nodded after hearing Leo's words.

The younger one is, the more they tend to blindly believe in their own skills.

'Especially young artisans have a strong tendency towards that.'

Stubbornness and pride in one's own creations are racial traits of dwarves.

'But they are also the racial traits to be most wary of. As student Leo said, the things we make determine the hero's final moments. It certainly seems like student Leo will be a good stimulus for the Demian students.'

Depeto glanced at his disciples, who were despondent on the floor.

'This is too much, though.'

It was then.

"You brought such shoddy imitations again!"

"What I make is none of your business!"

A commotion erupted at the entrance of the hall.

Depeto sighed deeply and covered his face.

"What's going on?"

Aru perked up his ears and headed towards the source of the commotion.

A large crowd had already gathered around.

Leo spotted a Demian student at the center of the commotion and tilted his head.

'A female Dweno?'

Driana, the dwarf he had met yesterday, was arguing with other Demian students.

"Are you going to tarnish the name of the divine blacksmith with such incompetent craftsmanship?"

"Hmph! I think it's more of a disgrace to the divine blacksmith's name to create such clumsy creations!"

"What!"

An enraged Demian student kicked the weapon box Driana had brought.

*CRASH!*

Swords poured out of the weapon box.

The other Hero Academy students were surprised to see them.

All the swords looked exactly the same.

And the appearance of the swords was that of a very famous sword.

Leo picked up a sword that had been pushed to his feet.

'This is…'

The sword was one Leo knew.

The first sword Dweno made for Aryon.

[Wolf Fang.]

A sword used by Aryon in his early days, its existence confirmed in both literature and Hero Records, it was the most famous sword in the world.

Looking at the sword, Leo looked at Driana.

'A replica?'

Tilting his head, he drew the sword from its scabbard.

*Screech-*!

And he was surprised by the feel of the sword tip.

Compared to the real Wolf Fang, it was no exaggeration to say it was dismal.

It couldn't be helped.

The comparison was Dweno.

However, purely as a sword, it was excellent.

'It seems she's not just a female Dweno in personality.'

Leo looked around.

'But why do the Demian students hate her?'