Book 1 Chapter 411
411.
“You bastard…!”
Remment’s eyes sparkled with anger at Luke’s words.
“It’s just starting now? Where do you spout such arrogant nonsense!”
His opponent was a first-year student from Lumerne who had failed.
He was an insignificant fellow who should have been expelled from school, not even allowed to stay.
Just being unexpectedly struck by Luke and sprawling on the ground made him feel like a thousand fires were burning inside him.
On top of that, seeing Luke speak as if he was about to counterattack, he felt like his reason was halfway severed.
Kugugugugung-!
As the floor began to shake, Luke re-gripped his sword.
Kwaga gagagagagak-!
Waves of earth, as if a massive tsunami had risen, engulfed Luke.
Their power and scale were different from the magic Remment had used so far.
Luke lowered his stance and re-gripped his sword.
‘No time to dodge!’
It was clearly different from the previous attacks.
An attack clearly meant to annihilate him.
Luke tightened his grip on the sword.
‘If there’s no opening, I have to create one!’
He concentrated his aura at the tip of his sword.
Flash-!
Shooo-gwagagak-!
As he swung his sword, a silver flash sparkled.
Kwaga gagagagang-!
Along with that, the tsunami of earth swallowed Luke.
“It’s nothing.”
It was when Remment was wrinkling his face.
Hwaak-!
“What?”
Breaking through the thick dust that rose, Luke charged towards Remment.
Jjeong! Pajijijik-!
Luke’s attack, armed with silver aura, struck Remment’s shield magic.
Teong-!
Luke was thrown back.
“You bastard! What trick did you use?!”
Remment shouted in excitement and began to unleash magic indiscriminately.
Kwang! Kwaga gagagagang!
***
“No way.”
“He can use that kind of aura?”
“What on earth is going on?!”
The entire first-year class was abuzz at Luke’s unexpected move, having always looked down on him.
“Wow, he was hiding something like that?”
“Hmm. As expected, he had a trump card.”
Juen’s eyes widened, and Shasha narrowed her eyes, covering her mouth with a folding fan.
Habiden, who had his arms crossed, scoffed.
“That much is natural.”
Aina merely stared blankly at Luke with an expressionless face.
“Wow, I didn’t think it would end easily since he’s the class president. But to think he was hiding such a trump card.”
In the second-year stands, Illiana exclaimed in admiration while eating popcorn.
“But he’s still quite clumsy with his power.”
“He can’t help but be clumsy with power control yet. It’s his first time using that much power.”
“Oh! Class President!”
Illiana waved her hand at the answer from behind her.
Leo reached for Illiana’s popcorn.
Illiana desperately defended against the sudden raid, but Leo snatched a handful of popcorn, and she made a tearful face.
When Leo sat down, Chloe tilted her head.
“If he had that much power, was there any need to make him wear the label of a failing student?”
“Because of the peculiar nature of the training method, it was necessary to suppress his power for a long time.”
Leo said, bringing the stolen popcorn to his mouth.
“Luke’s background is unusual compared to other hero candidates. He learned everything through self-study.”
“In that respect, he’s a bit like Young Master Leo.”
‘He’s completely different from me.’
Leo was born with everything complete except for the vessel itself.
But Luke was different.
Literally a blank slate.
He couldn’t even properly handle his vessel.
It was only after coming to Lumerne that he learned proper aura techniques.
No matter how special Luke’s mana characteristics were and how outstanding his talent, with his vessel not yet complete, he couldn’t help but start from a different point than other Lumerne students.
‘Even if he had trained with conventional methods, he would have shown amazing growth. But he wouldn’t have achieved explosive growth like now.’
Therefore, Leo focused on creating Luke’s vessel through extreme methods.
That method was clearly a very difficult path for Luke himself.
‘With a starting line already far behind, while the surrounding students are running quickly, if he alone is stuck in place… it could easily lead to despair.’
Of course, if Luke had wanted, he could have taken an easy path to rapid growth.
But it was Luke himself who walked the difficult path to the end.
“He’s only just now acquired a vessel.”
Leo chuckled, looking at Luke.
“The strongest first-years now would be caught off guard if they underestimated him.”
‘He always had good eyes. And good observational skills. Plus, he had combat sense.’
Leo merely created a large, white canvas.
Now, how to fill that white canvas was up to Luke.
***
Kwang! Kwang! Kwaga gagagagang!
“I’ll finish you off!”
Remment, his eyes bloodshot, roared.
Half-mad, Remment was unleashing magic indiscriminately.
But despite the countless spells pouring down, not a single one hit Luke.
Luke’s eyes moved quickly, tracking the trajectory of the magic.
‘My body is light. And I don’t get tired.’
Leo had sealed not only mana.
He had also sealed Luke’s physical abilities.
In that situation, Luke had trained every day, pushing his body to the limit.
He had run like crazy every day, but he was always stuck in place.
Days of stagnation, unable to make any progress.
But that stagnation seemed to be for this very moment.
Luke’s body didn’t stop progressing even while moving now.
As if the hardships of the past days were for this moment.
Everything he had diligently trained, day after day without stopping, was being rewarded at this very moment.
Kwak-!
Luke leaped, stepping on a huge rock spear flying towards him.
Pinggeureureureu- He spun, batting away the rock arrows flying from the sky.
Chaejaejaejaeng-
Remment’s attacks were relentless.
Veins bulged on Remment’s forehead at the sight of Luke dodging and blocking every attack.
“Ha! Are you trying to have a long fight with me?! Before that, you’ll either get tired or get hit by a spell!”
His words were true.
No matter how tireless Luke was and how well he read the magic trajectories.
Remment wasn’t just standing still.
As much as Luke read the trajectory of Remment’s magic and moved, Remment also understood Luke’s movements and routes, launching even more complex attack patterns.
Remment Morak.
He came from a prestigious magic family and was ranked 3rd in the first-year magic department.
He inherently possessed an overwhelming amount of magical power compared to other students.
‘If it turns into a long fight, I’ll be at a disadvantage.’
Although he had unsealed himself and obtained mana incomparable to before, Luke’s mana wasn’t overwhelmingly abundant.
For a knight, aura is the fuel that burns.
The moment all mana is consumed, physical abilities rapidly decline.
‘Narrowing the distance with Remment isn’t easy either.’
He tried to narrow the distance several times but failed each time.
Remment was blocking his approach with countless protective spells.
Remment hadn’t achieved the 3rd place in Lumerne’s magic department, where talented individuals gathered, by mere luck.
He had abundant magic skill as well as combat experience.
He was already well-versed in combat against knights who wielded aura.
‘If I get even a little scratched by an attack or get tired, it’s my defeat.’
Luke’s silver eyes turned towards Remment.
Luke’s eyes shone with a silver light.
Hwaak-!
Remment curled his lips as he watched Luke suddenly change direction and charge at him.
‘Stupid fool!’
He was momentarily flustered seeing Luke’s abilities suddenly skyrocket.
For a moment, he was also enraged that Luke had managed to hit him.
But Remment quickly regained his composure.
‘There’s no way I can lose to Luke Elda!’
Remment’s attacks were overwhelming Luke.
‘He’s quite fast, but that’s it!’
Remment was also aiming for the class representative position.
For him, a traditional mage, the most troublesome opponents were Habiden and Aina from the knight department.
Both were knights who moved at incredible speeds and overwhelmed their opponents.
Remment had anticipated battles with them.
The element of magic he primarily wielded was earth.
And the specialty of an earth mage was defense.
‘The moment you enter my domain, you’re finished.’
Remment’s eyes flashed.
Kwak-!
At that moment, Luke broke through countless defensive spells and entered Remment’s domain.
Kwaga gagagang-!
Remment’s magic activated, targeting Luke.
Hwak-!
At that moment, Luke quickly created distance from Remment.
Chaejaejaejaejaeng-!
Earth magic rising from the ground targeted Luke, but Luke swung his sword, batting away all the spells.
Kwak-!
Luke, kicking off the ground, instantly moved behind Remment.
Hwaak-!
And launched an attack from a blind spot.
“It’s no use! This magic has no blind spots!”
As Remment roared, magic activated again, targeting Luke.
Luke once again moved out of Remment’s domain.
It was a situation where he could only evade and defend, with no possibility of attack.
It was as if he had fallen into a swamp.
It was when Remment smiled confidently.
Wooduk-!
Luke’s movements stopped.
Remment, who had been indiscriminately firing magic, momentarily paused, seeing Luke suddenly stop.
Then he curled his lips.
“Have you given up? I’m sorry, but I have no intention of letting you, who humiliated me, end things so easily…”
“I’m coming.”
Luke took a deep breath, re-gripped his sword, and lowered his stance.
“What?”
The moment Remment frowned.
Kwak-!
‘He disappeared?’
The moment Remment was astonished.
Luke’s movement was detected by his sensing magic.
‘No, he’s moving faster!’
Remment concentrated mana into his defensive magic, further expanding his domain.
Jing-!
The moment Luke stepped into Remment’s domain, mana reacted.
Kugugugugugung!
All sorts of earth magic rising from the ground engulfed Luke.
Parrying and evading all that magic, Luke quickly closed the distance with Remment.
“Foolish one! Do you think you can reach me just by increasing your speed a little?!”
Remment sneered.
At that moment.
Hwaak-!
Luke broke through Remment’s first line of defense.
Seeing that, Remment’s face slightly stiffened.
‘No, he can’t reach me.’
Remment drew up even more mana.
Kugugugugung-!
Rising earth tried to grab Luke.
At that moment.
Flash-!
Luke’s silver eyes flashed, and silver light danced wildly.
Kwagak-!
Sharp sword energy bisected the magic.
Remment’s face was filled with shock.
Luke had utilized his almost nonexistent mana to its maximum throughout the first semester.
Thanks to that, he had gained delicate mana control abilities, and those control abilities maximized mana efficiency.
He constantly practiced methods to achieve maximum effect with a small amount.
Seeing Luke break through the second line of defense, Remment squeezed out all his mana.
“Not yet!”
Woong-!
A huge magic circle was generated around him.
All the magic he could use materialized, targeting Luke.
At that moment.
Hwaak-!
‘Even… faster?!”
A silver flash reached Remment’s nose.
Kwak-!
Luke kicked the ground with his left foot.
“Wait…”
Using his left foot as a pivot, Luke kicked Remment in the abdomen with his right foot.
“Agh…”
Kwak-!
“Keoheok?!”
The aura concentrated at the tip of Luke’s foot instantly pierced all of Remment’s shield magic.
Kwang-!
Remment, directly hit by Luke’s attack, flew back and crashed into the wall.
Hoodududuk-! Teolseok-!
Remment, his eyes rolled back and unconscious, lay sprawled on the floor.
“Hoo.”
Luke exhaled and stood in place.
“Victory, Luke Elda.”
Mel smiled brightly and declared Luke’s victory.
“Oooohhhhh!”
Cheers erupted from the upperclassmen.
“Reading attack trajectories and dodging is almost art!”
“He has very good eyes. I like it.”
A completely unexpected victory.
Moreover, the process of Luke defeating Remment was a spectacular sight.
Applause poured down from the upperclassmen.
In contrast, most of the first-years looked at Luke with disbelief.
“N-no way.”
“That failing student…”
“Wait. Defeating Remment means he’s one of the strongest among the first-years, doesn’t it?”
“I’ve been openly ignoring and scoffing at him until now… how?!”
Some of the first-years’ faces turned pale.
“That’s not the end for him.”
“That’s right. Because he didn’t use ‘magic’.”
Shasha narrowed her eyes at Juen’s words.
Then Juen stood up.
“Good luck, first-place magic student.”
“I’ll win.”
Juen scoffed and headed to the waiting room.
Meanwhile, Aina also stood up.
Habiden, who was nearby, said,
“Looks like you’re bothered by Luke Elda?”
Aina had not taken her eyes off Luke yet.
“Not at all.”
Aina replied briefly and headed to the waiting room.
Watching her, Habiden scoffed and muttered, looking at Luke,
“He’s become worth defeating.”