Chapter 125

Chapter 125

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 125No, hadn't the atmosphere between us been fine? Hadn't we resolved the challenge letter issue well too?

Coming over out of nowhere and asking for a spar.

It was far too sudden.

“I asked Grandpa. I told him I wanted to spar with you, but you wouldn't accept. Then Grandpa told me a way.”

“A way?”

At that, Choi Yeon's expression suddenly changed as she furrowed her brows.

“I don't listen to orders from someone weaker than me! If you beat me in a spar, I'll join your club!”

Then she returned to her usual expression.

“He said to say that.”

“Your grandfather did?”

“Yeah.”...

I wondered whose head this idea had come from, and it had come from the Sword Saint's.

Judging by the look of it, the expression just now had been an imitation of Choi Seon-ho's.

Someone as talented as her was naturally the kind of person any club would covet.

There was no way someone like the Sword Saint wouldn't know his own granddaughter's talent, so perhaps he'd planned to use this opportunity to have her spar with me and accelerate Choi Yeon's growth.‘That sly old fox...’The frightening part of this plan was that it was also a huge benefit to me.

Considering the promotion coming up soon as well as what lay ahead, simply having Choi Yeon join us would be enough to exert influence.

It truly was an offer I couldn't refuse.

Can't be helped.

“Shall we?”

I also happened to have something I wanted to test.

The newly acquired ‘Billy the Kid's Shotgun.’

Sword and shotgun.

Since it's come to this, shall we decide which is the strongest close-range weapon?

______________

Borrowing a sparring arena wasn't difficult.

Because Ji Su-hyeon was in charge of the sparring room today.

Ji Su-hyeon had been quietly holding her post and looking around with a bored expression, but the moment she saw us, she smiled brightly and approached.

“What brings my club members and the top-ranked student to the sparring room together so nicely?”

Even though we hadn't said anything yet, Ji Su-hyeon looked over Choi Yeon's expression and mine before grinning.

“Aha~ So that's what this is? Wow. You even prepared an event for your advisory instructor who's suffering through duty today. Is it Teacher's Day or something?”

“...

We just want to use the sparring arena.”

“The sparring arena? Sure, sure. Of course I'll let you use it. What about the others too? Or just you and Choi Yeon?”

“Only Choi Yeon and I are planning to spar. I think the others will just watch.”

“Really? That's a shame. Free-for-alls are fun to watch too. One-on-one... then is this preparation for midterms?”

Ji Su-hyeon muttered that while operating the control panel.

At that, Jin-woo, who had been standing quietly, startled and asked.

“Midterms? What does this have to do with midterms?”

Se-ah sighed and shook her head.

“No, didn't you study before entering the Academy? Once rankings are determined after midterms, your score changes depending on your rank.”

“What?! There's something like that? I seriously didn't know?!”

“Honestly... even Jin-woo should easily make the top twenty in the rankings, so you probably don't need to worry too much.”

Just as Se-ah said, the kids in ‘Familia’ had already built enough skill through mentor classes and various other experiences to place near the top, so it wasn't something to worry about.

The real issue was who would take first place.

Because even if you completely bombed every other exam, the score awarded for being number one at the Academy was enough to let you aim for the top overall.

“...

That idiot. Anyway, I've finished setting the field, so you can start as soon as you enter. What about Unique Armaments? Training ones? Or are you using your own?”

“Please let us use our own. Choi Yeon. You're fine with that too, right?”

“Yeah. I brought mine.”

“Good. Then we'll make it a spar using Unique Armaments.”

At the same time, the door to the sparring arena opened.

And.

“Ah, Instructor. I have something to ask.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Before entering the sparring room, I took out the weapon I hadn't yet registered with the Academy.‘Billy the Kid's Shotgun.’

“I haven't registered this as a Unique Armament with the Academy yet. Is it all right if I use it?”

I remembered that duplicate registration was allowed, but after everything that happened today, I'd forgotten to officially register it.

She looked at me as though dumbfounded.

“You really like antique guns, don't you? Last time you brought in a Thompson submachine gun. This time it's a shotgun straight out of a Western?”

“You use a gun too, Instructor.”

“Mine isn't a ‘gun,’ it's a substitute for a ‘staff,’ so it's different. And are you really comparing some antique gun to an automatic pistol?”

“...

This one's a relic.”

“Anyway... you really are rich. I'll look the other way today, so just use it. Register it properly tomorrow.”

“Thank you.”

She probably allowed it because she thought it'd be more entertaining anyway.

As long as it benefited me, I didn't care.

After entering, Choi Yeon and I faced each other and stood at opposite ends of the sparring arena.

-Ah, ah. Are you ready?

A voice came through the speakers.

Glancing outside, I saw Ji Su-hyeon and the others looking this way while holding popcorn they'd somehow prepared.

I don't know why, but seeing people holding popcorn during a spar always annoys me.

“Yes.”

“I'm ready too.”

I answered her and looked at Choi Yeon in front of me while holding the shotgun.

Naturally enough, she had brought a new sword instead of the shattered one I'd seen in the dungeon.

As though proudly declaring that it was no ordinary sword at a glance, blue aura flickered around it.

I carefully observed her in preparation for the clash that would happen the moment we started.

Leg muscles tensed as though she could spring forward at any moment, and a hand gripping tightly with strength.

And.

-Begin.──Bang!

The instant the signal sounded, Choi Yeon charged at me like a fired bullet and slashed her sword downward diagonally.

“Since it's you. I'll do this properly.”

“──Crazy!”

Was it because of everything we'd been through?

Her charge came at a speed far beyond my expectations, and I barely avoided it by rolling sideways.

But Choi Yeon instantly pursued and launched her next attack.

Thump! With that sound, she kicked off the ground.

However.

“It'll hurt if this hits you properly!”

I'd been waiting for this.

I aimed the barrel at Choi Yeon and pulled the trigger of the weapon after stuffing aura into it.──Booooom!

A terrifying shockwave erupted as the barrel roared with a tremendous sound.

The recoil alone was enough to shove my body backward.

But perhaps she truly was Choi Yeon.

She reacted to the attack and instantly raised the flat of her sword to block it.

However.

“Ghk?!”

Her body was also lifted into the air and sent flying backward.

“Haha!”

A smile naturally spread across my face at the destructive power beyond my imagination.

Yes!

A gun should be this explosive!

I quickly corrected my stance and checked on Choi Yeon, who had been pushed back.

Her sword was vibrating violently with a buzzing sound.

Her body was also swaying, both legs trembling.

Most of the aura that had been flickering around her was already gone.

Still, she was standing.

“Impressive.”

She'd concentrated all her aura forward and blocked it in that brief instant.

Judgment, output, control.

If even one of those had been lacking, she would've collapsed immediately.

I thought that one shot might end it, but I never expected her to withstand it.

“That surprised me.”

“For an ordinary person, I don't think it would've ended with just being surprised.”

“No, I was seriously surprised. My head is still ringing.”

So that was why she hadn't immediately counterattacked.

After shaking her head violently to lessen the shock, she lowered her body and prepared to charge me again.

“Still, I think I understand something now.”

“Really?”

Then came the second charge.

When I pulled the trigger at her again, Choi Yeon leaped upward as though she'd predicted it and raised her sword.

“Bisect.”

Bisect, one of her signature techniques and one of the techniques of the Azure Sky Sword Clan.

A technique that greatly increased cutting power by vibrating the aura coating the sword, capable of instantly cutting through the shields of most mages.

But it had an equally obvious weakness.

I bent my left elbow and knocked aside the incoming sword, causing its straight downward path to veer sideways and strike the innocent floor.

Then I followed with an elbow aimed at Choi Yeon's face.

She avoided it with an almost acrobatic motion, bending her body backward, then kicked upward and knocked the shotgun into the air.

“Dangerous gun removed.”

“Is that so?”

My gun isn't the only one I have.

I immediately stretched out my right arm, pulled Tommy from the Cube, and squeezed the trigger at her.

The basic weapon-swapping technique using a subspace artifact.

It was a technique I'd used often during gameplay too.

Seeing Tommy being drawn from empty air, Choi Yeon rolled backward while reinforcing her body with aura and curled inward to minimize the area bullets could hit.──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! / ──! /The cheerful sound of a typewriter rang out repeatedly.

But as expected, Tommy couldn't break through the defense of her aura-reinforced body.

However, every time the bullets struck, I could visibly see her aura being shaved away.

Apparently she couldn't move because she was focused entirely on defense.

Meanwhile, I leisurely recovered the shotgun that had been knocked into the air.

“If you stay like that, you'll turn into a beehive.”

Tommy went back into the Cube.

I broke open the recovered shotgun and discharged the remaining aura from the chamber, then reloaded by forcing in fresh aura.

And immediately followed with two shots.─Bang! ─Bang!

Choi Yeon spotted the shotgun through the gap between her arms and tried to evade by rolling away.

“Ugh!”

But some of the scattered fragments pierced through her defense.

That's what buckshot is for.

“Smoke Screen.”

Creeeak───Even in the middle of that, she drove her sword into the ground and drew out sword energy.

It scraped across the floor at a fierce speed, and thick smoke began filling the surroundings.

Smoke Screen, one of the techniques of the Azure Sky Sword Clan.

By rubbing an aura-infused sword against the ground to create artificial smoke, it was a technique developed for close-range swordsmen to approach mages who specialized in ranged attacks.

Because aura was mixed into and scattered throughout the smoke, even detection became difficult.

On top of that, she hadn't shown even a trace of fear up to this point, so identifying her location in this state was extremely difficult.

However.

“Even if you mix aura into it, it's still just smoke.”

I've trained a fair bit in aura control too.

I immediately gathered aura into my foot.

And stomped it hard into the ground.

Thump─────!

By using a stomping step to create a massive gust of wind, the smoke surrounding me was blown toward the outer edge of the sparring arena.

This was one of the ways to break Smoke Screen.

Simply push the smoke itself away with greater force.

But apparently even that brief moment was enough time for a swordsman of the Azure Sky Sword Clan to reach a mage.

I saw Choi Yeon shooting out from within the dispersing smoke.

“Got you.”

“Not yet.”

Did you really think I wouldn't know you'd come closer?

Using the foot touching the ground as a medium, I detonated my aura once again.

An application of what I'd done when hunting kobolds before.

As though dynamite had exploded underground, the sparring arena began shaking from beneath my feet.

Her attack motion faltered along with it.

“Ghk!”

Her fighting spirit must have been incredible.

As though refusing to give up like this, even while her balance was breaking apart, Choi Yeon twisted her wrist and thrust her sword toward me in an attempt to land the attack somehow.

But it was shallow.

I twisted my body and avoided the sword, then spun the shotgun and grabbed the barrel with both hands.

“You shouldn't think a shotgun is only a weapon for shooting.

A shotgun is also an excellent club.

More importantly, relics in this world have extremely sturdy durability.

The silver decoration attached to the stock flashed sharply.

“──Even if you block this, it'll hurt.”

Then my arms swung cleanly in a full arc.

With a dull impact, her body was launched upward.

“Home run.”

That felt amazing.