Chapter 147

Chapter 147

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 147The more similar the circumstances are to the situation in which a Narrative Engraving was obtained, the stronger its effects become.

And that applied to the new engraving I had obtained this time as well.《Narrative Engraving》-Dragon (Reaper of the Immortals): He drove a dagger into the heart of the one who ruled the flames of the abyss and devoured the blood of an immortal amid a rain of fatal blows. He is the reaper of death who granted rest to an immortal.

Judging from the description alone, it sounded like complete nonsense.

But surprisingly, the activation conditions for 《Narrative Engraving

- Dragon》 were simple.

1. Fight an enemy overwhelmingly stronger than yourself.

2. Fight someone with the Immortal trait.

3. Fight a dragon-kind.

4. Fight an enemy whose size differs from yours by at least five times.

An engraving that activated if even one of these applied, and perhaps because it had mixed with Ascalon's characteristics, it became even stronger when the conditions overlapped. It wouldn't be wrong to say it boasted outright broken performance.

Of course, the method of obtaining it was hellish enough to match.

And in order to figure out just how much this effect influenced my strength, I needed a spar.

A spar against someone overwhelmingly stronger than me.

And the target selected for that was...

“A spar?”

One of Calione's strongest combatants, who would immediately come running with a single press of the call bell in my room, Parnello.

“Yeah. I got a few things from going to Jeju Island this time. You were the first person who came to mind, Parnello... couldn't you somehow help me out?”

That was putting it nicely. To say it bluntly, it was basically, ‘There's something I can only test if I hit someone with the intent to kill, and you're the only person around who seems like I'd be okay fighting seriously. Let's have a match.’

But to Parnello, who had taught me since childhood and had recently been helping with my successor training as well, those words would probably sound different.‘I can't do it without you, Parnello~ Help me, Parnelmon~’And indeed.

“If it is the Young Master's request, naturally I must help. Shall I escort you to the training hall?”

Wasn't he repeatedly nodding at me with a proud expression?

“Yeah. Please.”

At my answer, Parnello headed toward the training hall with steps even lighter than usual.‘...

Did I make a mistake asking Parnello? Am I seriously going to die like this? Should I ask him right now to hold back and go easy on me?’Why is he looking at me like that?

As someone who knew Parnello's true strength, it was nothing short of fear itself.

Of course, he wouldn't actually kill me, but...‘Young Master. You mustn't be in this much pain from something like this.’‘My heart hurts even more than yours does when I strike you, Young Master.’‘Wasn't it the Young Master who asked me to make you stronger in a short period of time? Truly, thanks to you, my handkerchief has been soaked with tears for three days straight. What? Isn't it soaked with the Young Master's blood?...

That is a misunderstanding.’Because my memories of the days spent with him weren't exactly bright.

“Then let's warm up lightly and begin.”

Walking to the opposite side, he removed the watch from his wrist and smiled.

“Um, Parnello. If possible, gen──.”

“Attacks strong enough that I can feel killing intent? Very well. Young Master.”

“No──”

The instant Parnello's figure disappeared from before my eyes, every hair on my body stood on end.

I immediately raised my left arm to guard.

He appeared in an instant and tried to drive a fist into me, but it was blocked by my arm.

“That was quite a serious punch, yet now you block it well.”

“Because I thought I'd die if I didn't...!”

“Surely not. There is no way the Young Master would fall to a punch of this leve... l!”

A sharp kick followed.──Clang.

Along with the sound of air being torn apart, his foot flew toward my head and slammed into my arm once more, and at the same time, a shock that seemed to shake my entire body rattled my brain.

I endured on legs that felt ready to give out at any moment through sheer willpower and reached toward Parnello.

“To think you endured even that. I'm rather surprised this time.”

“You're going to have to be more surprised!”

I closed my outstretched hand around Parnello's tie and pulled him toward me with all my strength.

But.

“It seems you'll need to build a little more muscular strength.”

Parnello endured it with nothing but the strength of his neck and smiled.

“Were you perhaps trying to do this?!”

Bang! With that sound, my vision went pitch-black.

Sparks flashed like fireworks had gone off right in front of my eyes, but smelling blood beneath my nose, I smiled at him.

“Bingo.”[Ancient Berserker's Ring(True)

absorbs the user's blood!]

A torrent of power surged through me in an instant.

At the same time, I concentrated it into Natural Healing and restored my vision, then immediately wrapped an arm around Parnello's neck and drove my knee into his abdomen.

I felt as though I'd struck steel with my knee, but I also felt Parnello's body bend backward.

The attack had worked.

But as if refusing to allow a second attack, Parnello grabbed my side and tightened his grip, and the excruciating pain like my flesh was being torn away made me let go of him.

“A ring that devours blood. Was that what you went to Jeju Island for, Young Master?”

After widening the distance, Parnello asked while looking at me with surprised eyes.

“It was one reason among several. One among several.”

Even though we'd sparred countless times until now, I'd never managed to land a proper effective hit, so this attack felt like an enormous achievement.

After all, I'd landed a proper attack on none other than Parnello.

“I'm going to use weapons from now on. That's fine, right?”

My opponent was Parnello.

An opponent I could barely hope to reach with my fingertips only if I fought at full strength with the intent to kill.

“I will gladly accept.”

Seeing me pull out Midas's Gloves and the shotgun, Parnello spread both arms as though inviting me to come at him as much as I liked.

“Then I won't hold back...”

Parnello hasn't seen the shotgun yet, right?

I smiled at him as he continued looking at me leisurely even though I was aiming the muzzle at him.

“I heard this was the gun Grandfather used to shoot Father.”

“...

Pardon?”

“Apparently Father said it hurt quite a bit.”

“No, wait──.”

“I wonder if it'll hurt you too, Parnello?”

Bang! Bang!

I rapidly pulled the trigger twice, and apparently sensing something ominous, Parnello rolled sideways and dodged the rounds.

At the same time, he looked at the ground where he'd been standing moments before and let out a hollow laugh of disbelief.

“To gouge into the floor of the training hall when ordinary attacks can't even scratch it. What a grotesque weapon.”

“And explosive too.”

I broke open the gun, loaded aura into it, then aimed the muzzle at him again and launched my second attack.

But at that moment, I heard the ground explode.

Kagagagagak!

Along with a sound like the earth being scraped, crimson sparks flew in front of Parnello, who had somehow already reached right in front of me.

“Indeed, even I would be hurt quite badly if I took that head-on.”

“You narrowed the spread and deflected the rounds in that tiny span of time?”

Watching him deflect every shot with nothing but a single knife—an attack that would normally send an ordinary Awakened flying before they could even react—I couldn't help clicking my tongue in disbelief.

Just how insane did his physical abilities have to be to pull off a feat like that?‘I definitely need to be careful about controlling the distance.’Since the shotgun had a clearly defined effective range for maximum firepower, it seemed I needed to think more about the motions required to make full use of a scattershot weapon.“So, are these the only results of your trip to Jeju Island?”

“Of course not.”

I hadn't even brought out the Narrative yet.

“Then shall we fight a little dirty, like when we first sparred?”

Now that I knew the shotgun wouldn't work as long as Parnello had a blade in hand, the only thing that seemed to offer even a slight possibility was close combat.

I'd already gotten a sufficient clue for how to use the shotgun against powerful opponents.

Then now came the next stage, hand-to-hand combat.

“Will you be all right?”

“It's training. If I get badly hurt, I can just get treated like when I was taking lessons and go to the Academy afterward.”

Preparing for the intense fight ahead, I rolled up my sleeves and took a combat stance.

It was a basic infighting stance, but the key was to keep both fingers slightly curled like animal claws so I could parry or clench a fist at any moment.

“...

That stance, is it Aura Style?”

As expected, Parnello instantly realized I was preparing to use Aura Style.

And suddenly.‘Hup!’A sticky yet razor-sharp chill ran down my spine.

My breath caught without me realizing it.

An intense energy bordering on madness had appeared in his eyes.

It was clearly an intangible force, yet it was so dense it looked almost visible, like it was dripping down.

“It has been a long time since I faced Aura Style. I'm a little excited.”

Seeing him lift the corners of his mouth with a chilling smile, I raised aura over both hands, steadied my mind, then put strength into the tips of my toes so I could dash forward at any moment and answered.

Then.

“Saying that makes it even scarier!”

I kicked off first and swung my arm.

Tool Adornment. An Aura Style technique used to reshape hard objects, making it particularly effective against those with tough bodies like Parnello.

“To think you've already learned a technique like this. It certainly seems you did not go to Jeju Island for sightseeing.”

Yet Parnello's expression remained utterly calm as he dodged the continuous attacks by the thinnest margins.

“I even killed a dragon, so of course not!”

If he avoided strikes, I could simply incorporate a little grappling.

This time, I grabbed his clothes instead of his body and pulled, gradually expanding the fight into close quarters.

Bang──!

An attack aimed at his cheek. It was blocked by his raised left arm.

A second attack aimed at his side. Parnello lifted his knee to block it, smiled, and threw a liver blow.

The old me would've taken it completely undefended.

“But I'm starting to see it little by little...!”

To keep him from having time to put strength into his fist, I pressed my body even closer and knocked Parnello's fist aside with my right arm.

“Got you!”

Then, in the continuing motion, I swung my arm to strike his jaw with my elbow.

But.

“Damn it.”

He pulled his head back, so it only grazed him.

The curse slipped out involuntarily.

Because I could immediately guess what would come next.

“Hup!”

I immediately held my breath and forced my creaking body to move.

At that moment, Parnello's knife-hand

swung toward my neck.

Because I'd prepared in advance, I ducked beneath it, then immediately shot in for a single-leg takedown and tried to drive Parnello back with my shoulder.

If I could take him down like this!

But Parnello stood firm like an ancient tree and endured on one leg.

“It seems useless.”

“Not yet...!”[Black Mist

activates!]

Using Black Mist's ability to kick against empty air and generate sudden propulsion, I finally forced his body over.

I took him down, but...

“We aren't playing a sport, are we?”

He struck my head with his elbow as we fell, shaking my brain hard enough that I couldn't continue the attack.

“Your overall technique has certainly improved... but it's still insufficient.”

Parnello shook me off, smiled, and loosened the joints in his neck.

“Young Master, you'll need to go to the Academy tomorrow as well. Shall we begin wrapping this up?”

At Parnello's words, spoken as though he were generously doing me a favor, I shook my head to regain my senses, extended my right arm toward him, and said.

“Yeah, if this doesn't work either.”

“This?”

At the same time.

In an instant, as though a flower were blooming, pitch-black flames spread over my right arm.

“The condition was just fulfilled.”[Narrative Engraving activates!][Engraving

- Dragon (Reaper of the Immortals): He drove a dagger into the heart of the one who ruled the flames of the abyss and devoured the blood of an immortal amid a rain of fatal blows. He is the reaper of death who granted rest to an immortal.][「Engraving Skill: Breath」 is created.][「Engraving Skill: Dragon Scales」 is created.]

“Breath.”

The flames blooming over my right arm spread outward, swallowing everything around them as though engulfing Parnello.

Power far beyond anything I'd expected.

“...

The visual effect is insane no matter how many times I see it.”

Clicking my tongue at the sight of the Breath instantly dyeing the surroundings black, I tried to find Parnello's figure.

“I am genuinely surprised. Young Master.”

Parnello's deep voice came from above my head at the same time.

Tap.

As though a film had suddenly cut out, I simply let go of the thread of consciousness.

The only things remaining in my memory were Parnello's blackened hand and the completely devastated training hall.

Though judging from both of Parnello's hands being wrapped in bandages the next day, I could guess what had happened.

And that was precisely why.

I could smile even after hearing Choi Yeon's words now.