After Eugene easily defeated Group 2, the women’s side of the duel began, and something unexpected happened: Groups 1 and 5 self-destructed.
Initially, Sylvia Pekelodi, the leader of Group 1, faced off one-on-one against Lucy Leintbil, the leader of Group 5. The rest of the group members were attacking each other according to their formations. However, one of the mages in Group 1 tried to use a flame spell excessively, causing a calculation error. This resulted in a massive explosion that blew all the defenseless students out of the dueling arena.
As a result, both Groups 1 and 5 were eliminated simultaneously. It was a truly laughable and sad incident.
“Hm… Originally, the winning group should have faced Group 3, but since Groups 1 and 5 were eliminated at the same time, Group 3 will go directly to the finals against Group 2. The finals will start the day after the next duel,” Deiker explained the situation and left the arena. The students on the men’s side, with the leader of Group 1 being a royal and Eugene leading Group 5, stood up and headed to the arena.
‘This duel is the last one,’ Eugene thought.
Of course, the winning group would have to face Group 3, who advanced by default, three days later.
“Prepare,” Deiker announced.
Swoosh.
Sling.
Albert Kantea, the leader of Group 1, looked at Eugene and drew his sword right from the start. He seemed to remember Eugene kicking Bambi Galeron out of bounds before, and thus drew his sword immediately.
“Begin.”
Thump!
As Deiker signaled the start, Albert, who was holding his sword, ran straight ahead.
‘Is he trying to 1:1 against me?’ Eugene frowned as he saw Albert running toward him.
The tactic of having the group leader engage the opposing leader one-on-one was already widely used by other groups. However, the strategy of having the leader exclusively mark the opposing leader in a 1:1 duel was not a very good one. It would be beneficial if the leader could quickly win, but if not, it would be a foolish tactic that would end up tying both leaders down.
‘I’ll have to restrain his movements.’ Eugene thought.
He exuded a cold air from his body, preparing to use Ice White Divine Power (氷白神功). However, Albert was not advancing to engage Eugene in a 1:1 duel.
“Now,” Albert shouted.
Hooosh!
Albert, who had been running forward quickly, suddenly pushed off the ground and moved back into the air. His strategy was revealed.
“What… what?!”
Aaron, a member of Group 5, was taken aback by the sudden appearance of a new figure after Albert disappeared. The figure standing before the group members was Del Vein, the strongest mage in Group 1.
When did Del Vein get in front of them? This was all part of Albert’s plan.
Albert was 180 cm tall and quite bulky. In contrast, Del Vein was 161 cm and half Albert’s size. When Albert ran forward, Del Vein cast a spell to erase his presence and followed Albert’s movements exactly. In essence, Albert had shielded Del Vein with his body.
Since the members of Group 5 didn’t notice Del Vein approaching, a significant gap appeared.
“Of course, that’s if they didn’t notice,” Eugene said with a sinister smile, immediately grabbing Del Vein by the neck.
“Ugh?!”
Del Vein’s eyes shook as he looked at Eugene holding his neck. He had just seen Eugene preparing to use an ice spell with his own eyes.
‘I clearly saw cold air emanating from his body, but he moved immediately without any rebound?!’
Del Vein’s eyes filled with shock. Normally, if a mage moved immediately after preparing a spell or if the calculation or incantation was disrupted, the mana would rebound, causing the body to temporarily freeze. This was why Antonio’s body stiffened momentarily during his duel with Eugene in the Bedia family. Although a high-level mage could move while casting spells, they were all students. Therefore, Del Vein thought that even if Eugene noticed him, he would have the upper hand.
Eugene should have been unable to move due to the mana rebound.
But reality was that Eugene was holding Del Vein by the neck.
“Save those tricks for someone else,” Eugene said coldly, lifting Del Vein and slamming him to the ground.
Whoosh!
Boom!
Crack.
“Guh…”
Del Vein let out a short scream before fainting.
“Even our prince is using such shallow tricks,” Eugene taunted.
Grit.
As Del Vein fainted, the sound of Albert grinding his teeth was audible.
“How dare you provoke me,” Albert snarled, pointing his sword at Eugene with a frown. Slamming Del Vein into the ground like that had been a provocation directed at him. Eugene could have just thrown Del Vein out of the arena after grabbing him by the neck. Instead, he had slammed Del Vein into the ground with such force that the arena seemed to split.
This was a perfect act of provocation.
“Hah!” Albert began to move his longsword swiftly.
“Su… Surge Swordsmanship?!” Deiker, watching from the corner, looked at Albert with astonished eyes.
Surge Swordsmanship, known for enveloping the opponent, was a technique only passed down to the knights’ commander within the Kantea royal palace. Even though Albert was a prince, it was a swordsmanship he could never have learned. Yet, Albert was now using Surge Swordsmanship against Eugene.
‘This isn’t a swordsmanship that can be secretly learned. How does Albert know it?’
Clang.
Clang, clang, clang.
As Albert performed the swift and delicate Surge Swordsmanship, Eugene blocked Albert’s sword with a stoic expression.
‘A swordsmanship that lures the opponent to guard their vital points and then strikes at the open areas,’ Eugene quickly grasped the characteristics of Surge Swordsmanship.
Most swordsmanships targeted the opponent’s vital points or other areas that could inflict critical damage. However, Surge Swordsmanship pretended to target vital points while actually aiming for other spots.
‘If I face this swordsmanship, I will be dragged around by the opponent…’
Swoosh.
Clang, clang, clang, clang.
“Huh?”
“Am I seeing things?”
The students watching Albert and Eugene from outside the arena started rubbing their eyes.
Eugene, who had only been blocking Albert’s swordsmanship, was now executing it himself. But the astonishing part was that Eugene was using the same swordsmanship as Albert.
“What the… Is it real? Is he really using the same swordsmanship as Albert?!”
“What the hell is that guy’s identity?!”
The students gasped in shock. If someone had started watching the duel from the middle, they would have thought that Albert and Eugene were dueling with identical swordsmanship.
Eugene was flawlessly replicating Albert’s swordsmanship.
‘Damn… This is insane… What is this…’
Albert ground his teeth, watching Eugene’s movements.
Eugene was mirroring his swordsmanship as if he were practicing in front of a mirror. As a result, Albert’s strategies were ineffective, and his attempts to lure Eugene failed.
‘This monster…’
Sweat began to drip from Albert’s forehead. Surge Swordsmanship, despite being an excellent technique, had a drawback: it rapidly consumed stamina. Since it involved luring the opponent and using many feints, it required more stamina than typical swordsmanship.
“Now, I understand everything about this swordsmanship,” Eugene said.
Swish, swish, swish!
Eugene, who had been moving exactly like Albert, started moving even faster.
Clang!
Clang!
‘What… What is this?!’ Albert barely managed to block Eugene’s sword, biting his lip hard.
Up until a moment ago, Eugene had been using the same swordsmanship, but now it had changed subtly. It was still Surge Swordsmanship, but something was different.
“It’s more efficient to do it this way at this point,” Eugene remarked.
Whoosh.
Swoosh!
Albert barely dodged Eugene’s sword aimed at his face.
Drip.
However, he didn’t dodge perfectly, and blood trickled down Albert’s cheek.
“Stop,” Deiker, who had been watching from outside the arena, halted the duel.
“The winner is Group 5.”
“Wow!”
“Master, I can still fight,” Albert shouted at Deiker, who had stopped the duel. Stopping the duel just because his cheek was slightly cut?!
Deiker did not respond to Albert’s words but instead pointed at Albert’s sword.
Following Deiker’s finger, Albert looked at his sword and felt a chill run down his spine.
Crunch.
The middle of Albert’s longsword was deeply indented and powder was falling from it.
‘Did he… Did he manage to keep striking the same spot with that complex and fast swordsmanship…?’
If they had fought just a little longer, his sword would surely have been broken in half.
“I concede…” Albert admitted his defeat to Deiker, bowing his head, and only then did the members of Group 5 cheer.
“Wow!”
Thanks to Eugene, they had won both the first and second duels comfortably without any injuries.
“Only the finals remain. As mentioned earlier, the finals will be held the day after tomorrow.”
***
After the duel ended, night fell, and the members of Group 5 returned to their dormitory and fell asleep.
Hoooo.
Eugene, as usual, was practicing his inner cultivation, gathering his internal energy at his dantian.
Then suddenly.
‘Hm? What is this?’
He sensed something with his keen awareness.
Swoosh.
“What is it?”
“Why?”
Taeje, who had been lying down, looked at Eugene. Taeje always stood guard while Eugene practiced his cultivation at night, so why did he suddenly open his eyes tonight?
“Someone just passed by outside.”
“It’s probably a supervisor.”
“A supervisor wouldn’t be moving along the wall on the third floor.”
“Huh?”
“The person who moved outside just now was moving along the railing on the third floor.”
Swoosh.
Eugene got out of bed and headed towards the window at the end of the dormitory.
Who would dare to break into the academy so fearlessly?
“Is it really an intruder?”
“Who would be sneaking around the academy at this time if not an intruder, you idiot?”
“Damn it…” Taeje growled as Eugene scolded him. Lately, Eugene had been calling him an idiot so often that he really felt like he was becoming one.
“Let’s go out.”
“But there are supervisors in the hallway.”
“We’ll go out the window.”
Creak.
Eugene quietly opened the window and slipped outside.
Whoosh.
Tap.
“Hmm… They went this way.”
Tap, tap.
‘Whoever it is, their stealth technique isn’t very good…?’
The mana they left behind made tracking them easy.
Whoosh.
Tap.
‘This place…?’
Eugene followed the trail to the female students’ dormitory.
‘The trail leads inside… Who would break into the girls’ dormitory…?’
Eugene frowned as he tracked the intruder’s trail. Anyone who entered the girls’ dormitory without permission would be expelled from the academy, no exceptions, even for supervisors.
Even the supervisors tasked with overseeing the girls’ dormitory had strict limitations on their access.
As he followed the trail on the building’s roof, Eugene stopped.
‘Should I go back…?’
At first, he was curious and excited about the idea of an intruder in the academy, but if the intruder’s target was the girls’ dormitory, he couldn’t follow them in.
Then.
‘Huh?!’
“Eugene, there’s a killing intent.”
A dense killing intent was emanating from inside the girls’ dormitory.
Cliche Novel 