NOVEL NEXT chapter 51 - School Festival (7)
'Why... why does he just keep getting faster?'
The more I dodged, the more viciously his sword came crashing down.
Petals rained down across the training room floor, but every petal fell with a thunderous roar that could send even a beast running in terror.
CRAAAASH!!!
Sparks burst from the floor as steel grated against it.
"P-Professor...?"
"Hm? What’s wrong?"
"Shouldn’t you, uh, stop this...?"
"Huh? No need. I believe Esha can handle it just fine! Don’t worry!"
Don’t worry my ass.
At this rate, I was going to be shaved down like a sack of potatoes and die right here.
I hated that stupid, cheerful grin on her face, acting like she believed in me. But to be fair, I was somehow still dodging Yoon Siwoo’s attacks.
I could understand why Professor Philia might be misunderstanding.
'Without auxiliary evasion, I'd be screwed right now...!'
SWISH!
His sword missed me by the width of a sheet of paper, slicing clean through the edge of my clothes.
Yoon Siwoo’s eyes didn’t waver for a second—as if he had known I would dodge it.
No, it was weirder than that.
He wasn’t looking at me.
It was like he was looking past me... at something else.
'What the hell is he staring at?'
I barely had time to think.
Dodging his attacks, I racked my brain.
Since surviving at around 10% intoxication last time, my understanding of [Drunken Fist – Fa Jin] had gotten better.
It wasn’t just a simple skill. It was my ultimate counterattack, my all-out response.
If an attack was within my reaction limit, I could block or dodge without even relying on Fa Jin.
Which meant... Yoon Siwoo’s attacks were still within my range.
If something went beyond that range, my body would automatically trigger Fa Jin—and I was willing to trust that, at least once.
BOOM!
I stepped forward and threw a straight punch toward him.
Normally, if your bare hand met a descending sword, it was a one-way ticket to losing that hand.
But—
BOOOOOOM!!!
The shockwave that burst from ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) my fist was powerful enough to shove Yoon Siwoo’s sword aside.
And a split second later, my punch landed squarely on his chin, sending his head whipping back and his body flying.
"Khack...!"
It was a clean, solid hit.
But I wasn’t in good shape either.
"Haa... haa..."
Just that one move had eaten up a huge chunk of my stamina.
I realized something brutal: holding back on using Fa Jin was far more exhausting mentally than I had expected.
Auxiliary evasion made dodging easier, but it didn’t boost stamina.
No matter how much training I’d gotten under Professor Philia lately, I couldn’t overcome the limitations of this weak, tiny body.
Thunk.
"...."
"You’re still standing, huh?"
"You’re... seriously getting up...? Hehehe..."
That insane bastard.
I was absolutely sure the impact of that punch had been massive.
No way his cheek would’ve swollen up that badly otherwise.
What the hell kind of connection did he think we had, to push himself this hard against me?
"Come on... just lose already!"
"Sorry."
Right after that—
I caught a strange glimmer flickering in Yoon Siwoo’s eyes.
[External Access Detected]
[Analyzing Information]
[Future Deconstruction Initiated]
[Requesting Permission to Read Data]
A status window popped up before my eyes.
I could feel it—something, someone, stretching out a hand from a place far, far away to reach for me.
'....'
Yoon Siwoo was seeing something.
Something beyond me.
[Trait – Aberration (???) is observing your actions]
What the hell was that?
I didn’t know every Trait in existence, sure.
But I had never heard of anything like this.
Even the name "Aberration"—and the fact that no rank was displayed—meant this was either something insanely high-level or completely outside my ability to comprehend.
It was wrong.
All of this was wrong.
What the hell was happening?
.
.
[Error?]
[Error during Cause Analysis]
[Requesting Reclamation of Access Rights]
.
.
.
[Request Denied]
.
.
.
[Forcible Reclamation Initiated]
.
.
.
[Success]
.
.
.
[Access Forbidden]
The moment the last message appeared, the sensation of being watched disappeared.
Yoon Siwoo clutched his eyes and let out a faint groan.
'...Seriously.'
Nothing about this situation made sense.
But there was one thing I did understand.
Right now was the perfect opportunity to strike him.
I wasn’t some idiot villain waiting for the hero’s transformation sequence to finish.
"Hup."
I lunged forward and kicked him square in the stomach.
CRASH!
Yoon Siwoo, barely regaining his senses, managed to block with the flat of his sword—
But he still looked dazed, slow.
This was a time attack.
If I didn’t finish it here, things were going to get much, much worse.
'If only I had a gun...!'
It would’ve been perfect.
But I’d used up all my bullets hunting that demon beast last time. My gun was nothing but dead weight now.
Still, even bluffing with it would be enough.
Click.
"...!"
The instant the gun barrel pointed at him, I hurled the entire weapon at Yoon Siwoo’s face.
A split-second blind spot.
It was a trick I had used before, against the Bishop.
Unless your combat instincts were razor-sharp, there was no way to react properly.
But—
Yoon Siwoo was way faster than I’d expected.
CLANG!
The sword was sliced away at a sharp diagonal.
"Goodbye, and... thanks."
Even though we had only been together for a month, the memories we'd made—I wouldn't forget them.
The instant my words made Yoon Siwoo flinch and hesitate, I drove my fist straight into his solar plexus.
[Current Intoxication: 10%]
[Your physical abilities have greatly increased.]
[An unknown power flows through your heart.]
[An ancient intelligence stirs within you.]
[Your perception of others sharpens.]
[Your skin resists external threats.]
"Fa Jin."
Timed perfectly with the miracle of reaching 10% intoxication, I summoned the feeling of Fa Jin to my fingertips and poured every last ounce of force into the blow.
BOOOOOOM!!!!
"Heh... hehehe..."
My head was pounding.
My mind was blurring.
Even just handling the intoxication was overwhelming my mental stat.
And now, worn down by battle, my brain was succumbing to the drunken haze.
The result was... well, this.
"I win! Right~?"
"Khack... cough!"
I staggered over to Yoon Siwoo, who was crawling out of the wreckage, and with my wobbling vision, I slammed a kick straight at him.
BOOM!!!
"Guhh...!"
But Yoon Siwoo gripped his sword even tighter.
His blade began to glow brightly, and I instantly realized—it was that technique I'd seen before.
But—
"Eek! No, you can't do that!!"
I pinned his sword arm to the ground before he could swing, and casually watched the harmless wave of sword energy fizzle into the air.
"That thing hurts! Bad sword! Naughty!"
...What the hell was I even saying anymore?
I had no idea.
I figured it would sort itself out.
"You little...!"
THWACK!!
"Ugh!"
His kick sent me flying, tumbling across the floor like a ragdoll.
Even though my body screamed that it was time to just stay down, Yoon Siwoo gritted his teeth, stood up, and grabbed his sword again with a fierce grip.
I could actually see it—
The wounds on his body were starting to heal rapidly.
Some kind of regeneration Trait, maybe?
Man, it must be nice, living like the protagonist.
Lying there with my chin resting against the cold floor, I thought idly:
'It’s so comfortable here. Maybe I should just nap. Maybe... maybe after all this, we can talk once. Just once.'
But no.
That would only make things even messier.
If Yoon Siwoo really was a protagonist-type, then it made sense that he needed someone like me—a roadblock, a heavy weight dragging him down somewhere along the way.
I had my own path to walk.
"Not so fast!"
"I’ll finish this!"
My stamina was genuinely at its limit now.
The wounds that had barely scabbed over were starting to sting again, making every movement throb in my hands and feet.
This next attack—it would be my final desperate move.
[Preparing a Finishing Blow.]
I couldn’t use Fa Jin again. I'd already burned it earlier.
So what I was doing now—
It wasn’t Fa Jin, but something similar.
A skill of my own, built on the same image, the same feeling.
Maybe, just maybe, this could knock him down for good.
"Celestial—Heaven."
It was the kind of pose you only ever saw in manga.
Like a water droplet sliding down the blade, I swallowed all the trembling and pain from our earlier battle in a single breath and fixed my stance, mimicking Yoon Siwoo.
It was what they called an "origin strike"—an attack that poured everything into a single blow.
I didn’t actually know how you were supposed to use it properly, but the influence seemed close enough to Fa Jin’s destructive force, so I followed his stance.
"First Impact."
Since he was spouting fancy Chinese characters, I figured I might as well say something that sounded cool too.
But instinctively, I already knew.
I was going to lose this fight.
The oppressive aura rising around Yoon Siwoo made it painfully clear.
Predator and prey had already been decided.
Sure, a mouse might bite a cat with everything it had,
but that wouldn’t change the fact that it was still a mouse.
Even so—
I still clung to one last variable.
One last stupid hope.
"Falling Sky."
Closing my eyes against the incoming shock, I hurled my fist forward with every bit of strength left in me.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
A massive shockwave erupted between us, halting both our attacks mid-swing.
"That’s enough."
Professor Philia stood between us, casually catching both my punch and Yoon Siwoo’s blade in her hands.
Yeah, it made sense.
If you had a cat and a mouse, of course the cat would win.
But if the mouse was someone’s beloved pet too, well...
At least the owner would step in to save it.
It felt weird, realizing that in this scenario, I was the mouse.
But whatever.
"Well, you survived, so that’s good enough, right~?"
But the voice that came next made me feel more miserable than relieved.
"Both of you fought impressively... but unfortunately, Yoon Siwoo had a slight upper hand."
"Ah..."
"Shi...iiit..."
Hearing that, I wanted nothing more than to punch the smug grin off Yoon Siwoo’s face.
But I had no strength left.
So instead, I just glared at him with every ounce of hatred I could muster.
"Uuugh... bleeghhh..."
"Ah, wait—"
"Bleeeeegh...!"
"Hey! Wait! Don’t you dare puke here—!"
And then, like a fountain, the chocolate I had eaten earlier erupted from my stomach.