I Became an Extra Without Growth in the Academy

Trash brought a total of seven knights.

The numbers were quite overwhelming, but in such a not-so-wide space, numbers didn’t really matter much.

Even if there were plenty of space, unless they worked well together, seven people couldn’t charge in at once.

If they messed up even a bit, their paths would cross, and accidents like hitting their allies would happen.

The same went for the supporting wizard in the back.

No matter how optimal the timing for an attack might be, they couldn’t just throw magic right in the middle of their own bunch…

KA-BOOM!

“Ugh!!”

Whoa, that crazy dude just fired it off.

I managed to dodge in time, but the knight right next to me took the full brunt of the spell.

At least he seemed to have held back just enough not to do fatal damage.

But it looked like continuing this fight would be tough, so I subtly watched the reactions of the other knights… They were all startled by the sight of their fallen comrade and were stealing glances at me.

This isn’t even my fault, but it feels awkward.

“…Take him away.”

“…Thanks.”

I couldn’t just leave the poor knight who went down unjustly, so I slipped back and said that, and the knights quietly dragged him away.

“You fools!! What are you doing? You should be attacking while they’re distracted!!”

The most foolish one right now is Trash himself, who shot his own team with magic. Does he really not know?

I felt a bit sorry for the knights having to deal with such a mess.

A brief lull in the fight ended, and we returned to our standoff.

I was on guard for a moment, not wanting Trash to pull the same stunt again. But having tried it once without much effect, he seemed to opt for just watching this time.

I was a bit worried he might randomly shoot when he saw an opportunity.

Regardless of his strategy, it looked like he had temporarily given up, so I focused on facing the knights in front of me.

Seven knights… no, because of Trash’s team kill, it was now six knights charging at me again.

If I lost my edge here, things would get a bit complicated, so I decided to make the first move this time.

I pulled out my sword from my inventory and stomped towards the closest knight.

“No way!”

The knight raised his sword to block my attack, but since he was a pretty skilled knight, I could tell my swordplay wouldn’t penetrate his solid defense.

But that was actually a good thing. Direct confrontations were not my specialty.

As soon as I saw the knight take a defensive stance, I switched from holding my sword to holding my shield instead.

Then I swung straight at his raised sword.

CRACK!

An uneasy noise burst out from the knight’s sword.

At the same time, a significant shock reverberated as his arm was pushed inward.

“Gah?!”

A technique that breaks through the opponent’s defense with a shield. It was called Guard Break.

This technique could even break lower-tier equipment and could even penetrate armor…

[Guard Break Cooldown – 40 seconds]

[Defense Reduction – 80%]

[Stance Rigidity]

The cooldown was long, and during that time, the defense of the shield would drop drastically, causing a significant stance rigidity, making it hard to use unless you were a tank.

So far, I hadn’t even considered using it properly…

‘But this time, it’s a different story.’

Now that my inventory was open, I could use it freely.

Thanks to the delay cancel, I could completely ignore the defense drop and stance rigidity.

The method was simple. The moment the Guard Break happened, I would put the shield into my inventory and then take it out again.

I couldn’t just put it in. If I did, only the defense drop would cancel, and I’d still suffer the stance rigidity, making it an easy target for a counterattack.

Unfortunately, since Guard Break was a system skill and not an item, cooldown cancellation wouldn’t apply, but that didn’t matter since I could do more than just that.

“You little!”

In the meantime, I noticed the attack of another knight rushing in to support and blocked it with the sword I pulled into my empty left hand.

The fact that I blocked without trying to dodge means it was a pattern I could parry.

CLANG!

With a lively sound, I threw my shield at the knight being repelled.

It was just a training shield I had stolen from the training ground. I had no regrets using it as a consumable.

THUD!

Since the knights had some skill, they could easily counter my lousy throwing skills, but in that brief moment, a training dagger was now in my hand.

Did I only take the shield from the training ground? Of course not! I grabbed everything useful I could find long ago.

Thanks to this, there was a little mishap known as the “Training Equipment Disappearance Incident,” but since few in the advanced class used training equipment, it was quickly buried.

I did get caught and scolded by Seria soon after… but anyway, didn’t I mention once about how quick swapping with my inventory was my specialty?

When it comes to experienced players, it’s not just simple bragging.

“What…?”

I dashed past the two knights instantaneously and threw a dagger at the other knight behind them.

Throwing just one would be useless and bounce back like the shield I threw earlier, so I aimed to throw as many as I could.

Just taking two steps, I tossed six daggers.

Even if they weren’t super sharp, the knight had to respond to the incoming projectiles, and in that moment, I was able to slip past him.

In an instant, I had bypassed three knights. Of course, I hadn’t taken them down, just hurried past them, so I ended up surrounded, but it wasn’t particularly dangerous.

This arrangement had been planned from the start, all to make Trash act up.

“Everyone, block his escape! I’ll handle him.”

Seeing me thinking he couldn’t escape, Trash jumped in and declared that.

Of course, I could’ve escaped easily, and the knights, realizing they had no hope of stopping me, looked confused at Trash’s orders… but don’t worry. I had no intention of running away here, anyway.

What was my goal here? To reach the Forbidden Book Storage hidden underground.

But since my initial method through the hidden hatch had failed, since I was exposed like this.

I needed to find an alternative… And just like that, a good idea sprang to mind given the situation.

If I stood right here in front of Trash, whose eyes were all wide, directly above the Forbidden Book Storage… maybe I could get him to blast me a shortcut directly with his magic.

BOOM-!!

My prediction hit square on.

Trash, focusing on attacking me without caring for anything else, unleashed a powerful spell that created a large hole right where I stood, leading down below.

Naturally, I dodged the magic and made my way down underground without a scratch.

“…Did I purposely move here with that in mind from the beginning?”

“Wow. What an absurd monster.”

“By the way, was there an underground area here?”

“What are you amazed at? Hurry up and chase… no, wait… everyone, go back. The rest is on me.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’ll be fine so just get out of here!”

Voices from the above echoed down the newly made opening.

No matter how loyal they were as knights, they wouldn’t show the location of a stash of forbidden books.

The knights, puzzled, followed his orders and left the area, and soon after, someone jumped down through the hole.

“So you accurately lured me here knowing the location of this place. I suspected it, but you’re definitely not a mere commoner. Who sent you as a spy? Tell me!”

“…?”

“Right. Of course, you wouldn’t tell me.”

His sudden change in attitude was shocking.

He had just dismissed me so easily, and now he seemed all frazzled.

“Please, just put down what you’re holding there.”

Aha, it was because of the forbidden book I was holding.

As soon as I landed, I spotted and grabbed a forbidden book containing mind-control content. That had been my goal from the very beginning.

Now I understood why Trash’s attitude took such a turn.

Other forbidden books would definitely also be fatal, but this one would seal their fate the moment it came to light. He must be thinking that somehow, he had to prevent any leaks.

While he was stuck trying not to appear too desperate, desperately trying to convince me, I just kept silent and stared at him.

“How much… really, how much do you want? I’ll give you three times the amount you got. So please…”

He even threw in an extremely generous offer, but unfortunately for him, the amount I received was 0, so multiplying it by three still left me with 0… not enticing at all.

So while thinking about how to respond, a familiar voice came from the hole above.

“Really, are you saying you’ll give three times the amount? Trash Jibchak?”

Looking up at the voice, I saw Seria and Alkiné had arrived and were peering down at me.

“Sorry I’m late, Rudion. A bit behind schedule, huh?”

“No, you came just right on time.”

Thanks to Trash getting all confused at the perfect moment, it was a bit tricky to respond, but this was the dream timing.

Trash’s eyes widened in shock more than ever at the sudden appearance of Seria.

“P-Princess Hwangnyeo…!”

“What should we do? Should I go down or do you want to come up?”

“I’ll come up immediately.”

Truly, I could see the perks of power. After all that trouble I’d gone through to get this far, the princess could just say ‘come or go’ with a single word.

“Rudion, what are you doing? Hurry and come out. Is there anything more to see in there?”

“No, there’s nothing.”

There actually was a lot, but at this point, I just decided to collect all the forbidden books I could from inside my inventory.

And that was the end of the situation.

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