I Became the Academy’s War Hero

Chapter 7: If You Want to Resort to Force (2)

Pusshk!

In the middle of a blood-soaked stage, I — Eugene Carter — stood tall.

“Kieeeek!!”

The beast writhed in agony beneath the stage.

The sudden and overwhelming display caught everyone off guard, and the spectators’ reactions grew even louder.

“W-what was that?”

“How did he do that?!”

“I didn’t even see it happen….”

“…Was it because we’re too far away?”

“No. It must be because of that sword. Probably the unique ability of a top-grade artifact.”

“Hmm… it looks ordinary though.”

“Hey, can’t you tell? The real power’s always hidden behind something that looks plain!”

Some brushed it off that way, but the cadet commander — who had witnessed my movement up close — couldn’t deny what he saw.

For those with sensory or tracking abilities, reading and predicting movements was the most basic of basics.

That was exactly why the sight before him was all the more shocking.

‘…The motion itself was just an ordinary upward slash. Nothing more, nothing less.’

Except that there had been absolutely no preparation for the strike.

Normally, one would plant their stance, align their arms and sword according to the intended trajectory, focus all nerves from the tips of their toes to their fingertips — and then, in a single breath, swing.

It was through that entire sequence that a proper cut was delivered.

But that pitiful-looking man before them showed none of those intermediate steps.

As if…

As if he already knew exactly where and when the beast would halt its movement.

‘…Is that even possible?’

Even if the beast’s ferocity had been tempered through training, it was still a beast. Its innate animal instincts were intact.

It could easily shift its center of gravity on instinct alone.

That response was purely reflexive — but also perfectly logical.

Unless one analyzed the fight after it was already over, there wouldn’t be even five people in the entire Empire capable of detecting such minute changes mid-battle.

And yet this man not only detected that change beforehand, but even exploited that fraction-of-a-second opening to strike at the beast’s weak point.

‘…It’s hard to believe that’s the reflex speed of someone who’s been in seclusion for six years.’

Then, before his isolation… just how fast had he been?

While the cadet commander stood frozen in astonishment—

Grrrr….

The Red Wolf, which had been thrashing in pain, finally stopped and straightened its posture.

The blood that had been dripping down moments ago had already stopped flowing.

From behind, the beast tamer Nigel swallowed hard.

‘…The strike was weak.’

No ordinary swordsmanship could pierce through the thick hide of a mana-coated beast.

Usually, one would rely on an artifact to compensate — but even that wasn’t always enough.

In such cases, condensing internal mana into the weapon to create additional cutting power was the norm.

Eugene Carter’s strike had been perfectly aimed at a vital point, and the timing had been exquisite.

But because the cutting force was lacking, all it managed to do was tear through the wolf’s skin.

‘…So the rumor that he never recovered from that incurable curse was true after all.’

If he had been able to use all his mana freely, his beloved beast would’ve been cleaved clean in two.

It was a stroke of luck for Nigel — but the situation wasn’t turning in his favor.

“Stop! That’s enough! Come back!”

Despite his desperate shout, the wolf didn’t move. It only emanated a killing intent so dense it made the air tremble.

‘No way…?’

Sensing danger, Nigel immediately pulled out his beast-taming whip and wrapped it around the wolf’s torso—

Rrrrip!

But the beast shredded it with its claws and glared solely at Eugene.

Its eyes brimmed with murderous intent, its claws gleamed sharper, and drool dripped from its exposed fangs.

What’s worse, it now regarded its master’s commands as restraints and openly rejected them.

It was the textbook sign of a beast that had gone completely berserk.

‘…I have to stop it!’

The moment he came to that conclusion, Nigel leaped toward the center of the stage— but he was already too late.

“Kyaaahhh!!”

The beast, which had been waiting for an opening ever since its first wound, lunged straight at Eugene.

“No!”

Nigel shouted frantically, reaching out his hand.

And in that instant—

The beast, which had seemed ready to tear its target to pieces, froze right before Eugene.

Only Nigel realized what had happened.

“…How…”

“My apologies. You rushed in so suddenly that I might’ve reacted a little harshly.”

My gaze followed the dark, heavy traces of mana lingering in the air.

“……”

At some point, Eugene Carter’s eyes had turned crimson, burning with a fierce glow.

The beast, meeting that gaze head-on, immediately lost consciousness and collapsed onto the floor—

Its mouth foaming red.

‘I didn’t really mean to attract this much attention.’

My plan for the first week was just to test the waters, maybe stir things up a bit after that.

Honestly, it felt a bit unfair.

I hadn’t done anything, and yet somehow they were throwing this kind of “welcome party.”

Well, getting worked up over every little thing would only hurt me in the end.

I just had to chalk it up to Eugene Carter’s karma and deal with it as it came.

Once I’d sorted my thoughts, the only thing left on stage was the beast — and before I knew it, my body moved on instinct.

Where my body lacked, ten years of veteran experience and the instincts of a war hero filled in the gaps.

‘If the cadet commander himself had come at me, that might’ve actually been tough.’

But to pit a beast against the Beast Slayer?

Even for a washed-up has-been like me, wasn’t that just insulting?

‘Well, not that I’m complaining.’

In fact, this whole thing worked in my favor.

The more they underestimated me, the better.

After all, it’s always the underdog’s performance that leaves the biggest impression.

‘It’s also a good way to weed out the small fry early on.’

With that conclusion, I didn’t hesitate any longer.

I used the beast’s combat patterns against it to land a single blow.

It would’ve been nice if that had finished things, but with this frail body, I couldn’t even kill a D-rank beast.

So in the end, I had no choice but to use my innate ability.

My consciousness wavered for a moment, and I braced myself.

‘To think I’d be struggling this much from using just a single ability.’

Still a long way to go.

I looked up at the information window hovering above and gave a bitter smile.

There, Eugene Carter’s third unique ability was displayed.

Eye of Intimidation: Great Beast EX

Unleashes a glare that overwhelms the enemy.

Those who witness the glare fall into a temporary abnormal state. [Fear, Delirium, Tremor, Fainting]

The effect increases in proportion to the following stats: [Anti-Magic B, Leadership S, Insight EX, Causality EX]

※ This ability only activates against beasts.

The Eye of Intimidation.

One of the eleven Magic Eyes of MAGA — and among them, one of the more common types.

Its effect was simple: intimidate the target. That’s it.

Usually, it merely dulled the opponent’s movements slightly. But starting from SS-rank, it could induce severe abnormal states.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this potent, though.’

It seemed the fact that my Insight and Causality ranks were both EX had played a major role.

As soon as the beast fainted, I immediately moved to achieve my intended goal.

‘This should be interesting.’

Let’s see what kind of ability I’ll obtain this time.

— Activating “Mana Devour.”

Mana Devour.

A skill that consumes the target’s mana and converts the devoured mana into an ability.

The type of ability gained was random, but one could roughly infer it based on what kind of beast was devoured.

In this case, I’d likely gain an ability related to physical enhancement.

Of course, there was no guarantee that I’d always acquire a new ability each time I used it — sometimes, I could end up with nothing.

Still, the total amount of mana I possessed would always increase, regardless of success or failure.

‘That alone is enough.’

Right now, Eugene Carter could only use 10 percent of his mana due to an incurable curse.

Even if his total mana pool was 100, only 10 was actually usable.

Since there was no known way to lift the curse, the only way to increase usable mana was by expanding the total pool.

If I wanted to use 100 units freely, I’d have to raise the total to 1,000.

Naturally, given how broken the ability was, the conditions for using Mana Devour were rather strict.

The two biggest prerequisites: the target must be a beast, and the target must be incapacitated.

No matter how fast, the process of devouring mana took at least one minute.

If the target was a strong beast or possessed massive mana reserves, it could take up to 30 minutes.

Therefore, the standard practice was to kill the target first, then use the skill.

Also, all devour-type abilities shared the same cooldown — roughly one day.

In other words, even if I possessed multiple devour skills, I could only use one at a time.

That was not only due to the mechanism of the ability itself—

It was also due to the mental and physical limits of a human being.

‘If you binge on mana recklessly, your body won’t survive it.’

Even now, proof of that fact showed itself in the barely perceptible tremors rippling through my entire body.

At the same time, a flood of negative emotions surged into my mind.

“Ghh….”

Most of them were killing intent and rage.

An uncontrollable urge to rip apart everything in sight rose from deep within me.

The wave of emotion was so fierce and alien that it was impossible to suppress, no matter how hard I tried.

‘Good thing my Mental stat is SS-rank…!’

If it were my current self from reality—

I’d probably have gone insane already.

Even thinking that much was already too much luxury for me right now.

All I could do was focus everything on enduring the emotions crashing into me.

And so, one minute passed — though it felt like thirty.

“Huff… Huff….”

Fortunately, the ordeal didn’t last long.

As proof, a new ability appeared before me.

Regen Stock E

Regenerates a portion of physical damage.

※ When all stock is consumed, the trait disappears. [Remaining Stock: 8]

‘…A shame it’s a consumable ability.’

Still, what mattered most was that I gained a new ability.

The effect wasn’t bad either — good enough to compensate for my lacking early specs.

A true veteran made use of even the most worthless powers at the right time and place.

‘Anyway, that wraps up my first devour.’

I approached the neck of the wolf, which had fainted with foam dripping from its mouth.

The tamer standing nearby clearly knew what I was about to do, but kept his mouth tightly shut.

I gave him a slight nod and adjusted my grip on the sword with both hands.

“For a beast that’s lost control, there’s only one proper way to handle it.”

I raised my sword high and was about to bring it down with full force—

“That’s far enough.”

Something invisible gripped my hands firmly, halting me in place.

“……?”

Startled by the familiar voice from afar, I turned my head sharply.

There stood Michel Bernhardt, wand raised and aimed directly at me.