Chapter 14 : Gap of the battlefield and the battlefield (2)

“First, I think we need to figure out your position.”After shaking hands, the teacher spoke while taking out his phone.The phone looked rather comical in my eyes, contrasted against his large frame.My position.

As a human, I probably would have used both sword and magic, and as an Outer God, I used abyssal magic through crystals.

Thinking about it that way, I seemed closer to a mage. But I doubted that’s the kind of position he was talking about.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘position’?”When I asked, the teacher, struggling to tap on his smartphone, said,

“It’s about forming parties to prepare for battles against monsters with significantly different power levels. There are various specific terms, but broadly speaking, it’s melee, ranged, and support. It’s divided into these three.

“Simply put, it was the pursuit of safe combat. Guardians were those who burned their lives fighting, so they valued every single person.

Thus, their combat doctrine naturally had to prioritize safety as much as possible. I could understand that, but…
“…I don’t think I need that.”

It might sound arrogant, but I truly thought so.Most of my attacks were not suited for fighting alongside someone.

Especially the abyssal magic I used had the potential to cause mental instability in ordinary humans.

“Hmph. You said your name was Seo-hyun, right? Listen well. ….”The teacher scoffed and began to tell his life story.

It was a story about an ability user who overestimated his own skills and ended up putting people in danger. It was interesting, but I didn’t find it particularly helpful. More than that, becoming strong enough to tear apart the conceptual manipulation of impurities was more important to me.

As my expression gradually soured, the teacher nodded as if he understood.

“…Indeed, those close to S-rank mostly act alone. However, can you guarantee that you’re at that level? I’ve gained a lot of experience through numerous battles, so although my insight is limited, it won’t be too difficult to determine the level of your power.

“In short, he wanted me to show him my skills.It wasn’t a bad idea. I thought it would be more beneficial to read one more document about the universe of this world than to worry about things like positioning.

“How?”

“A spar.”His voice was filled with competitive spirit. He was quite an easy-to-understand type of person.
*I stepped onto the sparring ground set up at one end of the training field.Though it was called a sparring ground, it was practically the size of a small training field.

‘The material is unusual.’While the teacher went to fetch protective gear, I crouched down, touched the floor, and thought.It was a unique ore material, presumably enchanted with shock absorption, magic absorption, and automatic restoration magic.

Out of curiosity, I enhanced the cutting power of my crystals and cut into it; the cross-section was impressive.I discreetly pocketed a fragment for research and looked back.The kids were running around a large steel doll in the center.

Seeing Ha-neul, who was also A-rank, mingling and busily moving among them, I wondered what it would have been like if I had joined them, but then shook my head.That kind of thing didn’t suit my fighting style at all.I was rather worried that my involvement would hinder their growth.As I watched them, the teacher came running from afar. No, flying.

*Thud.*The ground shook as the teacher landed on the sparring ground.

“Here, take this.”I received the protective gear he handed me and wore it over my uniform.

It was a piece of armor that looked like it belonged somewhere between the modern and medieval eras, with a red plate on the chest and chainmail covering the rest of the body.The teacher patted the chest plate of his own armor and said,

“Let’s start by exchanging attacks and defenses once each. As long as you don’t launch any fatal attacks, it’ll be fine.”
“Should I attack first?”

“Go ahead.”I wasn’t planning to hold back.I created nine crystal spikes sharpened to a razor’s edge and floated them in the air. Filled with distorted mana.

Aiming for his arms and legs. I reinforced them further by coating them with magic power and directed them to fly towards the teacher.

They flew, each tracing its own trajectory as if alive.The teacher, with a confident smile, tried to catch them with his gauntlets.That won’t work.

“Absorb!”Just before the crystal spikes touched the teacher’s hands, he seemed to sense something, widened his eyes, quickly retracted his arms, and moved from the spot.He said he’d been through many battles. His senses were quite sharp.
“What did you put in those things?”The teacher’s expression was clearly bewildered.Instead of answering, I snapped my fingers, intending to show him directly.Bang! The spikes that had stopped in the spot where he had been standing simultaneously caused mana explosions.If he’d been caught in that, he would’ve suffered from mana reflux for a few days. Of course, I didn’t intend to go that far.

“If you’d caught them carelessly, it would’ve been checkmate.”The teacher muttered as if he understood, rolling his shoulders with a crack.

“I see why the Association’s measurers made such a fuss. I’ve never seen magic like that before.”It wasn’t even magic in the first place.I swallowed that fact and said to him,

“Is it your turn to attack now?”

“Indeed. Like this!!”*Kwang!!*He charged at me in the blink of an eye.The moment I saw the silver-shining gauntlets in front of me, I instinctively drew my greatsword and deflected his blow. Despite reinforcing my body with magical power, tremendous force spread through my body, making me stagger.

“What, you weren’t a magic-type?”

“I’m also… somewhat skilled with a sword!!”The teacher spoke, seemingly dumbfounded, after I deflected his fist.Replying to him, I used the scattering energy to spin around and deliver a counterattack. The glowing red blade flashed, aiming for his waist.

“Kh.” Groaning, I said to the retreating teacher, “Your decisive blow was blocked, do you want to continue?”It felt strange to see him, a muscle-bound man, being pushed back so helplessly by me.I wondered if it was a kind of pleasure, or not. Was this what exhilaration felt like?

I decided to ask my sister later and looked at the teacher to hear his answer.And then I witnessed a truly strange sight.A grown man, a teacher whose entire body was muscular, had tears in his eyes.

It was such a bizarre sight that I performed a mental check to see if I was hallucinating, but unfortunately, it was reality.Did I somehow scratch his pride?With mixed feelings, I approached him to say something. At that moment,

“Kya?!”

“Uhahahaha! You can’t escape this!!”Thick, muscular arms grabbed and lifted me up with incredible speed. The so-called ‘airplane ride.’ I screamed at the sudden situation. Flustered, I deployed a crystal barrier around me and triggered a flash of light.Flash.

“Ugh?!”The teacher hurriedly closed his eyes. The sudden burst of intense light drew the attention of the students who were training. I took advantage of the moment, transforming into a dark mist, slipping through his fingers, and stood on the sparring ground, staggering.

Anger and another unknown emotion surged within me.My head heated up, my heart pounded, my face flushed red. My mind grew hazy and distant. As if expressing this feeling, a large crystal mass began to form in the air.The teacher’s face turned pale as he saw the oval-shaped crystal mass, spinning and constantly expanding.

“W-wait! Seo-hyun! I was wrong!”His desperate cry brought my mind, which had been floating high in the distant sky, back down.Return.

The crystal wriggled as if alive, converging into a single point and vanishing.Whew. I breathed a sigh of relief, watching the scene.

Even though it was created impulsively without any special manipulation, fortunately, the mind-control function was deactivated.

As I calmed down, I touched my cheek. The heat that had risen to my face still hadn’t subsided.I had a rough idea of what the feeling I had just experienced was. It was probably embarrassment.

“P-please don’t do that… next time.”I said to the teacher and left the sparring ground.I wanted to see Hyun-a.