As soon as the start signal was given, the three directed their bloodlust at me.
Whoa, rather than just trying to beat me up, itâs more like theyâre trying to murder meâŠwell, itâs still nothing more than a soft breeze though.
Immediately, Suruga turned his palm toward me and unleashed his magic.
ââFireball!â
Yeah, as expected, it lacks firepower all right. Is he trying to get a feel of the situation or could it be, thatâs actually his best shotâŠ
With that in mind, I returned with fireball magic with no chant to cancel it out.
âââNo Chant?âââ
The three of them let out a cry of surprise.
âPlease, anybody can cast elementary magic with no chant, right? âŠwait, donât tell me, could it be that, you canât? Oh come on, so much for having the title of a heroâ
Actually, I know for a fact that this guy possesses the No Chant skill from his status. Kinda makes me wonder why he bothered with the chants.
âS-Shut up! I can do that too!â
Mitsurugi said, and unleashed an Air Cutter spell with no chant.
What a simple-minded buffalo, so easy to read.
I waved my right hand at the Air Cutter as it approached.
Instantly, the Air Cutter disappeared.
âW-Wha, what theâŠâ
Mitsurugi and his goons were upset, not knowing what had happened.
My classmates and knights who were watching the game were also buzzing with excitement, wondering what had happened.
By the way, what I just did was deploy gravity magic to wipe out the spell.
However, since the invocation was instantaneous and the gravity magic was barely noticeable, it seemed that no one but Finne, Tendo and the others had noticed.
Mitsurugi, recovering from his agitation, shouted irritably.
âTsk! If magic doesnât work, then close combat will! Come on!â
âOkay!â
âGot it!â
Mitsurugi and Matsuba brandished their swords, while Suruga held his spear.
Then, in formation, the three of them attacked.
The first one to attack me was Suruga. He unleashed a series of thrusts in an attempt to skewer me, butâŠ
Too slow, way too slow. Itâs so slow that itâs practically stationary, to be honest.
I am not using any physical boosting skill whatsoever, and yet thisâŠwell, I suppose itâs to be expected when the level difference is almost tenfold.
In addition, Mitsurigi and Matsubaâs swords slashing at me from the side, didnât even come close.
âHow come, how come my attacks arenât connecting? What skill are you using? Tell me!â
Suruga shouted in frustration at the lack of any of his attacks hitting me.
âWhy, you askâŠyouâre just too slow.â
ââŠFuckinâ! Sunnava! Take thisâGale Thrust!â
As soon as Suruga chanted the name of the technique, the wind wrapped around the spear and the speed of the thrust became a little faster.
âŠOh, I guess it has become a teeny weeny bit faster.
I easily avoided it.
âWhat theâŠ? How could you have avoided that blowâŠ?â
Suruga said, with a look of despair emerging on his face.
Wait, could that perhaps have been his strongest technique? No frigginâ way? Seriously?
As I was getting upset at the sheer lack of skill, Mitsurugi rushed in.
âGotcha! Go to hell!â
âSo obviousâ
I took a half step and ducked his sword.
Of course youâll give yourself away if you shout out like that.
âWha!?âbut, itâs not yet over!â
The sword that Mitsurugi was swinging downwards suddenly burst into flames.
And then Mitsurugi raised his sword to aim at me.
Iâm not sure if itâs fire magic or wind magic, but the sword accelerated abnormally.
Mitsurugi lifted the corner of his mouth grinning, as if certain he could cut me downâ
The sword stopped before it hit my body.
No, to be precise, it was stopped by my fingertips.
ââWhaâŠâ
Mitsurugi was at a loss for words
âWhy are you getting all stiffened up?â
âH-H-How are you able to stop that?! Itâs a burning sword accelerated by a skill you know!â
âIt didnât have much firepower, and the attack itself wasnât that strongâŠdonât tell me itâs a special move or something similar?â
Honestly, Iâm not trying to stir things up or anything, Iâm just wonderingâŠ
Perhaps he didnât like my reaction, Mitsurugi snapped.
âDonât fuck with me!!â
Mitsurugi took his hand off his sword and struck me with his fist clad in lightning.
âOh, so you wield three attributesâŠtoo bad, youâre still a ways off.â
Wind, fire, and lightning, he seemed to possess some talent, and if trained well, could become reasonably strongâŠbut for now, his fist is just too slow.
I flicked it lightly, and Mitsurugi shouted in surprise, but I ignored him and stepped back.
The next moment, Matsubaâs sword passed by where I was.
I said that and lightly kicked Matsuba and Mitsurugi together.
After that, the three of them tried desperately to attack me, but their attacks didnât even graze my clothing.
The three were breathing hard, and I asked them.
âAre you done? In that case, I guess itâs my turn.â
As soon as I said that, I invoked my intimidation.
âUghâŠâ
âW-What the, hell is thisâŠâŠ?â
âMy body, feels so heavyâŠâ
The three of them took a step or two backwards from the pressure I was putting on them.
âHere I comeâ
I said that and made a move.
ââGuaahh!?â
And in an instant, I closed the distance and kicked Matsuba away.
ââ! Sunnavabitch!â
âHow dare you do that to Ryo!â
Mitsurugi and Suruga shouted and glared at me.
Oh, I didnât expect them to keep their gazes peeled at me like this.
As I was admiring them, Mitsurugi and Suruga started to move at the same time.
If I evade Mitsurugiâs sword, Surugaâs spear would come at me, and if I repel the spear, the sword would slash at me.
However, itâs still a joke compared to the coordination of the elves before their training, and thereâs no indication of their attacks hitting at all.
And then, perhaps frustrated by the fact that their attacks werenât hitting, each blow became more and more sloppy.
âWith such weak attacks, you can forget about hitting. Oops.â
âWha-. Whereâd he go?!â
âBehind maybe?â
Suruga must have looked back on a hunch.
I was already standing at a distance from the two of themâholding a spear in my hand.
âWhat? You want to have a go at me with a spear?â
I replied to Surugaâs words.
âWhy not. Iâll have you know, I possess Spear Arts skills as well.â
ââGet off your fuckinâ high horse goddamnit!â
Perhaps his pride got the better of him, but Surugaâs voice was filled with anger.
âWait, Hayato!â
âLeave it to me, Iâm the one with the advantage when it comes to spears! Iâm going to beat the living daylights out of that braggart!â
Without heeding to Mitsurugiâs call for composure, Suruga readied his spear and lunged at me.
âI dare you, take on my special move!â
âSure, bring it on.â
So, he still had a special move up his sleeve huh? Interesting, all right, show me what you got.
âThereâs no stopping it now, just so you know!â
âYeah whatever, hurry it upâ
Donât tell me, he wants me to beg him to stop?
âArgh, acting all smug!â
Suruga put magic power into his spear, and finally closed the distance between us.
ââSpecial Move, Explosive Spear Frenzy!â
The magic power contained in the spear tip gathered as it rushed forward from the accumulated momentum.
And the moment the magic power reached the tip, it exploded.
And as the name âFrenzyâ implies, the spear was launched repeatedly, and each time the magic power at the tip of the spear exploded.
âNot too shabby.â
As I said this, I parried every thrust with my spear, deflecting their trajectories.
âHow come, how am I unable to land a single hit? How are you able to parry an attack of this speed?â
I replied to Suruga who was exclaiming in frustration.
âItâs the difference in our combat experience and level. From my point of view, your attacks practically appear motionless to meâsimply put, you still have quite a ways to go.â
With that, I flicked Surugaâs spear wide.
âWatch carefully! This is how you wield a spear.â
I then unleashed a series of thrusts at Suruga, who had lost his balance.
Suruga managed to block the thrusts with the spear he held in his hand, but his spear was flicked away after a couple of thrusts.
Finally, a single vivid line colored in blood ran down his cheek.
ââOuch, hieek!â
Suruga let out a pathetic scream as my spear stopped next to his face.
âYouâve lost, now be quiet.â
Suruga nodded at my words, but then Mitsurugi came slashing at me.
âWeâre not done yet!â
I asked while parrying his sword with my spear.
âHow are you going to continue fighting in this situation having lost your spear?â
âShut up! Our bare hands alone are more than enough for the likes of you, right Hayato?â
âY-Yeah!â
Huh, heâs still spouting such nonsense at this stage, sheesh, what a royal pain in the ass.
âOh, you donât say. In that caseââ
I went straight to hit Suruga in the gut with my spear. Of course, not with the tip, but with the butt end.
Suruga moaned and collapsed on the spot, passing out.
âShouldâve known you wouldnât shed a tear until you saw the coffin!â
When Mitsurugi saw Suruga pass out, he glared at me.
âHow dare you!â
âHey, whoa. This is a mock battle, is it not? So, donât glare at me like that.â
And youâre the one who came at me, sheesh, talk about being unreasonable.
âShut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!â
Mitsurugi shouted like a spoiled brat and increased his magic power.
âWhoa, fool. You wanna drag everyone here into this?â
I tried to stop him, but Mitsurugi wouldnât listen.
âShut up! If only, if only you would just disappear! âExplosion!â
As soon as Mitsurugi shouted the spell name, a mass of compressed flames appeared.
I guess a hero is still a hero huh, even one as trashy as he is, because judging from the magic power output, it looks pretty powerful. Enough to blow up this whole training ground, I guess?
Honestly, it still wonât do any damage to me thoughâŠI donât know about the rest of the heroes, but there are knights and others present here as well.
âPhewâŠguess thereâs no helping itâAegis.â
I sighed and wrapped the huge fireball that was about to explode with a barrier.
The magic was activated immediately afterwards, but it did not destroy the barrier.
Mitsurugi was stunned when I easily nullified the attack he had unleashed with all his might.
âNo, wayâŠno way, no way, no frigginâ way! An incompetent like you, thereâs absolutely no way you could have preventedââ
âWould you shut your trap?â
ââHieek?!â
As I said that in a low voice, Mitsurugi let out a scream and backed away.
Matsuba and Suruga, who seemed to have come a while ago, came running up to Mitsurugi.
âHey Kento, are you okay?â
âY-YeahâŠâ
âHey Yuki, weâre back in the game now. So letâs continâ!â
Matsuba didnât seem to have learned his lesson, and tried glaring at me, while saying thatâŠthen he choked on his words.
It was because I had invoked intimidation.
I walked up to Mitsurugi slowly and asked.
âHey, Mitsurugi.â
âW-W-What, what is it?â
âWhy did you use that spell? If I hadnât prevented it, you know very well the damage it would have done to everyone.â
âT-ThatâsâŠâ
Mitsurugi cast his eyes down.
âIf youâd caused a single scratch to any of my friends, Iâd have killed you with my own hands.â
Well, to be honest, I think Finne and the others could have easily avoided it anyway.
âKillingâŠcome now, weâre your classmates, arenât we?!â
âY-Yes, we are!â
Matsuba and Suruga interrupted me.
âYou two, shut it.â
ââHieek!ââ
I glared at them lightly and they instantly quieted down.
Ignoring the two, I spoke to Mitsurugi.
âClassmate or not, I will show no mercy. Any lowlife who dares to put my friends in dangerâIâll kill âem.â
The atmosphere in the training area became tense, and the sound of someone clearing their throat could be heard from afar.
âIâll cut you some slack this time, but donât get carried away just because youâre a hero. Next time you try something funny.â
I then increased the intimidation a notch further.
ââMake no mistake, I will end you. Consider this your final warning.â
Perhaps the three of them could no longer withstand the intimidation, and they passed out under the pressure.
I had not directed any of the intimidation at the audience, but they must have perceived the pressure I was giving off, because for some reason, they all looked kind of pale.
I called out to Glifas to handle the three of them.
âGlifasâ
ââŠâ
âHey Glifas. Can you hear me?â
When I called out to him again, Glifas responded as if he just came to.
ââŠOh, yea, yeah, of course. Thanks for stepping in to stop that just nowâ
âDonât worry about itâŠI should be the one apologizing for the reckless conduct.â
âNah, Iâm just glad there was no damage.â
I gave the instructions to Glifas, who seemed relieved.
âSo, could you toss these three in the underground prison? Iâd like to give them some time to reflect on their actionsâŠthey probably didnât see anything wrong with their conduct, Iâd bet?â
âTell me about it. Theyâve apparently been doing whatever they wanted relying on their status as heroes. Iâve been getting complaints from all over the place, churning my brains out as to what to do.â
I knew it.
âOh, then I guess this is an opportunityâŠor what do you think? Anyway, just take care of these guys, okay.â
âYeah, I got it.â
Glifas then ordered his knight to take the three of them to the prison.
After seeing them off, I turned to the others and started over.
ââWell then, shall we resume the mock battle? Donât worry, Iâm not going to beat you guys up like I did those misfits. So letâs just have a fun time.â