novelraw Chapter 288 : Chapter 288
Chapter 288 : Chapter 288
Chapter 288: Lecture (2)
Calling the gathering of students at the academy late at night, close to midnight, a lecture—that was surprising to some students.
But it wasn't what most were stunned by.
The word final.
That term preceding "lecture" was enough to shock them.
Da-yeon's eyes, standing at the front, trembled.
Likewise, her voice trembled when she finally managed to speak.
Adjusting her posture despite Ho-cheol's pressure, she asked, unable to comprehend.
"The final lecture?"
Ho-cheol did not answer.
Instead, he lightly swung the axe he was holding up and down.
A powerful gust of wind swirled around him, ruffling the students' clothes and hair.
It felt awkward to use a weapon other than a sword or a staff after a long time.
He rested the axe on his shoulder again and answered.
"Yes. The final one."
It was a natural conclusion.
Even if Ho-cheol found a position at Clington again and returned to being a professor, he wouldn't teach them anyway.
From the third year onward, students only engaged in external activities through internships and did not receive any education within the academy.
Their relationship would probably amount to nothing more than taking a photo together at graduation.
Moreover, that was only if he was lucky enough to return as a professor, and in Ho-cheol's view, the probability of him never returning was over 90%.
"Time is short, so I won't ramble on."
Ho-cheol tilted his head.
"First. Let's see how meaningfully you all spent the second semester without me."
He lightly surveyed the students.
Just his gaze alone intensified the crushing pressure in the space.
The students staggered greatly, as if their legs had suddenly given out.
The sticky, intense killing intent and pressure, which made breathing difficult, were far stronger and denser than anything they had ever experienced in a real fight.
The oppressive, spine-chilling sensation that enveloped their entire bodies was incomparable to the killing intent and pressure Ho-cheol had displayed on the first day of class to establish a clear hierarchy.
It was powerful enough to make most B-ranks collapse immediately, foaming at the mouth.
Even A-ranks who were slightly weak would find it impossible to perform properly.
Ho-cheol himself honestly expected a few students to be completely incapacitated.
However.
In a positive sense, he realized he was mistaken.
Though they were barely holding on, none of the students fell; they all stood straight, looking at Ho-cheol.
"Oh."
Ho-cheol let out a small exclamation of admiration.
I didn't expect all of them to withstand this.
Of course, their pure combat power would be little different from a B-rank, but it was evidence that they had superior resistance to mental attacks, especially under the stress of a real fight, or against specific psychological assaults.
"Not bad. You've improved a lot."
He offered an honest compliment, then brought the axe, which had been resting on his shoulder, forward and aimed it at the students.
"Then let's start immediately."
Ho-cheol motioned toward the weapons scattered on the floor with his chin.
"These weapons. They are the ones you used during training, so find the one you used and pick it up."
Why else would he scatter the weapons around, making it difficult to clean up later?
Since they must have all arrived unarmed, he wasn't so harsh as to tell them to fight bare-handed.
Despite Ho-cheol's declaration, the students hesitated, unable to rush him.
Someone slowly raised a hand.
"Um, Professor? It's too dark. Could we turn on the lights first?"
"We cannot."
Ho-cheol replied, dismissing the idea.
I deliberately made it dark.
Everyone blinked in confusion at Ho-cheol's short answer.
Ho-cheol sighed at their reaction.
I knew this would happen.
Why would Ho-cheol suddenly call together students who should be resting at home during the end of the year?
He casually put down the axe and asked the students.
"Among you, who has experience with nighttime field deployments in your external activities this semester?"
Everyone just looked at each other, but no one raised a hand.
They were all finished and sent home by 6 PM, or 7 PM at the latest.
Even Da-yeon and Ye-jin hadn't had that experience, so it was a natural outcome.
Ho-cheol shook his head at the sight.
Do villains wait for day or night?
No, it was more often the case that those who caused trouble did so at night.
"That's the problem."
Nighttime hero activity.
There were instances where novice heroes were utterly defeated despite having no deficiency in skill or mentality, and the time period was always at night.
Of course, if the urban area had artificial lights making it no different from the daytime, it wasn't a big issue, but that meant nothing once you strayed slightly outside the city limits.
Furthermore, if streetlights and artificial lighting failed due to the effects of combat or Trait usage, they would have to face a villain in complete darkness.
"I won't deny that you've gained a good amount of real-world experience so far. But that experience was all gained only during the day. When night falls and the light disappears, it's as if you're replacing your experience gauge with a new, empty one."
In the darkness, most concepts they had learned and mastered became useless.
That's why they could suffer fatal injuries from opponents far weaker than themselves.
Truthfully, even though he had mostly shed the professor label, he didn't need to step up like this even if he realized the problem.
They were diligent kids who would fix the problem if he just pointed it out in the group chat.
The remaining sense of responsibility as an educator pricked his conscience.
And wouldn't it be sad if the students who first learned from him went out as heroes and got into trouble because they didn't know this important detail?
…After all, they were all precious students.
"So, the purpose of today's lecture is simple. How to continue fighting using senses other than sight in this darkness. The circumstances when a sword cuts, the force and form of an axe falling, and the counter-methods for arrows and knives that are hard to detect."
Ho-cheol declared.
"I will beat it into you until your bodies remember everything today."
The students looked at Ho-cheol with faces full of admiration. They never imagined he would care about them this much.
Ho-cheol put his hand in his pocket and operated a remote control.
This was why he chose this training hall as the location.
Kiiiiing—
The Time Acceleration Device attached to the training hall ceiling began operating with a loud noise.
A transparent barrier covered the entire training hall, creating a time distortion between the inside and the outside.
The difference was five times.
One hour spent talking here meant less than 10 minutes had passed outside.
During the last lecture, he had set it to three times, judging that to be the students' limit, but after their continuous training, they would probably be able to handle five times somehow.
"Alright, who wants to go first?"
Ho-cheol, having explained the purpose of today's lecture, asked again.
"I don't plan to bother with one-on-one fights like last time. You can all come at me at once."
Simultaneously with his words, someone crouched down in the darkness and lunged toward Ho-cheol.
The fact that it was too dark for the students to see properly also meant that it was difficult for Ho-cheol to distinguish the face of his opponent.
However, he didn't need to see their face to confirm who it was.
The student who crouched picked up a weapon lying on the floor.
A weapon that could be assembled into both a Chain sticks and a spear simultaneously.
With that weapon, the user was obvious.
The spear was thrust, aiming for Ho-cheol's neck.
Ho-cheol simultaneously swung his axe.
Whoosh—
Crash!
The axe attempted to strike the spear shaft, but the spear body bent before it could, dodging the axe.
Returning the axe that hit the floor, Ho-cheol lightly twisted his upper body and rotated his shoulder.
The blade at the spearhead barely grazed his side.
He lightly floated the axe and snatched it with his left hand.
At the same time, he pulled his returning right hand tight against his side and delivered a punch, putting the elasticity of his waist into it.
Bang!
A shockwave clearly spread out with the sound of air bursting.
The student dropped the spear and crossed both arms to try and block the punch, but ultimately couldn't withstand it and was pushed backward.
Instead of retracting his straight punch, Ho-cheol tilted it ninety degrees and brought his elbow down, whipping it to the side.
Another student, who had grabbed a weapon, was already swinging a dagger aimed at Ho-cheol's side.
Before the dagger, held in a reverse grip, could stab his shoulder, his elbow struck the student's solar plexus first.
Thwack!
After that, students rushed toward Ho-cheol from every direction in the darkness.
They kicked off the ground, rapidly closing the distance.
Fierce attacks poured in without ceasing.
A blade flew toward his back.
As soon as he turned his body and brought his axe down to block it, an arrow from the side twisted and targeted his neck.
Clang!
He lowered the axe, using the handle to press the blade down, while simultaneously extending his free hand toward the student's collar.
But as if anticipating the attack, the student also pulled back their sword and reached out their hand to strike Ho-cheol's wrist.
At that moment, Ye-jin's knuckle struck the back of Ho-cheol's floating hand.
Thud—!
Everyone quickly retreated and blinked in surprise.
The first effective hit.
They had engaged in many real-combat exercises with him in his lectures, but this was certainly the first time he had allowed an attack.
Ho-cheol also seemed surprised, flexing and unflexing his hand.
"Oh."
A small exclamation of admiration escaped his lips.
Of course, numerical superiority often wins, but taking a hit like this was unexpected.
"I didn't think I'd get hit even once. If this is the case…"
The lights in the training hall were all off, but it wasn't absolute darkness.
The clouds had disappeared, and moonlight was filtering in through the window.
Ho-cheol slowly walked and stood beneath the moonlight.
And then.
"…Hup."
Someone gasped.
Everyone tensed up from the chills running down their spines.
Why was Ho-cheol standing under the moonlight with his eyes closed?
Was he just closing them now?
Or… had he been fighting all this time with his eyes closed?
Unfortunately for the students, Ho-cheol was the latter.
He slowly opened one eye and said.
"This is good enough. I can fight with my eyes open now."
The real lecture began now.
***
43 people.
Every one of them was scattered haphazardly on the floor.
Despite the chilly air, as the heating was off, sweat streamed down their foreheads, and they were all panting for breath.
Five hours.
In reality, barely an hour had passed outside, but under the guise of a lecture, they had engaged in a fierce battle against Ho-cheol for five hours.
Of course, it was fierce from their perspective.
"Is anyone else going to get up?"
By Ho-cheol's standards, the answer was clearly no.
Only groans could be heard from various places, and no one could get up.
Only he stood there leisurely, with his hands clasped behind his back, looking at them.
Four times.
He allowed only four effective hits in five hours.
He had even matched his physical level to the students' average, let alone using his Trait.
Moreover, he was holding a weapon he wasn't accustomed to, so one might think it was a natural outcome.
Honestly, Ho-cheol was quite surprised.
He thought he wouldn't get hit even once after opening his eyes, but occasionally, a meticulous combination or an attack so sharp it made him momentarily gasp in admiration came through.
Considering that they were all swept away by a single, thin branch at the beginning of the semester, this was more than just an increase in skill.
It wasn't just reaction speed or combat thinking.
They had definitely learned how to counter him.
At this level, they were at the average of B-rank, no.
Considering the unfamiliar situation of darkness, some of them would be able to put up a good fight even against A-ranks, depending on the match-up.
"This level isn't bad."
The students felt relieved by Ho-cheol's assessment.
In his infinitely high and strict standards, the phrase "isn't bad" meant more than just avoiding failure; it was the most positive evaluation that could come from his mouth.
Ho-cheol momentarily touched his lips, pondering.
Then he spoke.
"No. It was excellent."
Therefore, everyone murmured when that next sentence came out.
"It was obvious that you all worked very hard. You've really improved a lot."
When, who, and where had they ever received such praise—no, such admiration?
"You continually strived, developed, and showed the results. I genuinely believe it's a good thing that the ones who attended my lecture were you and no one else."
Everyone was silent at his true feelings.
And shortly after.
Sobs mixed with tears were heard from various places.
"Uh, what?"
Ho-cheol, uncharacteristically genuinely bewildered, uttered a foolish sound.
Why are these kids suddenly crying!