I Became the Academy’s Defensive Swordsman

Chapter 180

Chapter 180

“…This was driving me crazy.”

Once again, countless red marks appeared before my eyes.

I engraved the escape routes into my mind in advance and prepared myself, and moments later—

From the magic circle behind Suiroti, countless boulders poured out and flew toward me.

“Haaah. Seriously, she really used every strange spell there is.”

With a sigh and a mutter to myself, I blocked or dodged those boulders.

Then, using the Mistcatcher’s skill, I summoned fog around me to reduce as much incoming damage as possible.

However, even after that, different types of attacks continued.

Numerous magic circles were summoned behind Suiroti.

From those circles came fireballs, lightning, swords made of light… unpredictable attacks that continued without end.

‘Really… moments like this make me feel thankful.’

My Attack Prediction Skill and my defensive swordsmanship—

Thanks to my defensive traits, I was barely able to block and endure the attacks again this time.

“It’s really fascinating.”

“Huh?”

While I dodged every single one of those attacks—

A magic circle appeared behind my back.

Instinctively, I turned around with my sword raised…

KWAANG—!

“Ugh?!”

A fist belonging to some unknown beast burst out of the magic circle.

I barely managed to block it with the Mistcatcher, but I was sent flying backward.

Thanks to the fog’s damage reduction, I didn’t sustain a serious injury.

‘…But the fog has reached its maximum accumulated damage.’

The fog around me had already turned black.

Because the attacks came endlessly, the accumulated damage had built up far faster than I expected.

But Suiroti seemed uninterested in this change, still staring at me with a gaze full of questions.

“So all these physical attacks work on you. But… hmmm.”

Suiroti’s eyes briefly glowed.

Literally glowed—blue light flickered within her eyes.

Holding onto my focus, I prepared myself for the next spell that would fly at me.

But even after quite some time, nothing happened.

When I cautiously glanced up at Suiroti, she was looking at me with clear confusion.

“Do mental-type spells not work on you at all? Even when I try to contaminate your mind, there’s not even the slightest sign of it. I don’t know what it is, but… some sort of power is protecting your mind and soul.”

“That… I wasn’t sure about the reason either.”

I answered vaguely while studying her.

Suiroti was definitely still controlling the minds of countless people.

Perhaps because of that, she seemed unable to use particularly powerful spells on me.

‘Even so… she’s such a troublesome opponent.’

Spells flew in irregular patterns, and on top of that, there was the overwhelming physical size that came with being a dragon.

To be honest, that size was the biggest problem.

I could somewhat deal with the spells Suiroti cast.

But the defensive power of her dragon body was overwhelmingly strong.

No matter how much I swung my sword at Suiroti, it felt like I wouldn’t even leave a scratch on that body.

‘The Mistcatcher has already reached maximum accumulated damage… and even if I used Blood Energy, maybe I could leave a wound… but dealing a fatal blow would definitely be impossible.’

Given the situation, attacking Suiroti was pointless.

So as originally planned, if I simply stalled for time…

‘…Hm?’

While thinking to myself, something suddenly caught my eye.

Now that I looked closely—there was a scar on Suiroti’s neck.

It had healed quite a bit, but the mark itself was definitely visible.

And at that moment, something came to mind.

‘Right. Lisa had struck Suiroti’s neck.’

Using powerful Blood Energy, Lisa had dealt a blow to Suiroti last night.

Even then, she couldn’t inflict a fatal injury.

But she had indeed landed a hit, and that wound was still left on Suiroti’s body.

Whether she had used healing magic or not, the wound had healed significantly… but as mentioned, it hadn’t fully closed.

The thick skin was slightly split apart, enough for the inside to faintly show.

‘…Well, nothing to lose by trying.’

Landing at least one proper hit on Suiroti—

It was worth attempting at least once.

That said, I also couldn’t forget the original objective of stalling for time…

“Suiroti. Now that I think about it, after that gem on your forehead shattered, nothing special happened?”

“Are you mocking me? Of course plenty happened. That gem was the source of the curse I cast. Because you shattered it, every curse I had laid using it completely vanished.”

“You mean the curse you placed on the other races?”

“Correct. That curse placed on the other races—the one that prevented them from ever revealing anything about Lord Bedir and the erased past—that curse disappeared. It’s regrettable, but it no longer mattered. The moment you uncovered the truth and Rage began to move in earnest… the meaning of that curse disappeared.”

While pretending to listen attentively to Suiroti’s words, I carefully observed every movement of the Evil Dragon.

She definitely seemed uncomfortable moving because of the wound on her neck.

If I were to aim for something, that was the right spot to target.

Still, for now, I thought I should try to stall for a bit longer.

Might as well get a bit more information out of her while I could.

“But that massive gem—you only used it to cast a curse that prevented other races from revealing the truth? For something bestowed by the Evil God, it seemed rather underused…”

“You think I only used it on other races? I went around casting curses all over the place.”

“Now that you mention it, you said you cursed the Head of the House Hawkbat a long time ago too, right? Come to think of it, you really used that gem quite a lot.”

“Of course. I cast all sorts of curses on every house that stood in Lord Bedir’s way.”

“All sorts of curses?”

Feigning curiosity, I tilted my head.

And Suiroti… perhaps being the type who enjoyed talking, continued her explanation.

“There were plenty of curses that gem could grant, beyond ones that prevented people from speaking the truth. Curses of short life, misfortune, hallucination, disease—you name it. There were many curses meant to bring misfortune upon their targets.”

“I see. Then perhaps… did you ever cast a curse on my family as well? I mean, the Kyrgram Family.”

I asked Suiroti absentmindedly, purely to drag out more time.

But what she said afterward… was quite unexpected.

“Of course I did. But I didn’t place that strong of a curse on your family. Humans who didn’t know anything about the truth anyway… I just left a mild Curse of Weakness and a Curse of Short Life and moved on.”

“…Curse of Weakness?”

“It’s a curse that seals one’s innate power. Those born afterward from the Kyrgram bloodline would all have weak mana by nature… and their Aura would have been sealed as well.”

“…Ah.”

At those words, something came to mind.

“My Aura being sealed… could that have been because of that curse?”

“Oh? Your Aura was sealed? I didn’t know that. You were using it so well that I assumed the curse had already vanished.”

“It was sealed until a few months ago. My instructor helped me lift it.”

“To think a human could undo that seal. I suppose the curse really had weakened quite a bit.”

Suiroti let out a small, hollow laugh as she spoke.

“Curses placed upon a bloodline tend to weaken over time… as the generations continue. The curse itself persisted through your lineage, but I suppose it eventually weakened. Back when I first cast it, your ancestors couldn’t even use Aura, and their mana was sealed so they couldn’t use magic either.”

“But after hundreds of years, it seems the curse has almost disappeared.”

“Right. And the Curse of Short Life as well—no, it must have vanished completely by now. Since the gem bestowed by Lord Bedir was destroyed, every curse running through your bloodline should have disappeared.”

“Well, at this point, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”

I smiled faintly as I looked up at Suiroti.

“As you said, the curse running through my bloodline had already weakened long ago. But what exactly was the Curse of Short Life you placed on my family?”

“Just as the name suggested—a curse that shortened life. Thanks to it, your ancestors usually didn’t even live past thirty. Whether by illness or accident…”

“…And despite such a curse, they still managed to carry on the family line.”

“That surprised me too. I’d originally placed that curse to end your bloodline entirely, but somehow it persisted for centuries… until it finally reached you.”

Suiroti, in the middle of her story, suddenly tilted her head, as if puzzled.

“Wait a minute, something’s strange. Now that I think about it, the Kyrgram Family was… a collateral branch, wasn’t it? A bloodline least affected by the Mainac Family’s influence. So among its members, there were almost no white-haired people in my memory.”

As she said that, Suiroti stared intently at me.

More precisely, she seemed to be examining my starkly white hair.

“Among the Kyrgram back then, there wasn’t a single human with such white hair… Right. None at all. And since it’s been hundreds of years since the Mainac Family perished, any trace of white hair should have faded completely, yet that human’s hair is…”

Suiroti muttered as though utterly unable to comprehend it.

Then, a moment later—

As if something had clicked in her mind, her eyes widened in realization.

“Ah! That half-elf from back then. Don’t tell me… Yes, now everything makes sense. Why my magic didn’t work on you, and why I could feel such an excessive amount of… blessing from other races emanating from you. Yes. That’s it.”

“I didn’t know what you just remembered, but please tell me after this.”

“What are you—Uuurgh?!”

An enormous bolt of lightning struck down from the sky.

While I held her attention, I had secretly been drawing upon the Power of Peregrie.

Dark clouds had gathered above, but Suiroti hadn’t noticed, too focused on our conversation.

Thanks to that, I was able to drop the lightning precisely onto the Evil Dragon’s head.

“You… you dare…!”

Perhaps because the lightning strike was quite strong, Suiroti’s body stiffened momentarily.

I didn’t waste the chance—I raised my sword high.

Aura and Blood Energy flared to their limits, enveloping my entire body.

On top of that, I had finished preparing the Black Mist.

‘…Let’s do this.’

I charged straight toward Suiroti.

And swung my sword at her neck.

At the very wound Lisa had left on Suiroti.

Even though I rushed in head-on, Suiroti failed to react—

KWA-KWA-KWAANG—!

My sword and body, strengthened with Aura and Blood Energy—

And the Violet Current that burst out from within the Black Mist.

I unleashed the strongest strike I could muster, and it landed squarely on Suiroti’s neck.

“Kuuaaaaargh!”

Inside Benetic Stadium—

Suiroti’s agonizing scream echoed throughout the arena.