I’m Just an Ordinary Clown at the Academy

20 – Elysia 4

A dragon.

In fantasy novels and games, they often appear as arrogant and powerful beings, and Croaker was no exception.

Dragons blessed with mana had lifespans and strength beyond that of other creatures. They were skilled in magic, yet their physical abilities were not lacking.

The dragons that I knew of in Croaker were only two in number. And one of them was now coming towards me.

“The one who attacked at the end was Clara.”

“You were the one who ordered it!”

Ignoring my conversation with Clara, Professor Elysia charged forward. But her target wasn’t me; it was Clara.

Professor Elysia reached out with her fist towards Clara.

“Tsk.”

Clara clicked her tongue and conjured a magical shield to protect herself.

A blue shield appeared in front of Clara. Unlike a regular magic shield, it was exceptionally large and thick.

However, when the large and thick magical shield met Professor Elysia’s fist, it shattered into pieces.

“Clara, create a means to defend against close combat aside from the magical shield.”

Professor Elysia advised Clara as she reached out her fist towards her.

Just before Professor Elysia’s fist could reach Clara, I used the thread to pull Clara towards me, causing Professor Elysia’s fist to hit the air.

As Clara was pulled towards me by the thread, she had no choice but to naturally embrace me.

It was what they commonly called a princess embrace. I looked down at Clara and spoke gently.

“How does it feel, like a prince riding a white horse?”

Although I was not a prince by status, I could confidently say that my face was more handsome than the prince in the fairy tales.

Upon hearing my words, Clara grimaced and hit my head with her staff.

“Whose idea was this in the first place? Put me down quickly.”

“Yes! I understand!”

I removed the hand that was supporting Clara, causing her to fall to the ground. As Clara fell to the ground in an instant, she glared at me.

“I asked you to put me down, and you did, but it’s disappointing to see that look in your eyes.”

While Clara and I exchanged a brief conversation, the special class students were being dealt with by Professor Elysia.

“Everything is for the gods!!!!”

“It’s impressive that you bless yourself to fight, but it’s a rather ignorant way to fight.”

In Croarka, priests usually play a role in healing others or bestowing blessings to temporarily enhance their abilities.

However, the bald priest charging at Professor Elysia was different. He bestowed all the blessings upon himself and wielded the Morning Star.

Swish. Swish.

The Morning Star had such a powerful destructive force that the sound of the wind could be heard whenever it moved, but Professor Elysia was never hit.

“Even though it may look like Kuran is swinging his fist ignorantly, it contains the skill of scarcity within.”

Professor Elysia reached out her fist, and the bald priest was struck in the back of the neck and fell.

“However, you rely solely on strength without any skill, that’s why you are easily defeated.”

After the bald priest, the next target of Professor Elysia was an inspector from the East.

With crescent-shaped swords in both hands, the inspector swung them at Professor Elysia.

“You rely too much on the Eastern swordsmanship.”

The two swords drew splendid trajectories towards Professor Elysia, but she easily dodged them.

“Are you disregarding the Eastern swordsmanship?”

“Not at all. You are too fixated on Eastern swordsmanship. It may seem splendid, but paradoxically, it appears simple to those who understand Eastern swordsmanship.”

In my eyes, the two splendid swords seemed to be under the control of Professor Elysia.

“Don’t fixate only on Eastern swordsmanship, create your own. Then, you can become stronger.”

With those words, Professor Elysia delivered a kick to the Eastern inspector, who immediately fainted.

Professor Elysia looked at me and Clara, as if saying, “You two are next.”

“Clara, it seems like we’re next.”

“I can tell just by looking.”

Professor Elysia swiftly kicked the ground and dashed towards us. Just before reaching us, the ground rose, blocking her path.

“…A spirit?”

As Clara said, the only ones capable of such a feat were spirit users, and there was only one spirit user in the special forces.

Sepia Leivaden.

She appeared, pushing back her pink hair, and spoke to me.

“You owe me for this, right?”

Bang!

Professor Elysia smashed the ground with her fist and approached us in one stride.

The four elemental spirits circled around Sepia.

“Attack!”

Sepia commanded the spirits to attack, but they seemed to tremble in fear.

“This has never happened before. Why aren’t they attacking?”

The spirits, being close to nature, instinctively felt fear towards the dragon.

“Sepia Ryvaden, your affinity with the four spirits is high enough to form contracts with all of them, but contracting too many spirits prevents you from fully controlling each one.”

Professor Elysia advised Sepia as she extended her fist.

If Sepia had been able to perfectly control the spirits, they would have overcome their fear and attacked Professor Elysia.

“I’ve just repaid the debt from earlier using this!”

I used my thread to slightly alter the direction of Professor Elysia’s fist. As a result, her fist struck not Sepia, but right next to her.

“Lucas, now’s the time.”

Before I finished speaking, Lucas’s spear fiercely descended from the sky towards Professor Elysia. She propelled herself backwards and dodged the incoming spear.

Lucas swiftly grabbed the spear and swung it towards Professor Elysia. He had become much faster and more formidable compared to the previous entrance ceremony. It was clear how much effort he had put in over the past week. His attacks were sharp, but they didn’t reach Professor Elysia.

“Lucas, I have no separate advice for the spear. But why aren’t you using ‘that power’?”

“Well, that’s… “

“Do you think you can survive at the academy without using that power?”

Stung by her words, Lucas couldn’t respond. Professor Elysia seized the spear and hurled it against the wall.

“That’s your arrogance. To face the strong, the weak must do whatever it takes. Just like that guy over there.”

Professor Elysia spoke while looking at me, and even the students who hadn’t fainted yet turned to me according to Professor Elysia’s gaze.

“Have you picked up all the daggers?”

“Yes! I’ve picked them all up!”

As Professor Elysia said, I walked around the classroom to replenish the fallen daggers.

“Unlike other students, Loki, you seem accustomed to facing strong opponents.”

“The people who taught me were all incredibly strong.”

The two who taught me were the Emperor and the Duke of Adelian.

And those two were incomparably stronger than me.

In the case of the Emperor, he overwhelmed me with shadowy steps.

The Duke of Adelian tormented me with magic permeating his entire body.

Fighting against those two increased my proficiency in setting traps and close combat tremendously.

“The stage equipment hasn’t been set up yet. Can you give me some more time?”

Professor Elysia seemed to notice faster than I expected, realizing that I hadn’t set up the tricks yet.

“Sorry, but that seems impossible.”

“Is that so? Well, I can’t help it! Unfortunately, the stage equipment isn’t ready, but I’ve prepared something else so that Professor won’t be disappointed!”

“Something else?”

Before Professor Elysia could express her doubts, a voice came from behind me. It stuttered a bit, but it was a confident voice.

“I-I succeeded.”

Professor Elysia immediately felt that something had changed in her body.

“Is this… a curse-type spell?”

“Ding-dong! That’s the correct answer.”

Earlier, while picking up the dagger, I asked the sorcerer to cast a spell for me, requesting it from Professor Elysia. If Professor Elysia’s skills are at the level I expect, she should be able to lift the curse right away.

“Didn’t the professor say she wouldn’t use mana?”

Without using mana, even Professor Elysia wouldn’t be able to immediately lift the curse, no matter how skilled she was. Of course, the duration of the curse wouldn’t be too long.

I extended my shadowy steps and rushed towards Professor Elysia, wielding my staff.

Although the curse had slowed Professor Elysia’s movements compared to before, she was still fast.

Rather than focusing on attacking Professor Elysia, I concentrated on dodging. A single hit would mean the end.

As I focused on evading, a gap appeared in Professor Elysia’s defense. I attacked without hesitation, but I was the one who got hit.

Suddenly, Professor Elysia, who had become faster, threw a punch at me. Unable to avoid it due to my posture breaking, I took the hit.

‘Why?’

Why did she suddenly become faster?

The curse hasn’t been lifted yet.

“Unfortunately, I have more experience than you. No matter how skilled you are in hand-to-hand combat, you still fall short compared to me.”

It was only then that I realized. Professor Elysia didn’t suddenly become faster.

The curse wasn’t lifted either.

While under the curse, Professor Elysia deliberately deceived her own speed.

Then, she intentionally revealed a vulnerability. When I targeted that opening, she attacked with her true speed.

Realizing why I was hit, consciousness faded away.

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I opened my eyes.

“I must have fainted.”

Before fainting, I recalled the situation.

I had been thoroughly defeated by Professor Elysia in the hand-to-hand combat.

Currently, Professor Elysia was facing Kuran. How much time had passed?

Thunk!

Kuran took Professor Elysia’s punch and once again fainted. Professor Elysia glanced at the clock with a calm expression.

“About two hours left. Anyone who wakes up during that time will fight me again.”

I closed my eyes again.

“Roki, I know you’re awake.”

She’s still pretending to be unconscious.