chapter 96
96 – Sepia Revisited 6
Duran’s subordinate, who had been swinging an axe at Loki, looked up at Loki standing on the embedded axe and shouted.
“Where do you think you’re arrogantly standing right now!”
E, who boasted of being a second-year student, had long lost his composure due to Loki’s continuous provocations while avoiding attacks with his hands in his pockets.
“Yeah, stay there for a moment!”
In this situation, E tried to lift the entire axe that Loki was standing on to blow him away.
“Huuhh!!”
Confident in his strength, E tried to enhance his body with mana to lift the axe, but no matter how much he enhanced his body with mana, the axe didn’t budge.
“Is there a problem?”
A mocking voice full of laughter echoed from above the axe.
Loki was still comfortably standing with his hands in his pockets.
“aaargh!!!”
Furious, E tried with all his might to move the axe, but it still wouldn’t budge.
“Huh, can’t you keep it quiet now that it’s noisy?”
“Haa… haa…”
With the sound of a yawn, E looked at Loki while breathing heavily.
The smiling eyes and the pattern of the drawn mouth on the mask somehow felt eerie.
“Tsk. That useless guy.”
Seeing E being ridiculed by Loki, Duran licked his tongue once and signaled to other students by tapping his chin.
-Srlung.
After dealing with more than ten students who were behind him, they drew their swords upon Dolun’s signal and charged at Loki.
‘No matter how powerful Loki is, that number of people…’
Sephia, holding her sword, tried to assist Loki as she saw people rushing towards him.
Even if Loki is overwhelming them now.
If that many people attack at once, he might get hurt.
Thinking of the tragedy that occurred in the village when Loki was injured, Sephia felt uneasy.
As Sephia was about to summon the spirit to assist Loki.
-Thunk.
Someone raised their hand above her head.
Turning her head in discomfort, Sephia was taken aback.
‘Where did he come from?’
Loki, who was just on the axe a moment ago, was right next to her.
The discomfort she felt when someone put their hand on her head disappeared as she confirmed that it was Loki.
“Ah, the person who was barking loudly, I took care of him.”
Without realizing Loki’s words had become somewhat rough, she turned her head to where Loki was just now.
“Ugh!”
The man who was wielding an axe against Loki was now lying on the ground, tied with a rope.
The man struggled, trying to untie the rope, but it showed no intention of breaking.
“Sephia, don’t worry. Have a drink here and wait. I’m going to show you something interesting.”
Fetching a drink from somewhere in the space and handing it over, Loki, with his sword drawn, seemed to be enjoying something.
Sephia stared blankly at Loki, who was moving with his hand in his pocket.
There was no need to worry, just as Loki had said.
-Whoosh!
-Boom!
-Zoom!
Over ten students swung their weapons or cast spells with all their might, but they couldn’t even graze Loki.
It reminded Sephia of the entrance exam, when Loki would slaughter artificial monsters without a hitch.
The only difference now was that the ones attacking Loki were not mindless monsters, but people.
Just like back then, no one could land a hit on Loki.
He toyed with the students, keeping his hand in his pocket as if entertaining children.
“Surround him!!!”
Realizing that they couldn’t do anything in their current state, one person gave the order, and the others surrounded Loki.
Thinking that this would make him take things more seriously, the person who gave the order was mistaken. Loki still didn’t take his hand out of his pocket as he spoke.
“Hmm. When I was surrounded by girls, I didn’t feel anything special, but now that it’s guys, my heart is racing.”
Loki was enjoying himself, just as Sephia had thought.
If he had a poker face, he wouldn’t even consider fighting.
It wasn’t a necessary fight, but thinking about how it would rattle Darrun, he started to get excited.
Being surrounded by students with swords didn’t intimidate him in the slightest.
“Why are you just standing there quietly, surrounded by me? You, who doesn’t even remember the name of someone you’re about to bite like a dog.”
“No matter who you are, you won’t endure this. Attack all together!!!!”
Students swung swords or attacked Loki from all directions.
They took pride in their coordinated attacks.
So, even though Loki had easily avoided attacks so far, they believed this assault would succeed.
-Whoosh.
-Thud.
But, unfortunately, the result was the same as before.
Their attacks didn’t reach Loki.
-Whoosh.
Loki easily dodged the simultaneous attacks from the front and back by lowering his head.
“Don’t tell me catching someone off guard like this is all you’ve got?”
Even Ascal, the youngest imperial knight, struggled to attack Loki.
There’s no way I’ll be caught by such weaklings, not even by Johanna.
Just by looking at their gaze, shoulders, and the movement of their feet, it was clear how they would move and swing their swords.
“Come on. Cheer up. I haven’t even taken my hands out of my pockets yet. Even if I get rejected by the owner while doing this, I wouldn’t know.”
Sepia hadn’t realized it yet, but Loki’s personality and tone were a bit different from usual.
The image of Loki shown to the students so far was influenced by two traits.
[Poker Face], [Jester]
The poker face suppressed Loki’s emotions and personality.
If Loki had only Pokerface, he would have seemed like a cold-blooded person without any emotions.
But that was covered by the clown on top.
However, now that Pokerface wasn’t functioning.
Loki, influenced only by the characteristics of the clown, used honorifics, but in between, a bit of Loki’s personality was embedded.
“Sigh… You said I’d be weak if I didn’t use magic, right?”
Upon hearing the student muttering to himself, exhausted from the attack, Loki burst into laughter.
‘Does he really think I consider winning the practical exam as relying on magic?’
The reason for using magic in the practical exam was simply because it was the most efficient and surefire way to secure the first place.
.
.
Even when they all attacked together, they couldn’t even graze Loki’s clothes, making Darun bewildered.
‘What should I do? Should I stop now?’
Thinking that if they didn’t give him a chance to use magic, they would quickly catch him, but they were not at all a match.
-Crack.
Darun, nervously biting his nails, was pondering on what to do.
“Do you really think I’d tolerate that?”
Of course, Loki, who couldn’t overlook Darun’s expression, was not going to end it so blandly.
“Take a look around. If it ends like this, what do you think will happen? Roll that underdeveloped head of yours and think about it.”
Loki, lightly slipping through the students surrounding him, approached Darun and whispered in his ear.
Having heard Loki’s words, Darun glanced around.
All passing students came to a halt. A murmur filled the air.
It was a problem that the second-year students were collectively attacking a first-year student, but a bigger issue was that he was being ridiculed unilaterally.
There was no shame in everyone attacking together, but there was no greater humiliation than being taunted alone.
-Rumble, rumble.
Although Darun couldn’t hear what the students watching were saying, for some reason, he thought they were mocking him, and his face turned red.
“Use your artifacts!!!!”
At Darun’s loud shout, his subordinates began pulling out different artifacts from their pockets.
Artifacts.
That was the reason they became Darun’s subordinates.
Magic tools that enhanced physical strength or accelerated magic casting speed.
Students who had already strengthened themselves once with artifacts either couldn’t forget the taste or became Darun’s subordinates to maintain their grades.
-Applause, applause.
As Darun’s subordinates all brought out their artifacts, Loki began exaggeratedly applauding.
“That’s right! This is how it should be! To catch one first-year, we all have to jump in together, break him, and desperately catch him with artifacts. Seeing this pathetic attempt to catch a first-year, clapping is just instinctive.”
Although the students’ faces seemed like they would burst into red at Loki’s mocking words, there was no intention to stop using artifacts.
Already, their minds, excited by Loki’s provocation, were dominated by the idea of defeating Loki.
That’s why Darun and his subordinates didn’t notice the camera already turning in the corner.
“Well, I don’t particularly want to fight with the seniors. But, you know, to avoid getting hurt, ‘inevitably,’ I have to take out my weapon.”
Because this is self-defense. Saying so, Loki summoned his weapon from the void.
No one knew the tip of Loki’s tail, protruding from the mask.
Yeehaw! Now I can really kick some ass.