I got into school for nothing - Chapter 274
I got into school for nothing (274)
Lesson 53. Equivalent Exchange - 6
—KWA-KWANG!
The Stormrain Sword, split into hundreds of blades, literally became a deluge, striking the rear of the retreating imperial army.
—R-Run away!
—No, too fas— Kuaaaagh!
If they had blocked them head-on, they might have realized that the power of each individual blade wasn't extraordinary, but the routed soldiers, having lost their main forces and now fleeing, lacked the ability to discern that. Ultimately, they could only escape after surrendering the concepts of roughly a hundred more individuals to Ban Yuwon.
[You have gained Life 1,055, Body 855, Mana 1,117, Imperial Weapon Arts 1,068, Standardized Weapons 1,268.]
Perhaps it was because the Imperial Army possessed a unified system, but the concepts collected from them also held unique characteristics.
Realizing anew the truth that even the background before conceptualization is important in combining lower concepts to form higher ones, Ban Yuwon absorbed and internalized all the concepts he had just collected.
[Life increases by 15, Wonshin increases by 10, Won-gi increases by 20, and the depth of Giwon Sword deepens by 10.]
Most of those numerous concepts were shattered, not into a tenth, but into a hundredth of their original value.
Still, by system standards, this was equivalent to the core concepts increasing by at least 1 Level each, so he decided to be satisfied.
During the period when his growth had stagnated, no matter how many concepts he gathered, they had no effect. Compared to that time, this was simply overwhelming and gratifying.
“As expected, an A-grade dimension is different in every way... Huh?”
After equally distributing over a thousand weapon concepts among the twenty-five Stormrain Swords that had played a major role in this battle, he turned around and saw Dokgo Yeon standing solitary in the middle of the battlefield, where only corpses and scrap metal remained.
With the hand holding her short sword drawn to her chest and her eyes gently closed, she looked as if she were praying. Prayer amidst a battlefield soaked in blood and death—how perfectly it suited her, wouldn't you say? Of course, in reality, she was probably just refining her unique martial art, which grew stronger by accumulating the energy of death.
[What terrifying talent. She’s the same age as you, isn’t she?]
Ban Yuwon shrugged his shoulders, answering Cellon, who asked in a voice filled with awe.
“She seems reluctant to say, but she might actually be a year or so younger than me.”
[Even younger? Hah. I wouldn’t go so far as to insist that all powerful individuals must originate from higher dimensions, but she’s different. That systematic fighting style, that absurdly dense, superior mana... It’s a strength that couldn’t exist in a lower dimension. If I hadn’t met you, a formidable cheat yourself, I wouldn’t have been able to comprehend her existence.]
“Haha... Who would have known Yeon would be even stronger on a battlefield like this?”
The other Team Rebellion members' performance was also outstanding, but there was no way they could keep up with Dokgo Yeon, who was determined to rampage. Even though she had single-handedly cut down nearly ten thousand enemies with a sword imbued with death, she maintained a pristine appearance, not a single drop of blood splattered on her clothes or even her face.
“Yeon?”
“Ah, Yuwon. Did you come to help?”
As Ban Yuwon approached and spoke, she slowly opened her closed eyes and gave him a smile.
Momentarily captivated by her alluring demeanor, Ban Yuwon cleared his throat, trying not to reveal his inner thoughts.
“I had a rough idea, but. I just need to inject the death energy filling this place into you, right?”
“We should hurry. It won’t be long before it all disperses...”
Had she said earlier that the world's energy here was being drawn towards death? That description was indeed accurate. Concepts like the explosions of mana created as allies and enemies clashed on this battlefield were lethally amplified and, under the influence of the stars, quickly turned into death.
An ominous concept, deep and crimson, formed by the complex entanglement of many other concepts.
Of course, death is an energy that cannot be accumulated, so it would soon transform into other concepts and disperse after the battle concluded. However, Dokgo Yeon, who had generated so much death, and Ban Yuwon, who wielded the power of concepts, would surely be able to hold onto it.
“Th-Then what should we do?”
“Hmm? What did you do with the beasts or the fools?”
Dokgo Yeon blinked, asking Ban Yuwon, who was needlessly nervous.
When he told her how he had altered Rucell's internal concepts and intervened in Asha's contract with the Dragon-Slaying Sword, she became extremely flustered and took two steps back.
“Wh-What— You don’t need to enter me! ...Huh?”
Realizing that the words she had hastily blurted out could be interpreted strangely, Dokgo Yeon was so flustered and embarrassed that she stomped her feet in place.
Her neck and face were dyed crimson, looking as if they might explode with a light poke.
“No, what I just said came out strangely. What I meant was that if you just gather the energy for me, accepting it wouldn’t be too difficult—No, really! It’s because you’re saying such strange things!”
“Is it my fault?!”
The cross in her eyes was rapidly spinning.
Fearing he might be hypnotized if he kept staring, Ban Yuwon decided to quickly de-escalate.
“Yeon, calm down. As you said, your situation is different from those two. Just holding hands should be enough.”
“H-Hands.”
But even that seemed to be no simple matter for Dokgo Yeon.
After a long hesitation, she seemed to finally steel her resolve at the thought of all the remaining energy on the battlefield dispersing, and cautiously extended her hand to him.
“It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve held hands.”
“A swordmaster doesn’t easily offer her hand.”
“Alright, alright.”
“Your composure is irritating...”
Carefully taking Dokgo Yeon's hand in both of his, as she pouted and grumbled, he gathered all the concepts of [Death] filling the battlefield, refined them, and then transmitted them.
He wouldn't even consider accumulating it himself.
Because he, who couldn't even properly handle the toy sword he'd received from the previous Chancellor, couldn't possibly endure accumulating death within his own body.
“Haaah...”
Perhaps because there was no need to directly touch her internal concepts, the transfer of concepts proceeded smoothly even with just their hands clasped.
She accepted all the surging concepts and operated her martial art, stacking them meticulously within her body, letting out a strangely languid sigh.
Only because the two of them were handling it stably, for originally, this energy could easily blow off an arm in a rampage with the slightest misstep.
The process wherein all the death filling the battlefield converged into a single point, and then, under the control of martial arts, transformed into an energy that humans could wield, was something even a Constellation would find hard to mimic.
“—That’s enough. Any more is impossible.”
As Dokgo Yeon finally opened her eyes and declared, Ban Yuwon also nodded and dispersed the remaining energy.
The battlefield, which had been oppressive enough to weigh down one's shoulders just by approaching, was now imbued with a peaceful atmosphere.
“Huuuh... I expected it, but this is truly something else.”
“Looks like there were results.”
Dokgo Yeon, who had let out a deep sigh, shook her head as if Ban Yuwon's question was amusing.
“It was beyond expectations. Both the environment and your assistance were appropriate. Thanks to that, I could also more clearly discern the wall blocking my path...”
“Wall?”
“Don’t mind it, it’s not a problem that will be solved anytime soon... More importantly, Yuwon, you fought quite well today.”
Ban Yuwon decided to humor Dokgo Yeon, who was overtly changing the subject.
“Indeed, I’ve had many one-on-one battles, but fighting an army was a first. It seems things aligned quite well.”
“If your actions become a little more fluid, you’d immediately surpass even me.”
“No, how could I possibly surpass a master as lofty as the heavens...”
“There you go again.”
Dokgo Yeon, her eyes narrowing at the word "master," reached out and tugged his lips.
However, Rucell, who had appeared beside them, slapped her hand away and pulled Ban Yuwon into her embrace.
“Dokgo Yeon, no matter how much you like him, you shouldn’t keep tormenting him.”
“Tormenting him? He was the one who teased me first... Oh.”
Dokgo Yeon, who had been about to retort but then seemed to remember something, was left speechless, her face turning crimson as she released his lips and backed away.
Rucell, despite having protected Ban Yuwon, wore a dissatisfied expression.
“How well you play the part of an innocent, pubescent girl... I just saw the two of you still holding hands, you know.”
“That was for Yuwon to help me with my martial arts training...”
“Weren’t you just using martial arts as an excuse to keep holding his hand? Definitely puberty.”
“Puberty?”
Just then, a truly pubescent girl appeared behind them.
“I was wondering what you were talking about without me, and it’s puberty? What puberty at our age?”
“Ah.”
Asha, who seemed not to grasp the meaning of the Team Rebellion members' gazes all fixed on her, tilted her head.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Then, shall we go back? By now, even the Demon King should listen to our senior.”
“Let’s.”
“Yuwon, no matter who the opponent is, I’ll protect you, so stay right by my side. Understood?”
“Hey guys? Why are you ignoring me?”
When they returned after collecting everything there was to collect from the battlefield, Shati, Mira, and Aire, who were well aware of their skills, greeted them with calm expressions. But only one person, Kron, stood with his mouth agape, just as he had when he first witnessed Shati's Authority.
“H-How did you... Blood Magic...”
The target of his words was Dokgo Yeon, who had displayed overwhelming divine power in battle.
Indeed, having read, manipulated, and ultimately absorbed all the energy filling the battlefield, it was understandable to mistake Dokgo Yeon for wielding Blood Magic.
“You only know what you see. I wonder if you even realize that the mana you wield is closer to unrefined explosives.”
Of course, Dokgo Yeon snorted and scoffed at Kron... but Ban Yuwon, reading an unusual fervor in Kron's eyes as he looked at Dokgo Yeon, slapped his forehead.
“Our master has done it again.”
“You, come here.”
Dokgo Yeon, unable to perceive Kron's change, thought Ban Yuwon was simply teasing her and inevitably exacted her punishment on him.
Ban Yuwon, who was suffering immensely, but to Kron, it seemed like proof of their intimacy, and he began glaring at Ban Yuwon with even greater hostility than before.
Ban Yuwon, who had barely been freed from Dokgo Yeon, made a sulky demand to Shati.
“Senior, do something about your brother.”
“Why would I? I’m just glad I can finally escape that obsession.”
“A devil truly is a devil, isn’t she?”
“Once we meet the Demon King, all that’s left is to go back, so don’t worry about it.”
However, it was not so.
What greeted them, as they finally entered the Demon King's castle as a reward for defeating the human Imperial Army, was not the Dark Magic Soldiers that the Demon King had promised to Shati, but rather an armed force directly under the Demon King, intended to suppress them.
It was the moment when the naive thought that, since he was Shati's father, he wouldn't do anything bad to them, was utterly shattered.
“I didn’t think it was true, but it is.”
The first impression of the Demon King, who only revealed himself after they were surrounded by hundreds of Evil Ones, was that he was incredibly colossal.
His skin was a dark, black carapace, and his two eyes glowed with a blue, ghostly fire.
The man, holding a greatsword made of bone in one hand and a shield crafted from ice in the other, was gazing at Dokgo Yeon, just as his son had observed.
“The world that is the origin of martial arts, Murim. I heard it was isolated. Who would have thought there would actually be a fool who knew nothing and crawled out of there to get here?”
“What?”
“For countless ages, we have utilized Blood Magic, and suffered from it... With you, we can finally escape the side effects of Blood Magic and become even stronger.”
Who would have thought that Kron's strange behavior earlier was a foreshadowing of the current situation!
“...Senior?”
At the sight of the Demon King babbling words that suggested he knew something about Dokgo Yeon's home dimension, Ban Yuwon reflexively stepped between him and Dokgo Yeon, blocking their line of sight, and sent Shati a look that clearly meant “deal with this.”
“Hah.”
She sighed and stepped forward in front of her companions, slamming the scepter granted to her onto the ground with a thud.
“Demon King, stop your petty tricks and hand over the troops.”
“Of course, I will keep my promise, my daughter. However, I don’t recall that promise including not laying a hand on your companions.”
“Oh, really.”
A venomous glint appeared in Shati's eyes.
The scepter she held became imbued with a terrifying density of Annihilation Magic—
“—Indeed, it was good that I followed.”
The next moment, a man completely cloaked in a black robe appeared in the air.
It was Mumyeong.
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