Chapter 225

William is an ordinary Academy Student.

Well, not really. You could say he’s one of the students with quite a high ranking.

Born into a noble family, he received a proper education and proudly enrolled in the United Academy.

Since then, he consistently scored well, steadily growing and earning the professors’ trust.

There were even rumors that his home country was taking an interest in him, so if things continued like this, his life felt like a walk in the park.

And this was actually true, so he didn’t pay much attention to anything else. After all, the other students were all competitors.

“But what the heck is going on in that class? There’s not a single day that’s quiet!”

“What do you mean?”

“You know, Class A. The one with both the Barbarians and the Wilderness people.”

“Oh. That one?”

But he wasn’t completely friendless. He had a typical friend that one could find anywhere.

A friend who didn’t care about grades and was burning his youth at the Academy. The guy was the life of the party in class.

“Do we really need to be worried? I mean, no matter how strong they are, the rumors could be exaggerated.”

William had indeed heard the famous rumors floating around the Academy lately. First up was the Barbarian, Kara.

News had spread long ago that a member of the Tartar race had enrolled. It was due to Kara’s adjustment period.

At that time, Kara caused a violent incident due to discrimination and frequently received community service punishments.

Rumors also formed that he often used violence like a true Barbarian. The rumors didn’t vanish even after officially enrolling.

“Yeah, the rumors could be exaggerated. But there are plenty of bizarre ones floating around. Plus, you saw it yourself, right?”

“I saw some crazy guy climbing the monument barehanded.”

William recalled the early days of his Academy enrollment. The times when he wandered around to memorize the pathways.

It was an utterly ordinary day, yet he distinctly witnessed it.

A man he had never seen before scaling the monument like a monkey.

The monument couldn’t be climbed using magic due to a special spell. So, there was no choice but to climb it with bare hands, yet the guy managed to reach the top.

“And that’s not all. I heard he nearly crippled a professor who was trying to assault a Duchess, and he even smashed a few buildings! Recently, he’s said to have cut out a student’s tongue for insulting him!”

William’s friend rattled off the rumors. They seemed exaggerated yet contained a majority of truths.

On top of that, they say he’s stronger than the professors, that the whole world is paying attention, and he’s close with Rod, and so on.

This was no ordinary amount of gossip coming from just one person. Hearing this, William asked incredulously.

“Hey, just one of the things you mentioned would get someone labeled as insane. How can one person have done all that?”

“Um… maybe? Actually, there’s more.”

“Like what?”

“There’s a rumor that during midterms, the professors imposed combat restrictions on that Wilderness guy, and he retaliated with water torture. Plus, he even made a bomb vest and launched a suicide attack?”

“Is he for real? He should’ve been expelled by now. Get real.”

Yeah. Those were behaviors that just ‘don’t make sense’ in a logical context. It felt hard to believe one person could do that.

Any one of the things mentioned could make someone a major star in a completely different sense.

But thanks to Rod and the professors’ pathetic cover-ups, it got swept under the rug.

In other words, it meant that the other classes had no idea how bizarre Sivar, the Wilderness person, really was.

“Anyway, I’m curious how strong this Wilderness guy really is. I heard he’s stronger than a Barbarian.”

“They say he’s ranked 5th? He originally scored high, but he’s lost points due to demerits.”

“Now that sounds a bit realistic.”

Still, they were cautious about his strength. His rank was already quite high.

Moreover, they were wary not only of Sivar but of others too. In Sivar’s class were both Kara and Luna.

Luna, despite being a bit eccentric, was a remarkably smart student who enrolled as the top of her class. She couldn’t be ignored.

“But we have a Priest on our side, right?”

“That’s true.”

But William didn’t worry. The reason was the presence of the Priest.

A Priest is a very valuable human resource, and often the balance can shift drastically based on their presence or absence.

Moreover, they followed the God of Life, Gaia, which made them even rarer.

“But it’s a bit…”

“Strange?”

“Also scary. What on earth happened during the vacation…?”

But they showed slight discomfort, simultaneously recalling the rumored Priest.

With hair reminiscent of the cherry blossoms in the Eastern Empire and matching eyes. Originally, they were a slender figure that evoked a protective instinct.

The fact that they enforce vegetarianism was a minus point, but their cuteness led everyone to just roll with it.

However, after the vacation, it was a different story. Something must have happened because their physique, starting from their body shape, had changed drastically.

“I still remember. How all that big chest turned into muscle.”

“I heard they received the Saint’s teachings, but what kind of teachings could that be…?”

William shook his head. At first, he thought the God of Chaos, Chaos, had ruined a talent.

But as time passed, he realized it was the opposite. Instead of ruining, they had actually developed that talent.

The problem was that it felt like a monkey had evolved into a human. They were a remarkable human resource, but the method was bizarre.

“Can’t we do it just normally through prayer?”

“Just leave it. Unless it’s a dangerous situation, they usually handle it normally.”

“Let’s hope that’s the case.”

He was feeling restless in various ways, but what mattered now was the brawl. They decided to focus on the brawl first.

In a brawl, skill is important but so is being perceptive. If you want a smoother future, you need to eliminate strong contenders early on.

In that sense, William decided to target Kara, who was already rumored to be strong.

No matter how strong someone is, it doesn’t mean much in front of a group. The question was whether other teams would go along with that…

“We need to take out that Barbarian first!”

“Yeah!”

Fortunately, thanks to Kara revealing her strength, they successfully played the waiting game.

Kara’s team eventually scattered or got eliminated. They faced challenges beyond expectation.

Kara, too, struggled to fight back and resisted the opposing coalition, but alone, it was insufficient.

No matter how perfected a warrior is, quantity matters. But to engage as if it were real combat was also ambiguous.

“Ugh! Don’t you have any pride?! What did I do wrong?!”

“Well, you shouldn’t have drawn our attention.”

“Sigh… seriously…”

While she was strong, Kara’s appearance drew too much attention.

Her distinctly bronzed skin. Bright red hair. A beautiful face even by objective measures, and so on.

If she weren’t from the Tartar race, there may have been a liking towards her as a potential partner. But right now, she was just a competitor.

‘But it’s unfortunate she still has two lives left.’

That was fine. Just making her lose one life would be enough.

Most importantly, another participant was about to join soon. They had not disclosed the detailed personnel or rankings in the broadcast.

Only that the next participant would be coming on. If they weren’t careful, another top contender could pop up again.

[The next participant is entering.]

And that expectation was realized sooner than expected. As soon as the broadcast was heard, William turned his head.

“Ah, dammit. Another top contender.”

Seeing just one person come in, it looked like a top contender had barged in. He needed to hurry.

Just as William stepped forward to finish off the struggling Kara.

Boom!!!

Suddenly, a massive explosion hit his ears. He flinched and instinctively hunched his neck.

It wasn’t just William; other students were caught off guard, and Kara, who had been cornered against the wall, showed a shocked expression.

They all turned their heads toward the sound, wearing blank expressions.

“…a hole?”

“Did someone cast a spell or something?”

Dust was rising and a gigantic hole was dug. The impact was evident.

So, who could have made this hole? Kara turned her head toward the entrance with a feeling of dread.

“You can’t kill people! You’ll really get expelled!”

“Sorry. That was a mistake.”

“If you’re sorry… no, that’s not… Huh…”

Familiar faces came into view. The notoriously blank-faced Sivar and the one scolding him, Lee Yeon-joo.

It seemed Lee Yeon-joo had tried to stop Sivar right before he caused trouble. And in reality, that’s exactly what happened.

For a brief moment, a heavy silence fell, and all eyes were on Sivar.

Sivar, despite getting scolded by Lee Yeon-joo, recalled a forgotten fact.

‘He might not know how to control strength, but he never practiced magical control.’

What he had practiced during the vacation was physical strength control. But he hadn’t considered magical control at all.

The recent Death Beam also used an output that wouldn’t kill anyone, but that wasn’t the case. It nearly led to a massive slaughter.

Of course, unless one got directly hit, the Barrier would have activated. Still, the fact that it could have caused significant damage remained unchanged.

“I’m going to head out first.”

“Go ahead. I’ll stay out of it quietly.”

“Yeah.”

Still feeling awkward, Sivar scratched his head and walked. Naturally, he was heading towards Kara.

Perhaps it was due to how impactful his entrance was. The students didn’t even think about stepping forward first.

For some reason, it felt like taking a step in could lead to a big problem.

As a result, they could only watch as Sivar approached Kara.

“Kara. You okay?”

“Uh, yeah? Oh. I’m okay.”

“Go rest. I’ll handle this.”

It was an out-of-place situation, but Sivar and Kara chatted kindly. The students all watched that scene.

“Hey. Is that her? The one who came from the Chaos Forest…”

“Looks like it. Her eyes are red, right?”

“Her skin’s super pale. That’s definitely her.”

While the students discussed, Kara received Sivar’s escort and left the scene.

Even as she left, she couldn’t erase her worried gaze; oddly, it was directed not at Sivar but at the other students, including William.

As William felt an unexplainable sense of discomfort from her stare, Sivar opened his mouth.

“What’s up with that?”

“What?”

“Why did you pick on Kara?”

Sivar questioned the students. Why did they collectively attack Kara?

The students only exchanged glances, unable to answer. They looked as if they hoped someone would step up to answer first.

However, this only served to provoke Sivar further. He nodded and spoke in a tone almost certain.

“It’s discrimination, right?”

“…discrimination?”

“I heard earlier. You called Kara a Barbarian.”

“…isn’t that what she is?”

Just as one of the students mumbled in disbelief, Sivar’s eyes twitched.

Shivers!

William felt his hair standing on end watching that reaction.

His instincts screamed. He needed to run away from that Wilderness guy. Otherwise, something terrifying would happen.

“Wha-what’s that? Just now…”

“Grab your weapons!”

It wasn’t just William feeling that way. Other students felt similarly.

The hair on their whole bodies stood on end, and their blood ran cold. Instinctively, before thinking, they felt a warning of danger.

“Discrimination is bad.”

Sivar said that and took a step forward. His quiet footsteps felt as thunderous as a giant’s strides.

William swallowed hard. He found himself backing away unconsciously, surprised at himself.

The opponent was just one person, so why was he retreating? Without a moment’s thought, his instincts took control of his body.

‘It’s only one person. No need to be scared.’

William kept telling himself that while shouting to others.

“Just one person! No need to be afraid of…”

And that turned out to be.

Whack!

William’s last uttered words.

Bang! Crash!

With one punch from Sivar, William’s body flew far away.

Then, the Barrier activated, effortlessly eliminating him. With just one punch, he was completely subdued.

The problem was his original position. William was at the center of the students.

“Guh!”

“When did he get there?!”

In other words, Sivar was now standing smack in the middle of the students.

Everyone panicked as Sivar approached stealthily, even without a sound.

He had been right in front of them just a moment ago, yet he had suddenly appeared. It was truly a remarkable speed.

“Bad guys will be…”

While the students were in a state of panic, Sivar looked around, saying.

“I’m going to hit.”

A wolf had appeared among the sheep.

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