I Became an Extra Without Growth at the Academy – Chapter 17

After sending Alkiné ahead, I kept running after her.

The distance to the rift wasn’t too far.

Of course, it wasn’t—they built the Student Council Building near the rift in the first place.

The problem was after entering the rift.

Thanks to the distorted space, the path narrowed, so I didn’t have to worry about getting lost. But I couldn’t even guess how much farther I had to go.

I must’ve been running for quite a while, but there was no sign of Alkiné, who went ahead.

“How fast is she…? If it weren’t for infinite stamina, I’d have been in big trouble.”

Even though Alkiné went ahead, I couldn’t relax.

With the characters’ growth accelerated, the enemies must’ve gotten stronger too. That’s just how difficulty spikes work, right?

It was a relief that I didn’t have to waste time resting in such a situation.

After running for who knows how long, I finally started to see Alkiné fighting in the distance.

Now that I could see her, she was swinging her greatsword like a bat, sending enemies flying. The moment I saw it, I immediately understood the situation.

“She’s giving it her all, but that seems to be her limit.”

The Demon Crumple. A truly nasty guy, fitting for a gimmick boss, designed to take no damage from normal attacks.

But the gimmick is parrying.

I don’t know how it works, but if you parry, Crumple takes damage.

And that means… in this reality where parrying doesn’t exist, Crumple is just an insane, overpowered monster with no way to counter him.

It’s not impossible to beat him down, but at least not at Alkiné’s level before breaking through her limits.

Look at that. She’s hitting him so hard, but Crumple’s completely fine.

It seems her stats are higher than Alkiné’s at this point in the original story… but it looks like she still hasn’t broken through her limits.

Are stat growth and awakening events calculated separately?

All sorts of hypotheses popped into my head, but now wasn’t the time to dwell on them.

I kept running without stopping, getting closer.

The closer I got, the clearer it became that her condition was no joke.

Seeing no one else around, it seemed she managed to evacuate everyone, but fighting alone afterward must’ve pushed her stamina to its limit.

There was no time to hesitate about stronger enemies or anything. I had to help her right away.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, my body moved on its own, and before I knew it, I was standing in front of Crumple.

…Now that I looked, Alkiné was completely drained, unable to move a finger.

If I’d been even a little later, things would’ve gotten really bad.

If it weren’t for infinite stamina… The thought sent a chill down my spine.

At that moment, Alkiné, realizing it was me who had stepped in front of her, shouted in a panicked voice.

“Rudion! That guy is dangerous! Get away from him right now!”

Wow, even in that state, worrying about others comes first.

To think I put such a person in danger. The guilt is no joke.

Of course, even if it wasn’t me, he would’ve met that guy eventually… but the moment I got involved, I definitely have some share in this.

At least it wouldn’t have gotten this bad…

‘Sorry, I’ll clean this up neatly for you.’

I drew the short sword from my waist and aimed it at the demon in front of me.

In an instant, six pupils turned toward me—it was disgustingly creepy.

“Rudion!”

Alkiné shouted my name. At the same time, an invisible wave surged toward my left arm.

I knew exactly what it was, so I didn’t panic and responded naturally.

*Clang!*

As I swung the hilt of the short sword toward the center of the wave, a crisp sound rang out, and the invisible wave scattered.

At the same time, the Crumple began to scream.

“Kiiikikikikikiiik—!!!”

Sword parry. It’s a popular technique thanks to the cool motion of deflecting attacks with the hilt.

Of course, the effect is just a deflection, like shield parrying…

Plus, it has a tighter timing than shield parrying, making it harder to use…

But as a gamer, isn’t it natural to go crazy over the heart-pounding sword parry?

“You… what are you…”

At that moment, Alkiné’s utterly bewildered voice came from behind.

Yeah, I get it. No matter how much you beat it up, seeing a newbie like me subduing an enemy that was perfectly fine until now would raise questions.

I was pondering how to handle this…

“Let’s deal with this guy first and explain later. Take a rest.”

For now, I decided to leave it to future me.

By then, I’ll probably come up with a good excuse, right?

So, for now, let’s focus on this guy.

I took another look at the Crumple.

“Kiikik— Kiikik—”

Its appearance, writhing in pain, is also disgusting.

It has six eyes, but there’s something unsettling about how it looks almost human but not quite.

Now that I think about it, it’s really strange.

In this world, all demons look like this—why do monsters take on human forms?

Whatever, as long as I get rid of it, that’s all that matters.

The Crumple is an enemy that, even if killed now, won’t affect the future flow, so there’s no hesitation.

Even if there were, at this point, I’d have accepted it.

More than anything, this guy is just a random variable that appeared from the rift, so getting rid of him now is actually better.

“You’re done for.”

Let me show you what happens when a gimmick boss messes with an experienced player.

“Kiiikikik—!!!”

That annoying scream won’t last much longer.

Let’s take a look at Gana.

He swings the short sword he was holding again.

Kwang!

In an instant, an invisible wave forms and scatters again, and Crumple’s scream echoes once more.

One more time. Just one more time.

Not allowing a single attack to land, he parries everything and returns the damage.

As the black body starts to tear apart, it suddenly tries to engage in close combat, but he dodges everything with incredible movement.

“Kikikik! Kikikik!”

As the attacks keep slicing through the air, Crumple has no choice but to use its ability again, reluctantly…

Kwang!

“Kikik… Kikikik…”

That was its last desperate struggle.

Crumple’s completely tattered body collapses to the ground and turns into black smoke, disappearing.

Not a single item left, just evaporated. Knowing that demons in this game die like that, I wasn’t disappointed or anything.

As long as I saved Alkiné, who was almost dead, that’s enough.

I quickly glance in Alkiné’s direction, and she’s sitting on the floor, staring at me with a dazed expression.

She doesn’t seem to have the composure to speak first, so I decide to approach her.

“Can you get up?”

“…”

“If you’re wondering how to talk to me right now, just do as you usually do.”

“…How did you know that?”

“Just a hunch.”

She had a habit of being overly polite to people stronger than her.

In reality, my stats are super low. But to Alkiné, who wouldn’t know that, I must have looked like a powerhouse just now.

But now, hearing Alkiné speak formally to me feels a bit off.

Since I’m technically her senior by the academy’s standards… I wanted to maintain the hierarchy as much as possible.

So I preemptively stopped her before she could start speaking formally…

“Isn’t it too soon to say that when we’ve only known each other for a day?”

Thinking about it, that’s true. I suddenly became a super suspicious person.

But that’s just the president or something. I know everything about you, from your food preferences to the embarrassing secrets you hide from others.

…Saying it like this makes me sound really suspicious.

It’s not like that, I just read the setting book so much that I memorized it. Don’t get the wrong idea.

“Sigh… That’s not important right now. I have a lot of questions, but I’ll hold back for now.”

It’s a good thing she didn’t dig deeper, given the situation.

After a moment, she checks her own condition and asks.

“Rudion. Are you okay?”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to worry about my condition right now.”

“Right. That’s true.”

Was she trying to lead me to say that? She’s…

“So, he continued, ‘By the way…'”

“From the position of being rescued, it might be shameless of me… but could I ask you for one favor?”

“President? You’re the Student Council president, and I’m just a member. Do you really need to lower yourself like that?”

“…Haha. I see. So that’s how it’s going to be. Alright, I get it. I’ll play along.”

I have no idea what he means by “playing along.”

“Then I’ll get straight to the point. I plan to tackle the Rift from now on… and I need your help.”

“…You’re going to tackle the Rift?”

“Everyone is still inside the Rift. The only way to get them out now is by doing this.”

I was wondering what he was talking about, but it seems the president has a plan.

The Rift disappears the moment it’s breached.

At the same time, everyone inside the Rift gets ejected. It seems Alkiné plans to use this to safely evacuate the Student Council members hiding inside.

But I’m not sure if I can be of any help. It was just luck that Crumple was the gimmick boss earlier, so I managed to do something. Otherwise, I’d be useless.

“Alright.”

But I couldn’t say that.

If her plan falls apart now, everyone else would be in danger.

I can’t just ignore it when things have gotten this bad because of me.

“Then let’s head out right away. Time is of the essence.”

So I said that, but for some reason, she seemed hesitant and didn’t look like she was ready to go.

Wondering why, I stared at her, and Alkiné hung her head low.

“Could I ask for one more favor?”

“What is it?”

“My body’s completely drained, and I can’t get up. Could you carry me…?”

Ah, she must be in a state of exhaustion right now.

Considering she just came back from the brink of death, it’s only natural she’d be like this.

Well, what can I do? Without a moment’s hesitation, I scooped her up.

You’re lighter than I thought, President.

“W-w-wait a second. Why are you carrying me like this…? If you do this, you won’t be able to use your arms…”

Alkiné, flustered by the sudden princess carry, started to lose her composure and trailed off.

Honestly, I could’ve carried her on my back, but I remembered there’s a scene in her story where she’s happy being carried on her dad’s back, so I just couldn’t do it.

“Put me down right now! That’s an order!”

“Oh, that sounded kinda like a noble lady just now.”

“Stop talking nonsense and put me down! Rudion!!”

Alkiné’s face turned bright red, but no matter how angry she gets, I’m not planning to put her down.

If you’re the one being helped, just stay still. I’ll do things my way.

The start might’ve been a bit shaky, but since the goal is serious, I’m not planning to half-ass it.

Don’t worry, President. I’ll make sure to see the Rift breach through to the end.