Pepe was the ace of aces even among the Imperial students attending the [Imperial Magic Studies] lecture.
At the moment he faced defeat, the morale of the other students hit rock bottom, but some spun their happiness circuits and argued that it didn’t necessarily just mean defeat.
“Isn’t it about time to get tired?”
“Isn’t dark mana’s danger level going up the longer you use it?”
“Right, as we drag this out, Oknodie will realize something’s wrong and get anxious. If we can stretch this 70 rounds, even Oknodie will have to forfeit!”
They acknowledged their loss in skill but devised a strategy to win in the ‘opposite match’ by dragging out time.
“What cowards!”
“Knowing the side effects of dark mana, how can they do that?”
“He could die, you trash!”
They recognized they were being cowardly.
But the world is inherently ruthless.
“I’m fine!”
The daring shout from the person involved made the Imperial students cheer.
“Did you hear that? They said they’re fine!”
“Losers who have already lost should just stay in the corner.”
“Since they agreed, whatever happens is now their responsibility!”
Dorothy, holding a white tablecloth she fetched from somewhere, shouted,
“Oknodie, just say it if it’s hard! They say if you throw this white cloth during the duel, you can forfeit!”
*
“Winner, Oknodie.”
“Winner, Oknodie.”
“Winner, Oknodie.”
Contrary to the ambitious wishes of the Imperial students, Professor Weird made the winner announcement less than a minute after the start declaration.
“It’s starting to get annoying; can’t I just hold up a flag?”
It was justifiable for Professor Weird to complain.
Even if they exhausted Oknodie with dark mana, no matter how much they tried to control the chaos with peace magic, a breaking point would eventually come…
But the opponents were so pathetic that there wasn’t even an opportunity to use dark mana.
“Shooting Stone!”
“Power Kick!”
“Follow and hit!”
“If you don’t surrender, hit the vital points!”
“Uughh! H-Hold on! I surrender!”
As the cries became increasingly absurd, the Imperial students began to realize.
“Isn’t that not even magic?”
“Are they just throwing rocks and beating each other with their hands and feet?”
They weren’t using magic.
Therefore, there was no consumption of mana.
Mana naturally regenerated, returning to the state before Pepe’s fight.
In fact, after knocking out about 40 people, the mana was completely full again.
It meant they barely got away with it.
“Throw them far!”
“Aahhh!”
A student whose legs were grabbed and spun through the air while losing out cried out limping towards them.
“This is a foul! If we consider body reinforcement, throwing far isn’t even magic!”
“If I were you, I wouldn’t even say that out of shame. If a magician couldn’t respond after being grabbed physically, they’re as good as dead.”
Despite Professor Weird’s piercing critique, the student, who had already disregarded shame and dignity, shouted disgracefully.
“How am I supposed to defend against such a monster’s physical strength coming at me?!”
“Like this.”
From Professor Weird’s side, a massive number of vines suddenly burst forth and sent the complaining student flying across the athletic field.
“We never learned magic like that…”
When another Imperial student mustered the courage to speak, Professor Weird grumbled back,
“Isn’t foreknowledge a virtue of students?”
They had all said this while trampling down on the border students.
The Imperial students had no choice but to acknowledge it.
They were truly going to face 70 consecutive losses.
They were utterly wiped out by just one Oknodie.
The one who achieved the ridiculous comeback victory jumped around in joy, but suddenly, let out a gasp and staggered, collapsing onto the ground.
“That sly kid. They must have been continuously using body reinforcement magic without me noticing.”
“Oknodie. Are you okay?”
“Dorothy, ugh… I…”
“Are you in a lot of pain? Is it because you used dark mana for too long? Should I take you to the infirmary?”
“I used too much strength, and now I’m hungry…”
“…Ah, you’re hungry…”
Dorothy, contemplating for a moment, whispered to Oknodie,
“Do you think they’ll give us food if we return the tablecloth to the cafeteria?”
“Wouldn’t the culprit get a penalty for coming in on their own?”
The Imperial students imagined possibilities, looking serious as they held their mouths shut while watching Dorothy.
“Clearly, they’ve overused dark mana and are suffering mana exhaustion. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be conversing seriously where others can’t hear.”
“Didn’t you say you collapsed from hunger earlier? Maybe they’re just ordering the food they want?”
While the naïve ones spun worthless imaginations, the pragmatic ones brought up more valuable topics.
“No one can brag about losing to an 11-year-old in physical ability.”
“We have to say we were defeated by the evil power of dark magic. Just think about the reports we have to submit to our families. Let’s all get on the same page.”
“If we say that Oknodie, who risked everything for their friends, confronted mana overload, it’ll be a touching tale. We lost but fought well—the rumors will spread.”
Whatever the case, it’d be better than the rumors of being defeated by Oknodie while whining for milkshakes and seasoned garlic potatoes due to hunger.
The legend of Oknodie’s 70 consecutive victories would be discussed throughout the first semester, with whispers originating from the defeated parties.
And the distorted rumors even reached the ears of the warrior.
“Did you hear? Oknodie, in a fit of rage due to the heart-wrenching defeat of their classmates with 50 consecutive losses, controlled dark mana to the bitter end and took down 70 opponents alone.”
“That’s different from the rumors I heard! Oknodie extracted and charged 50 doses of pain from others and forced the remaining 70 to feel the pain of 50, causing them all to faint and becoming the sole survivor of the class battle.”
“Fools. Are you both believing outdated tales of Oknodie’s friendship and victory, and the demon’s gem legend? The current theory is gaining strong support for Oknodie, who’s sick of trivial fights, defeating 50 of their allies solo before taking down the remaining 70—a 1 against 120 tyrant nodi theory.”
With each passing student, the rumors about Oknodie grew like a snowball!
It’s unclear how much truth and falsity lies in them, but one fact remains: Oknodie had undeniably revealed their skills to the students.
“Oknodie. Now that you’ve turned your back on me, does that mean you no longer need to hide that ominous power…?”
Neither Oknodie nor the Foundation could be forgiven.
The misunderstanding of Warrior Ishtar only deepened today.
*
[You have survived the wrath of the warrior.]
[You have completed the winner’s consecutive battle event.]
[Points Calculation]
━━━━━━
Basic event reward +1000
Final bastion +5000
70 consecutive win bonus × 30
━━━━━━
Total 180,000 points
[You have acquired 180,000 points as a reward for completing the event.]
[Martial Arts Experience +30]
[Magic Studies Experience +15]
[Mana Control Experience +15]
[Breathing Experience +15]
[Swordsmanship Experience +10]
[Daring Experience +10]
[Combat Duration Experience +2]
[Mana Breathing Experience +2]
[Quick Movement Experience +2]
How long has it been since I hit 1,050,000 points? I’ve already achieved 1,230,000 points.
Given the high-difficulty challenges I overcame, the rewards are abundantly crazy.
But alongside this, new threats crawled out one by one.
[Hostility level towards the warrior has increased.]
[Now, even the warrior’s comrades who belong to the warrior party are hostile towards you.]
Warrior Ishtar and her followers.
The more I reveal my powers, the higher their vigilance rises.
Dealing with evil dark powers as basic strength surely draws aggro.
Even in the mana evaluation test, when Mob’s friend Jaku used a bit of dark power, it caused significant tension, so I can only imagine how enormous the aggro against me is after using overwhelming dark mana.
“Tch. The rewards belong to the warrior party.”
“Ah, I wanted to be a warrior too…”
As I sulked and muttered on my way back to the dormitory, I sensed a presence nearby.
“Who’s there?”
“…Sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
It was Kasia.
A charged human born in the research facility.
A fusion life form.
She emerged shyly from behind a tree.
“What were you doing here?”
“To do my assignment.”
In her palm lay a huge beetle, barely covered by both hands, lying on its back and knocked out cold.
“Wow! Isn’t this a Hercules beetle?”
“I don’t know. I just caught the biggest one to fight in the midterm exam.”
“Lucky~ You detected it using electric signals, right?”
“…Can you feel it too?”
“About that!”
“It must’ve been tough.”
“Uh-huh. It took a while to get used to!”
[Kasia’s favorability has increased.]
My mood improved somewhat upon receiving notification that the hostility from the warrior party had risen.
“I’ll show you my collection later. Let’s go catching insects together!”
“No thanks, I won’t catch anything after the assignment.”
“Even if we go catch dragonflies with the net?”
“…If it’s a dragonfly, I’d like to.”
We made a promise by intertwining our fingers and parted ways.
Meeting means parting, and parting means meeting again.
As my relationship with the warrior party soured, my bond with Kasia could improve instead!
Though I had no intention of joining a proper warrior party, I still planned to participate in various events by using the warrior. The rising hostility from the warrior party stung a bit.
However, if I immerse myself in some depth events with other characters, I can get decent rewards.
I’ve shown my true strength to both the Imperial students and Professor Raeb, so now I need to show it to the warrior too.
Right.
Just in time, the next chance for revenge is just around the corner.
Before the midterms, the final practice period.
Professor Plato’s upper-class physical training lecture.
The exam event subject—the [Ironman Triathlon] involving running, swimming, and horseback riding in a continuous sequence for record measurement—is set for tomorrow.
