214th Chapter. The Final Teaching (1)

Ka-kaaang!—

A tremendous roar echoed from the mountainside.

The shockwave uprooted trees and cracked the ground.

It was a scene that could have happened if hundreds of large bombs had exploded. Yet the air around was exceedingly cool.

<Chain Silver Style – Hail>

Ku-kwaang!—

The same shockwave erupted once more.

With just one swing of the sword, it resonated as if a giant had smashed a mace into the ground.

A massive gust of wind whipped through, obliterating structures as large as buildings.

An attack brimming with murderous intent.

Jenny Chain Silver was already prepared to kill her opponent.

“Is that all you’ve got?”

However, the opponent, a woman with silver hair, had effortlessly blocked the strike.

With her ordinary sword smeared in red aura, she wore a nonchalant expression.

“Ugh!”

Frustrated by the ease of the block, Jenny pulled her sword back.

At that moment, her blade began to glow with a blue hue.

<Chain Silver Style – Meteor Shower>

In that instant, a crescent was drawn at an incredible speed.

Building momentum by crouching, she leaped and swung the sword forward, increasing the speed of her strikes with every movement.

A flurry of sword strikes exceeding a hundred in just one second.

With movements that effortlessly surpassed the speed of sound, the air screamed.

The blue trajectory drawn at an invisible speed resembled a meteor shower endlessly falling from the sky.

“….”

But the woman still countered all the numerous attacks.

Jenny clearly saw her in front, blocking each strike.

Why?

It wasn’t because she was scared of her opponent being stronger.

But why was it so?

“What have you been doing since earlier?”

Ka-kaaang!—

The woman deflected all the sword strikes and pushed Jenny back with her own sword.

The immense force nearly sent Jenny’s head tumbling back.

Off balance and completely exposed, Jenny took a hit from the woman’s long-range attack.

“Kuhuk!”

The palm smacked down on her abdomen.

The muscles in her belly trembled like waves, the shock reaching deep inside.

The impact even interfered with her vital organs, causing Jenny to spit out blood.

She was sent flying dozens of meters, crashing into a cliff.

“Hah… Hah…”

The rain had stopped.

Even so, her body felt heavy.

Her hands kept shaking.

It felt as though she was carrying a lump of lead all over her body.

What was the reason?

Jenny stared ahead, pondering.

But every time she faced her opponent, her mind went blank.

Her body instinctively compelled her to do nothing.

“I feel no will from you.”

The woman approached, wielding a sword that shimmered with red aura.

In truth, Jenny knew the reason for her trembling hands.

The woman standing right in front of her was none other than her mother, Rayla Chain Silver.

`Why is this happening? I swore back then.`

Jenny chided herself.

Thanks to Spirit King Shaikar, she had heard about what would happen on the fifth day of the Magical Banquet in advance.

Among those shocking revelations was the moving corpse.

Zombie soldiers resurrected by RE-Union. She had fought against them before, but this opponent was on a whole different level.

– Rayla Blurdia, known as the “Blood Queen.” A genius who inherited the full power of the Blood Dragon Muzak.

– Thirty years ago, she began to make a name for herself with an overwhelming victory in the tactical martial arts at the Magical Banquet.

– Her power was enough to annihilate an entire nation’s army, and she single-handedly exterminated rampaging demonic troops.

– However, after her exploits, she withdrew from the front lines. Eventually, she became the lady of a family and began to live an ordinary life.

– If she had remained active all this time, she would have become the Empire’s greatest hero.

Regardless of whether that’s the case or not, she was an exceptionally formidable foe.

One could say she possessed power and experience worthy of being called legendary.

Even the King of Talema would be nothing compared to her.

And even if she had weakened as a zombie, her strength remained paramount.

`But.`

Still, Jenny declared her intentions. She said she would take this on herself.

There was a reason for such a claim.

That zombie’s existence was her fault.

`My mother’s death… It’s all because of me.`

The incident was still fresh in her mind.

Her mother had succumbed while battling an unknown lycanthrope.

It was possible that her mother could have won.

Thinking back to her mother’s strength during her active years, losing would have been bizarre.

Yet, Jenny made a grave mistake.

In an attempt to aid her mother, she activated the Silver Age, but due to poorly adjusted output, everyone froze in place.

In the end, Jenny’s mother was left unable to move and was pierced by a spike and met her demise.

‘I must stop this.’

Had it not been for her own self, her mother would not have died so vainly.

Thus, had that happened, there would have been no resurrection as a zombie or subjugation.

Everyone understood this situation, and that was why Jenny decided to confront Rayla.

However, the opponent was a monster.

Without some form of support or variables, there was no way to defeat her.

And there was a clear weakness to the zombies.

The more the driving force behind their movement drained away, the weaker they became.

‘The power regularly injected into the corpse. I must endure until it runs out.’

Then the corpse will return to the earth.

They certainly cannot fight for a long time.

Moreover, since they use up their driving force with every exertion, they cannot muster excessive strength.

The longer the battle drags on, the better it is for them.

[80%]

A blizzard whipped through.

An enormous snow dragon seemed to roar through the snowstorm, sweeping across the mountains.

Jenny’s eyes glowed with a blue light as she activated the Silver Age.

Rayla, too, trembled involuntarily and blood began to swirl within her body.

“You indeed possess a power similar to mine.”

The powers of the Blood Dragon and Snow Dragon.

The two opposing forces began to resonate, threatening to devour each other.

Blood that consumes everything, and frost that freezes everything.

The two attributes engraved on each of their swords made them as sharp as dragon’s teeth.

“Yes, come at me.”

“…!!”

With the chill of her aura wrapping around her, Jenny charged at Rayla.

As she slid across the ground, freezing it beneath her, Rayla positioned herself, spreading one leg back to prepare for the strike.

Chi-chiriik!—

The entire floor froze due to Jenny’s charge.

Surprised by the ice turning the ground into a skating rink, Rayla let her guard down.

That sight was clear before her.

Now was the opportunity.

Rayla, caught unprepared by the frozen ground.

`Huh…?`

As Jenny witnessed that, something flashed through her mind at a tremendous speed.

The scene when she had frozen the ground with her own mistake, leaving no one able to move.

Because of that, her mother had been killed by the monster’s claws.

“…!”

Suddenly struck by a nightmare, Jenny’s charge slowed.

She pierced the ground, causing a flashback to a situation too similar to that moment.

She felt herself tremble instinctively.

It became hard to breathe as if her chest was tight.

All senses crucial for battle vanished in an instant.

The guilt lodged deep in her heart screamed at her, accusing her of lacking a conscience.

<Crimson Blade>

“Ah…!”

A blood vortex swirled before her eyes.

Her legs wouldn’t move, but she could still swing her sword, and the crimson aura surged up instantly.

Jenny raised her sword too late, but it was already hopeless.

She was swallowed by the red tide.

“Gah!”

It was a devastating blow, as if viewing a monster from the abyss.

The attack crossed the frozen ground and completely sliced through the cliff.

With that overwhelming force, what had once stood like a tall building crumbled in an instant, and Jenny, sent flying, was buried beneath the rubble.

Ka-kaaang!—

The sound of the shock echoed.

Jenny lay on the cliff debris, using it as a bed and blanket.

Blood flowed from wounds all over her body.

As she tried to rise, blood spewed from her mouth, and her vision turned red from the blood trickling down her head.

Thanks to the protective power of the Snow Dragon, she was spared from worse damage.

‘Why…’

Why had she hesitated so suddenly?

Why had she missed the opportunity?

Without needing to think long, the answer was obvious.

Nightmares don’t easily fade.

Once they cling to you, they’ll stay until the moment of your death.

Like a scar etched delicately.

Just a light touch to that scar brings a wave of pain, and it reacts easily to even the slightest stimulus.

Even during battle, that pain is inescapably equal for everyone.

It was akin to stumbling during a crucial match, losing your balance from a broken ankle, and allowing your opponent to seize the moment.

‘Indeed, the past…’

Doesn’t disappear.

Still, she had to rise again.

Having sworn with friends to take down her opponent… What was she doing in this state?

“Give up.”

Rayla approached, shrouded in the crimson blade aura.

She looked down at Jenny with a merciless expression.

“There’s no place for those without the will to fight.”

Those words sent a quake through Jenny’s heart.

It felt as if her mother were giving her serious advice, and it drove her to the brink of insanity.

But biting her lips, she stood up. Defiantly, she raised her legs.

<Blood Restraint>

At that moment, a crimson slash zoomed past Jenny’s side.

The deliberately illuminated blade strike soared through the air, reaching a mountain at the horizon.

Kugugung!—

The mountain struck by the slash was obliterated in an instant.

The peak that had stood tall vanished without a trace, leaving only the scars of uprooting.

It was clear that she possessed power equal to that of a nation.

“I can sense the fear and hesitation within you.”

“….”

“It’s not that I don’t understand. Pain is something we all endure.”

Again, Rayla wielded the same aura-clad sword.

This time, however, she aimed it not at Jenny, but elsewhere.

“But what kind of mentality is it to hesitate in battle? Don’t you realize that a single mistake can cost you everything?”

Seeing the target of that sword strike, Jenny gasped.

“It’s your hesitation that has led to this.”

“Don’t!”

“If you truly wanted to protect such precious memories, you should have never stopped!”

She had to stop her right away.

Yet, her accumulated wounds forced her down to her knees once more.

Her hand gripping the sword trembled like it held a block of iron.

As despair deepened, something wrapped around her arm caught Jenny’s eye.

It was a bracelet Radon had given her, wrapped around her wrist like a charm.

That’s right, if she stayed still, Radon’s painstaking plans would go to waste.

Not just Radon, everyone would die.

`I have to throw it all away now.`

There’s no gain without a price.

To protect, she would have to give up everything.

To that end, Jenny let go of her senses.

She set aside her reasoning.

She set aside herself.

“What a disappointment.”

Rayla, aiming the Blood Restraint, spoke with sincerity.

If she destroyed the town with this, it would prove Jenny’s insignificance.

Whether it came to pass or not, it was all the same to Rayla.

Yet each time she glanced at such a fragile being, a sigh would escape her lips.

For some reason, it unsettled her.

It felt like watching a chick that couldn’t break free from its shell while everyone else had already hatched.

Without breaking the hard shell, there can be no birth.

It’s the same with a person’s heart.

Chiriririk!—

“Huh?”

The ground froze.

Her legs froze.

Her lower half and upper half both froze.

The arms gripping swords solidified in victorious chill.

Whiiing!—

A blizzard swept through again.

This time, it spread over the mountain and into the village.

Some residents were bewildered, wondering what winter had come in the middle of summer.

“Hahh…”

The girl who caused all this exhaled steam from her mouth.

With blue radiance in her eyes, she stared at Rayla.

The pain from the injury moments ago seemed to have vanished as Jenny stood up once more.

She no longer had any way to control her power.

[100%]

Having opened the forbidden door, Jenny let everything go.

“This is…!”

Rayla, unthawing her frozen body, wore a look of astonishment.

Consumed by power and losing her sanity, she rampaged.

Amidst the swirling cold, even Jenny was becoming frozen.

“What a stupid thing to do!”

It was one thing to try to stop her.

But that method is also not wise.

“To lose your sanity!”

Jenny, grasping her sword like a beast, charged at Rayla.

Rayla, on the contrary, perceived the movements as ridiculous and swiftly sliced through.

Swoosh!—

Jenny’s body was cut in half.

Such a brutally gruesome scene played out, yet something felt amiss.

There was no blood.

No, it wasn’t Jenny at all… it was an ice clone.

“You thought I lost my mind?”

At that moment, something shot from behind, binding Rayla’s arms and legs.

The real Jenny suddenly appeared, having manipulated the strings wrapped around her wrist.

“This, this is…”

“I learned it from a friend. A very reliable one.”

The ice clone from before was actually just an imitation of a technique from a classmate.

And the string she now controlled was in fact fishing line.

Jenny had taken many hits to her head just to learn these techniques.

<Phantom Sword Art - Snow Clone, Fishing Line Manipulation>

“And another thing.”

[85%]

“I can’t control everything at 100%, but… I can manage a small touch!”

Interfering temporarily, she released the grip just before rampaging would begin.

In reality, the blizzard that had been sweeping toward the village began to dissipate.

“Haha, this is fun.”

Rayla, having encountered these techniques, smiled with interest.

“You’re still not at the point of being surprised.”

Jenny placed her hands on the ground and formed a massive block of ice.

The surroundings transformed into an icy realm.

Pulling on the fishing line, she yanked Rayla toward her.

<Chain Silver Style – Fishing Cut>

Taking her by surprise, she delivered a vicious slash to the unprepared Rayla.

At that moment, cold dust erupted across the entire mountain.

Surviving as an Academy Scammer.

 

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