As if being dyed in darkness, after walking only a little, I could no longer see the place I had been just moments ago.
FLASH!
Then the Golden Headband reacted to the demonic energy and emitted red light, responding fiercely as if trying to pull my arm.
‘Not this time.’
But I stroked the Golden Headband as if covering it with my hand. Then the Golden Headband’s light faded.
Like an ordinary bracelet, no aura could be felt from it at all. It truly was a divine artifact.
‘Let’s try this with only my own power.’
As the instructor had said, this time, I did not intend to rely on any special ability or divine artifact.
‘Maybe some kind of change might happen.’
How should I put it? I had a strange intuition that a change would come to the Thunderbird’s mark.
Not when the Thunderbird’s mark was completely filled, but as if changes would appear step by step.
‘Though I’m not sure.’
In the meantime, I faced the sticky darkness. Normally, I would have opened the Heavenly Hound’s eyes, but I did not.
Because of that, a primal human fear settled over me. But as always, fear stimulated my curiosity.
It felt as if I had finally found a side of myself I had not known until now.
‘Maybe I was being too arrogant.’
I had thought it would be better to emphasize my strengths and cover my weaknesses rather than compensate for those weaknesses.
Moreover, rather than spending time on things I could not do, I had intended to spend time on things I did well.
“Should I take this chance to change?”
When I looked back not at my strengths, but at what I had considered weaknesses, it felt as if a new world had opened.
Saaah-!
An eerie demonic energy brushed over my skin. In an instant, demonic energy cut through the drifting mana and poured sharply toward me.
In time with the demonic energy rushing in, I turned my head to the side.
SLASH!
‘Claws?’
Five blade-like things brushed through the place where my face had been. Those things, which looked like beast claws, were covered in black fur.
“......I think I know what it is.”
When I dodged the attack, the monster finally revealed itself from within the darkness.
Grrrrr!
Sharp fangs holding moonlight, and bright-yellow eyes filled with killing intent.
“Right. For some reason, I thought it’d be a Werewolf.”
Monster was the collective term for all things in the world that changed under the influence of magical beasts when those magical beasts tore through rifts in the Demonic Realm and manifested in the human realm.
Among magical beasts, there were also Werewolves, but.
‘They really are this different.’
The Werewolf I was facing seemed to be a wolf that had changed like that under the influence of demonic energy.
“......It’s kind of pitiful.”
Because of that, I felt compassion.
‘It’s not what it wanted.’
Perhaps I might be the only one who felt pity for a monster.
It might be because I had not yet been harmed by a monster.
SLASH!
Once again, the Werewolf lunged at me. It leaped high and drew its claws vertically.
RIIIP!
I hurriedly stepped back, but its speed was faster than I had thought. My clothes tore, and a small wound remained.
‘Get ahold of yourself. This isn’t the time to get sentimental.’
The Werewolf before my eyes could cause multiple casualties depending on the situation.
According to the Hero Association’s notation.
‘Category Grade 2 to 3.’
It was still staring at me with eyes that wanted only slaughter.
And so, I steeled my resolve. I would free it from this cycle, win, and proudly leave this place.
***
The exchange mostly flowed in the form of the Werewolf rushing in and me dodging.
The pain I felt around my chest did not stiffen my body. Instead, it dramatically enhanced my senses.
‘I need to use mana.’
In order to block the Werewolf’s attack, I had to wrap my body in mana and protect it.
‘Let’s try it.’
I did not dodge the Werewolf’s attack as it stretched diagonally toward me. Instead, I wrapped myself in mana and blocked.
KABOOM!
A sound that could not come from an ordinary person’s skin rang out, and the Werewolf’s arm bounced away.
“Grrrrr!”
The Werewolf, instinctively noticing the change, pulled back into the distance.
‘Hold it loosely, yet tightly.’
I operated the mana loosely, then quickly transferred it and condensed it firmly to block.
If I had condensed mana in advance in preparation for the attack, I would have merely blocked it normally.
However, because I blocked as if striking back with mana, the Werewolf’s arm bounced away.
Even when I thought about it, it felt as if I had blocked by striking with mana.
“I knew what I felt was right.”
When I felt that the real fight had finally begun, an emotion boiled up inside my chest.
‘It runs in the family. This does.’
Normally, I was fine, but only at times like this did competitive spirit boil up.
However, I was not swayed like before. I had to control this emotion in order for it to help me later when I handled Samadhi True Fire.
‘But don’t put it out. Maintain it faintly.’
In this fight, I intended not only to defeat the Werewolf, but to take away much more.
Now it was my turn to attack.
‘Fast, yet slow.’
Recalling the instructor’s words in my head, I ran toward it.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
For the first time, I lunged at the Werewolf. In that instant, even as it was pushed back by my momentum, its ten claws tore through the air irregularly.
I did not retreat, but increased my speed even more and chased the Werewolf.
At this level of speed, I instinctively felt that in order to chase the Werewolf and dodge its attacks, I had to maintain composure.
‘Fast, yet slow means......’
I did not know whether this matched the instructor’s intention, but it seemed to mean that the more I reached an extreme, the more calmly I had to control reason.
‘......Wait, this.’
Suddenly, I thought this was the same mindset I had held when trying to control the flames of Samadhi True Fire.
To raise the flames firmly, but maintain composure so I would not be devoured by them.
‘Right. I think I finally know what it is.’
Even against the fierce waves of a black sea, a helmsman does not despair. He reads the subtle currents and overcomes the waves.
Even amid anxiety and fear, the helmsman never loses reason or composure.
Because the helmsman has a home to return to, and family waiting for him.
‘......Family and friends.’
And so, I too had a place to return to. Suddenly...... after finding that stability, I began to maintain composure even at a speed beyond the realm of humanity.
I had fully embodied the second teaching as well. Now, only one thing remained.
‘Strong, yet weak.’
I chewed over it while applying the memory of having run toward the antique-like clock in the training ground.
‘I think this just means to relax.’
Jio had said the upper body was weaker than the lower body. So I relaxed even more and threw a punch.
Mom’s consciousness-severing technique.
My fist, like a finely honed sickle, did not go toward the Werewolf’s chin. It went deeper and aimed at its neck.
Slice.
The madness-filled light in the Werewolf’s eyes cooled.
“......”
The aftermath of my first killing circled around me. It felt thick and sticky.
However, when I saw the Werewolf’s slowly closing eyes grow calm, it left like a spring breeze.
“You can rest now.”
The life it had lived after unwillingly becoming a monster had come to an end.
......But didn’t something just flash? My fist strike had been so fast that it might have been my imagination.
***
Wagner’s assistant, Choi Seoyeon, was monitoring the situation from outside. Choi Seoyeon’s gaze suddenly turned toward Wagner.
‘He cares about them more than I thought.’
While preparing this lesson, Wagner had said something.
-Pull them out when it feels right.
Even if he did not show it, he had been concerned for the students’ safety.
Choi Seoyeon looked at the two Werewolves beyond the monitor.
‘About Grade 3, roughly?’
This was the first time Choi Seoyeon had personally confirmed the abilities of the two students with her own eyes.
The first student to encounter a Werewolf was Choi Jio.
‘He’s the Muscleman heir, right?’
At that moment.
“Face me openly!”
In an instant, a voice so loud that it created static on the speaker rang out.
At the sight of Jio rushing at the Werewolf with both arms spread wide to the left and right, Wagner chuckled.
“They say the guild leader was like that at his age too.”
Choi Seoyeon asked with a reluctant expression.
“......Every time I hear about it, I don’t understand. Just what kind of place is the Muscleman Guild?”
Jio did not dodge the Werewolf’s claws.
“I simply...... accept them silently.”
It was hard to believe, but the Werewolf’s claws could not pierce his skin.
No, they could not pierce his muscles.
“They have elasticity......?”
“They say one cannot draw a ‘bowstring’ if one is only hard. For reference, I can’t draw their bowstrings either.”
Jio took responsibility for what he had said.
“It means your training is lacking. More!”
TWANG!
Even so, not even a scratch remained on Jio’s pectorals.
“......He is strange, but he is strong.”
Choi Seoyeon began to see Jio, who had both arms spread wide, in a new light.
To draw a bowstring even Wagner could not draw at the age of seventeen. No, to have been drawing it since much earlier.
Just what kind of life had he lived?
‘Maybe I should’ve treated him a little more gently. I feel a little sorry.’
Choi Seoyeon pointed to another screen with her index finger.
“Lee Wonwoo has encountered one too.”
“Watch closely. Even I have never seen someone like him before.”
“......Ah, yes.”
At the words “even I have never seen,” coming from Instructor Wagner, who had experienced all sorts of hardships, Choi Seoyeon watched carefully.
“He’s agile.”
For now, it only looked interesting. In any case, unlike Jio, he was not showing anything remarkable and was only dodging.
While watching, Wagner rubbed his hands together as if expectant.
“He should be about to do something soon.”
It was at that moment.
THOOM!
For the first time, Wonwoo not only blocked the Werewolf’s attack, but bounced it away.
“Huh?!”
Realizing that Wonwoo’s mana condensation had occurred just before the attack landed, Choi Seoyeon could not help but be flustered.
Even more, compared to the time spent, the strength of the mana was truly firm.
“Did Lee Wonwoo learn an assassination-type mana operation method? No. If so, it couldn’t be that solid......?”
Wagner grandly flicked Choi Seoyeon on the forehead.
“Does that look like an operation method to you? Do some training instead of just playing around.”
Choi Seoyeon rubbed her throbbing forehead.
‘Playing around? He’s the one who plays around while dumping all the work on me......!’
But what nonsense was he saying, that it was not an operation method?
When she focused on those words and peered into the monitor, Choi Seoyeon’s mouth slowly opened.
“......That works? No, leaving everything else aside, how does his body endure that?”
As the instructor said, Wonwoo had no system called an operation method. He merely sent mana wherever he wanted.
It was simple mana operation without rules.
Only then did Wagner nod as if satisfied.
“That’s what I don’t know either. If you try to understand it, you’ll only get tired, so just enjoy it.”
Wagner was right about that. Because she would not understand it later either.
Due to the speed of his mana transfer, Wonwoo’s movements had become so fast they were difficult to follow with the eye.
‘Too fast. He’ll make a mistake like that......’
It was a situation where he seemed likely to be pushed or swept away by his own speed, but Wonwoo raised his speed even more.
“No......”
She had been worried, but Wonwoo did not show himself being pushed or shaken by his own speed.
It meant he was maintaining reason and composure.
‘......I thought he was exaggerating.’
The truth was, Choi Seoyeon had not believed the instructor’s words that a mere first-year had faced the Category Grade 4 magical beast Head-Pressing Spirit.
However, the Wonwoo inside the monitor was proving it himself.
Proving the fact that he had opposed a Category Grade 4 magical beast, even if only for a while.
“He’ll end it soon.”
The moment Wagner’s words ended.
Slice.
The Werewolf’s head fell cleanly, as if cut by a finely honed sickle.
It was tremendous explosive force and attack power to match. The corners of Choi Seoyeon’s eyes trembled.
“That’s your technique, Instructor......?”
“Yeah, that’s right. He saw it once and copied it.”
Choi Seoyeon’s head spun.
‘Everyone...... has reason to feel that way.’
She understood why many in the Academy suspected Wonwoo.
‘And they said his special abilities are on an even different track.’
To be honest, even she felt suspicious despite knowing everything.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Wagner snapped his middle finger and thumb.
“I was wondering why that kid suddenly started fighting so well...... He was doing it exactly like I told him.”
“What did you tell him?”
Wagner smiled broadly and said,
“To hold it loosely and then tightly, to be fast yet slow, and to be strong yet weak.”
“......What does that even mean?!”
This was the normal reaction.
“Actually, I don’t remember what I said. Anyway, bring them out. Looks like both of them focused, so be careful.”
***
As if announcing the end of combat, the lights inside the prison turned on.
‘He really is different from how he looks.’
I had absorbed all of the instructor’s teachings. I could not even guess how much stronger I had become. It was truly a tremendous achievement.
CLATTER!
A shadow swamp opened in front of the iron door, and Choi Seoyeon beckoned to us.
“Kids, it’s me, Assistant Choi Seoyeon.”
“......”
Jio hesitated to answer.
‘What is it......? Is there something else left?’
I, too, was on guard against the assistant.
If she had just come, maybe I would not have thought much of it, but because she openly revealed her identity, something felt strange.
“......Brother, be on guard.”
“Kids......?”
There was no way the assistant would speak so prettily like that. There was that saying too, was there not? Always beware of beauties, old people, and children.
A moment later.
“Ah, come here already! I have to send you two off and clean this place up.”
At the temper that erupted in an instant, Jio lowered his guard.
“Now she resembles the assistant I know.”
“Right. Why do something that doesn’t suit you?”
Only then did I realize that class had ended.
‘It’s finally the weekend.’
It felt burdensome, but the day to go find Giselle had finally come.