Chapter 105 105 Meeting the protagonist
[Lucy's POV: ]
It was a pretty good start for me since I landed in a place with a bunch of goblins nearby, and taking them out was pretty easy too. Though they were all only worth one point.
There certainly were monsters in this labyrinth that were worth higher points but mostly, the ones that the students would have to face were all worth around one to ten points.
So, it was ultimately easier to just defeat the other students and get their points or the hundred points that were guaranteed.
It was just relatively easier than fighting a bunch of monsters that were obviously stronger than most of the normal students and getting hurt by them in the process.
'People were declared failed if they almost got killed by the hands of the monsters so, they were taken out on the spot.'
It was how the academy worked anyway. You needed to be smart, lucky, or strong to survive in that hellish place.
'The efforts were always rewarding here though. That much the Headmaster made sure.'
It takes a long time and there are rarely a few every decade or century but if one manages to get on the good side of the headmaster, they become historical figures that the world eternally remembers.'
But it is a difficult task, so difficult that our little achievements today might only be half enough to make it possible...
'On average, it took me about a year by myself and at least a few months when Rein and I did it together, but, according to her predictions, we might be able to do it within a week this time around.'
It was easier this time since our lives depended on it. We had to get on his good side so that we could slowly scam the good stuff out of his pockets.
But the first step in that was a score that none in the world might have achieved in his tests by doing something none would have even thought about.
'And to do that, I had decided to follow the path of treasures on the first day, defeat the students for the next two days, go to some of the monster dans that I know on the fourth day, meet up with El on the fifth day and then we go in that bitch's place and defeat her, and lastly on the sixth day, we defeat the remaining people with high points that weren't needed in our future plans.'
That was what I wanted to do at least. Doesn't look like my first day will go as planned so the rest of the plans have also melted under the blazing sun… all thanks to this great bastard standing before me.
"I said hello mister~. Wouldn't you at least reply?"
'Of all the others, I'm meeting this bastard in a place he shouldn't have been.'
Everything was going great, I was going around killing monsters and collecting the treasures on my path without encountering a single student, and then the first opponent I came across happened to be someone we wanted to avoid meeting for as long as we could.
'Which doesn't look to be possible anymore.'
"Haaaa…"
Looking up at the person standing a few stapes away from me in his familiar traditional clothing and straw hat, I made a clear bitter face.
"I can tell you are going to attack me anyway. Why even say hello?"
I was happily hunting the bigger goblins that gave two points here when he suddenly popped out of nowhere and started saying hello a while back.
'He should have been in area R, but we expected him to be somewhere else since everything had changed from what we knew, but to think after El met Lux, I would meet this bastard of all people as my first opponent... absurd for a coincidence.'
I expected it but the possibilities were almost unknown because we didn't know where we all would end up in this labyrinth.
I hoped we wouldn't meet or at least if I had to meet any of those five, I would meet Rex, or Cathy, or even AJ as the last thing. But this good luck of mine worked in the opposite way this time.
"Haha, isn't saying hello courtesy in the empire? I heard it's a gesture of kindness."
"Kindness with that kind of smile? Sure..."
Ragasage or Ras as we call him was a psychopath like us, especially like me if I said so myself.
He liked, no, like is a small word. The only absolute delight for his heart was fighting a strong opponent whenever he had the chance to.
'That's practically how he became as strong as he did in that cultivation world.'
His love for fighting strong opponents was a little different than mine though. I loved fighting new strong people while he would devote eternity if it meant becoming strong enough to defeat a single super strong person he had lost against.
'The main reason he started training with a sword was also because of how that certain young master of a nameless rich family had cut all his hair with a sword. And then the sword became his life when he lost against that martial arts cultist.'
His life hadn't been easy, I know it better than El. But, he was a strong person… so even though this encounter was unexpected, and that creepy smile he had resembled El's angry smile a little bit, it wasn't a bad idea to show him the difference between the two of us right from this moment.
"Hehe, so, should I propose an official duel, or doing it raw will be ok with you?"
Plus, it was his character trait that he sometimes worded some things so inappropriately without ever realizing it that they sounded too wrong from anyone else's perspective.
"No need for that useless thing. It's just a waste of time. Let's get started-"
-Tang!
'Should have at least let me finish the sentence you fucker!'
-Swang!
"Hehe, I knew you would block that."
He made a frontal attack and went back as soon as I was instinctively counterattacking. The bastard had some good instincts.
"That wasn't fair."
-Swiiiiish-clang!
I took a step and moved right before him with my sword aiming for his neck but, this time, the bastard blocked it was his sword, tried redirecting my sword to make me lose my balance, but failed miserably when his sword just passed right through my Dawn and he almost lost his balance instead.
-Skittttch-clung! Bumb! Clung!
But he smashed his other leg on the ground and supported his body, twisted his torso, and first parried my sword, he knew there would be following attacks so he used his unique footwork to regain his form, and first stopped my fist with a palm attack and then slashed his sword to stop my [Horizontal slash], miserably failing again, and hopelessly being thrown back a few steps.
"Huuuh. You have more strength than me. I wasn't expecting something like that. You are a top."
He looked at me, smiling with the happiest smile a human could make, a dull glow of red in those pure platinum eyes, while his words contained a kind of excitement someone wouldn't even feel while having their first foreplay.
But I didn't have to listen to him since our little battle had already started so I just went ahead and used my [Light walk] to close in on him and simply slashed my sword at the best opening I could find.
-Chiiiiiiing-Clung!
"And you have quite the pretty eyes as well. Looks like we are going to have some steamy time here, kekeke."
He had counterattacked with a slash of his own but different from the previous one, this slash contained more strength.
I could feel the vibration from my sword traveling through my hands and the top of my arms as I was thrown back this time.
"Well then."
A red glow overtook his attractive platinum eyes and the smile on his face deepened as the straw hat he was wearing vanished into thin air, revealing his dense red hair flowing down his back.
The sword he was holding, the heavenly sword that was one of the artifacts of the ancient civilization, his bonded partner, got covered in a very thin layer of transparent energy that wasn't Aura or Mana, and as he uttered his last words, I knew…
"Let's get serious, baby."
This was the start of our actual fight.
-Swish.
And, just from the way he vanished after saying those words, completely erased his presence, became one with the surroundings, and stayed like that for a few moments, I knew he was considering me a proper opponent he could use most of his available powers against to not only test me but also to test what he was currently capable of.
-Clang!
He was doing something logical and fun, and since I had a big fight ahead of me after a few days, it was a good idea to use him to test a few things I was planning on doing with that lusty bitch as well.
-Boooooooooom!
'Still, though, this is fun. Hehe.'
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