Chapter 41

The werewolf—the Alpha leading the monsters—stared at the human blocking his path.

Grrr…

The Alpha had fought countless humans before.

Up until the moment he was captured, he had faced dozens of humans at once.

But among them, none had ever stood alone to face him.

“Huff, huff, huff.”

The Alpha couldn’t understand the white-haired human before him.

Even though he was so badly wounded, instead of running away to live, the man stayed where he was, refusing to retreat.

But that was the end of it.

Awooooo!

The Alpha let out a thunderous howl and charged at the white-haired man.

Eyes filled with the certainty of victory.

That human had endured his attacks for quite a while, but endurance always had its limits.

The Alpha instinctively sensed that Gideon was barely standing.

So he decided—he would end this with one strike.

Graaah!

The Alpha opened his jaws wide and rushed toward Gideon.

He intended to tear out his throat and kill him instantly.

But just before his fangs reached Gideon’s neck, the Alpha felt chills run down his entire body.

Grr?

Instinctively, the Alpha looked at Gideon.

And the moment their eyes met, a wave of deathly fear flooded through him.

Seeing the unwavering gaze of a human determined to kill him, the Alpha instinctively pulled his head back.

At that exact instant, Gideon swung his sword.

Had the Alpha not jerked back, his neck would have been severed cleanly.

“…Tch.”

As the Alpha narrowly dodged the strike, Gideon clicked his tongue in frustration.

But he immediately raised his sword again.

He brought the blade swiftly above his shoulder and, before the Alpha could retreat, swung down once more.

Graaahhh!

A scream of agony echoed across the Academy.

Gideon had cleanly sliced off the Alpha’s left hand.

‘Didn’t manage to kill him.’

As expected of an Alpha, he had instinctively dodged my strike aimed at his neck.

I was caught off guard when he suddenly pulled his head back, but I quickly steadied myself and attacked again.

As a result, I was able to cut off his left wrist.

‘Looks like all that training paid off.’

If it had been a few weeks ago, I wouldn’t have had enough strength to cut that cleanly.

I failed to sever his neck, but at least I’d inflicted a critical wound.

With one hand gone, his range of attack was now much more limited.

At this rate, I could probably hold out until reinforcements arrived…

“…Huh?”

I tried to raise my sword and ready my stance again.

But suddenly, my legs lost all strength.

No, not just my legs—my entire body went limp.

“Ah.”

The swordsmanship of the House Balmuth used the full power of the body to deliver one powerful strike.

Normally, I could swing multiple times even using my whole strength.

But right now, my body was a wreck.

After just two full-power swings, dizziness began to set in.

‘I have to hold on. If I can’t… I’ll die.’

Even as I staggered, I forced myself to stay upright.

I barely managed to avoid collapsing, but I no longer had the strength to properly lift my sword.

The Alpha seemed to notice my condition and immediately extended his remaining arm toward me.

“Keuhk?!”

He grabbed me by the collar and lifted me into the air, then hurled me toward a nearby tree.

My body slammed hard against it, and the sword slipped from my grasp as I crumpled to the ground.

“Argh… urgh…”

I strained to reach for my sword, but couldn’t move even one arm properly.

No—my entire body refused to move.

‘Ha, damn it. Guess there’s a reason they call that thing a newbie shredder.’

It was a high-difficulty monster you were never supposed to fight early in the game, but facing it like this in person—it was even worse.

With that meaningless thought, I lifted my eyes toward the front.

“…I’m screwed.”

The monsters were entering the gym, and the Alpha was slowly approaching me.

His eyes burned with killing intent.

‘Well, I’ve done everything I can.’

That Alpha was never a monster I could defeat in the first place.

All I could do was buy time.

‘Still… it’s been at least five minutes by now.’

In the game, when fighting that werewolf, reinforcements would appear if you reduced its health past a certain point or survived long enough.

If that same condition applied here…

Graaahhh!

The Alpha opened his mouth wide and lunged toward me.

Judging by his aim, he intended to bite my throat and kill me.

So I tried to roll my body sideways to avoid the charge—when suddenly,

Bang—!

Someone appeared in front of me and smashed their fist into the Alpha’s head.

It was a powerful blow, loud enough to echo like a cannon blast.

“Grrraaaack?!”

The Alpha flew backward in a pitiful heap.

Wondering what had just happened, I lifted my head—

“To think you’d dare do this to my junior.”

A red-haired female student stood before me, holding a greatsword.

“Lady Lisa?”

“Don’t speak, Gideon. Just rest. You’ve done more than enough.”

“Lady Lisa, no—it’s the students inside the gym! The monsters have already—”

“Don’t worry. The teachers are handling it.”

“What?”

I looked back toward the gym.

Just moments ago, the monsters had been flooding inside, but now, the instructors had arrived and were taking them all down.

“Hey, hey! Be careful with that! I paid 50 gold coins to bring that thing here!”

“Ugh, shut up, Bark! This whole mess happened because you didn’t take proper care of it!”

…Well, we were managing to subdue the monsters somehow. Luke and a few other instructors were guiding the students who were inside the gym to safety.

“Yes, I’ve confirmed it. That’s a relief.”

“Right. So get some rest. I’ll go kill that werewolf.”

“Lady Lisa, that werewolf—no, that Lycanthrope—is quite a rare specimen. It’d be better if we didn’t kill—”

“No. I’ll kill it.”

Lisa spoke firmly, then glanced sideways at me.

Her usual blank expression was there, but… her eyes—and even her voice—were filled with rage.

“To be honest, I’m furious right now. I’m angry at myself for not being able to help you before you ended up like this… and I’m angry at that werewolf for making you that way.”

With those words, Lisa lifted her greatsword onto her shoulder.

“I’ll kill it.”

“I don’t doubt your skills, Lady Lisa, but killing that thing won’t be easy. Lycanthropes are among the strongest of the werewolf kind.”

“I told you, Gideon. I’m really angry right now. It’s kind of embarrassing to say it myself, but… when I get mad, I become a very scary person.”

As she said that, blood began to pour from both of Lisa’s hands gripping the greatsword.

But that blood didn’t fall to the floor.

Instead, as if it had a will of its own, it climbed up the hilt of the sword and spread over the blade.

Soon, a red aura began to form around Lisa and her weapon.

Well, up to that point, it was just Lisa drawing out her family’s power as usual… but—

‘Wait a sec. That red aura… it looks way darker than normal, doesn’t it?’

The power of the Balmuth Family—Blood Energy.

A blood art that enhanced the user’s physical abilities and the weapon they wielded.

The darker the red aura, the greater the amplification.

‘She even manifested wings. She’s really decided to kill that werewolf, huh?’

For reference, it wasn’t like angelic wings had sprouted from her back.

The red aura surrounding Lisa thickened and soon began to form the shape of wings behind her.

They were large, bat-like wings—and their appearance meant she was drawing out her absolute maximum power.

Kraaaah! Awooooo!

Meanwhile, the Alpha—either too fearless or too stupid—charged straight at Lisa.

It looked like it was aiming to bite her neck again.

But the moment the Alpha entered the reach of her greatsword—

KWA-KWA-KWA-BOOM—!

With a thunderous explosion, the Alpha was literally blown apart by Lisa’s strike.

“Gideon, are you feeling better now?”

“Yes, I received treatment, so I’m much better.”

I answered Luke and slowly lifted my body.

It had been about twenty minutes since the monster escape incident ended.

During that time, the subdued monsters were re-contained, and the Academy staff began cleanup operations.

Meanwhile, I received medical treatment inside Gymnasium No. 1.

“The nurse’s skills are incredible, as expected.”

“She used to be a medic in the Imperial Knight Order, so you can trust her ability.”

Luke helped me up.

Normally, the injured should’ve been transported straight to the infirmary.

But since my condition was quite bad, the nurse had come directly to the gym to give me emergency treatment.

Thanks to her, my body—which had been unable to move at all—was now able to walk, even if just barely.

“The nurse told me earlier that you’ve got over ten fractures and some serious internal damage. She treated the urgent injuries, but told you to head straight to the infirmary afterward.”

“Yes. I’ll go there right after I tidy up a bit.”

“Good. Go get proper treatment and rest. And you can take tomorrow off. Rest all day.”

Luke lightly patted my shoulder.

“Thanks… and sorry. It was the Academy’s mistake, but you ended up suffering for it.”

“I only did what I was supposed to. The Disciplinary Committee exists to protect the students, after all.”

Luke shook his head.

“Even considering that, what you did was incredible. A Lycanthrope isn’t a monster to be taken lightly. But you stood your ground alone to protect the students. That’s not something we can just gloss over.”

“Does that mean I might get some kind of reward?”

“Hmm, I’ll strongly recommend it to the Headmaster. Your performance today definitely deserves recognition.”

After saying that, Luke looked at me silently for a moment.

“But really, your swordsmanship… it’s impressive. There aren’t many who could fend off a Lycanthrope’s attacks. You’re still not that familiar with Aura, right?”

“‘Fend off’… I got knocked out in five minutes.”

“There are plenty who can’t even last that long. Even I—well, it wouldn’t be hard for me, but still, it’s not easy. What I mean is, you’re bound to become an incredible swordsman—one recognized by the Empire itself someday.”

“I’ll have to work harder to live up to your expectations.”

I gave a small laugh and replied casually.

Luke’s praise wasn’t unpleasant, but my mind was elsewhere.

“Anyway, I’ll head out first. Do you happen to know where Lady Lisa went?”

“Lisa? She went that way a while ago.”

“Got it. I’ll go find her.”

“You sure you can walk on your own? I can go with you to the infirmary if you want.”

“It’s fine. I can manage.”

Of course, that was easier said than done—every step I took sent pain screaming through my entire body.

Given how many fractures I had, it was to be expected.

Normally, I would’ve passed out from the pain, but this transmigrated body seemed oddly dulled to it. It was bearable—barely.

‘I need to find Lisa quickly.’

This monster escape episode—

That werewolf earlier might’ve seemed like the final boss, but the real final boss was someone else.

‘Lisa herself.’

In the story, Lisa overuses her family’s power—her Blood Energy—while subduing the monsters.

But Lisa hadn’t yet mastered control over it. She hadn’t even fully awakened as a vampire.

Because of that, the excessive use of power triggered a side effect—Lisa went berserk.

She turned into a vampire that drained the blood of every living creature nearby.

In other words, once Lisa lost control, everyone in the vicinity would be slaughtered by her.

And I had to face that rampaging Lisa… with this broken body.

‘If that happens, it leads straight to the bad ending. And I have no idea what would happen if I hit that ending here.’

So I had to stop Lisa before she lost control.

Originally, I had a plan prepared for this event—but there was one problem now.

‘I used too much power earlier when fighting the Alpha.’

In the game, Lisa’s rampage started about an hour after that battle.

But this time, I wasn’t so sure.

The power she drew earlier was several times stronger than what I remembered.

Because of that, her rampage might start much sooner.

‘I need to check on her right away.’

I had to see Lisa with my own eyes.

Only then could I roughly gauge how much time I had left before she lost control—

“Huh? Gideon? What are you doing here? What about your treatment?”

“Ah.”

Lisa was approaching me from a distance.

That red aura still lingered faintly around her, though she didn’t seem to notice it herself.

And judging from its intensity, if my memory served me right—

‘Less than five minutes left.’

It seemed that the plan I’d prepared had just become useless.

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