“To think Mo Yonghan would lose. He didn’t get the title of Dharma Dragon for nothing.”

Yeo Jin-gon expressed his admiration. In the two wrists of him, who had snatched the blue headband from the defeated student and handed it to Go Su-bin, were two blue headbands and one white headband.

From a quick glance, Go Su-bin had also collected a similar amount.

‘As expected, the masters within the top 5 have already collected almost all the white and blue headbands.’

All that was left for them was the black headband. Unlike the previous situation, friction was inevitable.

The others hadn’t noticed ‘yet’, but my current situation was more dangerous than it appeared.

I recalled their strengths anew.

Yeo Jin-gon, who used the Thirty-Six Swords of the World from the Zhongnan Sect, and Go Su-bin, who, unusually for a member of the Beggars’ Sect, used the Ice Blood Ink Flash Saber of the North Sea Ice Palace.

Both were formidable opponents. Especially in a state like this.

‘The mana I desperately recovered is only about 10 or 20 percent. And I only have about half of my internal energy left.’

Just then, the student with the blue headband, who had barely defended against Go Su-bin’s wooden sword, clung to my side and muttered as if frustrated.

“To attack by surprise, you coward…!”

It was a sorrowful mumble, as if they had been close.

‘Surprise attack?’

At this, I suddenly sensed something and raised my voice as much as possible.

“Everyone! Form a formation!”

The white and blue headbands, who reacted reflexively to the loud roar, stood on either side of me.

“The four white headbands will face Go Su-bin on the left! The blue will face Yeo Jin-gon with me! The watching is over! Now repay the favor of teaching you the sword!”

I shouted arbitrarily and immediately rushed towards Yeo Jin-gon with the blue headband. At the center of the rapidly closing distance, the Daoist Scholar’s Fan and Yeo Jin-gon’s wooden sword clashed.

“Keuk!”

It was a heavy blow, characteristic of the Zhongnan Sect’s heavy sword. If it weren’t for the hardness of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan, I would have had to clad it in sword qi separately to prevent it from breaking.

“Is this all you’ve got! To lose to a guy like this! The so-called Dragon and Phoenix Assembly, and Mo Yonghan, are a joke!”

In the midst of the sword pressure that felt like my wrist would break, I somehow used the subtleties of the Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Art to deflect the impact of the wooden sword.

It would have been better if I had bought more time to replenish my internal energy, but I didn’t have the time for that.

‘Assuming the worst-case scenario, now is the right time.’

In fact, the moment I saw the headbands tied to Yeo Jin-gon’s and Go Su-bin’s hands, it was bound to be like this. It wasn’t a matter of strength, but a matter of the battle situation.

‘The white and blue headbands who have allied with me now have joined forces with me because they were afraid of having their credits snatched by the black headbands.’

But if Yeo Jin-gon and Go Su-bin had already acquired most of the white and blue headbands, the story would be different.

‘Because there would be no reason for Yeo Jin-gon and Go Su-bin to target the remaining students.’

If they just snatched the headbands I currently possessed, they would have filled their quota. If this fact became known, my pretext of being the center of the alliance would also disappear.

‘If it goes that far, it’s over.’

If the truth that the threat of the black headband group could be neutralized with only my sacrifice was revealed, the unrelated white and blue headbands would back down, and in the end, a development where I had to face Yeo Jin-gon and Go Su-bin alone would unfold.

But the problem wouldn’t end there.

After having my black headband snatched so miserably, I would face the worst situation of being surrounded by the blue and white headband groups again. This time, they would be aiming for my last remaining blue headbands.

‘I’ll be robbed once by a tiger, and again by a pack of wolves.’

There was no end to such an end.

Fortunately, the blue headband was distracted by his emotions and couldn’t see the situation properly, and the white headbands were also just standing there, tense at the appearance of the black headbands.

Surprisingly, even a person who is usually rational would only see the aimed wooden sword when a crisis strikes. In the midst of the immediate tension, they couldn’t even check their current situation, the headbands.

‘Only I noticed it first.’

So I stepped forward first. While I still held the tacit control of the alliance, to create the most advantageous situation for me.

Because it was most likely that the two black headbands, who had the most mental composure, would first see through our contradiction and point it out to break up the alliance.

The important thing was not to give them that chance. So I made the first move and induced a chaotic battle.

As a result, I was able to achieve the current situation where the sound of fierce swords replaced conversation.

Right now, the most frightening thing for me was not the sword, but the tongue.

‘Actually, this is also close to a gamble.’

It was a gamble worth trying.

I blocked the wooden sword that Yeo Jin-gon had thrust and dug in, shouting.

“Attack!”

Then, the man with the blue headband, who was enraged by his comrade’s elimination, thrust his sword from Yeo Jin-gon’s blind spot.

“Tch!”

He, who had forcibly raised his internal energy, shook me off and blocked the blue headband’s attack.

But in the urgent situation, I didn’t just get pushed back.

Pajik!

A blue electric current formed at the tip of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan. In a fleeting moment, at the strange qi wave, Yeo Jin-gon deflected the blue headband’s sword and turned his gaze this way, but it was already too late.

The tip of the fan was aimed at his defenseless body, and soon, the lightning strike, which had condensed all the remaining mana in my circle, was shot from a close distance.

At the same time, a blue flash, an electric magic that he had never seen in his life and my fastest blow, exploded towards Yeo Jin-gon’s body.

“Kuaaaak!”

Yeo Jin-gon’s body stiffened as it was, experiencing an electric shock for the first time in his life.

‘It worked!’

Unless you protected your whole body with protective qi like Mo Yonghan, it was impossible to take a lightning strike of that much firepower with your bare body.

‘This is magic.’

In fact, the true power of magic lies in its unknown novelty and utility. Electricity convulses the muscles, ice freezes the body, and fire burns the flesh.

The diversity of its attributes was in fact the true weapon of magic.

The fact that he had never experienced this was Yeo Jin-gon’s downfall.

‘I’ll end it with this.’

Before I knew it, I had rushed to Yeo Jin-gon’s side and clad my wooden sword in sword qi, causing my blood to go berserk. I could see him with his eyes wide with astonishment in front of me.

“Mo Yonghan at least endured 100 times more than you. 1 pun.”

With that, the Daoist Scholar’s Fan blew away Yeo Jin-gon’s temple.

Yeo Jin-gon, who collapsed with the gruesome sound of a watermelon breaking. Seeing him foaming at the mouth with his eyes rolled back, it seemed I had hit a vital spot properly.

The moment I snatched the black and blue headbands from him and immediately took a stance, I heard Go Su-bin’s voice from the front.

“You’re pretty good, aren’t you? To defeat Yeo Jin-gon after Mo Yonghan.”

Go Su-bin, who was glaring this way, having defeated the last white headband before I knew it. Although she was pretending not to be, her breathing was quite rough, as if she had used a lot of strength.

Of course, it wasn’t as much as me.

“It’s 2-on-1 now, what are you going to do?”

I asked, pressing her from both sides with the blue headband standing next to me.

“…Just hand over the black headband. Then I’ll back down.”

A dry laugh came out. To say such a thing even in this situation. Was she clueless, or bold?

“You’re surprisingly stupid. I meant for you to go quietly.”

“For that, you also look very tired, don’t you?”

Go Su-bin surprisingly poked a sore spot. She was right. Right now, I had no mana left, and I only had about 20% of my internal energy left.

“But I can still win against you with a joint attack. Didn’t you see just now?”

When I asked back, pointing at Yeo Jin-gon, it seemed to have become a pressure of its own, as Go Su-bin bit her lip for a moment and then glared at me and the blue headband student alternately.

“If that were the case, you would have ambushed me before the other lower-ranking students were finally defeated. The fact that you took the black headband first instead, isn’t it because you lacked the stamina?”

It was a pretty sharp point. From my point of view, it would have been better to eliminate the risk factor when it was even slightly off guard.

In fact, right now, I was just standing. Because my mana was depleted and my internal energy was at the bottom.

The only thing I could believe in was the blue headband, but as I had seen earlier, he was at most at the level of a proficient first-rate, so I couldn’t trust him.

Even in the battle with Yeo Jin-gon earlier, he was only at the level of a surprise attack or creating an opening.

‘In fact, the reason I took the headband first was because if Go Su-bin took Yeo Jin-gon’s headband and ran away, I wouldn’t have the stamina to catch her.’

I fell into deep thought. How could I make the best use of the current situation?

‘This is also a credit competition. Then, the result that best suits my purpose in the end is…’

After finishing my thoughts up to that point, I closed my two eyes for a moment and then opened them.

Just as Go Su-bin was about to react belatedly to that sudden strange behavior, I aimed the Daoist Scholar’s Fan at her.

“What are you trying to do?!”

Go Su-bin, who was surprised by this and retreated, extending her wooden sword. Since she had seen Yeo Jin-gon being hit by the electric shock emitted by the Daoist Scholar’s Fan with her own two eyes, her wariness was enormous.

I took a step closer to her, who was only looking at this side’s movements, and said.

“Actually, there’s one thing I said wrong earlier.”

“What, what is it?”

As I gradually got closer, perhaps feeling a sense of crisis, Go Su-bin also took a step back. Although her mouth was asking a question, her gaze was fully focused on the tip of the Daoist Scholar’s Fan.

“Not nine, but ten.”

“What?”

“It was ten.”

With those words, a black figure was suddenly shot from the tree that was standing right behind Go Su-bin.

“……!”

Go Su-bin, who reacted belatedly, swung her wooden sword behind her back, but her rear was already taken.

Paak!

The opponent’s wooden sword, which had rushed in secretly, struck Go Su-bin’s crown first.

“This…!”

Go Su-bin, who collapsed, fainting before she could say any more. Standing in the place where she had fallen was Baek Hasin with a bandage on one arm.

“For the price of teaching you the sword, you participated too late, didn’t you?”

I half-reprimanded Baek Hasin, who had been waiting for an opportunity until now, and recalled what had happened just a few minutes ago.

[The watching is over! Now repay the favor of teaching you the sword!]

The last words I had shouted before the start of the battle were in fact words that were conscious of Baek Hasin.

Perhaps because of the improvement in my realm from the fight with Mo Yonghan, I was able to faintly feel Baek Hasin’s secret qi sense.

Thanks to that, I was able to be sure of Baek Hasin’s intervention even if a chaotic battle broke out, and I was able to induce a situation like this and finish it.

‘For my final goal, not only I but also Baek Hasin must get credits. And most of all, it’s a big deal that we took down the 4th and 5th places.’

The ratio of advancing from intermediate to senior students every year was about 10%. Since the total number of current intermediate students was about 50, the number of promotions this year was about 5.

Of course, if their skills were good, more would be promoted, but for us, who were already behind in credits, it was better to eliminate the competitors.

Here, they would lose credits, and we would gain credits, so the gap would be greatly reduced.

“Anyway, I’ve repaid the favor with this.”

I chuckled, looking at Baek Hasin, who was shamelessly claiming credit for just landing the last blow.

“Don’t talk nonsense, you bastard.”

(End of Chapter)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep