SWNOVELXO Chapter 37 - Duel Tournament (2)
Chapter 37
Duel Tournament (2)
Schmitz bit his lip.
Right now, standing in front of him was Heinrich Agrippa.
‘So that’s the prodigy from Blue Class 2…’
He’d heard the name plenty of times before.
In the first test, he got his certificate from the instructor faster than anyone.
During the mock battle, he took the lead and wiped out Red Class 1 and White Class 5.
Even before joining the academy, there were already rumors about a prodigy in the Agrippa family.
‘I always told myself I’d take him down one day…’
Originally, Schmitz had set his sights on defeating the six great swordsmanship families.
After losing to Ernas, he’d given up on that dream, but he still had some ambition left.
‘Yeah… no need to get scared now.’
He clenched his fists and fired himself up, biting his lip again.
‘No matter how amazing he is, he’s probably around Ernas’s level.
Maybe even weaker.’
That’s what he kept telling himself.
If he went all out, maybe he had a chance to win.
Unlike before, Schmitz had gotten much better at using mana now.
‘Time to show off my speed.’
Right now, he was just entering the Graduate level.
It sucked that they weren’t allowed to use sword energy during prelims, but boosting his body with mana was still allowed.
If he pushed his agility to the max and used Hartmann’s Quick Sword Style, even a prodigy would have trouble reacting to it.
‘Yeah… I’ll be faster!’
While he was busy hyping himself up, the bell rang to signal the start of the prelims.
As the other students hesitated, watching each other carefully, Schmitz tried to move before anyone else.
But then—
“?!”
Fwoosh!
With a sharp slicing sound, about ten students dropped to the ground all at once.
In the middle of it stood Heinrich, holding his wooden sword.
‘No way…’
Schmitz hadn’t seen him move.
He quickly focused mana into his eyes to boost his vision, but it was no use.
‘This guy…!’
Fwoosh fwoosh!
Another ten students dropped.
Even then, Schmitz couldn’t catch a glimpse of Heinrich’s movements.
Heinrich was moving so fast, Schmitz—who had just stepped into the Graduate level—couldn’t even perceive him.
‘Ernas… this guy is dangerous…!’
Even someone undefeated like Ernas might lose against a monster like this.
That thought gripped him with dread, and Schmitz stood frozen, trembling.
Prelim Group 3 Arena.
As soon as we stepped inside, everyone turned to look at us.
Well, no surprise there—me and Verisrize, heirs of two of the six great swordsmanship families, just showed up together.
“Ernas Lanzstein and Verisrize Schreier…”
“Looks like those two are gonna make it to the finals from our group.”
“You never know.
We might still have a shot.”
“Yeah, let’s try surrounding them first…”
I glanced at the whispering students and spoke to Verisrize.
“Alright, I’m counting on you.”
“Hmph.
Worry about yourself.”
Then the bell rang.
Just as I stepped back, Verisrize dashed forward.
“…!”
She unleashed a flashy combo attack at the students who were eyeing us.
Screams erupted from those who had been waiting for a chance to strike.
“How dare you try to challenge me…”
Her golden hair swayed as she soared through the air.
“I’ll make you regret it.”
“…!”
Verisrize might have had bad grades lately, but she was still an heir to a prestigious swordsmanship family.
She’d received elite training from a young age, and she was naturally talented, so ordinary students didn’t stand a chance.
Leaving the other students to her, I focused my mana.
“Ernas!”
Boom!
Camilo came flying at me like the wind, and I blocked his attack with my wooden sword.
It was a strong overhead swing, but with my mana-powered guard, I held firm.
“I’ll take you up on your offer, Ernas!”
Camilo shouted, pushing against me as our swords clashed.
His dark eyes behind his glasses burned with determination.
“I’ll knock you out of the prelims myself… and report to Heinrich that you weren’t anything special!”
“Thanks for going along with my plan, Camilo.”
Clang!
I pushed his sword away and spoke coolly.
“But it’s not gonna be easy.”
“Shut up…!”
Camilo quickly jumped back.
He held his left arm forward and pulled his right arm—holding the sword—back.
He was getting ready to charge in and go for a thrust attack.
“Hrgh!”
Fwoosh!
Camilo dashed forward, pushing off the ground with speed.
It was a straight-line charge—just like Schmitz always used.
‘If this were Schmitz, he’d suddenly change direction here.’
That quick sidestep into the opponent’s flank was Schmitz’s specialty.
But Camilo had a different style.
“Haaah…!”
At the last step, he pushed off hard and leapt high.
He was aiming to attack from above.
This time, it was a thrust.
‘Charging in at that speed and going for a mid-body thrust… does he not care if it hits something fatal?’
If it had landed on my head or neck, it could’ve been deadly.
Is he just confident that I can block it?
Or does he not care if I die?
‘Probably the latter.’
Thwack!
I swung my sword and deflected his thrust off-course.
Camilo’s blade barely grazed past my left ear.
“…!”
Now we were close.
Using that distance, I switched to Lancaster Short Sword Style.
I’d already been holding my wooden sword in a short grip.
“Urgh!”
Whack!
I hit him several times, and he grunted in pain.
He backed off quickly to regain his stance.
“You bastard… gripping your sword short like a club—western style swordsmanship, huh?”
“Who knows.
Use your imagination.”
With a real sword, you couldn’t do this, but with a wooden sword, gripping the middle was possible.
Shortening the reach and using Lancaster’s short-sword techniques gave me an edge in close range.
Not quite a real short sword, but it worked.
“Damn, you’re tricky…!”
Camilo rushed again with a straightforward charge.
This time he didn’t jump.
He stayed low and aimed for my legs.
I blocked using the defensive stance from the Bastien Knight Sword Style.
“Tch…!”
His low strike was completely shut down by the solid defense.
Camilo kept attacking, but I blocked everything just barely.
‘With Bastien style, I can barely keep up with Camilo.’
While defending, I thought to myself.
‘So using it against Heinrich won’t be enough.’
Heinrich was on a whole other level compared to Camilo.
If I could barely block Camilo’s attacks, then Heinrich’s would be too much.
I’d need a different sword style to fight him.
‘This should be enough practice against Camilo.’
The reason I’d picked a one-on-one fight with Camilo was to prepare for Heinrich.
Since Camilo was copying Heinrich’s fighting style, he made the perfect sparring partner.
“Urgh…”
After repeated failed attacks, Camilo was starting to pant.
Watching him, I spoke coldly.
“Camilo, all you’re doing is poorly copying Heinrich.”
“W-what did you say?”
“Heinrich’s specialty is high-speed combat.
He’s really good at rushing in and overwhelming opponents.”
Though, that’s only one part of his skill set.
“Y-yeah, exactly!
Camilo quickly nodded, flustered.
“When I first fought Heinrich, I was taken down in an instant.
I was so impressed by his speed, I wanted to follow in his footsteps…”
“Heinrich moves freely across the battlefield, like it’s his own stage.”
I cut Camilo off mid-sentence.
“But you only move forward and back, not side to side.
You just charge straight in, maybe switch up your height a bit.”
“…!”
“If you keep going like that, you’ll never catch up to Heinrich, no matter how hard you try.”
It’s not really his fault.
Heinrich probably never gave Camilo any personal training.
Camilo was just copying what he saw, in his own way.
“Damn…”
Camilo’s face twisted with frustration after getting called out.
I looked straight at him and shifted my stance.
“If you really want to improve, stop blindly imitating Heinrich.”
“Shut up…!”
Camilo came at me again.
I could see the faint glow of magic power around his wooden sword.
‘He’s using sword energy out of anger.’
Using sword energy during prelims is against the rules.
If you get caught, you’re disqualified.
But I wasn’t planning to call out to the instructor.
‘It’s faster if I just deal with it myself.’
Thud!
Camilo leapt forward, thrusting his wooden sword at my head.
But I had already predicted his move perfectly.
Blocking it was easy.
‘Time to end this with the Partizan Judgment Sword Style.’
The special technique I got from Anneliese.
Using it, I enhanced my physical abilities and moved in close.
Dodging the sword energy from Camilo’s strike, I extended my wooden sword in a precise motion.
I didn’t need to add any sword energy to my strike.
Just enhancing my body with magic power was enough to make it a powerful hit.
“Ugh…!”
Wham!
My strike hit Camilo square in the torso.
He was in mid-air, so he went flying and slammed into the wall of the arena.
From the impact, he completely passed out and couldn’t get back up.
‘Probably broke a bone or two.’
That means he won’t be able to participate in the second test coming up soon.
Still, if he learns something from this loss, it’ll help him grow in the long run.
“What, it’s over already?”
I turned my head at the voice beside me—Verisrize was brushing her hair back casually.
Behind her, over forty students were groaning on the ground.
“It’s really all done?”
“Of course.
Just a bunch of weaklings.”
She crossed her arms with a smug look.
Some of those students probably used two or three bottles of red elixir, and she still took them all down this fast…
“You’re amazing, Verisrize.”
“R-Really?”
“It was worth trusting you with it.”
When I said that, she blushed.
“O-Obviously! Do you even know who I am?”
She played with the tips of her hair, looking all shy.
“Well then…”
I looked around.
Besides me and Verisrize, no one was still standing.
“We passed the prelims.”
Ernas Lanzstein.
Verisrize Schreier.
The two of us made it to the main tournament from Group 3.
“This way is the waiting room.
You’ll find the match chart in there.”
Guided by an instructor, Verisrize and I headed to the waiting area.
“Ernas, I wonder how the other groups turned out?”
“The successors of the six major sword families probably all made it.
And Serine too, most likely…”
“Serine… that girl’s moving up too, huh.”
Verisrize frowned at the mention of Serine.
She’s always kind of seen Serine as a rival.
“Ernas, how strong is Serine now? Has she reached the Graduate level?”
“Can’t share that info.”
“Wait, are you taking her side now? Didn’t you call off the engagement? So you’re not even connected anymore, right?”
“We’re both in Black Class 6, so of course I’ll look out for her.”
“Ugh… that’s so unfair.”
Verisrize bit her lip.
“Fine.
I’ll find out for myself in a match.”
“Depending on the bracket, you might not even get to fight her.”
The main tournament is an 8-person single-elimination bracket.
So Verisrize would need some luck to face Serine.
“Man, now I really wanna see the matchups.”
“…”
“What do you think, Elnas?”
Verisrize looked at me, trying to read my expression.
“From your point of view… wouldn’t it be perfect if you made it to the finals and beat Heinrich from Blue Class 2?”
“Well… that would look the best, sure.”
The two most talked-about freshmen clashing in the finals—that’s the ideal scenario.
“But things don’t always go the way you want.”
“…?”
I left Verisrize behind with a confused look on her face and walked into the waiting room.
Others from the different groups were already there.
“Ernas…!”
“There you are.”
Serine and Chloe greeted me.
Looking around, it seemed like all the expected people made it through.
Most of them were from Black Class 6, which makes sense—they had the most elixirs.
‘Group 1 was Rufus and Serine.
Group 2, Gort and Chloe…’
Group 3 was me and Verisrize.
And Group 4…
“Ernas…”
Schmitz was staring at me, looking totally drained.
Even though he passed, he didn’t look happy.
“Be careful.
That guy… he’s not normal.”
“…”
Following Schmitz’s gaze, I saw Heinrich standing there with a calm expression.
Like he didn’t break a sweat in the prelims.
“Looks like everyone’s here.”
Just then, the instructor came into the room.
He taped a sheet of paper to the wall.
“This is the tournament bracket. The first match starts in ten minutes, so be ready.”
The room fell silent.
Only me and Heinrich seemed unfazed.
“These are the matchups for the quarterfinals. Winners go to the semis.”
The instructor pointed to the bracket and spoke with a steady voice.
“First match: Serine Bastian vs. Verisrize Schreier”
“Second match: Rufus Ignias vs. Gort.”
“Third match: Schmitz Hartmann vs. Chloe.”
“Last match: Heinrich Agrippa vs. Ernas Lanzstein”
No need to wait for the finals.
My first match in the main tournament… is against Heinrich Agrippa.