I Got a Fake Job at the Academy

Chapter 752 - Side Story 25: Hunter (1)

No conversation was necessary between Pantos and Rudger. Pantos wasn't the type to talk much and the same went for Rudger. If it wasn't necessary, he tended not to open his mouth.

When two such people faced each other, there was only one way to inquire about each other's well-being: competing with strength, man to man.

Strictly speaking, this was a method more suited to Pantos, a born warrior, than to Rudger, who was a mage but Rudger chose to willingly go along with it.

Kwang!

Pantos landed on the ground where Rudger had been standing just moments before.

With a cracking sound, the earth split apart with fissures and some of the ground even turned over. The fierce wind pressure scattered Rudger's hair.

Even for the large-framed Pantos, displaying that level of power was something beyond common sense.

"It seems you've become even stronger since we last met."

Right. Three years had passed since the holy war, so there was no way Pantos had done nothing.

Rudger immediately drew out mana and constructed a spell. Threads of magical power floating around drew splendid geometric patterns and projected complex magic.

Chunks of rock were generated in the air. Rock cannonballs with sharpened tips were fired at Pantos in succession.

Pyang!

The moment the projectiles that broke the sound barrier and created sonic booms were about to strike his body. Pantos' fist crushed the incoming magic directly.

One. Two. Three. After crushing all the incoming spells with his fists, Pantos leaped toward Rudger again.

From that impact, the unstable ground swayed greatly like the surface of water.

Pantos, who had flown toward Rudger, immediately lifted his harpoon and swung it widely like a bludgeon.

"Aether Nocturnus."

Rudger's magic beast that had been surrounding his body moved. Beast arms made of shadow that protruded from Rudger's shoulders caught Pantos' harpoon.

Koong!

A crater formed around Rudger as the center. Even though it was caught, the impact was tremendous, affecting the surroundings.

Rudger extended his staff toward Pantos.

A blizzard arose from the tip of the staff. From within the frigid blizzard, the jaws of a massive dragon appeared and tried to swallow Pantos.

Pantos applied force to shake off Aether Nocturnus' hands, then lifted his harpoon upward and swung it like a windmill.

A strong wind whirled along the trajectory of the harpoon. Rudger read something within the flow of that wind.

Kwaaaa!

The snow dragon that had tried to swallow Pantos was instead swept up by the storm and pulverized.

The pulverized snow crystals moved like a waterspout centered on Pantos, then soon changed direction toward Rudger. More ferocious and sharper.

"Commander Luther's swordsmanship."

Pantos had also grasped the essence of it through the duel with Luther and subsequent battles.

Unlike how Alex or Luther used it, his method was crudely rough and brutish, befitting Pantos.

If those two were the type to precisely identify the flow of power and the path that guided it and aim for openings.

Pantos was closer to the type that forcibly twisted existing flows of power with his innate strength.

However, the essential part of the technique was the same for both. That's why he could pull off this extraordinary feat of reversing magic.

Rudger tapped the floor lightly with his toes.

With just that, a massive wall of flames rose up, penetrating the ground. It wasn't simple flames, but an eruption of magma mixed with half-melted earth.

Chiiiik!

The incoming storm of cold air collided with the magma eruption, creating pure white steam. The moment Pantos' figure was hidden by the steam.

Pyang!

Before he knew it, Pantos had burst through the steam and charged right up to Rudger. He had slipped through the gap in perception created the moment vision was obscured. A completely open tunnel had formed along the path he had taken.

However, Rudger had already anticipated that action.

Rudger drew out the sword stick hidden within his staff.

The harpoon and sword stick collided with each other.

Kwaaang!

From the tremendous impact, the surrounding debris was greatly pushed outward.

Jjeojeojeojeojeok!

The split ground screamed, and part of the earth turned over. The coastal cliff where the two stood shook precariously.

But without caring, Pantos thrust his harpoon toward Rudger.

Pepepepepeong!

Five consecutive strikes thrusting in an instant. The air was torn and sonic booms occurred five times.

Rudger imbued his sword stick with tremendous magical power, then calmly deflected Pantos' attacks one by one.

Simply deflecting them head-on was difficult due to the difference in strength so Rudger responded by letting his power flow outward as much as possible.

Even trying to let it flow, the attacks were so powerful that they dealt physical blows to his body, but he blocked them with his vast magical power and Aether Nocturnus' strength because his shadow could absorb physical impacts to some degree.

Rather than just letting the last fifth attack flow, Rudger pulled it back even more strongly to break Pantos' balance.

The large-framed Pantos wouldn't budge from just that much, but in a fight between the strong, even trivial things could be fatal.

Rudger swung his left hand. Steel cubes were generated in the air, assembled, and transformed into the shape of a whip.

The whip swung widely wrapped around Pantos body tightly like a snake. Aether Nocturnus' two arms gripped the whip and pulled strongly.

Kwaaang!

Pantos' body, lifted into the air, was slammed into the ground. The attack didn't stop there. Pantos' body floated up again and was driven into the ground on the opposite side.

Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!

The ground rang as if an earthquake had occurred, and the cliff shook precariously. It was the moment when Aether Nocturnus lifted the whip again. The whip that had been dangling Pantos like a heavy weight was torn to shreds.

"That's stiff."

Pantos, who had torn the metal whip in midair, raised all the claws on his right hand at once. His brutish hand gripped the empty space.

Something's coming. The moment Rudger made that judgment, Aether Nocturnus inflated its body enormously to protect its master.

Immediately after, Pantos swung his arm. Something invisible flew along that trajectory.

......!

The two arms of Aether Nocturnus that tried to block it were visibly distorted. It was such an intense blow that even the magic beast, which was nearly immune to ordinary physical impacts, was flustered.

"Spirit, is it?"

Rudger, who realized what attack Pantos had used, muttered quietly.

Spirit. The mysterious power that beastmen inherently handle.

It was a power similar yet different from the mana handled by mages or the aura handled by knights. Beastmen could wrap this around their bodies to strengthen their physiques, or even become one with their surroundings for concealment.

That power was the main force that made the beastmen natural-born hunters since ancient times.

"Aether Nocturnus be prepared, several more will come."

Rudger warned his magic beast. That attack that surprised Aether Nocturnus wasn't something like a killing blow.

That was just an ordinary attack for Pantos. Naturally, Pantos could pour out attacks similar to that numerous times.

Dozens of times per second, even. And that's while wrapping them around his weapon.

Hwiriirik!

Pantos' harpoon rotated splendidly. Each time, the power of Spirit flew like crescents and pummeled the bodies of Rudger and Aether Nocturnus.

Rudger constructed spells and created protective magic to guard his body. In an instant, ten layers of defensive magic as solid as castle walls were generated.

The generated magic collided with Pantos' attacks and broke, but new magic quickly filled those empty spots.

"What a bothersome thing."

As expected, engaging in ranged combat like this against a mage wasn't very efficient.

Pantos stopped swinging his harpoon and instead took a throwing stance. The tip of the harpoon trembled with a wooong, and a vortex began to form from the tip.

The power of Spirit visible at the tip of the harpoon was rotating fiercely, containing the essence of Commander Luther's swordsmanship.

'That's dangerous. It's literally a storm compressed to the size of a fist.'

Then this side had no choice but to show magic befitting that. Countless magical formulas scattered around Rudger like constellations.

Seeing that sight, a thick smile formed on Pantos' lips. His blood boiled. Yes, this was it.

A fight where his heart raced wildly and his brain felt like it was burning and melting. That sweetness he thought he would never feel again after the last holy war.

The best. So incredibly amazing that it felt as if everything was an illusion.

If this was a dream, may it not end. Even if it was reality, may it not end.

Come. My greatest rival and the one who first taught me the failure of a hunt.

Pantos threw the harpoon he was holding. The form of the harpoon crumbled and transformed into a single streak of light. That's how fast it was.

A harpoon that approached right up close before one could see and recognize it with the eyes. At that moment, Rudger's magic also activated simultaneously.

6th rank ice attribute magic [Heavenly Sea Ice-Breaking Ship]

With a thunderous noise, a ship with raised sails charged toward the harpoon. The legendary ship, said to have cut through the ice of the cold North Sea and disappeared into the sea of the sky collided with the harpoon.

The power of the storm gathered at the tip of the harpoon burst out. High-density magical power and Spirit collided, causing a mutual annihilation reaction. That vast energy transformed into light and energy. The shockwave expanded in a dome shape, pushing out the air and creating a vacuum state in the surroundings.

The cliff that had been precarious couldn't endure and crumbled down into the shoreline where fierce waves surged.

The moment Pantos, who had been floating in the air, looked down at that scene and tried to land, he turned his head back as if sensing something.

Within his field of vision, a black dot appeared in the air. The black dot soon expanded, and from within it, Aether Nocturnus' two arms protruded and struck Pantos' body downward.

Pantos raised both arms to defend, but he couldn't prevent his body from being driven down below.

Kurururung!

Pantos' figure disappeared, swept away by the collapsing cliff. The debris of the cliff fell to the bottom, raising countless water columns. Dense dust obscured vision, covering the entire area thickly.

Rudger floated in the air and quietly looked down at that scene.

At that moment when the aftermath of the collapse still remained, something flew toward Rudger's forehead with a flashing light.

Rudger slightly tilted his head and lightly dodged it.

"Water?"

What he saw as it passed by for an instant was seawater. The reason for what on earth he had done was immediately revealed.

Kukwakwakwakwakwa!

The dust cloud that had risen densely was torn apart, and waterspouts were generated. Ice tornadoes that had drawn up seawater to the fullest touched the gray clouds in the sky above.

The number of those waterspouts increased in real-time, growing to nine. And at their center, the figure of Pantos could be seen standing quietly on the sea, stepping on the debris of broken wood.

He had thrown him to fall in the water, but who would have thought he'd actually draw up the seawater instead.

"You've grown a lot since we last met." 

"As for you, you've gotten quite rusty since we last met. If it were before, you could have ended it right away." 

"Right. Thanks to that, I'm gradually reviving my senses now."

Rudger honestly acknowledged that his senses weren't as good as before. It had been three years of doing nothing.

Considering that period of vacancy, it was rather impressive that he was fighting like this now.

That's why Pantos felt even more delighted.

Even now he was so happy he could barely breathe, but just the fact that his opponent could become even stronger from here made ecstasy surge up.

"I'm coming."

As soon as Pantos sent the signal, all nine waterspouts headed toward Rudger.

Each one contained Spirit. Although beastmen were uniquely vulnerable to water, that story didn't apply to Pantos.

He had already overcome the weakness of beastmen. Wasn't he someone who was born strong enough to be a mutant even among beastmen?

"This is a bit bothersome."

Rudger also had to acknowledge that this attack couldn't be blocked with simple magic as his pupils changed to red.

Magical power burst out around him, forming mist. High-density mana particles naturally took the form of a single shape behind Rudger.

It was the form of a brilliantly shining tree, the Tree of Sephiroth but Rudger's magic didn't stop there.

Circles of mana surrounded the Tree of Sephiroth. Soon a second and third circle, three circles in total wrapped around the Tree of Sephiroth.

"Ain Soph Orr."

Nothingness (無). Infinity (無限). And Infinite Light (無限光).

The enormous energy light emitted from the Tree of Sephiroth collided with the nine waterspouts.

The waterspouts exploded. The massive light evaporated the seawater entirely and disintegrated everything on the spot.

Pantos reached out his hand into the air. The harpoon connected by Spirit threads flew and was gripped in his hand.

It was the moment when Pantos was about to charge at Rudger while holding the harpoon.

Buook!

One side of the sea began to swell enormously. It was neither Rudger's magic nor Pantos' Spirit.

"Oh no."

Rudger recognized the existence of the newly appeared uninvited guest.

"It seems we were too noisy. To think it would appear like this even though this isn't its territory."

The swollen seawater erupted like a volcano, and a massive whale revealed itself.