The Duke’s Eldest Son Escaped to the Military (77)
Translator: ChubbyCheeks
24 Officially Opened! (2)
Thanks to his reflexes, Lintel was able to raise his sword in time to receive the two beams of light. However, despite being able to receive tha attack, he was still pushed back by the sheer force of the light.
“Keuk! What destructive power…”
Lintel’s hands trembled and shook. Iron took the opportunity to approach him and struck his sword.
Clang!
Although Lintel’s hands were still trembling, he was still able to block Iron’s attack thanks to his extremely fast sword. However, the force in Iron’s sword was far stronger than what he initially thought so he was pushed back despite being able to parry it well.
Lintel was forced to discard his relaxed and confident stance. He quickly pulled up his mana in earnest as he swung his sword towards Iron. His sword moved at a tremendous speed as if he wanted to show him the true essence of his sword.
“You can still parry this?”
Lintel’s eyes widened in surprise when Iron successfully parried his attack. Iron’s defense even remained solid and steady.
He knew that his sword was extremely fast. Even Carl Gustav had a difficult time blocking his sword if he gave it his all. So, Carl always limited Lintel’s radius of action with his shockwaves to stop him from expressing his sword to its fullest capacity.
However, Iron was able to easily block his sword without taking any precaution.
“You got something while being sealed?”
He thought that Iron’s swordsmanship skills would remain the same since he was stagnant for those two years but it did not seem to be the case at all. He wanted to go deeper in his thoughts but the current situation did not give him the leeway to do so.
Beams of light once again flashed from Iron’s eyes. But this time, it did not come out in a straight line. The beams of light followed his every move. He was just turning his head towards Lintel’s direction but in Lintel’s point of view, his gaze was something that could kill. He needed to avoid it if he did not want to die.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
As if to prove that his jjambap was not gained in vain, Lintel dodged the beams of light as he let off one attack after another towards Iron. He was trying to force Iron to make a gap by attacking him in earnest. But Iron’s defense was no joke.
Strangely enough, the spar between Lintel and his extremely quick sword and Iron with his shining eyes took longer than what they had expected.
“Heok… heok… What’s with you?”
Lintel looked at Iron in exhaustion. Iron just smiled at him as he showed him the green light that shone on his body. Lintel looked appalled just by watching Iron recover his strength like a zombie coming back to the surface.
“It’s Baepsae’s abilities.”
“Are you overflowing with mana?”
Iron smiled when Lintel asked him incredulously.
“Divine power and mana are different.”
Lintel collapsed on the floor in exhaustion when he heard Iron’s words.
In other words, his mana was his mana and his divine power was his divine power.
“Phew… If you fight like this, then you’ll eventually take the win.”
Lintel looked at Iron as he spoke.
He could see that Iron’s swordsmanship skills were still a bit lagging when compared to him. He also knew that he could block those beams of lights, his divine beast’s ability. But that was only if they were not combined together. Once they were used together in a fight, everything became tricky. It wasn’t that he couldn’t win, it was just that he couldn’t win right away. Because of that, their fight dragged on until it became a battle of stamina. And while he continued to get tired, Iron remained as energetic as ever. This was the factor that determined the outcome of their fight.
“Except for the captain, everyone would have a hard time overpowering you.”
“That’s because you’re weak.”
Billie Brandt appeared behind them with a smirk gracing his lips. It was clear that he was mocking Lintel for losing. Billie Brandt rarely smiled, but whenever he smiled it was usually when Lintel lost. So, Iron, who was watching by the side, kept his mouth shut and his face straight.
“You already lost to our youngest? That’s pathetic.”
“Ha! Do you think you’ll win?”
“That’s a given.”
Billie Brandt confidently said so as he waited for Iron to fully recover.
Receiving his eager and burdensome stare, Iron had no choice but to agree. He immediately gave up and agreed to spar with him as he quickly restored his mana and divine power.
Hearing the news of this event, a crowd began to gather and flock around them. The Ghosts and even the Rangers, who got close to them, came to watch. Even Carl Gustav appeared and personally agreed to become the referee of their match.
Carl Gustav turned to look sternly at Billie Brandt and Iron before raising his hand up.
“Start.”
Billie Brandt moved as soon as Carl’s hand went down.
His mana, which was compressed to the limit, flew towards Iron in a huge display of attack.
Billie took advantage of Iron’s weakness to the fullest. He knew that he couldn’t convert his mana into steel mana as quickly as he wanted to yet so he used the opportunity to get a win.
“Boooo! You coward!”
“I can’t believe such a guy is 2nd in rankings!”
“You play dirty!”
Despite the rain of curses, Billie Brandt just continued to move and send his attacks.
He was still not at the 6th Stage yet so he was still unable to attack at a high speed and reduce the process of converting and compressing his mana to his own attribute as of yet. However, he could still easily take advantage of Iron’s weakness with his nimble attacks. He did not even give Iron any time to breathe as he continued to lay his attacks one after the other.
Despite being able to avoid Billie Brandt’s attacks, Iron still couldn’t gain enough time to launch his own attack. What was worse was the fact that Billie Brandt’s attack could fly towards him at any time. Everyone could clearly see that Billie Brand would be taking an easy win this time.
However, an unexpected attack suddenly flew in.
Shiiiiing!
“Keuk!”
“Yeah! That’s it!”
Lintel laughed happily when he saw Billie Brandt getting hit by the beams of light that made him suffer from their spar earlier. He was feeling happy that Billie was also getting beaten the same way he got beaten earlier.
And along with Lintel’s shouts, the Ghosts, who were usually beaten by Billie Brandt, also shouted loudly.
“Beat him up well!”
“Keuhahaha! Look at him rolling around!”
“Kekeke! It feels nice to mock him for once.”
Billie Brandt was flustered at the sudden unexpected attack. All he could do was roll all over the ground to avoid the consecutive attacks of the beams of light that came from Iron’s eyes. And the Ghosts that watched this were laughing wholeheartedly.
Before they knew it, Billie Brandt was already covered in dirt. Billie stood up while gritting his teeth in annoyance.
Meanwhile, Iron flew in and directly attacked him with his steel mana sword. Just like what Billie Brandt did earlier, Iron was also pushing forward as hard as he could. He did not want to miss this gap and lose his chance of winning.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Billie Brandt parried Iron’s attacks. He knew that Iron was trying to take advantage of his momentary fluster to close the gap and fight him at close quarters. So, he quickly jumped back and widened the distance between them.
But, without missing a beat, another beam of light flew from Iron’s eyes. Iron also supplemented this attack with his sword as he struck again and again to put pressure on Billie Brandt.
In the end, it was Billie Brandt who got tired during their fight.
“You…”
Billie Brandt’s eyes widened when he saw that Iron was still fine and energetic despite constantly fighting against him.
“Fufufufu~ You look like you ate some shit after suffering?”
Lintel teased Billie Brandt, but the other Ghosts couldn’t laugh at all. This was because they had realized that they could also be beaten like that after watching the fight between Iron and Billie Brandt.
Despite Iron’s inexperience, the rest of them knew that they would not be able to overpower someone who could easily reinforce and restore their mana and vitality. Once the fight dragged on, it would be them who would lose. There were even those deathly beams of light that flew out every once in a while.
“Ha…”
Billie Brandt looked at Iron in exhaustion.
If they were fighting with their lives on the line, he might have a chance of winning especially with his experience. After all, variables always happened during those desperate battles. However, he knew that winning against him during a spar was nigh impossible. In addition, as time flew by, he would get used to the 5th Stage and would make it even harder to win against him.
“Did you catch up already?”
Billie Brandt had a bitter look on his face as he asked Iron.
He thought that he would still have enough time left despite Iron reaching the 5th Stage already. They weren’t in the same state so he thought that he still needed a lot of time to reach their levels but it seemed like it was not the case at all. Iron was strong even without his divine beasts.
Billie Brandt finally admitted his defeat as he asked Iron for a handshake. After shaking hands with Billie, Iron felt shy after hearing his comrades’ cheers and congratulations.
“By the way, what happened to your divine beasts?”
Carl Gustav asked Iron curiously.
“Due to the seal’s aftermath… they’re still asleep.”
“That… But can you really use that much power even though they’re asleep?”
“I think this was possible because I got closer with the divine beasts.”
Carl Gustav nodded at Iron although he looked a bit regretful. He thought that he wouldn’t be able to have fun if the divine beasts weren’t here if they fought. Of course, he knew that it was not possible for him to fight against Two Moons, let alone phoenix, but the stronger his opponents were the more his desire for a challenge was stimulated.
It was unknown whether the other Ghosts had the same intentions as Carl Gustav but they all looked disappointed too.
“Do you know when they’ll wake up?”
“I don’t know yet. In phoenix’s case, it took a long time to clean up the dimensional crack so it would take a long time for it to wake up. And for Two Moons, fighting against the witch and being sealed with me overspent its strength so I think it would still take a long time before it woke up…”
“What a pity.”
Carl Gustav placed his hands on Iron’s shoulder as if he was really disappointed.
“So, I have to undo this regret and relieve it with you.”
“ …Yes?”
Carl Gustav smiled at Iron when he saw him staring at him blankly. It seemed like the boy did not realize his intentions.
“You fought pretty well earlier. But… I don’t think your swordsmanship skills are good enough… So, from today onwards, I will personally watch you and train your swordsmanship skills.”
“Huh… You don’t have to do that…”
“I feel responsible as the head of the Ghosts. So, as soon as you recover your mana, you’ll fight me.”
Iron’s expression hardened when he heard Carl Gustav’s words.
I barely won against a full-pledged 5th Stage, but you want me to confront Carl Gustav himself?!
This was like telling him to go and die by himself.
And just like what he expected, Iron was beaten like crazy during his spar with Carl Gustav.
There was a huge gap between the 6th Stage and the 5th Stage that could never be overcome by any power.
Unlike those on the 5th Stage who still took time before they could fully use their abilities, the 6th Stage would have shockwaves at each and every swing of their sword. This was not something that he could easily cope against. In addition, he did not have enough time to recover his stamina and mana using his divine power due to the severity of the attacks.
Carl Gustav smiled as he beat Iron here and there for the first time. He couldn’t help but smile proudly as the boy endured with his steel mana and persistently stood up using his mana and stamina recovery ability.
Because of this, the people watching in the surroundings cheered for Iron. They shouted loudly as if they were having fun watching this unilateral beating. They kept on shouting, hoping that he could hang in there longer just so he could get beaten longer too.
“Iron! Are you only at this level?”
“Hey! It’s only been 30 minutes.”
“You should endure it a bit more! Shouldn’t you at least let the captain eat one attack from your mana sword?”
With the Ghosts’ support, the hell-like beating under the guise of a spar ended after his body was stretched to its limit. They only stopped an hour after since Iron’s body was already spent and exhausted.
“Hoo… It’s been a long time since I’ve warmed up this well.”
Carl Gustav looked at Iron in satisfaction.
“From now on, I will take responsibility for you and guide you well.”
Iron did not know whether he was satisfied that he worked his hands after a long time but he only disappeared after giving Iron a gaze full of desire to guide him.
The Ghosts gathered to comfort Iron after hearing that he was scheduled to undergo a hellish spar with Carl Gustav every day. Of course, Iron just glared at the Ghosts. After all, they were smiling and laughing while he was being beaten like a dog.
The next day, during their first day of spar. Carl Gustav took his time to train and coach Iron. Iron thought that it was just empty words but he really did take the time to guide him well.
Carl’s training routine was simple. He pushed him hard in order to make Iron focus deeply and convert his mana faster into his steel mana. It was just that Carl kept on saying that it was guidance but Iron was in fact just getting beaten like some sort of punching bag.
However, it was not without merits. The more he got beaten, the faster his mana conversion progressed. And his body started to react naturally. His mana did not fit well before but he could now instinctively convert it. His mana efficiency and management also progressed and accelerated.
In order for him to cope and withstand Carl Gustav’s insane shock waves, his body in and of itself adjusted and adapted from his mana, to his physical body down to his swordsmanship skills. All of them began to develop one by one. And the more Iron got used to this feeling the quicker his strength increased. However, it was still hard for him to endure the pain of getting beaten up everyday.
One day, he couldn’t endure it and asked Carl Gustav when his suffering would end. Carl said that they would only part ways once he rose to the average level. Iron felt desperate when he heard those words. He felt like he would be in trouble for a few months at the least.
Perhaps God felt sorry for Iron?
An incident suddenly occurred that stopped Carl Gustav’s insane guidance.
“What’s the problem?”
Lintel asked Carl after he and the other Ghosts were called in from their own training. Hearing Lintel’s question, Carl spoke with a solemn look.
“A dimensional crack has opened… in the Center.”
***
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