I Became the Genius of the Gigant Academy - Chapter 30:

The soaring heat did not quickly subside. Then, Jacqueline shouted.

“Everyone get on board!”

The cadets, waiting at the words, quickly climbed into the cockpit. Abel was no exception. The heat still bothered him, but he was the first to enter the cockpit and touch the core.

Wooooo! 

As he raised his mana and directed it into the core, the thick armor surrounded the cockpit. Then Lupus opened his eyes in response to the magic power. It was at that time that the unidentified heat suddenly subsided.

“Whoa, whoa.”

Abel let out a hot breath, unsure why the heat had suddenly risen or subsided.

‘Fragments of a gigant. I’m sure it has something to do with that blade tail.’

It wasn’t the only thing he could think of, but he didn’t have time to think about it right now. More than a few eyes were watching him, and he had work to do. Abel gathered his scattered thoughts and began to tune in with Lupus, from a fleshy body to a massive metal body. The mind expanded instantly through the core. And at some point. Abel was looking out through Lupus’s eyes.

“Lupus.”

[Master, is this the day?]

Lupus, who had awakened from his slumber, questioned Abel’s call. Abel slowly rose to his feet and answered.

“Yes.”

Cung!

With a thud, two thick legs stood on the ground. Abel, who was the first to stand upright, continued with a smile .

“Today is finally my first real battle with you.”

The unidentified heat in the air and the gazes of the numerous onlookers were all drawn to the excitement of the upcoming battle. Looking around, Abel felt like he was standing in the ring of an underground arena for the first time in a long time. If he let himself get carried away with the excitement, he would definitely perform like never before.

“Whoa.”

Abel took a short, deep breath to calm his excitement. Fighting in front of an audience was all the same, but where he stood now was not a place where one could be highly regarded simply for fighting well alone. He would have joined a mercenary organization, not the Academy if that was what he wanted.

Kung! Kung!

While Abel gathered his thoughts, the other cadets raised their gigants in turns. It was a swift pace, probably because only the most exceptional among all the cadets had gathered. Abel took the lead and shouted.

“Everybody stand in formation!”

Kung, kung, kung

At Abel’s command, everyone moved into the original formation. Abel stood in the center with his sword and shield. To his left was Daniel with his spear and shield. On the right stood Lian holding a huge shield. Behind them stood May, who had two swords, and Ioline, who held a single blade, and then stood June. Behind her stood Hannah with her magic cannon and Charlotte, bare-handed but wearing artifacts on both arms. Abel checked the formation and spoke again.

“Everyone’s ready.”

At Abel’s report, Jacqueline spoke using her voice amplification artifact.

“The battle begins in 3 minutes.”

After those words, Jacqueline stepped away, and a heavy silence fell over the mock battlefield. Everyone must be on edge. The only good thing was that everyone had had an experience in battle before, thanks to the fight they had the other day on the wall of glory. So they weren’t completely nervous.

‘I don’t think I need to say anything,’ Abel thought, scanning the room and feeling relieved.

No one’s more than a little nervous, so there’s no need to do anything. If the operation is carried out correctly, it will be fine even if one or two people make a mistake.

‘The important thing is the enemy.’

Abel narrowed his eyes. The blade tail, trapped in the cage, was looking at Abel’s direction with its distinctive blade-like tail raised. There was a sense of intimidation in the blade’s tail’s red eye that intimidated the person facing it.

‘It’s really huge.’

Abel thought to himself. The blade’s tail is just under 4 meters tall. It was in the form of a four-footed wolf, and if it stood upright, it would be bigger than Miles, who was just about 6m tall.

[Is that blade’s tail, the fragment of a gigant strong?]

Abel simply answered Lupus’ sudden question, “Yeah. It’s strong.”

The Blade Tail is one of the most powerful fragments of the gigant. The shards they’d encountered at the Wall of Glory were also quite threatening, and it wasn’t because each shards were strong, rather it was because of its sheer volume and environment. There was a sudden attack and they had no weapons, and they were all on the Tito-class, one level below Miles.

[That’s odd, then. Aren’t most of these people standing there inexperienced warriors, and you’re sending them out against a powerful enemy? By your description, they all have some status, right?]

Lupu fired off a series of questions, which wasn’t so strange. Lupus was quite inquisitive; whenever he was aboard the gigant, he always had an endless stream of questions. Normally, Abel would have given him a sincere answer, but under the circumstances, he kept it simple.

“Yes, because if we don’t, we won’t survive.”

[Won’t survive? You, humans, don’t look too weak either.]

“It doesn’t look that way from here. But it’s not so easy out there.”

…And in a few years, even the high-walled capital of the empire would be threatened. Abel swallowed the last remark and spoke again.

“Looks like we’re starting soon. If you have any more questions, I’ll answer them later.”

[Okay.]

Infamous Scans

Lupus immediately became quiet at Abel’s words, and after about a minute had passed.

Woo-woo-!  

With a wave of strong magic power, the barrier covering the iron bars disappeared. The battle has begun.

»————- ★ ————-«

The cadets present were all brilliantly talented. Even if it hasn’t fully bloomed yet, that talent hasn’t been hidden like an awl in a pocket.

Screech-! 

The cadets firmly maintained their formation even as the blade’s tail pierced the cage that separated them. They may have been nervous, but none backed down out of fear. Abel was pleased by that and calmly gave his instructions.

“Hannah.”

“Yes!”

At Abel’s call, Hannah immediately energized the magic cannon she had strapped to her shoulder.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh. 

With a loud bang, a beam of light shot out from the magic cannon.

“Wow.”

“Indeed. Del Kior’s talent shines through this time.”

The power and speed of the attack were unbelievable for a first-year student, causing most of the professors present to exclaim in admiration.

Bang! 

However, such admiration was overshadowed. The blade tail lightly deflected the beam of light. It was a natural result because the Magic Cannon was used without threats or checks. Of course, no one blamed Hannah for that. It was Abel who was at the forefront who gave that kind of command.

“Hmph. No matter how great a weapon is, it’s useless if you can’t handle it properly.”

“A talent in dealing with Gigant doesn’t necessarily lead to a talent for strategy.”

Some impatient professors criticized Abel for just one move. But the discerning professors remained silent with calm faces. And it was the same with Abel. It was because the attack just a moment ago was not intended to inflict damage in the first place.

Screech-!  

Instead of striding forward like before, the bladed tail showed signs of alertness and raised its tail. It was exactly the reaction Abel wanted.

‘Good.’ 

Everyone could see it. The bladed tail stood still, alert and wary, at the single shot of a magic cannon. It wouldn’t have reacted like that if it didn’t feel in danger. The effect was clear.

Of course, this was only the beginning, as the image of the blade tail was inflated in the minds of other cadets into reality.

“Whoa”

Abel let out a hot breath. He wasn’t just playing around when Hannah fired a magical cannon; the blade tail saw it and stopped vigilantly. To be precise, he used ‘overflow’ immediately after giving the instruction. Thanks to that, Abel’s body was boiling as if it would explode. Abel was pushed to the limit, and without warning, he leapt forward.

Quaang-!  

With a loud bang, Lupus rushed like a shot. The blade tail, which had been raising its alertness for a while, swiftly ducked to the left to avoid Lupus.  However, Abel, who used his great sage’s crown, twisted his body as if he had predicted it and swung his sword.

Kwang! 

The sound of tearing metal rang out. Abel’s sword had sliced through the blade-tail’s side. The blade-tail reflexively swung its tail, even as it gaped at the pain of its flesh being ripped apart.

Kwajik!

With a snap, the sharp tail pierced Lupus’s shoulder. For a moment, the blade tail seemed pleased that it could retaliate, but then it realized that Abel was just as delighted. In the cockpit, Abel grinned and shouted.

“Now!”

Boom! 

Abel let go of his shield and clutched his tail tightly. The blade-tail belatedly noticed the oddity and tried to pull its tail away, but it didn’t budge.

Whoosh! 

The team seized the opportunity Abel had created. Daniel threw out his spear as hard as he could, abandoning his shield altogether.

Quadeukk!

The spear pierced one foot of the blade’s tail and dug right into the solid ground, followed by May, who leapt from the air and slammed into its back.

Woooooooo

The blade-tail howled in pain as it was hit with a series of watery blows. By now, most of the people on the gigant would probably have their faces flushed. Abel, sensing the heightened atmosphere, shouted again.

“Everyone back, Lian!”

Not everyone was quick on the uptake at first. It was expected. When you’re in the middle of a battle, and then being told to back off isn’t going to sink in right away, Abel anticipated that and called for Lian.

Coo!

Lian, who had been waiting in the back the whole time, came running with a huge shield in front of him. Abel saw it coming and immediately yanked on its tail. The blade tail, which had been silent the entire time after the howl of pain, moved.

Aaaaaagh!

A deafening roar echoed through the air, and the consequences of that roar were startling. Lian, who had been running energetically, was thrown backwards, and the shield he was holding was half bent. Abel was also in a bad shape.

“I can’t use my left shoulder blade anymore.”

His left shoulder blade, where the tail was embedded, was nearly shredded. It was barely hanging on. The atmosphere instantly cooled as if cold water had been poured. But the battle was only just beginning.

Arrrrrrrg-

The blade-tail wagged its tail, which had now grown into two while looking straight at Abel.

‘It looks like a wolf, but it acts like a fox.’ 

Maybe that’s why it didn’t have the word wolf attached to its name. Though the fragment of the gigant itself was not a normal creature in the first place. Abel called out without taking his eyes off the bladed tail.

“Lian! Are you okay?”

“Uh!”

Luckily, Lian didn’t seem to suffer much damage aside from a bent shield. Abel had carried a spare shield on his back with this situation in mind, so the only real damage was only on one side of Abel’s arm.

Abel took a moment to review what had just happened. The blade’s tail had caught him off guard, deliberately taking more hits as the tide turned against him. And that’s why there weren’t any fetal wounds. Abel had seen through it from the start, minimizing the creature’s surprise.

If he had warned him sooner, he could have avoided taking any damage at all, but he deliberately didn’t because it’s not just Abel’s fight.

‘This should have been a great wake up call for everyone.’

No one in this room would let their guard down, and no one would get too excited, which meant that the environment had been prepared for them to utilize their power fully. Abel smiled. The perfect stage has been set before him.

[To be continued.]