Chapter 36 - Professor Ulfar [2]
"Are you ready?"
Professor Ulfar asked me as soon as I arrived on top of the arena.
The broken ground from Zion’s attack earlier was already fixed—the technology was really advanced in this world. The deep crater and cracked stone tiles had automatically restored themselves in a matter of seconds, returning the dirt surface to a smooth, pristine layout.
FWIP—
I grabbed [Frost] from my waist, and after inserting my mana in it—FWIIISH~
It transformed into a beautiful, thin ice rapier.
I looked at the professor, and with a calm look on my face—
"I’m ready, professor."
I answered with that. I held the hilt lightly, angling the point toward the ground as I took my stance.
"..."
"..."
Silence enveloped the area.
Professor Ulfar and everyone else around didn’t make a sound, all eyes were focused on me. The students sitting on the stone bleachers held their breath, watching closely to see how another freshman would perform against our teacher.
"Do your best."
Professor said.
’I was going to do so without you saying.’
I replied internally before nodding my head.
My body tensed up as I gathered mana in my legs and crouched down, I was waiting for the signal for the match to start. I felt the cold energy circulating smoothly through my veins, distributing weight evenly across my feet so I could explode forward the instant the fight began.
A few seconds had just passed by, but it felt like an eternity.
Nevertheless, I didn’t lose focus.
And then—BEEP!
I heard that sound.
BAM!
I immediately launched myself forward as fast as I can, heading straight to Professor Ulfar! The concrete exploded behind my heels as I closed the distance, pushing my physical speed to its absolute limit right from the opening second.
But I already know it—professor can see me just fine.
Zion was much faster than me, there’s no way I can outspeed Professor Ulfar at all.
If someone with Zion’s raw athletic ability couldn’t blitz the professor, a pure lunge from me would easily be caught and turned against me.
So instead of that—FWISH—SWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!
With a flick of my hand, I summoned a thick pillar of ice spike in front of Professor Ulfar!
A sharp ice erupted from the floor, threatening to pierced through his head!
I saw Professor’s eyes look down for a split moment, then before the spike could reach him—BOOM! He slammed down his wooden sword and destroyed the ice I created without much effort!
The ice I create are durable because of the quality of the mana I possess, but Professor made it look like they were nothing.
Though, that was fine by me—I already expected that to happen.
FWOOSH!
I thrust my rapier forward, I arrived in front of the professor the same time he destroyed my ice spike, and I didn’t waste the opportunity to strike while his attention wasn’t on me fully!
I drove the thin tip straight toward his torso, using the falling ice dust as a temporary visual screen to mask the trajectory of my blade.
FWISH—
But with ease, Professor Ulfar avoided my strike without even seeing it coming. He casually tilted his upper body to the side, letting the sharp point glide harmlessly past his dark coat by mere inches.
"You would’ve more chance of succeeding if you attacked from the back, not in front."
Professor Ulfar lectured me as he turned to face me.
His tone was completely even, treating my fully powered thrust as nothing more than a basic teaching demonstration.
"Got it!"
SLASH!
I swung horizontally as my hand and weapon was still extended, aiming for professor’s head once more. I snapped my wrist to the left, sweeping the blade in a quick arc to capitalize on our close proximity.
But he just ducked down and avoided it effortlessly.
He bent his knees slightly, letting the ice rapier pass directly over his dark hair without breaking his balance.
And the next thing I see—SWISH!
Was his wooden sword coming straight at me!
The dark practice blade whipped upward from below, aimed directly for my exposed midsection while my arm was still recovering from the swing.
I can’t block with my sword on time, I will be too later before I could even retrieve it back, but at the same time—I can barely feel mana from the professor’s attack. So it’s most likely he just plans to hit me back and create distance between us, not to hurt me.
So if that was the case—FWAAAH~!
I covered my stomach with thick, strong ice, where the attack will land.
A thick plate of dense, frosty armor instantly solidified beneath my clothes right over my abdomen.
And bracing myself—TWACK!
"GUGH...!"
I let myself be hit.
The wooden sword collided heavily against the ice plate, sending a jarring vibration through my core. Even with protection, I still felt the attack rock my body—I immediately knew that I was going to be fluch away still.
The sheer physical momentum behind his casual swing lifted my feet completely off the ground, driving me backward through the air.
And so—TAP—FWOOOSH!
I quickly materialized a pillar of ice behind me—THUD!
My back was slammed, but I avoided myself from being pushed away!
The ice pillar caught my shoulders and absorbed the backward force, keeping me right within combat range instead of letting me get reset to the edge of the arena.
"...!"
I momentarily saw Professor Ulfar’s eyes widened a bit.
It was just a tiny shift in his expression, a subtle flash of surprise at my willingness to take a direct hit just to maintain my position. And with a small smile on my face—FWOOSH!
I thrust my rapier again, slightly downward this time, to where his head was after dodging my previous attack!
I pushed off the ice pillar behind me, launching a lightning-fast counter-thrust while he was still crouched in his low stance.
SWISH—THACK!
Professor Ulfar reacted in a split second, raising the wooden sword with his left hand to slap the side of my rapier away before the point could reach him.
The force of his parry rattled my grip, forcing me to step back and re-establish my footing on the dirt.
"A clever maneuver using environmental placement..."
Professor Ulfar said, rising back up to his full height.
"However, relying on taking damage to score a hit will cost you dearly in a real fight."
He didn’t give me time to answer.
SWOOSH!
He stepped forward, executing a swift series of three consecutive strikes aimed at my shoulders and chest. I shifted my stance quickly, using the modified competition fencing footwork I had been practicing all week.
THACK—THACK—SWISH!
I brought [Frost] up to parry the first two strikes, angled my blade to slide the second thrust off to the side, and bent my upper body back to dodge the third.
Every time our weapons collided, the chill of my rapier attempted to travel up his wooden sword, but his dense aura completely blocked the frost from spreading.
"Your reaction speed is good..."
He said, closing the distance between us again with a single ghost-like step.
"But your attack patterns are still too linear."
THACK!
He drove his sword handle toward my chest.
I quickly formed a small ice shield in front of my collarbone—CRASH!
The shield shattered on impact, the pressure knocking me back three full steps across the arena.
My chest was heaving as I caught my breath, my mind racing as I tried to find an opening in his impenetrable defense.
Nothing was working.
Direct thrusts, hidden ice spikes, sacrificial counters, and mid-range projectiles were all handled effortlessly without him even using a real weapon or high-level mana techniques.
I was running out of options, and my mana reserves were slowly draining from constantly creating ice structures.
Then—I remembered my spar with Zion on his first day in the academy.
During that fight, I realized that against an opponent whose baseline skills completely outclass your own, half-hearted tricks and standard fencing forms won’t change the outcome.
The only way to create a genuine threat was to concentrate everything into a single, overwhelming blow that forced them to respect the power behind it.
’If standard moves won’t reach him, then I’ll just have to put everything into one shot.’
I thought to myself, tightening both hands around the hilt of my weapon.
I drew deep into my core, pulling out every remaining drop of mana I had saved for this evaluation.
FWIIIIIIIIIIISH—!
A freezing gale exploded outward from my feet, lowering the temperature in the immediate area so drastically that frosted air visible to the naked eye swirled around the arena floor.
The surface of [Frost] began to expand violently.
Layer after layer of dense, crystal-blue ice wrapped around the thin rapier, thickening the shaft and expanding the tip into a massive, heavy point.
And in less than two seconds--the delicate weapon in my hands transformed into a huge ice lance!
The heavy weight pressed down on my arms, requiring every ounce of my physical strength just to keep it leveled horizontally toward the professor.
"Oh?"
Professor Ulfar’s dark eyes narrowed slightly as he felt the sudden surge of cold energy radiating from the heavy construct.
"HAAAAAH!"
I let out a loud roar, planting my back foot firmly into the ground before driving myself forward with all the power my legs could produce!
FWOOOOOOOOSH—!
I thrust the giant ice lance forward as hard as I can to the professor!
The sheer air pressure generated by the massive lance created a howling storm of freezing wind, painting a white trail of frost across the ground as it surged straight toward his chest.
It was the strongest, fastest, and most concentrated attack I had ever produced since arriving at this academy.
CRASH—BOOOOOOM—!!!
A violent shockwave erupted across the center of the ring, blasting a wave of dense frost, shattered ice fragments, and thick fog into the air. The cold pressure swept over the spectator stands, causing several students to shield their faces from the freezing gust.
I couldn’t see anything through the thick white veil, my arms trembling from the massive exertion as the weight of the lance dissipated.
Gradually, the cold air dissipated and the visibility returned.
When the fog cleared... the entire class fell dead silent.
"Huh...?"
I was sitting on the ground, completely out of breath, my knees scraped and my hands resting weakly on the dirt.
And standing right in front of me—Professor Ulfar.
He was holding his wooden sword with a single hand, its blunt tip pointed steadily at my neck.
He had caught the entire massive lance directly on the flat side of his practice weapon, freezing the surrounding ground solid while stopping the heavy impact without stepping back an inch.
The frost on his coat quickly melted away as he maintained his calm, motionless stance over me.
"The match is over."
Professor Ulfar announced, his voice steady as he lowered his wooden sword and tapped it lightly against his side.
"You managed to structure a heavy attack on short notice, but your mana distribution left you completely defenseless after the swing."
I let out a long, exhausted sigh, looking up while resting my hands on my legs.
"I see... thank you for the lesson, Professor."
I mumbled softly, accepting the result with a small, tired nod as the rest of the class watched in awe.
Ultimately—I failed to land an attack on Professor Ulfar as well, just like Zion.