"Remember us, Roan!"
Roan stood before Gulba, leaving his two cursed roommates behind. Knowing Gulba's personality, Roan was sure that if he didn't step up, Gulba would come swinging his axe regardless. The other students, sensing what was about to go down, had already distanced themselves from the pair.
"Demonstration! I'll go easy!"
Gulba declared as he grabbed his axe with one hand and swung it over his shoulder.
Crack — Crunch —
It was just a swing, but the sheer force of it distorted the space around them — an insane display of strength.
'!$%@!#!'
Roan cursed silently, hastily summoning his magic. 'If that was going 'easy,' was his power misinterpreted?'
Even the False Divinity felt the instinctive danger emanating from Gulba, converting the holy power radiating from him into dark magic to reinforce Roan's strength. Compressing the dark energy into a dense abyss, Roan prepared just as Gulba's axe came crashing down.
BOOOOOM!
The deafening explosion that followed was unimaginable for a mere clash between a human and an axe. Light streaked through the air as if a lightning bolt had struck.
– What kind of lesson is this?!
– I'm going to get blown away!
The students clung desperately to the ground to avoid being swept away.
"Rooooaaan—!"
Once again, Demona was sent flying through the air.
Finally, when the eternal moment of their instant clash ended...
"Huff… Huff…"
There was Roan, gasping for breath, and…
"I understand now! Darc blocked my attack! Gulba doesn't need to go to Kaina's office anymore!" Gulba shouted with joy, jumping up and down in excitement.
'This insane professor…!' Roan felt like he had just narrowly escaped death.
Of course, as Gulba had said, it was a weak attack… at least by Gulba's standards. The most telling sign was that he hadn't even used both hands.
But distorting space when attacking a student?
Roan could handle it, but no one else here would've stood a chance.
'Gulba's demonstrations… they adjust based on the student's stats, aren't they?'
In fact, Gulba's attacks were always calibrated to match the student's abilities. In other words, Roan had only managed to block the attack by giving it everything he had.
"Ro-Roan! Are you okay?!"
Rafia rushed over to Roan in a panic. Even Riel, Demona, and Hector, who hadn't been on Roan's side, were checking on him, realizing that this had gone too far.
"I'm fine. It was an attack I could block." Roan dusted himself off as he spoke.
He'd nearly been split in two a moment ago, but ultimately, he was unharmed.
"How's Gulba's teaching? Pretty good, right?!"
"Gasp!"
Gulba laughed heartily, slapping Roan's back with enough force to feel like a hammer imbued with holy energy.
Demona, who had somehow returned after being blown away for the second time, glared daggers at Gulba with venom. He was clearly furious after being launched outside the academy twice in the span of one day.
"Gulba teaches terribly! I'm taking him to Professor Kaina!"
Roan looked at Demona with newfound respect.
'This guy… learned Gulba's language in that short amount of time?'
Occasionally, in the God and Devil community, people would imitate Gulba's speech pattern. It was a language that required a bit of practice to master.
Anyway, Gulba flinched at Demona's jeers and took a step back.
"S-Sorry. I'll teach you better."
"Uu! I'll tell Kaina you're learning dark magic!"
"No! I've hidden the Deep Root Statue well!"
Hearing Gulba's words, Roan clicked his tongue. So, he still had the Deep Root Statue.
"Deep Root? What's that?" Demona asked.
"It's an idol," Roan explained, and upon learning what it was, Demona excitedly pressed Gulba further.
"Uuu! Gulba has an idol! I'll tell Kaina!"
"Nooo! I was wrong!"
Seeing the situation unfold, the freshmen of Akerandir started to join in.
– Uuu!
– Wickron is the best!
– Tell on Gulba!
It was a scene of pure unity, with all the students rallying around Demona. If any professor or upperclassman had passed by the principal's office, they would have been shocked beyond belief.
'What kind of freshmen are these…?'
***
After the strange spectacle of students ganging up on a professor had passed, Gulba resumed his teaching.
"Gather strength! Release strength!"
His explanations continued somewhat more detailed this time.
– Like this?
– Oh, that looks pretty good!
The students, though still clumsy, began to mimic Gulba's defensive techniques. Of course, if they were hit with an attack that distorted space like the one Roan had faced, they would be blown away before even trying to defend themselves. But Gulba seemed quite pleased with the students' progress.
"You're doing well! Now you're getting stronger!"
– As expected of the heretical professors…
– Shh, quiet!
Though their perception of the professor was getting stranger, Roan didn't really care.
"If you teach them well, that's all that matters."
Whether it was Ulli, who was devout but didn't teach, or Gulba, who didn't know much about gods but taught earnestly, who would students prefer to learn from?
'Honestly, it would be best not to deal with either of them…'
In any case, Gulba moved on to the next step and called the students together. Having grasped the concept, it was time for practical training.
"Pair up, students! One attacks, the other defends!"
As in Vulcan's class, Gulba instructed them to partner up and practice. However, Gulba didn't assign the pairs, so the students naturally partnered with their friends. Roan, too, was about to team up with either Demona or Hector.
'Hmm. That seems dangerous…'
Seeing the madness glinting in Hector's eyes as he looked between Roan and Demona, Roan hesitated. Hector's burning desire for revenge and jealousy was clear. If Roan ended up paired with Hector, it wouldn't end well.
"Rafia, Riel. How about we —"
Before Roan could finish, Gulba called out to him.
"Darc, come here! You'll pair with Gulba!"
"... What?"
"Pair with the professor?" Roan asked, thinking he must've heard wrong.
Gulba nodded enthusiastically.
"Friends pair up! Gulba! Darc! Friends!"
Earlier, when Gulba had called him a friend, was this what he meant? Roan suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of dread overcome him.
– Hey, hey, Darc has to pair with Gulba again.
– What? He's dead for sure this time.
Even the other students thought Roan was doomed. But no one dared speak up or argue with Gulba. After all, anyone who got involved with Gulba risked a painful death.
"Uh, heretic… should we pair up?"
"Yeah…"
Even Hector and Demona, after exchanging glances, quietly slipped away together.
'To think I trusted those traitors who don't have an ounce of loyalty!'
Roan glared at the two with contempt. But in truth, there wasn't much more he could do either.
Soon, the practical defense training began.
– Hiya!
Whack!
– Haha, excellent.
– You're pretty good too. Now it's your turn.
– Here I go!
The students, drenched in sweat, exchanged practice weapons with one another. It became a chance to strengthen the trust they had in each other.
Meanwhile, off to the side of the training ground…
BOOOOM! BANG! CRASH!!!
Sounds that had no place in a classroom echoed repeatedly.
Gulba swung his massive axe at speeds so fast it was hard to follow with the naked eye. Each strike created a vicious gust of wind and unleashed enough force to pulverize the surrounding terrain.
But the biggest issue was…
'$)#($#&@!!'
… Roan, who was somehow managing to block Gulba's relentless attacks. Cold sweat ran down his body, only to evaporate instantly from the wind pressure generated by Gulba's swings. If he let his guard down for even one second, he would be sliced in half.
Roan poured all his focus into blocking the flurry of attacks coming at him from all directions — his arms, legs, torso, head, front, and back — without a moment's respite.
'The scariest part is that I'm getting used to this!'
Roan inwardly marveled at his extraordinary talent. At first, he had thought, 'What kind of insane professor is this?' But as he kept defending, he could feel himself gradually mastering defensive techniques. The process of molding dark energy from the abyss and distributing it throughout his body was becoming faster and more efficient.
But at the same time, Gulba's attacks also grew stronger and faster, as if he were a machine analyzing Roan's combat ability.
Because of this, Roan hadn't been able to let his guard down for even one moment since the beginning of the fight.
Of course, this was only what Roan and Gulba thought about their exchange. To the students watching…
– Hey, is Darc really a first-year? Did he repeat a few grades?
– How many years would he have to repeat to get that strong?
– Wait, did Professor Gulba get wiped out by the Darc family or something?
They could only stare in disbelief at what they were witnessing. Was this really a class? Or was it an illegal fight arena?
'Right side, neck!'
Crash!
Once again, Roan narrowly blocked a strike to his weak point.
"You're really good! Gulba is impressed!" Gulba exclaimed, his voice full of genuine admiration.
He had never seen a warrior improve this quickly in such a short time, not even back on the brutal battlefields of the Boudor Islands.
Pausing his attacks for a moment, Gulba allowed Roan to catch his breath.
'Is it over now?' Roan wondered, taking deep breaths.
But Gulba, smiling broadly, announced, "One last strong attack! Block this, and Darc can rest!"
"Oh, come on…!"
There was no way this class would let him off easily.
'Can't you just let me rest already?!' Roan screamed internally.
Gulba grabbed his axe with both hands this time, signaling that he was about to attack with considerably more force than before.
WHAM!
As Gulba gripped the axe handle with both hands, the cracks in the air grew larger than before, unleashing an aura of darkness from the rifts. This was the true extent of the power used by the people of the islands.
"Heretic, can you take down something like that?" Demona asked Hector as he observed the scene.
Hector turned to him with an incredulous expression on his face.
"Could you?"
Even heresy has its limits — Hector's pragmatic side was showing through.
"Here I coooome!"
At that moment, Gulba let out a battle cry and charged toward Roan. Roan instantly felt the primal fear of death surge through him.
'I'm really going to die!'
No matter how much he relied on the Abyss defense technique, there was no way his current strength could withstand that attack. The only option was to use a real defensive spell.
Roan's subconscious immediately brought forth the strongest dark magic he could currently use.
Shield of the Dead!
It was a basic spell, nowhere near comparable to Gulba's attack, but he was left with no other choice — he had to try something to survive!
Woooong —
The False Divinity quickly translated the dark magic circle. The Shield of the Dead was transformed into a holy technique, manifesting in front of Roan.
Fwoooosh —
A large golden shield materialized, forming a wall between Roan and Gulba. Sion, watching from the sidelines, was shocked by what she saw.
'Patience of the Saint!'
It was a defensive sacred spell used by veteran holy knights — Patience of the Saint. It was known for its strength in defending against deeper, more fundamental forces of darkness. It was almost as if Roan had broken into another dimension of power, just like Gulba's attack.
'To deploy a sacred spell like that in such a short timespan — how is this even possible?'
Once again, Sion felt a barrier between himself and Roan. This "Darc" was indeed relentless, even going to the library after class. He was undoubtedly studying sacred spells in advance — spells not covered in the curriculum.
Meanwhile, Gulba's axe collided violently with Roan's defensive magic.
BOOOOM!
The ground beneath Roan's feet immediately caved in from the impact.
– Woaaah!
A massive cloud of dust and wind erupted, sweeping over the freshmen. The students, who had been watching the duel between the two, forgot about their own training and shielded their eyes with their arms, waiting to see what the outcome was.
And there, standing amidst the clearing dust, were both figures — Roan and Gulba, still on their feet!