For I Am A Side Character - 96: Against Class-A - Part 1
Seeing as how the Drones were disabled using [God’s will], Soril only had about an hour at most until some kind of authority arrives to see in the issue. Knowing that, he felt confident that he could create some results with this much time from Jason.
So with his sheathed covered sword, he took the initiative forward.
‘…Hmm, wouldn’t it be bad if someone knew about this incident? What if these guys tell on me?’ he thought to himself as he looked a bit disturbed by the chances of that happening.
So before he moved on to attack, he made a proposal to the group.
“Say, I really don’t want any word of this situation getting out there. So after I deal with all of you, can you promise me that you guys won’t say anything outside of your group?” he asked as his tone sounded cold.
“W-why?” asked one of the students nervously.
“I have my reasons…so do we have a deal?”
“…Sure.” said Jason as he nervously gripped on tight to his sword.
“Good, because if I hear anything about this situation out there in the academy, I’ll find the person who spread the word about this…and I’ll break your legs.”
““!?”” everyone was shocked by the threat he made, and even, so his eyes didn’t show any kind of hesitation or lie at all.
“We wont, you have my word.” said Jason as he acted as the Leader of the group.
“Good, now then…” and from the assurance that Jason gave, Soril felt light hearted to know that they were willing to keep this a secret.
And the moment that Jason gave promise to this, Soril initiated the attack.
Not a second later after Soril’s words, he took a large step and stomped straight down on the floor, causing a strong vibration that shooked the very area that they were standing on.
Three out of the seven students lost their footing, as such, Soril took this advantage by running in close with his sheathed sword and strike down on the closest one.
But before he could, to his surprise, he was meet with Jason coming in close to counter his down-swing.
*Thud*
Both their swords meet and a sounding clash echoed in the dungeon.
“Khk!” but the moment that Jason meet with Soril’s force of swing, he felt as if he was being buried with a force of power, where he could barely keep himself together.
But his position didn’t last long as not soon after, Audrey swoops in for the kill.
Her eyes were flashing with lightning as a show of her own power.
And to no hesitation, she swung down with her sword fully engraved with lightning, with her aim being the head of her enemy.
[Flash te Flash: Charging Cut]
As quick as her action was, she thought that she was able to cause some kind of damage, but to her avail, she found that Soril was able to defend himself while he was countering Jason’s sword.
From a horizontal defense of his sword, he simply shifted it to a vertical defense. Defending him himself from two swords at a quick action.
Seeing this happen, Jason and Audrey couldn’t help but be amazed of how skillful Soril was simply by the small shift of his weapon.
But as they were caught in place, Jessabelle came out of nowhere with her Flamestral Vines. They bursted out from the floor in an attempt to capture Soril in his place, but Soril quickly backs away to avoid Jessabelle’s vines.
In his swift action, the vines barely even had the chance to reach for his legs.
But Jessabelle expected this. So with her quick incantations, she produced four flame spears and she quickly fired them with no sort of hesitation at all.
As the spears came flying in, Audrey took this chance by attacking Soril at the same time. Although it might have been risky to attack knowing that the spears would explode on impact, she took the risk.
[Lightning Skill: Lightning Step]
As quick as her decision was, the moment that Jessabelle fired, Audrey had already took her step to dash in forward.
It only took her less than a second to reach his position with her blade, but even then, with her risk, Soril was seen calmly observing her actions.
His eyes were all on her at that moment, even as the spears were closing in.
In that moment, she felt as if the person in front of her didn’t had a single ounce of fear in this moment.
This was a perfect chance to damage him. That was certain. Because if she failed in this attack, the spears were there to burn his body…but that wasn’t enough.
[Flash te Flash: Charging Cut]
All it would take was less than a second for her blade to swing down on his chest…but all of it fell through the moment that Soril raised his leg and he kicks down on Audrey’s sword in a way that he misdirected her attack.
In his efforts, the blade that was filled with electrical energy caused him armor some damage, but it wasn’t enough to bother him in any sense at all.
Instead of swinging to his chest, Audrey only felt the touch of air from her swing.
And in the next second that passed, the flame spears came flying in, but with Soril’s enlightened Domain, he simply made small movements to dodge those spears. Each one came scraping by his armor, but none did enough of a damage to cause him some discomfort.
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
*Boom*
The spears went pass him, and straight into the walls of the boss room.
And as Soril was found uncut by their attacks, Audrey decided to back away and regroup.
As she returned to the others, she whispered into their ears.
“He’s fast…faster than my blade.” she said nervously. From that single action, she knew that she had lost an edge in this fight.
“Don’t be discouraged. We have a chance at beating him, so don’t doubt yourself.” said Jason.
“…Then what do we do?” asked Audrey.
“Support me.” said Jason.
[Arcane Sword Arts: 1st Blooming Sword]
As Jason activated his skill, Soril reacted by simply raising his sword. In that show of caution, Jason felt like he had a chance.
So he dashed in.
In the kick of his feet, he was fast as Audrey was in her normal speed and paired with the enlightenment from his skill, he knew what just to do in that moment.
[Arcane Sword Arts: 2nd Bloom: Crashing Petals]
Using this skill, he simultaneously created three slashing points of his swing…at each direction, one would have difficulty blocking it all at the same time.
And as he was nearing Soril, he suddenly saw Soril step in into his skill domain. As his sword was reaching in, Soril instead thrusted his sheathed sword down on the center of his chest.
*THUD!*
“!?”
His thrust was faster…faster than his skill could be completed.
And to it, Jason meet a force so sharp on his chest, that it sent him flying backwards. His Blooming sword skill couldn’t comprehend Soril’s movements in time for him to actually take action.
Despite the Crashing Petals being a skill that simultaneously creates slashing cuts in all directions, its only done if the user was able to fully slash his sword in completion, but with Soril’s interruption at the last second, the skill was nullified.
And now, Jason was found flying back. Audrey had to quickly catch him.
“Haa..haaa…haa” Jason had a hard time breathing as the force of Soril’s thrust on his chest clearly showed injury. When Audrey tried to check in on him, she touched his chest and he reacted with a painful shout.
“Agh!!”
From the looks of it, his ribcage was broken.
“Jessabelle, heal him!” said Audrey as she asked for support.
“R-right!”
As Jessabelle quickly approached them, the four other students who saw the revelation before them happen, they couldn’t help but be in shock of it all. The strongest trio were showed to be completely ineffective against one student from class-C.
“W-what do we do!?” they asked as they looked unsure of what to do.
“Go get him!” said Jessabelle as she was healing Jason on her lap.
“W-what! On our own?!”
“Go at him at the same time you idiots! If you don’t, I’ll beat your asses without mercy once this is over!”
“Ehh!!”
The four students were afraid of Jessabelle’s strict nature. So they couldn’t help but raise their swords and run to Soril with hesitation.
But even to their attempts, the moment they attacked, Soril had already seen through their attempts. One by one, the students were quickly knocked out instantly with just one hit from Soril’s sheathed sword.
‘Hmm, for now…this mission entails me to simply force Jason to let out his ability. To do that, I need to get rid of the others.’ Thought Soril as he handled the four students.
It didn’t even take a whole minute for him to take care of some simple hunters. To him, the remaining few were merely three who were completely overwhelmed by the situation.
“…” Feeling frustrated, Audrey raised her sword again and ran straight at Soril, with no plan other than to face off with him.
And to this action, her swings were somehow rougher than usual. It was as if she was impatient with her actions…
‘Faster!…I need to be faster!’ she thought to herself as she saw Soril to be a wall that she needed to climb over.
‘All this time I’ve been looking for a challenge…and now he’s in front of me. So why…why does it feel so frustrating?’ she thought as she exchanged blows with Soril.
‘…is it because he’s not taking me seriously?’ she thought as she looked to his sheathed sword. His show of mercy made it feel like she was being treated like a child.
‘…maybe…maybe that’s it…or is it because of his nature?’ she thought as she looked back to when she confronted him about his actions during the locked dungeon event.
‘For him to say that he’s not my enemy now…here in this moment, I feel nothing but doubt….but why?’
‘or is it…’
“Soril…why did you accept this challenge?” she asked as she looked to him with a curious furrowed brow.
“You guy were the one’s who asked me to fight you, I just complied.” he said as he casually exchanged swing after swing with her.
“Yeah, but you had the option to just walk away…so why do this? Why now?” she asked as she looked very frustrated.
“Hmm…who knows.” he said as he looked ominous to his words.
“..tsk! Take this seriously!” she said angrily.
“…”
“The last time we had a conversation, you said that you weren’t an enemy…but seeing as how you’re acting this out now, were your words back then true?!”
“Of course they were…”
“Then why do this?” she asked.
“…I have my reasons.”
“…”
‘If I wanted to…I don’t want to involve myself in this as much as any normal man should, but God’s orders aren’t something I take lightly…’ thought Soril as he pushed Audrey back.
“…I can trust you right?” she asked.
And in her question, she was seen with her sword pointed downwards, as if she had no intention of fighting anymore.
“Trust me Audrey.” he said.
“…Fine.” seeing that, Audrey stops altogether and puts back her sword back into her sheathe. And then she positioned herself in a way that made it feel like she was forming her last attack.
“…What are you doing?” asked Soril.
“I’m going all out.” she said.
“…”
“…I want to find out that if the strength I have today is good enough against the ‘you’ you showed today.” she said.
“Hmm…fine.”
And in her act, for the first time ever, she was going to attempt a skill she had not once used against a human.
[Lightning Skill: Lightning Step]
In a blink of an eye, Audrey disappeared in front of Soril’s view.
And to her action, she appeared behind him with a presence filled with killing intent and no hesitation whatsoever.
‘I’m not going to hold back…if this ends up killing him, then I overestimated him…but I know he’s more than that!’
The battlefield crackled with energy as Audrey’s eyes narrowed, her grip tightening around the hilt of her sword. The air was thick with tension, the smell of ozone sharp in her nostrils. She faced her the back of her opponent, a young boy with a calm demeanor and a confident stance.
“…!!” Audrey didn’t need to say anything as she fell from the air like a crashing branch of thunder strikes.
But Soril, who witnessed this for the first time, simply nodded. Despite him not looking at her directly, he knew exactly where she was.
[Lightning Blade Dance]
With a deep breath, Audrey activated her Lightning Blade Dance. Her body blurred as she moved with incredible speed, her sword slicing through the air in a dazzling display of lightning-infused strikes. Arcs of electricity leapt from her blade, seeking out her opponent with every swing.
Yet, despite her speed and precision, the boy remained unfazed. He moved like a shadow, effortlessly dodging each of her attacks. His movements were fluid, almost lazy, as if he had all the time in the world to evade her.
Audrey’s frustration grew with every missed strike. She pushed herself harder, her blade a whirlwind of lightning, but it was as if she was fighting a ghost. The boy’s calm expression never wavered, his body slipping through her attacks like water through fingers.
“tsk!”
“You need to be faster than that.” Said Soril as he looked to Audrey in the eye with rather smug look.
With a final burst of energy, Audrey executed the climax of her Lightning Blade Dance, her sword blazing with an intense blue light. She brought it down in a thunderous strike, the ground beneath them shaking from the force.
But when the dust settled, the boy was standing only a centimeter away from her blade’s edge, completely unharmed. He looked at her, his expression softening with a hint of sympathy.
“Your technique is impressive,” he said, his voice gentle.
“But speed alone isn’t enough.”
Audrey’s shoulders sagged, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She lowered her sword, the lightning dissipating from the blade. She looked at the boy, a mix of frustration and respect in her eyes.
“What did l lack?” she asked.
“…Strategy and Adaptability. You were too predictable.” he said.
The next thing Soril did, he knocked out Audrey with a single chop of his hand. The force of his hand was heard the moment he struck Audrey. His hand wasn’t just fast…it was heavy enough to take out Audrey.
As Audrey fell unconscious to his attack, Soril turned his attention to Jessabelle and Jason who were both shocked to find that Audrey was easily defeated.
“Now then, looks like you two are the only ones left.” he said.