EX rank supporting role’s replay in a prestigious school-Chapter 945: The Last School Refusal (3)

At the signal to start, Kwak Kyung-gu and Maeng Hyo-don quickly materialized their weapons.

Park Seung-hyun hurriedly infused Inseomnium into his item card, but he couldn’t match the speed of the third years’ weapon materialization.

It was clear that the two had received solid combat training during their time at Eun-gwang High.

‘They’ve gotten faster since yesterday. Looks like they’ve sharpened their skills.’

Although Park Seung-hyun was slow to materialize his weapon, his Gwanglim activation was not delayed.

As the sound of a whistle echoed, Kwak Kyung-gu and Maeng Hyo-don tensed up.

After the humiliation of the 30-second defeat, they must have noticed that the Inseomnium I released with the whistle had become stronger, and my movements had changed.

They would have also realized that, with the increase in output, I was now displaying enough strength to blow their weapons away and move swiftly to strike vital points before they could defend.

‘So this time, they’ll try to overpower Park Seung-hyun before the 30 seconds pass.’

Kwak Kyung-gu positioned himself to block me, while Maeng Hyo-don charged at Park Seung-hyun.

Even though I hadn’t heard their strategy meeting, I could clearly see their plan.

Before Park Seung-hyun’s marching song could falter, I grabbed my sword with both hands and infused Inseomnium.

Kwak Kyung-gu, who had likely guessed what I was about to do, was alarmed and quickly entered a defensive stance.

He could have chosen to attack and stop me, but opting for defense was the right call.

Skill ‘All Things Usage’ activated.

“Damage!”

Boom!

Between the sound of the system prompt and the shockwave left by my sword strike, I heard Kwak Kyung-gu’s shout.

Whether he moved because he heard it or reacted instinctively, I couldn’t tell, but Maeng Hyo-don screamed and rolled across the floor.

“Argh!”

Crash!

Maeng Hyo-don, startled, looked at the remnants of my sword strike.

The shockwave, which didn’t hit anyone, had flown out of the designated sparring area, swallowed up by the cyan-colored space.

Meanwhile, Yong Je-geon, flying near the ceiling of the dome-shaped Seobang Chilsoo, appeared to be working, even if it seemed like he was playing.

Yong Je-geon alternated his gaze between the constellation representing Baekho and me, openly grinning.

‘He must have thought of Baekho-gun seeing this.’

Indeed, what I had just done was a typical move from Baekho-gun: a show of force meant to establish dominance.

It was a method that exuded the confidence of the Ho Clan’s best, a technique that left no room for vulnerability right after its execution, ensuring that any opponent would be overwhelmed, making the concept of "vulnerability" irrelevant.

“Vice President, looks like his overall stats have gone up again.”

“Vice President of Class 0 is impressive, but the flooring here is top-notch. Despite taking that hit, it didn’t break.”

“This training hall was built for those with special talents. It’d be hard to break it even if we put in all our strength.”

“Oh, Da-in-nim knows well. Did you hear that from the crazy guy of Class 0?”

Though I had used a crude technique, none of those here seemed shocked. After all, they were all players from Eun-gwang High, skilled in their own right.

Instead, they seemed surprised by the durability of the Eunryeong-gwan. Given that it was the training hall of the Ho Clan's best martial artists, it was only natural that it would be built to last.

If it had shattered from just this attack, Eunryeong-gwan would have been dust by now.

When I was learning the Sanbo Simgeum technique from Baekho-gun here, I had wondered if the Eunryeong-gwan would break, but it held up just fine.

I wondered if Baekho-gun had been reading my mind while we fought back then.

Even if he had, I’m sure he would have ignored it and fought according to his thoughts.

Whether or not he read my mind, there was a significant difference in strength between Baekho-gun and me.

‘I wonder if he’s reading my thoughts now. He did teach me martial arts, so he’d probably be curious to know.’

It would be better for him to come and see directly rather than just guessing from his divine protection.

Anyway, since he knew everything, if he wanted to watch, he could come and see.

I murmured to myself, then corrected my posture as if he could hear me.

“...That could have hurt.”

“I thought you’d dodge it.”

Kwak Kyung-gu, seemingly taken aback by the attack, spoke in disbelief.

I only stated the facts.

“If you couldn’t dodge that, there’s no way you could have lasted 30 seconds yesterday.”

The truth of my words made Kwak Kyung-gu’s eyebrows twitch.

As Maeng Hyo-don, who had just gotten up and was charging at Park Seung-hyun again, heard my words, he must have been frustrated and started yelling in anger.

Kwak Kyung-gu, having quickly regained his composure, steadied his breath and swung his twin swords. By then, in my mind, the countdown had already ended.

‘The 10 seconds I promised Park Seung-hyun have passed.’

They mistakenly thought that Park Seung-hyun’s Gwanglim activation would take over 30 seconds and assumed his maximum output was still at yesterday’s level.

But if Park Seung-hyun narrows the output range as I instructed, he can use much stronger sword strikes more quickly.

If this plan works, the sparring might be over earlier than yesterday.

However, not everything went according to my plan.

Suddenly, the whistle stopped.

“Ugh...!”

Park Seung-hyun, coughing and holding his forehead, looked at me.

It seemed that he had tried to increase the output of Inseomnium to whistle, but his vocal cords were overloaded, and he failed as his head throbbed from the concentration.

It seemed he couldn’t handle the difficult task I had given him.

“What’s this? Did my interference work?!”

It didn’t seem like that.

Since Park Seung-hyun staggered even before Maeng Hyo-don swung his mace, I didn’t think my interference had caused it.

On the other hand, Kwak Kyung-gu, unlike the sluggish Maeng Hyo-don, immediately adapted to the changing situation.

Kwak Kyung-gu swung his twin swords towards me to disrupt my communication with Park Seung-hyun.

‘Fast, but still slower than Baekho-gun.’

Clang!

I parried with one hand, deflecting the path of his twin swords and quickly turning my body toward Park Seung-hyun.

Perhaps it was due to all the practice with Baekho-gun in the Eunryeong-gwan, even though I wasn’t at my best, Kwak Kyung-gu’s sword movements were crystal clear.

Once I was certain Kwak Kyung-gu’s twin swords wouldn’t reach me, I spoke to Park Seung-hyun.

“It’s okay, one more time!”

I raised two fingers, signaling to Park Seung-hyun to try again in 20 seconds.

Park Seung-hyun, who had nearly panicked, changed his expression after seeing my signal.

Maeng Hyo-don’s mace whistled through the air, but its sound was drowned out by the whistle Park Seung-hyun blew.

“Last time, you were holding back.”

“I wouldn’t show all my moves at once.”

Kwak Kyung-gu seemed to realize that Park Seung-hyun could raise his output faster than 30 seconds.

Though it didn’t change anything now, it was much better than Maeng Hyo-don, who seemed clueless.

Kwak Kyung-gu gripped his twin swords more tightly and wore a serious expression.

“That goes for me too.”

I had expected as much.

Both Kwak Kyung-gu and Maeng Hyo-don hadn’t been able to show me their full abilities.

They had lost before they even had the chance to.

Whoosh!

A faint glow surrounded Kwak Kyung-gu’s body.

It was a Gwanglim effect I recognized well from both FlmaGo and this world.

‘He activated the 100 seconds of grace. Entering recovery mode, his muscles will be able to exert more force than usual.’

Athletes often experience muscle strain and tissue damage during intense competition.

Even if a player avoids all the opponent’s attacks, their body can still deteriorate due to their own strength.

While using the 100 seconds of grace, you don’t need to worry about that, and you can exert your strength.

‘But using it now, he really doesn’t understand how to use Gwanglim properly.’

Even though Kwak Kyung-gu was swinging his twin swords more heavily, I didn’t feel threatened.

The power didn’t really increase, and by wasting time like this, the strength of his trump card was slowly diminishing.

As I casually parried his twin swords, Kwak Kyung-gu seemed to grow anxious.

“See, I told you to use Gwanglim if you couldn’t attack Seung-hyun!”

“...Ah, you’re saying it all again.”

“Yaaah!”

With Kwak Kyung-gu’s sigh, Maeng Hyo-don’s shout echoed.

Responding to Maeng Hyo-don’s Gwanglim, ‘The Roar that Calls the Prairie’, the prairie spread, and the plants Maeng Hyo-don’s rival, the dragonkin, called “grass clumps,” tried to grab my ankles.

But such a weak force couldn’t stop me.

Crunch!

“Ugh, it all got cut off at once!”

Seizing the opportunity when I deflected Kwak Kyung-gu’s twin swords, I swung my sword downward, and the wilted grass clumps lost all their power and scattered across the floor.

Maeng Hyo-don yelled again, but only more dried-up plant matter grew.

‘With such a strong Gwanglim, they couldn’t even utilize it properly.’

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Seeing the remains of the prairie, I felt a deep sense of defeat.

I have over a hundred playable characters, but when faced with an urgent situation, I prioritize abilities that can be used immediately.

Among such powerful abilities, the strength of Kwak Kyung-gu and Maeng Hyo-don was included.

I had healed from major injuries using Kwak Kyung-gu’s recovery ability, and with Maeng Hyo-don’s strength, I had saved Geumsubi and Ongildong from the death-eye of Balor.

But if the same situation were to occur again, I doubted whether they would be able to use their powers effectively.

Whoooo!

Though Park Seung-hyun failed twice, on the third attempt, he successfully used the power I had instructed him to use.

By then, Kwak Kyung-gu’s 100 seconds of grace had ended, and Maeng Hyo-don’s Roar that Calls the Prairie, aimed at me, had lost all its strength.

There was no way these two could stop my enhanced sword strike in their current state.

“Stop.”

Boom!

The space created by Yong Je-geon appeared between the now half-collapsed Maeng Hyo-don and Kwak Kyung-gu, who had raised his sword too late to block.

I would have stopped immediately if Yong Je-geon had shouted "stop," but it seemed he just wanted to use space magic.

Yong Je-geon, grinning, said.

“Seung-hyun and Yi-shin won again.”

Instead of just saying "they won," adding “again” seemed very much like something Yong Je-geon would do.

Kwak Kyung-gu and Maeng Hyo-don, their faces filled with frustration, didn’t openly express their anger but were mature enough to hide it.

When Park Seung-hyun shook hands with both of them, he also said, "That was a great spar."

But just calling it a great spar wasn’t enough.

It was now my turn to shake hands.

“You used 100 seconds of grace in the middle, right? At the end, it seemed like you fought without Gwanglim.”

“...It’s a Gwanglim I can’t use more than twice a day, so there’s nothing I could do. Even if I used it, it wouldn’t make me stronger than you.”

Kwak Kyung-gu spoke in a resigned tone.

I guessed that was why he had opened a bottle of soju.

But Kwak Kyung-gu still didn’t fully understand what kind of power he had.

I released the hand I had shaken and spoke.

“If you use it in one-second intervals, you can use it up to 100 times. If you use it in 0.1-second intervals, you could use it a thousand times.”

“...!”

“If you could fully recover your body in 0.1 seconds, I would have to defeat you a thousand times.”

Since Gwanglim is divided by time, as long as you respect the time limits, it has infinite possibilities.

Some Gwanglim can only be used once a day, while others have complex time limits depending on the strength of the player’s abilities.

But Kwak Kyung-gu’s Gwanglim is called "100 Seconds of Grace."

Within 100 seconds, anything can be done.

Of course, dividing the time requires intense concentration and Inseomnium, but that’s something Kwak Kyung-gu must overcome himself.

While Kwak Kyung-gu was lost in thought, I shook hands with Maeng Hyo-don.

“Maeng Hyo-don, your Gwanglim doesn’t work when attacking people. Plus, it’s weak to fire. Summoning the prairie in front of the Red Dragon would just make the flames stronger.”

“Ugh, I know! That’s why I’m trying to overcome it!”

I admired Maeng Hyo-don’s spirit, but I couldn’t just praise him.

His challenge was trampling on other possibilities, ignoring them completely.

“But have you ever thought about this? If you helped a pyromancer, you could summon even bigger flames.”

Maeng Hyo-don only thought of fire as a rival to overcome.

Because of that, he couldn’t even think of using his Gwanglim as support, let alone realizing that he could amplify the flames’ power.

I proposed a new possibility to the two of them.

“When the camp ends, let’s spar again.”