Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy

Chapter 192

The entire classroom filled with a murmuring roar.

And for good reason — the opponents were too strong.

Pan. Bridget and Eleveth. Kantaros. The Spear God. Hati. Rozalin. Freutche. Sordian. Freizia.

Every single one was a powerhouse who had reached at least Sword Adept.

And Pan, Rozalin, and the Spear God on top of that — plus Cassian?

This was not a midterm designed for passing.

"T-Teacher?"

The students looked at one another in blank dismay.

If ten of them gathered...... could they win?

"Are you crazy, against the Spear God?"

"Even fifty people would not be enough against Senior Pan."

"I have to fight that madwoman Rozalin......? We will not die, will we? No, would dying not actually be preferable?"

"Did we do something wrong to our Teacher? Huh? Then let us just beg Teacher. Let us beg and say we are sorry. I think that is the only way to survive."

The knights were equally flabbergasted, though the tenor of their reaction was a bit different.

"They want us...... ten people together, to fight a single student? Is this some new kind of insult?"

"Ha, really — Chamson? That last-placer Chamson is a test target? Are they making fools of us?"

"This is maddening. Putting those students and Duke Crownhardt on the same level?"

"This teacher called Cassian — made a bit of a name for himself and now he is unbearably arrogant. This is who they call Great Master?"

And the students sitting beside those soldiers overheard their reactions and quickly spotted something odd.

"Chamson......? I have never heard that name."

"He is from outside, apparently. I hear he is the newest knight."

"The newest knight? Then......"

"Seems manageable."

"Should we go for him first?"

"You in or not?"

"Tonight, just like that?"

Some who went a step further even proposed plans like these.

"What about Duke Crownhardt? He is old — would he not be manageable?"

"Hey, if being old means weak, then Grandpa Spear God would be the easiest. Or Grandpa Kantaros."

"Those grandpas are not the kind who have one foot in the grave. They are just, uh, not even human, how to put it...... super-grandpas?"

"Agreed."

The knights and soldiers grew irritated hearing the students' chatter, and the students scowled right back at the soldiers' displeasure.

It was a veritable cauldron of chaos.

"Now then......"

In the midst of that uproar.

"Let us begin class."

Cassian's voice "cut" through every bit of noise.

With a snap, the commotion vanished all at once.

The students filling the lecture hall did not know why the sound had disappeared, as if by some uncanny coincidence.

Why they themselves had shut their mouths — why the person they had been talking to had suddenly gasped, as though the air had been snatched from their lungs, and fallen silent.

They could not fathom it.

'......Wow.'

Only those who had been designated as exam targets could faintly surmise the technique behind what had just happened.

Cassian had always been able to cut abstract concepts.

He had cut invisible magic, cut hostility, and cut the will to fight.

But that had only been possible when he swung his sword.

And yet, somewhere along the way, this teacher had reached a stage where he could cut something without doing anything at all — as though merely speaking were equivalent to swinging a sword.

'How?'

Pan's eyes spun as he replayed what his teacher had done.

Had Teacher Cassian moved his body before speaking?

No — his posture had not changed a fraction.

He had not moved his feet, his arms and shoulders, or his hands.

'I cannot even begin to guess.'

Until now, he could read the flow of a sword just by watching any opponent.

But this was the first time he had witnessed something happening right before his eyes and could not even begin to guess how.

'As I thought...... Teacher is the answer.'

Pan's eyes sparkled.

After briefly observing the students' reactions, Cassian continued the class.

"I imagine you are startled by the sudden group-based class. Let me explain a few evaluation criteria."

His criteria were simple.

First.

"Cooperation."

Three teaching assistants (not really) had not spent all night analyzing people's information and meticulously constructing groups for nothing.

Only by clearly leveraging each member's strengths and weaknesses and cooperating could they barely defeat the opponent.

And second.

"Creativity."

Cassian did not believe they could defeat the midterm bosses before the midterm period, no matter how hard they tried.

So these ten would need to put their heads together and devise a strategy even Cassian had not thought of.

And the final, third criterion.

"The sword."

Their victory must be achieved through a fair and square contest of swords.

Victories obtained through ambush, poison, or any other foul play would not be counted as victories.

"Then what is an ideal group activity? As it happens, we have excellent teaching materials. Experienced teaching assistants, Bridget, Eleveth. Come forward."

It was not a group of ten, but the two of them together in their combined assault showed the direction a ten-person group should aim for.

The two stood beside Cassian with awkward expressions.

Not because they had to demonstrate something as teaching assistants — but because of the fact that they had been made midterm bosses.

"Teacher."

"Take your stances. All you need to do is block my attacks and counterattack. I will not use Aura, but the two of you may show your full ability."

Personal feelings aside, the class came first.

The two immediately took their stances and drew their swords.

The moment the two seriously assumed their positions, the atmosphere of the lecture hall changed.

'......What is this.'

The knights and soldiers in particular found it hard to keep their composure.

'There are no...... openings?'

'The moment I make even a single attempt to attack, I feel like my head would come off.'

'Ten? No, could even twenty break through?'

Bridget twisted her wrist and craftily swung the tip of her blade in syncopated rhythms.

On top of that, her feet moved in a rhythm different from the blade's, making it seem as though her entire body was composed of dissonance.

Sword, arms, legs, whole body — all like flickering fire, and the smoldering embers that faintly glowed made it impossible to predict when the flames would erupt.

When Eleveth was added to the mix, reading the rhythm became even harder.

Eleveth was naturally woven into that impossible dissonance.

From within the staggered and twisted beat, Eleveth's sword suddenly shot toward Cassian.

Swish.

Cassian, as if he had known, quietly shifted a foot to the side and dodged Eleveth's blade.

A chilling Aura coated her sword.

Cassian quietly raised his sword to counterattack.

The sword moved in stillness and drew a trajectory through the air without a sound.

That movement was so natural, so devoid of apparent meaning, that people could not even register the sword was moving.

A sword like that — one would simply be run through without feeling it, right up to the moment the blade reached the throat, and just —

Fwish!

But Bridget and Eleveth were not of a level to be distracted by that degree of swordplay.

Immediately, Bridget hooked one arm through Eleveth's other arm, crossed them, and rotated her body half a turn.

Eleveth's body, which had been forward, spun and evaded Cassian's sword.

Bridget's sword, carried by the rotation, rose from below, targeting Cassian's throat.

Again, a fiery red Aura coated it.

Tap.

Cassian pricked Bridget's wrist with the tip of his sword.

An unexpected attack that fell outside the sword's trajectory and the range of the Aura.

"Urgh!"

Bridget yelped and dropped her sword.

And Eleveth, appearing from nowhere, caught that sword in a reverse grip and swung.

Cassian dodged it and swung his sword again.

Then Bridget would retrieve Eleveth's body, take the sword passed from Eleveth's hand, and thrust.

Block, thrust, cut, dodge.

An organic flow continued endlessly.

"Enough."

Once the demonstration seemed sufficient, Cassian flung his body backward.

Where Cassian had been standing a moment ago, the swords of Bridget and Eleveth crossed in an X, trailing Aura.

Each of their swords commanded a different direction.

Anyone less skilled would have clearly missed the timing and been sliced to ribbons.

"There — that is the approach. It should not be too difficult."

It was difficult.

Even students and auditors who had experienced Cassian multiple times wore dazed expressions.

Then imagine what the knights' faces looked like.

"......Huh?"

They could use Aura that freely?

But why did that Aura stick so perfectly to the blade without the slightest waver?

But could Aura really be used so recklessly?

No — how did those two move as though they were a single body?

And the man who dodged, blocked, and pierced through all of that without any Aura — what was he, a monster?

Why did he alone seem to be on a different time axis? Those two were fighting at full speed and he seemed roughly three times faster.

On top of that, none of those three had broken a single drop of sweat?

No — how many people of that level were there in this lecture hall?

Heads were spinning.

"Teacher. But what happens if we fail the midterm?"

A student who had collected their wits first raised a hand and asked.

Cassian smiled brightly.

"Then you just do well on the final."

At that, the students realized.

This was only the midterm.

Which meant.

"S-surely the final is not harder?"

"It is."

Hell was on the horizon.

Cassian slowly surveyed the students.

"The reason I set the midterm bar high was for your safety."

If they could not even clear the midterm, there was no way they could properly take the final.

"For the final exam, I am thinking of having you hunt demons directly."

At Cassian's declaration, even the midterm bosses stared at him with their mouths agape.

Of course, Cassian did not mean he would send them to hunt just any demon.

He had already received from Rozalin and Hati a list of demons that students could reasonably handle among those expected to appear.

He planned to send them, accompanied by supervisors, to deal with those demons.

"So in effect, failing the midterm means failing this entire course."

The lecture hall fell silent for various reasons.

"The two of you may step down. Now, let us begin class."

In that silence, Cassian slowly began the lesson.

It was just the right kind of hush for conducting class.

***

"Let us target Chamson."

One of the knights said to his groupmates.

"If the level of Akarind Academy students is what we just saw...... honestly, it is beyond us."

Another knight said to his groupmates.

"But we know Chamson's skill."

Yet another knight said to his groupmates.

"He is nothing more than a greenhorn who has just awakened Aura."

Yet another knight said to his groupmates.

"Of course, he did recently have some kind of enlightenment. I hear he received Duke Crownhardt's personal instruction."

Another knight said to his groupmates.

"So targeting Chamson should be better than targeting anyone else."

And every single student who heard those proposals rejected them.

"Even so, if Teacher Cassian put that knight there, there must be a reason."

"I will not go."

"The exam evaluates the cooperation of all ten members. So let us wait until we can develop better tactics."

The knights and soldiers were frustrated.

And they made up their minds.

"There is one knight and one soldier per group. It would be a bit tough alone...... but with two we should be plenty to take Chamson."

"Our group has two knights. We cannot use Aura, but in terms of experience, we are far above him."

"That is enough. Let us handle it between ourselves."

The moment class ended, the knights swarmed toward Chamson.

"He is not here?"

"Huh, where did Chamson go? Has anyone seen him?"

At that moment, Chamson was face to face with Cassian, one on one.