Chapter 225: Fruitless
———Jeff———
<1: 49 pm>
*Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade* *Lunge* *Evade* *Crash*
“Agh! Get out of the way asshole!” Qyunda yelled at me before pushing me away. Everyone is scrambling to finally land a solid blow, no matter how weak or strong the connecting attack is. Every single person in class ran towards the middle of the playing area, trying to land a single blow.
*Evade* *Smack* *Duck* *Slide*
She easily maneuvered around the constant hounding of the class with extremely quick sword swing and her insane agility, outmaneuvering and avoid contact with everyone from weakest to strongest in the class.
Armed with only a bamboo sword, and a face that could only be described as bored. Rico clearly doesn’t even feel a little bit pressed as everyone tries their hardest to complete the challenge at hand.
One clean hit. No ranged attacks. No disruptive spells. Just pure physical might and dexterity and whatever buffing spells you have alongside the weapons in your hand.
Neither side can use anything fancy like explosive spells or barriers or anything.
*Swing* *Evade*
Even a big scythe from Emmie that she swung with all her might doesn’t connect and almost hit her classmates who were also trying to hit Rico from different angles.
*Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade*
Every attempt to hit her is met with us hitting the air, and more importantly everyone almost hitting each other. If it weren’t for the fact that we also got hit back by the bamboo sword I might genuinely think that she’s not even here and it’s just a hologram or something.
*Leap* *Swing* *Smack* *Thud*
“Owww…” I tried to jump her from above and she still took notice despite a bunch of other people also attacking at the same time. It’s freaking crazy how agile she is. Insane reaction time.
*Grab*
“H-Hey, Emmie?” Why is she picking me up by the colla-
*Throw* *Evade* *Crash*
“Agh!” I just hit someone! What in the world was that for!?
*Kick* *Thud*
“That’s twice now!” Qyunda yelled at me after kicking me out of the way. All of that happened in what feels like… I can worry about later, I need to rejoin the fight!
*Swing* *Evade* *Swing* *Evade* Lunge* *Evade*
Nothing looks like it could hit her at all. There’s no fancy technique or any of that nonsense here, just someone who just outclassed us, and has insane awareness in a fight. Not once does it even feel like we come close to touching her. It’s not like that bamboo sword of hers is particularly long or thick, and we couldn’t tell at all if she is actually sneakily using any spells that might break the rules she set up.
One thing for sure. It looks like we’re not gonna complete the challenge at this rate. We outnumbered her eighteen to one, and we are still struggling. Normally that kind of advantage would’ve been a guaranteed win for us, but we live in a brand new world where logic is all out the window. We’re the one on the backfoot here.
Come on now. We just need one hit and the class would be considered over. I still have enough stamina in me to keep going for a while. It’d be real embarrassing if I was the one who tapped out first.
*Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash*
“Ow!” I ran in with my right hook ready and she smacked me away and I hit the invisible wall stopping us from leaving the area. I got sent back so suddenly that it took a second to register what just happened. This is probably gonna happen a few more times until I actually lose all steam. If there’s even a tiny chance of me hitting her, I’m gonna keep doing it!
*Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash* *Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash* *Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash* *Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash* *Dash* *Swing* *Smack* *Crash*
…Okay. I can't move anymore. Maybe that was a bad idea.
———Karra———
<2: 01 pm>
“At least all of you are persistent.” Rico mockingly said before walking to the bleachers and sat down. “Not even a single hit in and all of you are laying on the floor, completely exhausted and out of energy.”
She does take a glance at a certain someone who isn’t using her full strength for obvious reasons, and she only does so for a split second so no one without a clue already wouldn’t understand its meaning.
Quite a scathing comment she made, but she isn’t wrong that the whole fight can barely be called that. I was actually trying quite hard and I still can’t hit her at all. The most I ever did was… about the same as everyone else.
The gap in power between all of us and her is much more massive than a singular ant against a human. I can’t comprehend her strength at all, and what exactly is the depth of her power, but I know full well that the gap is so vast that I might never ever reach it.
Wiina had told me multiple times by now that there is a massive gap between us normal folks and people like Rico and Coach Wana. We haven’t had any sort of mock match against them for many months now, and despite all the progress, we still pale in comparison.
“All of you still have room to grow. Best that none of you go sulking, especially when a lot of people are sulking at you lot for the same thing. It’s just how it goes, there are many layers in a hierarchy.” She said. I’m not gonna sulk, but it does look like some of us are a bit bummed by the fight. If she was more intent on attacking, then we would be able to call it a massacre with how one-sided it is.
I still have a bit of energy left in me to walk to the bleachers and lay down there instead. We don’t have a lot of time left before the next class with how spectacularly we failed the task.
Even literally having everyone charging in from different heights and angles wasn't enough when the speed difference is comical. She was able to see it coming and move around to avoid being boxed in, and even then the bamboo sword she had was more than enough to push away all pursuers since that thing seems to be extremely durable and it doesn’t slow her down in the slightest. From her perspective it probably looks like she was fighting people in slow motion. That’s one thing Wiina had remarked before in regards to her fight.
One of the things that make the increase in your power so effective is the increase in your senses and reaction time. Everything seems to slow down considerably and let you gather your thoughts and strategize in the middle of a battle.
If she allowed everyone to use all the tools we have we’d still have no chance, she would’ve just erected a barrier that’s impenetrable. At that point no amount of spells is gonna reach her.
“Alright, all of you go to your classroom and relax. We’re done here.” She said before walking away suddenly. We are all way too exhausted to even move an inch, it’s going to take a while before we are going back.
“Hey, guys. You think…” Jeff weakly said something as he rolled on the floor to move around. “We should maybe grind a little harder from now on?”
“I was gonna do that anyway.” Qyunda said, clearly dissatisfied with the result as she stood up, albeit with weak posture as if her legs and back were made of jelly. “Why the hell were you thrown like a ragdoll so many times?”
“How the heck should I know? Emmie, what was that for?” Jeff yelled at Emmie who was standing up with the support of her scythe.
“You’re the weakest link, best used as expendable ammo.” She bluntly stated. That’s pretty darn harsh. He’s like the weakest one in the general sense, but in terms of physical output he’s not the weakest, I think. That’d be Seni, who can’t use any of her strong magic spells in this mock battle. I think it’s just because he’s a more acceptable target to throw around. If Seni was the one bullied she’d never hear the end of it.
“Alright dude.” Jeff said, clearly miffed about the remark.
“She’s not wrong, that’s for sure.” Kenni said just to stroke the flames a bit more. “You were lying there dead for most of the fight. Kinda pathetic, really.”
“Okay, all of you, just shut up.” Gregori spoke out before any sort of conflict could happen. He’s still laying down on the floor, not moving at all. “I just wanna lay down and just rest without any of you arguing and saying nonsensical things. We were outmatched, plain and simple, no one was the weak link, just shut up.”
“...That just makes you sound like a sore loser more than anything.” Kenni doesn’t take that demand to heart and keeps talking anyway. Gregori simply grumbled before crawling away.
Most people here can’t even stand despite the lack of injury, simply because they are all too exhausted to move. We still have a good amount of time left before we should go back to the classroom, so hopefully everyone is gonna be in top shape before then.
…I don’t think sleeping on the hard floor is going to help.
“I’ll go get the beds…” ‘Jass’ said before walking to the infirmary. I don’t think any of us have been in there before, right? I wonder if there are enough beds to-
And that’s a lot of hospital beds being pushed out of the room. Okay, maybe I was being a bit dumb thinking there won’t be an excess of everything here in this school.
All the beds got pushed towards us and everyone climbed up to their own. This is certainly quite a sight, but let’s just not comment on it. I’m sure someone is gonna come and put them all back anyway.
“Ah. That’s much better.” Gregori commented now that he finally got a place to lay down that isn’t a hard floor. “Come on, don’t act tough now, I know even you four can’t stand upright.”
“Shut it.” Kenni said before kicking the bed Gregori is on away. Was that really warranted?
“Hey!” He protested as the bed he was on slid past the others and almost hit a wall.
“...She was insanely strong. Anyone got an inkling yet as to how strong?” Malk spoke up after a brief awkward period of silence.
“Not a clue.” Orrel replied first. I think it’s clear we’re not getting a good gauge of the gap between us and her for now. If Wiina doesn't want to talk about it then there’s no point in trying to figure it out.
———Lynda———
<2: 11 pm>
“Haaa…” I let out a long sigh after a hard fought battle. Looks like it’s finally over. That takes way too long for my liking.
“Congratulations.” Teacher Elrik said as the simulation stopped and everyone got transported back to the lobby.
That wasn’t really much of a fight at first, but everyone start jumping me the moment it became clear I was the one with the best odds at winning. I didn’t think it was that serious. We have no real incentive for it.
The others are all exhausted but can move around, at least. Also no injury, obviously.
“Just what the hell is your routine?” Histon complained as everyone got ready to leave.
“Same as before, just going a bit deeper into the dungeon.” I don’t really have any specific plans in mind for getting stronger. All I’m really doing right now is trying to make it a habit.
“Alright everyone, follow me back to the classroom.” Elrik said before walking onto the teleport pad first.
*Zoom*
All of us then followed him and teleported back. We didn’t even stay at the gym for more than a few minutes this time around.
We simply just fought inside the simulator room, it was quite hectic.
Can’t imagine how absurd the fight between the people in the Perfect Class would be. For all I know they might still be fighting right now.