The Last-Seat Hero Has Returned

13. Limit Test (1)

After successfully completing the first party class.

I received ‘extra points’ that I had never received in my previous life.

A whole 2 points, no less.

“A three-eyed beast is worth 1 point, and a four-eyed beast is worth 3 points.”

“Then why is it 2 points?”

“Because you broke the restraining magic tool.”

“I didn’t break it.”

“Don’t you know that the party shares joint responsibility?”

Damn it.

“If it’s about responsibility, doesn’t the professor have some too?”

“What do you mean my responsibility?”

“You never said we couldn’t kill it.”

“Don’t you know what capture means? Do you know how much it costs to raise a training beast? Of course, you can’t kill it.”

“I have no rebuttal, so I’m even more pissed off.”

Ugh.

Swallowing my frustration, I leaned back in the professor’s office chair.

“By the way….”

Professor Lucas’s gaze turned to me.

“Why do you keep coming here during your free periods as if it’s your own house?”

“Well, with all the rumors going around these days, I get unnecessary attention if I’m outside.”

In that sense, Professor Lucas’s office was the perfect place to avoid the cadets’ gaze.

“Ha, look at this arrogant brat. Do you think I’m your friend? Huh? Friend?”

Just as Professor Lucas was about to start a long speech about how dare he use the sacred office as a place to hide himself.

“During last year’s autumn festival.”

“Huh? What about the festival?”

“We held a poetry writing contest with the intention of instilling at least a minimum of literary and artistic sensibility in the heroes.”

“…So?”

“Although it didn’t gain much fame due to the lack of participants, the winner of the poetry contest was an anonymous cadet who submitted a poignant love poem.”

“……”

“It was a beautiful poem filled with tender and wistful emotions towards a woman he secretly loved.”

“Is that so? I was so far removed from poetry that I didn’t even know such a contest existed.”

“Really? That’s strange….”

I slowly stood up from my chair and took out the ‘Advanced Combat Training’ book from the professor’s bookshelf.

To be precise.

A single white sheet of paper that had been secretly hidden between the thick books.

“Why do you have the winning poem from last year if you didn’t even know the contest existed?”

“You, you, how did you…!”

“Hmm. But aren’t you curious? The identity of the cadet who suddenly appeared, submitted a poem anonymously, and won the contest.”

“Ugh!”

“Professor Lucas.”

I smiled brightly and unfolded the white paper.

On the white paper was a poignant love poem written in Professor Lucas’s handwriting.

“You write good poems, don’t you?”

I recited the beautiful phrases written on the wide-open paper.

“My dearly beloved.”

“Stop!”

“I can never forget you for the rest of my life.”

“Stop!”

“Even though I know it’s a love that will never come to me.”

“Stop it, you brat!”

“I will keep thinking alone.”

“Ahhh!”

Boom!

With a roar like that of a wild beast, Professor Lucas charged.

An incredible speed that one wouldn’t expect from a nearly 2-meter-tall giant.

In an instant, Professor Lucas, who had approached, reached out for the white paper in my hand.

“Hup.”

I tried to dodge his hand by spinning around.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

As if he had anticipated my move, Professor Lucas swiftly changed direction and snatched the white paper from my hand.

‘Fast.’

I hadn’t given it my all to dodge, but to have it taken away so easily was disheartening.

I realized that Professor Lucas wasn’t called one of the top talents among the faculty for nothing.

“Huff, huff! You brat… How did you find this?”

“I discovered it by chance while cleaning here during last winter break.”

Well, to be precise, it wasn’t last winter break but the winter break of my third year, which is nine months from now.

It’s true that I found it by chance while cleaning.

“Cleaning? Why were you cleaning my office… Ah.”

Professor Lucas, who had been frowning and continuing his interrogation, let out a low exclamation.

During school breaks, most cadets would return to their hometowns or go on vacation, but cadets like Dale, who were orphans and attended school with government support, were exceptions.

During breaks, their living support funds would be cut off, so they stayed at school, doing odd jobs like cleaning or facility maintenance to cover their living expenses.

“…Grr.”

With nothing left to interrogate, Professor Lucas let out a low growl and crumpled the paper in his hand.

“Hmph. Whether you found this by chance or not, no one will believe you without evidence…”

“Ah, of course, what you have now is a copy. I have the original stored safely elsewhere.”

“Damn it.”

Professor Lucas cursed and threw the crumpled paper into the trash can.

Sigh.

A deep sigh escaped from between the professor’s lips.

“Fine, fine. Do whatever you want, whether you come and go as you please or set up house here!”

“Thank you, Professor.”

“Thank you, my foot.”

“In that sense, may I ask one more favor?”

“You cheeky little…!”

“Would you spar with me?”

“…What?”

Professor Lucas’s eyes widened.

He looked me up and down with an incredulous expression and opened his mouth.

“Spar? You want to spar with me now?”

“Yes.”

“Well… if it’s a spar without using magic…”

“No. I want you to go all out.”

“……”

Professor Lucas’s gaze fixed on me.

If I were to interpret the look in his eyes, it would be something like, ‘Is this guy crazy?’

‘Well.’

It was a natural reaction since a mere candidate was asking a professor for an all-out spar.

And not just any professor, but Professor Lucas Kane.

‘The bloodthirsty hound, Lucas Kane.’

He was a hero strong enough to be ranked within the top 100 among thousands, tens of thousands of heroes.

Of course.

The ‘ranking’ here does not refer to the ‘comprehensive evaluation ranking’ that determines the superiority of candidates.

It refers to the comprehensive ranking of the Three Kingdoms heroes, created by enthusiasts who love to rank people.

It was a genuine ranking that was on a different level from the comprehensive evaluation ranking of candidates who had not yet even received their official hero certification.

‘Of course, its accuracy is significantly lower compared to the comprehensive evaluation ranking of candidates.’

Since it was a ranking made by compiling various rumors and achievements, rather than through a set test like the candidates, its accuracy was not very high.

But no matter how low the accuracy, being ranked within the top 100 among tens of thousands of heroes meant that he had proven his skill and level as a hero.

He was not someone a candidate who had just started practical training could dare to request a spar from.

‘That’s why he’s even more suitable for this test.’

It has been nine days since I returned from the future.

For over a week, there was still something I hadn’t yet confirmed.

That was.

‘Just how strong am I right now?’

Before the regression, after all my comrades had died, I wandered the continent alone for thousands of years.

I interpreted and developed the swordsmanship I learned from Yuren, the martial arts I learned from Berald, and the magic theories I learned from Senior Sophia in my own way.

One might wonder what the point was of continuing to train alone in a world that had already perished.

‘Because if I didn’t do that, I felt like I would truly go insane.’

Even in the midst of extreme loneliness, when I trained in the swordsmanship, martial arts, and magic I learned from my comrades, I could feel as if I were with them.

‘The problem is.’

Did I really ‘develop’ what I learned from my comrades?

‘As the worst dullard in the history of Reynald School, how much could I have improved… even if I tried?’

To be blunt, there was a possibility that I had regressed rather than progressed.

Despite continuing to train for hundreds, thousands of years, I hadn’t even grasped the edge of the ‘ultimate’ that Yuren always talked about.

‘So, I need to know.’

After the world perished.

Whether the hundreds, thousands of years of effort to forget loneliness had truly made me stronger.

What level of ‘power’ I can exert right now.

‘To know that.’

I needed a strong opponent like Professor Lucas, whose skills were proven.

“A duel with all our strength… you and me?”

Professor Lucas sneered and glared at me fiercely.

“I thought you had changed a bit lately, but have you really gone mad, Dale?”

“I know. It’s a ridiculous proposal.”

“Then why?”

“Because it’s something I absolutely need right now.”

“…….”

Did he read the sincerity in my eyes?

Professor Lucas turned his fierce gaze away and let out a deep sigh.

“Fine. I was curious too. Just how much power you’ve been hiding.”

Creak.

The professor pushed back his chair and stood up.

In an instant, the atmosphere in the office changed, as if a beast had awakened from its slumber.

“You know, don’t you?”

Professor Lucas lifted the two axes hanging on the office wall.

They were not practice axes, but sharp, double-edged axes that gleamed menacingly.

“The meaning of a duel to the fullest.”

A sticky, murderous intent, as if the smell of blood was wafting, directed at me.

I chuckled and nodded, drawing the real sword I had prepared in advance.

“Of course.”

* * *

The training ground located within the school.

“I’ll give you five minutes.”

Professor Lucas, holding only one of the two axes, drew a circular mark on the ground with his toe.

The diameter of the circle drawn with his foot was about one meter.

“Use whatever means necessary to make me step out of this circle.”

“…Didn’t you say it was a duel to the fullest?”

“Before going all out, I need to see if you’re worth it.”

Ah.

So that’s how it’s going to be?

“Fine.”

I nodded and drew the sword from my waist.

“Sss.”

Slowly inhaling, I focused my mind on my left chest.

A halo of light emanated from the stigma, enveloping my body.

“Here I come.”

After returning.

For the first time, I was using an ‘all-out attack.’

Whether this attack would work on Professor Lucas, I couldn’t be sure.

‘My physical training level and magical power are still far from what they were in my previous life.’

It doesn’t matter.

I had the legacy of comrades who had honed their skills alone for hundreds, thousands of years.

“Hoo.”

Exhaling the breath I had inhaled.

Tang!

I kicked the ground.

Solar Sword.

Second Form, Moon Slash (斬月)

Kaaang!!!

With a sound like tearing metal.

“…You crazy.”

Professor Lucas barely blocked the sword strike with his axe, his body sliding out of the circle drawn on the ground.

His eyes, wide with shock, turned to me.

“How is it?”

I grinned as I looked at Professor Lucas, who had been pushed out of the circle in an instant.

“Is it worth going all out?”

It all happened in less than five seconds, let alone five minutes.

*This chapter quotes a part of the poem ‘This Poem’ by poet Lee Sang.