The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: The Moonlight Swordsman (XXI)

“Hayaa!”

THRUM!

A massive black beam tore through the air as Lucas swung the disguised Excalibur in his hand.

The force of it reverberated through the battlefield.

Rose’s eyes widened upon seeing the total strength of the beam, panic flashing across her face, and immediately, she raised her staff.

『 Multiple Layer Barrier! (✦ 4th-level Spell ✦)』

CRACK!

The moment the beam collided with Rose’s barrier, cracks shattered through it like fragile glass.

The attack pushed forward without slowing.

“Ella!” Rose shouted.

“I’m on it!” Ella replied sharply.

On the right side, Ella coated her sword in a powerful golden mana before stepping in front of Rose, swinging with all her might.

『 Royal Swordsmanship! (✦ Heavenly Strike! ✦)』

BAAM!

The impact of the two powers colliding with each other sent shockwaves rippling outward.

And despite Ella’s effort, Lucas’s beam was too powerful, forcing both Ella and Rose to be thrown back several meters.

Thud!

Rose groaned, brushing off dirt from her clothes as she staggered to her feet.

“Ugh… that hurt,” she muttered, wincing.

Ella stood as well, shaking dust off her shoulders.

“Same here,” she said curtly.

On the sidelines, Maya’s mouth dropped open in awe.

“Whoa!” She jumped up, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Without hesitation, she dashed toward Lucas, her enthusiasm bubbling over.

“Lucas! How the heck did you get that strong?!” she demanded, bouncing on her toes. “Tell me, tell me!”

Seeing Maya so close, Lucas stiffened slightly, and averted his eyes away from her, before replying in a low tone to Maya.

“My parents’s inheritance had a special item for me. I’m not telling more than that,” he lied through his teeth.

It was obviously the Excalibur that had granted such power to him, and now, he was an S- ranker! A big jump indeed, in just the span of a few days.

“Reaaalllly?” Maya narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Lucas suspiciously.

Before she could press further, Iris walked over, placing a hand on Maya’s shoulder.

“Maya stop, if he wants to have some secrets, leave him with them,” Iris winked at Lucas which made him smile lightly.

“Ugh, not fair!” Maya pouted, puffing out her cheeks. “He gets to level up like crazy while the rest of us have to grind forever!”

Ella, who had been watching from nearby, crossed her arms:

“Didn’t we just clear an inheritance dungeon a few weeks ago?” she said, frowning. “We all got a huge power boost. What are you complaining about?”

“Ahhh… right. Forgot about that.” Maya blinked, then let out a sheepish laugh.

Hearing their conversation, Rose, dusting off her sleeves, tilted her head curiously.

“Lucas, now that you’re so strong… do you think you could beat Aestrea?” she asked softly.

A faint blush crept across her cheeks as soon as she mentioned his name.

Lucas paused, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Maya suddenly burst out, pointing at Rose with wide eyes. “Are you blushing?! Oh my gosh!”

‘Aestrea is ridiculously strong…’

“N-no, I’m not!” Rose stammered, her face turning redder as she shook her head frantically.

From the side, Iris smirked and gave Rose’s waist a playful pinch.

“Kyaa!” Rose yelped, jumping.

“Uh-huh. Don’t even try to deny it, Rose. You’re totally blushing,” Iris teased, her grin mischievous.

‘But, now that I have the Excalibur… I should be able to beat him, right? After all, I’m not a low S-rank awakened!’ Lucas pondered to himself.

Grinning ear to ear, Maya leaned closer to Rose. “Ohhhh, do you have a thing for Aestrea now?” she teased, waggling her eyebrows.

Rose took a step back, flustered. “N-no! Of course not!”

“Oh please,” Iris interjected, smirking. “Don’t lie. You’re totally into him.”

“And now…. our dear princess has some competition!” Iris winked at Ella who had a dark expression splattered all over her face.

Hearing Iris’s words, Maya gasped dramatically, turning to her. “So who’s gonna win his heart first? Rose, or our princess here?”

“Mhm… I don’t know…! My vote, though, it’s on our dear princess! I mean look at her, white hair and precious light blue eyes, not to mention her royal beauty!” Iris replied, nodding her head with confidence.

“What?!” Maya gasped. “No way! Rose all the way! Go, Rose! You’ve got this!” She threw her hands in the air, cheering loudly.

Ella’s brow twitched at their interaction, but she said nothing, though the corner of her mouth twitched in irritation.

‘Mhm… I should be able to beat him!’ After thinking for a few minutes, Lucas finally confidently nodded to himself.

He had completely ignored their conversation.

<By the way, who is this Aestrea?>

A faint glow pulsed from Excalibur as its voice appeared in Lucas’s mind.

‘Aestrea? Well…’ Lucas clutched the hilt of the Excalibur tightly.

The sword could feel his emotions entirely.

‘He’s my rival, and the one I need to surpass currently!’ he declared inwardly.

<Oh? He seems interesting…>

‘Yeah. Oh—speaking of the devil…’

Lucas’s eyes caught sight of a familiar figure entering the training camp. His silver-blue hair swayed in the wind, catching the sunlight.

But what truly stood out were his eyes.

His eyes instead of having the normal red color, now were completely light blue.

<I-is that him…?>

The Excalibur stammered slightly upon seeing Aestrea.

‘Yeah. Why do you sound so freaked out?’ Lucas tilted his head slightly, confused by the sword’s strange reaction.

<That boy… he has a goddamn monster inside of him…>

‘Huh, what do you mean by that?’

<Exactly what I said. He has a strange creature inside of him, even I cannot pry into it, and just looking at him, gives me a really dangerous feeling!>

<You should be really careful of him!>

At the sword’s words, Lucas narrowed his eyes lightly as he stared at Aestrea. At the same time, a panel from the system popped in front of him.

[Main Quest #7—

Make Aestrea ####’s favorability reach $#%$# points?!?!?!?!!? (COMPLETED)

• Current Favorability: 25 (NEUTRAL)

Kill more than 200 middle-ranking demon beasts. (Completed)

Kill more than 50 high-ranking demon beasts. (Completed)

Kill a single named Demon Beast. (Completed)

Stop the awakening of one of the Seven Demon Generals.

Time Remaining: 4 days, 11 hours, 52 minutes and 58 seconds.

Rewards: ???]

‘What the…?’

Lucas’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The mission to raise Aestrea’s favorability had been completed, and his favorability had even decreased by 24 points.

<Lucas? What are you looking at?>

‘Ah… nothing.’ Lucas muttered to himself, shaking his head.

The system was a gift bestowed by the Goddess of Light herself.

He couldn’t tell anyone about it, not even Excalibur.

But then, the ground trembled.

BOOOOM!

CRUMBLE!

Suddenly, as Lucas was lost in thought, a huge explosion occurred, and instantly, his eyes snapped to the source of the explosion.

Ella, Maya, Iris, and Rose also did the same.

They exchanged glances before starting to run towards the place…

“P-p-please s-stop! I b-beg you!”

A sudden yet desperate cry reached out to them as they arrived at the place.

What they saw made their blood run cold.

“Aestrea…?”

Aestrea stood in the center of the destruction, his hand gripping Telmos’s face, holding the trembling man high in the air.

Next to them was Leon, the prince, who looked at Aestrea with mortified eyes. His body quivered in sheer fear.

“Hakguk…”

Telmos choked out, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth as he struggled to form words. But Aestrea’s grip tightened, cutting off his attempts.

“Aestrea, stop!” Immediately, Ella’s voice rang out sharply as she stepped forward

“Huh?!”

Slowly turning his head, Aestrea’s eyes landed on her face.

Not only Ella but even the group behind, felt almost paralyzed as his light blue eyes landed on them.

Instead of the usual ominous red glow, his eyes were completely empty, without a shred of brilliance—just a pure, chilling light blue color.

However, as his gaze landed on them, the brilliance gradually returned.

Without a word, he released his grip.

Thud!

Telmos crumpled to the ground, gasping for air.

“Augh!” Telmos groaned weakly, his body convulsing as he clutched his head.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Ella stormed up to Aestrea, her face flushed with anger.

Without hesitation, she grabbed the collar of his blazer and gave it a hard shake, her frustration boiling over.

But instead of replying, Aestrea met her eyes, without saying anything…

Immediately, a vein popped in Ella’s forehead, as she gripped his collar tightly.

“Why did you att—!”

“—Second Princess Ella,” he uttered a single word.

The way he addressed her made her freeze completely. Her hands were still clutching his collar when he calmly grabbed her wrists and peeled them off.

“It’s none of your business.”

He turned back toward Telmo, but before he could take another step, Lucas appeared in front of him, pointing a sword at his neck.

“I’m sorry Aestrea… but unless you explain what happened, I cannot let you touch him,” Lucas said firmly, with a strange confidence.

Seeing him, Aestrea’s lips curled into a mocking yet sly smile.

“Why? Just because you got a bit stronger, you think you can beat me already?” his eyes narrowed slightly.

All of them were surprised by his words.

Aestrea had directly detected that Lucas had grown stronger, something even they couldn’t do.

“Just let me tell you something… you’re far away from it,” he pinched the blade of the Excalibur and tried to push it to the side.

Immediately, he felt a slight heat on his finger as he tried to push the blade aside.

He turned his eyes towards it, and saw a cut on his finger, just by touching the nonsharpened part of the blade.

“This sword…” Aestrea mumbled, looking at the sword.

He also felt that the sword was looking at him, which made him let out a small laugh.

“Well, maybe you’re even stronger than me…” he said lightly, his eyes never backing away from the sword as if spitting that Lucas was only stronger than him because of the sword.

“But… it still isn’t enough to beat me…”

Before Lucas could respond, a powerful wave of silver energy burst out of Aestrea.

THRUM!

The energy pushed everyone back like a strong gust of wind, except for Telmo, who wasn’t touched by it at all.

Aestrea had deliberately made it that way.

He walked closer to him and took the sword out of his waist. Then, he lifted his finger slightly, and Telmo’s arm stretched out in the air.

He raised his sword at it.

“…Don’t you fucking dare talk about her ever again,” Aestrea uttered coldly as he swung his sword.

CLANG!

Creack!

“Agh… dammit!”

Lucas appeared in front of Telmo, blocking the attack just in time. Sparks flew as their swords clashed, and Lucas’s arms trembled from the force of the blow.

Aestrea frowned, his cold eyes narrowing as he pressed down harder.

His silver energy grew stronger, but Lucas quickly surrounded Excalibur with his pitch-black mana.

“HAAA!”

Gathering enough strength, Lucas pushed Aestrea back and rushed forward.

Fwip!

To everyone’s surprise, Aestrea suddenly threw his sword at Lucas. Lucas dodged easily, but when he turned to strike back, he froze.

Multiple weapons were pointed at him.

Ella’s sword was at the back of his neck. Rose stood on his left, her blade steady. Iris had her staff aimed at his spine, glowing with mana.

Maya’s fists, covered in blue energy, were inches from his stomach.

“Stop Aestrea… you cannot win a battle against all of us together,” Ella spoke in a cold tone, looking strangely at Aestrea.

Her emotions were pretty messed up.

For a moment, Aestrea looked at them, then let out a small laugh.

“Ah… you guys really are too naive…” he let out a small laugh.

“Even if I was alone, I could still win,” he paused slightly.

“But who said I’m alone?”

FWOOP!

“Huh?”

Suddenly, everyone’s weapons flew out of their hands and into the air.

Before they could react, Aestrea disappeared.

They turned and saw him standing nearby with his maid, who was calm and composed, but her presence was overwhelming.

“That maid…” Lucas’s eyes narrowed as he grabbed Excalibur back.

“She’s a high S-rank awakened…” Ella nodded her head.

Looking at them, Aestrea sneered slightly.

“By the way, now there’s another reason for me not to join your group at the festival.” He turned and walked away, his maid following behind him.

But they didn’t react to his words.

They were still stupefied by how strong his maid was.