Chapter 6

The Duel at Central Academy.

It is a kind of story that is now considered a sort of romance.

A stronghold that is described as a gateway that the “protagonist” must naturally pass through.

The villain picks a fight with the protagonist, and the protagonist crushes the villain with their own remarkable abilities.

Watching the protagonist like that, the heroines gradually fall for him!

…If this is the typical development of an academy story, my situation was a bit different.

A wide expanse of white composite material floor.

It seemed to be made of some kind of stone material, but I didn’t know exactly what kind.

Then, a man who had pushed me… No, wait, I had pushed him? He stands opposite me, raising his weapon.

Clunk.

What he held in his hand was a spear.

It was clearly a blunt spear made of wood.

However, even if it was a wooden weapon provided in the academy’s duel arena, it would still be quite dangerous if it hit directly.

In contrast, on my side…

“Do you have a weapon?”

“Um… I don’t know how to use one!”

I was just an ordinary person who had never used a weapon before.

But did I have a weapon? Well, I had a bottle of alcohol in my right hand, which could be considered a weapon.

Still, the surface was somewhat hard, so if it hit, it might hurt quite a bit…

“Are you… ignoring me?”

“No, that’s not it.”

However, from his perspective, he might have thought I was ignoring him because his face started to turn red again.

But I couldn’t help it.

Even if there was a spear among the easy-to-use weapons, I had never used one before.

There was a revolver among the provided weapons, but shooting at someone in close combat while drunk?

With a girl’s body that couldn’t even handle recoil?

Ugh, no matter how inexperienced I was in fighting, that was just unacceptable.

I could clearly envision a future where I would faint before I could even aim my gun properly.

But could I say I was confident in overwhelmingly defeating my opponent? That wasn’t the case either.

I was trying to wake up from the intoxication as I avoided drinking as much as possible to cycle through the cooldown of Power Release, but time was still insufficient.

Moreover, even if I somehow reset and used Power Release, I would soon become powerless afterward.

I was thinking about what might happen next as much as possible, but unlike those overpowered stories, I couldn’t picture an easier victory.

Unbeknownst to me, hundreds of people had started to gather around.

In the distance, I could see the Exercise Professor walking over…

“Eek!”

I couldn’t help but shrink back in fear of that professor’s intimidating muscles and aura.

“Let’s see, I heard there’s a duel happening here?”

“Oh, it’s Professor Philia, isn’t it?”

“Right! We can’t allow excessive accidents to happen, so I’ll be the judge.”

“Thank you very much.”

I barely turned my head away from the professor, who smiled at me, and ignored her.

“Why… why is she looking at me…!!”

Didn’t she know that excessive attention would kill me?

“Then, additionally, no weapons should be used beyond what you choose here in this ring. Attacks with intent to kill are not allowed. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Yea…”

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Beep!!

Finally, as we fell to opposite sides, a whistle sounded from somewhere.

Taang!!

We both moved at the same time, but the opponent was faster.

I saw the spear flying toward me.

“Urrgh!!”

“Tsk.”

A speed beyond imagination.

I almost lost sight of the spear for a moment but managed to catch it without any issue.

And the opponent prepared to stab again.

Well, it wasn’t strange at all; these guys had trained in combat their whole lives.

If you wanted to argue, everyone gathered here had the kind of talent that could easily overwhelm Olympic athletes in their current state.

It’s clear that I was at a disadvantage.

Swish!

Swoosh!

I dodged the incoming spear while thinking about where to go next.

“This is tough…”

And I finally realized.

I was more pathetic than I had thought.

“Hah…!”

Just dodging was making me out of breath.

No matter how experienced a RPG player you are, when faced with a boss mob, dodging and parrying are out of the question.

A huge sword coming at me from a few meters away? Bounce it off?

There was no way an ordinary person could do that.

Swoosh!!!

I barely dodged the tip of the spear as it grazed my cheek.

I advanced along the spear that targeted my chest.

I neutralized its strange movements by twisting my legs.

Boom!

And my fist landed on the opponent’s face, momentarily delaying the fight.

Yet, the reason why I, with overwhelmingly less fighting experience, could fight my opponent boiled down to two things.

First, the opponent was clearly aware of my Power Release.

It was indeed a unique skill that no one but me possessed in this world.

No one knew the timing, the strength of its impact, the conditions, and the cooldown.

So, unless he was a fool, he couldn’t help but think about that.

Besides, didn’t he already experience it once?

That was certainly an effective means that could change the tide of battle.

“Power R—”

“…!”

The moment I uttered the skill’s name, the opponent’s movements halted for a brief moment, and I struck during that timing.

“Ugh…!”

“Hehe.”

Realizing he was being toyed with, his face turned as red as a tomato, but…

So what could he do?

If he wanted to, he should have secured an advantage in information.

And second.

“Just hit me, will you…!!!”

Drunken Fist was performing most of its duty beyond my expectations.

Swish, swoosh!!

It wasn’t just a simple staggering appearance.

Everyone here had what is commonly called ‘talent,’ so they knew.

And I could feel it too.

Basically, when playing a game, you naturally end up predicting the opponent’s next move to some extent.

Whether it’s FPS, RPG, or any kind of game.

And this behavior is constrained to some degree by the structure of the body, the strength it possesses, and general common sense.

No one expects an infantry soldier a thousand meters away to suddenly approach me, right?

Thus, we move within this predictive realm.

Those who have talent are even worse.

They set up moves and actions, anticipating dozens or hundreds of moves ahead, and then act.

However.

Crash.

“Strike!”

“Ugh!!”

The Drunken Fist completely shattered that first move.

An unpredictable movement completely deviating from the pre-planned strategy and actions.

If it were a true Drunken Fist, it wouldn’t have such power since human intention would have been somewhat involved in it. However, my skill, [Drunken Fist], was predominantly influenced by intoxication.

Plus, it had some added evasion function as a bonus.

That was how I kept dragging the fight on.

“Hoo!”

“Ugh.”

Boom!!

But avoiding attacks forever was impossible at this stage.

The spear that pierced precisely within its range aimed for my abdomen, and I urgently blocked it with my hands and stepped back.

‘The advantage has shifted.’

Even though I wanted to unleash combos like before, my physical limit, which even alcohol couldn’t cover, was beginning to approach.

Eventually, I regretted not having trained my stamina a bit more.

I was dodging with my skill, but at 1%, this was as far as I could go.

“It’s over!”

“Ah…”

That was the limit I had anticipated.

‘Cooldown ended.’

I felt a tingling sensation in my head as I timely gulped down my right hand’s alcohol.

“Power Release.”

“Who would fall for that…!”

Having used Power Release as a diversion multiple times already, my opponent had ignored it.

Unfortunately, this time it was genuine.

Boom!!!

With a deafening roar, smoke began swirling, creating a tremendous wind within the duel arena.

That must have been a dangerous attack.

Gugugu…

However, he didn’t stop there.

He stood still amidst the diminishing smoke.

Given that the middle of the broken spear had held up against even that, it implied he was still aware of Power Release and managed to block.

“Wow… isn’t the academy level too high?”

“Heh… hehe.”

It would take at least 5 minutes for my Power Release to cool down again.

He seemed tired too, but enduring for another 5 minutes would be physically impossible.

“I really don’t want to…”

But I couldn’t just let my alcohol cost of 1 million won go to waste.

Should I just survive for three years drinking diluted alcohol? That’s absurd.

Absolutely! That kind of thing can’t happen!!

Swallowing my tears, I opened the cap of the bottle I had previously sealed tightly.

Glug glug.

I felt the fruit wine flow down my stomach as it slid down.

It was a precious flavor, but to toast for the high-quality brands of friends to come, I raised a glass to myself.

“What are you….”

“Cheers!”

My opponent looked stunned by my sudden action.

Soon, I quickly regained my stance while my mind began to become hazy.

“Where are you….”

Before he even started to react, my body accelerated.

Bang!

“Ugh!”

The speed was definitely different this time.

If I had to quantify, it felt about 1.5 times faster than before.

Instead of dizziness in my head, my body felt quite light.

“Ha… hehehe~”

Boom!!

“…!”

The spear charged forward once more, but…

“Too predictable…!!!”

It was straightforward enough for even a goldfish to understand.

He had talent, but that was all.

Thus, I thrust my fist one step ahead of his, right between our faces.

Wooooom!!!

“Ugh…”

And the raised bottle sparkled under the light.

“Wait, just a moment! That’s too far…”

“Checkmate!!!”

I heard the Exercise Professor rising rapidly, but before that, the bottle came crashing down toward his head.

Kachaaan!!

“Cough!!!”

“Oh? Was that too much? Haha!!”

The sparkling shards of glass fluttered high into the sky in front of countless people.

However, barely glancing at the completely fainted opponent, I couldn’t avoid the penalties from overexerting myself.

“Ugh… wait… my stomach…”

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What unfolded afterwards was chaos.

“Ahhhh!!! That person is throwing up!!!”

“Is there no medical team around?!!!”

“Get out of the way, he’s coming this way!!!”

“Why is he coming to me!!”

That day, I earned a commemorative title at the Central Academy.

[The Madwoman of the Entrance Ceremony]

I, myself, wasn’t even aware that such a thing existed.