Legendary Hero is an Academy Honors Student - Chapter 97

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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97.

Leo clicked his tongue as he arrived at the lake south of Neigrande.

“This isn’t it either. Is this the second wild goose chase?”

Leo took out his map and marked an X on the lake.

‘Now there’s one to the east, one to the north. And the last one is….’

Leo turned his head to look at the ruined castle.

‘One at the castle ruins.’

Since it overlapped with Leo’s final destination anyway, he could check the lake at the castle ruins last.

‘By the way.’

Leo tucked the map into his chest and turned around.

“So what’s the reason you kept following me?”

At that question, the owner of the presence hiding between buildings appeared before Leo.

“You knew I was following you, Young Master Leo?”

“Yeah.”

“As expected, you’re amazing.”

“So. The castle ruins are in the opposite direction, aren’t they? Why did you follow me all the way here?”

“Why did Young Master Leo come all the way here?”

“I had some personal business to take care of.”

“I also came here for personal business.”

“What kind?”

Whoooosh—!

“A match.”

As Chen Xia unleashed her aura, silk-like waves formed around her.

Wrapping it around her body like a feathered robe, Chen Xia extended her right hand toward Leo while keeping her left hand against her back, lowering her stance.

“Why all of a sudden?”

“I became curious. About how big the gap is between Young Master Leo and me. And….”

Chen Xia wore a serious expression.

“What kind of person you are.”

Leo drew his sword.

“Is that all?”

“I’m also interested in the position of year representative.”

At those words, Leo burst into laughter.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No. I think this is the first time you’ve honestly revealed your ambition.”

Chen Xia was one of the top-tier first-year students.

And all the top-tier students, whoever they were, had their eyes on Leo’s position as year representative.

Having lived their entire lives as the best, they couldn’t be satisfied with anything less than being the best.

But among them, there was one student who had notably stepped back.

That was Chen Xia.

‘She definitely had ambition though.’

“I’m curious about why you suddenly revealed your ambition.”

“It’s a battle royale, isn’t it? A stage where we can truly measure our skills. And….”

Her eyes darkened.

“Someone came to watch.”

“What?”

Whoosh—!

Chen Xia kicked off the ground and rushed toward Leo.

‘Attacking first?’

Fundamentally, Chen Xia was a warrior with strong defensive tendencies.

Due to the nature of the water attribute, it was more advantageous for defense and evasion rather than attack.

Among the Knight Department students, there were times when they would debate at length about who could break through her soft defense.

‘The ones considered to have a possibility were Selia and Duran.’

But that was only a possibility.

Even the Knight Department students weren’t confident that the two people evaluated as having the strongest offensive power among their peers could break through Chen Xia’s defense.

Chen Xia’s defensive power was that overwhelming.

She had abandoned that advantage to launch a preemptive strike.

‘Well, it’s not like her attacks are weak either.’

Whoosh—!

Leo unleashed his flame aura.

Chen Xia’s small hands moved softly.

But the attack that followed behind that softness was literally vicious.

Chen Xia’s water aura became small droplets that scattered in all directions.

All the droplets became sharp needles.

“…!”

Leo hastily wrapped his body with flame aura.

Pababababat—!

Hundreds of needles attacked from all directions.

Hiss!

The water needles collided with the flame wall, generating steam.

Though there were an enormous number of needles, they couldn’t penetrate the flame barrier.

“It seems I’ll need an awl rather than needles.”

A palm-sized water droplet formed in Chen Xia’s hand, then immediately transformed into a sharp awl.

Whoosh—!

The awl-shaped water aura pierced through the flame aura and aimed for Leo.

Swish!

Leo leaned back to dodge the attack.

As he straightened up, Chen Xia’s instep came into view.

Chen Xia’s specialty was martial arts.

The biggest weakness of martial arts was the difficulty of closing distance against opponents wielding weapons.

But conversely, that weakness meant that once you closed the distance, you could render your opponent helpless.

Leo raised his non-sword hand to block Chen Xia’s attack.

Crash—! Thud—!

A bone-breaking impact struck his right forearm, and his feet sank deep—! into the dirt ground.

But he had no time to worry about that.

Chen Xia’s fist, having withdrawn her foot, was aiming for his right side.

Faced with the aura-infused attack, Leo released his sword and hastily blocked Chen Xia’s attack with his left hand.

Thwack—!

As if struck by a giant club, Leo’s body was sent flying from that spot.

Splash—!

Leo’s body crashed into the lakeside, sending a column of water shooting high into the air.

“As expected of Young Master Leo… to counterattack even in that situation.”

Chen Xia frowned as she tore off the left sleeve portion of her blouse that had been burned to tatters.

Even while being sent flying, Leo’s flame aura had succeeded in breaking through Chen Xia’s defense.

Splash.

Leo emerged from the water, shaking his numb right hand as he looked at Chen Xia.

Seeing Leo like that, Chen Xia smiled.

“As expected, Young Master Leo is amazing. To be fine after I attacked with all my strength.”

“Fine? Does this look fine to you? It hurts like hell.”

Watching Leo grumble, Chen Xia smiled bitterly.

‘The fact that he has the energy left to joke around is proof that he’s fine, isn’t it?’

Even while thinking this, Chen Xia prepared for Leo’s attack.

‘I’ve already made one surprise attack. Young Master Leo isn’t someone who would fall for the same trick twice.’

There were other methods, but now wasn’t the time to recklessly attack Leo.

‘Young Master Leo’s attack back then.’

Chen Xia recalled the first day she learned the Hero’s Breath.

‘That must surely be the maximum firepower Young Master Leo can produce.’

Gooooo-!

Chen Xia released her aura.

Her black hair fluttered accordingly.

Her obsidian-like black eyes turned blue like sapphires.

‘If I can just deflect that sword strike!’

“That’s not like you, Chen Xia.”

“What?”

“Water is always a force that changes according to its flow.”

Leo tilted his head.

“But right now you’re too rigid.”

“…!”

“Is something wrong?”

Chen Xia, who had been looking at Leo with a stiff expression, smiled brightly.

“Nothing’s wrong.”

Leo extended his hand.

Woong-!

The sword, responding to his aura, was drawn into Leo’s hand.

Hwaryeok-!

‘If I can just block that sword strike!’

Watching Chen Xia concentrate, Leo adjusted his sword grip.

Gooo-!

Powerful heat struck Chen Xia’s skin.

Chen Xia tensed her entire body.

‘It’s coming!’

Kugugugugung!

Seeing Leo’s flame aura rushing toward her, Chen Xia took a breath.

The Hero’s Breath activated, creating a powerful water flow around her.

The water aura that swallowed Leo’s sword strike changed the direction of the attack.

At that moment, Chen Xia felt something was wrong.

‘It can’t be just this much.’

“I told you.”

Chen Xia flinched at the voice from behind.

“You’re being rigid.”

Thud-!

She felt Leo’s palm touch her back.

Leo, concentrating aura at his palm, pushed the aura into Chen Xia’s back.

Peoong-!

“Kuhuk?”

The compressed aura exploded, sending Chen Xia flying.

Chen Xia, who had rolled miserably on the ground, gasped as she saw the sword at her throat.

“You lost.”

Chen Xia gave a hollow smile.

“Young Master Leo. Are you really fifteen years old?”

“Of course. How old do I seem?”

“Like an old man who’s been rolling around battlefields.”

Leo flicked Chen Xia’s head as she spoke with a playful laugh, then stepped back.

“What? Aren’t you going to eliminate me?”

Chen Xia’s face instantly turned cold.

It was a voice so cold it was hard to believe it was her usual self.

“Even if it’s Young Master Leo, I can’t tolerate this. I don’t need this kind of mercy….”

“You seem to be mistaken.”

Leo chuckled.

“This is a battle royale. It’s up to me how I use the losers.”

“What did you say?”

“If you’re a loser, you should act like one and listen to the winner, right? Some annoying guys are chasing me. You handle them.”

Leaving those words, Leo launched himself into the air.

“What the….”

Chen Xia, who had a bewildered expression, suddenly saw a flash of light from beyond the building.

“He’s my target. Don’t interfere, Eliza Herginn.”

“Don’t be ridiculous! Leo Flobe is my prey!”

Familiar voices could be heard.

Shortly after, Duran and Eliza, who had arrived at the lakeside, hesitated when they spotted Chen Xia.

“Duran, Eliza. The castle ruins are that way, so why did you come all the way here?”

“You’re one to talk, why are you here? Were you also targeting Leo Flobe?”

Chen Xia smiled bitterly as she watched Duran approach with a frown.

“Since you said ‘also,’ it seems Duran is the same.”

‘So that’s what he meant.’

Chen Xia, understanding what he meant by handling the annoying things, laughed helplessly.

“Did you lose?”

“Yes.”

“Where did he go?”

To that question, Chen Xia said.

“He went that way.”

As Duran tried to chase Leo, Chen Xia spoke.

“Duran. I’m injured, so could you go with Nella?”

“Why should I do that?”

“Right now it’s the Inter-Department Competition and you and I are from the same department. Surely Duran wouldn’t ignore a department colleague because of a personal rivalry?”

Duran frowned as he looked at Chen Xia speaking with a bright smile.

“You cunning fox!”

Since she brought up the Knight Department, Duran couldn’t ignore Chen Xia.

“Good luck. I’m going to finish off Leo Flobe.”

As Eliza sneered, Duran’s face crumpled miserably.

“Eliza. I’m having trouble walking, so could you give me a ride?”

“Xia. If you were from the Summoning Department I would have helped, but you know we’re enemies right now, right?”

“My goodness! I usually helped you with studying and everything! Now that I’m no longer useful, you’re abandoning me? Is that it?”

“Wh, what?”

“When you borrowed my notes every day, you said you’d definitely repay the debt!”

“I, I will definitely repay the debt! But I don’t need to repay it right now…!”

Eliza frowned.

Eliza wasn’t a student who listened attentively to classes other than her major subjects.

The always kind Chen Xia had helped Eliza study during midterm exams.

She was bringing up that incident now.

“You pretended to be noble, but you’re no different from other lowly people.”

Duran spoke with a curled lip, and at those words Eliza’s eyes flashed.

A smile hung on Duran’s lips.

‘If I can’t fight Leo Flobe, then you can’t fight Leo Flobe either.’

At Duran’s smile that seemed to say ‘let’s go together,’ Eliza shouted.

“Ah! We can go together! Together! Xia! We’ll accompany each other only to the Central Citadel! After that, we’re enemies!”

“Thank you, Miss Eliza.”

Chen Xia, who had manipulated the two students, sighed as she looked in the direction Leo had disappeared.

‘I don’t know why you’re not going to the Central Citadel, but… hurry up and come back, Young Master Leo.’

***

Central Citadel.

“Where do you think you’re looking!”

Whoosh! Bang!

“Gah! It’s Selia Jerdinger!”

“Damn! We were almost there!”

Naturally, students were flocking to the Central Citadel, the only safe zone in this city.

To enter the Central Citadel, one had to pass through the gates that opened to the north, south, east, and west.

They could climb the castle walls, but doing so would make them perfect targets for concentrated fire from students positioned around the area, so no student recklessly attempted to scale the walls.

However, that didn’t make passing through the gates easy either.

This was because of students from other departments guarding each gate.

“Damn! That place is impossible! Let’s go somewhere else!”

The Julliden party left the castle wall that Selia was guarding and arrived at the west gate.

And seeing the student guarding the west gate, they clutched their heads.

“Chloe Muller!”

At the western gate, they could see Chloe standing with a staff as tall as herself.

‘Now only the south and east gates remain. If top students from other departments are guarding those places too, we’re in trouble!’

Eliza, who ranked second in the Summoning Department, had gone after Leo.

‘Please, Woreden! Just occupy one gate for us!’

If they stayed outside the citadel and became weakened when a curse activated, they would become targets for the students inside the citadel.

Depending on what kind of curse it was, there was a high probability they would be wiped out without being able to put up proper resistance.

Just as Julliden was about to move to the south gate, feeling his mouth go dry.

Kiaaaak!

“Huh?”

At the screech from above, Julliden looked up at the sky with a confused expression.

Chloe also turned her gaze to the sky with a puzzled look.

There, a single ferocious-looking black wyvern was flying.

“Black Wyvern?”

“No way! A top-tier magical beast can’t appear!”

While the Julliden party was shocked.

Whoosh—!

The black wyvern opened its mouth and began breathing fire at the Julliden party.

“Ahhh! Wh-what is this!”

The breath with powerful acidic effects melted the ground.

Julliden looked up at the sky with a hardened expression.

‘That’s the variant wyvern that Riu was riding during the midterm exam, isn’t it? Why did it suddenly appear?’

The variant wyvern with its mouth wide open, Pafnir, breathed fire while targeting the Julliden party.

Kyaaaak!

“Damn! Dodge for now!”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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