Mesugaki Tank Enters The Academy

Chapter 258

The battle resumes once more.

The situation is similar to before.

The skeleton attacks, and I defend against it.

The only change is the voice of the elder ringing in my ears.

<Young lady, do you remember why all the skilled ones emphasize the fundamentals?>

‘Of course! You nagged me about it endlessly, Grandpa!’

What everyone calls the fundamentals is the foundation for that field, a base to build something upon.

If you ignore the process of honing these fundamentals and start building on top, it might look like you're constructing quickly at first glance, but before long, it will collapse and end up being worse than the effort you put in.

I had heard about this from the elder countless times.

There was always a reason why every master emphasized the fundamentals; every time I tried to cheat my way to proficiency, he nagged me about it. How could I forget that?

<The skeleton imitating Garard... well, let’s just call it Garard. Regardless, the swordsmanship it uses is the pinnacle of the fundamentals.>

The elder stated.

Garard’s sword had no outstanding features.

Given that I was currently feeling powerless facing it, I should have reacted with disbelief at such nonsense.

Yet I felt I understood what the elder was saying.

The sword that the skeleton wielded was not fast. It lacked the pressure of Prey's signature swift sword strikes.

But it was not heavy either. The intimidation that robbed opponents of the word “defense” was nowhere to be seen, unlike the knights of the Alrn family.

Was it flashy? Not at all. Its swordsmanship was painfully plain and practical.

The same could be said for other aspects.

Garard’s sword was extremely ordinary.

And yet it was strong.

So strong that it was impossible to see how to break through. Its sword was always where it needed to be, preventing me from stepping forward.

<That guy became a fragment of a hero with that ordinary sword, and he was called the strongest knight of his time. Do you know why?>

‘I don’t know!’

<While others built structures on top of their foundations, that guy kept piling up his foundation.>

The numerous exceptional sword techniques known to the world could be considered a type of building.

A terrifyingly tall skyscraper.

A fortress with no visible entry points.

A labyrinth with no escape.

A haphazardly built house that is surprisingly sturdy.

However, Garard’s sword was not a building.

It was the foundation.

By piling dirt on the ground over and over again, he created a hill of similar height to other buildings.

Instead of building structures, Garard had piled up mountains.

<Do you know what the outcome of that insane feat was? He could draw anyone he met into his battlefield.>

From atop a high mountain, everything can be seen.

The weak points of the skyscraper.

The vulnerable sections of the fortress.

The map of the labyrinth.

The pillars of a newly constructed house.

Thus, it can be tackled.

By pressing down on the opponent’s strengths and exploiting their weaknesses, the frustrated opponent is forced to burst out from the building, only to be crushed by his overwhelming height.

<That is the reason you felt powerless. A mountain so high that you couldn’t see the summit gives despair in itself.>

I had no difficulty understanding the elder's explanation, but my head felt anything but refreshed.

‘So what should I do?!’

What I needed most.

I hadn’t heard how to bring him down.

Frustrated by the elder's praise of the suffocating opponent, I shouted, and the elder laughed.

<If there’s a mountain, you must climb it. If you climb silently, one day, you will see the summit.>

‘What kind of nonsense is that?!’

No, seriously, what is that?!

No matter how I think about it, there are phrases that don’t make sense!

As my head momentarily went blank, I yelled, but the elder didn’t respond. It was as if he had said everything he needed to.

Gyaaaah! To summarize everything so recklessly as if that was enough to make someone frustrated!

Elder! Are you becoming more like that useless deity you serve, bursting into laughter at the opponent’s expense!?

If I’m gradually becoming one with you, I’ll eventually turn into a pervert like that useless deity, laughing and acting like an idiot!

...Then, will my surroundings be filled with perverts?!

No! I cannot accept such a horrifying future!

As I heatedly spouted nonsense, I momentarily lost track of the skeleton’s sword.

I heard the warning from the steel wall too late and raised my shield, but the skeleton wasn’t so sloppy as to allow me to assume a stance.

Struck by the skeleton's sword in an unstable position, my body flew through the air and crashed to the ground.

I tasted blood in my mouth.

“Looks like you can’t even talk now, huh? Hah. Seeing that tiny mouth shut is quite amusing.”

I stood up, hearing the skeleton’s laughter.

I could feel the divine energy rising due to the shock, so it seemed I had taken a solid hit.

Spitting out the blood that pooled in my mouth, I healed myself with the touch of Armadi. Thanks to Ankhris raising my divine level, my condition quickly returned to perfect form.

“Are you just going to watch? I’m a little embarrassed since I’m not wearing anything, you know?”

Ignoring its mockery, I reflected on the elder’s words, but a clear answer did not come.

Except for my time in high school, I had never climbed a hill, so asking me to go hiking was unreasonable.

“Have you resigned yourself?”

The only thing that surfaced was one thought.

When I was treated like a slave at work, my manager used to say.

That bald pig would always say that if you looked at the ground and walked, you would naturally reach the highest point. The same goes for work; if you work silently, you’ll finish overtime quickly.

...Huh?

Wait a minute.

“This is enough.”

As I thought calmly, my mind cleared, and I chuckled.

Hah. I always wanted to beat him to a pulp whenever he uttered such nonsense as he clocked out. I never thought it would help me now.

“...Huh?”

As I continued to let laughter escape, the skeleton tilted its head in confusion.

Did it think I had lost my mind?

Whatever it thinks doesn’t matter.

I organized the divine energy swirling within me and gripped my mace and shield.

“Hoho. You haven’t given up, huh? As expected…”

“Shut up, you castrated skeleton!”

The elder had said it first. My strategy was not wrong. He would guarantee it with his name.

“If you lost your genitals and became a male failure?? Your prattling is just like a nagging auntie!?”

If my strategy is correct.

If the path I’m climbing is the right one.

There’s no need to look around while heading towards the summit.

I just need to focus on moving my feet while looking ahead.

“Do you want to search for a new sexual identity even now?? I’ll get you a dress, so wear it!? No one will feel anything weird since you’re just an empty skeleton in the middle!?”

If this interpretation is correct, the elder's words ultimately meant not to doubt myself.

To do as I had been doing. To keep moving forward until it works.

If I feel it’s lacking, just add more strength to my steps.

To believe in the path I chose.

“Garard the Hero and a dress, huh?? Puhaha!? They might actually go well together??”

“...I suppose I was wrong to give you the opportunity to speak.”

This interpretation might or might not be correct. Perhaps I was heading towards a cliff rather than a summit.

But so what? If I try to leap off the cliff, the elder will urgently call out to me.

Then I can argue that it was his fault for not explaining it properly then.

“Did you just realize that?? Your head must be empty since your thoughts are slow?? A castrated idiot?? How pathetic!?”

I received the sword that was thrust at me along with the sound of a tongue clicking.

It was time to climb the steep mountain trail.

From Ruel's perspective, who was always by Lucy’s side, her incompetence was genuine.

Her perseverance in not giving up despite numerous trials and her quick comprehension every time he taught her undoubtedly proved she had the qualities to become a hero.

However, Lucy had one significant problem.

That was simply how much she knew.

The knowledge possessed by Lucy, who had been chosen by the love of the gods and heard directly from the heavens, was so vast that even Ruel, who had experienced many things, couldn’t fathom it.

Moreover, one astonishing point was that Lucy managed this vast knowledge with such finesse.

She always brought out the optimal knowledge at the necessary moments and used it to create the quickest and safest paths.

Watching Lucy overcome dangers, Ruel often thought how nice it would have been if the hero of the past had been just as capable.

But this knowledge sometimes put Lucy in danger. Because her knowledge was so useful, she became buried in it.

Even now.

That skeleton created by that madwoman Charon was infinitely similar to Garard.

So much so that even someone who had spent over ten years with Garard might momentarily mistake it for him.

The swordsmanship of the skeleton was the same.

The sword of the skeleton had the same advantages and disadvantages as Garard’s sword.

Earlier, Ruel had told Lucy that there were no weaknesses in Garard’s sword, but that was only true for Garard himself.

With his overwhelming physique, Garard could crush everything underfoot, and there were indeed no weaknesses in his sword.

But that was only the case when backed by an overwhelming physique.

If the opponent lacked the strength to press down, Garard’s sword would become not a weapon with weaknesses but rather a weapon with no advantages.

That was the case with the skeleton right now.

Having lost the tremendous magic it originally possessed, the skeleton was moving precariously with the insufficient energy of the Evil God.

It had amassed combat experience by crossing numerous battle lines, pressing Lucy, but that was all.

Its raw physicality was comparable to Lucy’s.

Thus, even if it couldn’t win by sticking to its strategy, it could still land a hit.

In fact, in the early stages of the battle, Lucy was in control.

She was pushing the skeleton back as if she had perfectly memorized its habits.

For an ordinary opponent, that would have been enough.

If she shook the opponent’s emotions with her unique tone, the opponent would be caught off guard and would rush in recklessly, getting smashed.

But this opponent was not ordinary.

The skeleton, with the memories of Garard from countless battlefields.

Even in its anger, it could identify problems and thwart Lucy’s knowledge by changing its swordplay.

From that moment on, the situation turned.

As her knowledge became useless, Lucy began to waver.

Emotionally entangled, she became a puppet to the skeleton’s whims.

Ruel observed this entire process but said nothing.

Lucy was not a child who wanted to become a hero. She was a child who had to become one.

Even if I helped her defeat the skeleton now, she would eventually encounter another strong opponent and be threatened with her life in the same way.

If that were to happen, it would be better to lose here, in a place where there was no worry about losing her life. That was what Ruel thought.

The reason Ruel changed his mind was not anything special.

It was because Lucy, who gripped her shield, looked so determined.

And because he was irritated by the bastard torturing a girl like his granddaughter.

It was a highly emotional judgment.

So, even while giving Lucy various advice, he regretted that it shouldn’t have come to this.

But not now.

“Why do you keep licking your legs?? Since you’re castrated, there’s nothing to raise, right?? Ah! Could it be that it’s a habit you retained from your life?? It turns out you were an incredible pervert, huh??”

“...Enough already!”

Lucy was climbing the mountain.

Firmly believing that the path she was on was correct.

Upwards. Upwards. Once more, upwards.

She was heading towards the summit.

The initiative of the battle had long since flipped.

Lucy was leisurely moving while the skeleton was hasty.

This couldn’t go on like this.

The skeleton, lacking power, couldn’t penetrate Lucy’s shield.

So it needed to create an opening, yet it was blindly charging ahead, swayed by Lucy’s provocations.

Hah. This guy who does so well, why did he act like that just a moment ago?

If he could fix it, he should have done it sooner.

Well. That conviction is not without its problems, but that’s something I can gradually teach him.

For now, let’s be satisfied with this.

<Young lady.>

‘What is it, Grandpa? Please make it brief!’

<Use the key. Attack with the key. That guy has a complex about being shorter than those around him.>

‘...That’s quite helpful advice!’

Then, should I sit back and enjoy watching the skeleton resembling Garard being humiliated?