Chapter 204
Was there ever a fight more deserving of the phrase “playing around” than this one?
The four students were practically spellbound, watching the battle between Belya and Wichasha unfold.
"I'm going to…"
Suddenly, Dick opened his mouth.
"I'm going to major in Toxicology… ugh!"
“Don’t just decide stuff like that, dumbass!”
Dick rubbed the back of his head where Maelyn had hit him, offering a lame excuse.
“Ah, come on! Isn’t Professor Belya totally attractive?”
Maelyn looked not just disgusted, but genuinely revolted.
“Are you seriously the kind of idiot who chooses his major based on the professor’s looks?”
“And you’re always swooning over Feon, aren't you?”
At that, Maelyn blushed and stammered.
“H-Hey! Why are you bringing that up now! That’s just pure admiration, okay? Choosing a major is a totally different issue!”
“Just admit it. If Feon had been a Magical Combat professor, you’d have followed him there in a heartbeat.”
Watching the two bicker yet again, Simon let out a deep sigh inwardly.
“Professor Belya’s fighting style is really unpredictable…”
Kamibarez couldn’t take her eyes off the battle. Simon nodded in agreement.
“She’s not even using a single magic circle.”
“Yeah, it’s like her body keeps generating different poisons internally, like an animal.”
Sweat, bodily fluids, dead skin, even strands of her hair falling off, everything was a weapon. Wichasha hadn’t managed to land a single proper attack and was just accumulating more poison inside his body.
“Why!?”
Wichasha cried out in rage, purple saliva drooling from his mouth.
“Why did you massacre the women and children of the tribe!?”
“Didn’t I already explain that ages ago?”
Belya tilted her head.
“The fight ended, I got hot, so I dipped into a puddle nearby. Turns out it was your tribe’s drinking water. You idiots started guzzling the water I’d soaked in, and a plague spread. That’s all.”
“You expect me to believe that!!!?”
Wichasha screamed, swinging his fists wildly, but Belya casually blocked him with her hand.
“Fucking stupid, right? I think so too. People never accept things as they are. They add meaning, exaggerate, get emotional, and act like there’s some deep connection behind everything. That incident got me kicked out of the tribe I lived in my whole life. What more do you want from me? You think I’ll give up my life for nobodies like you?”
Thud!
Belya kicked Wichasha hard in the stomach. He stumbled back, staggering.
“You’re just a monster consumed by hatred because you couldn’t accept reality.”
“Don’t be ridiculous!!”
Wichasha lunged again with grim persistence.
When Belya raised her fingers, the colorful droplets of sweat she had shed on the floor floated into the air.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
They all shot toward Wichasha and exploded on contact.
Each was a different type of toxic explosion. His dark robe was shredded, and his body broke out in rashes and blotches.
Thud!
After taking every explosion head-on, Wichasha’s arms dangled by his sides, his exhaustion plain on his face.
“So lame. More than anything, you’re just not strong enough.”
Belya yawned and casually picked her ear. Wichasha’s eyes flared with rage at the sight.
“I—!!”
His dark robe peeled away, then gathered into a massive spiked sword over three meters long.
“I took six wins against Hongpeng with this technique!!”
As he let out a feral scream and tried to swing the blade, Belya blew on the finger she had used to pick her ear.
A spark flew from her finger, triggering a chain of explosions. Wichasha’s skin turned white and gooey, melting like candle wax.
“Aaaaaarrrghhh!”
The sight was so gruesome, the four students watching turned their heads or shut their eyes.
“Enough with the dramatics.”
Belya appeared with an afterimage and grabbed Wichasha’s face with her palm.
“Guh!”
Wichasha quickly reached out to grab Belya’s arm, but she didn’t budge.
Press. Press.
Even in raw strength, he was outmatched. His legs trembled, and soon his knees hit the ground.
He screamed in humiliation and summoned all his strength, but still couldn’t move her. The more he stirred the Darkness, the more his organs were damaged, and the Darkness began to backfire.
Had he grown weaker?
Or was this woman always this strong?
“It’s not like I was even close with my little brother. It’s not like we had family love or anything.”
Press, press.
At some point, Wichasha’s face was pressed flat to the ground. His arms barely held on to Belya’s right arm in a pathetic grip.
“How long are you going to talk about some childhood story? If it’s the guy you’re thinking of, he could take you down with one hand now.”
“Grgh!”
Just then, Wichasha’s shredded robe began to twist and swell again. Belya sneered.
“Even if you use the Dark Robe to boost your strength, it won’t help…”
Shlaaaack!
Wichasha’s dark robe coiled and shot out like a spike. This time, even Belya was caught off guard and let go, dodging by leaping back.
“Now that’s more like it. I give a lesson, and the student actually listens?”
“Huff, huff!”
Wichasha unleashed all his Darkness through his legs and began fleeing at full speed.
‘I was wrong. This is nothing like back on the grasslands!’
He couldn’t win this. He had to retreat and find another way.
Clicking her tongue, Belya watched him flee.
“So annoying.”
She took a running stance and turned to the students.
“I’ll go catch that idiot. You guys find somewhere sa—…”
CRAAAAACK!
Suddenly, a deafening boom rang out, making their ears ring.
Wichasha’s body, mangled like a ragdoll, flew back from where he had run off, slammed past Belya, and crashed into the wall on the opposite side. The impact whipped up a violent gust.
“?”
When Belya turned around, she saw Wichasha’s blood-soaked body twitching before his head lolled limply to the side.
From the direction he had tried to flee, a man came walking slowly toward them.
Simon shouted joyfully.
“Kajan!”
At the head of the group, Kajan led three hooded members of the Thieves’ Guild.
“What the—why’s Kajan here?”
“Kajan-senior?”
Dick and Maelyn were equally surprised. Kajan gave them a small wave.
“You’re late, Kajan.”
Simon walked up with a cheerful smile.
“No, I’m not late.”
“Huh?”
“My mission wasn’t to apprehend some dumbass like that.”
Step, step.
Kajan walked up to Belya and bowed respectfully.
“I’m here to escort you, Professor Belya.”
“……”
It seemed clear now that bringing Belya was Kajan’s real objective. She snorted dismissively.
“Escort me? Get lost. Just tell them I’ll make my way to Roke Island myself.”
“This recent business with the Hupa Tribe, and all your reckless rampaging, Keyzen’s been swamped with complaints.”
His eyes gleamed sharply.
“Why did you ignore the assigned escort?”
“Because I felt like it.”
She smiled without backing down.
“And just listen to the way you're talking. You said I’m a professor, right? Do I look like some pushover lackey to you?”
“The Thieves’ Guild is a partner of Keyzen. And, you are not officially a Keyzen professor yet. I could take you by force if necessary.”
“Oh?”
Belya grinned, revealing her sharp, triangular teeth.
“Try me.”
“Think I can’t?”
Rrrrrrrrumble!
Their Darknesses clashed violently. Maelyn, unable to watch any longer, rushed over.
“Wait, what’s with you two? Why are you getting so emotional? This isn’t something to fi—!”
CRAAASH!
Before she could finish, their fists flew simultaneously toward each other’s faces.
As their arms crossed in a perfect counterpunch, they launched into full combat with kicks and magical martial arts.
Boom!
“W-What’s happening?”
Kamibarez trembled. Dick looked just as bewildered.
“Are they insane? Why are they even fighting!?”
“Simon, do something!”
Simon shook his head.
Unless someone donned Feer or brought out Prince, there was no way to stop those two.
“I don’t think they’re seriously fighting, though.”
“Huh?”
“Just watch.”
Simon had already begun analyzing the battle.
Whooosh!
Belya twisted her waist to dodge Kajan’s punch and grinned.
“Well, you’re more fun than that tribal chief guy.”
Belya vs. Kajan—Kajan was undoubtedly a top-tier powerhouse, but not someone who could take down a professor-level fighter.
Belya was clearly holding back, but Kajan also had resistance to poison. No matter how much poison she layered on, he kept fighting just fine.
“Ahahaha! Are you even human?”
Despite being a Toxicology professor candidate, her poisons weren’t working, a dire elemental mismatch. Yet Belya laughed.
She dodged his attacks and stepped back a few paces, then pulled out colorful powder chunks from the belt at her waist and dumped them into her mouth.
She didn’t deploy a magic circle or drink a potion. The compounds decomposed within her body, recombining with existing ones to form something new.
Soon, the color of her sweat changed, and the nature of her bodily secretions shifted.
“…Are you even human, then?”
Kajan charged in again, and the two resumed clashing. After a few targeted strikes, they both leapt back, and Kajan looked down at his skin.
Gray blotches were forming in raised patches all over his body.
“Found it.”
Belya licked her lips and smiled.
Even against someone immune to poison, she had constantly altered her formula mid-fight, finally synthesizing a toxin tailored specifically to Kajan.
“So, do I pass Keyzen’s little test now?”
“…You knew?”
“Please, like their methods aren’t obvious.”
If a Keyzen Toxicology professor candidate gave up just because their poison didn’t work on someone, that wouldn’t make any sense. Belya had now met even Keyzen’s final requirement.
“But, the very idea that you guys think you can evaluate me is so damn arrogant.”
She cracked the joints in her fingers, one by one.
“I get that you’re just following orders, but still… I think I’ll beat the crap out of you.”
“Go ahead.”
Kajan raised his fists, just as ready to throw down.
The two were about to clash again when—
Clap! Clap!
“Okay, that’s enough! Stooop!”
Someone was entering the ruins of the collapsed building.
A small girl with moonlight-silver hair came skipping in, swinging a half-eaten ice cream in her hand, her mouth smeared messily.
“That’s good enough!”
‘It’s….Lady Neftis!’
Simon paled. Kajan and the Thieves’ Guild members, as well as the other group members, all bowed deeply to Keyzen’s master.
Behind Neftis walked a composed girl with black hair and red eyes. Loraine spotted Simon and gave a small wave, which he returned with a smile.
“…?”
Belya, on the other hand, was staring at Neftis with clear confusion.
Unbothered by any poison, Neftis walked right up to Belya with wide, innocent eyes. Then she beamed and raised one hand high.
“Hiiiii!”
Belya stood still, looking completely dazed. Simon suddenly felt nervous.
‘Professor Belya doesn’t recognize Lady Neftis, does she?’
Loraine must’ve had the same thought, as she quickly spoke up.
“Professor Belya, you should show respec—”
Pop!
Belya suddenly leapt back with a flip, landing on all fours like a wary cat. She hissed defensively.
“What the hell is that monster brat! Get her away from me!!”
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