The Villain is Too Good at Sniping - Chapter 119
Only Noblemtl
Episode 119. End of semester training (2)
The gym was unusually quiet today.
With the interpersonal training temporarily over and the cadets who will be chosen as Arsene representatives starting to take shape, they returned to their usual physical training room.
“There’s no one here today.”
“to…….”
I looked at Iri, who was standing there blankly with a bewildered expression. I had dragged her to me, but I didn’t think she would actually follow.
“But why the sudden sparring?”
“The professor said it. The purpose of interpersonal training is to cultivate practical skills and achieve excellent results in exchange matches.”
“Training is already over.”
“Didn’t you hear that it was going to keep happening periodically?”
Like it or not, interpersonal training will be added to the routine going forward.
It is also the moment when duels between cadets are permitted, and the moment when the first-year rookies evolve from rookies into chicks.
Knock knock-
I heard the sound of bones cracking from my fist. After the last tournament, there was a brief break in the atmosphere, and I had not had a chance to use my fists during that time. To begin with, I am a marksman who rarely engages in close combat.
“But, still! You told me to take good care of my condition before the exchange match… …!”
“That’s not something you can be surprised at before the exchange.”
“Ah, that, ugh… … .”
Airi screamed and twisted her body.
End-of-semester training is coming up soon. I guess you’re planning to just relax and have fun until then.
There was even advice from the professors to take good care of your condition, so it was complete. You could have played comfortably without any worries.
Of course, that won’t happen while I’m here.
Because after this training, the Academy Exchange Episode will follow right away. Students from other academies, such as Joachim and the Touhou Flower Garden, will gather, and among them is Airi’s older sister, Lilia de Sugarmond.
As in the original, Lilia will try to test Airi, and Airi will defeat Lilia after developing her talent through rigorous training with the player.
In other words, rolling the Iris was a task given to the player in the original work.
This is an assignment that is not absolutely necessary unless you want Airi as your comrade, but I have my own circumstances, so I cannot do that. If Airi loses to Lilia, my situation will also be in trouble.
“What’s missing this time?”
“Does everything have to have some kind of reward?”
“No, that’s not what I meant! I just thought that having something would give me some motivation. If I lose… … .”
“Well then, let’s see.”
In fact, I knew this would happen and prepared something that could be used as bait. When I took out my secret weapon that I had prepared, Airi lost her mind.
“Is this okay?”
“… … !”
The two tickets I hold in my hand are meal tickets issued by the ultra-luxurious restaurant Etlante. They are among the most expensive ones.
It cost over a million won just to buy one ticket. Instead, if you use this meal ticket, you can enjoy a full course from appetizer to main dish.
That’s two sheets. There is no luxury greater than this.
Originally, I was planning to buy just one, but I didn’t want to let him eat alone, so I bought two together. This is not a bad compensation since I can bring one more companion.
Common sense tells you that it may seem excessive, but there is an abundance of money.
I thought it was a necessary expense above all else. No matter how much money you have, it is useless if the world is ruined. Just as you can never spend too much money on health, if you can help the main characters grow, I am willing to accept this level of expense.
“It won’t be the same as last time… I’ll give it to you if you win.”
I did some light stretching and checked my stats.
======
[Zion Esperland]
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Power reserve: 3,920
? Status
Strength: 4.77
Stamina: 5.02
Endurance: 5.42
Agility: 5.27
Horsepower: 4.00
Luck: 4.44
? Talent possessed
[Shooter Lv.2] [Sword Throwing Lv.1]
? Possession characteristics
[Thousand Eyes] [The Eye of the Watcher] [Gi-gam]
[Mattan’s Shooter] [Player] [Hunter’s Hui An]
[Poisonous Blade] [Excised Trajectory]
======
First, the average stats increased to 4 or more.
It’s not a bad stat for a shooter. At this level, it’s below the average for a cadet. It’s not just me who’s growing, but the other cadets at Arsene are growing too.
Still, just getting to the level of a first-year middle-ranking student is already a great achievement.
‘If I remember correctly, Kyle’s strength stat was 8 or 9 at this point.’
The same goes for Iri. She has similar strength stats to Kyle.
In particular, her stamina will be nearly twice as much as mine. Even though she always looks exhausted, Airi recovers faster than me. If it becomes a long-term battle, she will eventually lose stamina.
And Rebecca’s average stats are probably.
‘Rebecca is about 16 or 17… … .’
As the final boss of Act 1, Rebecca boasts growth stats that are nearly double those of the main characters.
Winning one-on-one is absurd, and unless the player is quite experienced, they tend to avoid direct confrontation with Rebecca.
In fact, as with other games, the higher the stat, the more difficult it becomes to raise it. Even if the number of stats you get in the beginning is the same as the stat you get in the later stages, the effort required is clearly different.
If you raised your strength stat by 10 hours of grinding, you will later need to invest twice or three times that amount of time to barely get it to 1.
That’s why the beginning is the most fun. You can see them growing and feel them getting stronger.
First of all, your stats will go up to 10 without a problem. After that, it depends on your talents. In areas where you don’t have talents, you will encounter bottlenecks where your growth is slow, and in areas where you have talents, you will grow at an unparalleled speed.
That’s why talent is important. Because in this world, there is a limit to what you can achieve through effort.
It may seem like I’m making life miserable, but it’s all for you, Airi. And further, it’s for the world.
“Are you ready?”
“It’s done. This time it’ll be different than last time.”
Airi clenched her fist as she faced me, raising her guard.
.
.
.
.
.
And exactly 3 minutes later.
“Ha, I surrender. I surrender. Stop it! I can’t win. Mr. Zion won!”
Airi, who had been rushing forward with curiosity, declared my victory while lying face down on the ground.
Even the bangs that he had been so careful to style were now in a mess. Even when I blatantly touched his hair, he didn’t resist.
I was genuinely embarrassed.
“No, it’s already over… …? What did you do?”
“It’s the end. The end… It’s a shame, but sometimes you have to know how to let go… Huh, huh?!”
I forcibly pulled Airi, who was sagging. I grabbed her shoulders and lifted her up awkwardly. Airi somehow managed to get up, even while making a sound of exhaustion.
I didn’t get hit once during my entire journey here. I didn’t even throw a punch. I just twisted Airi’s attack a little bit and made myself fall over.
All of that was possible thanks to [Cheonlian] and ‘Weakness Spotting’.
He read Airi’s movements with his clairvoyance and attacked her weak point that was revealed in an instant. With only that much done, Airi collapsed on the floor in three minutes.
Normally, this should be the opposite.
I am a weak shooter at close range, and Airi is the one who should be strong in close combat. Of course, the fact that I am an assassin of Esperland may have an effect on the result, but that is not the important issue right now.
“… Even so, isn’t 3 minutes a bit much?”
“Mr. Zion is strong.”
“You’re a combat specialist too. And you’re a swordsman who deals damage in close combat.”
“There’s something strange about Zion, who is good at close combat.”
That’s true, but you shouldn’t say that.
“Let’s try it one last time.”
“I can’t. How can I defeat Mr. Zion?”
“You can win. Just take a look.”
I lightly extended my fist.
“What should I do?”
“I won’t use any force, just give it a light push.”
“hmm…….”
Airi approaches me half in doubt. She looks scared that I might suddenly change my position and make her fall to the ground.
Airi, who was walking slowly, lightly pushed my fist. She didn’t properly hold the position and pushed, she just lightly pushed.
That was all, but my center of gravity was off. I had to take a few steps back before I could stand up straight. Airi couldn’t believe what she had done and what was happening in front of her.
“Huh… … ?”
“The power itself is stronger than Airi. You just don’t know how to use it. This isn’t a theory, it’s a matter of developing a sense, so the only answer is to keep trying.”
This isn’t just a problem for Iri, it’s a problem for Kyle too.
Kyle is also lacking in skills, but he is holding on with his willpower and physical strength. At least Kyle will learn a lot from the exchange battles, so he is in a better position than Airi.
“So let’s try one last time. You don’t have to win. Just try to land one good hit. That should be enough.”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but… … .”
Iri raised her guard while grumbling.
“Just this once. But if I win, I will take revenge on Mr. Zion.”
“Did I ever hold a grudge against you?”
“You threw me to the floor. Not once, but three times. And you teased me. I was a little hurt.”
“What is that… I’m sorry.”
Airi, with her eyes wide open, is striking a surprisingly plausible pose.
…it felt like watching a traditional Chinese dancer.
In terms of strength alone, Airi is stronger than me. She has too many openings, so she was easily defeated by attacks that caught her off guard. If she could just add technique to this, she would be able to subdue someone like me in an instant.
“But is it really necessary to do bare-handed training? After all, I’m a swordsman, so the sword is more important.”
“As Instructor Shezad said. Before you can handle a sword, you must have a solid foundation.”
Surprisingly, what determines victory or defeat at the most important moment is the small, unexpected details.
Which one is stronger and faster? Which one is more accurate and free of mistakes? There are reasons like that, but usually, when strength and technique are equal, the weight is tilted more toward the one with a solid fundamentals.
“No matter how well you handle the sword, if you lack the basics like now, you’ll get beat up in an instant. Look, you’re getting hit with your bare hands by me, a marksman.”
Of course, in my case, I was Esperland’s assassin before I was a shooter. But there was no reason to reveal it.
“I don’t know about special cases like Kai Alma, but as a prosecutor, you have to consider situations where you don’t have a sword. In the end, the only thing you can trust is your own body.”
In fact, Airi has a record of losing to me even though she rushed at me with her sword in hand during the last training session. Of course, in this case, I used [Severed Trajectory] as a surprise attack, and it worked well.
“Just feed me one. That should be enough.”
“…all right.”
As I kept nagging at her, Airi shook her head as if she had given up.
Airi and I waited for a moment, keeping our distance, and then as soon as the buzzer rang, we rushed towards each other.
My [Clairvoyance] read Airi’s fist. The fist flying from the front was an illusion. The real attack was the left fist flying from below.
Ta-tak-!
I dodged by twisting my body slightly. I passed Iri and stabbed her in the side and neck with a light water gun.
“No, that’s too much… … ?!”
Airi looked back with her lips pursed.
Yes, it was understandable to be angry. If I had wanted to, I could have knocked him down and subdued him right away, but I just lightly restrained him and escaped. It was obvious to anyone that he was being overlooked, so my pride was hurt.
“Okay, okay.”
I raised my guard again. I planned to finish the fight cleanly by once again beating Airi who was charging at me like a bull.
The momentum of the rush was creepy, but it wasn’t particularly scary since I’d done it several times before. I waited until I was within arm’s reach and then blocked Airi’s hand. Then I immediately extended my right hand.
Originally, I should have just hung it on my shoulder and stuck it on the floor.
The right hand that should have grabbed her collar slid down under Airi’s collarbone.
… … !
A moment of confusion came over me. It was inevitable. My hands were sliding along the curve, like water falling from above, and there was nothing I could do about it.
If you follow the rules, you should immediately connect with the next movement and use it as a counterattack movement.
“… Got it!”
Having already shown my weakness, I was hit by Airi’s rush. I fell to the ground with Airi. Before I could do anything, Airi was on top of me and grabbed my wrist.
“Tell them you lost.”
I struggled to escape Iri’s grasp, but it was no use.
At the point where the mount had already been allowed, I was devastated. Looking up from below, Iri was smiling triumphantly.
“… This isn’t it.”
“Tell me you lost, Zion. If you don’t, I’ll tickle you.”
“Is that what you call a threat now?”
I twisted my whole body as I spoke, but I still couldn’t defeat Airi with just strength. I could escape if I had to, but I was the one who told her to feed me properly just once.
The attack had already begun, and I had allowed it to happen. Embarrassingly, this time it was my defeat.
“Yeah, I lost.”
“One more time.”
“I lost. So let me go.”
Only then did I let go of Airi’s arm. It was an incredibly strong force. As promised, I handed over the ticket I was holding to Airi.
“I’ll give it to you for now, but you’ll have to use it before the holidays. It’s a limited-time sale, so the benefits will decrease after the period ends.”
I will find someone to go with, so it is not my place to get involved. I took Airi’s hand and stood up. When I brushed the dust off Airi’s shoulder, her eyes sparkled.
“I did well?”
“It’s still immature… but, well, I guess it’s good enough.”
If you think about it, I’m not in a position to talk about others. I was the one who backed down as well.