Mightiest Melee Magician

Just yesterday, the first day of the joint lessons with the knights…

In a place where all the students were gathered, Professor Hydel threw out a question.

“When against a 5th-rank or higher knight and put in the dire situation of not being able to put distance between the two of you...... what must a magician do?”

“......”

However, not one person was able to confidently put their hand up and answer.

And so, the professor chose someone and asked,

“Jakil Galehill, what is your answer?”

“......”

Then, Jakil replied,

“Use teleport to make that distance, or use a binding spell with short casting time to stop their movement.”

After hearing his answer, the professor replied with a bored tone,

“It’s quite the textbook answer.”

“The answers to all questions are written in books.”

“No. I am not expecting the obvious answer that is written in books. I was expecting an answer from a magician that had graduated from the academy and held real world experience. After all, as you would know, real life and books are quite different.”

“......”

“Those books are only made with the skills of the magician in mind, but not the knight’s. I gave the condition that it is against a knight of 5th-rank or higher. If you were to use an awkward binding magic against an expert knight, you wouldn’t be able to bind their feet and would just be destroyed by the sword spirit flying at you. Does someone have another option?”

“......”

Books and reality were different.

Jakil, who had boasted about his real experiences, was shut down by the professor’s question and wasn’t able to give another answer.

Instead, the right to answer was given to another.

“Ruin Ardell, what is your answer?”

“......”

It was given to me.

The answer I gave to Professor Hydel was definitely not the right answer.

However, I could be confident of it, at least.

“I will break it.”

“......Break it? Break what specifically?”

“It’ll be one of the two. Their sword or their chin. I will break at least one, or in some cases both.”

For me, this was the most correct answer.

It didn’t really make sense, but he seemed to like this answer.

“......I have met many students during my time, but this outrageous answer is a first. But I can feel a sense of confidence from you that makes me feel it might be possible.”

Professor Hydel smiled with satisfaction, and the class ended like that.

And then, the day after…

The same situation as the question the Professor gave us before was laid out before us.

“......Hansen!”

“Alright!”

Hansen charged in toward Jakil, who was casting from the backlines.

“Ruin! Die!”

“......”

And Maltive ran towards me as if trying to kill me and arrived in front of me to swing his wooden sword.

The two knights each targeted a magician.

There were two different answers to this one question.

Just whose answer would be correct?

* * *

Jakil’s answer was deemed too ‘textbook’, but it wasn’t a wrong answer.

Fortunately for him, Hansen wasn’t 5th-rank or higher, and with the six artifacts that Jakil currently possessed, he was boasting immense magical power.

“Are you just this much?”

Jakil used teleport to instantly create distance and freeze the place he was standing in, successfully binding Hansen’s movements.

If this wasn’t in Arena Hall, decreasing the force of magic by 99%, Hansen’s heart may have frozen as well.

“You were getting excited about a trainee knight with only this much skill, huh? Ruin? Answer me.”

“......”

Jakil didn’t have a plan and was just relying on crushing his opponents with his artifacts.

He froze Hansen’s movements with one wide-range binding spell, and he forced Jason away when Jason tried to dispel the ice.

“You were so confident yesterday, but where is that now, huh?”

“......”

And lastly, he used Frozen Tree.

The tree that erupted below my feet totally bound up my lower half and stopped my movement.

With Jakil’s overpowering magic, the mood instantly shifted toward the Jakil group.

“Wow! Sheesh! Did you see that? His casting speed is insane!”

“As expected of the youngest court magician! He used three different spells in a row!”

“......”

This was a territory that was impossible with only the skills of a 5th-class magician.

He probably had an artifact equipped that had something rarer than double casting, which allowed one to cast two spells at once.

“Maltive! Go destroy that bastard right now!”

Totally bound by the icy tree vines, I was unable to move my legs, and Maltive didn’t miss the chance, charging at me.

However, I lifted my arms with confidence and took up a guard.

The answer I gave…

‘I’ll break it.’

* * *

* * *

The sword, or the chin.

I was ready to break whatever came in contact with me.

But what was this?

“Are you trying to break it? Try it, you bastard!”

If he had heard about me at least once, he would know that I would be able to easily break a wooden sword like that.

But Maltive charged right at me as if he wanted me to break it.

And then......

Clang!

“Keke. You can’t break it?”

“......”

When my fist collided with Maltive’s wooden sword, when the thud of hitting a wooden sword was instead replaced with the clang of metal…

I could understand why this guy charged directly at me.

“Your fists will probably break before you can break this.”

“......”

This son of a bitch.

He had brought a metal pole that looked like a sword.

It definitely was a wooden sword up until the professor checked it before the spar began, so how did it turn into steel after this guy held it?

I saw the necklace he currently wore that he wasn’t wearing yesterday. That was probably an artifact too.

“Uhah! Did your fist already break?”

As I clenched my numb fist, Maltive assumed that the bones in my hand had broken and lifted his wooden sword up high.

“Then take this you bastard!”

“......”

My lower half was bound by ice, my right hand was broken, and I had nowhere to go.

Looking at him laugh maniacally, assuming that I had lost and he had won, a sudden idea came to my head.

If I couldn’t break his sword, I’d break his chin.

Vwooong—!

I lowered my stance and dodged the metal bat that struck down like it really was going to mercilessly crack my head open.

With that, I used only my lower body’s ‘strength’ to stomp away the icy tree vines before grasping the metal bat that moved past my shoulder and crushing it in my hands.

Crack......

“......You, you...... How did you......?”

With the unnatural sound of steel being crushed, the skill ‘Steel Destruction’ activated.

Bang!

In an instant, the wooden sword’s blade turned to dust, and Maltive’s face became distorted.

“Th-the steel......!”

“That expression. I like it.”

“......!”

I liked that baffled expression of his.

I aimed my fist at Maltive’s chin and gave him a refreshing hit.

Boom!

‘If it hits, it explodes.’

As my fist hit the tip of his chin, Maltive was enshrouded in the explosion’s white smoke.

Ping......!

Flung like an arrow, he flew back and was struck into the wall of Arena Hall.

“Didn’t I tell you? If what breaks is not your sword, it will be your chin.”

“......C-cough!”

He threw up blood from where he lay, but he didn’t seem to be unconscious.

What a relief.

After all, the one who needed to finish that guy off wasn’t me.

I ran forward and broke the ice shards binding Hansen.

Seeing this, Jakil laughed in bafflement.

“Damn...... It’s real? Strength like an ogre. It’s really just like I heard. You’re that strong?”

“......”

“But...... that’s enough.”

Ting!

As Jakil flicked his finger, an Ice Arrow as big as a spear flew straight toward me.

I hurriedly used Mana Barrier to block it, but the magic that Jakil was blasting…

“Uhahahahaha! Open your eyes and witness the crumbling of Ruin Ardell!”

…was similar to the madness he was showing.

Ting! Ting! Ting ting!

The abnormally powerful Ice Arrows were fired at me with such force that it was hard for the Mana Barrier to withstand it.

Hansen tried to use this chance to attack Jakil, but Jakil used power beyond his natural abilities to double cast, keeping his distance as he continued to fire off spells.

“Uhah! Isn’t this the best? I feel like I’ve become Fire King Teron.”

Fire King Teron.

The magician at the boundary that could kill someone with a glare.

He wasn’t someone I personally liked, but he wasn’t someone that Jakil could dare talk about in vain like this.

Compared to the Fire King, Jakil was just a little punk that couldn’t even dare meet his eyes.

However, the six artifacts he held right now had increased that punk’s confidence.

A total of six of them.

They had forcefully empowered Jakil’s normally just pretty good talent.

6th-class.

No, he may have even looked like a magician who was at a higher level than that.

“Ruin, you have Mana Extension Inability Disorder, right? You’re a magician who can’t use long-ranged attacks...... But what should I do? I have no intention of getting hit by that fist of yours.”

“......”

It was dangerous like this.

That was why I needed to make my decision, and that didn’t take long.

I looked at my palm.

“Hansen.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Leave him to me. You deal with Maltive.”

“......U-understood!”

The gloves on my hand…

‘Knuckles of Kunkhan’s Will’.

Yeah.

I knew that a fake could never beat the real thing.

No matter how much he used those replica artifacts to fight, he couldn’t defeat me, someone who was an artifact.

Swoosh!

As I put strength into the knuckles, dark red smoke started to seep out and envelop me.

Skill, Chieftain’s Will.

“......!”

The dark red smoke continued to burn up behind my back, and it created the form of a giant ogre.

An ogre had appeared out of nowhere in the center of the academy.

“Wh-what is that?!”

“Run away! E-everyone, run!”

“It’s an ogre! An ogre!”

It was enough to make everyone fall into chaos.

Student and professor alike were surprised by this.

Schwing!

Even Sir Coulter pulled out his sword on reflex.

“Wh-what is......?”

The reactions from the Galehills weren’t too different.

“You...... J-just what are you?”

Jakil took a few steps back, wide-eyed.

The apex predator among all monsters.

The ogre.

The spirit exuded from this great body that was twice as large as a normal ogre wasn’t something that normal people could stand.

An overwhelming sense of fear.

They were asking me if I was really a magician

If they did ask, I would answer that I am.

Just that…

......I’m a magician who put their all into becoming the mightiest in a melee.

——