Dealing with jerks(2)

"Y- You!! You motherf*cker!"

William, who took my fists head-on, belatedly came to his senses. His face was flushed red, I don't know if it is because of my punch or because he was embarrassed to be beaten in front of everyone.

"You motherf*cking attention hog!!"

He got up and lunged at me without a second of delay.

"Phew~"

I watched leisurely as his fist got closer to my face.

I could see him move clearly. His face, which was distorted with anger, the inexperienced footwork he tried to use, his shaking fist—I could see everything clearly.

Maybe due to my years of experience as a mercenary, he didn't even look like a threat.

I placed my hands in my pockets as I watched him getting closer.

-Sweep

He swung his fist with as much force as he could muster.

But all it took for me to dodge that was to bend a little. But I didn't stop there and placed my right leg against his path.

I didn't do anything else, or rather, there was no need to.

"Gahh-"

William slipped and fell on his face, and his face turned even redder with embarrassment.

"Hehe"

I could hear Julia giggling behind me, which further enraged William.

-Shiiiiing

Burning with rage, he unsheathed the training sword from his sheath and stood against me.

"Hey!! Using weapons outside of sparing is prohibited," Julia, who was giggling just a second ago, screamed upon seeing him unsheathe the sword.

Even though they were training swords, the weapons provided by the Academy were sharp enough to kill low-grade monsters, so using them outside of sparring and training was prohibited by the Academy, and breaking those rules may very well lead to expulsion.

"Shut up, bitch!"

But William didn't seem to care about the rules at this moment.

He had lost his reason. He didn't even care about Julia's warning and pounced on me with the sword.

'Pathetic bastard.'

But even with the sword, he just looked like a cute puppy to me. There was no technique, no skill—he was just swinging the sword with brute force.

However, thanks to his recklessness, I got to try out the skills that I learned in my previous life.

I observed the incoming sword closely and took out my hands from my pocket.

The target was William's right hand, which was holding the sword.

I watched patiently as the sword neared me. And right when the sword was about two inches away from me, I hit his arm.

-Arhh!

With just a little force, he let go of the weapon and was pushed back.

Seriously! Kids these days are way too lousy and incompetent.

The sword in his hand fell away from him, and without a weapon, he just looked like a punching bag to me.

-Smack!

I gathered my strength and smacked him as hard as I could on the head.

I was getting ready to confront his next attack, but....

"...."

He had lost consciousness. I didn't think that I was strong enough to smack him unconscious. After all, he too seemed to be a peak 1-star knight.

Anyway, I was just thankful that it ended fast.

"Consider it a lesson."

Just as I was finishing off the scene with a cool phrase, the mysterious artifact responded.

[Technique <Asteroid's Bare-handed Brawl> is acquired]

︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻︻

<Asteroid's Bare-handed Brawl>

Proficiency - Beginner

Rating - ✮✮

A bare-handed fighting technique developed by the Asteroid family.

Allows the user to effectively use different parts of the body as 'weapons'. It is said that with enough proficiency, one can even use their hands as swords.

Effect: During combat, every part of the body becomes a weapon capable of parrying, defending, and attacking opponents.

︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼︼

As I guessed, every time I remember or use a technique or skill from my past life, the artifact updates my status.

It was incredible, in a sense, to be able to know about myself and my capabilities. I was yet to discover the full functionality of the artifact, but it was already more amazing than I could ever imagine.

Anyway, the <Asteroid's Bare-handed Brawl> technique I just used was a technique from the Asteroid family. And the one who taught me this technique was none other than the only dear friend I had in my past life—Roger Asteroid.

Roger was a kind-hearted person and a dear friend who accompanied me in various life-and-death situations.

According to what he told me in my past life, he should still be living in a remote village south of the Mauryan Empire.

I wanted to meet him as soon as possible, but I decided to concentrate on the matters at hand first.

The fire dragon, Ugram, was like a ticking bomb that could go off at any time, and I wanted to focus on resolving that issue.

"..Hey! Eren!"

I snapped back to reality upon hearing Evan's call, but before I could see him, another person appeared before me.

"What is going on here?"

The ice-cold voice sent chills down the listeners' spines.

"Why is he sprawled on the ground?"

It was Professor Joshua Sanders, a.k.a. Mr. Killjoy, who stood in front of me.

'Fuck! It had to be him!!'

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