Mistaken for a Masked Monster - Chapter 19

WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 19: Absolute Balloon Sword

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Silence.

The once-noisy crowd fell silent in an instant.

“...”

Mocking lips closed, and wide eyes fixed on one spot.

At the center of their attention stood a boy with black hair.

A boy wearing a mask.

The air in the training ground turned cold.

“What... was that just now?”

“What happened?”

Whispers gradually leaked out from the stands.

Shariel’s attack had vanished without a trace.

The blazing flames from moments ago had died down.

As if they had never existed in the first place. As if they had been nothing more than a tiny spark.

“No way...”

“Did he block it? Lady Shariel’s attack...?”

Everyone stared.

The overwhelming firepower Shariel had displayed.

-Huh... So that’s what a top student can do? I could feel that power all the way from the stands.

-Isn’t that dangerous? There’s no way some Class E trash can take that head-on.

-Isn’t he going to get hurt?

Even those who had whispered such things were now speechless.

Mockery. Contempt. Concern. Even those looks had shattered.

Countless pairs of eyes throughout the stands now shared one sight.

The boy.

And the smiling mask.

“W-What just happened? Did anyone see it properly?”

“...It disappeared. Lady Shariel’s magic, without any warning.”

“What? Is that even possible?”

“Maybe Lady Shariel made a mistake?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You think someone at the top of Class C would make such a basic mistake?”

Voices buzzed through the crowd.

The scattered opinions soon reached a single conclusion.

“Then... that guy blocked it? He blocked Lady Shariel’s flames?”

“That’s impossible. It wasn’t firepower someone at Class E level could hope to stop.”

“And isn’t he supposed to be overall E-rank? How could someone like that...?”

“He didn’t narrowly deflect it or barely endure it. He completely countered it. He perfectly reverse-engineered Lady Shariel’s attack and tore apart its mana structure.”

“Fuck, is that even possible?”

The waiting area was not the only place in an uproar.

The students from other classes watching the exam, along with the faculty overseeing it, reacted as well.

“Ho...”

A white-haired old man let out a quiet sound of admiration.

The old man was the headmaster of Grandia Academy.

As if he had found something fascinating, he stroked his neatly trimmed beard.

Other professors stood nearby as well.

“Just as I was told before, this is an extraordinary child. That was a truly perfect Dispel. But what is even more surprising is that no aura can be sensed from the child at all.”

“...”

“It was neither magic, martial arts, sorcery, nor even black magic...”

The old man had taught and met countless children, yet even this was a first for him.

A power that activated without any warning or trace.

A power whose origin could not even be identified.

Was it not like divine authority itself?

“Assigning Javert to keep watch over him was indeed the right choice.”

The headmaster quietly mulled it over.

The headmaster said no more.

Instead, he focused more closely on the spar before him.

‘Divine authority...’

With that inexplicable thought in mind.

* * *

Whoooosh-

The opponent had attacked once, and I had defended once.

It had been a brief clash, but the atmosphere in the arena had changed completely.

I simply smiled in silence.

Ding-!

[The item 'Mask of the Evil God' has activated.]

Only the mechanical chime echoed in my ears.

A blue screen appeared before my eyes.

[Mask of the Evil God]

-Effect: Negates three attacks aimed at the wearer. Only activates while worn.

-Remaining Uses: 2/3

-Time Until Next Charge: 47 hours 59 minutes 13 seconds

I didn’t let it show.

What I needed to focus on now was the spar in front of me.

I watched the red hair fluttering in the wind.

“...”

Had she sensed something chilling?

Shariel’s gaze had changed completely.

There was no longer any ridicule in her darkening red eyes.

“What did you just do?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re terrible at pretending not to know. An attack like that couldn’t have been blocked by a mere Class E top student. What did you do to scatter my magic? It didn’t even leave a scratch on you.”

“I got lucky.”

“Bullshit...! Explain yourself properly!”

“Well, there isn’t much to explain...”

I smiled.

I smiled at her.

My mask, too, had its mouth split in a grotesque grin.

“Maybe your magic was just pathetic?”

A sneer.

Just like the one she had worn moments ago, just like everyone else had worn when looking at Class E.

“Seeing as it was stopped with a single finger.”

“What... did you say?”

Shariel stared blankly.

I smiled as if answering her stare.

The top student of the lowest class.

E-rank in every stat except theory.

Trash with stats everyone could laugh at.

That trash was laughing at her, the top student of Class C.

“How dare you...”

It wasn’t easy to remain calm in a situation like this.

Being looked down on by someone you had always looked down on.

It scratched at one’s pride and shattered one’s composure.

For someone as proud as Shariel, the effect was bound to be even stronger.

“How dare you...! How dare you! How dare you! You’re Class E trash, and you dare look at me like that...!”

Shariel lost it.

Her eyes turned bloodshot.

Fwoosh-

The girl raised her bow once more and nocked a flame onto the bowstring.

The burning arrow was even more powerful than before.

‘Did I push her buttons too much?’

But she pushed mine too.

She’d been harassing my errand runners.

Thinking that, I rummaged through the inventory inside my robe.

‘Where did I put it? I definitely piled up a mountain of them...’

I had taken the first attack head-on for impact, but I couldn’t keep doing that.

The charges on [Mask of the Evil God] were too valuable.

‘Well... they recharge on their own with time.’

Still, I wanted to avoid using them all up.

It took forty-eight hours just to recharge one use.

Who knew what kind of situation might come up? Why would I use them all now?

My body was weak too, so one surprise hit could take me out.

‘I need to keep at least two charges at all times.’

With that in mind, I took something out of my inventory.

A colorful stick emerged.

It was light and had a soft, bouncy grip.

Shariel muttered as she watched.

“...A balloon?”

“Correct.”

That was right.

It was a Balloon Knife.

One of the many I had made before.

I pointed its springy tip at the girl.

“A weapon containing my soul. I shall face you with the Absolute Balloon Sword.”

“...”

Well, it was only because I didn’t have a useful weapon yet.

The one I had planned to carry around was still being forged.

This one would serve as a replacement today.

It felt nice and squishy, too.

Getting hit by it probably wouldn’t feel as bad.

“You...! I’ll make you regret this!”

Was she unable to appreciate my consideration?

She seemed to have taken it as nothing but another provocation.

“I’ll make you beg through your tears. I’ll make a complete mess of you...!”

Twang-

Slender fingers released the bowstring, and the arrow flew.

The raging flame tore through the air as it rushed toward me.

I quietly raised my sword.

‘Let’s see.’

I took a watch out of my inventory.

An item given as standard even in the original work.

[Ordinary Watch]

-You can check the time.

Since earlier, I had been putting it away and taking it out again.

Over and over. Inventory, hand, inventory, hand.

I had been preparing to activate a certain bug.

And that warmup had long since finished.

‘Now.’

Click-

I pressed the button on the watch.

The next moment, the flow of time slowed.

It wasn’t some abstract expression.

“...”

The world slowed down.

It was like setting the speed to 0.2x.

The approaching arrow, the crowd’s reactions, every other movement...

The scene moved as though it were in slow motion, and only I realized it.

‘Slowdown Bug.’

A bug that slowed the game’s overall speed.

Characters, monsters, effects, and even sounds all slowed down.

Using the watch control like I had just done, I could trigger it for roughly five seconds at a time.

I opened my eyes wide.

‘I can see it.’

I could see everything.

Every moment was clear.

My body had slowed down too, but my awareness had surpassed the moment itself.

The arrow’s trajectory, the furious girl’s expression, the heat, even a single speck of dust drifting through the air.

‘This will work.’

I carefully raised the sword’s tip.

Even the slow breath I let out was merely an afterthought in that moment.

Beyond the opaque, colorful blade, I saw the world.

Swish-

What I was about to use was the most basic combo paired with this bug.

I swung my sword at the arrow that had come right before my eyes.

The exact timing, the exact position, the exact angle.

Time felt slow, so I had more than enough time to react.

‘Got it.’

Crackle, crackle-

A faint static flickered across the Balloon Knife.

Its shimmering blade rippled like a heat haze as I swept it past the arrow.

‘Parrying.’

The colorful blade brushed against the flames.

Fwish-

The next moment, the arrow’s trajectory shifted slightly.

An attack that had nearly touched me passed right by.

There wasn’t even a scorch mark on my body.

‘Good.’

Parrying.

A technique that intercepted an opponent’s attack and diverted it away.

It was closer to a trick than a bug, but it seemed to count as a bug when recreated in reality.

An effect similar to when a bug activated had flickered around it.

“W-What was that just now...?”

As I shook out my hand, I heard a shaken murmur.

Shariel’s red eyes trembled.

Shock was written all over her face.

“You deflected it? My arrow, with that... that balloon sculpture...?”

“Sculpture? Doesn’t it plainly look like a sword?”

“That’s impossible... How did you... That...!”

This was the combo.

The pinnacle of parrying achieved through Slowdown.

I deliberately grinned at her.

“Oh? Could it be that our great top student of Class C can’t even pop a single balloon?”

“N-No. That can’t be...”

“This is only an ordinary balloon, you know? A balloon held by a Class E top student with E-rank stats in everything except theory, a first in history. Could it be that you couldn’t even leave a scratch on it because your abilities are simply pathetic?”

“Shut up! Shut up...!”

Shariel gritted her teeth and drew the bowstring taut.

I had only returned the words she had said earlier.

I had no idea why she was getting so worked up.

Boiling mana heated the air above the sparring ground.

Twang, shwoooosh-!

Another volley of arrows flew.

This time, it was not one arrow, but more than ten arrows fanning out toward me.

“If you’re trash, act like trash! Just quietly get sent flying...!”

Bright red flames filled my vision.

It was a terrifying sight, but I didn’t step back.

Instead, I walked forward proudly.