My Students Regret It After I Retired

33 – See? You’re the Same, Aren’t You?

Alik, clutching his pierced shoulder, didn’t even have time to writhe in pain as he analyzed Leos’s fighting power.

‘He’s skilled with the chainsword. With that level of proficiency, he probably wields it better in close combat than at a distance. I shouldn’t close in, but rather attack from as far away as possible.’

Normally, the rule of thumb is to close the distance with an enemy who attacks from afar. But Alik, from that one attack alone, knew Leos handled the sword far better than he did. If he got close, he’d die before he could even put up a proper fight. So, the only thing he could do in this situation was to respond with the same long-range attack.

Alik instantly used his uninjured arm to pull out a dagger from inside his tunic, forcefully throwing it. Three daggers simultaneously sliced through the air. Whether to use the opening while Leos was defending to escape, or to follow up with another attack, he tried to make a possible response but Alik could only stare blankly at Leos, doubting his own eyes.

Leos had deflected all three daggers, flying in quick succession, simply by spinning around once.

‘Shit… This is insane. Those daggers weren’t thrown all at once, they were launched with slightly different speeds. And he just knocked them all away in one go without even a stumble?’

Leos, having deflected the daggers with his chain-sword, immediately spun once more, using centrifugal force to fling the chain-sword right up to Alik’s face.

“Kuhhh…!”

Alik barely managed to block Leos’s chain-sword with his own blade, but the weight of the sword, the chain’s weight, and the rotational force all combined made it impossible to handle the chain-sword’s insane power with one arm.

Alik desperately held onto his sword, but his strength eventually gave out, and his sword was knocked from his grasp. He reached into his pouch for a spare dagger when Leos’s chain-sword came surging back.

-Thwack-

This time, it wasn’t his arm but his instep that was the target. The chain-sword struck Alik’s foot precisely, like a snake’s tongue. Alik quickly grabbed the chain, wrapping it around his wrist several times so that Leos couldn’t retrieve it even if he pulled. Then, a sinister smile crept onto Alik’s face.

“You dumb b*stard… I finally got you.”

Alik had willingly taken the blow to disable Leos’s chain-sword, sacrificing his foot. Now that his main weapon was neutralized, all that was left was to counterattack.

“Kill that son of a b*tch, all of you!”

At Alik’s command, the Imperial Enforcers began throwing daggers at Leos. Leos discarded his chain-sword, pulled out a small dagger, lowered his stance, and began to scan his surroundings rapidly.

He wasn’t reacting to the daggers in flight. He was focusing on the moment right before they were thrown. He was reading the enforcers’ stances, the direction they were aiming, and the trajectory as the daggers left their hands.

In less than a few seconds, Leos had processed the hands and stances of over a dozen men. And simultaneously, he began dodging and deflecting the incoming daggers.

-Clang clang clang!

-Clang clang!

He dodged what he could, deflecting what was too hard to avoid with his dagger.

As befitting the title ‘Imperial Enforcers,’ the daggers were aimed precisely at Leos’s vital spots. Eyes, heart, neck, arteries— places where a single hit would mean instant death. A single misstep in evasion or defense would surely mean a cold corpse, yet Leos moved with unrestrained ferocity.

After a brief span of about three seconds, the Imperial Enforcers looked at Leos with eyes filled with terror. Leos had, after all, dodged and deflected every single one of their attacks.

Leos tossed away his dagger, the blade dulled from deflecting so many attacks. He then picked up a longsword from one of the fallen enforcers, now a corpse lying on the ground, and charged forward.

Chain sword, dagger, and then a longsword.

Leos’s weapons and stances shifted every moment, making it impossible for his enemies to adapt, leaving them confused about their positions and what to do. Conversely, Leos never missed an opening.

– *Swish*

The distance closed in an instant, and the enemies quickly shifted to surround Leos, but his speed was faster than they anticipated, and the man holding the center was struck down by his sword.

As one body hit the ground, Leos immediately snatched the dagger from the fallen man and hurled it like a projectile.

*Thud*, and another Executioner fell. This time, Leos started to spin as if he were going to throw his longsword, and the enemies rushing him stopped, fearing the blade. Leos then quickly stopped spinning and, instead of throwing, charged forward again.

*Swish*, and two more men fell. The circular formation had completely broken, and Leos was quickly moving towards the open space where the mana bomb had detonated.

An open space, devoid of bushes, obstacles, or anything else. A battlefield that was absolutely advantageous for the many, but conversely, a deathmatch ring from which there was no escape.

Leos stood still in the empty space as if to taunt them. He then controlled the Spirale, sending it into the air.

“I will hunt down and kill all who run. If you are confident you can escape the Spirale, then run. Otherwise, the only way you’ll live is to band together and kill me.”

*

Rakhart, the leader of the Imperial Ironclad Knights, watched Leos’s fight from afar and muttered in awe.

“This is… astounding. Pharon, what do you think? If Leos and I fought, who do you think would win?”

“…”

Pharon paused for a moment before speaking.

“Although I follow you blindly, Rakhart-nim… I don’t think I could defeat Leos-nim.”

“Right? It would’ve been disastrous to encounter him as an enemy. Leos, that guy, didn’t just fight. From start to finish, he used the Spirale to continuously scan his surroundings. As if to check if anyone was trying to flee.”

“I was so focused on the battle I didn’t notice that. The Spirale is a high-grade aerial artifact. It’s notoriously difficult to operate, but how did he manage to do that while fighting?”

“It means he wasn’t putting all his focus into the fight.”

“What…?”

“He had enough mental余裕 even while dealing with the Execution Squad, is what I’m saying. Enough to simultaneously operate the spyreels.”

Paron swallowed hard, his throat dry. Just witnessing the fight was enough; the man was a monster, plain and simple. And yet, in the middle of all that, he was using spyreels – which drain your focus like crazy – to scan the area.

‘If I had met him as an enemy…’

If Paron hadn’t betrayed the Empire and gone under Racard, he would’ve inevitably faced Leos as an enemy someday. Paron imagined it. How would *he* be able to respond, meeting that man as an enemy?

‘Three moves…no…two moves, maybe…?’

No matter how many times he simulated it, he couldn’t conjure a scenario where he won. Leos would close the distance, stabbing with his chainsword. And when he got close, he’d skillfully exploit openings with his dagger and longsword. He’d evade or parry almost any attack, and to top it off, he had spyreels capable of mana blasts.

‘At least a few knight orders would be needed.’

Assuming the fight wasn’t in an open field, and Leos had properly prepared and was responding meticulously… Even throwing in a few knight orders wouldn’t be enough to kill him.

‘Ridiculous.’

Paron completely revised his evaluation. He had once thought that when he’d heard Leos had single-handedly killed all the mutant monsters, the mutants of the past had probably been a little weaker.

Weren’t they? Now, there were mutants that could single-handedly kill a knight order. How could one human face *all* of that? Therefore, it was inevitable that the mutant monsters were stronger now than in the past, and Leos was able to deal with them solo in the past because the mutants were in a weaker state. Or so he had theorized. The Imperial Palace, in fact, also assumed this to be true.

‘The Imperial Palace was focusing on the wrong thing from the start.’

The Emperor of the Peren Empire had only spoken of needing Leos to seal the upper-level Red Gate. But, in Paron’s eyes, that wasn’t it. Leos was needed for demon extermination itself.

Which meant that, in the current Red Gate situation, the value of one person, Leos, was far greater than that of several knight orders.

‘To have driven a man like that away by their own hand…’

It was said that Leos had been ousted from his Gatekeeper position due to the machinations of Belin, of the Imperial Shadow Squad. Paron felt sympathy for them. The more Leos’s abilities were revealed, the more the Emperor’s fury would be uncontrollable.

‘He himself ordered their dismissal, yet he’ll still throw a tantrum, asking why they carried out his order without investigating properly, because that’s the kind of bug the current Emperor is.’

Thinking this, Paron gazed at Leos.

“Shouldn’t we help him?”

“Do you think he needs help? And, Leos said earlier, stay and guard this path. Said he wouldn’t let us live if anyone passed through here, didn’t he?”

“Why are we here…?”

“Leos’s colleagues, they’re in that bunker back there. Probably worried the executioners might move on them. So, we’re here to protect them. Make sure not a single one gets out. Oh, and of course, if Leos gets even a scratch, we rush in and back him up.”

Paron felt his palms go clammy for a split second.

[If the enemy crosses this path, I won’t let it stand.]

It was just a figure of speech to emphasize, but his “I won’t let it stand” felt impossibly heavy.

*

Leos stood in the empty lot, facing the enemy. About ten of them were left, and among them was Alik, his legs and arms no longer working properly.

Leos looked at them and said,

“You said sacrificing the few for the many was unavoidable.”

Alik, without even trying to staunch the blood pouring from him, hobbled towards Leos, answering,

“Yes, it’s natural for the few to be sacrificed for the sake of the many.”

Leos grinned and said,

“A cause is such a nice-sounding word. But why is it that the ones who always spout that kind of thing are never among the few?”

“…?”

“I’ve never seen anyone who preaches sacrificing for a cause actually sacrifice themselves. Most of them are the types who go ballistic to survive when they find themselves among the few.”

“That’s because you have a narrow way of thinking. Biased toward egoism, considering only your own safety.”

“Ah…”

Leos sighed and gestured towards Alik’s men.

“Each time you kill one of your men with your own hands, I’ll seal one Red Gate.”

“What are you talking about…?”

“It’s exactly as I said. Sacrifice for the greater good. Can you act the same way even if your subordinates are the ones sacrificed?”

“It’s not a difficult thing. If you swear to keep your promise.”

The surrounding subordinates trembled, looking at Alik. Their eyes seemed to ask if he really would sacrifice them. Alik raised his sword resolutely.

“Swear it on an artifact. If you do, I’ll kill you right away.”

Leos, as if waiting for it, this time made an offer to the lackeys.

“If you kill that commander, I will seal twenty Red Gates. Kill him and I will swear it using an artifact.”

“How can we trust your word?”

One of the enforcers questioned, and Leos spoke, swinging his chain sword.

“Do you have a choice? I can kill all of you right here, right now. Whether my words are true or false, you are in no position to argue them.”

In an instant, the lackeys tightened their grip on their swords and looked at Alik. Alik retreated, shouting.

“Sh…shit…what are you doing! Tr…Treason! This is treason!”

“Commander. Even if we all die, we can only seal twelve Red Gates. But if the commander dies, we can seal twenty Red Gates. Considering the greater good, it is more righteous for the commander to die.”

“D…don’t talk bullshit!”

Alik swung his sword wildly, shouting.

“Come closer and I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!”

Leos dropped his chain sword on the ground, and, holding a throwing dart in his hand, walked slowly towards Alik, whispering.

“See, even you struggle like that. Why? You said the few should be sacrificed for the many, but it can’t be you? Does that change your belief then?”

As if by prior agreement, the subordinates did not stop Leos from walking towards Alik. Leos stood right in front of Alik, aiming the thin dart at him, and spoke.

“I despise narrow-minded people like you. And one more thing. Don’t struggle to beg for your life.”

“…”

“Because I’ve never let a piece of shit like you live before, not even once.”