The thought that the attack had succeeded flashed through my mind.
However, just before the whip could make contact, Caldrun twisted his body and narrowly avoided it.
‘Well… it can’t be helped. Even if it is [Dragon Fear], it’s currently downgraded to Grade C!’
Still, looking at it from another perspective, it was impressive.
Despite being only a Grade C skill, it had managed to stiffen the body of someone as skilled as Caldrun for even a moment.
The name [Dragon Fear] certainly lived up to its reputation.
Moreover, after evading the whip, Caldrun couldn’t immediately rush at me.
He kicked off the ground, leaped back, and raised his sword, taking a defensive stance on his own.
Perhaps dodging my whip wasn’t a conscious move, but an unconscious reflex born from his accumulated combat experience.
Thinking this triggered my [Character Analysis] skill.
Within the slowed flow of time, I once again saw Caldrun’s lips twitching.
It seemed like he wanted to praise Yor’s ability, and for a second, I considered listening.
‘Stopping a duel midway once is enough.’
Caldrun seemed to have reached the same conclusion, as he tightly pressed his lips together and charged toward me again.
I retreated while repeatedly swinging my whip.
I followed his movements with my eyes, calculating where he would be when the momentum concentrated at the tip of the whip reached its maximum speed.
But once again, the attack failed to land.
Caldrun uncannily sensed the timing of each strike, either backing off briefly before rushing back in or parrying the whip with his sword as he steadily closed the distance.
Eventually, just as I came within his sword’s range, a flurry of translucent, sky-blue arrows created by Yor’s condensed Aether poured down toward Caldrun like a torrential rain.
Caldrun gave up on his attack and chose to evade.
He created a sheet of ice on the floor and slid across it quickly to avoid the rain of arrows.
Half of the Aether arrows, which possessed physical force, slammed into the ice and shattered it into pieces, while the other half changed direction and flew toward Caldrun again.
Judging by the movements of the arrows, it didn’t seem like he was predicting the opponent’s actions; rather, he was just firing them haphazardly.
Nevertheless, Caldrun had to focus entirely on defense.
The arrows he dodged would suddenly change form to grab his hands and feet or turn around to attack him once more.
‘Besides, I’m not just standing here watching.’
Caldrun parried as many incoming arrows as possible and neutralized those that stuck to him with his own Aether.
At the same time, he managed to respond to the whip being swung repeatedly.
As he did so, he wore a satisfied smile, just like when he had dueled Reysir.
‘Drawing that kind of reaction from Caldrun must be entirely thanks to Yor.’
Currently, Yor’s combat ability could be considered an unpolished gem.
His potential was immense, but he was still crude and lacked refinement.
Caldrun quickly figured out Yor’s attack pattern and closed the distance once more.
Since Yor was continuously attacking while crafting new arrows, he couldn’t approach as quickly as before.
Despite that, I couldn’t maintain the proper distance.
‘Does my body feel sluggish…? The whip’s path also feels slightly off from my intended trajectory…!’
I noticed my exhaled breath spreading out in a white mist.
Only then did I feel my skin stinging and my hands trembling slightly.
I hadn’t noticed the drop in temperature because I was so focused on the fight.
Now that I was aware of it, the sensation of the biting cold piercing my skin became vivid.
My [Character Analysis] skill almost deactivated, but I held on.
‘The professor wouldn’t freeze a student to death, surely!’
In the first place, freezing someone to death who was constantly moving and generating heat was impossible with Caldrun’s current level of ability.
I figured such a thing would only be possible if his skill evolved to EX-grade.
Thus, I tried my best to ignore the cold and continued swinging the whip while retreating from the approaching Caldrun.
Then, at one point, I felt my body tilt backward unintentionally.
My left foot had slipped, failing to find firm purchase on the ground.
Despite my efforts to avoid the ice that had already been created, this happened, which meant Caldrun had just formed ice under my feet to create an opening for an attack.
‘Well, the distance has closed significantly, and the duel has dragged on thanks to Yor’s efforts. It makes sense that he’d think it’s time to wrap things up!’
However, I couldn’t just let myself be defeated so easily.
To avoid being judged as a master whose abilities fell too far behind his Familiar, I had to show him something.
I coated my left hand in Aether and struck the ice hard, shattering it.
Then, pushing off the solid floor to lift my body, I added rotational force to my Aether-coated right foot and delivered a powerful kick upward.
I had looked up various martial arts videos in the past to use as references for writing combat scenes, and this move was an attempt to mimic a Capoeira kick.
It was my first time trying it, so the movement wasn’t smooth.
However, thanks to the experience of performing all sorts of acrobatic movements in Dagger Arts lectures and the strength boost from the buff, I somehow managed to succeed.
‘Though it wasn’t a successful hit…’
Caldrun, who had closed the distance to finish the duel, took a step back to avoid the kick.
Taking advantage of that gap, I used the rotational force of the kick to straighten my body, pulled a dagger from my Inventory, and threw it.
While Caldrun parried the dagger, I lunged at him and swung another newly drawn dagger.
I knew that if I tried to run away and widen the distance, he would just catch up immediately.
I decided it was better to aim for the element of surprise.
But my opponent was a powerhouse who had even defeated the Original Protagonist.
He snatched my wrist with his free hand and pulled, simultaneously raising his knee.
It was clearly a knee-kick.
‘I can’t dodge this.’
Getting hit slowly wasn’t going to make it hurt less, so I turned off [Character Analysis].
Immediately, a heavy pain slammed into my abdomen.
My breath was momentarily taken away, and a cough escaped my lips.
“To be able to fight to this extent while possessing abilities specialized for support, you are quite something,” Caldrun said, pointing his sword at my throat.
Being told I was “quite something for a supporter” was essentially the same as saying I was mediocre as a combatant.
Therefore, even though I knew he meant it as a compliment, it didn’t feel like one at all.
‘I would have been happier if he had praised Yor’s ability instead…’
With that thought in mind, I replied to the professor.
“Ah, yes…”
“…I was praising you for a job well done.”
“Yes, I know.”
“…”
Was he bothered by what Liolikin said earlier about him having no talent for giving compliments?
When I gave a lukewarm reaction, Caldrun went out of his way to clarify that his words were meant to be praise.
But hearing that didn’t suddenly make gratitude well up in my heart.
I just wondered what he wanted me to do about it.
“You’re not holding a grudge because of that last blow, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Duels are meant to be conducted while taking painful hits. That way, you can continue fighting in real combat without your mind clouding due to pain.”
“I am aware.”
I suppose he thought I was upset because I had never been hit this hard before, given that this body belonged to a young master from a prestigious family.
The real Karbaldr might never have been hit by anyone, but ‘I’ was different.
Although I had coughed reflexively, the pain wasn’t so severe that I couldn’t straighten my back.
“As you said, Professor, it’s natural to get hit during a duel, and my body isn’t particularly damaged. Even if I were seriously injured, wouldn’t it be enough to just receive treatment? I am not so narrow-minded as to harbor resentment over something that happened during a duel.”
I stood up straight and looked Caldrun directly in the eyes as I made my case.
Realizing he had misunderstood, Caldrun wore an awkward expression.
“I see. My apologies for the misunderstanding.”
“It’s fine. Then, I will return to my seat.”
“…Go ahead.”
Once I finished my conversation with Caldrun, Yor called out to me with a myaa.
He was holding several daggers in his small paws.
It seemed he had retrieved the ones that had fallen to the floor while I was busy.
“Good job.”
As I thanked him for picking up the daggers, I lightly stroked Yor’s head and back, adding a word of praise for a job well done in his first duel.
Of course, I didn’t intend to end my thoughts on the baby dragon’s first duel with just this one sentence.
‘I’ll give him plenty of praise when we get back to the dormitory!’
With that resolution, I packed the daggers into my Inventory, and then Yor’s status caught my eye.
Not only had he consumed a significant amount of Aether, but he must have also exhausted quite a bit of mental strength from condensing and shaping it.
‘Is it because his Aether capacity is so large and his Spirit stat is high…?’
Unlike me, who felt sluggish and lacked energy, he looked perfectly fine.
Despite the cold that seeped into my bones, he showed no sign of feeling the chill at all.
‘If only my skills were better… I might have been able to press the advantage and seize victory before Caldrun adapted to Yor’s attacks.’
I sat down, engraving the thought that I needed to work harder into my mind.
“Lord Yor was, as expected of Lord Yor, amazing. And you fought well too, Lord Karbaldr. Hard work! If it were me, I would have just fallen when I slipped. To throw a kick in that situation…!”
Liolikin’s noisy praise was exactly what I had expected.
Moreover, since it was praise for an attack that failed, it didn’t really resonate with me.
“That’s right, it was a truly wonderful duel. More importantly, it must be freezing. Hurry and take something out of your Inventory to wear before you catch a cold. If you don’t have anything, ask Reysir to lend you something. This blanket I’m using was also lent to me by Reysir.”
Unlike Liolikin, whose desire to praise was as large as his desire to be praised, Vigdis was more concerned about my health.
Looking around after hearing her words, I saw that everyone was wrapped in cloaks or blankets.
The Demonic Realms I had personally experienced so far had no temperature changes, but some Demonic Realms were known to be extremely cold or hot.
That was why I had packed supplies for extreme cold in my Inventory.
Just as I was about to pull a blanket out of my Inventory—
“Cover yourself with this first, and put the one you just took out on top of it.”
As always, Reysir was being meddlesome, trying to wrap a blanket warmed by his own body heat around my shoulders, but—
“It’s unnecessary kindness.”
—I declined.
Because what I had pulled out wasn’t just a regular blanket; it was an Aether Heating Blanket.
I pointedly pressed the power button on the blanket.
Reysir felt the blanket, which had instantly become warm, and wore an embarrassed expression.
“You carry things like this around…?”
“You never know when you’ll be swept into a Demonic Realm, and you don’t know what the environment there will be like. Isn’t that why you carry several blankets as well?”
“That’s true… but your preparedness is a step above mine.”
This wasn’t a difference in preparedness so much as a difference in capital, but it would be rude to say that.
So, as I always did, I ended the conversation with a “Hmph!” sound.