**Chapter 36: Because of Shaya, Everyone Will Remember That Minute**
“Is this your strategy?”
Angelica propped herself up on the ground, looking quite fragile as she lay there, her originally platinum hair stained with some dust, appearing quite disheveled.
However, her beautiful eyes revealed a hint of amusement as she watched the tall figure before her.
Just a moment ago, under the attack of the Mountain Giant, the entire arena seemed to be destroyed as if it had been struck by falling meteors, except for this small area.
And Shaya had once again used [Veil of Concealment] to sneak to a safe place, which was the small section of the arena where she was located, now standing not far from her with his back to Angelica.
“?”
Shaya turned his head and gave her a look as if she were an idiot, not understanding what the other party was saying.
“Are you not thinking that if you stand close to the summoner’s body, it would make her hesitant to attack?” Angelica sneered, slowly pushing herself up with her hands, “You may as well try, and see if the Mountain Giant will attack here.”
“I will never dishonor the Algia surname.”
In Angelica’s view, Shaya’s current actions were just using the Mountain Giant’s area attacks and its difficulty in control to coerce her into ending the summon.
Otherwise, in her current weakened state where she couldn’t move, the two would die together under the Mountain Giant’s fist.
Seeing her self-righteous and overwhelmed expression, Shaya didn’t even turn his head, “You’re overthinking.”
Still stubborn.
From just now until now, Shaya hadn’t launched a single effective attack, which just proved that he had no countermeasure for this situation.
Angelica thought confidently.
Although the entire process had been a bit bumpy and had shown others a less dignified side of her, after today, she would still be that high-and-mighty young lady.
And Shaya would return to Landy City in disgrace, spending the rest of his life in that rundown countryside.
Perhaps one day in the future, she would pass by there as the heir of the Algia family and might stop by to visit the boy who once caused her defeat in the arena.
But this world is ultimately controlled by the final victor.
Thinking of this, Angelica couldn’t help but sneer.
“Give up.” She waved away the dust from her hair, staring at Shaya’s back, “This is just a duel, do you really want to bet your life against mine?”
“Boom…”
Accompanied by successive loud noises and tremors, the Mountain Giant turned around and slowly walked towards the position where Shaya and Angelica were located.
The glowing red single eye once again locked onto its target.
A deep shadow descended from the sky, enveloping Shaya within it, just like that persistent shadow of death surrounding him.
“Bet my life?” Shaya chuckled, as if he had heard something ridiculous, “I’m afraid you’re not worthy.”
If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t reveal the miracle of coming back to life in front of such a large audience, Shaya would have long since defeated this Mountain Giant.
Upon hearing this, Angelica’s expression darkened, and just as she was about to retort, Shaya interrupted her with another phrase.
“Also, before the battle is over, keep your mouth shut. From just now until now, I have a hundred ways to deal with you, you disgusting bitch. The only reason I haven’t done it is that I want to conclude this duel perfectly.”
“I want to achieve an undisputed victory, making you and your kind… accept defeat wholeheartedly.”
Shaya stared at the approaching behemoth, softly speaking.
The disproportionate size difference made him seem as tiny as an ant.
At that moment.
“Kid, listen up!”
“The Mountain Giant’s fatal weakness is its single eye, provided you can inflict damage comparable to that of an Extraordinary Knight!”
At the edge of the arena, Shaya clearly heard his mentor Sital’s shout. After a moment of silence, a smile crept onto his lips.
The moment of opportunity had finally arrived.
He raised his right hand and gave a thumbs-up with all his strength.
Then, while moving his limbs and joints, he slightly bent his body.
It was as if he was warming up for something.
“What a lunatic!” Angelica’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at Shaya’s back, then openly laughed mockingly, “Do you really think you can inflict fatal damage to a Mountain Giant at the level of an Extraordinary Knight?”
“This is the funniest joke I’ve heard so far!”
However, Shaya ignored her ridicule, moving his body while accessing the system.
The stamina section displayed a staggering 109 points.
It had been said before that even quantifying the strength of a three-star and four-star Grand Knight to a value would only be around 80 points, and Shaya far exceeded this range.
Based on his estimates, a five-star Grand Knight would have stamina of around 100 points at most.
Although Shaya’s level had not yet met the standard, the unique abilities and changes of an Extraordinary Knight could not yet manifest within him, but once his experience points reached the required level, he had a high possibility of directly advancing.
So… comparable strength to an Extraordinary Knight?
It was not impossible.
However, to inflict fatal damage on the Mountain Giant, a bit more heat was needed.
At that moment, Shaya felt a fire raging inside him.
The imposing shadow of the Mountain Giant fell before him, accompanied by the gusts of wind it created while moving, causing his black hair to flutter.
He tilted his head, meeting the gaze of the single eye filled with murderous intent.
Seemingly displeased that an ant was looking up at it like this, the Mountain Giant let out an earth-shattering roar, its enormous stone arm raised high.
In the next second, it unleashed a whirlwind-like wave of energy, crashing down like a falling meteor!
“Boom——！！！！！！”
The earth collapsed, and dust flew everywhere.
Amid the terrified and suppressed gazes from the stands, the phantom of the giant hand instantly covered the spot where Shaya was, engulfed in dust and debris.
…
“Not good!”
Learning that Shaya refused to end the battle, Headmaster Lucius, who had been anxiously watching the arena, saw the Mountain Giant swing its arm down and his pupils widened.
This was the seed of the academy for the next four years; how could he be killed here by a monster?
Moreover, he was just a small noble with no foundation—an ideal target for the faction-ridden Norton Academy.
Additionally, Headmaster Lucius personally admired the boy.
So at the moment the Mountain Giant swung its arm, Headmaster Lucius raised his arm, his bony fingers pointing toward the single eye at a distance, radiating a fantastical, brilliant glow.
Sorcery: Dimensional Annihilation Light!
Worried about affecting the neighboring innocent students, Headmaster Lucius deliberately controlled the output.
Even so, anyone hit by that beam would completely disappear from this world without a trace.
But just as the magic was about to be unleashed, Lucius suddenly felt a heaviness in his body, the previously smooth flow of magic becoming slightly sluggish. After pausing for half a second, the beam pierced through space and was launched.
Although it was merely a short half-second, it was enough for some people sitting on the other side to respond.
Sorceress Mevis stood up, her slender fingers gently snapping.
“Buzz——”
A door of nothingness, leading who knows where, instantaneously opened in the path of the Annihilation Light, swallowing the brilliant glow whole and intercepting the attack.
“How dare you!!!!!”
Headmaster Lucius was furious.
In terms of rank, although they were both Sorcerers, Headmaster Lucius’s realm was much higher than this newly promoted Sorceress.
He abruptly stood up and raised his hand as if he intended to confine Mevis and the surrounding space altogether.
In an instant, a deep starry sky slowly unfolded, seeping like quicksand around Mevis, making her body sink within it and unable to move.
A few breaths later, the figure dressed in a moon-white robe slowly vanished from the spot.
In a fit of rage, Headmaster Lucius had banished her to the starry realm!
Though it wouldn’t be fatal, it would still cost the other party a great deal to return to reality.
He had already enough reason to be wary of Mevis, but he hadn’t expected that someone would come to disrupt things at such a crucial moment!
With this thought, Headmaster Lucius’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he suppressed his anger, glancing sideways, only to find that the blond youth had unknowingly walked up beside him.
The previous sluggishness of magical power had also been affected by this leader of the Holy Radiance Knight Order.
“Are you representing Algia?”
Looking at the dust in the arena and the situation of Shaya, who was pinned under the arm of the Mountain Giant, Headmaster Lucius said in a deep voice.
The blond youth glanced at him, then returned his gaze to the arena.
The entire arena was in ruins, filled with sunken pits and cracks, like a wasteland trampled by a giant beast.
After a while, he calmly spoke, “I’m stopping you to prevent a knight from suffering regrets in this duel.”
“Just watch quietly, Headmaster, the outcome of this interesting duel may not be what you expect.”
…
“Cough, cough, cough——”
Angelica coughed as she waved away the dust before her, regaining her eyesight.
Facing the full force of the Mountain Giant’s attack was an entirely different experience from watching from the stands.
At the very least, she personally experienced that kind of shock.
As the dust gradually settled, a light blue barrier appeared around her, allowing her to survive the residual waves of the earlier attack thanks to its protective power.
The Mountain Giant’s giant hand was deeply embedded in the ground, and the area that had been attacked looked as if it had been bombarded by explosive magic—no longer resembling the original arena at all.
She raised her head and looked around, noticing that the entire audience had fallen silent.
Gone were the cheers and applause that were uniquely hers in the past.
Thanks to today’s battle, all her dignity and self-respect had been shattered by Shaya and then trampled onto the ground.
Staring at the scene of devastation before her, Angelica unexpectedly felt no joy or sense of achievement from winning.
Instead, a sense of relief inexplicably arose in her heart.
“It’s over…”
Angelica sighed lightly, swaying as she leaned against the wall, trying to stand up.
“Yes, it’s time to end it.”
A familiar voice suddenly emerged from the ruins.
Angelica’s face turned pale, as if struck by lightning.
She instinctively looked toward the source of the voice, her legs going weak as she slid down the wall, losing all her composure.
The giant figure, as enormous as a mountain, was trembling slightly.
The rocky hand was not deeply embedded into the already shattered arena but was hovering at a certain height, stuck in place, unable to lower even a fraction.
It was in a struggle with someone.
“N-No way…”
Angelica muttered, her dry lips moving, her eyes blankly watching the scene before her.
Crouching down, Shaya’s feet were deeply sunk into the hard ground, using only his hands to lift the disproportionately massive stone hand of the Mountain Giant.
Not only was he stopping it from descending, but with a slight trembling, he was pushing it upward!
In the previous battle, Shaya’s knight attire had completely been rendered useless, and now, in his current state of gathering strength, it was disintegrating into tattered cloth falling from his body.
His well-exercised slender figure was thus exposed to everyone’s sight.
Yet they had no mind to admire it.
At this moment, Shaya’s body emitted a faint red glow, with flame-like strange patterns extending from his back to his torso, limbs, and even his face, accompanied by a faint steam swirling around the surface of his body.
“Thump, thump, thump, thump…”
His strong heartbeat sounded like a drum, clearly audible to Angelica and the audience around them.
It was the prelude to some power about to explode.
Explosive fighting spirit.
“Boom——！！！！！！”
In the next moment, accompanied by a deafening sound akin to a steam boiler exploding, an immense pressure of wind, along with intense heat and steam, erupted from beneath the Mountain Giant’s palm!
The temperature within a dozen meters skyrocketed, countless whirlpool-like warm currents and steam clustering around Shaya and wildly spreading outward.
The momentum was unprecedentedly vast, sweeping across the entire arena like a tornado!
In an instant, the explosive force and sheer power sent the giant stone arm flying, and amidst the faint steam, Shaya—covered in strange red markings—stepped out from the fierce wind and airflow like a monster.
He clasped his fists, cracking his knuckles audibly, a smile playing on his lips.
His black hair billowed in the wind.
With the effect of [Explosive Fighting Spirit], Shaya’s power experienced an exponential surge; he felt more powerful than ever.
Even if he had been lacking in strength before, he was now definitely on par with the Mountain Giant.
Plus, with the Mountain Giant’s fatal weakness pointed out by Sital, Shaya undeniably possessed the “strongest spear” to break through the opponent!
Moments later, the audience was in an uproar!
They had long since lost track of how many times they had gasped in amazement today.
“No way…”
Sital was dumbfounded, staring at the scene in the arena, squeezing Rod’s thigh hard, only to see that he too wore a shocked expression.
“No way…”
Headmaster Lucius and Archbishop Edmund both rose to their feet, their elderly hearts struggling to keep pace.
“No way…”
Xivista and Deyora exchanged glances, covering their mouths in surprise, their eyes sparkling.
“No way…”
Including Selly and Efi, members of the Blood Rose Association and the secretly excited Tilius widened their eyes in disbelief.
“No way…”
Sergey knelt on the ground, spirit lost, having opened a betting game without permission, now burdened by debts worth thousands of gold coins due to the ongoing shocking reversals in the arena.
“No way…”
At this moment, not only those connected to Shaya or paying attention to him, but everyone present—the students and staff alike—could not help but show expressions of disbelief.
They clenched their fists tightly, instinctively standing up, feeling as if they were witnessing a piece of history.
Ten seconds remained.
Shaya sensed the explosive power rapidly dissipating within his body and calculated the time.
If he were to confront the Mountain Giant directly, it would be difficult to decide the outcome within a short time; this was part of why Shaya hadn’t activated [Explosive Fighting Spirit] earlier.
Now, having learned of its fatal weakness, ten seconds was more than enough.
Thus, under the watchful eyes of all, Shaya, covered with crimson markings, slightly bent down, his body low, like a fierce beast ready to pounce.
The surrounding airflow began to gather slowly around him.
“You’re right; this ridiculous farce that has been disguised as fairness and justice is about to end,” he lowered his head, a look of relief crossing his face, “Damn you, Sorcerer.”
“Bang——”
With a loud explosion, the already sunken ground collapsed again, spider-web-like cracks rapidly spreading out in all directions, even causing the walls at the edge of the arena to peel away!
And Shaya, who had been standing on the ground, leaped high as if teleporting, propelled by an incredibly strong sonic boom.
At this moment, he looked down upon the Mountain Giant.
At this moment, his mind was free of distractions.
At this moment, the only thing he had to do was one thing.
“Damn you… Grand Noble!!!”
The 16-year-old boy, having seen through the crummy nature of this world, released a defiant roar and howl.
With a twist of his body, he clenched his fist.
Countless bewildered eyes focused on this moment.
Time seemed to freeze at this instant.
It was one minute before 3 PM on July 16, 1496 A.R.
Because of Shaya, everyone would remember that minute.
“Boom————————————！！！！！！”
