Chapter 1354: 112. The Fall of the Top Student

"This is the strongest student of that Jerome's classroom or whatever?"

Ariel moved her small foot away from Adno's head and curled her lips in disdain.

"He couldn't even take three punches from me. He's so weak it's almost frightening."

And someone this weak had actually dared to slander her by calling her flat-chested?

Seriously, the more weak and ignorant people were in this world, the more arrogant they seemed to become.

Besides, how was she flat? After all the tireless effort she had put in during this period, there was obviously already a little bit of a curve, okay!

"I also think it's a little strange."

Muen rubbed his chin and said in confusion, "I thought this battle would be a little more difficult. I even told you to be careful just now, but in the end... that's it?"

According to his guess, within a school... no, within a classroom, it was perfectly normal for some people to be stronger and some weaker.

That Habakaya might have gotten in through connections or some other method and merely had an impressive reputation without the substance to back it up.

But as a famous and prestigious classroom, and one that belonged to the Elemental School, the number one school in the Origin Tower, there should definitely be some extremely capable people among them, even people troublesome enough to make the two of them struggle. After all, as had already been said before, the Origin Tower was also an extremely competitive place.

Muen had even prepared himself for the possibility that Ariel might fall into a hard battle. If that happened, he was going to use her favorite panini cake to motivate her and make her explode with hidden potential or something.

But he hadn't expected that the so-called strongest student in Jerome's classroom would only be at this level?

Leaving aside the fact that his magical realm had only just reached the Radiant Rank, as a mage, before fighting he had actually made absolutely no preparations whatsoever, and had even taken the initiative to close the distance that much... What difference was there between that and directly offering his face to Ariel's fist?

Completely unprofessional!

"He was completely looking down on warriors... no, looking down on our excellent Enhancement Magic!"

"Could it be that we got the wrong person?"

"Doesn't seem like it. The audience looks pretty shocked."

A gentle breeze drifted past. All was silent.

The crowd had also fallen completely still by now. The only sounds gradually rising were faint noises that almost seemed like people's jaws dislocating.

Clearly, in the eyes of the spectators, what had just happened had also completely exceeded their expectations.

"Hey, are you really the strongest student in your classroom?"

Ariel crouched down, rested her little chin in her hands, and smiled as adorably and brilliantly as a flower.

Adno, however, looked as though he had seen some demon crawl straight out of hell. His whole body trembled as he hurriedly backed away.

"Y-yes, that's right. I'm the strongest student in our classroom. Even that Habakaya couldn't last a single exchange against me. But... but don't get arrogant. Even if I lost, the foundation of our classroom isn't something that—"

"Hm?"

"I'm terribly sorry. I was too arrogant. Please spare me!"

"That's more like it."

Ariel gave one last glance at the guy sprawled on the ground, who had lost even his dignity along with the fight, and completely lost interest in him.

Hadn't she merely accidentally dislocated one-third of the bones in his entire body and then put them back into place?

Was there really any need to cry like this over something like that?

Not manly at all.

"What do we do next?"

"Hang him up too. As a promotional banner for our Enhancement School, he looks like he'll work much better than this Habakaya guy."

"Got it."

Ariel pulled out a rope and, with a few quick motions, tied Adno up like a mummy.

The latter tried to make one final struggle, but it was completely useless. After Ariel landed a straight punch to his abdomen, he finally chose obedience and even voluntarily placed both hands against his sides to make it easier for Ariel to bind him.

Very soon, a new "caterpillar" was hoisted upside down just like that.

Adno instinctively twisted around. The lingering severe pain throughout his body made him extremely uncomfortable.

But what tormented him even more were the astonished gazes from all around, stabbing directly into him like needles.

"Damn it... damn it... stop looking!"

To prevent him from making noise, Adno's mouth had also been gagged, so he could only scream inwardly while wriggling his body, doing his best to move himself toward the side of the statue, where people would have more difficulty seeing him.

Then, during one of his turns, he naturally met another person's gaze.

A familiar gaze.

A familiar person.

And yet it contained an expression that was completely unfamiliar to him, one he could not understand.

It was Habakaya.

...Just a few minutes ago, he had still been looking down on this guy from above, despising him, treating him with contempt.

And yet now, the two of them had already arrived at the same position.

From looking down...

To seeing each other eye to eye.

It was like a proud Valkyrie who had originally come, with pity and disdain in her heart, to rescue those depraved women trapped deep inside a goblin cave, only to turn around and realize... that she too had already become one of them. Under certain special circumstances, she had "met" them once again, and in the most humiliating state possible, they "looked at each other."

Habakaya narrowed his eyes, carrying a faint trace of mockery and ridicule.

Along with the satisfaction of saying, "Someone as arrogant as you actually ended up like this too... Turns out we're all the same."

Adno was overwhelmed with shame and fury and hurriedly moved his gaze away.

But he knew that doing so was completely useless.

In that instant, everything had changed. Many things...

Could never go back to the way they had been.

"What are those two flirting with their eyes for?"

"No idea. Maybe they're expressing the grief and sympathy of companions who have both fallen into demonic hands."

Muen couldn't be bothered to care about what these guys were thinking right now. Taking advantage of the fact that the number of people hanging from the statue had increased, he hurriedly made the Enhancement School emblem behind him shine even brighter.

Under that dazzling radiance, even the sun seemed to dim slightly. Nearly half the city could see it clearly.

"With this, surely someone should finally be willing to join my Enhancement School!"

Muen's confidence rose once again.

"Hard to say." Ariel shrugged.

"What's hard to say about it?"

According to the information they had obtained from Habakaya earlier, being able to defeat this Adno already meant that one had to belong to a fairly strong classroom.

And with how effortlessly Ariel had performed, the fact that the current Enhancement School was no longer the Enhancement School of the past should also have been demonstrated more than clearly enough.

He refused to believe that even after all this, there still wouldn't be anyone willing to—

"Sir, you've crossed the line."

Yet at that moment, a light sigh effortlessly shattered the wonderful picture forming in Muen's mind.

The corner of his mouth twitched. He slowly raised his head and discovered that, at some unknown point, a white-haired old man had appeared in the middle of the open space in the square.

The old man's figure was thin and withered, which made the robe on his body appear especially broad. When a fierce wind blew from some unknown direction, it billowed and snapped like a black battle flag.

There was clearly no terrifying aura radiating from him, yet the instant this old man appeared, everyone around him felt their hearts sink, as though a great mountain had descended invisibly and was pressing down upon them.

"It's Master Jerome!"

Cries of shock erupted through the extreme stillness and silence.

Among the surrounding crowd, there truly had already been people who were tempted by the current Enhancement School. After all, the power Ariel had demonstrated just now had already exceeded the level of many ordinary classrooms.

But the instant this old man appeared, those people withdrew again at nearly ten times the speed, as though they were terrified that the old man might discover that, just moments earlier, they had actually entertained such thoughts.

After all, this master's narrow-mindedness was extremely famous throughout the entire Origin Tower.

And just as famous...

Was his unfathomably powerful strength, which ranked at least among the top three even among all the masters.

"I didn't expect they would actually alarm this master."

The spectators who had originally been impressed and astonished by the Enhancement School now felt nothing but pity.

Provoking his students was one thing. But to provoke Master Jerome himself into personally taking action...

These people were probably finished too.

What a pity.

Muen, however, didn't sense that pity at all. Even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. He silently turned his head and looked at Ariel beside him.

"See? I told you it wouldn't be that simple."

Ariel wore a completely matter-of-fact expression.

"Just now, we beat up the small fry, so the big one came. Now we've beaten up the big one, so naturally the old one has to come next. Normally, this is where the main event starts!"

"..."

Muen's vision went dark.

It was just like a beautiful girl wearing black thigh-high stockings and boots for three days straight taking them off in front of him and displaying her delicate bare feet...

That smell...

Powerful! Way too powerful!