Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Rumble——

Roan purposely chose the highly visible black mana, with the attitude of letting them watch the principle if they wanted to.

‘If they don’t know the principle hidden in this barbell, they won’t be able to lift it.’

And instead of trying to lift the barbell right away, he quickly infused black mana into the rocks on both sides.

Surprisingly, unlike the appearance that looked like an ordinary rock, changing holy power was hidden inside from moment to moment.

This special barbell did not move unless the points were quickly suppressed in accordance with the changes in that holy power.

If Gulba’s defensive technique was a method of researching how to move the energy inside one’s body well,

this barbell was also a device in which the essence of Gulba’s offensive technique was hidden.

…Of course, it was not made by Gulba.

Anyway.

Click— click—

Roan quickly suppressed the holy power inside the barbell.

The speed was enough to surprise even Roan himself.

‘…Was it originally this easy?’

Since it was a matter of using mana, he had thought there would be some advantage,

but Roan’s black mana pounced toward the barbell like a ferocious beast hunting easy prey.

The barbell was bitten by the scruff of its neck in an instant and completely suppressed.

‘As expected, the talent stat is indeed a bully.’

Originally, one could only lift this special barbell after spending a considerable amount of time and effort to get used to its uniquely volatile movement.

However, Roan’s talent stat, which reached 100, completely ignored all of that process and achieved success.

The inside of the barbell became quiet, having been almost completely encroached upon by Roan’s black mana.

Confirming that situation, Roan finally reinforced his own muscles with black mana as well.

And then,

He hoisted it—!

He lightly lifted the giant barbell.

Even though it looked grand, the weight of the barbell itself was at a moderate level since it was somewhat hollow inside, enough for even Roan to lift.

Still, it was an excellent piece of training gear for simultaneously cultivating physical strength and the ability to penetrate the opponent’s defense.

—?!?!??!?!?!

At the unimaginable success, the students were utterly shocked and flipped out.

“R-Roan!”

“He lifted it!”

The same went for the friends watching from behind.

“Daarrrkkk!!! You are maaaagnificennnt!”

Gulba, who had been watching him with interest ever since Roan came forward, was also greatly pleased.

Rumble— rumble—

Every time he clapped his hands, thunder vibrated through the training ground.

“As expected of Dark! Dark is a warrior!”

Even then, as if unable to contain his excitement, he began doing flips in the air with all his might.

Thud— thud—

—Aaargh! Professor! I think there’s an earthquake!

Every time, hairline cracks would appear on the ground where Gulba stood.

Roan frowned slightly as he watched the wild fuss.

‘…I lifted it too quickly.’

It was a mistake that he had gotten excited because it was easier and more fun than expected.

He thought acting as calmly as possible would be the best course of action.

“It is nothing. It is an easy task once you know the trick.”

Roan returned to his spot after glossing over it like that.

—Did you hear what Dark said?

—Tsk, annoying jerk.

—He must have purposely waited for Trian and Garland to step forward.

Of course, he had to bear the resentment of the other students that arose as a result.

“Do not provoke Dark!”

“Yes, we lost fair and square!”

However, for some reason, Trian and Garland unexpectedly stepped forward to scold the students.

—As expected of Trian… A leader who admits defeat is cool.

—A man of character on a completely different level from Dark!

‘Should I really blast them with a wide-area curse spell…?’

Roan felt a surge of anger at this absurd situation.

While one person gets cursed at even after teaching how to use the barbell, another gets praised even after losing!

He only regretted that he had not yet filled his canteen with blood, so he could not unleash a filthy storm of blood.

Meanwhile, Sion, who had been watching closely since Roan grabbed the barbell, gasped.

“Ah! You have to put holy power into both sides of the barbell! Surely there is a device hidden inside?”

Indeed, it was observation skills that did not shame Sion’s talent stat.

Roan nodded and said,

“Yes. Do not try to reinforce only your bodies, but try putting holy power into both sides of the barbell. Then you will see the answer.”

“Oh! Yes, I’ll try that!”

“I will try too!”

Hearing Roan’s cryptic words, the friends came forward one after another.

Sure enough, when they put the holy power into the barbell instead of using it to reinforce their muscles, they felt that the stones on both sides were not ordinary.

“Uh… it feels like there is something there, but…”

However, they only felt a sensation of something moving rapidly, and they had no idea what they should do with it.

“Kadan, do you think you know something?”

“Huh? Ah, Trian. I’m not sure.”

“Hmm…”

Trian and Garland, who had overheard Roan’s words, tried applying strength again, but their situation was the same.

“Haylik, what about you?”

“Not sure…”

“…What? A sudden challenge to a duel?”

“He said he’s not sure.”

“Ah, right.”

After talking among themselves for a moment, they eventually turned back to Roan, who was watching them.

‘How did that guy do it?’

“Me too! I want to try too!”

Meanwhile, Demona, who had stayed far away out of fear of Professor Gulba, also got excited at the sight and rushed toward the pile of barbells.

And then she returned, looking dejected.

“It’s too heavy… I won’t lift it…”

“I told you, it’s not because it’s heavy that you can’t lift it.”

Roan wondered if Demona had even properly listened to his explanation.

“But how well does Professor Gulba use holy power? He lifted more than ten barbells.”

Demona turned to Gulba with a dumbfounded look.

Gulba was still demonstrating how to lift the barbells to the students.

“Lift! Lower! Lift! Lower! Can you not do it?”

—We can’t…

Although it was a problem that he was only showing demonstrations,

at Demona’s question, the students reacted as if they had only just realized it.

—That’s true.

—Professor Gulba uses holy power that well?

—I thought he was just an ignorant islander…

—I feel sorry for no reason…

‘It is indeed something to feel sorry for if you thought that way, isn’t it?’

Roan was dumbfounded by the overly honest reflections of the students.

Even so, wasn’t it a bit too much to say they thought he was an ignorant islander right in front of the professor?

Anyway, the students felt a touching emotion, thinking Gulba had mastered holy power unlike how he looked(?).

Indeed, it seems not just anyone can be a professor!

At that moment, Sion tilted her head and asked,

“It doesn’t seem like Professor Gulba is using holy power right now. Is that not so?”

“You saw correctly.”

Roan nodded.

—What? He’s not using holy power?

—He really was just an ignorant islander.

Putting aside the students’ nonsense,

of course, it wasn’t as if one had to unlock it only with holy power like Roan, but Gulba was slightly different.

“Then…?”

When Sion asked curiously, Roan answered calmly,

“He’s just lifting it because he is strong.”

““…””

Sion and Demona were simultaneously lost for words.

In other words, he was lifting several barbells that were designed not to be lifted unless their weak points were attacked with holy power, relying entirely on strength alone.

‘Although I said you can’t lift it just by blindly using strength, strength is relative.’

But to Roan, it was a perfectly natural truth.

In God and Devil, there was no such thing as an absolute, fixed strategy.

There were only divisions of easy paths, difficult paths, and paths carved out where none existed.

As long as one had the ability to back it up in any manner, it could be solved.

Even if it differed from the developer’s intention, success was all that mattered.

Gulba’s superhuman physical strength was of that kind.

Hum—

A similar example is your monstrous talent for black magic.

The False Divinity quietly chimed in.

***

After some time passed, other students also began to succeed one by one.

“Uh… did it work?”

“Wow, Sion, you are amazing!”

“S-Still, it’s quite heavy…?”

‘As expected, her holy power talent is greater than her physical strength.’

Sion was the first, and after that, the order did not differ much from Roan’s expectations.

The pile of barbells that had been stacked like a mountain gradually decreased.

Roan turned to his side with a slightly annoyed look and said,

“Demona, shouldn’t you be bringing one over soon too?”

Naturally, Demona was there.

Even at Roan’s remark, Demona was perfectly at ease.

“It’s fine~ those heavy barbells aren’t my style.”

“I told you, it’s not about being heavy…”

“And I think it’ll be fine if I just wait a little longer?”

“?”

Roan tilted his head, not knowing what Demona was talking about.

However, it did not take very long to understand what she meant.

—It worked! It worked!

With the exception of Demona, even the last student lifted their barbell and returned to their spot.

Gulba lifted the last remaining barbell.

“Demona! Weak! Attend Gulba’s class diligently!”

Then he moved it in front of Demona.

“Thank you! Demona! Will attend class diligently!”

“Doesn’t matter if you are bad at it! Just work hard!”

Demona and Gulba were perfectly in sync.

Roan watched that scene with a dumbfounded look.

‘It is also a problem if a professor is too nice!’

If a student doesn’t fetch the training gear, he should slap them with a fine. Does it make sense for the professor to deliver it himself?

Because Roan was someone who always used information to achieve his goals first, he had failed to predict this reverse thinking(?) of Demona’s.

‘Is the answer really to just play shameless like her?’

Roan wished someone would bring a barbell to him like that too.

Thud—

“??”

And Gulba brought a barbell to Roan too, just like his wish.

“Dark! Lifts barbells well! Do twice as difficult barbell!”

…It was a special barbell with rocks on both sides that were about twice as large as the other students’ barbells.

—Tsk, only Dark gets special treatment again.

—To think he even seduced the innocent Professor Gulba…

The students glared at Roan with eyes full of envy and jealousy.

“Do you want to do it?”

—Heave-ho!

—Whew, this is harder than I thought?

However, when Roan met their glares and retorted, they hurriedly pretended to be busy lifting their own barbells, like the petty Akerandir students they were.

“Students! Do barbells five times! When done, do five more times! When that is done, do five more times!”

‘‘‘It just means we have to keep doing it…’’’

Still, the students groaned as they gripped the barbells they had brought.

Although they had all managed to bring them this far, performing continuous exercise with them was a different story.

Because even if they unlocked the barbell once, it would run wild again if they gave it even a slight opening.

They had to completely dominate the interior like Roan, or quickly unlock it again each time.

‘Around here, they would roughly split into power types, speed types, and all-rounder types, but that is not something to worry about right now.’

Thump—

—Ugh!

Thump—

—I dropped it again!

Far from finding out their combat types, students who managed to lift it once but dropped it without completing five reps after barely holding on for a moment popped up left and right.

On the other hand, Roan…

‘It’s manageable, but I should pace myself.’

He felt no great difficulty even with the new barbell Gulba had brought.

In truth, as long as one knew the knack of suppressing it, it didn’t really matter if it became twice as difficult.

…Of course, it was largely because Roan’s talent and black mana were too outstanding.

At any rate, Roan decided to lift and set down the barbell moderately while pretending it was somewhat difficult and heavy.

—L-Look at that… Dark even lifts something like that?

—Hey, is he called the great demon king for nothing?

Though even that much was enough to terrify the students.