Chapter 275: Dancing With Gorilla!

They say life offers different experiences to everyone every once in a while. I only came to understand that those experiences aren’t necessarily pleasant as I forced myself to dodge yet another attack from the berserk Gorilla behind me.

I know wild animals are supposed to be dangerous but why the hell is this one wearing an elegant pink noble dress as if it’s cosplaying an anime character?

The culprit behind my current misery was Lillith.

That old hag had dragged me away the moment I reached my dorm and thrown me in front of this Gorilla.

At first, it looked calm and noble, displaying etiquette that far surpassed some of the nobles I had met but the moment Lillith slapped a mana-suppression bracelet onto my wrists and gave it some secret signal... That Gorilla went out of control and started attacking me as if I had personally offended its seven generations.

"Hey, Lillith... I can’t run anymore. Can we take a break?"

I said, huffing from exhaustion. I had been running for almost an hour now, but Lillith, that bitch, didn’t even reply.

Hell, I couldn’t even see her anymore.

Had she left me here alone to suffer?!

I thought as I jumped over the leg sweep the Gorilla had just thrown at me. For something that looked so brutish and barbaric, this Gorilla strangely used bizarre movements.

It was almost as if the bastard was break-dancing.

But what I couldn’t understand was how the hell any of this was supposed to help me train in a new martial art. I even wondered if this was just Ashanvar’s way of making me suffer for his own amusement, but then again... why would he go this far?

As I was lost in thought, a paw came crashing into my ribs before I could dodge it. My body flew sideways and slammed into a tree with a loud thud. Splinters dug into my skin as I immediately looked toward the Gorilla, which was making its way toward me with a pleasant smile on its face.

Should I just break the mana-suppression chains and kill this bastard?

It wouldn’t be that difficult for me to break them with all my Myths and abilities. Hell, the chains only worked because I allowed them to.

But this was getting annoying now.

Then again, if I chose to break them, it would only make me even more interesting in Lillith’s eyes and that would just give her more reasons to torment me.

Ahhh, shit!

I let out a frustrated sigh and pushed myself up from the ground.

Fine! If you want to play it like this, I will show you how it’s done!

I stopped running and waited for that bastard Gorilla to come closer. I was sure Lillith would intervene if I was actually in danger, and even if she didn’t, I could always use my abilities to break free of the chains and kill this bastard.

But I wasn’t running anymore.

I looked into the Gorilla’s feral brown eyes as it pounded its chest with a loud roar before lunging at me on all fours.

The moment it got close, I jumped to the side. Its massive body shot past me and crashed into the tree behind me.

It immediately turned toward me, its eyes blazing with anger now as it lunged again but by then, I had already scooped up a handful of sand from the ground and hurled it straight at its eyes.

It immediately brought a hand up to shield its eyes on instinct. I used that brief opening to close the distance between us and drove a punch into its abdomen.

The bastard barely even flinched.

Its body moved instantly, throwing a punch at me in retaliation but I bent backward and flipped away, my foot snapping upward to kick it square in the chin.

It let out a roar and beat its chest in anger once again before lunging at me but before it could reach me, it suddenly froze as a pink-haired woman appeared in front of it out of nowhere.

"That’s it for today! You may go now. We will be back tomorrow, so make sure to prepare yourself."

Lillith ordered the Gorilla and it nodded as if understanding her command before turning around and leaving.

Then she turned toward me.

"That was pathetic, Rael."

Those were the first words out of her mouth.

"I don’t know what the Demon King has been teaching you but it certainly wasn’t whatever you showed today. He instructed me to strictly watch you dance with the Gorilla, not fight against it."

She seemed serious, unlike her usual self.

"And from what I have seen, all your fundamentals are a complete mess. Your body is incredibly flexible, and your movements are swift but your body... it moves differently. Tell me honestly, have you ever properly trained what you are capable of even once?"

"You aren’t even utilizing ten percent of the advantage that flexible body of yours gives you. Without mana, you were a sitting duck against a mere beast that couldn’t even use mana. How are you supposed to survive in this cruel world like this?"

I didn’t joke around this time because what she said was true. I had only trained in Voidpulse Martial Arts and even that was before coming to the academy.

Once I arrived here, I had stopped training altogether, focusing instead on my Cards of Arcana and VoidPulse Martial arts, which emphasized a more offensive and rigid style of combat.

But my body was different...

Thanks to my Trickster’s Physique, I could bend and twist it into angles that should have been impossible. So, I wasn’t utilising it well. I knew that and yet I ignored it, relying mostly on my Cards.

I knew a situation where I truly won’t be able to use mana was unlikely but if it did somehow occur and I couldn’t summon my Cards... I wouldn’t even be able to resist properly.

Still, I couldn’t understand what the hell Ashanvar meant by dancing. I understood my flaws by today’s little lesson but his words were still far too confusing.

I didn’t reply to Lillith and she took my silence as an answer.

"Reflect on what you learned today. We will continue this tomorrow."

With those words, she vanished. Along with her, the two mana-suppressing bracelets around my wrists disappeared as well.