Chapter 100: The Opportunity for a Breakthrough
Contrary to her delicate appearance, the blue-haired beauty attacked without hesitation. Her fierce assaults drew Haruto's admiration.
Chanting a spell, she waved her pale, delicate hand, and a chilling aura instantly spread, quickly covering the testing ground.
Against a long-range mage, one couldn't give them too much preparation time. Without hesitation, Haruto closed in, his sharp fist aimed directly at her ample chest.
The well-endowed beauty showed a hint of embarrassment and anger on her face. She halted her ongoing attack spell, retreating to evade while snow and ice flew from her slender fingers, weaving into a resilient ice shield in front of her.
To have fought her way to the finals, she was indeed no ordinary opponent.
Haruto silently praised her and launched an even fiercer offensive.
The blue-haired beauty's spells were repeatedly interrupted. She had no chance to use her powerful magic and could only rely on instant-cast ice blades and ice spikes to attack Haruto from the side.
Ice shimmering with blue magical energy whistled toward Haruto. His eyes narrowed as he gathered a lightning spear in his hand.
He preferred being a warrior, but that didn't mean he couldn't use magic.
The ice blades were intercepted mid-air by the lightning spear. Unfazed, the blue-haired beauty continued to defend with ice walls and shields while seizing opportunities to strike Haruto with surprise attacks.
Haruto held the upper hand, but he couldn't quickly defeat his opponent.
In the continuous back-and-forth battle, he gradually entered a mysterious state.
His magic power, spirit, and body slowly unified. He left the fighting to instinct and focused his attention on perception.
For the first time, Haruto clearly sensed that 'barrier.' As long as he broke through it, he would reach a new realm.
But even until the blue-haired beauty exhausted her magic and voluntarily admitted defeat, he still couldn't take that final step.
Completely preoccupied with the breakthrough, Haruto didn't even stay to collect his rewards, quickly making his way to the Occult Research Club under numerous gazes that looked at him as if he were a monster.
Even after Haruto left, discussions about him continued for a long time.
Reaching B-rank peak in just four months of cultivation - no matter where you looked, this was monstrous genius-level talent.
If Haruto could break through to A-rank, achieving A-rank in just four months would place him among the most exceptional talents in all of human history.
...
"President!"
Pushing open the clubroom door, Haruto urgently searched for Rias, wanting to ask about that strange state he had experienced earlier.
"Koneko, where's the president and the others?"
The white-haired loli slowly ate her tiramisu and leisurely replied, "The president and Akeno-senpai went on an extermination mission."
"..."
Looking at the emotionless Koneko, Haruto took a deep breath and gradually calmed down.
It seems being stuck at this bottleneck for too long has made me somewhat impatient.
This isn't good... not good at all...
Adjusting his mindset, Haruto sat down beside the white-haired loli, ignoring her murderous glare as he picked up a piece of tiramisu and tossed it into his mouth.
"Koneko, I just encountered something during the ranking battle..."
While eating the sweet, soft tiramisu, he recounted what had just happened. He particularly emphasized describing that peculiar feeling of sensing the bottleneck.
"Hmm, I see. I never expected you to be part of the martial arts faction."
Koneko swallowed the food in her small mouth and said without emotion, "There's no need to feel regretful. An opponent of that level wouldn't be able to help you break through during battle."
Haruto froze for a moment, then a flash of insight seemed to dawn in his mind.
"Koneko, is breaking through during battle common?"
The white-haired loli glanced at him and said mercilessly, "No, it's not common. How could such a dangerous and uncertain method be common?"
"Then why did you just..."
"Because some people can only break through during battle - what I call the martial arts faction."
Koneko took a sip of black tea, resuming her role as Haruto's teacher after many days.
"Those in the martial arts faction don't need to experience extremely dangerous battles to break through. Whether it's sparring with someone of similar strength or guided practical training, as long as the opponent can provide pressure, these people can break through. The greater the pressure, the higher the possibility of breakthrough."
After pausing for a moment, she continued, "Moreover, once these people encounter life-threatening crises, their chance of breaking through during battle exceeds 90%."
"Then why didn't I ever feel this way during our previous training sessions?"
The white-haired loli stared at Haruto for a long while before saying quietly, "Because you didn't see those as real battles."
"Uh..."
Haruto instinctively wanted to refute but didn't know what to say.
Thinking about it carefully, Koneko was right - he really hadn't treated those sessions as actual battles, and at the time, he didn't even have the concept of winning or losing in his heart.
Let alone feeling any pressure...
Come to think of it, breaking through during battle is basically pulling out a power-up in desperate situations! Isn't that supposed to be the protagonist's exclusive treatment?!
Wait, the suffering male lead is also a main... So it wouldn't be strange for him to have this characteristic.
...
Even without Rias, Koneko had helped Haruto resolve his doubts and find the method to break through his bottleneck.
"Now I just need to keep fighting—what people commonly call picking fights—and I should be able to break through soon."
"Thanks, Koneko."
Haruto picked up a piece of tiramisu and brought it to the white-haired loli's lips.
"Here, open up. Consider this my thanks."
"What's this... The president bought this for me, and I haven't even scolded you for eating a piece earlier..."
Despite her complaints, Koneko still blushed and parted her delicate cherry lips to accept Haruto's feeding.
As her small lips touched Haruto's fingers, the girl's pink cheeks seemed to grow even rosier.
Her nimble, soft tongue deftly scooped the tiramisu from Haruto's hand, leaving a glistening moisture behind.
Feeling the wetness on his fingers, Haruto didn't pay it much mind.
Having cultivated daily with beautiful girls, he had long grown accustomed to such ambiguous gestures.
Right now, he was more interested in finding opponents with sufficient strength to make him feel like he was truly fighting.
Haruto had a premonition that once he broke through to A-rank and his life essence evolved, something significant would happen to him.
Just sensing the bottleneck made him feel as if something inside was about to burst forth.
Koneko chewed the tiramisu in her small mouth, her face flushed as she stared at Haruto.
"If you want to fight, you can just ask the president for an extermination mission when she returns."
The white-haired loli seemed to have guessed what Haruto was thinking and said, "For some reason, there have been more stray devils lately. You taking on extermination missions would help lighten our load."
Haruto's eyes lit up—this was indeed a good idea, though it wouldn't be very useful if the opponents were too weak.
"How strong are these stray devils?"
"Generally between C and B-rank. There are A-ranks too, but they're rare."
The white-haired loli thought for a moment and continued, "If you want to break through, it's best to take on extermination missions alone. With your strength, even if you encounter an A-rank and can't win, you should be able to escape."
As the two were discussing, a crimson magic circle rapidly formed in the center of the activity room, and two curvaceous, tall figures appeared before Haruto.
"Ara ara, Haruto is here too. Is your test over?"
Akeno's face still carried the flush of battle, suggesting she had quite enjoyed herself this time.
"President, Akeno-senpai."
After greeting them, Haruto said, "The test is over, and I incidentally took first place in the ranking battle."
Rias gave Haruto an approving look. "Well done. Is there any reward you'd like?"
"Not really..." Haruto shook his head, "But I'd like to take on extermination missions alone."
"Oh? With your strength, you certainly can handle extermination missions solo."
Rias asked curiously, "But you bringing this up suddenly must mean there's a reason, right?"
"Yes, there is indeed a reason."
Haruto recounted his sensing of the bottleneck again, and the reactions from Rias and Akeno were similar to Koneko's.
Compared to ordinary cultivators, pure combat specialists were extremely rare, though not to the point of appearing only once every few decades.
Breaking through in battle wasn't exclusive to combat specialists either; in fact, pure combat specialists were actually at a disadvantage compared to others.
These individuals could only break through via combat, though it wasn't as dangerous for them as for others.
While others often faced life-or-death crises when attempting to break through in battle, combat specialists didn't have to.
But that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. Opponents who can exert pressure without threatening one's life aren't easy to come by.
Cases like Haruto's aren't uncommon - having powerful people around who are willing to help, but subconsciously not considering it as real combat in his heart.
This approach cannot meet the requirements for a breakthrough either.
"So you mean even if I learn intermediate mana extraction, I still can't reach A-rank?"
"No, it should be said that if you master intermediate mana extraction and still can't break through to A-rank, only then can we confirm that you can only achieve breakthroughs through combat."
Rias explained: "This is similar to martial arts enlightenment - quite philosophical. Before seeing the results, no one can definitively say you're purely a combat-oriented type."