Leopin met the mountain of rock head-on.
The crash was so loud it reached the special stage in the residential district far away. The hall erupted.
"The trash is finally dead! He's dead!"
"Serves him right! Evil always falls in the end!"
"I knew it from the start! The first student to drop out was going to be that failure!"
"With the trash cleaned up, this academy can finally be normal!"
Some of the Tamer students let their shoulders fall.
"Leopin-kun is dead…"
"The animals loved him so much…"
"We only just started to see how amazing he was…"
The principal and vice principal hugged each other and celebrated.
"We did it! We did it! I finally won! Throwing everything away was worth it! Justice wins after all!"
"Only I could have pulled off a walk-off grand slam like that, zamasu! The sponsors will praise me, zamasu! I can get my vice principal seat back, zamasu!"
Monaka and Kotone collapsed in tears. Their attendants were grieving with them.
"Leo-kun! Leo-kun!"
"How pitiful! Master!"
The crystal panel on the stage was covered in noise and dust. It looked like a wasteland where nothing living could stand.
Then the dust began to thin, and a vague silhouette rose out of it.
One student pointed at the panel.
"Look! Someone's there!"
Every eye went back to the screen. The outline sharpened. It stood without moving, like a statue of a guardian god.
Then it bent forward and started to shake.
Everyone heard a voice that sounded almost like an echo.
"…I thought I was going to die…"
The hall cried out in shock.
◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆
While I was still coughing, an unfamiliar window appeared in front of me.
Hidden skill awakened!
So that was it. It had been a long-shot bet, and it paid off.
I opened my status window and touched the Poor Dexterity skill tree with fingers that were still shaking.
Poor Dexterity
Dexterous Growth
Dexterous Body
Dexterous Job Change
???????? ⇒ Absolute Defense: Immovable
The skill that had been nothing but question marks was a hidden skill I got when I hit level 8. A hidden skill only shows its name and effect after it triggers more than once.
The first time was by accident in gym class. Right before Nickbacca hit me, I panicked and used Dexterous Body to raise my Toughness.
His punch felt like a mosquito bite.
For a split second my body hardened like steel. I did not move a millimeter, like a tree with roots in the ground.
Right before the rock swallowed me, the jeers in my head reminded me of that, and I bet on it.
The stat I put my life on was not Agility or Strength. It was the longest shot of all: Toughness.
I tapped the newly revealed skill name.
Absolute Defense: Immovable
Triggers if Toughness is raised by 2,000 or more within 0.033 seconds of taking a hit.
Until that attack ends, all physical damage becomes zero and knockback is nullified. You enter an Immovable state.
I was so spent that the explanation barely went in.
The ground started rumbling again. I looked up the mountain and saw water coming this time.
"I wanted water, but that is way too much!"
One problem ended and another started. I turned around in a fresh panic.
The animals were all flat on the ground, covering their ears with their front paws and curled up like turtles.
"Everyone, r—"
I cut myself off when I saw a huge piece of driftwood lying next to them.
I used the last of my strength and ran straight at the log. I did not even take the time to change jobs. I hit it with a stone axe in one hand and a knife in the other.
I had never crafted that hard or that desperate in my life.
Mysterious Wooden Ark
Quantity: 1
Quality Level: ? (Material Level: ?)
An ark carved from unidentified driftwood.
"It's done! Everyone, get on the boat! Hurry!"
The animals piled on and grabbed hold at almost the same instant the flood swallowed us.
"We did it this time, zamasu! We really, truly won, zamasu!"
"Yes! The last one was a trick of the eye! This divine flood plan is the real—"
Those voices turned into screams.
Our ark shot up like it was taking flight. It broke the surface in a spray thick enough to punch through cloud.
It looked like a miracle God had sent. To the two men on the stage, it sounded like the cry of a devil getting finished off.