The Glass Cannon's Counterattack
A mage is nothing more than a massive glass cannon. Their destructive power is impressive, but without a tank in front, they get smashed to pieces and can't even be sold secondhand. That's why mages rarely operate alone. The princess mage archetype always keeps a knightly meat shield up front. But the princess currently in front of me is surrounded with no knight in sight.
"Elena, I wonder how you'll get out of this one?"
"Ugh, you're seriously not going to help?"
Look at her. Where did the Elena who was whining and acting cute yesterday, begging to get stronger, disappear to? Well, this is the Elena I know. Her real personality is that of a sharp-tongued tsundere childhood friend. The one who was crying to the protagonist about wanting to get stronger like some tragic heroine? That wasn't her at all!
Anyway.
"Right. Did you really think you could get stronger without facing any crises?"
"...I guess you have a point."
Elena answered with a resigned tone and got back into a combat stance. Watching her, I smiled inwardly.
And the faster you get stronger, the faster I can get stronger too.
I spread my right hand and tried casting a very small wind blade. Jade-colored blades spun in circles above my palm.
The number of blades has increased. The control feels easier too.
I never expected Elena to raise Wind Blade to A-rank so quickly. In the original story, she only started handling it effortlessly around the middle of the plot.
At this growth rate, she'll probably reach S-rank by her third year.
Of course, going from A to S-rank isn't something you can achieve just by grinding experience. You need constant reflection on your own magic alongside that experience. Still, judging by her current pace, it shouldn't take long.
Anyway. Enough speculating. I focused on Elena's battle.
The standoff continued.
Those two probably won't approach recklessly either.
They didn't know that early-stage Elena was a one-trick pony who only used Wind Blade. They were probably assuming she had some kind of close-range counter magic.
But if they kept staring at each other like this and someone else showed up, it'd be troublesome. Those two had mentioned coming here after seeing the light reflecting off the golden armor. We couldn't ignore the possibility of other students arriving too.
In that case...
"Elena, if you don't cast a spell within the next five seconds, I'll join the fight too."
"Really? Then that would actually—"
"On their side, not yours. Four—"
Elena's staff instantly pointed downward, firing wind blades. Sand surged up all the way to where I was standing.
Using it as a smokescreen? Not a bad idea.
In a one-versus-many situation, the most important thing is cutting off the enemy's communication. There are many ways to do that, but the easiest is a smokescreen.
"W-what the?! I can't see anything!"
"Ugh, hey! Just attack anyway!"
Something flashed within the dust cloud, but it didn't seem to inflict any meaningful damage on Elena. Then, a single jade-colored streak appeared. A thin, delicate wind blade. It sliced straight through the thick sandstorm and flew forward.
"Khaaaack!!"
It cleanly sliced through the inner thigh of one of the two enemies.
She hit that in the middle of a sandstorm? How?
The dust soon cleared, revealing Elena. Her eyes were wide open in surprise, as if she hadn't expected to hit it either. Okay, so it was pure luck.
Well, regardless of how it happened, one of them is definitely neutralized now.
From the looks of it, the one who got hit was the mage. He tried to stand and get into position, but the pain from his thigh wound made it difficult for him to get up.
That means the remaining one is automatically the tank.
Minus one point here. Elena should have neutralized the tank first no matter what. In a mage-versus-mage one-on-one, Elena would win for sure. But against a swordsman and a mage? Elena would lose without question.
Still, this is decent for a first move.
Think about the original story. At this point in time, the World’s Strongest Martial Tournament should have been starting. She participated relying only on Wind Blade and got eliminated in the preliminaries. And that was even against another mage.
But now? It was luck, but it's still better than back then.
Alright, time to go help. This should be enough to pass.
"Golden, let's get ready."
"Kyuu!"
Golden expanded its body and soon transformed into armor, equipping itself onto me. I'd slightly adjusted the surface texture too, so there was no worry about reflecting sunlight.
I was about to leap down from the tree in style to subdue the enemies when—
"Found you, Kiren!!"
A cheerful voice rang out from far away. The direction was...
"...Above?"
I quickly looked up and saw something massive.
-BOOM!!
Sand dust rose once again. The situation was so thick you couldn't see an inch ahead.
Well, I roughly figured it out from the voice.
Since we had a sand cloud anyway, I might as well use an A-rank Wind Blade. I activated my mana circuit to trigger the magic blades and spun them rapidly around my body like a fan.
The dust cloud cleared in an instant. What appeared next was the person who had done a superhero landing from the sky earlier. Priya, with her black hair hiding green highlights underneath.
Priya lightly kicked her greatsword that was embedded in the ground with her foot, then lifted it again. Next to the greatsword lay one of the three attackers, collapsed on the ground.
Elena... looks fine.
Though there was a bit of blood on her head, probably from taking a direct hit from a flying rock. It didn't look serious, which was a relief. No need to send her back.
Anyway.
"You didn't kill him, right?"
"Umm... I don't think he's dead?"
"Haa......"
Fortunately, he wasn't dead. Just unconscious. I quickly operated the Magic Tool and sent him back to the academy.
"So, why did you come here, Priya?"
"I was wandering around when I heard a huge explosion from this direction. So I came."
She must have heard Elena's magic and came looking.
Still, it was lucky that Priya was the one who showed up. If it had been someone else, we'd have had to fight consecutively. It wasn't that I lacked confidence in winning, but it would have been exhausting.
"Whoa! Kiren! That armor looks super cool! Where'd you get it?!"
"None of your business. By the way, this is the first time I've seen you in that outfit."
Priya was holding a massive greatsword as tall as herself and wearing metal armor. But the armor design was... quite something.
Underboob armor? What the hell.
Her navel and the underside of her chest were completely exposed, making it hard to know where to look.
"Your outfit is quite... remarkable."
"Huh? You think so? It is pretty cute, hehe!"
But Priya herself didn't seem to mind at all. Given her personality, it's hard to imagine her getting embarrassed anyway.
Anyway.
"So Priya, do you want to fight me?"
"Yeah!"
"...Have you ever not wanted to fight?"
"Nope?"
What a simple-minded person. If you looked inside Priya's head, it'd probably just be cycling through training, combat, and food on repeat.
Is that why my Arrogance Points don't drop in front of her?
Even during last time's training, I think I showed some signs of struggling even though I held back. But Priya didn't care about that at all. Maybe that's actually a good thing?
Anyway.
"Huu, let's put the one-on-one duel on hold until after the event ends."
"Really? Awesome!! No take-backs! Okay? Okay??"
Priya's eyes sparkled as she pressed right up against me. Something soft pushed against my chest plate through the metal, but I acted as nonchalant as possible and continued.
"For now, how about a temporary alliance?"
"Temporary alliance?"
"Yeah. I may be here, but having a proper vanguard would be nice."
I'm ultimately a mage who can wield a sword. I've never properly learned swordsmanship. I just swing based on pure instinct. But if Priya joins? Having a real tank would greatly increase our stability.
"Hmm, I prefer going alone though."
"Want some roasted hind leg meat?"
"I'll join the team! I'll join!!"
Perfect. Bait successful.
Time passed, and finally only five survivors remained. Three of them were on our team.
Which means, in reality, only two people are left...
Those two were nowhere to be seen. We'd scoured the entire island, but only traces of battles were visible here and there. No people.
In that case...
"They must be there."
The very peak of the volcano. There was no other place on the island where people could hide. Digging a tunnel and camping out? That level of effort deserved the win.
"By the way, Elena, how long are you going to keep pretending to be asleep?"
I set down Elena, who had been piggybacking on me, onto the ground. She stood up with an awkward expression.
"...If you knew, you could've said something."
"The strong are supposed to embrace the weak, you know."
"What are you even saying?"
We bickered like that as we climbed the mountain.
"Kiren! Over theeeere, I see something!! Looks like people?"
Priya, who was at the front, called out to me.
...She can see that? To me it just looked like black dots. But as we got closer, the shapes became clearer. Definitely human silhouettes. But the number was three.
"Priya, do you know how to count?"
"What do you take me for?! Of course I can do that much!"
"Then check how many students are left."
"Two!"
Priya held up two fingers and made a V-sign at me. But I didn't have the luxury to match her high energy right now. I clearly saw three people. And two of them were collapsed on the ground.
"Elena."
"Ugh, what nooow......"
"Take out your staff."
I forced the exhausted Elena, who was drained from climbing, to arm herself. I gave the same warning to Priya.
And finally, we reached the top of the volcano. It was a crater, but the ground was relatively flat. And right in the middle, the silhouettes we'd seen earlier became clear.
A man with his eyes closed stood there, a sword resembling a Japanese katana hanging at his left hip. It was definitely a face I hadn't seen at the academy entrance ceremony.
And...
"There weren't any students with horns at the academy."
"Hmm? New guests?"
The man with the katana lifted his head. He had ashen skin covered in glowing purple tattoos.
I've seen those tattoos before.
"A demon, huh."
"You know about demons?"
"There is no knowledge in this world that I don't possess."
Demons. Along with the finger, they were treated as one of Tinesi Academy's main villains. There were occasionally good demons, but...
Seeing two students collapsed right next to him makes that possibility pretty low.
Anyway, this was something I hadn't expected. Judging by the size of the tattoo on his face, this guy was strong. No matter how strong I was, I was only at max level for stage 1. The chances of beating an enemy I'd normally encounter after stage 30 were extremely low.
In that case...
"Elena, Priya. Call for a professor."
"Underst—"
At that moment, something flew past my hair.
-BANG!
"Kyaa!"
"Whoa!"
The Magic Tools on Priya and Elena's left wrists exploded simultaneously. When I turned my head again, the demon was gripping the hilt of the sword at his waist tightly.
Draw strike, or a skill on par with it, I see.
"Sorry, but no. If professors come rushing in as a group, it'll be a bit difficult for us too."
"So you destroyed the Magic Tools first. I see."
"As expected, you're too quick on the uptake. And I really dislike people who catch on too fast."
"!!"
For a brief moment, I saw it. His slash flying toward me.
-KWAAAAAANG!!
The slash tore through the ground and slammed straight into me. It was so powerful that it created a massive cloud of dust, incomparable to what Elena had made earlier.
But...
-SWOOSH!
I cleared away the dust with wind blades.
"...Oh?"
The demon, who had kept his eyes closed until now, narrowed them slightly.
"Did you think your attack would work on me?"
Sorry, but I'm physically immune.