Chapter 40: Class Representative Ranking Battle (4)
Chapter 40: Class Representative Ranking Battle (4)
…If I start apologizing now, will she go easy on the magic?
I stared blankly for a moment at Elisha, who was tearing through the crowd like a wolf among sheep.
Regardless, I had to finish off Wilhelm first.
“Water Ball.”
“Mmph… Glub…!”
A sphere of water enveloped Wilhelm’s nose and mouth.
He thrashed for a moment, but there was no fighting suffocation; it wasn't long before he lost consciousness.
Soon, Iona retrieved Wilhelm along with the other eliminated students.
Well, it can’t be helped. Now that my shield—I mean, my friend—is gone, I have no choice but to dive into that mess.
I’d used a fair amount of magic, but since most of it consisted of basic spells, I still had plenty of mana left.
Plus, after taking out four people, I’d grown somewhat accustomed to the melee and realized something.
In a situation like this, firing off magic is inefficient.
Once you shoot, you have to chant again to reload the spell.
It would be much more advantageous to hold the magic in my hand like I do when charging it, swinging it around and only firing it off when it reaches mana saturation or in an emergency.
I wouldn't be able to swing it exactly like a real sword, but the fact that it cuts on contact remains the same.
Well, I’ll have to rely on my dagger and the Crude Weapon Technique trait to fill in the gaps.
At my current low level of magic, being able to use my body—even crudely—is a huge merit.
Once the idea took hold, I had to act.
“O Wind.”
Whoosh.
I’d only uttered a single line, yet the wind began to gather at the tip of my staff.
I continued the rest of the chant while sprinting.
“O invisible blade.”
My target was a tall male student fleeing from Elisha.
He was running for his life, huffing and puffing, but he was already stumbling, likely due to a lack of stamina.
“You shall become sharper within my grasp.”
Vroooom!
Holding the Wind Cutter, now fully formed into a crescent shape, out in front of me, I lunged.
“Huh? Wh-what?”
Focused entirely on getting away from Elisha, the guy noticed me too late and frantically raised his wand.
“Sh-Shock!”
It seemed he was trying to escape the situation by using a basic spell in his desperation… but he was a bit too hasty.
Even though Shock is a basic spell, as an electric-type, it can cause a brief moment of paralysis. But that’s all.
Just like when I stabbed Wilhelm in the side, if you can’t come up with a follow-up during that brief hesitation, nothing ultimately changes.
Zzzzt!
My hair stood on end, and I felt my muscles contract involuntarily.
Since I was in the middle of a sprint, I almost tripped over my own feet, but I managed to endure it and thrust my arm forward.
My staff was already long. The magic was generated slightly beyond its tip.
The tall student, unable to escape that considerable reach, had his waist slashed.
“Aaaaagh!”
He didn't roll around on the ground like someone shouting "Did I get him?", but he did scream and jump in the air.
He hurriedly fumbled at his stomach to check the wound, but… as if Iona’s magic would be pierced by something like this.
His clothes were slightly torn, but there was no wound. He was just eliminated.
The guy let out a deep sigh as his body flashed red, and before long, he was whisked away to Iona’s side.
After dropping one more person, I looked around to find the landscape had completely changed from before.
There were people running away from Elisha, just like the tall student.
Then there were those who, fearing they wouldn't get enough points, fired magic at the fugitives, and the fugitives who fired back.
There were those who had hidden in a corner from the start, as if they had no interest in me or Elisha, only to emerge now after completing all their preparations.
And, of course, I couldn't forget Elisha, who was spamming low-grade magic at the far end as easily as breathing.
Nearly half the class had been eliminated, leaving fewer than ten people, yet the area seemed several times more crowded because of the sheer volume of magic flying back and forth.
The chaos spread to where I stood. Amidst it, I gripped my staff and dagger in both hands and drew up my mana.
Magic collided in mid-air, and students who lacked the time to cast even resorted to fistfights.
The sound of shields breaking echoed from all directions, and the activation words for basic magic, which could be used instantly, began to be heard more often than those for low-grade magic.
I, too, swung my staff after being kicked by someone, and I fired a Wind Cutter into the back of someone who was cheering after taking down another student.
I created a small lump of earth with Terra to trip someone running toward me, then stabbed them in the back with my dagger.
It was absolute pandemonium.
In the game, it was just a matter of managing HP and MP while mixing skills and basic attacks—a battle with nothing special about it.
But the fact that it had become reality made it this desperate. And to think this wasn't even a real battle, but just a duel.
Thanks to this, I could clearly see what Iona intended with this lesson.
The urgency of real combat, the excitement, the pain, magic not working the way you want it to. And death.
I suppose she wanted us to experience those things firsthand.
The monster illusions used in wealthy families' training or during the entrance exam weren't nearly this realistic.
…So that’s why the Academy’s age limit was 20.
If you did this kind of training at a younger age, you’d end up broken somewhere.
The Academy is a place to foster talent to completely drive out the remnants of the Evil God, not a place to create killing machines, so they must have put a limit on the age.
I thought it was just a setting they added for reasons like "All characters appearing in this game are 20 years or older," but there was a more valid reason than I expected.
Feeling slightly pleased that I’d discovered a hidden piece of H&A lore that no one else knew, I continued the duel.
Precise movements and casting as stably as possible while running.
Was it thanks to the System Correction that was particularly strong in melees?
When I finally snapped out of it, the surroundings had grown quiet.
The only ones left were Elisha and me.
I hadn't taken a direct hit, but I was tattered and out of breath from rolling on the ground several times.
In contrast, Elisha looked as neat as ever, wearing a look of surprise.
“Oh? I didn't know you could fight this well, Yandel.”
“Thank you for the kind words. Someone told me to fight with everything I’ve got, you see….”
“I wonder why someone who cares so much about my words was spouting such nonsense earlier.”
“Are you curious?”
“Of course. But I don't particularly want to give you time to recover.”
She’s quick.
I didn't expect her to realize immediately that I was trying to catch my breath by keeping the conversation going.
“Is it difficult for you?”
“Well, yeah. I’m not in the Knight Department, and running around this much is bound to be exhausting.”
“Don't worry. I’ll end it for you quickly.”
As Elisha spoke, two translucent spheres rose behind her head.
They looked like manifestations of water and wind.
“Sigh.”
Dozens of countermeasures flashed through my mind and vanished, but there were only a few I could actually use.
It was the result of having such a limited repertoire of magic.
Well, it can’t be helped. In the end, I just have to make do with what I have.
Steeling my resolve, I glared at the translucent spheres Elisha had created.
Every Mana Core has its own unique ability.
For example, the Lintblum Core has the unique ability of Resonance.
The breathing technique, which started from the idea that one might be able to feel mana by resonating internal mana with atmospheric mana to create a violently boiling state, has the effect of amplifying the power and range of magic by resonating one's own mana with the surrounding mana when it reaches its limit.
Most high-grade mana cores possess one of these unique abilities.
The same goes for the Elementus Core, created through the secret breathing technique of the Sylvan Magic Tower.
The translucent spheres floating behind Elisha’s head were the essence of the Sylvan Magic Tower: the Shadow of Elements.
Those spheres have no physical form. If I recall the setting correctly, the elements imprinted on one's core appear like shadows whenever magic is used.
Actually, the principle doesn't really matter.
The important thing is that manifesting the Shadow of Elements means she has imprinted those elements onto her core.
In other words, in this case, she’s receiving massive bonuses to water and wind-type magic.
The reason Elisha, who isn't even an Intermediate Magician like Carla, could spam low-grade magic earlier was thanks to that.
She’s receiving bonuses in every aspect, including power, mana consumption, and activation speed.
I heard that later on, she not only imprints all four major elements but also masters derivative elements, becoming a living disaster… but I guess this is her current limit.
Fortunately, activation speed is something I’m confident in as well. System Correction brings magic down to the realm of instinct.
I sharpened my focus and heightened my mana.
Elisha pointed her staff at me and spoke.
“Actually, I’ll take back what I said about ending it quickly.”
“Heh. Are you scared of me, by any chance?”
“Hardly. I simply want to keep my word about showing you the gap between us.”
“You don't really need to go that far….”
“Surge.”
The moment I saw the water condensing in front of Elisha’s staff, I kicked off the ground.
I ran in a zigzag to throw off Elisha’s aim while chanting.
“O biting gale. O invisible blade. This is the ruthlessness held within my hand.”
She’d definitely have a shield up, so ordinary magic wouldn't work. I’d have to charge it as much as possible through an enhanced chant to pierce the shield.
At first, the chants felt a bit cringeworthy and I didn't like them, but I’d grown used to them after doing it several times.
…And I think I was starting to understand why we use chants.
All magic ultimately comes from imagination and will. A powerful image emerging from within oneself takes on mana and becomes a phenomenon.
Chanting serves to help the magician immerse themselves in that image.
That’s why it doesn't matter if the content changes, and using a grander incantation can slightly increase the power.
It’s not just for show; it’s an element that assists magic in a way different from intuition or calculation. That is what a chant is.
Ding!
【You have gained sufficient understanding of the Low-grade Magic: Wind Cutter (E).】
【Proficiency increased!】
【The rank of Wind Cutter (E) has increased by one level to Wind Cutter (D)!】
Was it to prove my theory right, or was it just because I’d been using nothing but Wind Cutter throughout the duel?
With a short notification sound, the system informed me of the rank increase for Wind Cutter.
Vroooooom—
As if to prove it, a noticeably fiercer wind began to gather than ever before.
A sharp, crescent-shaped blade.
Now, all that was left was to somehow dodge Elisha’s magic while continuing the charge, and then land a blow with a full-charge Wind Cutter…!
“Hyaaaaaah!!”
Letting out a battle cry, I squeezed out every last bit of my stamina and mana.
And….
As if by some cruel joke, I just got the absolute crap beaten out of me until I was eliminated.
…Now that I’ve been hit by it myself, it hurts just enough not to kill you.
I started to feel a little sorry for the people I’d eliminated.