An Utterly Ordinary Group Assignment (12)
As soon as their feet touched the circular clearing—laid out in a structure nearly identical to the starting zone and ringed by borders that glowed with soft white light—the bracelets worn by the entire party began to emit a faint, shimmering radiance.
Even while sprinting at full tilt, Pino shouted over the rush of wind. “Why the hell did you let those guys go?!”
“Because the princess’s party came through without a single dropout!” Chrome shouted back.
Contrary to his earlier assumption that clashing with Crow’s group would have cost them dearly, the members surrounding Imperial Princess Lyla showed neither visible wounds nor any sign of fatigue. If they had finished off Alphons’s team in that state, even assuming zero additional losses on their side, Chrome’s party—already worn down from combat—would then have been forced to face six fresh opponents from the princess’s fully conditioned group. Six-on-four was obviously preferable to six-on-four-on-two. Alphons Betuart must have understood that logic perfectly; that was why he had withdrawn without argument and focused entirely on escape.
“Rabaul, how’s your condition? If it’s too much, I’ll carry her myself—just say the word!”
“Yeah! Or we could set her down now and—”
“I am fine!” Rabaul cut in. “Sage Pino and the rest of you should preserve your strength as much as possible!”
Ever since fleeing the princess’s party, Rabaul had been running with Pino on his back the entire time. The chair-like pack he’d used in the previous fight had been destroyed, making it impossible to shoot while seated as before. But if he forced Pino to run on her own two feet, she would fall behind in no time.
Chrome kept his guard up while stealing glances at Rabaul. Far from the strain he had expected to see, the man’s forest sprint showed no obvious burden. That only made it more suspicious.
That ridiculous muscle-bound body took a direct hit from a body slam, then locked into a power struggle right afterward and got pummeled in the process. Yet he still has the stamina to carry someone at a full sprint?
Even accounting for the healing spell Fiore had cast right before her elimination, this level of toughness was abnormal.
No way… this guy…
A chill raced down Chrome’s spine, instantly cutting his thoughts short.
Shhhk—!
The hair-raising sound of an arrow slicing through air forced Chrome to duck. The shaft whistled past where his head had been and punched straight through a tree thick enough to require two adult men to embrace. The arrow left a fist-sized hole clean through the trunk before embedding itself in the ground. The lingering traces of mana rising from it made Chrome’s skin crawl.
Weapon enhancement? At range? The only first-year who could pull off something like this is—
The mental index of names from Planetarium flipped rapidly through Chrome’s mind. The instant he recalled the entry for the renowned monster-hunting marksman, he hurled one of his hidden smoke bombs to the ground without hesitation.
Two more arrows flew through the rising smoke before Chrome’s group had fully vanished, but unfortunately neither found flesh or blood.
The archer who had fired them—Hunter Chase—briefly considered loosing a few more shots, then lowered his bow. His arrows were custom-made; even if he had spares, they were not something to waste. Especially not when he couldn’t even pinpoint the targets’ exact location.
…I’ll grant that the first dodge was pure instinct, but the judgment that followed was fast. That makes this the second time my attack has failed.
Once against the Pendebig siblings who had crossed over from the Morian Kingdom, and now against the boy named Chrome Midas from the Spero Kingdom. Back home, Chase had hunted man-eating great tigers and mana-mutated monsters without difficulty. The fact that children younger than himself kept foiling him was almost comical. Still, he never let irritation rob him of his cool head.
There were plenty of bait pieces left, and plenty of opportunities still to come.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Arrows loosed wildly from Pino’s shortbow and Chrome’s crossbow reproduced the effects of various low-tier spells, binding the feet of the pursuers who had closed to point-blank range.
A young man wielding a long spear stared at the blades of cold and wind blocking his path and shouted in disbelief.
“Are you seriously spamming Attribute Stones like that?! Do you have money growing on trees?”
A sharp-featured girl in a robe snapped back, “Is now really the time for complaints?! Move forward even one more step instead of wasting breath! Our formation keeps collapsing!”
“If you’re so great, why don’t you take the lead then!”
“You want a mage to stand at the front?! Are you insane?!”
Even as they bickered, the young man’s spear never stopped deflecting arrows, and the girl’s hands never ceased launching offensive spells. Both of them were thinking the same thing.
Her Highness Lyla annihilated an entire strong team by herself. If I borrow her power again, I’ll end up as nothing but a lucky extra who did nothing. There’s no way I’ll allow that!
Chrome Midas. I’ve hated how he struts around acting like he owns the place. This is the perfect chance to teach him a lesson!
There wasn’t the slightest carelessness in their eyes. After surviving the turbulent Hegemony War and the Judgment War, the Barhart Empire’s high offices had filled with talents who had shone on the front lines or demonstrated flawless rear-line management. That merit-and-ability-first atmosphere had been passed down—perhaps with slight alterations—to the next generation. It was precisely why neither the Morian Kingdom—where only those gifted in magic received noble treatment—nor the Nahat Grand Duchy—where frontline combat was considered the highest honor—could claim to surpass the empire in terms of human talent.
No matter how thoroughly you prepare, consumables have a limit to their quantity.
He’ll run out soon!
The two pursuers chasing Chrome’s group were certain of it. As if to prove them right, the arrows that had been flying nonstop toward the rear gradually decreased. By the time they reached the second relay point, the barrage had stopped completely.
At that exact moment, Ligret burst from the underbrush to ambush them—but the timing was far too obvious.
“Now or never!”
A predictable surprise attack was no surprise at all. The young man’s spear thrust came like a gale. Ligret deflected it as though it were the most natural thing in the world and countered with a slash. The young man hurriedly adjusted his stance to receive the blow, but the force was twice what he had anticipated. He was forced to retreat three full steps just to keep his balance.
Had Ligret not swung her sword to block an arrow fired from somewhere in the forest, that opening might have let the blade cut him down.
The moment the young man broke into a cold sweat and reset his stance, the girl in the robe unleashed a mid-tier Ice Sphere. The spear Ligret reflexively hurled using her Feldous’s Summoning Gloves pierced the orb of mana, preventing a direct hit. However, the spell’s aftershock scattered freezing energy across a wide area, drastically slowing her movements.
In that instant, the hunter’s arrow grazed Ligret’s left cheek—the first time blood had been drawn from her body. Yet that was all. When she casually discarded her ice-crusted sword and drew a heavy war hammer instead, all three opponents’ expressions stiffened with tension. Even in a three-on-one fight, they could not feel confident of victory.
Without anyone needing to say it, their focus sharpened from wariness. Which also meant their awareness of their surroundings had grown lax.
And Chrome Midas was not the type to miss such an opening.
A flash grenade detonated directly above Ligret’s head, positioned so the blast was behind her. Even blinded by the intense light, the young man continued swinging his spear without hesitation, and the robed girl instantly created a mana shield. Their skill was genuinely impressive. The hunter, realizing his allies’ vision had been stolen, abandoned his usual power-focused heavy bow and switched to rapid fire. Thanks to his support, Ligret could not easily advance. The poisoned bolt Chrome fired from the rear failed to penetrate the girl’s barrier and instead paralyzed the young man, exhausting its effect there.
Pino tried to provide covering fire from the back to help Ligret and Chrome, but at that moment Rabaul grabbed her clothes.
“Forgive me, Sage! I will apologize properly later!”
“Huh?”
Before Pino could even ask what he meant, an overwhelming sense of weightlessness swallowed her. The world spun. Blue sky. Forest seen from above. The moment she realized she had been thrown skyward like a piece of luggage, her peripheral vision caught Rabaul being eliminated by other students who had already closed in behind them.
Pino’s thoughts accelerated so sharply that a single second felt like an eternity. None of her spells could save her from this height. The instant she hit the ground, she would be out as well.
Chrome and Ligret were sandwiched by enemies from both sides. Somewhere farther back, a hunter was still sniping. And most importantly—
Being eliminated so helplessly pissed her off.
Pino refined her spell. Using her bow to fire an arrow from this position and posture was impossible. But magic was another matter. What she conjured was the basics, and the spell she was most confident in: a low-tier Mana Arrow.
Aim. Fire.
The mana arrow became a streak of light that pierced the hidden sniper’s head where he crouched in the trees. Satisfied, Pino crashed into the ground and lost consciousness.