An Utterly Ordinary Group Assignment (16)
Perhaps it was a reflection of the burning fighting spirit between the two. The red mana coiling around Ligret’s entire body grew even denser, and the blue light saturating the area around Lyla expanded still wider. In that hair-trigger moment, what shattered the balance was not an attack from either of them, but an intervention from an entirely unexpected external source.
A thunderous explosion rang out. The black smoke rising from inside the barrier where the robed girl had clearly stood moments earlier, paired with the sight of a blond boy sprinting toward the goal, silently explained everything that had just occurred.
How…!?
Before she could even begin to question how he had breached the barrier and felled the girl, Lyla’s body was already moving.
A refreshing breeze lifted her body as though weightless, while a fierce tailwind shoved her forward. If the low-tier spell Wind Steps merely assisted a caster’s sprint, this mid-tier Cloak approached true low-altitude flight.
Lyla transformed into the wind itself and raced after Chrome, but there was no way Ligret would simply watch it happen. Her already monstrous leg strength, further amplified by reinforcement magic, shattered its limits once again. The gap that had clearly been more than five meters closed to less than one in only two strides. The Impact Amplification Hammer, now locked onto its target, swung without mercy.
For Lyla, letting Chrome escape meant certain defeat, so the choice was unavoidable. Yet the price of showing an opening to Ligret—a combatant of equal caliber—was far too steep. She sensed the mana swirling around Lyla coalescing into a spell, but it was already too late. There wasn’t enough time to manifest a barrier, and even if she used a shield, Ligret was confident she could shatter it at this range and slam her opponent into the ground.
Got her. The moment Ligret felt certain of victory, a mass of flames bloomed before her eyes, forcing her to admit her assumption had been wrong.
This insane princess!
She cursed inwardly, but retreat was no longer an option. Gritting her teeth, Ligret swung at the Mid-tier Flame Sphere that had formed between them. An instant later, a massive explosion erupted with the two women at its center.
I did it…!
I cheered under my breath as I sprinted alone through the deep forest. The plan—using an Attribute Stone to blast open the ground beneath the barrier protecting the girl on the princess’s team, then striking through the gap—had been an extremely delicate gamble. It would have failed instantly if the girl had noticed my intent in time and defended properly. In the end, however, I won the bet.
The opponent’s absolute trust in the High-tier Mana Barrier had instead dulled their concentration and vigilance. On my bracelet, the two tokens I had secured from Alphonse’s team and Lyla’s team glowed with a soft light. All I had to do was reach the goal and victory would be mine.
Wow. Even knowing how strong they were, I didn’t expect quite this level.
Ligret was the Nameless War Demon herself, already gifted with abnormal combat talent and further strengthened over years of working with me. Lyla was the Heir of Red and Blue Blood, the template with the highest base stat total despite heavy restrictions in actual play. Somehow she had even scored a perfect ten in mana evaluation. I had known they were both powerful, of course, but watching the battle unfold right in front of me left a completely different impression.
Until now, there had simply never been a situation that forced Ligret to reveal this much of her true strength. She had long surpassed Sir Kelin, who taught us both the fundamentals of martial arts, and even the academy’s most celebrated students had never managed to draw out her full seriousness.
The original ‘Nameless War Demon’ would have made a good rival for Crow, but the current Ligret wouldn’t even consider someone at that level worth her time.
If I had to name anyone, Professor Istal might qualify, but our respective positions were too different for any real comparison. My original intention had been to create a one-on-one environment where Ligret could crush the princess outright. Still, this result wasn’t bad at all. It might lack the raw impact of a head-on demolition, but after demonstrating her ability so clearly, Princess Lyla would have no choice but to pay attention to both Ligret and me—the one who had arranged the first match. And since Ligret had finally met an opponent she couldn’t easily defeat, her competitive fire would surely blaze even hotter.
True skill always grows faster when there is a worthy rival to compete against.
If I can spark her interest in Ligret’s strength and slowly teach her how to grow from there, drawing her in…
While I was happily sketching out that bright future, the red glow of the goal line finally entered my sight. I put more power into my legs—just a little farther—when a tree root suddenly burst from the ground beneath my feet. My body lurched violently.
Thanks to physical abilities well beyond average, I didn’t fall, but the brief hesitation in my momentum was real. And that hesitation saved my life.
The first thing I felt was a refreshing wind. What had felt pleasant quickly became a howling gale. The next instant, a terrifying shell of mana tore through the air and detonated exactly where I had been about to step.
“Urk!?”
Even while tumbling across the ground from the close-range shockwave, I managed to execute a proper breakfall and regain my stance. The countless hours of training I had squeezed in whenever the Midas family duties allowed had paid off.
When I looked back, I could only exhale in disbelief.
“...You’ve adopted quite the wild fashion sense, Lady Lyla.”
Anyone who knew the usual Lyla would have widened their eyes in shock. Her elegant dress, designed for both mobility and grace, was torn and scorched in multiple places. Countless small cuts covered the skin left exposed. She swept back her half-loosened hair and spoke.
“Yes, Chrome. Thanks to all of you, it seems I’m experiencing quite a few things today that I would never have tried under normal circumstances.”
Her smiling face was as beautiful as ever, yet for some reason a chill crawled down my spine. It felt like standing before an active volcano on the verge of eruption—an instinctive, primal warning from the part of me that wanted to stay alive.
Forcing my legs, which threatened to tremble, to stay steady, I stepped forward boldly instead. For the sake of my goals, I could not afford to show weakness, even if it was pure bluff.
“You look rather exhausted. Why not rest a moment? This will be over quickly.”
“How considerate. It would be even better if you yielded the victory while you’re at it.”
“Ah, that’s asking a bit much. It’s always more painful to let something go when it’s already right in front of you, isn’t it?”
“Even if it stings a little, you would at least be able to protect your own safety in exchange.”
I laughed. Lyla smiled back.
“Then it can’t be helped.”
“No, it can’t be helped.”
BOOM!
The Wind Crystal I hurled exploded right in front of Lyla’s eyes, releasing the Mid-tier Wind Sphere sealed inside. The lethal strike that had ended the fight against the Pendevig siblings proved utterly powerless before the High-tier Mana Shield she deployed. Yet the single instant she spent blocking it was exactly what I needed most.
“Uwooooooh!”
I sprinted for the goal, pouring every drop of mana I had left into reinforcement. My whole body screamed from the reckless strain, but without pushing past my limits, there was no escaping the merciless barrage of light shells raining from behind.
After coming this far, like hell I’ll lose!
With every step I suppressed the agony of tearing muscle and cracking bone through sheer willpower alone. There was no time to drink a potion. I couldn’t afford to look back. I even forced my reinforced body to ignore the damage from the mana shells slamming into my back.
The moment I stopped, it would all end. A single hesitation, a single opening, would be fatal in this death race.
But the world was not so gentle that desperate resolve alone could accomplish everything.
“This is the end!”
Judging that a mere checking shot wouldn’t stop me, Lyla formed a colossal sphere of mana before her chest.
A single strike capable of pulverizing over a hundred enemies. Upon firing, it would annihilate everything in the surrounding area. Evasion was impossible. Defense was meaningless.
Just as that lethal attack was about to pierce straight through me—
“—Like hell I’ll let you!”
From far behind, Ligret—her own body just as battered and torn as Lyla’s—shouted. But it wasn’t enough. The distance between them was too great, and even the throwing spears she normally relied on could not reach from that position.
Yet right here, right now—
KWAAAAAANG!
The Impact Amplification Hammer slammed downward with all its might. The magic tool, already heavily damaged from the prolonged fight with Lyla and a direct close-range hit from the mid-tier flame spell, finally reached the end of its lifespan. But the recoil launched Ligret forward like a bullet.
Feldous’s Summoning Gloves called forth the third and final short spear of the day. Pouring every ounce of her strength into the throw, Ligret hurled it at Lyla.
Her unstable stance, the precarious range, and the accumulated damage from the previous battle caused even Ligret to miss what should have been a guaranteed kill. Nevertheless, the steel spearhead still pierced the princess’s shoulder, delaying the activation of the spell that had been about to fire by a single crucial beat.
RUUUUUMBLE!
A swelling mass of mana began devouring everything around its point of impact. Before the storm could swallow me, both of my feet crossed the red line that marked the goal.
As if paying the price for every reckless movement until now, the three of us—me, Ligret, and Lyla—collapsed to the ground at the same time.
Into our ears rang a familiar broadcast voice.
Yes, it’s settled! Since a team has reached the finish line first, we hereby announce the end of the assignment at this time! The winning team is— Chrome Midas’s team!
It was the declaration that brought an end to the longest, most fiercely contested group assignment we had ever known.