Chapter 149
Chapter 149
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble House (149)
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Everyone except Elias had vanished.
Elias, left alone at the starting point, glanced around and let out a hollow laugh.
The four team members had all warped simultaneously to the victim's coordinates, while the team leader warped to the one next to it. The screen split into three sections.
‘...They’re up against a forest, and they warp right in like that?’
You don’t know the victim’s current state, so you have to warp in cautiously.
Especially in a natural environment like this, not enclosed like a building.
It wouldn’t be too late to warp one person to the adjacent coordinate for scouting purposes and then move from there.
‘The team leader was probably planning to do that role.’
Just as they’d discussed beforehand, the team members clearly hadn’t moved on their own.
The team leader’s flustered scolding came through the public channel, and Elias cut him off, speaking calmly.
[It’s fine. Assign positions.]
[Uh, I’ve already warped to the alarm coordinates. Hold on, guys! Set up the barrier first and stand by! Don’t move out yet—stand by!]
The team leader addressed Elias again.
[It’s in the early stages of rampage right now. From the way it’s moving, it looks like it’s about to bolt. I’ll pin it down right now, so...]
Kwaang—!
[Hey! Guys!]
The team leader shouted in a voice that seemed to be holding back curses.
Elias’s sigh filtered through to the team leader’s artifact.
‘He’s holding it in well.’
Elias was the type who’d warp in right now and wreck the place.
He wasn’t letting emotions take over, probably because he knew everything visible right now could become the team’s weakness.
Bbeep—
[Elias, we’re herding it north, so calculate the coordinates 300m ahead and warp there. You finish it off.]
From the alert sound, it seemed like a message had come through Elias’s personal channel.
At that moment, Elias, who had warped to the spot the team leader mentioned, raised an eyebrow as if sensing something off in the air currents.
The team leader’s irritated shout rang out.
[Don’t circle around—herd it north!]
“Uh!”
“What the hell, them?”
Even though it wasn’t directed at him, Elias grimaced, already grasping the situation from over 300m away.
My expression watching the screen must have been the same.
“Wow...”
Narke, sitting in Team 1’s waiting area nearby, let out a sigh.
It was understandable.
As soon as the Team 8 students saw the team leader following, they immediately turned east.
Now I understood why Elias had been struggling for days.
‘They’re sidelining him.’
The four from Class 1-A, excluding the team leader, were blocking Elias from joining.
That explained why the team leader had messaged him privately.
He must have figured the team members would move without Elias, so he sent it only to him and planned to herd the rampager north himself.
But the team members had anticipated the team leader’s plan first, and it all fell apart.
Elias’s urgent voice came through.
[Where’s it heading? I need to know to warp!]
[East! No, now...!]
The team leader had already lost track of direction.
Elias ran forward with an expressionless face, as if he hadn’t expected anything.
At that instant, one of the relay screens flashed pure white from mana interference.
Kwaaaang—!
A roar followed by the sound of viscous liquid splattering down.
Unlike Elias’s still-calm screen, the one with Team 8 started to refocus as the light faded.
The Team 8 students who had dealt with the rampager looked at each other with satisfied smiles.
It was a stark contrast to Elias on the adjacent screen, impassively brushing back his hair and resting a hand on his hip.
In the meantime, my eyes met those of our team members.
“......”
“Wow, what the fuck...”
Even Philip shook his head with a laugh.
Everyone had that “is that really okay?” look on their faces.
Cherlingen was staring at the screen stone-faced, probably thinking Team 8 was already beneath them.
‘Worst case.’
Just drag it out time-wise?
They deployed six people without checking for civilians, had to verbally order barrier setup, and didn’t follow instructions.
The team leader’s second order, to “pin it down,” had been spot-on.
With no purifier on the team, if vitriol seeped into the environment, there’d be no way to handle it. The ideal was to hold the rampager in place and finish it there.
But the team members defied orders to seize control, pushing the rampager to flee.
With only two out of six thinking straight, this team was headed for the bottom and elimination as is.
[The exam is over.]
The announcement sounded, and the mimetic forest vanished.
The vitriol splattered on the students’ training uniforms disappeared as if washed away.
Oblivious to the bewilderment of the watching students, the Team 8 members excluding the team leader laughed and high-fived each other.
Elias simply walked out with a blank expression. The team leader spotted him and followed apologetically.
“Elias...!”
Elias waved him off dismissively and sat back down in Team 8’s waiting area.
The student council emcee, gauging the mood, finally spoke.
[...Next, Team 2.]
* * *
“Four teams’ trainings are done. You all saw Team 8’s result, one of the frontrunners for bonus points, right?”
After four out of eight teams finished, ours stepped out for a strategy meeting. Watching the others boosted confidence, and Philip’s friend scoffed.
“Team 8’s nothing special. Not easy to screw up that bad even with Elias~?”
“Yeah. First time seeing deadweight like that.”
Philip smirked crookedly in response.
‘They think they can pull this off?’
Cherlingen chuckled as if it was just amusing.
“They do seem short on communication skills, but it’s all speculation. We can’t be sure what strategy they had.”
“Well, not to that extent...”
“Competent teams would’ve calculated for this. They might’ve moved that way deliberately to hide their strength, so let’s stay vigilant till the end.”
Before Philip and his friend could add useless retorts, Cherlingen continued seriously.
“Of the three teams so far in the bonus point running, only one’s done. We’re up next. You know everyone’s watching us closely, right?”
“So, we dial back our skill a bit too?”
Cherlingen nodded at Class 1-A Ainsidel’s question.
“Yeah. What field do you think the opponents will give us?”
“Hmm, I don’t think an easy one... They might throw a tough one to see how we solve it.”
“I bet on the most basic field.”
Ainsidel said flatly to Melvin’s words.
Cherlingen leaned forward with a smile.
“No matter what field comes, let’s just remember one thing.”
“What?”
“Don’t use your heads—use your bodies.”
* * *
Kwaang—!
Something like a pitch-black tree trunk slammed into the barrier. Even with spaced defenses, the vibration hit the back of my skull directly.
One second slower, and that would’ve hit my cervical spine.
I dodged another vitriol blob flying at my head, rolled, and kicked off the ground to run.
We’d gotten the residential area field.
As familiar terrain where incidents happened most frequently, Cherlingen had assigned me as bait.
‘Not much left.’
Time to exit this neighborhood and head to the lowest point.
Vitriol is heavier than air, so processing it low minimizes secondary damage.
Even trying not to think, you have to cover basics like this.
At the target spot, I turned around.
A black sphere fluttering wildly in the wind scattered vitriol everywhere. Of course, Cherlingen on backup covered it all.
Kikik—
The sphere made eerie noises the moment it spotted my face.
I turned and sprinted at full speed as the sphere accelerated.
Then, the instant my eyes met Class 1-A Ainsidel’s in the distance, I dropped low.
More like rolled again, really.
“Eww...”
Philip’s friend groaned in disgust from afar.
‘Sorry for using your body like this.’
It scraped, but any injuries inside vanish outside, so no issue.
Kwaaaang—!
I raised my head at the roar.
The sphere chasing me at full tilt had exploded.
It must’ve hit the team’s barrier.
As I stood to support, Cherlingen in my view laughed and extended a hand.
“Pain’s real, but didn’t I say use your body—not overdo it?”
“Who was it that made me bait...”
I laughed along, then shut my mouth.
‘Oh, right. Need to look a bit overwhelmed.’
Cherlingen realized too, holding back a laugh and grimacing at the camera. Too late—camera already caught it.
We laughed lightly on the camera-blind side and stood.
“Guys!”
Philip and Melvin shot urgent looks to hurry, maintaining the attack. Both were just brute-forcing with volume.
Such inefficient attacks—nothing they’d do normally.
Cherlingen raised his wand to finish.
[You who turn against us, draw your bow toward that face.]
Golden mana swirled aggressively at the wand tip, then shot into the vitriol sphere before we could watch.
Kwaaaaang—
The roar smeared into the mud.
The golden attack pierced the squishy surface aggressively without sticking. Cherlingen gritted his teeth, mana running low.
‘Still, almost done.’
Puk—
As the barrier reinforced for vitriol disposal, the sphere’s core burst.
The alert followed.
Bbeep—
[9 minutes 39 seconds.]
[Exam over.]
Good for a 10-minute recommended field.
7 of 9 minutes were me running, but it hid our strength, so not bad.
No strategic orders from start to finish—just pure physical push.
‘No, doing it this way was the strategy.’
Mimesis faded; scrapes on hands and arms vanished.
“Lucas!”
Cherlingen extended a hand laughing.
I slapped it lightly.
“You love this.”
“Perfect for building resolve.”
“Why not with the others?”
“Good observation~ Again?”
He spread and wiggled his hand.
No answer. I know he’s trying to buddy up politically or whatever—no need to respond.
“What now.”
“Shame.”
Cherlingen grinned innocently.
Anyway, we achieved our smooth-finish goal and left the training ground.
[Good work. Next, Team 3.]
The outside mood was better than expected.
Good mood meant our plan worked.
Then, other team students whispered among themselves.
“That guy just ran around and done.”
“He’s the one I was most curious about.”
Whispers carry.
Cherlingen’s skill was well-known to them for 10 years—no need to hide.
But I’m different.
I’ve shown glimpses, but less data than Juliana, Leo, or Elias—harder to predict.
Not a test where knowing opponents’ skills matters much, but Cherlingen hid mine today out of caution.
Sitting in Team 6’s area, Narke leaned over from beside, tapping my shoulder.
—Leo asks if you’re cheating.
“That’s your phrasing, not his.”
—Haha, so~?
Obviously...
I replied lightly.
“Judge for yourself on exam day.”
* * *
They all knew but asked anyway.
Friends at least couldn’t not know.
As I thought that, Narke used divine power to speak.
—Humans need to hear it directly to be satisfied, even if they know~
‘Yeah. Fair. Elias?’
—In class.
Just testing, but communication works like this?
Joint training ended; we headed to class for closing.
Leading students started talking about Elias’s team.
“Hey, what the hell were they doing?”
“Probably intentional. Elias is best, so saving it for exam...?”
“Didn’t feel like that.”
“Yeah, kinda... No way. Who’d do that for whom.”
Same thought.
I’d considered subtly provoking Class 1-B Elias outside training, but not outright sidelining in training.
‘Points on the line.’
Or maybe they’re just weak, stressing Elias.
No. Skill was decent.
So, either they don’t care about failing, or...
‘Openly excluding Elias to force him off the team.’
That’d explain practicing with five.
I shook off the thought.
Second hypothesis too far. Elias wouldn’t quit.
In class, I glanced at Elias surrounded by students and sat.
Voices rising—classmates angry for him.
Elias spotted me, warped beside, and buried his head in my shoulder like yesterday.
Ppak—
Someone sensed trouble from the sound.
“Hey... your shoulder okay?”
“No.”
“Luuu...”
“Why stop.”
“Thought about it—Lucas can shorten to two syllables. Luca’s four, too long.”
Annoyed mid-sentence, yet making nicknames.
Typical Elias.
I changed subject to the training I’d seen.
“Elias. That why you struggled all week?”
Elias didn’t answer.
Till closing ended, not a word on training.
“Dismissed. Eat lunch, train hard.”
Professor finished; students rose in a wave.
Then, a student outside yelled.
“Huh, what’s this?”
Hallway floor was pure white at a glance.
White papers scattered thick from afar.
[Lost item—claim it.]
[Main building 2F corridor end]
I looked up the hall.
Dozens of same papers stuck to floor and walls.
No student council stamp—unauthorized posting.
‘Not really lost item purpose, at this scale.’
My eyes met Leo’s at the front door.
Leo seemed to sense something off too.