Chapter 154
Chapter 154
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 154
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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"Ah, Tschugspitze...."
"Huh?!"
Tschugspitze.
It's at the tail end of the Alps.
"I'm not sure if we can even move around in this cold. Lucas, you okay?"
Cherlingen turned back to me and asked.
He really does look after the team's number two....
Not that I need it.
"I'm fine. Worry about yourself first."
"We need to wrap this up quick. Guys, can you run in this state?"
"Run? My joints are freezing up."
"We have to run."
Cherlingen answered firmly, but tension filled the faces of the team members.
'This is definitely a disadvantage.'
It's a problematic environment even for using our unique abilities.
Philip groaned before suddenly yelling.
"What kind of deployment is this? Why would anyone rampage at 3,000 meters above sea level? Is there even a path up here?"
No lifts, no tourist railways.
We have to climb up with nothing but our bodies.
Of course, normal people don't rampage in places like this....
But it's not impossible. It's a good chance to see how far the school adjusts the difficulty.
Philip yelled again.
"And if someone rampages up here, they'd at least bundle up properly before deploying—not warp in defenseless like us!"
One of Philip's friends chimed in.
"Warped? We're right there on site."
"Sure, yeah! It's virtual reality. But the professors copied that place exactly and pasted it here—what's the difference from warping?"
"Quiet."
Cherlingen raised his hand as if to say shut up.
Everyone fell silent and looked at Cherlingen. Besides, it was too cold to keep chattering anyway.
"We need to find where the rampager is right now. The upside here is no tourists. Philip, easier than downtown, right?"
"...Yeah."
"Florian, ever used your ability below freezing?"
"Of course... not much. But it's not impossible. Just a bit sluggish."
"Good. Mine's not completely impossible either, but save it as a last resort. Cold air hugging the ground doesn't match my usual conditions."
Cherlingen's lightning ability is highly destructive—great for scorching farmland, but not much benefit to human life otherwise. It's ill-suited for rescue ops.
"The unique abilities are an issue, but the real problem is our mobility's restricted. The previous six teams all had recommended clear times between 30 and 40 minutes. Probably the same here. But who can last 30 minutes up here?"
"...."
"...Let's end it quick."
Ainsidel from Class 1-A muttered.
Cherlingen nodded.
"Inside 20 minutes would be best. To do that, we need to know our priorities. As we saw earlier: civilians first if they appear. Ruins need attention too. If it's swamps and forests like Teams 3-4 got, we have to keep vitriol from seeping into the ground."
"B-but there's nothing here...."
"Right. No civilians, no ruins, no deep vitriol seepage in the soil. So what did the school make the biggest issue here? What do we need to consider?"
No one spoke up.
They seemed too drained for answers, clueless about what the school wanted if not civilian care or preventing secondary damage.
"Our lives."
Cherlingen nodded at my words.
"Yeah. The core of this field is the rescuers' survival."
For Fields 1-2, it was maintaining order. For 7-8, minimizing environmental damage. Same for 3-4.
And finally: prioritizing rescuer safety.
Perfect theme for the school's last question.
That means one thing.
They won't deduct much for property damage.
'No.'
The moment we focus on preserving property or nature, we're sunk.
Forget damage—use anything we can.
I swept the ground with the tip of my boot.
The snow I'd been standing on had hardened under my weight, and my toe slipped right out.
'Of all places, on a slope.'
To secure safety first, we need to get out of here.
There's a plateau below the summit.
Thanks to classes like Earth's geology back home, I had a basic idea of the terrain.
To check if I was missing anything, I asked the students.
"Anyone know this environment? Philip, you don't sleep in science class—tell us what you know."
"Here? Glaciers, avalanches, limestone, lead, zinc, karst. Ice Age, Mesozoic. That's all I got."
"Haha... You're the science whiz?"
Cherlingen laughed and scolded him.
Considering the guy goes to Imperial 2 Academy, he really doesn't know much.
Not more than me, anyway....
I get it—no energy to string sentences together.
"Over a minute gone already. Let's start."
Cherlingen clapped once and spoke with weight.
Philip crouched low, focusing his senses.
"...Up higher."
"Up?"
"Something rolling around near the summit? Really far."
"...."
Cherlingen nodded, then jerked his head at us.
'Rolling around.'
In other teams' tests, the balls weren't floating. They factored in rampagers having limbs and running on legs.
Anyway....
Philip's friend caught on and grabbed his head.
"We gotta climb the Alps in this weather?!"
"Yeah. Up to the plateau 300 meters below the summit. Anyone know the warp coordinates for the plateau?"
"...."
"Of course not."
"W-we could adjust coordinates one by one from here...."
"No."
I shook my head at Melvin's suggestion.
We could crash anywhere.
"Then, Philip. Peaks everywhere around this plateau—which one has the rampager?"
"Uh, too far to tell."
"...."
"Sorry. But humanly speaking, it's pretty distant."
Philip apologized after gauging the mood.
No need to apologize.
The issue is: without a direction, no time for strategy.
Eyes met all around.
Cherlingen grinned and shouted.
"Run, guys."
* * *
"Tschugspitze? Wow...."
Hollow laughs erupted from students watching the feed in the gym.
"Can they even run frozen like that? Gotta be -15°C there."
"Team 5 has a fire ability user."
"Really? That's too unfair for Team 6."
"They've got Yulia and Ascanien. A little disadvantage—what's the big deal?"
"No, slipping and tumbling down? Even if you don't die for real, it'll haunt your dreams."
"Surviving's priority for them anyway."
The student snickered.
Leo listened to them while focusing on the screen.
That student said it half-jokingly, but it's probably the real intent.
'Easy in one way, hard in another.'
Way too easy for Team 5 with fire. Way too hard for Team 6.
But if Yulia uses lightning to ignite a tree and they all carry torches, it might change.
Of course, that's worlds apart from a fire ability user. They can turn their body into a heater—just walking nearby helps. Torches are a hassle to carry.
Then, Elias slipped over to the Team 1 benches.
"Hey~ Wanna see how Luca does?"
A student next to Leo laughed and asked.
"Luca? You check on Ascanien a lot."
"He's fun~ Anyway, Alps. That should've been you, Leo. Right?"
"Yeah, Bavaria and all."
Leo shook his head at their words.
"Maybe. Natural terrain suits my ability best."
The school made it impossible to use unique abilities.
Sure, Leo could use his anywhere with a handful of dirt, but stations are still less favorable than natural fields.
Precisely: even if he deploys it, the field prevents fully showcasing its value.
"From what I scouted, Philip's the only one useful in any field."
"Kid handles spatial awareness well."
"And Yulia's ability is hard to use any way you slice it. Inherently destructive and aggressive—not for rescues."
"Yeah. Battlefield, maybe."
Definitely unfavorable overall for Lucas's Team 6.
Then, surprised voices from other students.
"Huh?"
"What?! Is that allowed?"
What.
Leo looked at both screens.
Team 6 hadn't reached the plateau yet—screen unchanged—but Team 5 had. They raced up fast, view on them. Normal so far. Fire user means faster progress, obviously.
But this scene wasn't the participants' issue.
It was the exam's.
"...!"
Leo held his breath without thinking upon seeing the screen.
* * *
Philip's reports kept cutting out.
Cherlingen, leading the pack, yelled.
"Philip, keep checking!"
"Huff.... Wind... there, there. Left this time!"
Kid's freezing—can't even talk straight.
He's tracking the plateau by wind flow.
'Wonder what Team 5's doing.'
Our team students are fully iced over. I draped barriers around them, but it's not enough. Lips turning purple.
Can't barrier Philip—he needs to feel the wind.
We're at risk of hypothermia.
'Insane difficulty....'
Who deploys to Tschugspitze without gear?
But getting dropped like this let us intuitively grasp what the school wants. Like I thought earlier: how do you survive when pushed to the brink.
At least everyone's athletic—no slips so far.
"Ugh!"
'And I just jinxed it.'
Philip's friend nearly slipped; instinctively used his ability—dying grass from somewhere snagged his leg.
Using unique abilities so passively is laughable.
If they'd gotten forest, he'd have subdued victims by now. School's genius at neutering abilities.
'Come to think: Team 5 has a fire user.'
That's a snag.
In every prior field, school assigned disadvantages per ability.
What does that mean?
Team 5 better think hard.
Fire in Alps isn't luck.
Even with that edge, there's a counterbalancing problem.
'They've thought this far....'
Probably.
But the issue: even knowing it mentally, the side with momentum gets cocky.
Likely to follow inertia over deep thought.
'Might be lucky we don't have their ability user.'
As I thought that, Cherlingen asked Philip.
"How much farther?"
"Almost. But, guys."
Philip's face went white.
"Sounds overlapping."
"What? Animal?"
"No, this... the way it hits the air—pure vitriol vibe. You know? The reflecting waves are different."
Philip's friend approached, exasperated.
"No, spell it out. So you're saying...."
Then, Cherlingen—who'd magicked his legs and bolted ahead—chuckled and called us.
[Guys. Hurry up.]
"Why?"
[Two rampagers.]
* * *
[Hey, what? Two rampagers?]
Team 5's feed carried the leader's voice.
Now the gym students silently watched Teams 5 and 6.
First field with two rampagers.
'One east, one northeast. On separate peaks, of course.'
Is the school demanding too extreme difficulty?
Leo held his breath, staring at the screen.