Chapter 85: Midterm Exam 5
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 85: Midterm Exam 5
Loki stepped out of the monitoring room. The professors immediately tried to track him through the screens, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Huh? I’ve lost sight of Loki."
"He must have hidden himself using his Innate Magic."
"Ah, right. I knew he had it, but that Innate Magic of his is truly remarkable."
Hoping to catch a glimpse of him, the professors shifted their attention to the screen showing a student with an injured arm—the one Loki had been eyeing earlier. If Loki intended to take that student down, he would eventually have to reveal himself there.
"If we let things continue like this, the exam is bound to turn into a farce. Isn't there any way to keep Loki out of the monitoring room?"
Sigh...
The other professors let out deep, collective sighs at the junior professor's question. They all knew it. If this continued, the exam would be ruined—or rather, it was already spiraling out of control.
The barrier wasn't a physical shield meant to block intruders; it was a concealment barrier designed to hide the room from the outside.
"Look at the floor over there."
A professor pointed to the spot where Loki’s drink and the location tracking magic tool were lying.
"As long as that tracking tool is there, that crazy—no, Student Loki—can come and go as he pleases."
"Then we should just move the tool..."
"“"“That’s even worse.”"”"
The other professors cut the junior professor off in unison. He flinched as his colleagues flatly rejected his suggestion.
"Regrettably, as Loki pointed out earlier, he hasn't broken a single rule. If we move that tool, it would be the professors interfering with a student's exam."
"B-but..."
"Do you know why the professors all gather in one place to grade the written exams now, even though we didn't use to?" a middle-aged professor asked, interrupting the junior.
The junior professor was momentarily flustered but answered quickly. "Isn't it because a professor once took a bribe to raise a student's grade?"
"Half right, half wrong. It's true that money changed hands and grades were manipulated, but the grades weren't raised—they were lowered."
"What? Why would they go out of their way to lower... wait, could it be?"
"Exactly. A student paid a professor to lower the grade of a rival they disliked, and the professor agreed."
The junior professor finally realized why the others were so adamant.
"Do you understand now? If we touch that magic tool, it becomes a case of a 'professor' sabotaging a 'student's' exam."
While the others were debating, Elicia, who had been silently watching the screens, finally spoke.
"He's arrived."
At her words, the professors scrambled to look at the monitors, but Loki was still nowhere to be seen. Elicia silently pointed at a specific screen, but even then, Loki remained invisible.
"Commander, what exactly are we supposed to be seeing?"
"Tsk. Look at the grass over there. It's flattened, as if someone just stepped on it."
Only after reinforcing their eyes with mana could the professors see the grass Elicia was referring to. How can she even see that? they wondered, but they kept the thought to themselves.
The student, who had been injured while hunting a magic beast, was resting under a tree. He was completely unaware that Loki had deactivated his illusion and was standing right beside him.
"Oh! There he is."
"But the student still hasn't noticed him."
"It's proof of his exceptional skill in concealing his presence."
Loki dashed toward the resting student and swung his sword. The student collapsed before he could even process what was happening.
[Taylor Viter, out.]
One of the professors announced the elimination into the microphone, his voice echoing throughout the forest.
"Even if his arm hadn't been injured, I doubt he could have reacted to that."
"With that level of skill, he could easily be at the top of the rankings without resorting to these antics."
"Wait, what is Student Loki doing now?"
After taking down the student, Loki began looking around as if searching for something.
"There shouldn't be anything else in that area."
Loki, who had been scanning his surroundings, suddenly stopped. The professors felt a chill as if they had made direct eye contact with him. He was staring straight into the camera.
"Surely he's not looking at us, right?"
"Sigh... It seems he is."
As if he knew exactly where the transmission tools were hidden, Loki stared straight into the lens and began waving his hands wildly. He even started jumping up and down on the spot.
"...Should we wave back?" one professor asked with a hollow voice. Since everyone else was just as dumbfounded, no one acknowledged the joke.
Loki stopped waving and pulled a piece of paper and a pen from his Pocket Dimension, beginning to scribble something down.
"......What is he doing now?"
"It looks like he's writing a message."
A moment later, Loki held the paper up high so the professors could see it clearly.
[I'm going to play around a bit more. I'll be back before dinner~.]
"“"“................”"”"
The professors were left speechless. What on earth is that lunatic thinking?
* * *
From then on, Loki began wandering all over the forest. The professors couldn't understand his actions. To be precise, they didn't want to understand. They knew that trying to make sense of him would only lead to a migraine.
Unlike before, Loki didn't use his Innate Magic to hide; he simply sprinted through the woods. He encountered artificial monsters along the way but ignored them entirely, keeping up his pace.
"What in the world is he doing?"
"Who knows. It doesn't look like he has a specific destination."
At first, the professors thought he was heading somewhere important. But as if mocking their assumptions, Loki traversed the entire forest in a zigzag.
"Oh? At this rate, Loki is going to run into Sepia."
At one professor's remark, the others shifted their gaze to Loki's screen. Loki was running in a straight line, and Sepia was right in his path. A moment later, they came face to face.
The professors watched with bated breath.
Gulp.
One was a genius with spirits. The other was a genius at being a lunatic.
Just as Sepia spotted Loki and quickly summoned a spirit—and just as the professors leaned in with anticipation—Loki turned on his heel and bolted in the opposite direction.
"................."
Both Sepia, who stood there with her summoned spirit, and the watching professors were stunned into silence. From the moment Loki met Sepia to the moment he turned tail and fled, not even two seconds had passed.
After that, Loki continued to roam the forest without engaging anyone before eventually returning to the monitoring room.
* * *
Having finished his excursion, Loki sat back down in his chair as if he had never left, casually watching the students on the screens.
"I'm so glad none of the Special Class students have been eliminated yet. Don't you agree, Professor Elicia?"
The Special Class students were all maintaining high rankings and surviving well.
"Sepia and Clara have the most overwhelming scores," Elicia noted.
Sepia, who could track monsters and students through her spirits, and Clara, who relentlessly fired off spells without tiring, were vying for first and second place.
"Loki, you're not in a position to be worrying about others right now."
Unlike the other Special Class students at the top, Loki was near the bottom. Since taking down that first student, he hadn't earned a single point.
"Professor, have you ever heard the saying, 'The cheetah is smiling'?" Loki asked, pulling a grilled skewer out of his Pocket Dimension and taking a large bite.
Elicia ignored his nonsense and continued grading the other students. She already knew the skills of the Special Class since they sparred every morning, but this was her first time properly observing the abilities of the other freshmen.
Pathetic.
The other freshmen were mediocre compared to her class. As she thought, forming a Special Class with a few talented students had been the right choice.
Glance.
And Loki, the one she favored most among those students, was currently wandering around the monitoring room, casually munching on a snack.
[Jasmine Gess, out.]
Loki approached the professor who was announcing the eliminations to the forest.
"If you speak into this microphone, does it really broadcast to the whole forest?"
"Yes."
"Oh! That's cool. Can I try it once?"
"Absolutely not."
The professors couldn't stop Loki from watching the screens since they were public for the faculty anyway, but letting him use the microphone was a bridge too far.
"Is that so? Well, nothing I can do then."
The professors looked at Loki with surprise as he backed off so easily. See, he's a good student who listens if you talk to him properly, the professor genuinely believed.
Until he saw what Loki did next.
"Heave-ho!"
Loki pulled something out of his Pocket Dimension. In his hand was a small doll that looked exactly like him.
While he had been running around the forest earlier, Loki had been scattering magic tools everywhere. The tools he had planted acted like speakers; if he spoke into the doll, the sound would be projected through those tools.
Loki used his illusion magic while mimicking a specific voice.
[Loki, out.]
The words Loki spoke echoed throughout the entire forest.
What did that crazy bastard just say?
The professors stared at him blankly, their eyes wide with shock. Those who had been busy with other tasks all jumped and looked at Loki upon hearing the announcement of his elimination.
But he's standing right here, perfectly fine!
"Though I fall here, I firmly believe that you, the other students, will protect this world!!"
What kind of bullshit is he spouting now?
"“"“.............”"”"
Of course, Loki wasn't actually eliminated just because he said so. The problem was that every other student in the forest now believed Loki was out.
The voice that had just announced Loki's elimination was a perfect replica of the professor who had been making the announcements all day. No student would doubt it.
A professor who usually prioritized his dignity found himself muttering under his breath as he watched Loki.
"That crazy bastard."