Ambush Among the Trees
As the blue light completely faded, the scene that unfolded before our eyes was a forest dense with enormous trees.
"………It's a forest."
"This is truly amazing──!"
"I hate the Tower of Truth, but I have to admit their technology is incredible. To transport so many people to another place in an instant……."
My teammates stared blankly at the endless expanse of trees. The tall trees filling the forest so densely that the end was nowhere in sight were overwhelming just by their presence alone.
But I had not a shred of attention left to spare for the surrounding scenery.
Beatrix, what the hell did you just say? Disgusting mana……? I didn't mishear that, did I?
Please, just tell me I misheard.
"You fool! As if this body could ever sense something wrong. I clearly felt the same mana as those Light of Dawn bastards or whatever they're called."
The Tower of Truth alone is already giving me a headache…….
"I cannot tell how they concealed the mana, but until it was amplified by the magic circle, even this body failed to notice it."
There were plenty of ways to hide mana, but if even a dragon like Beatrix had failed to detect it, they had not only suppressed it but almost certainly used a concealment skill or item as well.
The anxiety gauge inside me had already maxed out and then some.
I need to gather the coins fast and get out of here before anything blows up.
According to the professor, we needed three coins. We already had one each, so all we had to do was grab two more quickly and leave.
"Hmph. Are you not more likely to be eliminated and leave before you even collect any coins?"
Me?
As if that would ever happen.
I shot back at Beatrix in my mind and then issued the order to my teammates out loud.
"Everyone, combat ready."
In the darkened forest where the canopy of leaves blocked out the sky, something stirred among the thick branches of the trees. Between the shafts of sunlight filtering through the leaves, something shot toward us at high speed.
"Not on my watch!"
Enri stepped forward with her right foot and pulled the shield from her back. She locked her gaze precisely on the direction of the attack and raised her guard. Steel clashed against steel with a shower of sparks.
CLANG!!
The projectile that had come flying so fast was stopped dead by Enri's shield and bounced weakly to the ground. I looked down at what had fallen.
It was an arrow with a slender tip.
One archer, at least. Where are the other three hiding?
Elizabeth, the only member of our team with a proper long-range attack, quickly traced the arrow's trajectory and activated a skill.
"Feel the wind as sharp as blades."
⟨ Wind Cutter ⟩
"Gyaaah!!"
Blades of wind sliced through the leaves and plunged into the darkness. A scream rang out almost immediately. The body of what was presumably the archer tumbled from the tree and vanished in a flash of blue light the moment it hit the ground.
It was the same effect that appeared in the original game whenever someone was eliminated from the subspace.
Archer down.
We had expected the ambush, so my teammates' reactions were quick—but the enemy team's surprise attack was far from over.
A sudden rumbling sound rose, and the ground began to shake.
"Eugyaak?!"
Before Enri could even figure out what the noise was, the earth beneath her feet gave way and she plummeted into the hole that opened up.
"Enri, are you hurt?"
"Yep~ I'm fine! But this armor's so heavy I can't climb out by myself."
Enri's energetic voice floated up from the pit in answer to Elizabeth's worried call.
The skill that had caught her was clearly Dig, the earth-attribute spell that excavated the ground. Dig belonged to earth-attribute mages.
"The other team has an earth-attribute mage. Watch the ground, everyone!"
I spread my mana through the surroundings and finally succeeded in pinpointing the enemy's location.
Over there.
The moment I locked onto their position, a bullet of stone came hurtling out.
They attacked the instant I noticed them. Not bad.
The enemy mage seemed to have decent skill. But our own mage was not about to lose to any academy student in raw ability either.
Even after confirming the incoming skill, I never slowed down; I simply charged straight ahead.
"O wind, become a wall that blocks the enemy."
⟨ Wind Wall ⟩
Elizabeth's Wind Wall caught the Earth Bullet and scattered it harmlessly back into nature. I shoved through the underbrush and burst into the clearing beyond. A woman in a robe—clearly the mage—stared at me with a startled expression.
I moved to eliminate the mage first, but a warrior who had been lurking in the shadows swung his axe in a second ambush.
I had already fixed his position, so the moment the axe came flying I simply stepped aside.
WHOOSH!
The sharp blade of the axe sliced past my face, tearing the air with a vicious sound.
"Damn it, I missed!"
Heavy weapons like axes packed lethal force in every swing, but they were slow. Once the ambush failed, the warrior's entire body became a mass of openings.
"A little too hasty."
"Keuk!!"
I drove my spear into the completely exposed midsection. A short scream tore from his throat as the shield surrounding his body visibly cracked and crumbled.
He steadied his stance, looked me full in the face, then scowled and let out a long sigh.
"Haa, my luck is absolute garbage. Of all the teams to ambush, it had to be the Winchester team……."
The axe warrior muttered to himself, then met my eyes and said something unexpected.
"Young Master Winchester. I am truly sorry, but would you be willing to overlook this and let us stop here?"
So this one is their leader.
Even after losing their archer, he had immediately judged the power gap and decided to withdraw. Not a bad call. But coins had practically walked right up and handed themselves to me; there was no way I was letting them go.
"I refuse. There is nothing in it for us."
"Well, I figured as much. I more or less expected that answer."
The warrior condensed mana into his axe and fixed me with a cold, settled gaze.
"I am Drake Portman of the Portman Viscount family. I apologize for the ambush."
"Taylor Winchester. I forgive you."
Honestly, the whole thing had been pure profit for me, so there was nothing to forgive or not forgive.
"Still, I have no intention of just rolling over and losing!"
Not a trace of anxiety or fear remained on his face.
"Come."
"I won't hold back! "
"I destroy everything that stands in my way."
⟨ Destructive Strike ⟩
Blue lightning crackled along Drake's axe as it carved toward my right shoulder. The skill left a vivid azure afterimage and looked threatening enough just to watch—yet……
Too slow.
It was nowhere near fast enough to reach me. I slipped easily outside the skill's range and activated my own.
"Crush the enemy with movements as swift as light."
⟨ Annihilating Charge ⟩
BOOM!!
"Guh!!"
The charge distance was short, so the skill's full power never came out—but it was more than enough. His shield had already taken one solid hit; the body that caught my skill dead-on went flying through the air and dissolved into blue particles.
"You bastard! How dare you do that to our leader!"
The moment Drake was eliminated by my skill, a student who had been hiding in the mage's shadow raised a dagger with a face twisted in rage and charged straight at me.
Shadow Concealment, huh? Assassin talent.
"No, stop, Riol!"
By the time the mage sensed something wrong and screamed, it was already too late. The assassin she had called Riol grew slower and slower as he closed the distance; by the time he reached me he looked almost frozen in place. He stared at me with trembling eyes, clearly having no idea what had just happened to him.
I gave a short snort of laughter and spoke to the one responsible for this spectacle.
"Curse of Slowness, is it? Your skill has improved quite a bit."
"Heh-heh. Of course it has."
Elizabeth puffed up with pride, as if this much were only natural, and smiled. Listening to her reliable voice, I drove my spear into the assassin's body. The moment my spear shattered his shield magic, he vanished into blue particles without even managing a sound.
I walked toward the mage who now stood alone after losing every teammate. Having a trembling girl right in front of me—even though they had been the ones to ambush us—somehow made me feel like the villain.
Maybe that was why I never raised my spear. Instead I opened my mouth to accept her surrender.
"……Got anything else to show me?"
"N-no. Really, nothing. I-I surrender……."
Her legs gave out and she sank to the ground; tears even welled in her eyes. With shaking hands she held out a coin marked with the number 3.
Elizabeth, watching from behind, spoke as if she could not believe what she was hearing.
"Weren't you the ones who started this?"
"I-if we had known it was Young Master Winchester's group, we never would have……."
She sobbed that they had only ambushed us because another team had appeared right next to them the moment the trial began. The mage protested in a trembling, aggrieved voice; the instant I accepted the coin she dissolved into blue particles and disappeared.
Handing over the coin had been treated as surrender, and she had been eliminated.
"Huh? Is everything already over?"
While I was turning the coin I had received from the mage girl over in my fingers, Enri's voice came from behind me.
"Welcome back, Enri. You managed to climb out of that hole just fine, I see."
"Hehe, Lady Elizabeth helped me with a wind skill."
Enri had covered her brand-new armor in dirt from head to toe; she scratched her head and grinned.
"Well done, Young Master."
"Yeah. Good work, everyone."
We got lucky.
Running into another team right at the start meant we might be able to finish this whole thing quickly.