Chapter 90
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: The Strongest Direct Descendant
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"Hey, kids. Let's take those guys down."
"...? What are you talking about, Lore? Why pick a fight mid-flight? It's dangerous."
"Aren't those first-years? Us second-years attacking first-years feels a bit..."
Lore's two second-year teammates showed clear reluctance at his words.
There was no reason for second-years to go out of their way to attack first-years.
They weren't even competitors, and it was common sense that second-years were generally stronger than first-years.
Attacking first-years was basically just bullying.
So, in this situation, for second-years to attack first-years...
It was something that would draw fingers pointed in judgment, considering the pride of noble mages.
But right now, Lore wasn't a noble mage.
He was nothing more than a wrathful demon consumed by rage over having his flying device stolen by underclassmen and being forced into a Grand Prostration.
"You were still holding onto that?"
"You thought I'd forget, you bastard?!"
Lore grinned vilely, as if he'd been waiting for this very day.
Hisenna and Elrim asked uneasily at the strangely unfolding conversation.
"I-Ian. What are they talking about? Who are those upperclassmen...?"
"W-Why are you suddenly calling me trash?! I'm scared all of a sudden!"
From their perspective, it must have been terrifying.
Imagining getting hit by magic up here and plummeting down would make anyone want to wet themselves on the spot.
I pondered for a moment.
The only time I'd fought while flying was my first and last time—against the Chairman.
Back then, I'd just been running away.
Should I fight back? But considering the two behind me, I held off.
Let's just fly faster. My flying skills were better anyway.
"Hold on tight."
I immediately accelerated.
The broomstick whooshed past the canoe in an instant.
However, Lore's fury seemed far greater than I'd imagined.
"Ian! They're chasing us hard!"
"T-They're casting magic from there, trash! If we fall, we'll dieee!"
Lore pursued me at a considerable speed.
He must have practiced flying a lot.
The canoe was probably more stable than a broomstick, making it easier to ramp up speed.
"What kind of crazy upperclassman...!"
No choice. I crouched low and sharply turned direction.
Whoosh—swish—
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Traaaash—!"
Hisenna and Elrim screamed.
But we dodged the incoming magic from their side.
I'd flown while dealing with the Chairman's spells before; no way cheap shots like these would hit me.
"Damn it...! Use guided magic!"
"Lore, do we really have to go this far?"
"If we don't knock them down, we'll crash like this? You wanna get eliminated?"
"Hah... Sorry, kids. I picked the wrong teammates."
Truly a madman. I'd thought so before, but...
Forcing his teammates to attack us during the subjugation festival by threatening them.
No way to evade anymore.
Since non-guided magic wasn't landing, they started calculating guided spells.
These had to be blocked with defensive magic.
"Hisenna, Elrim. Can you handle defense spells?"
"Ugh, uuu... motion sickness..."
"HyaAAAAH!"
"We won't fall, so don't worry! To not fall, you two have to block! Win this aerial battle, and we'll get tons of attention?"
"H-Hya?!"
At my words, Elrim snapped to attention first.
She seemed to realize my flying was stable enough.
"I'll handle the flying properly, so just block attacks!"
"Hisenna! Open your eyes! This is our chance! If you handle defense, I'll attack!"
"Ugh, uu... I'll try."
Thankfully, Elrim perked up, opening a path forward.
Calculating magic normally while flying was tough.
Instead, I could use the casting formulas I'd learned from Sword Guy. No calculations needed.
But pulling out a casting formula right now had issues.
Using casting released a massive burst of mana at once.
And flight magic drained mana per second.
Reducing total mana with a casting would lead to exhaustion mid-flight.
Plus, the dual-sword summoning formula had an awkward range.
We needed to close in more on Lore's flight device, but the less stable broomstick would be at a disadvantage.
For now, Elrim and Hisenna had to hold strong to create an opening.
As I thought that, Hisenna and Elrim began exchanging spells with the upperclassmen.
Crack—crackle—
The ice spears flying from their side shattered against Hisenna's defensive spell.
Despite the rough flight making her dizzy, Hisenna perfectly calculated her defense.
It was even more precise than during our entrance exam duel.
No wonder she was a direct descendant. And she'd clearly put in a lot of effort since then.
Focusing solely on defense, she steadily blocked the second-years' attacks.
"I was saving it for later, but I'll use one special just for this!"
While Hisenna defended, Elrim seemed to have calculated an attack spell.
At the same time, she pulled out a mana stone from her pocket.
Probably the one with the 'flashy magic' she'd mentioned.
Simple spells wouldn't pierce an upperclassman's defense.
Using a mana stone was a solid call.
Elrim's spell activated,
and simultaneously, she hurled the mana stone loaded with flashy magic.
Fwoosh—
Elrim's calculated spell was, as expected, her specialty: fire magic.
It even looked like 4th-circle. She'd gained a 4th-circle spell she could handle.
Four fireballs split off in all directions, engulfing the canoe.
"4th-circle...? Were they A-Class kids?"
It wasn't common for first-years to handle 4th-circle.
Even if they could, mastering one as a finisher was standard for first-years.
Still, handling even one in the first semester marked top-tier skill.
And Lore was B-Class.
Weaker than A-Class me or the princess.
In a standard matchup, they'd lose, but mid-flight like this, it gave us a shot.
"Go— Elrim Special Explosion—!"
Following Elrim's 4th-circle, the magic stored in the mana stone triggered.
The stone rocketed skyward, emitting a massive glow.
Mana stones glowing on use was normal,
but the embedded magic itself was...
Pop-pop-pop-pop—
With Elrim's mysterious incantation, an enormous barrage of fireworks erupted from the stone.
A spectacular fireworks display lit up above Lore's team,
and Lore and his teammates clutched their eyes, staggering.
Hm. No real offensive effect.
But in this situation, it worked perfectly.
The overly flashy fireworks blocked Lore's vision.
"Nice one!"
Who knew Elrim would be useful for once.
Before her fireworks faded, I focused my mind.
The casting formula etched clearly in part of my circuits.
To conserve mana, just one.
But one should be enough.
[Savior's Sword: Introduction - Upper Crescent Slash]
A massive greatsword materialized, infused with my mana.
The blade pointed skyward at first, then locked onto Lore's team per my will.
I closed into range while they were blinded, and
the sword tilted forward, tip aimed at the cadet sitting mid-canoe.
The enormous blade then thrust straight, impaling the cadet.
"Gahhh—what—"
The upperclassman's scream cut short.
Blinded by Elrim's fireworks, he couldn't calculate a defense spell in time,
and got eliminated by the Savior's Sword thrust.
"H-Hey, Lore! Open your eyes!"
"No, damn it, just a sec—"
But it didn't end there.
The follow-up second strike.
The greatsword traced an upper crescent arc,
Slash—
slicing Lore's painstakingly crafted canoe clean in two.
The bisected canoe could no longer fly.
-Kiyaaaaaaaah!-
Lore and the remaining upperclassman plummeted in freefall with the halves.
Their desperate screams echoed across the entire field.
Hearing that, the first eliminated guy almost seemed lucky.
To save mana, I immediately recalled the casting.
"I-Is this okay?"
"It's fine. The field system's protection magic prevents death from falls anyway."
"Hehe! Did everyone see my performance?!"
In any case, we synced up and eliminated Lore's team.
Technically, they started it, so we'd just wasted time from our side.
"We're delayed. Let's hurry."
No matter what, we had to claim the top first-year score.
I accelerated toward the forest field.
[1st – Student Council (6300 pts)]
[2nd – Rimgoft and Two Lackeys (6110 pts)]
[3rd – Everyone Below Me is a Fool (4510 pts)]
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...
...
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[32nd – It's the Universe's Strongest Superstar Elrim (2370 pts)]
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...
After arriving at the forest field, we hunted beasts nonstop.
As a result, though a bit late, we were climbing the ranks decently.
Not many hours had passed since the start, so nothing was certain yet.
But 1st and 2nd were undisputed.
With 3rd at 4510 points, only the top two teams towered in the 6000s.
Below 3rd, scores clustered tightly.
Most top ranks were second- or third-year teams.
We started late, but at this pace, top first-year score was possible.
"By the way, why is our team name like this?"
"I left it to Elrim since she said she had a super cool one..."
"Why?! What's wrong with it?!"
"At least use spaces."
Our team name: It's the Universe's Strongest Superstar Elrim.
We could've picked our own, but handing it off led to this. Trash.
1st and 2nd were inferable from their names too.
1st seemed to be the student council president's team—Harisha's.
2nd was that second-year A-Class from the Rimgoft Archmage Duke Family I'd glimpsed before.
"Lady Karingol is amazing. Still a second-year, yet neck-and-neck with the president."
"Karingol?"
"Lady Karingol Rimgoft."
Right. Her name was Karingol.
Second-year A-Class, partnered with Hisenna during field training mutual eval.
I recalled Hisenna freaking out about evaluating Rimgoft back then.
"But is this Karingol Rimgoft that scary? Even other direct descendants fear her?"
"Well... Lady Karingol is different. The power balance among Archmage Dukes is similar, but excluding the dukes themselves, among their children—the direct descendants—she's special."
"You don't even know that? What a trash. The Rimgoft family has only one direct descendant!"
"Only one?"
The Rimgoft Archmage Duke had only ever had one child.
Unlike the playboy Floridel direct descendants or the Perryhills with several. Definitely unique.
He'd declared his child would surely be the strongest, so no need for multiples.
One perfect heir was enough. Pure confidence.
Surprisingly, that single child, Karingol, was born with immense talent.
Growth surpassing other families' direct descendants.
They called her the strongest direct descendant.
And unspoken, she carried an intimidating aura beyond that.
"Is that possible?"
"It happened, so we have to believe. Though conspiracy theories exist..."
Hisenna cautiously added a bit more.
Theories that Rimgoft Archmage Duke used some method.
Forbidden magic, infant tampering, etc.
But the most plausible: He had multiple kids,
keeping only the one he liked and killing the rest.
The reason it was most credible? Karingol's age.
Unlike other dukes, Rimgoft had her very late.
Prior kids didn't please him, so he offed them.
Did it really need such rumors?
Famous people always had whispers. Whatever.
"Anyway, there are dark rumors like that, so be careful. Talking carelessly could reach Rimgoft ears and earn their hate."
"Yeah, getting caught badmouthing would suck."
With that, we stopped talking.
Back to beast hunting.
Then, something approached.
"Kyaaah—!"
Suddenly, Kimcheur—who'd ignored all beasts till now—started growling fiercely.
Why this guy now...?
"No, Karingol. Skipping the forest for volcanic? That's hell!"
"Too many cadets in the forest. Not enough beasts to hunt."
Voices rang out then.
Figures emerged between the trees,
and Hisenna and Elrim's faces stiffened.
"T-That's her, Ian."
"Huh?"
"Lady Karingol."
Hisenna whispered lowly.
I turned toward them without thinking,
"..."
Karingol Rimgoft.
Her pitch-black eyes met mine.