Chapter 258
Chapter 258
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 258
Chapter Title: Ice and Moon
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Raheln Academy entrance exam, phase two.
The goal of the second exam was to snag a bracelet matching your own color.
To that end, battles were breaking out all over the forest.
"Red bracelet! Stop right there, you!"
"Please, I have to get into Raheln Academy. Don't take it!"
"Damn it, when the hell did someone steal my bracelet?!"
Amid the clamor echoing from every direction.
One person alone strolled through the woods with utter leisure.
No one dared approach her.
The reason? A single ice dragon lazily circling the skies above her.
Its overwhelming presence crushed any onlooker.
And the power radiating from the ice dragon was far beyond what any examinee could handle.
"Yellow's the enemy, huh."
Muttering to herself beneath the ice dragon was Bianca Hardenharts.
Krash Valheim's fiancée.
"Pii!"
At that moment, the ice fox familiar perched on her neck let out a cry.
Bianca tilted her gaze at the sound.
"Eek!"
Someone hiding in the bushes with their mouth clamped shut yelped involuntarily.
A yellow bracelet encircled their wrist.
Bianca raised a finger smoothly the instant their eyes met.
The ice dragon hovering overhead whipped its head around to stare at the examinee.
"S-Spare me!"
The examinee screamed and bolted.
But it was the wrong move.
An ice barrier erupted in front of them.
Towering too high to leap over.
Trapped behind the ice wall in an instant, they froze in a hesitant stance.
Clack—
Then came the click of Bianca's heels from behind.
She was closing in to claim their bracelet.
Was this it? Elimination?
As despair washed over their face—
Bianca's steps halted.
The moment her eyes narrowed—
"Pii!"
Pii, the ice fox familiar around Bianca's neck, cried out sharply.
Crack!
In that instant, the unbreakable ice wall split clean in two.
The yellow-bracelet guy gaped in horror as it crumbled.
Whoosh!
"Guh!"
A hand shot from inside the severed wall, clamping their nape with crushing force.
They choked back a scream as they were yanked through and sent tumbling across the ground.
"Kuh-hack, guh!"
Bewildered and clueless, they looked up to see a girl now standing where the ice wall had been.
Her pale golden hair fluttered in the wind. It was Dalea Juno.
Another top contender among this year's examinees.
But this was his chance.
Seizing the opening as Dalea blocked Bianca, the boy fled like mad.
Bianca didn't bother chasing him.
Her eyes fixed on Dalea instead.
"Why interfere?"
A blue bracelet adorned Dalea's wrist.
No relation to Bianca's color whatsoever.
They had zero reason to fight.
Yet Dalea flashed a wide grin at Bianca's question.
"Once you get your bracelet, you won't fight anyone else, right?"
No need for pointless scraps.
Dalea beamed broadly at Bianca's icy-cold expression.
"So let's fight before that."
She had a wicked streak.
"You said it yourself, Bianca. Beat you first, then challenge Krash Valheim."
Bianca had no interest in fighting.
But at those words, her brows furrowed faintly.
To her, Krash was an untouchable reverse scale.
"Fine then."
The ice dragon above lowered its head.
Pure white breath gathered in its maw.
"Bring it."
The moment ice breath rained down over the exam forest.
Pure white icy breath filled the exam grounds.
The proctors watching went into a frenzy.
The breath was so intense it disrupted even the monitoring spells.
"This year's a mess too!"
As one magic department proctor wailed desperately to restore the spells—
Inside the flickering screen.
A blonde girl dashed across the frozen landscape, now an icy wonderland.
Dalea Juno.
Daughter of the empire's premier sword clan. Her legs blurred invisibly fast over the ice forest.
Her thighs bulged unnaturally.
Propelled by explosive leg strength, she moved at astonishing speed.
Bianca tracked her with her eyes, guarded by the ice dragon.
Fast.
She'd close the gap in a heartbeat at the slightest opening.
Even now, Dalea was barely trackable mid-sprint.
In that case.
Bianca's otherwise emotionless eyes gleamed.
"Krima."
The ice dragon circling her began gathering breath again.
Dalea noticed.
She'd barely endured the last one without freezing solid.
The ice dragon's breath was beyond imagination.
Twice would be dicey.
She looked fine, but cold was creeping into her core.
I've never slacked on training.
Never dreamed she'd face this output from a peer.
Master level at least.
Krash Valheim's fiancée, that's all they'd said.
No one imagined this hidden prowess.
Getting close is near impossible.
The chill intensified nearer Bianca.
But once.
There was a moment it eased around her.
Just before the ice dragon breathed.
All cold funneled into its maw, vanishing briefly.
Bianca knows it too, yet she breathed anyway.
A probable trap, but Dalea smiled anyway.
If they gambled, she'd gamble back.
Whose bet wins?
Time to find out.
Whoosh!
All cold converged toward the ice dragon's breath.
Temperature rose slightly.
The moment.
Dalea's eyes flashed as she halted her sprint and unleashed her leg power.
Her legs ballooned explosively.
The ice dragon's breath completed.
Over the ice forest.
The ice dragon's breath descended once more.
Before the all-freezing breath—
Dalea's leg lashed toward its path.
A gale howled.
Nearby trees whipped in unison with the wind.
Faster than Glacius Radius itself, Dalea leaped straight to Bianca.
Such speed even stunned the proctors scoring it.
Frost blanketed Dalea's body.
The toll of punching through barehanded.
But heat from her overtaxed muscles for the burst held the cold at bay.
Her leap didn't end there.
Frost-coated, she closed in on Bianca's face.
But Bianca was ready.
A turtle poked its head from her pocket, mouth agape.
Before Bianca—
A perfect cube barrier formed.
A defensive spell via familiar arts.
One that withstood even grand-scale magic.
Yet even seeing it deploy, Dalea's sword pressed on.
Atop Dalea's blade—
Moonlight glittered like scattered shards.
Moonlight Divine Sword
Ignores all magic, cleaves through
Bianca's eyes caught a bizarre sight.
The barrier blocking her sliced like paper by Dalea's sword.
The Juno clan's sword art.
A secret technique that ignored all magical defenses and cut through.
To those wielding powers, the Juno swordsmen were nightmare fuel.
Bianca was no exception.
Dalea's Moonlight Divine Sword shredded the barrier and thrust at Bianca's throat.
Before Bianca's neck.
Dalea's moonlit blade about to sever it—
Bianca's hands shot up together.
Clang!
The clash rang fiercely through the forest.
Dalea's gaze flicked belatedly to Bianca's hands.
Two daggers gripped there.
Chilling blue aura clung to their pristine white blades.
Dalea's eyes widened gradually.
Bianca's aura on the daggers was formidable enough to make even her swallow hard.
And she'd parried Dalea's sword flawlessly.
Clearly honed through grueling effort.
Handles familiars like that and wields daggers?
Dalea stifled a bitter chuckle.
What drove her to such desperate training?
Curiosity burned.
But up close, Bianca couldn't underestimate Dalea either.
No matter the daggers, Dalea—swordswoman for life—held the edge in close quarters.
Proof? Dalea planned to pin Bianca daggers and all.
As explosive aura erupted from Dalea—
Bianca sensed it and shoved her daggers with all her might.
Clank!
The dagger blade locked against Dalea's sword grip, binding it.
A technique to seize and trap the foe's blade by the hilt.
Just buying time.
But for Bianca, perfect.
The ice dragon gathered breath again.
Third time.
Three massive breaths would cost Bianca blood, but she didn't care.
"Fire now, and you'll get caught too."
"Doesn't matter."
Dalea glimpsed the venom in Bianca's eyes.
True intent to take the foe down with her.
No ordinary malice.
Even with Moonlight Divine Sword, three was risky for Dalea.
So.
Dalea's eyes bulged wildly.
Her choice: drop Bianca before the breath.
She was a mad gambler too.
In that instant, Dalea released her sword.
Bianca blinked at the decision to discard her weapon here.
Moonlight Divine Sword cloaked Dalea's right handblade.
Hand turned sword in a blink.
No hesitation—she thrust at Bianca's gut.
Clang!
Bianca twisted a dagger razor-thin to parry the handblade.
Then, Dalea's dropped sword plummeted.
Natural result.
In the gap, her left handblade extended toward Bianca.
Left handblade also Moonlight Divine Sword-infused.
Bianca's remaining dagger had to block it.
Clank!
Both their hands sealed—
Just before her sword hit ground, Dalea toed the hilt sharply.
Whoosh!
The blade rocketed skyward, aimed at Bianca's chin.
Utterly bizarre, erratic strike.
Hands tied up by Dalea.
And sword still bore Moonlight Divine Sword—no familiar could block.
Their eyes met briefly.
Victory curled Dalea's lips.
Then Bianca did the unexpected.
She hurled the left dagger blocking Dalea's handblade.
It spun back toward Bianca.
Seemed suicidal.
"Ah!"
Dalea realized too late.
She swung her freed left handblade, but the hesitation shifted everything.
Cling!
Returning dagger clashed with Dalea's sword, deflecting its path.
The blade merely grazed Bianca's cheek, severing a few hairs.
No lethal wound. Deflected.
Before Dalea thrusting her left handblade late—
Bianca smirked, blood dripping from her cheek.
Her emotionless smile was chilling enough to mesmerize even Dalea.
"Fire."
The ice dragon's breath engulfed them both.