Chapter 37
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Comprehensive Evaluation Week (4)
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Rowell Leona,
The duels during the comprehensive evaluation week she oversaw were simple.
A high-level spell, {Gravity Field}, unfolded upon any cadet entering the arena.
All they had to do was resist it somehow, no matter the method.
It felt more like an ordeal than a proper duel.
And that was it.
"That's the end. Next..."
With those words, delivered as if she were brushing off an annoyance, the duel with the dungeon practicum professor came to a close.
Deploying magic while enduring that crushing pressure had been tough,
but compared to the advanced magic department evaluation, it ended so anticlimactically that I felt deflated.
I left the arena and headed toward another entrance.
The final duel of the day.
To face the alchemy professor, Baal, I entered through the F entrance.
He was considered the weakest among the three professors,
but this would undoubtedly be the most uncomfortable duel of the three today.
I tried to ignore that unease
and waited in the holding room for my name to be called.
Then, a familiar figure entered through the F entrance.
"Oh...? Isabel, hey."
"Aden, hey."
The person I was closest to at this academy, aside from Libia.
Aden,
had come to the holding room for his duel with the alchemy professor.
Maybe because of the current awkward, uncomfortable mood,
seeing him enter felt even more welcoming than usual.
As I felt that warmth,
and after chatting casually with Aden for a bit,
[Cadet Isabel Helm, please enter.]
My name was called, so I stood up, passed through the tunnel, and headed to the arena.
There, the arena came into view,
along with the alchemy professor, Baal.
Soon, Baal noticed me entering and turned to speak.
"It's been a while, Cadet Isabel."
Like the advanced magic professor, he wore a faint smile,
but unlike her, it sent chills down my spine and filled me with disgust.
"Now, let me explain the duel format—"
Wearing that unpleasant faint smile,
Baal began outlining the duel rules.
A simple explanation: he'd defend against five attacks, evaluating their power and combos.
But woven into those words was a subtle arrogance.
An emotion so faint others might miss it,
but I, who had been sensitive to people's feelings since childhood, could sense it clearly.
His words carried the presumption that no duel with a cadet could even stand,
that no cadet could ever land a successful attack on him.
Cadets were still budding sprouts, so it was a natural assumption,
but sensing that arrogance in his "natural" words made me want to wipe that smug look off his face.
With that thought, I cloaked my body in mana and prepared my spells.
The first spell wasn't an attack—it produced smoke.
Mana-formed mist filled the arena, obscuring vision.
At the same time, I activated Haste, formed an ice spear in my hand, and charged forward,
launching an oversized fireball at Professor Baal.
The fireball pierced the smoke first and dispersed harmlessly against his hand,
and right behind it, I swung my ice spear with full force.
Clang—crack—
But despite the effort I'd put into planning and executing it,
he caught it easily,
and shattered the ice spear with his mana-infused hand.
The moment I realized the attack had failed, I retreated and prepared the next one.
Two attacks down with the fireball and ice spear,
three chances left.
As I pondered how to land those three,
I formed three ice spears in my hand.
One ordinary ice spear,
and the other two crafted using the method I'd shown in advanced magic class.
Once all three were ready,
I filled the arena with smoke again and cast Haste.
Then,
I hurled the ordinary magic spear at Professor Baal, who looked bored,
and pursued it.
"Same tactic again. Disappointing."
Seeing it coming, he sighed in disappointment, shattered the ordinary ice spear,
clang—crack—
and just like before, when I swung the ice spear the same way,
he grabbed and crushed it the same way with his mana-charged hand.
Boom—!
And at that instant, the embedded explosion spell in the magic spear triggered from his mana-fueled destruction.
A clear attack success.
Seeing Professor Baal visibly flustered from the hit,
I seized the opening and swung the final ice spear.
Noticing it coming,
even in his panic, he caught the ice spear with his hand.
But this time, instead of shattering it with mana,
he was blocking it purely with physical strength.
'Got him...!'
In the exact scenario I'd aimed for,
the moment he gripped the ice spear, I infused a bit of mana and leaped back.
Since I'd filled it with most of my mana from the start,
even that small amount triggered the internal spell,
{Lightning Explosion}, unleashing powerful currents around us.
Crackle—zzzt—
Two successes out of five.
The fifth attack had been a gamble of sorts.
Seeing the explosion from the fourth ice spear's destruction,
I'd predicted he'd block the fifth without mana, using raw strength.
Betting on that, I'd packed nearly all my mana into the {Lightning Explosion} formula.
If I'd been wrong and he'd tried to crush it with mana,
the spell would have triggered from the incoming mana before he could shatter it, and I'd have taken damage too.
'Lucky...'
Relief washed over me that the gamble had paid off.
And seeing Professor Baal flustered from allowing two hits,
it felt satisfying, like a breath of fresh air.
Soon after,
Baal shook off his fluster and spoke to me.
"I-Impressive... You may go now..."
Forced restraint laced his words—shame and clear anger—but I ignored it and left the arena through the entrance.
'How did someone like that even become a professor...?'
The thought bubbled up automatically as I exited.
Someone who feels rage and shame from a cadet landing a hit on him...
It had been like this since the first class,
and I regretted choosing alchemy as an elective.
'Should I... watch Aden's duel before heading back to the dorm...?'
As I finished all my duels and was about to return to the dormitory,
I remembered I could watch others' duels now and stopped in my tracks.
And soon...
Instead of the holding room entrance,
I headed toward the spectator seats.
Aden.
Something told me he'd put on a show worth watching.
With that expectation, I sat in the still mostly empty stands
and looked down at the arena.
Cadets kept entering after me,
attempting their five attacks on Professor Baal.
But from my seat in the stands,
not a single cadet who entered and attacked succeeded even once.
After watching failure after failure for a while, boredom started to set in...
[Cadet Aden, please enter.]
The announcement called a familiar name.
'Finally...!'
The moment I'd been waiting for—
boredom vanished, replaced by eager eyes fixed on the arena.
Aden entered with calm strides.
As he stepped into the arena, Professor Baal began speaking.
It looked like the same explanation he'd given me,
detailing the duel rules.
But during their unexpectedly long conversation, Aden's expression suddenly twisted.
'Come to think of it, Aden hates Professor Baal...'
It was a familiar sight.
Aden always grimaced like that around Baal,
occasionally showing disgust and displeasure.
As I thought that,
Aden had already finished talking and cloaked himself in mana.
Then, in an instant, he kicked off the ground, closed in, and swung a fist—
but Baal lightly caught it.
As I felt a pang of disappointment at the first exchange ending so tamely—
Suddenly, the aura emanating from Aden's body shifted.
'That's...'
It felt like the power from the entrance exam,
but even stronger now, filling the arena.
Sensing something ominous, Professor Baal hurriedly released his grip and tried to retreat—but
Aden swiftly seized Baal's wrist, the one that had just held his fist.
And around his other fist swirled an ominous blue mana glow.
Baal sensed the danger and tensed his wrist to pull free, but
Aden's grip was beyond imagination; it wouldn't budge,
and soon—
Bam—!!
Aden's fist struck Baal's face dead-on, slamming him into the ground.
"......."
A cadet slamming a professor into the ground—an unreal sight.
My slightly agape mouth at the scene
wouldn't close easily.