The Fai...ry Lady Uses Magic (2)
The Fai...ry Lady Uses Magic (2)
The Tower of Growth towered at the center of Siyoram. Its sheer scale made even the most imposing skyscrapers look insignificant.
But however massive a tower might be, its formal entrance was singular, and the cadets proceeded toward it in order.
"Daehan, enter!"
The order was reversed: from Daehan, the final class of the 4th-years, all the way down to Beginning of Spring, the first class of the 1st-years.
Within the circular formation surrounding the tower, the Daehan Class lined up single file and entered one after another.
In one sense, it was nothing more than walking into a tower in single file, but even that spectacle was enough to fascinate the visitors.
Cadets radiating a distinctive superhuman presence, clad in their sharp formal cadet uniforms, vanishing into the tower in precise formation—it was quite the sight.
"...How did it go during your year?"
"Hm?"
Liana, who had been watching the cadets disappear into the Tower of Growth, blinked. The voice that reached her was unexpected.
Atra, standing beside Liana with her arms crossed, continued.
"The Birth Festival, I mean. This tower entrance, specifically. I've heard the briefing, but I was told the rules were different back then?"
"Since when do you take an interest in other people's business... Ah-ha, it's because of the baby, isn't it."
Liana let out a murmur of understanding as she nodded to herself.
Atra's gaze was fixed on Lee Ha-yul, who was quietly waiting for his turn.
This disciple-obsessed fool hadn't been curious about Liana's circumstances—she'd been wondering about the tower entry that Lee Ha-yul would soon undergo.
"Well, it wasn't anything special back then either. Mostly they tossed the cadets in and made us fight in teams... or they'd flood the zone with monsters and make us cooperate to take them down."
Liana let out a laugh, and Atra narrowed her brow.
"...Baby?"
"Hm? That's what you take issue with? You call him a baby sometimes too, you know."
Shrugging, Liana turned her gaze toward Lee Ha-yul.
And she let out a fresh sigh of admiration at his striking appearance.
Even among the colorful superhumans, his pure-white coloring seized the eye with absolute certainty.
His uniquely dreamlike and pure aura and atmosphere, combined with the blue winged garment, made him seem like a character who had stepped straight out of a fairy tale.
Thanks to that, every gaze was fixed on him, yet Lee Ha-yul wore a composed expression, as if he'd grown accustomed to it by now.
"Heh heh."
Liana snickered.
It was because the sight of that small frame standing with a dignified bearing had called to mind the memory of the cowering, hunched black ball of fluff he had once been.
At the same time, the image of him acting spoiled in her arms on the first night of the Birth Festival surfaced as well.
"His fixation on breasts really does make 'baby' the perfect word for him. Playing with my breasts all night long..."
"What? Playing with what?"
"When I told him he'd have to share the milk if I ever had a child, his eyes went perfectly round and he looked so shocked, it was just... heh heh."
Recalling that day's events, Liana couldn't hold back her laughter.
To any eavesdropper, it was deeply embarrassing content, but fortunately the only person who heard it was Atra.
"......"
Atra had absorbed it clearly—Lee Ha-yul had spent the night playing with Liana's breasts.
She searched her memory. It was true that Lee Ha-yul was fond of breasts and would often bury his face in them and act spoiled.
'But has he ever touched them?'
He hadn't. He had once clamped his hand firmly onto her backside, admittedly, but that was the last of it. She had no particular memory of his hands venturing onto her breasts.
But he had played with hers?
Atra's gaze naturally slid down toward Liana's chest.
Immense, heavy masses of flesh. The kind of udders that made the reason Lee Ha-yul's necklace constantly spat out dairy cow, dairy cow completely understandable.
"......"
Atra's mood soured. Her own were certainly not small. On the contrary, they were quite massive.
But they came up short in comparison, and that was deeply displeasing.
And on top of that, he'd never even played with hers?
"Hey, could you please not look at me with those eyes? It's not just unpleasant—it's genuinely setting off my danger instincts..."
Feeling an instinctive sense of crisis, Liana covered her chest with both arms. The mental image of those two hands lunging in to tear her breasts off flashed through her mind...
- Squeeze...
But the action only made her chest more prominent, and Atra's glare turned even fiercer.
"Master. Professor Liana."
Before Atra's impulse could translate into action, Lee Ha-yul, who had been quietly waiting his turn, trotted over to the two of them.
He couldn't go far since he had to maintain formation, but the two of them were standing right beside the Ipchun Class, so he could move over without trouble.
- S t r e t c h
"Bweh...?"
As soon as he drew near, Atra grabbed Lee Ha-yul's cheek and stretched it out. Lee Ha-yul's eyes blinked in utter incomprehension.
"Uweh eh eh."
Letting out a dazed noise, cheek still pinched, Lee Ha-yul directed his gaze at Atra.
"What are you doing, tormenting the child?"
"Hmph, it's not torment. It's a display of affection."
Shooting Atra a sidelong glare, Liana turned a kind smile toward Lee Ha-yul.
"What is it, baby?"
"I came to say goodbye before entering."
"You'll be out in a few hours at most, you know."
It was just a bit past morning. Even at its longest, thanks to certain events, they'd all be out before nightfall.
"I still wanted to see you off."
"Heh, aren't you sweet~"
Liana beamed as she stroked his pure-white hair, and Lee Ha-yul let out a soft smile.
Soon after, he gently lifted his head and looked steadily into Liana's eyes.
A wordless gaze. But what it conveyed was blatantly obvious.
Liana took a quick glance around.
Because Lee Ha-yul had approached her, a great deal of attention was now fixed on them. The drones hovering in the air had also focused their lenses this way.
In a situation like this...
'...Does it even matter?'
Now that she thought about it, there was no reason to hesitate or worry about the attention. It wasn't as if she was about to take Lee Ha-yul's hands and press them to her breasts right here and now.
When Liana spread her arms wide, Lee Ha-yul smiled brightly and embraced her tightly.
"Do your best out there, okay?"
"Nn."
Buried in her arms, Lee Ha-yul murmured. Liana let out a soft laugh, stroked his back and hair, and released him from her embrace.
"I'll be going now."
"Alright. Don't push yourself too hard. Do your best."
Atra, too, finally gave a gentle smile and opened her arms to Lee Ha-yul.
* * *
- Ding!
[Entering the Tower of Growth]
[Blessing of Growth (Tower Entry) is now active]
...
...
[%@% blinks]
[That's the original? Why's he so small? You been starving the kid, you fuck?]
[The Tower Master of Growth is embarrassed]
[Denial]
* * *
After a slight wave of vertigo, my feet touched the ground.
At the same instant, my hazy consciousness sharpened. The moment my senses returned, I assessed my basic condition.
The state of my body: nothing out of place.
The manifestation of my Authorities: functioning normally. The base-level pressure was easy to shake off.
Soon after, I manifested the Observation Authority. It drew in information about the surrounding terrain.
'A mountain?'
The environment mapped out before me was a mountain. A section of land that jutted sharply upward from the flat crust.
But there were practically no trees. Nor was there much soil in which trees might take root.
A rocky mountain.
I had been summoned at the peak of a mountain composed almost entirely of rock.
- Ding!
Just then, the now-familiar alert tone rang in my ears.
[All cadets have completed entry]
The noticeable difference was that the voice resounded from the sky, and every cadet could hear it.
'The Authority of Harmonization?'
I tilted my head at the peculiar sensation. Even as I did, the explanation continued.
[Before the match begins, the rules will be explained once more.]
[Basic rule: Each cadet is assigned to one of three randomly divided factions: Red, Blue, or Green.]
[However, being in the same faction does not make attacks nullify each other.]
This Opening Ceremony tower entry was a team battle. Most Opening Ceremony tower entries were team battles, from what I'd heard.
The purpose itself was to show off the cadets' skills, but wasn't the broader goal to present civilians with a reliable image of the superhumans who would lead the future?
Broadcasting a mess of scattered free-for-all brawling and rampant betrayal was a bit awkward, so they at least divided people into basic teams.
[One: Occupation Battle rules]
[Cooperate with your team to recapture, occupy, and hold the marked occupation points.]
[The score value differs depending on the type of occupation point.]
[Two: Flag Battle rules]
[Search for, obtain, and hold the flagpoles located throughout the area.]
[The score value differs depending on the type of flag.]
The rules for this Opening Ceremony tower entry consisted of two major components.
'Occupation and flags, huh...'
Unlike the first-semester tower entry, which was just a straight-up fight, additional rules had been added.
Part of it was to provide a spectacle, but later on it would probably serve as practice for occupation, siege and defense, escort missions, and the like.
The blunt voice that had been echoing from the sky cut off abruptly.
- Rumble!
At the same time, pillars of light shot up from every part of my observation range. Pillars of differing colors and thicknesses soared past the sky.
'Glad my eyes don't hurt.'
A pillar of light rose near me as well. To be precise, a pillar of light rose from the peak of the rocky mountain, which was one of the occupation points.
The pillar, which had surged upward as if to show off, gradually lost its intensity. Eventually, it settled to a thickness and luminosity that would look like a thin line from a distance.
The pillar of light was rising from a structure right beside me.
'Hm.'
Not just one. Two.
One from the structure. One from me.
I tapped the flag that had been strapped to my back from the very start.
A pure white flag. On its fluttering cloth was written the number '1000'.
[Three: Special rule]
[One randomly selected cadet is placed into the solo 'White' faction.]
[The cadet of the White faction begins the match in possession of a Special Flag worth 1,000 points.]
[This Special Flag will serve as the trigger for the event that begins at the conclusion of the match.]
'Yeah, figured as much.'
This was what had been explained to me earlier in the plaza.
I shrugged and stroked the flagpole.
[...Explanation complete.]
[Accordingly, the match will now begin at this time.]
[Please do your best.]
With those final words, no more voices sounded from the sky.
Instead, multiple voices reached me from below.
"Summoned right next to an occupation point. That's some luck."
"Let's secure this place first, then... uh."
The powerful pillar of light had risen like an advertisement screaming, 'Come here!'—it was inevitable that people would come flocking toward it.
The cadets who were scaling the rocky mountain at high speed caught sight of me at the peak and their eyes went perfectly round.
I'd already observed them some time ago. The three of them had been grouped together from the moment they were summoned.
'Green.'
A green band of light fastened near their shoulders like an armband. All three of them had one. That seemed to be their faction marker.
"...Is that actually lucky?"
"Dunno. No."
The male cadets, who had been chatting in a casual tone, naturally drew their weapons.
One had a spear, the other a full-body shield and a one-handed hammer.
The female cadet who hadn't joined the banter stepped back and raised a metal staff.
I observed my own shoulder.
My right shoulder—my natural arm, not my prosthetic. A white band of light was fastened there.
"Hello there, junior! First time meeting you."
The senior cadet holding the spear called out to me in a distinctly friendly tone. He even wore a decidedly relaxed smile; he seemed to have an affable personality.
'A 3rd-year?'
The cadets were currently in their cadet uniforms. Their necktie color was yellow, symbolizing autumn.
I nodded back and sent a Sound Transmission.
It bypassed the thin layer of Aura they had wrapped around their bodies for defense and drove a wisp of mana carrying my intent straight into their heads.
- Hello.
The senior cadet, who hadn't let his guard down even while speaking, flinched.
"Whoa, he snatched the initiative there... Hey, magic lackey. Not gonna defend against mana?"
"...What? What just came flying at us?"
"What, you quack?"
They bickered back and forth. Yet their wariness only sharpened further as they kept their weapons aimed at me.
At the same moment, the female cadet, who had been gathering mana while they talked, struck the ground with her staff.
- Smack!
The two cadets in front kicked off the ground. The shield-bearer took the lead, blocking the front with his shield.
The cadet gripping the spear followed at an angle behind him.
If needed, he could shift half a step to hide behind the shield, and if an opening appeared, his angle allowed him to thrust his spear immediately.
'They're seasoned.'
Not just simple skill—experience built in actual combat. I'd heard that starting in 3rd year they go out on external activities fairly often?
By 3rd year, they were at a point where they could function perfectly well out in the field, so they must have built up considerable experience.
Some of them had probably even been to the Demon Realm Frontline.
'Hm.'
In the fleeting instant it took to think that, inside a world that felt slowed to a crawl, the cadets drew nearer.
- Whooooosh!
Maybe because it was a mountaintop, the wind was unusually fierce. Feeling the wind cling to my hand, I raised it.
The leading cadet, wary of my movement, thickened the Aura layered over his shield.
I flicked my hand.
- Screech!
The Magic Formula twisted. I snatched dominion over it and altered it as I pleased.
"Huh?!"
From the rear, the female cadet who had been gathering mana to construct a spell formula let out a cry of shock.
I hijacked the magic that was about to manifest at the tip of the staff she was raising.
I left the spell formula as it was and changed only the direction of its manifestation.
- Fwoom!
The magic manifested. A Fireball, meant as light harassment, shot out trailing a tail of flame and slammed into the back of the cadet who had been charging at me with his shield raised.
- Boom!
"Gahk?!"
The attack detonated from behind, and the leading cadet's eyes flew wide. Of course, its output was weak, and he had layered Aura over his back, so the damage was practically nonexistent.
But his body was sent floating. For an instant, the large-framed cadet was lifted into the air and hurtled toward me.
He tried to right his posture, but naturally I was faster.
I manifested the spell formula I held in my hand.
Whooosh! The wind that had been whirling inside slammed into the airborne cadet's abdomen.
"Guh!"
Spitting out a short scream, the cadet was violently launched off the rocky mountain and sent flying downward.
"What the hell, you crazy magic bitch?!"
"It wasn't me, you fuck-...!"
The spear-wielding cadet, aghast at his vanguard being taken out in one move, thrust his spear forward.
The vanguard had been sent rolling far into the distance. Too late to pull back now that he'd gotten this close, though.
I drew the flag that had been strapped to my back and extended it to meet him.
Swish! The flagpole, fluttering in the wind, wound itself firmly around the spear shaft.
"Huh?"
The motion had been so utterly natural. As the cadet let out a breath of amazement, I pulled on his spear and aimed my remaining hand at him.
- Crackle!
Lightning sparked at my fingertips. The male cadet's eyes flew wide, and he abandoned his spear and hurled himself backward.
Magic manifestation. A small spear of lightning shot forth. The male cadet gathered Aura at the center of his brow, directly on the spell's trajectory.
Lightning-attribute magic was especially fast. Dodging was out of the question, so he blocked to minimize the damage.
A sound judgment.
- Crackle!
The lightning split wide, branching apart.
The spear of lightning, divided into five prongs, bypassed the male cadet and hurtled toward the female cadet stationed in the rear.
"Agh!"
The female cadet let out a shriek. The lightning spear pierced straight through five overlapping layers of defensive magic and drove into her vitals before detonating.
Kaboom! Lightning and clusters of light sprayed in every direction.
"...What the."
Staring at his comrade who had been taken out in an instant, the man's mouth opened and closed. Then he let out a hollow laugh and stared at my hand, right in front of his nose.
"So... the gap's pretty huge, huh?"
- Sure is.
"The one who got launched first is gonna take a while to get back..."
- That one's already been eliminated.
"Huh?"
Seeing the cadet's questioning look, I lightly took hold of his chin and turned his gaze for him. His eyes blinked several times.
At the end of his mana-enhanced vision, he would see the cadet who, the moment he landed, had been skewered by Stalagmites erupting from the ground and was now dissolving into light.
"...Wow. Got way more wrecked than I imagined."
- Well fought.
Shrrk! A slashing stroke carved from the crown of his head down to his crotch, and the cadet split into two halves.
Watching his body transform into light, I nodded to myself.
'Just as Ariel taught me.'
I'd learned the overall fundamentals of combat from my master, but the deeper aspects of mana manipulation had been passed down by Ariel.
And I, having learned from her, get helplessly overwhelmed in magic by someone else?
That would be an act that disgraces Ariel, who taught me magic.
Something that must never happen. I can be disgraced, but Ariel being insulted is absolutely unacceptable.
So, in this Birth Festival, I would properly demonstrate the magic Ariel had taught me.
I nodded firmly and gently waved the flag back and forth.
It wasn't made for combat, but it was fairly sturdy. It seemed like it would serve nicely as an improvised staff or spear for a while.
I placed my hand on the structure and channeled mana into it.
- Rumble!
A white pillar shot up from the structure.