Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Internal Division
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Midterm evaluation.
A survival format just like the previous group assignment.
Except this time, the hunting targets were other students.
'Hmm.'
The gap between Class S and Class F was overwhelming.
If a low-ranking student by entrance exam scores took down a high-ranker, their points would skyrocket exponentially.
And I was the top student.
Naturally, I'd become the highest-value target.
'My position's about to be revealed too.'
I glanced at the magic device strapped to my wrist.
Score
[1st: Charlotte von Iris 「4」]
[2nd: Rufus von Leonhardt 「2」]
[3rd: Laphia von Ayrin 「1」]
[3rd: Serros von Spade 「1」]
A feature displaying students' scores in real time.
- Beep.
At the same time, it was a magic device that showed the forest terrain as a hologram.
At some point, the students' positions would be revealed on this hologram.
In order of entrance exam rankings, one by one.
'Which means I'm priority number one.'
And the magic device's functions didn't end there.
I pulled a cheap dagger from my inventory and lightly nicked my finger.
Very lightly.
[HP: 99]
No blood came out.
Instead, the HP displayed on the magic device dropped by 1.
'But my HP drops by 1 just from nicking my finger?'
It had only gone down by 1 from 100, but that single point felt weirdly huge.
This magic device learned the user's physical data and set their HP accordingly.
In other words, even the magic device recognized what a pathetic body I had.
'Fuck.'
This felt unfair.
Couldn't they just set everyone the same?
'Weak kids get wrecked. Cry about it.'
This was discrimination... blatant discrimination.
The instructors' scheme to take me down... no, Veronica's petty plot.
She definitely did this because she didn't want to give me an artifact.
***
- Clang!
"Urgh...! Charlotte, go easy on me?!"
"...."
Serros and Charlotte faced off, their spear and sword locked together.
- Whoosh!
A moment later, both sprang back simultaneously, creating distance.
"No choice, Charlotte...."
A serious expression settled on Serros's face.
"Ultimate finisher...."
"....!"
"Run away!"
Whoosh~
Serros bolted away from Charlotte at full speed, just like that.
"...."
Charlotte stood speechless for a moment, sheathing her sword.
But then...
- Rustle.
It was the sound of someone parting the bushes.
She turned her head and caught sight of a masked figure slipping between the trees.
"...Top seat."
Without hesitation, Charlotte gave chase after Adel.
She'd always wanted to spar with him.
But her personality made it hard to bring it up, and there'd been no opportunity.
But right now, the midterm evaluation had created the perfect chance—a legitimate shot at facing the top student.
- Swoosh!
But sensing her pursuit, Adel immediately accelerated.
He wrapped mana threads around his body, stabbed them into a tree, and used them as a pivot to leap lightly away.
"...What."
Stunned by the unheard-of movement method, Charlotte froze for a second...
- Whish...!
She snapped out of it right away, swinging her sword in a straight line to slice through the surrounding trees in one go.
Slash...
Amid the domino-like falling trees.
"...Lost him."
There was no trace of Adel anywhere.
"...How."
He'd been right in front of her.
Close enough to touch if she reached out...
Full of openings, late to notice her tailing him, everything sloppy.
And yet... why had she lost him?
"...No idea."
The moment Charlotte pondered that.
────────!!
A brilliant flash erupted as a sword's trajectory sliced through the air in a dance.
"...!!"
Reflexively, Charlotte drew her swords from their sheaths at both hips.
- Boom!!
The crossed blades flashed, blocking the radiant strike.
Shock rippled through her body, thrill surging to her toes.
"Tch...."
With his ambush thwarted, Klaus let out a short sigh.
"That was my finisher, you know...."
"You're...."
Narrowing her eyes, Charlotte looked at the male student before her.
The name Serros had boasted about beside her hospital bed while Adel lay there.
"...Klaus."
The instant the name matched the face, a spark lit in Charlotte's eyes.
She pointed the tip of the sword in her right hand at Klaus.
"You... fight me."
At Charlotte's bold words... Klaus scratched his head and forced a smile.
"Haha... uh, sorry, but... could I maybe run away...?"
Of course, she refused.
***
- Crack!
"Gaaah!"
With a scream, the body tumbled to the ground.
The magic device on his wrist shattered into pieces, light shimmering over the male student's body before vanishing soon after.
"How many more times do I have to repeat this...?"
Someone let out a sigh mixed with exhaustion, and a grumble came from elsewhere.
"Hey, they said no playing around."
In the middle of the forest, about thirty students stood at irregular intervals.
"No time limit either—just keep catching each other until it's over."
"What a load of bullshit."
They said that, but even the rustle of nearby leaves had everyone on edge, bodies tense with alertness.
"...."
The wind blew.
It felt like a sinister presence had brushed past from somewhere.
- Thud.
One male student bent down at the waist.
Something lay on the ground.
...It was the strap from the bag at his waist.
The strap had been cleanly severed.
"Ha... what the hell? Trying to steal my potions again?"
"...What are you suddenly on about?"
"Just speak up already? I'll share."
"So why are you bitching at me, you psycho?"
A single spark of distrust ignited into flames.
Voices rose in an instant, drawing eyes from around them.
"Yeah...?! Someone stole my dagger too...!!"
"Huh? Me too!"
"Goddamn... which bastard?!!"
"No way there's a thief in here?"
"It's not 'maybe'—there is."
The poison named 'suspicion' spread through the group.
That poison seeped in unnoticed, with only the footsteps of silence.
"But honestly, one of us stole it, right?"
"My bag was open too, and I never touched it."
"So? Does that prove you're the thief?"
"Hey, hey... kids, let's all calm down a bit...."
"You're doing this to betray us, right?"
"What the hell kind of crazy talk is that?!"
"A few of you planned this. Right now! Trying to isolate us and rack up points...!!"
No one trusted anyone.
The group that had banded together to survive at first.
But that intent had already crumbled.
"Hey...! Hey! Look at this...!!"
Then came the decisive blow.
"What...?"
The urgently shouting student's hand clutched a crumpled piece of paper.
「Let's secretly take out the boys」
A note with intentions clear to anyone who saw it.
"What...?"
"For real?"
Some gripped their weapons tighter; others stepped back one, two paces.
"What bullshit... we wouldn't do that...."
"Joke? Some people are already missing?"
"...What?"
"You didn't notice? The kids who were here just now—a few are gone?"
The moment they realized that, the air in the group heated uncontrollably.
Who could be trusted? Who was the traitor?
Or who was next?
"Goddamn... everyone, weapons up...!!"
The shout became the fuse, and the male students raised their weapons without hesitation.
"No, seriously, it wasn't us!!"
"How can we believe that?"
"What do you mean how—!"
That was the moment.
- Swoosh.
One male student collapsed limply.
Clutching his ankle, he staggered and rolled on the ground, groaning.
"These bastards used magic...!!"
"What?! We didn't!!"
"Don't lie!!!"
No one tried to intervene.
Trust had broken long ago; only rage drove their actions.
The infighting that began that way erupted into full combat in seconds.
- Thud!!
One by one, two by two, the fallen students were processed as eliminated and vanished in light.
"Goddamn...!!"
Unable to hold back, one female student chanted a wide-area attack spell, forming a magic circle. A massive explosion turned the surroundings to rubble.
Students caught in the aftermath collapsed in droves, the magic devices' lights flashing in unison to eliminate them.
The students vanished one by one in bursts of light.
"...."
And after the chaos subsided somewhat.
In the hushed silence, only two students remained standing, barely alive.
Through the dusty air beyond, something faintly visible.
"...What, who's that?"
"...A mask?"
"It's the top student...?"
Amid the debris piles, a dust-covered boy rose to his feet.
A pure white mask, golden eyes gleaming from within.
"No way... he caused all this?"
Just then, Adel's body staggered and fell to the ground.
"Huh?"
"What, what? We got him?"
Adel's body vanished with a pop.
"We got him?"
"The top student?"
The thrill of victory didn't last long.
- Crack.
"Huh...?"
The magic device on the female student's wrist shattered.
"Sorry. Couldn't be helped, right?"
"You bastard...!!"
"But this is how it turned out."
"You fucking... "
Grinding her teeth, the girl glared at him.
Her body, with its magic device destroyed, began turning to light.
Even to the end, only her eyes burned with wordless fury as the girl vanished.
"Ha... what the hell is this."
The male student wore a bitterly twisted expression as he looked around.
Relief that it was finally over washed over him.
That very instant.
- Crack.
"Huh...?"
The sound of another magic device breaking.
[Hello?]
Turning his head, the male student faced golden eyes glowing ominously right before him.
"You're definitely...."
He'd been eliminated for sure.
Collapsed right in front of them, vanished.
Yet now, perfectly fine, appearing before him again.
"You were eliminated... w-wait, no way!?"
His words cut off.
Eliminated players' bodies vanished in light.
But Adel had slipped away quietly, without any sign.
'Faked elimination without actually being out...?'
- Crack.
Adel silently lowered his hand, and at the same moment, the male student's magic device shattered.
"Ha...."
The male student gave a hollow laugh and vanished in light.
***
'That was close.'
Running into Charlotte was a crisis too, but I'd shaken her off somehow.
More than that... I never expected someone to just blast a wide-area spell without thinking.
Thanks to that, 【Silent Step】 got forcibly deactivated, exposing me.
'Good thing I stocked up all sorts of stuff in my inventory.'
At first, I just planned to steal some things, but luckily there was paper, so I used it for the finishing blow.
'But aren't they falling for it too easily?'
Thinking that, I checked the magic device on my wrist.
Score
[1st: Adel 「39」]
[2nd: Lev 「24」]
[3rd: Charlotte von Iris 「13」]
[4th: Rufus von Leonhardt 「10」]
[5th: Laphia von Ayrin 「8」]
'Great haul this time.'
The first and second attempts only split groups of around ten each, but this one was over twenty.
I scored plenty of points too.
'But....'
There's a problem.
Lev's score is way too high.
'No way, right?'
Hard to believe, but if my suspicion's correct... we might hit a bad end before Klaus even contacts the spatial mage.
Just then.
"Whoa... what happened here?"
"Looks like a big fight went down."
"Hmm... anything worth grabbing?"
"I'll check over there."
"Okay."
I quickly ducked behind a tree.
'Two of them.'
Pulling a cheap dagger from my inventory, I activated 【Silent Step】.
'Jackpot points.'
This wasn't just for points.
It was protecting them from running into a horrific disaster beforehand... no, watching over them.
'You guys owe me one.'
Of course, I'd be thanking you too.