Chapter 60
Chapter 61
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 60
Chapter Title: Must Take First Place (4)
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Before long, Groups 6 through 10.
The exams for the groups testing right in front of us had all come to an end.
Fortunately...
Compared to Group 7, which included Scarlett and Aren, everyone else's scores were fairly average.
Not that it meant much.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Combat for the second group has concluded. All waiting members for Groups 11 through 15, please proceed to your designated exam venues. As the announcement rang out, the tension enveloping the waiting room thickened even further.
Lime was breathing heavily, as if utterly pumped up.
Using those breaths like a marching tune, we rose from our seats one by one.
"...It's our turn now."
"Yeah."
"Aghhh... We just need to provide support from the rear, right?"
"Yeah. With the golem's slow speed, those two should be more than enough. If needed, Lime, you can summon something agile or sturdy to assist."
"Y-Yes...!"
As I replied to Luke and Lime, I glanced to the side.
Next to me...
The two who had barely become embers were now blazing fiercely once more.
Marian had her hand on her sword hilt,
looking ready to draw and dance with her blade at any moment.
Ruena, meanwhile, leaned against the wall loosening her wrists, but her gaze was fixed on the scoreboard.
And─
That gaze was locked precisely on Group 7's score.
'With that momentum, we might not even need Lime's help...'
The two of them radiated clear killing intent.
Their team members were shrinking back from the sheer pressure.
Marian ground her teeth, drawing her sword slightly from its sheath and sheathing it again.
"I'm going to kill her, Scarlett..."
"......"
"...No, killing Scarlett would be murder. Kill the golem instead."
Marian's fierce expression didn't soften in the slightest, as if she hadn't even heard me.
Still, thanks to that─
It was a huge relief that the two had reached a dramatic agreement.
Marian, whom I'd seen as our team's biggest problem─
Had started cooperating actively the moment Scarlett's Group 7 claimed the top spot.
And one thing I learned was that she was surprisingly competent.
"Oh─! I know that skill... No, that spell─!"
"If you boost it that high, it should be fine. Probably jump up with a heretical leap, then..."
"Hmm, that might require reallocating stats... No, never mind─!"
She spouted incomprehensible nonsense,
but insisted she could do whatever I needed without hesitation.
Anyone can talk a big game,
so when I asked her to demonstrate, she actually pulled it off right in front of me.
And far more cleanly than I'd imagined.
Plus, with so many people around,
or maybe because her rival Aren had forced her to use her unique ability,
even the usually scatterbrained Ruena had sharper eyes than normal.
'If things go according to plan... we might actually aim for first.'
No.
It wasn't just about aiming—we had to seize first place.
To meet these insanely high expectations piling up.
I looked around.
Gazes filled with pure admiration and anticipation,
or wariness and jealousy, stabbed into me from all sides.
"It's Ruena Eliad."
"Huh? Marian's in her group too. She's decent at combat practicals, right?"
"...Celen Noir's there too? Two from founding families in one group?"
"But isn't Celen Sir just Ruena Lady's aide? The group assignments seem a bit unfair."
"But Marian's in there too. She dragged down Ruena Lady's scores, so in a way, it might be fair."
"They're Group 11, right?"
As expected, everyone's attention naturally turned our way.
More precisely,
toward one person: Ruena Eliad.
Whether due to the incident or not─
Ruena had already scored far below expectations.
The evaluation itself wasn't bad since it wasn't her fault,
but if she underperformed here too, public opinion could flip in an instant.
People's gazes turn cruel at the first sign of failure, after all.
I ignored the stares and stood before the exam venue.
The entrance door slid open with a creak, and the proctor's voice echoed.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Group 11, enter. The cold metal door groaned open.
Moments later─
A vast open field greeted us.
This was the academy's pride and joy,
the exam ground where countless knights and mages had showcased their skills.
'...Also the place where the labor of numerous mages and magitech engineers had been ground to dust.'
Intricately installed magic devices dotted the field.
These created various terrains, obstacles, and specific monsters,
allowing battles that mimicked real combat.
"...Wow."
"......"
Lime let out a small gasp of admiration.
Even Luke the mage seemed intrigued by this elaborate training ground.
Of course, I was enormously interested too.
'If I pried one of those off and sold it, it'd fetch a nice price.'
How many months' salary would one be worth?
Lost in such serious contemplation, another announcement sounded.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ The exam will begin in 1 minute. The mechanical voice spread tension through the air in an instant.
I quickly used Ruena's favor to glimpse the future.
'Where does it start.'
In the future scene, a roar accompanied billowing dust.
The roar came from the golem's massive arm.
The golem emerged not from the center, but the side of the field.
It had ambushed from between rapidly forming canyons.
Thirty seconds left.
After scanning the future, I urgently instructed the team.
"Ruena─! An arm's coming from the west! You block the first strike─!"
"Got it."
"Luke, protective and enhancement spells on Ruena. Lime, summon a dryad to bind the golem's legs. Dryads can sense mana in the earth easily, so have it generate vines en masse where it's most concentrated."
"Yes, understood...!"
"What about me? What do I do, Celen─?!"
Marian's excited voice rang out.
She was already raring to go before the fight even started.
"Stay way back over there."
"Huh?"
"You're fast. Wait and dash straight to the spot I tell you."
"Got it─!"
The team quickly took their positions as instructed.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 10 seconds remaining. Vibrations spread across the entire exam ground as the countdown began.
The magic circles on the floor shimmered fiercely, activating the circuits.
Soon─
The terrain began generating at high speed.
A forest with deep canyons.
Exactly as I'd seen in the future.
"It's real..."
"As expected of House Noir."
The team's admiration was irrelevant.
No time to dwell on that—we needed to predict one more move, prepare for the next variable.
"Focus."
At my word, the team snapped their eyes forward.
Ruena concentrated mana across her body, emitting a faint glow.
Lime's summoning circles completed one by one,
and Luke's staff gleamed blue, ready for spells.
Everyone was prepared.
'Marian... she'll manage somehow.'
As seen in the future,
those two's combat synergy had been surprisingly good.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ 3, 2, 1── The countdown ended,
and immediately, the roar from the future boomed.
Kuuuung──!
The west side of the field split open explosively.
Huge boulders flew up, dust billowing.
From the gap, a massive arm cleaved through the canyon and lunged out.
"Ruena─!"
"Leave it to me."
Ruena spun around in an instant.
Her mana-charged trajectory flashed, colliding head-on with the arm.
Kwaaang──!
The deafening impact tore at our ears.
Ruena was pushed back considerably but held her stance.
The golem took major damage, however.
Its cracked arm spewed dust from the fissures.
"Ngh...!"
"Luke, we need more enhancement spells─!"
"Yes! Right away!"
Blue mana enveloped Ruena in a flash.
Luke's spell boosted her already formidable physical prowess even higher.
Right then─
The opposite arm swung down at Ruena.
"Marian──!"
"On it─!"
Marian swiftly drew her sword and leaped in.
Her mana-wreathed blade flashed, slicing diagonally across the golem's other arm.
Dust erupted explosively from the cut.
But─
Without buffs, the damage was minimal.
The arm wobbled but quickly regained position.
"Urgh─! This isn't working. Should I buff up and hit it─?!"
"No. Hold off. Just draw its attention for now. Like I said, summon that summon you called in the summoning test."
"Oh, right!"
Marian pulled something from her pocket.
A palm-sized crystal orb.
She chanted a short incantation, and it glowed red,
slowly manifesting a flame-wreathed beast.
Flame Wyvern.
One of the higher-grade summons.
The flame wyvern circled above the golem, spewing fierce flames.
"Ugh... It's fire-attribute, so not great against golems."
"It's fine. Just needs to distract it."
Fortunately, it matched the future vision.
The golem's attention was drawn to the flame wyvern,
its opposite arm flailing uselessly in the air.
Thank goodness for its low intelligence.
"Marian. Wait at your spot."
"Got it─!"
"Drink the potions I gave you when I signal."
I immediately hurled two throwable potions from my hand.
One at the golem's arm.
The other at Ruena.
Like a thief eating breakfast.
Target locked,
timing calculated.
The potions I threw exploded at the exact same moment.
Their effects─
One was sticky slowdown adhesive, the other temporary strength amplifier.
"Ruena! Push──!"
"Yeah!"
"Lime, now! Vines on the legs─! Arms too if you can spare─!"
"Yes─!"
Ruena gripped her sword with both hands and shoved the golem's arm with all her might.
The pushed arm
slammed squarely into the golem's own massive torso.
Exactly as I'd instructed back in the waiting room.
That spot,
the golem's lower chest.
As seen in the future, that housed its core.
Sticky slowdown adhesive.
Vines from Lime's dryads.
With both legs and one arm bound, the golem toppled off-balance.
Straight─
toward where Marian waited.
"Marian, now─!"
"On it!"
Marian chugged the potion at top speed and launched into the air.
As per the future─
The golem, sensing its vulnerability, activated the special magic the instructors had implanted.
A transformation spell altering its form and boosting defense.
A massive shield formed on its chest to protect the core.
And that shield area
was already cracked from Ruena's strike.
Marian's enhanced strength could shatter it.
"Marian, charge straight in─!"
"Iyaaaaah─!"
Marian dove from above, sword tip downward.
At that moment─
The golem flashed with light, just like in the future.
"...Huh?"
But that was it.
The scene matched the future I'd seen up to that point.