Chapter 62
Chapter 63
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 62
Chapter Title: Final Result
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Again.
Explosive mana surged from Marian.
In an instant, it was like she'd become a different person.
Just moments ago, she hadn't been any different from me,
but now the mana enveloping her body overwhelmed the surroundings in a flash.
It was hard to believe this was the same Marian from before.
Her changed gaze.
Her explosive mana.
What gave me chills was that all these changes had completed in just a few seconds.
'What the hell is she...?'
Humans naturally feel fear toward the unknown.
But—.
If that unknown was an ally, it was a different story.
Relief.
Anticipation.
I had no idea what would happen after this exam ended,
but for now, Marian—this uncontrollable storm—was on our side.
The wires grew taut.
It seemed all the coiled wires had been used up.
My body started getting pulled forward.
I desperately held on and shouted toward Marian.
"Marian, hurry—!"
"Uwaaaah, this skill takes so long to cast... no, the casting time is forever! Hold on just a bit longer!"
"Ngh, we're at our limit here too!"
"Ah, got it! Got it! Charged up! Here we gooooo—!"
It happened in an instant.
A massive magic circle formed beneath Marian's feet,
and the air around her slowly got sucked in, spinning fiercely.
A violent vortex arose.
Sand and dust mixed together,
shooting up in a circle centered on Marian.
Her hair floated amid the mana storm at its center.
"Wind Storm—!"
With Marian's shout, the magic circle blazed brilliantly.
'...Did she have to yell it out?'
The doubt arose, but the power was undeniable.
A massive storm formed above her head and surged toward the small golem.
It was such potent magic that even the caster staggered.
"Luke! Lime! Marian's about to get sucked up too—grab her!"
"Got it!"
"Understood."
Luke cast reinforcement magic,
and Lime wrapped Marian with the dryad's vines.
Marian's body, swaying like reeds in the wind, was firmly secured.
Thanks to that,
the storm grew even fiercer and engulfed the small golem completely.
A deafening roar echoed.
Golem fragments scattered everywhere.
But—.
The storm's momentum was still relentless.
We couldn't confirm if it had reached the small golem's interior.
This was our last resort.
If it failed, first place was out of reach.
Unable to hide my anxiety, I muttered in a trembling voice.
"......Did we get it?"
"Hey—! Don't say that—!"
I tilted my head at Marian's sudden outburst.
At the same time—.
The fiercely raging storm dispersed and vanished in an instant.
That was the moment.
Something dropped rapidly from the storm's center.
At first, I thought it was just a rock fragment, but as it fell, I saw it glowing red.
All eyes locked onto that red fragment.
'That's...'
The golem's core, clearly.
It had been half-destroyed in the storm.
If that shattered completely, our victory was sealed.
The excited Luke shouted.
"Just smash that, and we're good!"
"Marian! Hit it with any spell!"
"......Sorry, I'm at my limit.... Urgh."
Marian collapsed onto the ground as she said it.
It was understandable.
The spell she'd just used was advanced magic that even the professors coveted,
the kind they'd hope to see in graduate students.
So it wasn't strange for her to end up like that.
"Luke?"
"I can manage Fire Bolt, but with how fast it's falling, aiming might be...!"
"Got it."
Lime had no attack skills.
Ruena was also extremely busy.
The golem was rampaging right before its core shattered.
And moreover—.
The ground where the golem stood twitched,
cracks rapidly forming in the direction the core was falling, triggering another transformation.
A massive hand emerged at the predicted landing spot.
As if to catch and protect the falling core,
the suddenly appeared hand slowly rose toward it.
Lime tried to block it with vines, but it wasn't enough.
"Sorry...! Not enough mana...."
"Uwaaaah, now we have to smash it again!"
"Luke, reinforcement magic on me!"
"Ah! Right!"
Blue mana enveloped my entire body.
Strength surged, and my exhausted muscles obeyed once more.
I drew a dagger from my pocket.
'Truth is... I'm at my limit too.'
My head throbbed terribly.
It was the backlash from glimpsing multiple futures at once.
But—.
That wasn't important now.
My only goal was protecting Eliad—my lifelong meal ticket.
'Now—!'
I hurled the dagger with all my might.
It sliced through the air at tremendous speed.
For a split second, time seemed to freeze.
I held my breath, tracking the dagger's path with my eyes.
'Please...'
The dagger struck the core dead-on.
Right then—.
Luke's excited voice rang out.
"Did we get it?!"
"Ah, seriously, don't say th—...!"
Marian's words were buried in an enormous explosion.
Kwaaaaaaaaang────!
A blinding flash erupted.
Immediately after, a shockwave kicked up massive clouds of dust.
"Urgh—!"
"What?! Did it fail—?!"
That instant—.
The choking dust that had assaulted our lungs vanished.
As our vision recovered from the flash, the scene before us slowly came into view.
A pristine, vast clearing.
Intricate magic devices placed precisely around it.
It was exactly as it had been when we first entered.
I looked around.
Everyone seemed just as dazed.
Ruena, catching her breath, muttered blankly.
"...Did we do it?"
"Ah! Seriously, you guys need to stop saying that—!"
Marian, still sprawled on the ground, yelled.
At the same time—.
The announcement we'd been dying to hear rang out.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Team 11, subjugation complete. Record: 9 minutes 41 seconds. Along with it, an enormous cheer erupted from outside the exam grounds.
"Hey! Team 11 did it in 9:41!"
"They pulled it off under 10 minutes?"
"That's 30 seconds faster than Team 7 with Scarlett!"
"...As expected of Ruena Eliad."
9 minutes 41 seconds.
Much faster than Scarlett's Team 7.
Amid the ringing in my ears, Luke's dazed voice repeated.
"9 minutes... 41 seconds.... We...?"
"We... we did it!"
"Aaaah—! Worth blowing the reset stone..., ...Wait, don't I have to use it again...?"
The team's joyful voices filled the clearing.
But—.
I couldn't smile like them.
My balance crumbled, my body swayed, and sensation dulled all over.
My head throbbed more and more.
The team members' voices grew faint.
It was because I'd suddenly stolen multiple people's futures.
The backlash I'd been suppressing hit all at once as the tension released.
"Ugh...."
I couldn't let the Eliad employee show such disarray.
I tried not to show it,
desperately supporting my staggering body.
'Yeah, this is tough.'
Just before—.
The method I'd used to check the small golem's predicted path.
Stealing and examining all team members' futures simultaneously.
Seeing the future was still random.
I couldn't choose which point in time,
or which situation to focus on.
The futures I saw were like randomly shuffled face-down cards.
Other Noirs were different from me.
Theirs had fewer cards,
with faces up, so they could steal the futures they wanted one by one.
But not me.
There were too many cards before me.
Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.
All face-down and jumbled randomly.
I could grab what I wanted.
But there was no guarantee it was the future I sought.
No choice, pure randomness.
That was the essence of my future-stealing ability.
It used to be that way.
Not anymore.
Of course,
the number of cards,
and their face-down state remained the same.
But now, I could vaguely grasp what situation each card represented.
Over ten years—.
Of only looking at futures where I died.
At first, I grabbed them randomly.
Then one day, I realized.
Each fragment of the future had a slightly different feel or aura.
Hundreds,
maybe thousands of times.
The act of sifting through countless death fragments repeatedly.
As experience built up,
I could distinguish which light heralded despair,
which shadow brought danger to me—even with cards face-down.
This time too, I examined all the team members' futures.
Among them—.
I selected and stole only those with similar patterns.
Maybe because I'd only ever seen deaths.
Crisis situations stood out faster than anything else.
'This is why people need experience.'
Though I question if this counts as experience one should gain.
Still, thanks to it, we won.
My job was safe for the foreseeable future.
Though my head felt like it might explode.
Honestly, it was the worst.
Like thousands of voices chattering in my head at once.
I panted, trying to soothe the unpleasant sensation.
That moment—.
Someone brushed back my bangs.
"...Huh?"
"Celen."
It was Ruena.
I'd expected the familiar warmth, but.
Within that warmth, an unfamiliar delicacy brushed past.
Not like her usual clumsiness.
For a moment, it tugged at my heart.
My face heated up, and I whipped my head away.
"Wh-what?!"
"Ehehe. Everyone else left."
I turned at Ruena's words.
Sure enough, only Ruena and I remained in the exam grounds.
"For real...?"
"Yeah. Let's go out too."
"Uh...."
Then Ruena suddenly threw her arms around me.
Without warning,
or hesitation.
So close her breath touched my skin.
My body stiffened.
Her clinging wasn't new,
but these sudden embraces always set my heart racing.
Like now.
"H-hey...!"
"...You did great, Celen."
"......You too."
"Ehehe."
I sighed and slowly patted Ruena's back.
I was weak to her, as always.
Escaping Ruena was impossible.
Just like now.