Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: The Uncrossable Bridge (5)
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With just over a second until impact, even Shirone’s heart couldn’t help but plummet.
‘I can’t give up!’
An electric jolt shot through his brain, and Shirone re-stabilized his Spirit Zone, which had wavered at Mark’s scream.
That took one-tenth of a second.
Shirone thought. Was there time?
But while one could imagine dividing a second by ten, it was impossible to actually experience ten instances of 0.1 seconds.
Therefore, there was only one way: to keep breaking it down.
One-hundredth of a second.
He reconstructed the formation process of the Dragon's Labyrinth in his mind.
The overall shape was a heptagonal star. There were six diverging paths.
One-thousandth of a second.
After retracing the labyrinth's form, he found an escape route.
To get out, he would need to cast at least nine consecutive teleports.
‘No! It’s impossible with Mark!’
If there wasn't enough room for two people to escape, he had no choice but to find another route.
In that instant, the Dragon's Labyrinth swallowed Shirone whole.
Some of the male students turned their heads away, while the female students screamed, imagining a gruesome end.
Seriel’s scream was the loudest of all.
*Fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh!*
The air-rending sounds whipping through the confined space sounded like the shrieks of Shirone and Mark.
And then, finally, the noise ceased.
One-ten-thousandth of a second.
Within a sliver of time so fleeting it was difficult to even grasp with Insight, Shirone once again analyzed every pattern and found an escape route.
A flash of teleportation burst from the Dragon's Labyrinth, and Shirone, shimmering with a brilliant light, crossed the finish line and landed.
“Hah, hah.”
Shirone set Mark down, took a few more steps, and then couldn't hold himself up any longer, collapsing to his knees.
No one made a sound. The students stared at Shirone with horrified eyes, as if they had seen a ghost.
Etella cast a teleport toward Shina, who had gone to find Thadd, and not long after, the mechanism shut down and Echo’s voice rang out.
-Disengaging the Uncrossable Bridge mechanism. Level Zero. Level Zero.
The speed of the iron bars slowed, and the structures that had grown like wooden vines returned to their horizontal positions, beginning to revert to the bridge’s original form.
“What… what the…”
The students all felt the same thing.
“Is that really possible?”
“No way. It was Level 10. And he passed through the Dragon's Labyrinth.”
As the students began to murmur, Shirone, who was slumped on the ground, finally came to his senses and looked around.
‘What? Why are they all staring at me?’
There were gaps in his memory, but the fact that he had crossed the Uncrossable Bridge was undeniable.
As reality finally settled in, Shirone’s face twisted into a grimace.
“Haaah, I seriously thought I was going to die.”
It was a remark so utterly lacking in grandeur that it was hard to believe it came from someone who had just made history.
But Seriel knew this was the same Shirone from before he’d jumped off the cliff.
“Amy! Shirone did it! Your boyfriend did it!”
Amy would have preferred she left out the ‘boyfriend’ part, but seeing Seriel crying with joy, she decided to let it slide just this once.
Students rushed over, competing to speak to Shirone.
“Congratulations! You were seriously amazing!”
“So does this mean you’re advancing to Class Five? Haha! The Class Six kids must be feeling pretty bitter, huh?”
While Shirone was receiving congratulations, the instructors who had gone to the control room, along with Maria, arrived via teleportation.
Shina checked on Shirone first.
He seemed overwhelmed by the crowd of students, but he didn’t appear to be seriously injured.
‘He passed through the Dragon's Labyrinth? How on earth did he do that? It’s a difficulty level even the graduating students practice dozens of times.’
She shot a glare at the person who had made her miss the historic moment, and Thadd shrugged defensively.
“As you know—or maybe you don’t—I did my best.”
Shina sighed and walked over to Alpheas.
It was unlikely, but if Shirone and Mark had arrived at the same time, it was best to announce the results clearly to avoid any disputes later.
“Headmaster, first, the announcement of who passed…”
Alpheas, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten, snapped back to reality and spoke to the students with a benevolent smile.
“The successful candidate of the early advancement test is Shirone Arian. I hereby promote Shirone to Class Five. However, I am proud of all the students who participated in this test. The courage you have shown today will become the driving force that leads Alpheas Magic Academy into the future. I hope you all continue to strive for excellence.”
A round of applause, started by the upperclassmen, spread to the underclassmen.
No one held any complaints about Shirone’s early advancement anymore; even Mark, who had competed against him directly, had no choice but to acknowledge it.
‘So geniuses… really do exist.’
The memory of Shirone casting teleportation at an incredible speed within the Dragon's Labyrinth was still vividly etched in his mind.
It wasn't a matter of talent.
In an impossible situation, some would despair and retreat, but there are others who think only of overcoming it.
‘This leaves no room for excuses.’
Mark walked toward Shirone on trembling legs.
Most of the students had guessed there was some kind of pact involved in this test, but Mark, as if he had already steeled himself, admitted his defeat in front of everyone.
“Senior, I lost. It was a great match, and I learned a great deal! I look forward to working with you!”
Now that Alpheas had given his approval, he had to address him as a senior.
“Yeah, you worked hard today. I’ll do my best too.”
Amy, who had been watching with a satisfied expression, turned to Seriel.
“Let’s head down.”
“Huh? Why are you leaving already? On a day like today, you should be with your boyfriend.”
“There’s no time for that. Shirone did it, so now it’s my turn. I have to prepare for my advancement test too.”
“Are you really okay with leaving like this?”
Amy’s feet felt heavy as well, but she felt she had to do something immediately to calm her excitement.
“Amy.”
When Shirone called her name, Amy’s shoulders flinched as she turned around.
As the two of them faced each other, the students around them murmured in a daze.
“Did he just call her by her name?”
“Of course. They’re dating, aren’t they?”
“Still, that’s Senior Amy…”
Amy, who had never once lost her first-place ranking, was more than just a senior to the underclassmen.
She was evaluated as being skilled enough to perform well even in the graduating class, so the current situation was astounding.
Shirone paid no mind to the reactions around him. He smiled at Amy, holding up two fingers.
“Two steps left now.”
“Haha…”
Amy’s lips, which had curled into a smile, trembled.
If she passed her advancement test to the graduating class, the gap between her and Shirone would now be just two steps.
“Let’s go, Seriel.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
As Amy turned and walked away, Seriel hurriedly followed her down the mountain.
Aside from Class Seven, the other advanced class students also began to disperse one by one. Only then did Thadd approach Alpheas.
“Headmaster, I have something to report regarding Maria.”
Thadd reported everything that had happened in the control room without omission.
“I see. How could she make such a mistake…”
As Alpheas muttered with a regretful expression, Maria approached and bowed deeply.
“I’m sorry. I made an irreversible mistake. I will humbly accept any punishment.”
“Hmm, for now…”
Just then, Mark interjected.
“I have a confession to make. Everything that happened today was because of me.”
The instructors’ gazes turned to Mark, who stood there with a defiant expression.
“What do you mean, it was because of you?”
“The truth is, I really got on Maria’s nerves this morning. Honestly, if I had heard the things I said, I would have lost it too. So I’ll take the punishment. I’m the one who caused it.”
Shina spoke.
“Even so, Maria’s actions were also problematic. And why are you saying this now? This is something that could have been overlooked.”
“I’m not a good guy, but I’m not so pathetic that I’d cause trouble without being prepared to take responsibility for it. All the other kids know anyway, so it’s embarrassing to keep my mouth shut. I’ll also add that I was the one who came up with the plan to check Senior Shirone.”
Mark had lived his life thinking that winning was all that mattered, no matter the circumstances, but his battle with Shirone had made him realize something.
‘Overwhelm with skill.’
The sight of him casting aside all trivial thoughts, focused solely on overcoming the obstacle before him to seize victory, was a shock so profound it shattered the very foundation of Mark’s way of thinking.
“Anyway, that’s what happened. I’ll accept whatever punishment you give me, but please go easy on the others. Especially Maria…”
Mark glanced at Maria before continuing.
“She must have been under a lot of stress. We ganged up on her and bullied her every day. Who wouldn’t do something crazy in that situation?”
Alpheas, too, was deep in thought about Maria.
Her grades weren't great, but she was a magic aspirant who had trained silently for longer than anyone else at the academy.
Seeing her on the verge of expulsion for an irreversible mistake, he couldn't help but see a reflection of his younger self.
‘Master…’
Thadd, who knew Alpheas’s past, watched him with a heavy heart.
The Light of the Milch family.
Alpheas first made his name with Light magic.
Though it was now considered an archaic theory, at the time, his novel ideas had even earned him the Gold Circle Award, bestowed by the king himself.
But his brilliant talent had plunged the young Alpheas into a quagmire of confusion.
What if a single moment of poor judgment hadn't caused him to wander in darkness for a decade?
Perhaps Alpheas would have become a great mage whose name was etched in history.
“Both of you will be referred to the disciplinary committee. Maria is guilty of illegally operating the mechanism and obstructing the test. She also created unnecessary danger. However, considering that Mark provoked the situation, I will take that into account when deciding the punishment.”
As Maria and Mark bowed their heads, the students of Class Seven began to raise their hands one by one.
“Sir, I bullied Maria. Doesn’t that mean I’m also responsible?”
“I was part of the strategy team that attacked Senior Shirone.”
The fact that all of Class Seven raised their hands meant that Maria’s incident stemmed from a problem within the entire class.
It was a matter that would have come to light eventually, but their courage in confessing their sins on their own was befitting of mages.
“In that case, I will issue a punishment to the entire class. All of you, return and await the verdict.”
“What will happen to Maria?”
“It will be considered by the disciplinary committee. Punishment will be handed down to the entire class, and Maria will not bear the full blame alone.”
It wasn't a guarantee, but coming from the Headmaster, his words carried significant weight.
Shina asked.
“Isn’t that a rather risky statement? We don’t even know what the punishment will be yet.”
“We are educators. We are here to guide our students onto the right path, not to act as their judges. These children are our pupils, whom we must teach and nurture.”
Maria could no longer hold back her tears and began to sob.
“Thank you. I’m so sorry.”
A smile spread across Thadd’s lips as he watched her.
‘This is good, Maria.’
This situation was likely a miraculous opportunity that would never come again in Maria’s life.
Much like it had been for Thadd when he first met Alpheas.
‘They say the world runs on luck… but if you give up, you can't even grasp that luck.’
If Maria hadn’t truly loved magic, would she have been able to endure all that time in Class Seven?
Though the world was unfair, Thadd believed that was precisely what made life worth living.
Because if you dream earnestly enough and endure, an opportunity will come to everyone.