Chapter 575
Chapter Title: Piora's Grand Entrance
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Kyuooooooong!
The golem's activation hum echoed.
The golem’s first target was none other than Leah.
“Tch!”
Thump—! Splat—! Thump—! Splat—!
Leah clicked her tongue as she watched the Lava Golem charge toward her.
“How annoying.”
It just had to be summoned nearby, putting her right in its range.
Designing a golem isn't difficult if one has an aptitude for magical engineering.
Their simplicity also makes them easy to modify.
Of course, most modified golems were crude.
But it was a different story for a Lava Golem.
First, the Lava Golem itself was an incredibly difficult golem to create.
A golem covered entirely in lava boasted immense offensive power by its very nature.
‘Lava Golems are even resistant to water magic, the weakness of the fire attribute. Plus, they turn their surroundings into a lava field, making them tricky to defeat!’
Being made of molten rock, a Lava Golem's attack and defense increased exponentially in a lava field.
‘Best not to fight it.’
Fwhoooosh! Crash! Splat!
A wave of lava surged as Leah dodged the Lava Golem's attack.
Using a light Fly spell, Leah escaped the golem’s attack range, avoiding the intense heat.
Just then, Medvez appeared by her side.
“Leah Tingel. Are you going to ignore me and only aim for that coward, Luke Elda?”
“It's true that Luke Elda is a coward, but he’s more worthy of being defeated than you are.”
“Oh? In that case, I’ll have to prove that I’m more worthy of being defeated than Luke Elda.”
“Can you?”
Leah smirked.
It was then.
Thud—!
“Luke!”
The sound of someone kicking off the ground was followed by Eina’s startled voice.
In that instant, a silver flash shot past between the two of them.
“Luke Elda?!”
“What?”
Their eyes widened as they saw Luke charging straight for the Lava Golem.
Thwump—!
The surrounding lava scattered in all directions as he kicked off the ground.
Luke’s entire body was glowing with a silver light.
It was the power of his mana trait, which caused his mana to surge when his heart was stirred, pushed to its absolute limit.
Luke’s unique magic, which granted him power beyond his limits for a short time.
‘Transcendence.’
Flash—!
Kraka-ka-ka-ka-BOOM—!
A wall of silver, as if to pierce the heavens—it was a colossal sword strike.
The Lava Golem, sliced in two, collapsed.
Splat! Fwoooosh—!
A wave of lava surged high, like a tsunami.
Woooooooooaaaaaaah—!
A thunderous roar erupted from the spectator stands.
“In a single strike!”
“I thought it was strange how he just kept running away and seemed so weak! But he’s Lumerne’s year representative for a reason!”
“Incredible!”
An enthusiastic response poured in.
Even after the opening match began, the spectators cheered for the first-years’ dazzling auras, magic, and summoned creatures.
Though they were still young and inexperienced, the skills they had honed over a year at a hero academy were anything but ordinary.
‘Young and inexperienced’ was only in comparison to their upperclassmen.
In the eyes of ordinary people, simply attending a hero academy made them incredible superhumans.
But the display Luke had just shown was an overwhelming performance that refused comparison with the other first-years.
“I knew it! He wasn’t Leo Flove’s mentee for nothing!”
The shouts of a few spectators made Leah’s ears perk up.
“Luke… Elda…!”
Leah’s eyes blazed.
“I’ll earn Senior Flove's recognition too! By defeating you!”
“Hieeeeek!”
“Stop!”
Luke shrieked and fled from Leah as she roared and charged, while Eina moved to block her.
“Leah! How long are you going to act on your own?!”
“Eina! Leave Leah Tingel be! Luke won't go down that easily!”
Yoinia and Juen approached Leah and Eina, shouting, before their eyes met.
The two girls stared at each other, then simultaneously aimed their staves.
Flash—! Kra-ka-BOOM—!
Magic clashed against magic, resulting in a massive explosion.
“Aaargh! Let go! Let me go! I’m the one who’s going to defeat Luke Elda!”
“Calm down!”
Anre forcibly dragged Leah away.
Meanwhile, Medvez, who had remained still, recalled the recent event.
‘He was definitely smiling.’
When Luke charged the Lava Golem, he was unmistakably smiling.
‘Why was he smiling?’
Medvez could also defeat a Lava Golem in one blow.
But in this situation, there was no merit in expending so much of his own power to do so.
‘Does he enjoy fighting? No, that’s not his personality. Then why?’
Medvez looked at the spectators who were sending fervent cheers toward Luke.
Then, his eyes met Ar’s in the Azonia students’ section.
‘You’re good at everything, but you have a petty side, don't you? You gave up faster than I thought.’
Those were the words he’d heard after challenging Ar right after enrolling.
Even knowing he would lose, Medvez had challenged her to see the gap between them for himself.
And he had surrendered without even getting a proper look at that gap.
‘Using your head is good, but sometimes it’s better to just follow your heart. Isn’t that what a challenge is? Rushing in without thinking about the consequences.’
Medvez had asked Ar, who was looking up at the sky with her arms crossed under the moonlight.
‘Is that why you’re so reckless, Senior?’
After those words, he took a fist to the jaw and was knocked out cold.
For some reason, he was reminded of that day.
“I see. So his plan is to defeat the Lava Golem, crush all the other schools, and then claim victory.”
He had heard there were people like that sometimes.
The type who couldn’t contain their excitement when challenging the near-impossible.
And the crowd had roared in response to that impossible challenge.
“Courageous. He’s more like an Azonia student than I am.”
Medvez watched the direction Luke had disappeared in, the corners of his mouth curling up.
“I apologize once again, Luke Elda. You are a man worth defeating.”
“Kyaaaaaaaaak!”
“Are you an animal? You’re usually so calm, so why do you go berserk whenever Luke Elda is involved?!”
Anre shouted, carrying Leah under his arm like a sack of luggage as she tried to run toward Luke.
“I’m the best in my year at Seirun! So I’m going to prove I’m the best among all the years at all the schools! Defeating Luke Elda is the first step!”
“That’s just your personal grudge!”
“I get to settle a grudge and prove I’m the best! It’s two birds with one stone!”
“Try to remember Senior Lunia’s advice!”
At Anre’s words, Leah paused, then pouted.
‘I heard you stole food from a kid named Luke during the training camp?’
He remembered Lunia’s dumbfounded expression.
‘Are you a thug? Why would you steal his food? You do realize you’ve brought shame to our school, right?’
‘You’re the thug, Senior Lunia, not me.’
*Grip!*
‘Keok!? K-gurgle-!’
Without hesitation, Lunia had used her own beautifully sculpted hands to choke her junior.
‘I get why you’re so obsessed with Luke Elda. But listen. Don’t get too fixated on what’s right in front of you. You might trip over something at your feet.’
‘…Um… Miss Lunia. Leah has fainted.’
‘Tsk, she fainted just from a little choking? So fragile.’
‘Normally, choking someone like that would kill them.’
As his consciousness faded, Leah had fainted while hearing the displeased voices of Lunia and Eiran.
‘Maybe it’s not good to be so obsessed with Luke Elda?’
Competitors weren’t just external.
Even within Seirun, there were classmates who posed a threat to her position.
‘…When I saw my ancestor, I made a promise. That I would become someone who could hold her head high in front of the people I admire. That’s why I want to be acknowledged.’
That was what she envied about Luke Elda.
The fact that he had been acknowledged by Leo.
Just as Lunia’s serious expression came to mind…
Fwoosh—!
“You shouldn’t let your guard down.”
“When did you?”
Rixen, the representative from Demian, suddenly appeared before them, a knowing smile on his face.
“It’s an invisibility cloak I made. It even erases my presence!”
Rixen swung a giant battle hammer at Anre.
Kwhaang—!
The massive impact forced Anre to let go of Leah.
“Ah?!”
As Leah fell toward the lava field, she hurriedly tried to cast Fly.
“Checkmate!”
Kwhaang—! Rixen slammed his battle hammer down on Leah, knocking her straight into the lava field.
“She’ll be warped out automatically once she’s eliminated, so she won’t be hurt!”
Rixen grinned brightly.
“I knew there’d be a chance to target Leah Tingel, given her strange obsession with Luke Elda!”
Rixen crowed triumphantly.
“Ugh! You coward!”
Anre gripped his sword, seething, but Rixen just shrugged.
“In a fight, is there really such a thing as fair or foul? Well, Senior Drina was particularly furious, saying my methods weren’t beautiful.”
Rixen recalled his senior from the year above, Drina.
‘Rixen. Your actions are base and cowardly! They lack beauty!’
‘As long as the result is good, does it need to be beautiful?’
‘Of course it does! Even Lord Dweno pursued beauty! We Demian students must be beautiful not only in our creations but in our actions as well! Are you not a talented individual? You can achieve victory with dignity, without resorting to such despicable methods! If you act so despicably, you will be pointed at and called hideous.’
‘Aren’t your creations the hideous ones, Senior…?’
At that, Drina had brought her hammer down on Rixen’s head, knocking him out cold.
‘Well, it was a little cheap.’
Rixen scratched his cheek.
He could actually feel jeers coming from all around.
“The criticism seems harsh because it happened right after Luke Elda’s feat. But this was the most effici—”
Grab—!
“Huh?”
Just then, a small hand shot out of the lava field and grabbed Rixen’s ankle.
Rixen looked down, his face a mask of surprise.
There, Leah, covered in a shield, was smiling eerily.
“It’s cold for winter, isn’t it? It’s nice and warm in here.”
“I-I think I’ll pass…”
“No need to pass.”
“Gyaaaaaaah?!”
Rixen, dragged into the lava by Leah, was promptly eliminated.
Leah emerged, dusting off her hands with a scoff.
“Don’t get cocky.”
It was then.
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble—!
Bubble-bubble-bubble—!
The lava field, which had been gradually expanding, began to shake again.
Kra-ka-ka-ka-BOOM—!
“More Lava Golems?!”
“There are four this time!”
“Hey! Are we supposed to fight the other schools or not?!”
“They said it was a survival match! This has turned into a pure survival game, not a fight against other schools!”
Screams erupted from among the students.
The students, who had initially planned to attack the opposing camps while avoiding the lava field and the giant Lava Golem, were now forced to confront the golems.
“Ugh! The real enemy isn’t the other schools, it’s this terrain itself!”
The students cried out in the face of the incredibly harsh environment.
Whenever they defeated a Lava Golem, more of them would swarm in, as if in waves.
Even so, clashes continued as they tried to whittle down the opposing teams' forces.
The ground they could fight on steadily shrank due to the lava.
Eventually, the four schools met in the very center of Erek.
Bubble-bubble—
The lava surged, leaving no room for retreat.
“Hmph… So this is where the last one standing will be decided?”
Medvez stepped forward, clenching his fists.
“Just what I wanted.”
Leah replied, cracking her knuckles.
“It’s time to see who’s strongest.”
From Lumerne, Haviden muttered with a smirk, then glanced behind him.
“Luke, you’re not going out?”
“If I go out, I feel like those two will target me first.”
“You’re Lumerne’s year representative. Overcome it.”
“Go! You’re our representative!”
“B-But!”
Sasha joined in, pushing Luke’s back.
Forced by a crown prince and an imperial princess, Luke had no choice but to step forward with a grimace.
It was then.
Piiiiiiiiiiii—!
A strange cry echoed.
Thud— Thump-thump-thump—!
A red furball fell from the sky and rolled to Luke’s feet.
Luke picked up the furball with a puzzled look.
Chirp!
“Piora? It’s been a while! Have you been well?”
Luke’s face lit up in a happy greeting as he recognized Piora, Leo’s phoenix, whom he had seen several times during the first semester.
Chirp—! Chirp—!
Piora flapped its wings and chirped wildly.
Seeing this, the faces of all the survivors turned pale.
“N-No way. It can’t be. No matter what, they wouldn’t…”
Sasha muttered in a trembling voice, as if denying reality.
Could it really be that harsh?
“Give it here!”
“Eek!”
Just then, Leah lunged at Luke.
Overwhelmed by Leah’s intensity, Luke dropped Piora.
Leah, having snatched Piora, smiled and greeted the creature perched on her hand.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. You must be Piora? I’ve wanted to meet you.”
Leah, who adored anything related to Leo, smiled brightly as she greeted Piora.
It was then.
Piora’s eyes suddenly shot open, and its body began to swell.
“Huh?”
Gwooooooo! Fwooooosh—!
Piora’s body, growing ever larger, burst into flames.
“…”
Watching this, Leah tossed Piora to Luke as if she were throwing a bomb.
“H-Here, you can have it back.”
“Don’t throw it at us!”
“R-Run!”
The Lumerne students scattered in terror.
Pyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!
Fwoooooooosh! Kra-ka-ka-ka-BOOM—!
Piora let out a roar and began to mercilessly attack the entire first-year cohort.
“No matter how you look at it, that seems a bit harsh.”
Chelsea shook her head as she watched the first-years, who were now screaming and scrambling to escape their encounter with the disaster known as a phoenix.
It was truly, utterly brutal.
This wasn’t about who could defeat the most opponents, but who could survive the longest.
At Chelsea’s words, Karl shook his head.
“He’s not called the Demon King for nothing, is he?”
***
Nothing remained on the Erek training grounds.
A man clenched his fist as he watched the embers begin to die down in the center of the field.
“What are you looking at, Lumerne?”
“It’s nothing, Rodia. More importantly, I have something to tell you about Erebos.”
Lumerne turned his back on the training grounds where the black embers had risen, biting his lip hard.