Chapter 095
Chapter Title: Unworthy Opponents
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Nine first-years had quickly gathered around Leo.
*‘Three from the Knight Department, two from the Summoner Department, and four from the Magic Department… Quite a few.’*
“Jebin!”
“Nivea! Perfect timing! We're lucky, aren't we? To meet up this early!”
Jebin’s face brightened upon spotting Nivea, a female student from the Magic Department who was part of his clique.
“I don't believe I've done anything to earn your resentment.”
Nivea scoffed at Leo's words.
“Hmph! Don't make me laugh! Do you have any idea how long other students have been suffering because of you?”
“And what suffering would that be?”
“Getting special treatment from the professors for being 'All-Class' or whatever! Thanks to you showing off all the time, the magic curriculum is getting harder for no reason! Can't you be considerate of others?”
“That's right! In Summoning class, we get tons of difficult assignments every day because you're always acting so high and mighty!”
“And we have to do grueling training every day in Knight class, too!”
Listening quietly to the flood of complaints, Leo let out a dry laugh.
“If you have a problem with that, you should take it up with the professors.”
The students flinched at his words.
“Besides, do you really think the curriculum would change because of one student? Have you ever considered that you're simply unable to keep up?”
“What did you say!”
Nivea flared up at Leo's comment.
“I was always at the top of my class at the academy I attended before Lumerne! It's impossible that I can't keep up with the lessons!”
“It's possible because you're not keeping up. Aren't you embarrassed, blaming others for your own shortcomings?”
“Grr! Shut up! Chain Lightning!”
*Crackle—!*
A chain of electricity shot from the tip of her staff, flying toward Leo.
Just as the electric chain reached him, Leo swatted it away with his hand.
*Whoosh! Zap! Fzzzzzzzt!*
The deflected spell exploded on the spot, sending fierce sparks flying in all directions.
“H-How?”
“The spell is powerful, but its formula is simple. That's why it's so easily dispelled. We learned that in our first class, didn't we?”
The corner of Leo's mouth curled up.
“‘Don't rely too much on the activation formula.’”
“Grr! Stop being so smug! You're just a country bumpkin from some backwater kingdom!”
Enraged, Nivea began to recklessly fire off spells.
“Everyone, attack! Who cares if he's the year representative? He's just a first-year like us! If we all rush him, even he won't be able to handle it!”
“Just a first-year?”
Leo burst out laughing at Jebin's cry.
“Sure, if you were proper Lumerne first-years, I might have had some trouble. But I can't imagine losing to people like you, who blame others for your own failures.”
“What did you say!”
“This bastard!”
The Magic Department students fired their spells at Leo in unison, while the Knight Department students gripped their weapons and circled him, closing in.
The Summoner Department students summoned their spirits.
*Fwoosh—!*
Leo created a flame in his hand.
“Fire Will.”
*KRAKOOOOM—!*
A rising wall of fire offset the incoming spells.
The Magic Department students, who had been pressuring Leo, recoiled in horror.
“N-No way! For our spells to be nullified so easily…!”
“Don't be scared! A powerful spell like that must have a huge mana cost! He's just making a last-ditch effort!”
A Knight Department student, after reassuring the others, quickly adjusted his grip on his spear and charged at Leo.
*Whoosh—!*
A swift thrust.
It was an attack as fast as a flash of light, but Leo caught the spear shaft without much difficulty.
*Clasp—!*
“Kuh!”
His attack blocked so easily, he hastily tried to pull the spear back.
But the spear wouldn't budge.
Instead, when Leo applied force, he was pulled forward like a puppet with its strings cut.
*‘W-What kind of strength is this?!’*
He didn't know it, but in terms of pure physical strength, Leo was the strongest in the Knight Department.
*Vwoom—!*
Aura shimmered on Leo's free right hand.
Leo swung his fist at the face of the student being pulled toward him.
“Huk!”
*BAM!*
He hastily protected himself from Leo's attack with Aura Armor.
But the male student felt his head ring with a *thud—*.
*Thwack—!*
“Keuk!”
As a follow-up, Leo kicked him in the stomach.
*Whoosh! Thud!*
“Kuaargh!”
The male student flew back, crashed into a tree, and collapsed wretchedly on the ground.
“Found an opening!”
A large male student launched a surprise attack from behind Leo.
The student, who had raised a massive two-handed sword, grinned triumphantly.
“You're eliminated, Leo Flove!”
*Grab—!*
“…!”
Leo reached out and caught the tip of the huge two-handed sword's blade.
Stunned that his attack was blocked, the student tried to retrieve his sword.
But the sword, caught in Leo's hand, showed no sign of moving.
*Creeaak—!*
Instead, when Leo squeezed, cracks began to form on the blade's surface.
“N-No way! It's a sword imbued with aura!”
”Aura isn't invincible, you know.”
*Squeeze—! Crack!*
“…!”
Fragments of the shattered two-handed sword scattered in all directions.
“You should have prepared a backup plan in case you were blocked.”
*Wham—!*
“Guhk!”
Leo kicked the student squarely in the side.
*CRASH!*
“Keoheok!”
The helplessly flying student also tumbled to the ground in defeat.
A bright light emanated from the twitching bodies of the two Knight Department students before they vanished.
Teleportation magic.
It signified their elimination from the Inter-Departmental Competition.
*Rumble!*
Just then, the ground moved as if it were alive, coiling around Leo's body like a snake.
At the same time, a drop of water formed near his face, growing into a head-sized bubble that enveloped his head.
*Bubble- bubble-*
“Yes!”
“Let's suffocate him and get him eliminated!”
The two Summoner Department students who had summoned the spirits cheered in delight.
*Crumble! Pop—!*
But the earth holding Leo crumbled into clumps and scattered, and the water bubble burst anticlimactically.
“Impossible! Our spirit summoning…!”
Looking at the dumbfounded summoners, Leo shook the water from his hair and spoke.
“If you formed a temporary pact with the local spirits, shouldn't you have anticipated that a more skilled summoner could seize control?”
Leo asked, brushing the dirt from his body.
“So, what's next?”
They subconsciously took a step back.
*‘Is the gap between us really this big?’*
“Nothing?”
*Whoooosh—!*
Leo unleashed his aura.
“Then are you prepared?”
“W-Wait! Leo! Just a moment!”
Jebin shouted urgently, his face pale.
“W-We were wrong! If we're eliminated like this, we'll be expelled! Please, just spare us this once!”
“Y-Yeah! Forgive us!”
“I-I didn't want to fight you, Leo! They egged me on!”
“Don't be ridiculous! You were the most enthusiastic one!”
Having lost their will to fight, they quickly fell apart.
“L-Leo! You don't really need to eliminate us, right? Huh? So…”
Nivea said in a trembling voice.
Looking at her, Leo spoke.
“It's true that leaving people like you alone poses no threat to me, and eliminating you brings me no particular benefit.”
At his words, the faces of the quarreling students brightened.
“Th-Then!”
“However.”
Leo's expression turned icy.
“If our situations were reversed, would you have spared me?”
The students' faces filled with despair.
*Shing—!*
“This could be your last fight as Lumerne students. So fight back, like a Lumerne student should.”
“Don't be ridiculous! I'm going to stay at Lumerne!”
Jebin, spitting curses, used Wing magic to quickly flee the battlefield.
“You cheap bastard!”
“Damn it! Run!”
Watching his classmates scatter in all directions, Leo sighed.
Simply surviving the final practical exam didn't guarantee a high score.
“A true hero knows there are times you must fight, even when you know you'll lose.”
They had essentially thrown away their last chance.
“You'd do well to abandon the illusion that you can escape.”
Leo smiled coldly.
***
After the Inter-Departmental Competition began, most of the Lumerne students dropped into Neigrang fell into a panic.
“Monsters? Hey! Don't lead them this way!”
“My dear department friend! Let's take care of the monsters together! We agreed to team up!”
“Hey! That was for a normal competition! This is an exam… Ah! Seriously, get away from me!”
Students leading the monsters of Neigrang toward their own department mates while being chased.
“Wait! There's a curse activated here… *Bleeeeargh!*”
“A sensory confusion curse… *Urp!* M-Motion sickness!”
Students falling victim to the curses spread throughout Neigrang.
“Bring it on!”
“Just what I wanted! Let's go!”
Students fighting fiercely amongst themselves.
“Please! We're in the same class! Please let me join your party!”
“Ah! W-Well, you and I are in different departments…! Let go of me!”
Students clinging to their classmates, and so on.
With the sudden addition of the final practical exam, the Inter-Departmental Competition was utter chaos.
The pressure of the final exam was so great that it completely overturned any previously established strategies.
Watching the scene from Lumerne through transmission magic, Artian, the homeroom professor of Class 8, spoke with a grave expression.
“I wonder if this isn't too harsh on the students.”
“That is a naive thought, Professor Artian.”
Artian flinched at Halind's words, shrinking back.
“This competition may have seemed like an individual contest at first glance, but strictly speaking, it was a situation where students could have easily formed teams and cooperated.”
“Politics and diplomacy are important virtues for a hero. As such, securing cooperation in advance can also be considered a part of being prepared.”
Following up on Halind's words, Professor Sedzen looked at the students shown through the transmission magic and said,
“But the world does not always go according to plan. The principal must have been aiming for that. It would not be an exaggeration to call this competition a test of their ability to respond to unexpected situations.”
“Still, it's too harsh. Shouldn't we be guiding the students in a more stable manner?”
As a new professor who hadn't attended Lumerne, Artian was not yet accustomed to the academy's educational policy of forcing trials upon its students at every moment.
“At an ordinary school, that would be the case. But Professor Artian, this is Lumerne.”
“Pardon?”
“The students we are raising are hero candidates. And a hero is one who overcomes trials.”
Sedzen wore a serious expression.
“If they cannot overcome even a trial like this, they will not only fail to become heroes, but they might even lose their lives during their studies at Lumerne.”
After saying so, he heaved a deep sigh.
“To prevent that, we must constantly test our students' potential.”
As all the teachers fell silent at the words of Sedzen, who had witnessed more student deaths than anyone,
“Professors.”
“Secretary Elena, what is it?”
The principal's secretary, Elena, had come to where the first-year professors were gathered.
“An urgent matter has come up for the assistant homeroom professors. May I take them with me?”
“An urgent matter for the assistant homeroom professors? What is it?”
Secretary Elena smiled brightly at Halind's question.
“We need to requisition some personnel because of the new lockdown.”
“I see. Assistant professors, it's school business, so please lend your assistance.”
Once Sedzen gave his permission, the assistant homeroom professors followed Secretary Elena out of the training grounds.
“What is it, Halind?”
Sedzen asked Halind, who was staring intently at Elena, but Halind just shook his head.
“No, it's nothing.”