Chapter 098
Chapter Title: An Unexpected Turn
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“Hah!”
Chelsea moved swiftly, unleashing a barrage of spells.
“She’s fast.”
Howl from Class 1 narrowed his eyes, deflecting the raging wind magic with his spear.
Seeing this, Iliana raised her arms and jumped up and down.
“That’s Chelsea for you! So tiny and strong!”
“Who are you calling tiny!”
“What are you doing just standing there! Help us, Iliana!”
Chelsea and Howl shouted at Iliana simultaneously.
Iliana flinched, shrinking back.
“Wind Chain!”
Chelsea created and fired a chain of wind.
Howl, however, lightly used an Aura Step to evade Chelsea’s attack.
*So she's aiming to be a Battle Mage. She’s no joke. To think she can move at this speed while casting spells…*
Although Howl had already eliminated five students from the Magic Department, Chelsea was on a different level from the ones before.
*Besides, she’s skilled in close combat, even if I close the distance.*
Unlike other Magic Department students, Chelsea didn’t fall even when he got close.
Meanwhile, Chelsea found Howl to be just as burdensome.
*He’s so annoying, closing in while moving like a snake!*
Howl’s Poison Aura would have been a fatal weakness for other mages, but Chelsea, who specialized in wind magic, had the elemental advantage.
She could simply blow the poison away with wind.
But despite his disadvantage, Howl continued to evade Chelsea’s magic and close the distance.
*I’m the faster one, though.*
As Howl was considered to be just below the top three students of the Knight Department, there was no sign of the match ending.
“You can do it, you two!”
“Then stop watching and help, Iliana!”
“How long are you going to stand back! Join in, Iliana!”
As Howl and Chelsea shouted simultaneously, Iliana scratched her cheek.
“Even if you say that, it’s too awkward for me to attack either of you.”
“What’s awkward about it! You’re in the Magic Department!”
“What are you talking about! You’re with the Knight Department!”
“No. I haven’t chosen either department yet.”
Leo wasn’t the only student who hadn’t chosen a department.
To be precise, a few of the dual-class students had yet to decide on a department.
Iliana was one of them.
For the training in preparation for this Inter-Departmental Competition, she had focused more on the Knight Department’s classes, since the Magic Department was focusing on mobility training.
As a magic swordsman, she already had plenty of mobility.
That was why she had trained with the Knight Department students throughout the entire preparation period.
“Then help me! Howl is from Class 1!”
“Sorry, Chelsea. Howl taught me a lot during the Knight Department classes, even while grumbling about it. So it feels wrong to just attack him because he’s from Class 1.”
Ahead of the competition, Howl had helped the talented Iliana in order to definitively pull her over to the Knight Department.
Chelsea pressed her temples and said.
“If you’re not going to help either of us, then go somewhere else. Stop loitering around and being a nuisance.”
“I agree with Chelsea Llewellyn.”
As Howl also sighed and spoke, Iliana gave a mischievous smile.
“Well, but. If you two keep fighting, one of you will eventually win, and the winner will be exhausted, right? That’s when I’ll take one of you down! Hehe! It’s a great strategy, isn’t it?”
Chelsea’s and Howl’s expressions turned cold at the same time.
“It’s a joke! A joke! Later, when one of you gets tired, I’ll help…”
“So. You’re planning to stab us in the back?”
“A vicious strategy.”
“Huh? Huh? I told you it was a joke.”
“Chelsea Llewellyn. I propose we take care of Iliana first.”
“We’re on the same page. I was thinking the same thing.”
“Ah! I said it was a joke!”
Iliana screamed.
*Whoooosh! Crash—!*
Something plummeted from the sky behind Iliana.
*Groooowwwwwwl!*
It was an aberrant creature with a massive body that seemed to be three meters tall.
In its thick hands, which looked like they could shatter a person’s body with a mere graze, it held a vicious battle-axe.
*Hmph— Hmph—*
It snorted powerfully from its nostrils.
A monster with the head of a bull.
“A Minotaur?!”
“Why is a Demonic beast here?!”
Chelsea and Howl were horrified.
*Groooowwwwwwl!*
The Minotaur swung its axe down at Iliana.
*Craaash—!*
***
“I knew you would be here, Vice-Lord Jis.”
“It has been a while. This is the first time since the entrance exam, Sir Rozes.”
The people around Jis hurriedly rose from their seats.
Seeing them, Rozes raised a hand.
“News of your nephew reaches the imperial palace daily. His Majesty the Emperor himself expresses his admiration, remarking that he is a Jerdinger through and through.”
As Rozes Llewellyn spoke with a smile, Jis grinned.
“Did Abad and Chelsea not also take first and second place in the Magic Department during the midterm exams? I believe His Majesty would be even more pleased by that.”
The surrounding gazes naturally fell upon the powerful figures from the Jerdinger and Llewellyn families, who supported Rodren, the strongest nation in the western continent.
Just then, the entire crowd watching the Inter-Departmental Competition began to murmur.
“Is that… a Demonic beast?”
“Why did a Demonic beast appear in the competition?”
“Was Neigrang an area where Demonic beasts appear?”
While the spectators wore puzzled expressions.
The professors also noticed the anomaly.
“Why did a Demonic beast suddenly appear?”
Sedjen’s eyes widened.
Halind stood up and quickly headed for the control room where the Inter-Departmental Competition was being managed.
“What’s going on?”
“P-Professor Halind! We have a big problem! We can’t get in touch with the control room at Neigrang!”
“What?”
Halind’s face hardened.
“Stop the competition immediately and recall the students.”
“Huh? What do you mean…”
The staff members looked flustered at Halind’s sudden command.
“Are you suggesting we leave the students in a dangerous area under circumstances we can’t even control?!”
“But Professor Halind, if we do that, the higher-ups will…”
“I’ll take responsibility! No more talk, just recall the students!”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Startled by Halind’s fearsome intensity, the staff members activated the teleportation.
“I-It’s not working! The teleportation won’t activate!”
At the staff member’s urgent cry, Halind’s eyes shot wide open.
“What is it, Halind?”
“It’s an emergency. All connections with Neigrang have been severed!”
“What?”
Sedjen’s face turned pale.
Several hours had passed since the competition began, and a hundred students still remained in Neigrang.
“You take command here. I’m going to see the headmaster.”
“Understood.”
Halind left the control room, his face contorting as he looked at the magic broadcast screen.
*What in the world is happening!*
***
The students who had survived the Inter-Departmental Competition also began to notice the anomaly, one by one.
“Hah!”
“Kuh!”
A Knight Department student was fiercely cornering a Magic Department student.
“You were a pain to deal with, moving so fast! But this is it! Don’t hold it against me for eliminating you! I’ll treat you to something later!”
The two students from the same class were close friends.
So they had promised beforehand not to hold any grudges if they had to fight in the competition.
The Knight Department student, having created an opening, grinned and thrust his sword toward the other’s abdomen.
The magic bracelets given to the students were designed to immediately activate a teleportation spell the moment they detected the wearer was in danger.
It was a spell meant to ensure the students’ safety.
Therefore, there was no risk of serious injury even if he actually attacked the abdomen.
*Stab!*
“Gah?”
“Huh…?”
Both the Knight Department student and the Magic Department student stared wide-eyed at what had just happened.
“Wh-What… Kuhuk?”
Seeing his friend cough up a mouthful of blood, the Knight Department student’s hands began to tremble.
“Wh-What is this? Hey! Wake up! Wake up!”
His face pale, he embraced his friend and cried out.
“Hello! Is anyone there! Please help! My friend is hurt!”
Meanwhile, outside the castle walls, monsters from the surrounding area suddenly began to flock to the castle ruins.
The students defending the castle gate looked flustered at the sight.
“What! What’s going on?”
A student from the Summoning Department looked shocked at the situation outside.
In the midst of the fierce battle between departments, a massive horde of monsters had suddenly launched a surprise attack.
As a result, the area in front of the gate descended into chaos.
“Monsters?”
“W-Wait, there are too many of them!”
A large number of monsters.
Normally, they would have had to join forces, but they couldn’t help each other because it was the middle of the Inter-Departmental Competition.
“This is lucky!”
A Summoning Department student cheered inwardly.
While they were struggling to hold off the Knight and Magic Department students, the monsters had attacked at the perfect time.
For those defending the gate, it was a very advantageous situation.
Just then, Woreden, who was sitting atop the castle wall, narrowed his eyes.
He hadn’t participated in the battle even once.
He had merely been sitting still, watching the competition as if waiting for someone.
He had consistently ignored his Summoning Department classmates’ requests for help.
But now, that same Woreden suddenly stood up.
“What? You’re finally going to help?”
The Summoning Department student who was in command clicked his tongue, his face showing a ‘so you’re finally stepping up’ expression.
However, Woreden simply stared intently at the monster horde.
*Strange. Why are the monsters suddenly acting as a group?*
As a summoner, Woreden felt a sense of dissonance in the monsters’ movements.
*They’re being controlled by something.*
Having thought that far, Woreden looked up.
High in the sky above the castle ruins, Woreden spotted the black wyvern he had seen during the midterm exams and roused his spiritual power.
“Huh? Woreden?”
*Gwoooooo—!*
A red light enveloped Woreden’s entire body.
*Fwoosh! Kaboom!*
A massive explosion erupted in the middle of the monsters that were attacking the Knight and Magic Department students.
“Wh-What was that?”
“Woreden? Why is he helping us?”
A student from another department, in the middle of the competition.
Moreover, it was Woreden, who was on bad terms even with his own department’s students, helping them. The other students wore dumbfounded expressions.
“Open the gate.”
“What? What nonsense are you spouting? And why did you suddenly help them?!”
“Stop talking and open the gate. This isn’t the time for an Inter-Departmental Competition.”
“What kind of nonsense is this, out of nowhere! And there’s no reason we have to listen to your orders— Gak!”
Woreden grabbed the commanding student by the throat.
“No time to explain. Sleep.”
“Gag—!”
The choked student’s eyes rolled back as he fainted.
As the surrounding students watched in horror, Woreden spoke in a cold voice.
“From now on, I’m in command. Open the gate.”
Woreden said, pushing the unconscious student aside.
“From now on, our enemies are the Demonic beasts and monsters. If anyone tries to fight among departments, I’ll deal with them first, so be warned.”
“O-Okay!”
“We’ll pass the message to the other departments!”
“And you.”
“Eek? Wh-Why are you calling me?”
A female student flinched in fear at Woreden’s call.
“You’ve contracted a wind phantom beast, haven’t you?”
“Y-Yes!”
“Then go and inform the others at the other gates.”
Woreden looked to the sky and roused his spiritual power.
The Fafnir began to descend at a terrifying speed.
“Tell them an anomaly has occurred, and the Inter-Departmental Competition is suspended.”