Rivals Beneath the Waves
Puhah!
Having just come back up from the seabed, Meilin scrambled onto the platform, wheezing. The moment she surfaced, she pumped her air magic circle full and checked her Tongue Pad.
Six now. That's two coins per dive.
The frantic 'free-for-all' of the exam's opening phase had died down, and everyone was now focused on coin hunting. By this point, some students would already have gathered all ten and struck out for the open sea to hunt for points.
I need to push out there fast, before the open-sea monsters run dry.
Having recharged her air circle, Meilin dove back into the ocean.
Splash!
Below her, schools of colorful fish glided by, and the sunlight filtering down from above caught their scales, scattering beautiful motes of light through the water. If this weren't an exam, she could have lingered to enjoy the scenery a little longer — but sadly, there was no time for that.
Using the fins Dick had developed, Meilin descended toward the seabed at speed.
It wasn't especially deep, thankfully, so she arrived in no time. The real problem was the other competitors and the attacks of the sea monsters.
Coast is clear, right?
Glancing warily around, Meilin swam slowly forward, combing the bottom with meticulous care. Kizen seemed to have done something to the water, because visibility was fine even to the naked eye. Still, coins buried in the sand were maddeningly hard to find. She lost count of how many times she cursed Kizen as she shoveled the sand aside.
Oh.
Meilin stopped short. A patch of the seabed was pulsing upward at odd intervals.
That's a monster.
She laid her right hand over the circle drawn on her thigh and transferred it to her palm, the way one might draw a pistol, and activated it.
Ice Bolt!
A shard of ice tore from the circle and struck the exact center of the heaving sand.
The reaction was instant. A ray-like monster lurking beneath burst from the sand, thrashing in agony.
There we go.
One of the patterns on her deployed circle vanished. Each pattern represented her remaining stock. Nine shots left.
Ice Bolt! Ice Bolt! Ice Bolt!
With muffled thuds, the monster, skewered by ice shards, went limp.
Burning four shots to kill one creature wasn't exactly efficient, but in the ocean there was no helping it. Everyone was working under the same conditions.
Confirming the point increase on her Tongue Pad, Meilin searched the area around where the monster had been hiding.
Knew it!
She whooped. A single coin lay on the very floor where the thing had buried itself.
She scooped it up reverently and held it in front of the Tongue Pad strapped to her wrist, and a tongue shot out of the bracelet, slurping it down in one gulp.
Storing coins in a subspace pocket meant instant disqualification. They had to be entrusted to the Tongue Pad or carried on her person.
Killed a monster, gained points. Next!
Overall, Meilin was moving fast — firmly in the top tier.
When the exam began and the students tore into each other in a mindless frenzy, she had waited on the platform, conserving her strength. Then, when the competition flagged and wore itself out, she had launched — darting back and forth between platform and seabed to sweep up the coins.
Remembering how savagely Jane had torn into her in the last BMAT feedback still made her face burn. Pacing. Pacing was everything. She would never repeat the same mistake.
Found another one!
A coin was snagged in a tangle of seaweed like a patch of undergrowth.
Meilin hurried toward it — but this spot had a monster lurking too. A soft-bodied creature erupted from cover and spewed toxic fumes straight at her.
Ugh! Again?!
A Danger Class 3 monster — the Pulpa.
It boasted the largest population of any monster in this sea, a fearsome creature that belched poison smoke from what could only be called its anus, intoxicating fish and humans alike before devouring them.
But even with the poison washing over her face, Meilin didn't so much as flinch as she raised her right arm.
Ice Bolt!
Thwack!
The Pulpa took the ice shard square in the body and sagged. Meilin swam up over it, gripped an Ice Bolt in both hands, and drove it straight into the monster's trunk.
Green blood burst out, and the creature went slack. Dropping to the seabed, Meilin let out a silent breath of relief.
Poisoned and it doesn't even touch me. That's all thanks to Professor Byeolya's class, isn't it?
There had been times when a class built around eating poison made little sense to her, but by now Meilin — and plenty of other students — were feeling its results in their own bodies.
Indeed, the students who'd taken Byeolya's Toxicology class were shrugging off Pulpa poison attacks as if nothing had happened, while the back-half students who'd taken another professor's class were struggling badly. Some of them, unable to endure it, were climbing onto the platforms to brew antidotes first.
Meilin felt a fresh twinge of guilt for all the times she'd cursed Byeolya.
If I make the rankings, I should at least go pay her a visit.
The search continued. It took some time, but she found one more coin — nine now.
Just one more and she could head for the open sea, but checking the remaining charge on the air circle painted onto her diving suit, she judged it was about time to surface.
Ahh, it feels like a waste to go up now. No more nearby, though?
She was in a final sprint, raking through the sand with everything she had, when—
Shaaaaaa.
A school of colorful fish suddenly streamed past her. Meilin turned to see what was going on.
"!"
Behind the fleeing fish, a monster larger than a person had appeared.
A Gamban — the Danger Class 4 shark monster. In its jaws, a leg that could only belong to a Kizen student was kicking wildly.
"……!"
Meilin froze solid on the spot. Moments later, apparently draining its Barrier Gauge, the student inside the shark's mouth teleported away.
Enraged that its prey had vanished from its very jaws, the monster rolled its eyes — and then it spotted Meilin standing rigid before it and charged.
Kuh!
She swam for her life, but no human could outpace a Gamban in open water.
I have to fight!
Decision made, she checked her Ice Bolt reserves.
Exactly two shots left. She spun around, right arm aimed. The Gamban was bearing down on her, jaws spread wide.
Ice Bolt!
Two ice shards shot forward and slammed into the Gamban's body with muffled thuds — drawing barely a trickle of blood, and only enraging it further.
Agh!
The Gamban's razor teeth clamped down on her right arm.
Her Barrier Gauge drained at a terrifying rate, flipping from green to yellow.
I'm — I'm done for!
She hammered her fists down on the Gamban's face, thud after thud, but it didn't budge an inch.
Her Barrier Gauge — her lifeline — had fallen below half. She couldn't lose her coins and points like this.
Some — somebody, please!
Slish!
Shlick!
In her moment of desperation, an eerie green whip lashed down from above and coiled around the Gamban's body like a serpent.
Startled, Meilin looked up to see a girl with both hands spread wide, activating her dark magic.
It was none other than—
Claudia!
The ensnared Gamban, seemingly infected by the poison, writhed in agony, and its grip on Meilin's arm weakened.
Claudia flashed her a signal with a glance.
I don't know exactly what you're planning, but—!
Meilin gathered her courage.
It was her chance to pull her arm free — instead, she shoved it deeper into the Gamban's mouth and activated her own dark magic.
<Freezing>
The shark's interior began to freeze.
The warmer the waters a species lived in, the more sensitive it was to sudden changes in temperature.
And its insides are icing over, no less!
Poison infection, and now a drastic temperature shift from within.
Finally, the Gamban lost its strength and went limp.
Got it!
At the same moment, points rose on her Tongue Pad. The 1,000-point bounty had been split between the two of them — 500 apiece.
They had brought down the Gamban safely, but it was no time to let her guard down.
Meilin lifted her head and fixed Claudia with a wary stare.
What's your play? If you're after my coins…
But Claudia showed no particular aggression. On the contrary, she smiled faintly and pointed a finger upward.
Grrrrgl!
Her air was running out. With no other choice, Meilin swam upward, and Claudia followed.
Before long—
"PUHAHAHA!"
Breaking the surface, Meilin released the breath she'd been holding. She really had nearly died.
Beside her, Claudia rose up and caught her breath as well.
"……"
An awkward silence settled between the two girls for a moment.
Meilin kept her mouth shut, fidgeting and looking away for no good reason, before finally speaking.
"Hey, thanks for—"
"I'm sorry about before, Meilin."
Meilin's eyes went wide.
"……Th-that thing I said, about your grades. I don't know if you'll accept it, but I'm sorry. I apologize."
Claudia looked somehow lighter as she said it. Realizing that the girl's lately razor-sharp mood had shifted a little, Meilin smiled quietly.
"Apology accepted! What's with the sappy act? They say people die when you do things you've never done before."
"I try to apologize and this is what I get!"
Claudia flushed as she shot back, then tilted her head with a serious expression.
"I've decided to stop the boycott."
"Funny, you were running all over the place shouting about student rights."
"Ah — whatever, I guess I went crazy for a bit. I'm dying of embarrassment. And…" Claudia opened her palm. The Deadly Poison Whip circle she had just used was shimmering on it. "I think I was wrong about Professor Byeolya."
"Hmm—"
The corners of Meilin's mouth were just curling up when, behind the two girls, a boy was sneaking closer, quietly preparing a curse. Just as he was about to fire it, the two turned around simultaneously as if they'd been waiting for exactly that, extending their right arms.
<Ice Bolt>
<Deadly Poison Whip>
Poison and ice dark magic hammered down in rapid succession, pounding the boy's barrier.
His Barrier Gauge hit zero in an instant, and without managing to cast a single curse, he was teleported away.
"Getting cocky."
Meilin laughed out loud, and Claudia laughed along with her. Then, after a brief flicker of her lips, she mustered her courage and made the first move.
"Meilin — want to be allies? Just for this exam."
Meilin considered it for a moment, then swept her hair back and gave a small nod. She'd gotten her apology and they'd made peace. There was no reason to refuse.
The two girls clasped hands.
Over there, over there!
One more coin over there!
Clusters of Kizen students in diving suits were combing the seabed together, working in teams of three.
Finally, a coin of my own—!
Shaaaeeng!
A surge of bubbles rushed in out of nowhere, something blurred past — and the coin on the seabed was simply gone. The students' heads snapped toward it.
Wh-what was that?
Is it riding a skeleton? In the ocean?
While the other students slogged back and forth — swimming down to hunt for coins on the bottom, climbing back up to the platform, over and over — Simon was striding across the seafloor at a insane pace, single-handedly scooping up coin after coin.
Is he even taking the same exam as us?
That guy's in a completely different genre.
Pausing briefly to sift the seabed, Simon soon picked up his tenth coin.
With that, he'd met the minimum requirement.
Deimos. Let's go up.
Deimos's head tilted upward, and then it shot to the surface like a torpedo. The students kicking along below watched the spectacle with undisguised envy.
Whoosh!
They breached the surface in an instant. When Simon pointed to a nearby platform node, Deimos immediately carried him over.
"Good boy."
Settled onto the platform, Simon patted Deimos's head, and the whale seemlingly pleased, nuzzled lazily against his palm.
When Simon turned around, he found two boys standing frozen stiff. He asked with a smile.
"Want to fight?"
The boys, glancing back and forth between Deimos and Simon, shook their heads in terror and dove into the water, fleeing for their lives.
"Hm? I wasn't planning to chase you off. Now I feel bad."
Simon flopped down on the spot while recharging his air circle and checked the point standings.
While he'd been taking it easy, the point gap had already widened considerably. Every name on the list had already headed for the open sea.
The second-place student, Awn, had apparently abandoned coin hunting altogether and rushed to the open sea first to farm points — a gambler's strategy.
[Kheheh! Will you be all right? First place is already at 2,500 points.]
I'll be fine.
Simon counted on his fingers as if running the numbers, then spoke.
Ten minutes, and I'll have caught up.
[What?]
Pier's incredulous voice rang out.
[KHEHEH! You lunatic. What insane scheme are you cooking up this time?]