Chapter 96: Joint Practical Evaluation (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 96: Joint Practical Evaluation (5)
A commoner-hating bigot.
He was well aware that people called him such names behind his back.
However, Phillip Meltron would never back down from his belief that a person’s worth was determined solely by their bloodline.
After all, commoners were inferior in every aspect, from their crude attitudes to their lackluster intelligence. Meanwhile, nobles were thoroughly educated from birth, exuding an air of elegance befitting their prestigious positions.
During his own academy days, he had been ostracized, ridiculed, and cursed by those low-born wretches.
Even during his time as an assistant professor, they were nothing but thieves who tried to steal anything they could get their grubby hands on. They were degenerates who didn't hesitate to abuse their own kin. Every example of filth he had encountered came from dirty commoners.
He firmly believed that this country maintained a caste system for a reason. Commoners were a far cry from the dignified and honorable nobility. Even if a rare exception appeared, the universal rule remained set in stone.
This was the truth as Phillip knew it.
「Fire Generation (Fire Element, ★1)」
Kwaaaah!
Professor Phillip unleashed a torrent of furious flames in every direction. The fire surged across the ground, dominating the entire cave.
However—
「Wind Generation (Wind Element, ★1)」
Hooooooo!
Kaya’s wind gathered with sudden intensity, slowly pushing back Phillip’s flames.
Seeing this, Phillip raised his wand and conjured a brilliant crimson magic circle. The flames battled against Kaya’s wind, raging across the arena in a violent tug-of-war. Wave after wave of red relentlessly crashed against the green.
「Sea of Fire (Fire Element, ★4)」
Kwaaaah!
Kaya’s wind was momentarily overwhelmed. However, she had no intention of backing down. She drew upon an enormous reserve of mana to retaliate.
「Zephyr (Wind Element, ★4)」
Hooooooo!
A fierce gale clashed against the ocean of flames as the two spells fought for supremacy. Kaya and Phillip’s hair whipped violently in the resulting pressure.
They pointed their wands at one another, pouring everything into their magic. The spreading flames began to obscure their vision.
“As expected of the second seat, your ability is worthy of admiration. However, if this is all you can muster, I shall be quite disappointed.”
He could feel it. Kaya Astrea was pouring out her entire mana pool just to resist him. It was wind magic so powerful it was hard to believe it came from a freshman. One day, she would surely surpass Phillip himself.
But no matter how much potential she had, she was still just a first-year student.
Phillip intensified the flow of his mana.
Kaya squinted, her hand trembling as she gripped her wand. Slowly but surely, her wind was being devoured by Phillip’s flames.
At that moment—
“…?”
Isaac and his two-meter-tall golem familiar, Eden, appeared on Kaya’s right.
On her left stood Lisetta, accompanied by her rock-armored lion familiar, Jeff, whose mane rippled in the heat.
Phillip’s eyes narrowed. They were clearly trying to distract him.
“Lisetta!”
At Isaac’s shout, a light brown magic circle erupted around Lisetta.
「Rock Avalanche (Rock Element, ★4)」
Kuooooo!
Boulders exploded from the ground like growing beanstalks, lunging toward Phillip from both sides. They were massive enough to crush a man instantly.
It was an admirable attempt, but the sight only made Phillip scoff in exasperation.
“Not enough. Block it, Stego.”
Mana coalesced around Phillip as a white outline the size of a man converged into the form of a golem.
Stego, a 5-star rock element familiar. His stony body was roughly humanoid, featuring two glowing green eyes.
[Dureuk!]
Stego let out a grating cry and thrust his arms forward, erupting a massive wall of stone from the earth.
「Rock Wall (Rock Element, ★4)」
Crash!
Isaac and Lisetta’s assault slammed into Stego’s obstacle.
Lisetta’s [Rock Avalanche] managed to shatter the [Rock Wall], but her boulders were reduced to mere chunks in the process. The scattered debris was easily incinerated by the surrounding whirlwind of fire.
「Fire Ball (Fire Element, ★3)」
Hwareuk! Crash! Crash!
Phillip counterattacked. Fireballs three meters in diameter rained down on Isaac and Lisetta like ballistic missiles.
Isaac blocked the impact with a rock barrier formed by Eden, while Lisetta maneuvered Jeff to dodge the bombardment.
Phillip remained floating casually in the air, having not moved an inch. He was effortlessly suppressing the combined efforts of Isaac, Kaya, and Lisetta.
Hoooo!
“Hm?”
Kaya’s wind surged again. The squirrel familiar on her shoulder was combining its magic with hers. She was certainly persistent.
To match her, Phillip dialed up the intensity of his flames.
“Ugh!”
The weight of his power was immense. Kaya gritted her teeth, knowing she couldn't win a direct tug-of-war against Phillip’s flames for long.
The suffocating heat in the cave intensified. The bright green wind wrapped around the flames began to waver.
Between the maelstrom of spells and the thick smoke, visibility was plummeting. The fierce flames were slowly cornering Isaac’s party.
Crack! Boom!
Even the recording device hiding in the corner was caught in the crossfire. The round magic tool crumpled into ash and fell to the ground.
Phillip blinked calmly. It would be impossible for them to break through a firestorm of this scale.
He waved his wand like a conductor, spreading the flames even further to target Isaac and Lisetta, who were still looking for an opening.
“…What in the world?”
Suddenly, Phillip sensed the mana of the weakest person present in an unexpected location.
Above him.
Phillip snapped his head up, squinting through the glare.
Beyond the tempest of fire, a boy was looking down at him, his feet firmly anchored to the ceiling by ice. He hung there like a bat.
Concentrated ice mana gathered in his right hand as a complex, pale blue magic circle formed before him.
How had he gotten up there? The answer was simple: Eden must have flung him upward with brute strength. The staff Isaac had been holding was now with the golem, as if it were too cumbersome to carry during the maneuver.
Judging by the magic circle, Isaac was preparing the 5-star spell [Frost Explosion].
The ice anchoring Isaac to the ceiling shattered, and he succumbed to gravity, plummeting toward Phillip.
Is he trying to pierce through the flames?
The fire was still roaring everywhere. Unless he wanted to become a charred corpse, diving straight into the inferno was suicide.
Therefore, Phillip concluded, the boy couldn't possibly harm him.
But contrary to Phillip’s logic, Isaac’s target wasn't the professor.
“…!”
Isaac thrust his arms toward the heart of the firestorm. The ice mana in his right hand emitted a brilliant blue glow before detonating in every direction.
「Frost Explosion (Ice Element, ★5)」
Kuaaaaaaah!
The massive explosion of ice created gargantuan frozen masses that slammed into the heat of the flames, momentarily forcing them back. An enormous cloud of water vapor billowed into the air.
“Ugh!”
The force of the vapor explosion sent Isaac reeling backward, but Eden leaped up to catch him mid-air.
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Kaya’s wind vanished like a phantom.
Phillip’s flames surged toward her, but Kaya used a burst of wind mana to propel herself into a far corner. The tips of her light green hair were singed as she escaped—an inevitable sacrifice for the maneuver.
「Cold Divergence (Ice Element, ★2)」
Crackle!
Isaac used the opening to reclaim Zhonya’s Staff from Eden, immediately spreading a thick fog of frigid air with [Cold Divergence].
It was a common spell used by ice mages to obscure vision. Phillip found himself blinded by the dense mist swirling above his head.
Crash!
The giant ice masses that hadn't been melted by the flames crashed into the ground, shattering into millions of pieces.
Something is wrong…
Alarm bells rang in Phillip’s mind. The flow of battle had turned suspicious. It felt as though Isaac had intentionally blocked his sight, and Kaya’s retreat had been perfectly timed.
Were they preparing their next atta—
He wasn't given a second to think.
Kuooooooo!
As his flames burned through the cold air, Phillip saw a gargantuan object filling his vision. A massive chunk of ice was piercing through the air with a deafening roar.
Kaya had used her wind mana to gather the white mist, wrapping the cold air around a colossal frozen projectile and launching it straight at Phillip.
In the corner of the cave, Isaac was channeling waves of ice mana through Zhonya’s Staff. He must have used the water vapor to synergize the elements, creating this massive frozen comet.
If the goal of the vapor explosion was to facilitate this, it was worthy of praise…
…For a commoner, at least.
The cold air wrapped around the ice was a clever touch to ensure it didn't melt prematurely. Of course, Kaya was the one doing the heavy lifting. Controlling a mass of that size required immense mana and exquisite control. It was a talent truly worthy of the second seat.
Focusing back on the fight, Phillip realized the only mana he could perceive belonged to Kaya and Isaac. He couldn't feel Lisetta casting anything, which meant she was likely waiting for an opening.
Thus, this icy comet was a pure combination of Isaac’s ice and Kaya’s wind.
Phillip laughed, pouring even more mana into his wand. He held the elemental advantage. Against his fire, this kind of attack was a waste of mana.
They couldn't win. He was certain of it.
He would play along for a few more moments until the time was right to subdue them. Then, he would torture that commoner brat for a while before…
…He eliminated them all.
Kuahhhhhh!
The projectile was right in front of him now. It was the perfect timing—almost impossible to dodge.
In that split second, he didn't overthink. He acted on instinct and the fundamental logic that fire melts ice. That logic, paired with his obsessive competitiveness, dictated his next move.
Phillip swung his wand toward the ice comet. His wand glowed with a searing red light.
「Napalm Bomb (Fire Element, ★4)」
Crash!!
Massive flames erupted from the magic circle, the shockwave shattering the outer layers of the ice.
「Firestorm (Fire Element, ★4)」
Hwarereuk!
Simultaneously, a storm of fire erupted. The flames surged, swallowing the entire chunk of ice and releasing waves of intense heat.
A second tug-of-war began against Kaya’s wind. While pushing the comet back, the flames rapidly melted the ice.
I shall cook you all alive.
Suddenly, Phillip saw Isaac smirk, as if he had been waiting for this exact moment. That was when Phillip realized.
“...!!”
As the ice melted off the meteor, it became more compact and aerodynamic. Kaya used the change in size to her advantage, steering it with precision.
The projectile expertly penetrated the [Firestorm], scattering the flames as it accelerated toward Phillip. Its speed wasn't decreasing—it was increasing.
Only then was Phillip able to see what had been hidden inside the ice.
It was a golden boulder.
“Ste…!”
It was already too late.
1-star Ice Spell: [Ice Generation].
2-star Ice Spell: [Cold Divergence].
4-star Wind Spell: [Zephyr].
And finally, 3-star Rock Spell: [Falling Boulder].
The comet, forged from a symphony of spells, gave Phillip no chance to escape before collapsing onto him.
「Frostfall Comet of the End (Rock + Ice + Wind Element)」
Boom!
The collision of fire and ice released a massive plume of vapor. The impact of the boulder hitting the ground sent out a shockwave that shook the cave, scattering dust and embers everywhere.
The massive ice shell, paired with the skillful guidance of [Zephyr], had produced this triple-element joint spell: [Frostfall Comet of the End]. And at its core, Lisetta’s high-density mana boulder had completed the killing blow.
Isaac, Kaya, and Lisetta shielded their faces from the explosion. The wide cave was filled with thick white smoke that only gradually began to dissipate.
The [Frostfall Comet of the End] disintegrated into powder, leaving a rainbow of refracted light floating in the air.
[Dureuk. Dudureuk…]
In the heavy silence, Stego’s dull cries echoed. His green eyes flickered out, and his stony body went still. He had fainted.
Beside him, Phillip lay on the ground, bleeding.
Thanks to the [Basic Protection Magic] he always kept active, he had survived the shockwave, but his body was a wreck. It was only natural after being hit by a boulder accelerated by Kaya’s wind.
“Kuheuk…” Phillip groaned in agony.
He only understood the sequence of events now that it was over.
While Kaya and Phillip were locked in their struggle, Lisetta must have used [Falling Boulder] to create a core of high-density rock mana. Kaya had used her wind to keep it suspended and hidden.
Isaac and Lisetta’s earlier rock spells were mere distractions to mask the mana signature of the hidden boulder. Isaac had used the vapor as a smokescreen to flash-freeze the rock, triggering [Elemental Synergy] to create an unnaturally thick layer of ice.
Finally, Kaya’s wind provided the terminal velocity. The [Cold Divergence] used in the spell served a clear purpose: the white fog hid the boulder within the ice, making it impossible to react until the moment of impact.
Were they planning this… from the very beginning?
Phillip bit his lip. His trembling hands clawed at the dirt. He could never have imagined being reduced to such a miserable state so quickly.
It was as if he had been dancing in the palm of someone’s hand from the start.
Step.
He heard footsteps approaching. A shadow loomed over him. Phillip raised his head to look at the student.
Isaac, the commoner with silver-blue hair, was looking down at him.
He was smiling. It was a look of absolute certainty, as if he had known the outcome before the fight even began.
Do you mean to say… this was all according to your plan?
Fury surged through Phillip.
How dare a student—a commoner—play him like a fiddle and look down on him?
The denial was like lava in his veins.
“Professor,” Isaac said, kneeling down to look Phillip in the eye. His expression was one of calm confidence.
In truth, Isaac had prepared several strategies to take Phillip down. His smile was simply the result of being relieved that the first one had worked. He didn't actually have the luxury to gloat.
Why do I… have to look up… at this commoner bastard?
As shame and rage swirled within Phillip, Isaac spoke again.
“We won.”
“…You’re just a commoner! How dare you utter such blasphemy!”
The commoner dared to claim victory over him? He refused to accept defeat at the hands of a nobody.
Phillip exploded.
“How dare you!”
A light brown magic circle manifested between them. A 5-star rock spell. Massive stone projectiles shot out from the ground and walls to impale Isaac—
“...!!”
From beneath Professor Phillip, a black dagger sheath began to glow.
Kwaaaa!
The sheath detonated with a burst of ice. In an instant, a jagged sphere of frost formed, filling the cave with a freezing wave.
The explosion launched Phillip into the air, his body instantly entombed in a block of ice. His expression of shock was frozen in time.
“Let’s just call this self-defense, shall we?”
Isaac spoke as he picked up his fallen property. The Sheath of Disaster emitted a faint white vapor in the aftermath of the [Ice Explosion]. He shamelessly framed the attack as a necessity.
He had secretly placed the sheath under Phillip when he squatted down, anticipating that the professor’s pride wouldn't allow him to surrender quietly.
The cave, once stifling with the heat of Phillip’s flames, was now chilled by Isaac’s magic. Isaac sighed, his breath trailing away like cigarette smoke.
Soon after, the ice began to thaw. The jagged sphere cracked and dissolved into blue powder, scattering in the cold wind.
“Ugh…”
Collapse.
Phillip’s body slumped back onto the ground.
Bloodied and broken beyond recognition, he finally lost consciousness.