Chapter 91
Chapter 91
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 90
Chapter Title: Librarian Ernst (11) - As Family, As Priestess
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Marik's hands trembled.
The pain radiating from his face.
The humiliation of being disgraced in front of everyone.
Marik had never been one for patience or magnanimity, so his rage easily surpassed the breaking point.
'I'll kill her.'
Any plans to spare that pretty face or toy with her until she submitted were scrapped.
He even forgot this was just a mock battle, with countless spectators watching.
Giving in to childish irritation and impulse, Marik deployed his spells once more.
Beside Marik, a sword made of flames materialized.
Unlike the spell Eris had deliberately restrained, the one Marik had copied in advance absorbed its master's mana without issue, growing in power.
'Yes, this is it! I don't know what trick you pulled, but this will do it!!'
With excitement surging, Marik unleashed a massive greatsword of flame the size of a person.
Eris countered with air bullets, but they were insignificant compared to Marik's attack in both size and mana.
The moment Marik was certain it would pierce through Eris along with her counterattack...
A faint wobble, and the greatsword's trajectory twisted ever so slightly.
The flaming greatsword grazed past Eris without hitting her.
At that razor-close sight, a few students let out short screams.
But Marik paid it no mind and unleashed another spell.
Larger, stronger, and in greater numbers than before.
The sight of him spamming high-powered spells unfit for a student level shocked not just the students, but the professors as well.
Such mana consumption wasn't easy even for them, yet Marik chained attacks as if his mana was infinite.
Compared to Marik's flashy, overwhelming magic, Eris's responses seemed downright shabby at first glance.
Her small spells couldn't match the flaming greatswords and were repeatedly pushed back, their only achievements being slight deviations in the swords' paths.
'This is beyond a mock battle! I need to intervene!'
As the referee thought that and stepped forward, someone grabbed his shoulder.
Recognizing the face, the referee shouted urgently.
"What is it, Professor Merry?! Let go!"
"Look closely at Eris's face."
Her face?
Now's the time to worry about faces?
Even so, the referee instinctively glanced at Eris's face.
And he was stunned.
It wasn't the face of a weakling desperately struggling before an unstoppable disaster.
There was utter calm and composure, even a coldly professional air.
Only then did the referee realize what he'd missed amid Marik's dazzling spell barrage.
The attacks weren't landing.
Her skin was reddened from the heat, and parts of her clothes disheveled, but that was it.
Despite being at the epicenter of such flashy, noisy assaults, Eris's body bore no injuries.
"Hah."
A sigh of admiration escaped the referee.
Marik's spells took the form of swords, but their essence was flame.
Unlike arrows, they couldn't be physically deflected.
Yet Eris was perfectly controlling their trajectories using only air refraction and subtle mana guidance.
If the spell activation timing was off even slightly.
If the collision points were misaligned even a bit.
The guidance would fail instantly, and Eris would suffer a fatal wound.
But there was no anxiety or faltering from her— as a mage before a professor, the referee couldn't contain his awe.
"Cunning tricks!!"
Marik seemed to notice too, his face twisting as he conjured new spells.
3rd Order 『Blade Wind Summoning Magic』 3rd Order 『Cold Infiltration Magic』 4th Order 『Earth Thorn Summoning Magic』
Powerful spells unbelievable for students
Each one was incredibly potent, hard to believe for student level, but Eris didn't panic.
They were all spells she had studied, understood, and analyzed.
'That spell is enough to tear skin and muscle, but it won't cut bone.'
For a brief moment, her clothes gained the hardness of iron plating, blocking the sharp winds.
'The cold is intense enough to freeze the mouth on inhalation, but it spreads slowly.'
Her sped-up body circled the arena widely to reposition, and the cold air spread sluggishly without catching her, eventually dissipating.
'Earth thorns' power varies wildly based on the soil at the generation point. On hard rock, maybe, but on this soft ground...'
A massive volume of water appeared before Eris's chest and poured down, soaking the ground.
The thorns that formed a beat late surged toward her, but they were as soft and mushy as wet clay, devoid of any sharpness.
No spell worked.
Whatever he used, she countered perfectly.
As the situation unfolded utterly differently from what he'd expected, Marik threw a childlike tantrum.
"What?! Why?! Why isn't it working!!"
"It wouldn't work."
"...What?"
Eris fixed Marik with cold eyes and said,
"Spells aren't just about knowing how to cast them. You have to properly assess the opponent's skill, means, and the surrounding environment, and use them at the right time and place, or they mean nothing."
If the original casters whose spells Marik had copied were here instead, it wouldn't have gone like this.
Those who had pored over books countless times to acquire a single spell, practiced it endlessly to master it, and gone through innumerable trials and errors—they would have quickly found ways to breach Eris's counters.
Blade winds with ambushes instead of straightforward blasts.
Cold air in an enclosed space where escape was limited.
Thorns after prepping the environment with fire spells first.
But Marik didn't.
No, he couldn't.
The devil's power could only mimic the results.
It couldn't replicate the effort and trial-and-error the originals had invested to reach those results.
"Your spells are like they're stamped from a mold. Mana always maxed to the spell's limit. Aim always dead center on the body. Activation always at top speed. Every condition is identical every time."
That's why they were easy to read.
That's why they were easy to counter.
Counters impossible without sufficient knowledge, but at least for Eris, they were feasible.
And that was the very image of the 'ideal mage' that a great archmage had pursued and taught her entire life.
"Ah..."
In one corner of the spectator seats.
Delphinaris's eyes trembled violently as she hid her presence, ready to rush out at any moment.
She'd thought her a merely excellent child, nothing more.
She loved her like a granddaughter, but warned herself not to overrate her due to that affection, deliberately applying stricter standards.
She'd arbitrarily decided this child was insufficient, not the material to reach the supreme realm she sought.
The old master's neglect and stubbornness.
Unaware of the efforts her disciple had piled up in that shadow.
While Delphinaris trembled speechless, the mock battle pushed toward its climax.
Those who had panicked about stopping the match now just stared, entranced by the spectacle.
"D-Don't mess with me! I won't accept this, guk!"
Marik's head snapped to the side with a thwack.
A spherical blob of water had slapped his cheek gleefully.
Marik gritted his teeth for a counter, but before the spell completed, another water blob flew in and jerked his head the opposite way.
"I'll kill you—"
Thwack!
"You think you'll get away with—"
Thwack!
"W-Wait a second—"
Thwack!
"J-Just a breath—"
Thwack!
Whether Marik threatened or begged, Eris ignored him.
Her focus was on his staff and spells, not his cheap words.
Step by step.
With each exchange, Eris advanced, while Marik retreated until he pathetically tumbled to the ground.
"U-Ugh..."
Slumped on the ground, Marik looked up at Eris.
Gone was his former arrogance and confidence; his eyes brimmed with primal fear of violence and cowardice.
Thrust!
Eris pointed her staff right at Marik's nose.
As everyone held their breath, Eris spoke.
"Shall we continue?"
"I-I lost."
"Lost 'did'?"
"I lost! I lost!!"
Right after Eris's voice lilted up, Marik hurriedly bowed his head and switched to formal speech.
The referee, who'd been waiting for an opening from the sidelines, rushed forward and declared,
"Mock battle over!! Winner: Aldridge Assault Academy representative, Eris!"
Rooooaaar!!
The spectator seats erupted in cheers.
Not just Aldridge Assault Academy, but even students from rival Lowton Assault Academy forgot their affiliation in the moment and went wild.
Marik's flashy but substanceless display versus Eris's maximal results with minimal mana.
Marik's savage words and murderous attacks beyond mock battle norms versus Eris's calm demeanor upholding decorum from start to finish.
The stark contrast, like a painting, set young hearts ablaze.
Some girls even blushed, gazing at Eris dreamily.
Incidentally, Eris at the center of those cheers was far more battered than she appeared.
'...I'm exhausted.'
Mana, stamina, mental strength—none were intact.
The toll of tightrope-walking where one slip meant fatality throughout the match.
She somehow maintained her top-student facade and grace, but honestly, she wanted to collapse and sleep right there, dignity be damned.
But.
'Still... not bad.'
The surrounding cheers, professors' encouragements and concerns for her well-being, and above all, crushing that haughty fake genius's nose—it filled Eris's weary body and mind with endless vitality.
Glancing around just in case, Eris frowned upon realizing the librarian wasn't there as hoped.
'This guy really didn't come.'
「Why bother watching a match with an obvious outcome? I'm busy with work.」
It was a declaration as if Eris losing was utterly inconceivable.
While that firm belief secretly pleased her, she couldn't help feeling a bit miffed that he really hadn't shown. A girl's heart is complicated.
Then, Eris's eyes suddenly met Delphinaris's in the spectator seats.
Master and disciple flinched simultaneously.
But soon, with a resolved expression, Delphinaris approached Eris.
Those unaware of her presence due to illusion spells noticed and stirred, but the two priestesses paid no heed.
Countless phrases flooded Eris's mind.
How to appeal this victory to her master.
How to assert she wasn't a deficient disciple, that no better candidate was needed.
What if her master got angry for being too harsh on her cherished youngest?
"Master, I... uh?"
Eris's words didn't finish.
Delphinaris had pulled her into a tight embrace.
"...I'm sorry. I'm truly, truly sorry..."
Hearing her master's voice, wet like after rain, all calculations in Eris's head blanked out.
Her throat tightened.
Her eyes grew moist.
Eris said nothing, simply hugging her master back.
That was enough.