Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Blazing Awakening
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Just as the overall rankings unfolded in midair, they stopped at 63rd place. It was shocking enough that 62nd place had 21 points while this one sat at a solitary 0, but what was truly astonishing was the name.
[63. Lilian Carline: 0pt.]
One of the golden generation freshmen and a later index of Rivendel Academy, she had been sitting cross-legged atop the sheer cliff in F District (open terrain), eyes closed the entire time.
“How did this happen, Senior Elin?”
“Maybe she just doesn’t care about grades?”
Elin herself showed no real interest in Lilian as she said it. Her gaze remained fixed solely on the window reflecting Rain.
[13th, Rain Ludwig: 198pt.]
Thirteenth place from treasure collection alone... Monster-hunting points were a measly 2. Elin’s eyes narrowed.
‘What the hell are you thinking?’
Disappointment among the other cadets had already reached its peak. The professors, however, saw things differently.
“His stamina’s impressive.”
“That’s true, but it looks like he’s climbed mountains plenty of times. Incredible. That’s no beginner’s skill. When did he even...?”
“But at this pace, all he can do is chase the lead group. Shouldn’t he switch strategies soon?”
At that moment, a tree branch arced through the air like a comet, skewering a monster’s skull.
[Monster hunt: 1pt acquired.]
Crushing the beast’s grotesque torso underfoot as he retrieved the branch, Rain glanced up at the leaden sky.
‘The rain’s picking up.’
Splash. His footsteps echoed ominously through the mountains.
Perfect weather.
Ideal for prey-hunting by sharp-eared monsters—and for exploiting their instincts in one-against-many fights.
‘Ah, could that guy be...?’
Arms crossed as she sat alone in her chair overseeing everything, Marhena let out a whistle.
‘He’s just been holding back until now? Looks like it’s finally starting...’
But Rain wasn’t the only one waiting for that moment.
F District’s sheer cliff.
Quietly cross-legged, Lilian was suddenly surrounded by a dozen will-o’-the-wisps drifting in from across the mountains, circling her face like fireflies.
‘Found them. Every one in the top ten.’
Her pupils, slowly rising amid the downpour, gleamed with eerie blackness.
‘Time to get started.’
The instant Lilian muttered that and rose, a map and text string appeared on the exam magic tools strapped to the cadets’ wrists.
[Volcanic Eruption]
- Evacuate the area.
The battle royale exam wasn’t designed for simply hiding and surviving. The volcano would continuously shrink the safe zone.
They had no choice but to keep competing and enduring in an ever-tightening area.
The eruption starting from the peaks of B and C Districts would soon engulf everywhere except one district.
“As expected, the top two in the second group are spurting ahead like they’ve been waiting for this.”
“No... hold on a second. Someone else is surging up.”
With one professor’s bewildered voice, the screen of a cadet whose score suddenly exploded was projected large.
“Scores climbing at an absurd rate?!”
The moment it filled the screen, Elin Ludwig—who had been holding her breath in focus—shuddered with a thrill that felt like her heart had stopped.
“Passing them—ah, passing! He’s passing! Past 12th, 10th, then 9th... straight to 8th?!”
Rain.
It was Rain Ludwig.
In C District, struck dead-on by the eruption, he alone remained as everyone else fled to other points... locked in battle against dozens of monsters.
“Look at that cocky little shit?”
Head Professor Marhena’s pupils slowly widened in admiration.
“What the hell’s going on?”
Logan, eyes bulging, asked Christa as if they were suddenly best friends. Christa eyed him warily before answering.
“He’s vibrating the ground to lure in monsters.”
“Monsters? To where he is?”
“Exactly.”
“He’s totally lost it, right?”
She explained calmly, but Christa’s eyes had unconsciously sharpened too.
And for good reason—the magic circle spread across Rain’s palm against the tidal wave of beasts was no less than three layers thick.
That meant 3-star magic. Yorhen type, no less—purely mental calculation.
‘He conserved power for this one shot? No, did he run himself ragged just to set this up?’
The vibration spells he’d scattered across all of C District had drawn in as many beasts as he wanted. Then the light rings on his palm shattered.
The magic circle took the form of three layered rectangles.
The inscribed runes were Yul(律), Gwan(貫), Du(阧).
Du(阧): surging,
Gwan(貫): piercing,
Yul(律): binding properties.
In the next instant, the ground wrinkled like waves, and massive tree roots erupted ferociously.
The lethal roots pierced the heads or chests of the charging monsters, spraying entrails into the air, or coiled around them like serpents, crushing them into pulp. The scene played out on the clairvoyance feed.
The score gains came so fast that instead of tallying one by one, it lumped them into a total.
[Subjugation points: +164 points.]
The professors exchanged incredulous glances before letting out dry chuckles.
“3-star magic with high-speed computation──?!”
“To handle that many monsters, you’d need utterly ridiculous skill.”
“Does Rain Ludwig have a battle mage certification?”
“Is that the ‘genius (disaster)’ young master?”
Elin Ludwig shook her head as if it was no big deal and cut in, though the corners of her mouth were on the verge of soaring skyward.
“He wouldn’t need a certification like that. Ever heard of ‘jack of all trades’? Why bother getting certified just to show off what shines on its own?”
Rain Ludwig’s points had already hit 362. Needless to say, he’d overtaken not just Gertrude, top of B Group, but even Christa, top of A Group, by a single point.
‘Points secured for sure.’
Rain gazed up at the lava flowing down from the peak. It’d take about three minutes to reach here.
‘This should be enough. Time to pull out.’
Carolline stroked her chin as she watched him descend the slope with practiced ease.
‘At this pace, defending an S grade won’t just be Gertrude’s headache anymore.’
The one who’d been running neck-and-neck with her at the lead... Huh? Scanning the rankings, Carolline had to blink.
“Senior Kyle? Something’s off here.”
“What?”
“The cadets in 2nd and 3rd are gone.”
“Hah, no way. They’re right here... Uh, huh...?”
Even Kyle tilted his head in confusion. The former 2nd and 3rd place names had vanished.
‘The gap was pretty wide, though?’
What made even less sense was that they weren’t anywhere. Not bumped to 4th or 5th, not in the top ten or twenty.
Gone.
While everyone was distracted by Rain Ludwig, those names had ghosted away like phantoms.
“Let’s use clairvoyance to check the areas where 2nd and 3rd were. Three minutes ago.”
When the screen appeared, no one could speak. For a moment, everyone there simply blinked in horror.
The first sound was a horrific scream.
Then they saw... the 2nd-place cadet engulfed in murderous flames, writhing before turning to charcoal in an instant.
“......!”
Next, flames swarmed the 3rd-place cadet like a bee horde as they hunted treasure in the woods, condemning them to the same fate amid a scream that tore at the eardrums.
It was in the darkness of the pouring rain.
Lightning flashed coldly, illuminating the face of the figure approaching the small corpse.
Lilian Carline.
Killing a cadet granted half their points. By taking out 2nd and 3rd, the girl rocketed from dead last straight to 3rd. Her eyes gleamed with eerie light.
‘Now, three more? Nah, just snag 1st and 2nd, and one’ll do.’
Even the professors couldn’t string words together for a moment.
‘Those two neck-and-neck at 2nd and 3rd, taken out this easily...’
Staring at the scene, Marhena drummed her fingers as she pondered.
‘Definitely a strong one. Savage temperament just like her old man.’
The Magic Alliance had once craved talents like this. As long as they had skill, anything went... But wasn’t it time to reconsider?
1st: Rain Ludwig, 362pt.
2nd: Gertrude Fenton, 323pt.
3rd: Lilian Carline, 312pt.
Gertrude Fenton, checking the situation on her own magic tool, blinked in bewilderment.
‘What?’
Rain and Lilian’s scores... No, that wasn’t even the issue—the names of the ones tailing her had vanished.
Chill. A sharp needle-prick sensation stabbed her back muscles.
Killing intent.
Her body kicked into instinctive evasion. Power surged to her toes; she kicked off the ground, flinging herself far away.
Kwarrrrrr────!
In an instant, blinding flames—searing enough to burn the retinas—erupted right where she’d stood, flames licking like a tongue.
“......?!”
Flames...? She shot to her feet, but there was no time for panic.
Flame eagles dove from overhead, slamming into the ground with no room to dodge and exploding.
Soon after, the clairvoyance window broadcast a ferocious flame burst visible even from other districts.
“Gertrude!”
Christa cried out urgently, knowing she couldn’t reach her, as Lilian furrowed her brow.
‘No sensation of burning.’
The hem of her robe, soaked from trudging through the curtain of rain, dragged limply on the ground.
‘As expected, not as easy as the others.’
Lilian drew a talisman from her bosom. Buzz—the prayer beads around her neck unfurled massively, orbiting the caster.
Rivendel Academy had built its fame on the Remidier type, using talismans to drastically shorten magic circle, formula, and rune setup times for peak combat viability.
《Firefly Thread》.
The magic circle on the talisman glowed, transforming one orbiting bead into a blazing fireball.
“Lan(瀾).”
She whipped around suddenly and hurled the talisman. The fireball splintered into countless flame insects, swarming toward the target.
Toward Gertrude, who had somehow appeared behind her.
But Gertrude was no pushover. She slammed both palms into the ground—the circles engraved there glowed. The Fenton family inscribed their core spells directly into their palms like this.
Shaaa...!
A curtain of water surged up, obliterating the flame bugs. Seizing the opening, Gertrude dropped low and charged.
“O, oooh!”
“It’s even!”
“Both sides are incredible?!”
The cadets cheered wildly while Christa bit her lip in worry.
‘Stay calm here. Plenty of exam time left. Burning full power now would...’
Gertrude burst through the water curtain and, midair, executed a high split kick, axe-chopping down toward Lilian’s head.
It would have ended there. If Lilian hadn’t backstepped with skilled poise.
But at that moment, Gertrude smirked. Light whirled from the circle on her sole, activating the spell—the underground water vein erupted as a torrent, engulfing Lilian.
“O, that’s seasoned.”
“Yes. The Fenton family pursues harmony between water magic and martial arts. She’s playing to her strengths perfectly.”
No more talismans now. Focusing mana at her toes, Gertrude was certain of victory.
Rivendel’s weakness was water.
Not because of their fire affinity—wet talismans tore easily, robbing them of power.
“Wrong matchup, missy. Before you stick that arrogant nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll break you proper!”
Shouting that, Gertrude seized Lilian as she emerged from the torrent.
No chance for a counter.
She wrenched the arm back and slammed her unceremoniously into the muddy ground.
“Now, say you surrender—unless you want that joint popped!”
“......So naive, really. If it were me, I’d have killed you right there.”
“You wanna hurt for real?”
She pulled the twisted arm slowly—but surely.
Crack...
The bones in the joint creaked. It had to be excruciating. Yet Lilian remained unfazed.
“I don’t use talismans because my calculations are slow.”
“......?”
“Because I can’t control the power.”
Lilian stuck out her tongue. A sudden inexplicable dread chilled Gertrude’s spine.
Stigma(烙印).
Branded by fire? A complex hexarray was etched black across her tongue.
‘Danger. Real danger.’
Shuddering with primal terror, Gertrude released the arm and leaped back. The cold touch of death writhed in her veins.
“Come forth, Flame Python.”
The orbiting beads spun wildly faster, merging in a blinding flash... into a massive transcendent beast.
A mane of flames.
Scales gleaming with embers.
Hiss—its tongue of fire flicked out.
Gertrude’s mind went blank as she staggered back.
Overwhelming presence, radiating ancient majesty—it was a flame serpent, an imoogi.
The one who had summoned it issued a chilling order in an emotionless voice.
“You can eat it.”