I Take the Crystal War Seriously
With the priest's proclamation, the first match came to an end. From the highest seat of the Main Arena, the Emperor watched the scene unfold, then folded his hand over that of the princess seated upon his lap.
“They're all remarkable talents, aren't they, Ashley?”
“You speak truly, Your Majesty.”
The princess answered with a flawless smile.
“Your own dormitory students will take the stage next. Their professor looked to be quite the entertaining one. But he merely dazzled our eyes with spectacle—whether he is qualified to teach you, I have yet to determine.”
The Emperor was in a foul mood.
He had hoped to see the professors' true strength displayed in the matches, but the ones who took the stage to prove their educational prowess were nothing but students—and even that, in mock battles stripped of any real risk of grave injury.
What am I supposed to learn from this children's play? An academy is, in the end, just an academy.
Very well. It was only a brief amusement to fill the hours until the Hero and Aisha arrived, anyway.
Hadn't he already endured plenty of ugliness for the sake of supreme beauty?
“Ho-ho.”
But that disappointment of his evaporated in an instant, and adrenaline began to seep into his brain.
Because through the open gates of the arena, the Slave Merchant was striding in, wooden sword in hand, head held high.
“Why has the Slave Merchant entered the arena! This match is for freshmen only! This is a violation of the rules!”
Vande bellowed from the waiting bench across the field. And yet, even after I stepped onto the arena floor, no torch of violation was lit.
“That's just how it worked out, Professor Vande.”
“Cowardly scoundrel!”
Cowardly, perhaps. But it would be a touch too early to send my students alone into real combat.
They are prodigies who will one day outfight anyone in any battlefield—but they must not suffer an injury that breaks them before they've even begun.
A normal mock battle would carry no such worry, but that thing is here.
I surveyed the Fire Hall students. One Squire Knight, one Priest. Already an excellent class composition. And the last one needed no introduction.
Warlock Vext Rusatma.
A revolting face, dark smudges pooled beneath his eyes.
“Hmph, it suits us fine that the Slave Merchant joined in. Warriors! The enemy vanguard numbers three! A botched composition. Take them down one at a time, steady and sure!”
Vande offered his advice at the top of his lungs. Which meant, of course, that his strategy had just been broadcast to our side as well.
“A Swordsman on horseback, carrying a lance. Did you think reliance on equipment would make you strong?”
The Fire Hall Squire Knight slammed his thick shield into the ground, stoking his fighting spirit.
I walked over to Marque and patted the thigh wrapped in his heavy armor.
“Nervous, Marque?”
“Not nervous, sir. I simply wish for the horse to move as I intend.”
“Then go with the feel of it. Sway the stirrups on instinct, and the horse will carry you where you want. Your objective—”
“The enemy vanguard. Easy—let's give it a shot.”
Marque straightened his helmet and steadied his breath. I liked the look in his eyes.
“Xuehua.”
“Hao!”
Banging her two fists together while wearing her invisibility fingerless gloves, she radiated eagerness. For the free-spirited Xuehua, I judged no further advice necessary.
“We proceed as planned. Get ready.”
At my signal, Xuehua and Marque closed their fists around their weapons with a surge of strength.
—Fwoooosh!
With the signal flare announcing the start, the three of us charged out together.
Pulling hard on the reins, Marque burst into the lead. His target: the Fire Hall vanguard, the Squire Knight.
“You're not getting past!”
The Squire Knight bore down on him with fierce momentum in turn. He had judged that Marque would use his mobility to raid their rear line, and meant to blunt the charge head-on with brute stubbornness.
By the standard playbook, a sound decision. He had the advantage in raw strength besides, and a Swordsman like Marque riding down with lance and shield surely wouldn't seem much of a threat to him.
Our vanguard numbered only three. We had no means of striking at range.
If they could just hold our vanguard for even a moment, Vext's magic would erupt, and Fire Hall would carry the day.
After all, we had no way to strike at, defend against, or recover from long-range attacks either.
But that was only true so long as they could hold the vanguard at all.
He underestimated Marque for bearing the Swordsman tag. Big mistake.
Marque bore down on the Squire Knight. And here, the knight caught an odd note in the air.
There was no hint of evasion in Marque whatsoever. Even though if his horse toppled against the knight's shield, the damage would be severe—as though the knight had been his target from the very start.
And the position of his weapon arm was wrong.
Marque wasn't trying to pierce the shield with his lance. He was trying to crash shield into shield.
“Huh…?!”
Three seconds to impact. Two. One.
—KRA-KOOM! KA-CHAK!!
With a resounding crash of shrieking iron, the Squire Knight's shield shattered into fragments.
“What the—?!”
The knight staggered, his balance ruined. Marque rode him down with the momentum of the charge, bowling the knight over, and kept galloping on.
“Why did my shield—?!”
The Squire Knight rolled across the ground in an undignified heap. Marque nimbly twisted the reins, wheeling his horse in a great arc, and let out a long breath.
“Whew!”
The crowd's cheers rolled across the arena. As if to answer them, the shield in Marque's hand gleamed with anything but an ordinary light.
Type: Equipment / Shield | Grade:Legendary
1. Overview
A shield bearing a special ability that instantly reduces the durability of any other shield it collides with to zero.
4. Evaluation
At a glance, the effect looks like pure cheat-tier power, but it only applies to equipment below legendary grade, and shield-bearing classes are few and far between—so in the late game it tends to be quietly discarded.
I'd pulled it out of the repository vault right before the match began and pressed it into Marque's hand.
“His shield! He tampered with the shield!”
If it bothers you that much, spend some money of your own.
Thanks to Marque shaving precious seconds off the clock, Vext still hadn't finished drawing his magic circle.
There was a reason I'd stacked our side entirely with vanguard. The standard three-man party runs vanguard, ranged, and healer—but the moment the vanguard collapses, the other two are as good as dead.
Put the other way: with three in the vanguard, we only had to punch through one of theirs, and then we could hunt the mage down until he dropped.
In other words, a composition aimed at Vext and Vext alone.
Now that the vanguard was through, all that remained was to keep the healer off our backs.
“Xuehua.”
“Hao, Shifu!”
Xuehua peeled away from our formation and charged the Fire Hall priest. He invoked the blessing of his protective ward—but he was still a freshman. His incantation was slow. Xuehua's invisible fist was faster.
“Tiger-Crushing Fist!”
—BAAANG!!
Xuehua, who hadn't needed to shout a technique name at all, drove her heavy fist square into the priest's solar plexus. His eyes rolled back and his face contorted as he went flying. Ooh. That one hurt.
Because I'd trusted Xuehua to handle her part, I was already charging at Vext with Marque glued to my rear guard.
“Mmm, this really is strange.”
Judging that he lacked the time, Vext abandoned the half-drawn circle and tore the necklace from around his throat. In an instant, a barrier formed around him, deflecting Marque's lance and my sword alike.
“A defensive artifact, then.”
“Why did you decide I was your target, I wonder? How peculiar. Peculiar indeed, Slave Merchant.”
“Good instincts. Still, that's a failing grade.”
I swung the wooden sword I'd readied. Vext reacted, twisting to evade—and caught it on his right arm. The crack of snapping bone rang out.
“That hurt!”
“That's why I hit you there.”
Cheers erupted across the arena. Apparently not a single soul in the stands had imagined Earth Hall would suppress Fire Hall this overwhelmingly.
Xuehua finished off the priest and rejoined us. Marque used his mobility to keep the Squire Knight from ever getting close.
And there was me, readying my next strike to land the finishing blow on Vext.
“Ooh, I'm bleeding. Perfect timing, actually.”
Vext stuck out his tongue. A circle was already drawn across it.
A black magic circle.
—SSSHRAAAA!
Using the blood pooling beneath him as a medium, a cloud boiled upward. I held my breath instantly and hurled the purification potion I'd prepared, shattering it against the floor.
“Ah, a purification potion. Too bad—that's a Tier 3. Something that weak won't even tickle.”
Vext casually slid the nametag above his head. Warlock changed to Black Mage.
So he wasn't even bothering to hide it anymore.
The blood-red cloud spread, swallowing the arena whole in the space of a breath. If this went on, Xuehua and Marque were in danger.
It's fine. We came prepared.
“Sersi!”
“Y-yes, sir!!”
The reply came from far off. Thankfully, Sersi reacted immediately, ramming the switch of the artifact we'd set up in advance—something that looked for all the world like a dynamite detonator—down with all her strength.
—VWOOOOM!
The arena floor flooded violet. The spreading cloud of blood froze solid on the spot, as though flash-frozen.
“…What?”
Confusion crept across Vext's face.
“Don't worry about the cost. Didn't set me back much.”
The glittering shards strewn across the ground were the mana stones Sersi and I had spent the small hours diligently burying.
Enchanted mana stones that interfere with the cohesion of black mana—the foundation of black magic.
We'd wired the stones in advance to a large mana tank, so that driving it live would activate the enchantment.
Same principle as the mana-stone dust used to flush out monsters. Just a little improvisation on my part.
What you'd call applied knowledge—a trick of the Utilization school.
“…Ahh, my plan….”
Vext gritted his teeth and glared at me.
“I couldn't let a chance this good slip away. The great ones from every corner of the continent, even the Emperor of the Empire himself, have come to watch me. Everyone needs to know. How great black magic truly is!”
Vext spread his arms wide and preached.
Oh, it's great, all right.
I opened the wiki and pulled up the entry on Black Magic.
[Speed Reading Lv.10 is activating.]
“What can I say? That's not what it says here.”