Chapter 86 |
?X3
In the stands.
Every student was fired up.
A relentless chase between Class A’s top seat and Class B’s top seat.
“She’s insanely fast, I can barely track her with my eyes...!”
“I always heard the Class B top seat was fast, but seeing it in person is completely different.”
“Can Lady Glacia even see all that? How is she landing every single sword-aura strike at that speed?”
“They’re both absolutely insane!”
That battle couldn’t help but draw everyone’s attention.
“Is that... domain swordsmanship?”
“The field was definitely a desert, then it turned into a snowfield in an instant.”
“It wasn’t enough to change the weather, she flipped the whole environment...?”
“No way, is she really even the same kind of student as us...?”
Overwhelming power.
Rin’s swordsmanship drew awe from the crowd.
At the same time, Caitlin kept forcing herself forward, even while being chased by that monster.
“One clean hit from that would knock someone out, so how is she tanking so many?”
“She’s vicious... even while getting swallowed by sword aura, she’s not slowing down, she’s getting faster.”
“She’s completely feral right now. I’ve never seen Caitlin like this.”
“But even if she does all that, getting away from this pursuit is...”
The girl sprinted with venomous determination.
Still, even with that obsession, she couldn’t shake Rin.
Rin and Caitlin.
The gap between them was immense.
Rin was long past cadet level; she was already evaluated around ordinary faculty level.
In the end, Caitlin failed to break out of Zone 3 and retired near the boundary.
“Ah...”
“So she got caught in the end...”
“Couldn’t be helped. How do you outrun that?”
“Honestly, only Caitlin could’ve lasted that long...”
Caitlin was left in shambles.
By contrast, Rin didn’t even look tired.
The students were so overwhelmed by that cold, noble presence that they couldn’t speak for a moment.
““......””
Different league.
There was no way anyone could fight that.
Even though they weren’t the ones on the field, the students unconsciously lost their will to fight.
So when Viktor appeared, the crowd barely reacted.
“Hey... who’s standing in front of Caitlin?”
“That’s the Class E top seat, right? Was he waiting nearby?”
“Looked like he fought Gale earlier, then ran straight here after the match.”
“Still, I don’t see what that changes...”
Gale, one of Class A’s top cadets.
Viktor had clearly overwhelmed Gale and made his presence known.
But even Viktor didn’t seem able to flip this match.
The field was under the queen’s rule.
“What, is the Class E top seat trying to fight her head-on?”
“What? Isn’t that reckless? He already has the flag, he should just run...”
“He must’ve made his call. Maybe he thought his odds were better fighting than fleeing.”
“Still, isn’t it worth trying? When those two fought before, they looked kind of even...?”
“Anyone could tell Lady Glacia was holding back then.”
Despite all the concern, the two clashed.
In midair, scythe and sword crossed, sparks bursting out.
Viktor kept parrying Rin’s attacks.
He stayed inside razor-thin gaps, moving without allowing a single clean hit.
“He dodged...!”
“That movement is bizarre.”
The tension stayed tight.
Still, Rin controlled the flow.
The boy seemed to be doing nothing but delaying defeat one step at a time.
“He’s holding up, sure... but he’s not landing any offense at all.”
“He does slip into openings now and then, but Lady Glacia blocks all of them.”
“Even so, this is crazy. How is he lasting that long against Lady Glacia? He’s dodging everything.”
“I told you, he’s not normal. He overwhelmed Gale earlier, and look at him now...”
“He’s called Class E top seat, but honestly it wouldn’t even be weird if he were Class A second seat.”
“Ah... right, that was Class E, huh?”
Then Rin’s entire presence changed.
She gripped her sword like she was finally ending this.
Both hands locked on the hilt, and hundreds of layers of sword aura compressed over the white blade.
“W-what is that...?”
A strike that crushed common sense.
The students watching went pale.
“No way.”
“That’s swordsmanship?”
“Wait, even if he’s the Class E top seat, if he gets hit by that...!”
“Shouldn’t they stop the match!? Why aren’t the professors doing anything...?”
The stands stirred in panic.
Even then, the boy only stood there calmly.
Had he frozen in fear? Just as the students began to think that...
《......》
The boy’s lips moved.
Even through the screen, the words rang clear.
《Release.》
After that, no sound.
No image formed on the screen either, only blinding white.
Because of that, the students couldn’t see what happened inside.
“Ugh, it’s too bright...!”
“What happened? Can anyone see?”
“I can’t! I-I can’t even hear anything, did something explode...?!”
A few scattered panicked voices.
Not long after, the light cleared, and the hologram showed the field again.
What the students saw was this.
““......?””
The jungle had been wiped out whole.
The field had caved in like a massive crater.
The countless trees, vines, and deep river were all gone.
Not even a fingernail’s worth of the original remained.
At the center stood two figures.
A girl sprawled on the ground, and a boy standing calmly in place.
“......”
“......”
“......”
“......Huh?”
The crowd could only stare in shock.
***
Javert’s amplified strike.
Predation, Release.
The power was ridiculous.
Even though I was the one who swung it, the aftershock still washed right over me.
The high-pressure flash swept through the whole jungle and brutally tore apart the carefully built field.
The snowstorm the girl had spread was swallowed up in an instant.
Ding-!
[Item 'Evil God's Mask' has been activated.]
-Remaining charges: 1/3
-Time until next charge: 47 hours 54 minutes 39 seconds
A mask that canceled recoil.
When the light and dust cleared, the view was unreal.
I stood before what used to be Zone 2, now crushed inward.
“......”
That was basically a real nuke.
I clicked my tongue under my breath.
My original firepower, then inflated four times on top of that.
Good thing it only grazed her. If it had landed clean, I would’ve turned into a murderer.
“Activate. Gauntlet.”
A light flick of my hand.
The scythe form unraveled, and Wiggles wrapped around my fingers.
“Phew...”
I crossed the devastated field.
Soon, the center of the crater.
Blue hair spread elegantly across the ground.
The girl was covered in dust, blinking blankly.
“Lady Glacia.”
“......”
Rin was still barely conscious.
Even if it only grazed her, that hit had enough force to collapse an entire jungle...
‘How strong is she, seriously.’
I felt her depth all over again.
She had clearly taken massive damage, but even her expressionless face showed no crack.
She just lay there, apparently with no strength left to move, staring up at the blue sky projected above.
Eyes without life.
‘No reaction either.’
A short silence settled.
Soon, her dust-covered lips moved weakly.
In a cracked voice, she murmured a single stunned word.
“How...”
She was asking what that last strike had been.
“Heh.”
Instead of answering, I put a finger over the mask’s lips.
“It’s a secret.”
“...I see.”
Rin gave a limp response and closed her eyes.
Soon her consciousness cut out, and she passed out as if she had fallen asleep.
A notification rose from her Crystal Orb nearby.
Beep beep beep-!
[The second team elimination has occurred.]
[Team member 'Rin Glacia' has been ruled combat-incapacitated and removed from the match.]
I turned my back on the girl.
Once she got the elimination ruling, she would be recalled out of the field soon.
Caitlin, whom I had laid down nearby, had probably already been recalled and moved to the Infirmary.
I kept walking on tired legs.
‘Then... let’s wrap this up.’
This match had been unusually long.
It felt like eight hours, but the Crystal Orb said only one had passed.
“I’m dying, seriously.”
A field that was hard to even call a jungle now.
Past that ruined Zone 2, I finally reached Zone 1.
A wide grassland and the altar in the center came into view at once.
“Sir Viktor!”
“Miss Ranne.”
Ranne welcomed me immediately.
Spear in hand, she was still watching the area.
“The flag is safe! But we still haven’t subdued the enemy team’s Sprinter. I’m not sure if they’re using stealth-type sorcery, but they’ve been hiding their presence well even on this open grassland. We were still in a standoff.”
“Looks like they couldn’t break through Miss Ranne’s iron defense.”
No wonder.
I thought it was oddly quiet on this side; she had handled the Keeper role perfectly.
That was why the Sprinter couldn’t get in and had been stuck waiting for an opening.
Then the rest of their team got eliminated one by one, leaving them cornered.
“Well... at this point, it doesn’t matter.”
I stepped up the altar stairs.
Whooooosh-.
A blue flag flapped hard in the grassland wind.
Next to it, I planted the red flag Caitlin had brought.
Kraaak-!
At the same time, faint light wrapped around the altar.
Soon, an announcement rang across the entire field.
I leaned my back against the altar and listened to the blurred message.
《A flag has been captured.》
《Victory for Team Viktor.》
It was over.
A crushing victory.
《Congratulations on this team’s victory.》
《Viktor, Ranne Kihano, Dexy Cluise.》
《Students still on the field, please comply with recall request.》
Amid the wavering voice, a blue screen I had been waiting for appeared in front of me.
Ding-!
[Sub Quest cleared!]
-Title: I Will Stand at the Flag.
-Objective: Achieve an overwhelming victory in the practical exam 'Capture the Flag.'
[You displayed an astonishing performance and led your team to victory!]
-Rewards will be granted. Please check your inventory.
Ding-!
[Hidden Quest cleared!]
-Title: Academy Superstar!
-Objective: Take first place in your year’s ranking.
[You proved your ability before the eyes of the entire student body!]
-Special rewards will be granted. Please check your inventory.
I skimmed through the messages.
Then one window suddenly caught my eye.
[Special Reward]
-Item '???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket' obtained.
-You may choose and obtain two rewards from the listed options.
“What...?”
I could only stare.
[???-Grade Reward Selection Ticket]
A selection ticket, a reward type I had never seen before.
That part was interesting, sure, but what caught my attention was the grade shown in front.
Not an alphabet grade. Three question marks.
I had seen this somewhere before.
Ding-!
[Evil God's Mask]
-Category: ???
-Grade: ???
-Status: ???
-Description: Throw it away. Throw it away. Throw it away. Throw it away. Throw it away. Throw it away. Get rid of it. Get rid of it. Get rid of it. Get.
“...Huh.”
I had gotten my hands on something interesting.
