༺ Joint Practical Evaluation (2) ༻
Back to the present. Inside of a passage within Octovus Hall.
White, Abel, and Roanna stared at their bracelets. They were only progressing forward, yet the number on their bracelets was rising quickly.
It was likely because one of their teammates, Shera Hectorica, had been eliminating the other students.
“She must be skilled, that Shera girl from the Magic Department.”
“She is strong.”
White knew Shera Hectorica.
“Her mana is Grade S, but apparently, she hadn’t used her full strength during the exam. That’s why I remember her. She should be at the top of Class B.”
“Grade S mana in Class B…?”
A light twinkled in Roanna’s eyes, who had been remaining quiet. She seemed surprised.
“I have heard that the new grade of the Magic Department students are especially talented this year… but it’s unimaginable that a Grade S mana student is in Class B.”
Abel let out an empty laugh. This was understandable since those with Grade S mana at their age were geniuses beyond the typical spectrum.
Especially as an aspiring magic knight, Abel tended to admire those with large mana capacities.
“Ah, that is true…”
Though the teams were chosen randomly, grades and skills were also taken into consideration.
For students with high rankings in Class B to be on the same team meant that White was that much weaker.
“…”
Tears formed in the corners of White’s eyes.
She was under a sense of sorrowful realization about just how weak she truly was.
“Anyhow, it doesn’t look like anyone is using large-scale spells. I would have expected the Magic Department to have used tricks like that.”
“Large-scale spells?”
“You know, like using a tsunami to sweep everyone away…”
With a short ‘Ah.’ White nodded her head.
Now that she thought about it, that was a good question. Why wasn’t anyone using them?
If one used magic rashly, there was a risk of being caught by those with high mana perception. So, it was right to keep the magic usage to a minimum.
But on the other hand, that would not be a problem for those who could pour out field spells countless times.
“Dumb Sleazo.”
“What’s with the sudden insult, Miss Friend…?”
“You should have seen it earlier. There was a Cherry Bus.”
“That pretty-looking bug?”
“…”
“Can you not look at me like that? I feel insulted.”
Roanna narrowed her eyes and glared at Abel with disgust. She seemed to contemplate what she should do with such an idiot.
There were all sorts of ridiculous creatures within the labyrinth. The ‘Cherry Bus’ was also one of the creatures implemented in the exam.
If one’s mana came into contact with a Cherry Bus, it would track the flow of the mana and fly towards it.
Then, it would latch onto the mana trail and consume their flesh and mana.
If it had already entered one’s body, then the only way to live would be to amputate that body part.
Since such a dangerous creature was only a fake here, it wouldn’t actually eat flesh or mana, but it was sure that the user would fail the exam.
Therefore, using field magic was an excellent method for suicide.
“I didn’t know that…”
“Princess White is understandable. I am only disappointed that the guy who has studied such an absurd amount of magic beast ecology didn’t even properly know the dangers of this labyrinth.”
“Hey Friend, I can’t help it. That Cherry Bug or something isn’t a magic beast; it’s a monster. I’m not interested in monsters.”
“Yeah yeah, you zoophile…”
“Shh.”
Just then, Abel suddenly halted and spread his arms to the side to stop White and Roanna. White jolted in surprise.
“There’s a presence at three o’clock…”
Even before Abel finished his sentence, Roanna quickly drew her bow and shot an arrow imbued with magic.
Her light green locks fluttered in the wind mana.
Spewt-!
[Skreeeeeek!!]
The arrow charged with light green wind mana hit its mark on the demonic illusion hidden in the dark.
The light from the mana lit up the demonic illusion. It was a monster similar to a bear with its long, sharp claws but a slender body.
It let out a loud cry before dissipating into a cloud of dust scattered away by the wind.
“That was amazing, Miss Roanna!”
“It’s good to have you here, Friend!”
“Don’t fall in love with me, though.”
To White and Abel’s cheers, Roanna curtly flicked her hair and put away her bow.
She was a Knight Department student who had exceptional talent with a bow. She was also an aspiring Magic Knight like Abel.
“I’ll be depending on you, Roanna!”
“I will also be depending on you, Miss Roanna!”
“…I will be protecting Princess White, but Sleazo, you’re going to be my meat shield.”
“Meat shield, you say? Haha, that’s funny!”
Abel laughed exaggeratedly with cold sweat droplets running down his face. He felt that if it was Roanna, then she might actually use him as a meat shield.
And so, they continued to venture through the darkness.
Without Shera Hectorica, they had to be extra careful to survive.
As they moved forward, they continued to fight whilst searching for demonic illusions, traps, and scars of elimination hidden within the darkness.
With her eyes slowly adjusting to the darkness, White eventually found a way to support them with her wind magic.
One hour and a half later.
The three people arrived at the front of a particular passageway.
Fancy lamps lined across the walls with a pale blue light emitting from them. The atmosphere seemed to change, feeling much colder and more dangerous than they had experienced.
“Eheheh, it looks like we’ll be able to reach the destination safely through here~… Hmm?”
White had been following behind with a smile when Abel and Roanna suddenly halted on the spot.
In front of them was a single path.
And from their compass, it said that this path was the only way to their destination.
However…
“What is this…?”
As if the ground had been scarred, countless lines of red mana were scattered through the path. They were ‘scars of elimination’.
But the number of them… was way too many.
The scars of elimination were messily engraved through the entire passageway. They couldn’t even be counted with just a short glance.
“There’s something up ahead. But this is the only path we can take…”
Looking down at the compass, Abel spoke up nervously.
In the compass, all of the paths nearby were marked.
The paths they had taken until now had all been split.
It had only been possible for them to have taken a path around other students and attacked them from behind because there had been multiple paths.
But… this segment was different. Here, the only way forward to their goal was to pass through the dark passage that stood before them.
Even though it was clear that there was something highly dangerous past this dark passage.
“D-do you think it’s a Predator…?”
White asked them in a frightened voice.
Abel and Roanna turned to look at White. A Predator. It was definitely a possibility they had to consider.
The Predator was someone from Class A or of similar strength to a student from Class A. That would be a reasonable explanation for why there were so many scars of elimination here.
White thought of Luce Eltania and Priestess Miya. They were both monsters. Class A only housed monsters such as those two…
“That means… The Predator hadn’t bothered to wander around and stayed in this one spot?”
They naturally thought the Predator would have been wandering around.
Nobody could have imagined they would take on the role of gatekeeper on this single path.
“…Huahh.”
Though she was scared, White had no intention to back down.
With both Abel and Roanna, there may be a way to push forward somehow.
White thought of Isaac’s high-five.
Let’s do well on this exam, he said.
So she decided to push forward, at least for the sake of Isaac, who had worked so hard to help her.
“I-it’s alright…!”
But the catch was that White’s voice was not yet settled.
“There isn’t any need to beat the Predator. We could somehow distract them… Then quickly escape to the next route.”
“I agree!”
Abel raised both his hands next to his face with a carefree smile and played along to White’s comment.
“We can’t back down here; it’s the only path, after all~. Roanna, what do you want to do?”
“Sleazo, you take the lead and be the meat shield.”
“Hahah, you’re such a terrible friend!”
Abel responded cheerfully to Roanna’s callous comment.
Their objective was to obtain a high grade. Even if the Predator was waiting for them ahead, not a single one of them wanted to stop here.
Not to mention, the points they could obtain decreased as time passed, and they did not know who their opponent was. They didn’t have the leisure of formulating a detailed plan.
It was time to push forward.
The three people took a short moment to plan a simple strategy that utilized their specialties.
Abel grasped the sheath of the sword on his belt.
Roanna took out her bow and readied for battle.
White calculated various formulas in her mind and finished various preparations for her magic.
“…Let’s go.”
They steeled their resolve and stepped foot into the dark passageway.
Roanna placed a cover over their lamp so that they would merge into the darkness.
Both Roanna and Abel then felt that deciding to use a surprise attack had not been a wise strategy.
Not only did they have limited vision here, but their position was also far from ideal.
If they rashly used long-range attacks and instead were counterattacked in this narrow passage, then they would be utterly helpless in protecting themselves.
Abel felt his foot come in contact with something wet on the ground. The floor had a shallow layer of water that submerged the soles of their shoes.
They needed to be wary of the sound of their footsteps. The three students turned to one another and nodded, then slowly and carefully proceeded one step at a time.
Eventually, light shone upon them once again.
They finally reached the passageway, and their view became clear.
The humid yet cold air stung their skin.
The ground was still covered with a shallow layer of water. Floating on that water were pieces of thin ice in the shape of ice crystals.
On the high walls, several luxurious lamps scattered a pale blue light through the clean-kept room.
Sitting in a chair made of ice magic in the middle of the room…
…Was a male student with silver-blue hair with his head down, which White, Abel, and Roanna then saw.
The magic weapon, Zhonya’s Staff, leaned against the silver-blue-haired student’s shoulder. The mana stone attached to the weapon reflected pale blue light from the lamps, glowing like the moon in the night sky.
Abel and Roanna swallowed anxiously. It hadn’t been difficult to instinctively realize that the man standing before them was a ‘Predator’.
Meanwhile, White’s eyes were shaking visibly. She could not hide her surprise.
“You’re here.”
A calm voice. The silver-blue-haired man raised his head.
A blue brooch was pinned to his tie. The color that represented the second year.
On the outside, the round glasses and soft impression he held made him seem like the typical kind-hearted senior.
But White knew very well what sort of person he was.
Unlike his appearance, he was overly firm.
And an incredibly calculative and cunning man. Which made him an admirable mentor to her.
“Senior Isaac…?”
“Unfortunately.”
The silver-blue-haired student stood up from his ice chair and held Zhonya’s Staff upright on the ground.
Then he took off his glasses.
“You shall not pass.”
This was the only path that led to the Eltra Sea.
He could not let a single person pass through this point during this joint practical evaluation.
Because that was one of the criteria for obtaining the ‘Ring of the Abyssal Queen’ from the Abyssal Sea Monster while also being the way to protect everyone from it.
Predator.
Isaac, first in Class B for the second years of the Magic Department.
The frigid chill he emitted spread out around him.
