CH 8.1

December 18, 2022 — 4 Comments

“You, a Grade E commoner, managed to survive this far. Oh, there’s a mana grain on the watch… one? Ho-oh, did you stay hidden because you wanted to live?”

···That’s quite intuitive.

“Also, your mana perception must be atrocious, right? How pitiful!”

Is it cowardly to suppress the initiative with facts?

Well, even though he looks like an asshole, it’s a self-evident fact that he’s far superior to me in terms of skills.

If I fight head-to-head with magic, I will always lose.

But I need to make a breakthrough.

I don’t know what’s going on with Ian right now. Perhaps it is time for a bad ending. I can’t possibly have a bad ending because of him…

I secretly inserted one of my fingers into the magic pouch in my back pocket, and a small glass bottle was caught in my finger. It was a magic tool.

As I saw during the magic power measurement time, Tristan Humphrey’s magic was quite powerful.

But he had a weakness. That is, he was inexperienced in defending himself by focusing solely on the attack.

He didn’t like the combat style of carefully deploying defensive magic.

He was a man who has only mastered attack magic with the mindset of ‘attack is defense.’

It was a mindset developed because of the lack of practical experience. The servants of the Humphrey family must have supported and raised him. In fact, this class assignment evaluation was his debut stage.

“You aren’t even trying to run away with me in front of you? Grade E commoners? What confidence? Or, did your legs lose the strength?”

“Ha ha ha—” Tristan laughed heartily. Then he coughed and gasped because he accidentally swallowed his breath incorrectly.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been playing <Marchen’s Magic Knight> for a long time, somehow, even Tristan’s third-rate villain-like lines felt sweet.

Still, I intend to knock him down and pass him by.

‘Because I know him well.’

It’s possible.

I threw the small glass bottle in my hand to the ground.

Clink-!

The small glass bottle smashed with a stone and broke, releasing the hazy mist that had condensed in it.

suhoohoohoohoo──

[Processed Fog]

: When the bottle is broken, a thick mist of water attribute is produced immediately. The effect lasts for 20 seconds.

Rank: Tier 7

“Fog?”

The magic tool I broke was a water attribute item, ‘Processed Fog’.

It creates a hazy mist around itself in an instant, similar to a smoke bomb.

However, this was insufficient. I and Tristan could see each other’s movements if we look closely.

I stretched out my right hand and spread the pure white cold air.

「Ice Divergence (Ice Attribute, ★1」

The thick fog quickly cooled and became whiter. As the air cooled, condensation formed, resulting in advection fog, which became thicker with the cold air.

I poured ice mana with my other hand.

Ian and Luce must have joined forces and started running toward the place where they were fighting the demon.

At that time.

“……!”

Whoo-woo-!!

A sharp light green wind cut through the dense mist and passed me just inches away.

「Wind Sword (Ice Attribute, ★3)」

I stopped on the spot.

I almost fell behind······

“Haha, is there nothing you can do other than play jokes like this?”

Tristan approached me. A magic circle of light green was embodied in front of his hand.

Woo woo woo woo—

The wind began to blow in all directions, clearing the fog. It was the wind caused by Tristan.

「Wind Generation (Wind Attribute, ★1)」

The wind attribute was distinguished by a linkage that continuously generates wind, consequently increasing the magic output.

In other words, he intended to hunt me in earnest.

“I thought so.”

However, as the fog cleared, I reached out my hand to the other person.

From the moment the fog spread, I had already begun to form ice.

I clenched my fists, the palms of my hands were blue.

The flow of mana was interrupted.

A large chunk of ice that had formed over Tristan’s head fell to the ground.

「Ice Generation (Ice Attribute, ★1)」

“···Huh?”

──── Puck!

The block of Ice hit Tristan’s head directly under the force of gravity and a terrifyingly heavy sound resounded.

“Ugh!!”

With a shriek, Tristan collapsed.

The block of ice that attacked him was bigger than what I usually make. It was thanks to the [Elemental Synergy] exerted by the water attribute fog generated by the Processed Fog.

Soon, Tristan’s wind stopped and the fog dissipated.

I could clearly see Tristan lying on the floor, with blood dripping from his head.

Having suffered a defeat from a Grade E commoner that he ignored so much, he might start practicing defensive magic from now on.

‘Time is running out…’

Looking at my watch, I recalled that it was an urgent situation.

Tristan’s watch made me greedy to earn points, but the time spent stealing it was not worth it.

I made up my mind and started running toward my destination again.

The trigger of this bad ending was not that Ian dies.

It was the time when Luce summons her familiar to defeat the demon.

Her familiar was the 8-star monster, ‘Thunderbird – Gaul’.

Similar to the magic grade, the highest grade, 9-star, is at the level of world destruction, and Gaul is at the highest rank of country destruction, right below that level.

And the problem is that she can’t control Gaul.

Originally, a spirit who becomes a familiar must faithfully follow the master’s words, but Gaul, who is out of control, lightly disregards her orders- even while willingly accepting the penalty for disobeying orders.

If Gaul appears here, all of the talented students who have so far survived the class assignment evaluation will perish.

Currently, there were only first-year students from the Department of Magic in the forest, and Gaul’s lightning strike would completely engulf the forest before the academy could respond.

It was only natural for the protagonist, Ian, who was still trapped in the forest, to die.

After all, it was one of the greatest power of Marchen Academy.

The situation was settled when Dorothy Hartnova, a sophomore in the Department of Magic and called the Witch of the Stars, manages to defeat the Thunderbird – Gaul. By then, many people, including Ian, had already died.

In other words, it was a bad ending.

‘Please don’t be late…!’

Even when I was out of breath, I ran with all my might.

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

“How dare you··· hurt···!”

Tristan reached out in the direction Isaac had left.

With blood pouring from his head, he collapsed on the floor and his whole body was covered in dirt.

In front of his hand, a light green magic circle was embodied and slowly rotating.

If he continued to pour his mana into it and fire the long-range attack magic [Whirlwind], it might reach Isaac.

“To the subject of a Grade E commoner…, to an insignificant Grade E commoner!!”

Tristan struggled to resist the urge to lose consciousness and poured his magic power toward the departed Isaac.

「Whirlwind (Wind Attribute, ★4)」

Woo woo woo woo —-!!

A light green wind began to whirl and swirl with strong force.

But.

─────Whee woo woo woo -!!

The whirlwind, which was about to crush the trees and move towards Isaac, was devoured by a more powerful whirlwind coming from the side.

Tristan’s eyes widened.

A female student who blew a much stronger [Whirlwind] against his [Whirlwind] walked out from the darkness of the forest.

Her light green pigtails fluttered along her steps while her jade-colored eyes were exceptionally bright even in the slowly darkening forest.

It was Kaya Astreane, the second seat for freshmen in the Department of Magic.

“Uh, why, you…?”

As if not interested in Tristan’s question, Kaya quietly closed her eyes.

“Ha.”

She took a deep breath and thought.

He is weak; he’s so weak, not even deserving of Sir Isaac’s sincerity.

Isaac had sensed the mana contained in Yggdrasil’s seed.

Even she, who had the seed in her body, couldn’t sense the mana…

The realm of Archmages was famous for sensing mana that was not being emitted.

Isaac had proven once more that he was a force that couldn’t be surpassed by the likes of herself.

‘Sir Isaac, he’s amazing, .’

Just that kind of power? Waste of time?

It was natural.

How insignificant she must have seemed to such an amazing person.

At the very least, if she wanted to compete with Isaac, who was naturally skilled, it was polite to at least have a threshold.

Rather, challenging him with her insignificant skills was tantamount to ignoring him.

It was like a young child fighting an adult knight. Then, of course, the opponent would say this, ‘Come once you grow up’…

“I’m going to be strong enough to make Sir Isaac recognize me.”’

Kaya slowly opened her eyes. Her will quietly burned like embers.

“Why… do you cover up Grade E commoner?”

Tristan asked in a trembling voice as if he didn’t know why.

“Why, of course.”

Kaya replied with a sigh mixed with a pitiful voice.

Whoo-whoo-whoo-ing─────

The wind created by Kaya began to swirl around her.

Kaya’s [Wind Generation] had a stronger magic concentration than Tristan’s [Wind Generation] and was stronger.

Her light green pigtails and the hem of her school uniform began to flutter wildly.

A face covered in the darkness in the forest, eyes looking down with displeasure.

Tristan looked at her with a face full of doubts and fear.

Why is she protecting Isaac and fighting against Tristan?

“Even I have never touched Isaac, how dare the likes of you?”

It was a matter of simple pride.

The wind around Kaya began to gust violently and soon, Tristan’s body floated above the twilight forest.

The twilight of the evening sky is truly beautiful – with that feeling, his consciousness faded far beyond the distant horizon.

Dorothy Heartnova Illustration
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