Chapter 29

【29】28

Duran’s ball, wrapped in a lightning aura, soared towards the goal.

“Wind Shield!”

In that moment, Chelsea hurriedly cast a defensive spell.

A powerful wind blew from the goal of Class 5.

The ball, which had been hurtling at an incredible speed, suddenly slowed.

But its momentum had not entirely disappeared.

It was merely a brief pause, buying some time.

The ball was covered in a lightning aura, making it impossible to grab recklessly.

Even if someone tried, it would certainly break through Chelsea’s defensive magic and fly into the goal before another student could touch it.

“What a pointless attempt!”

Just as Duran sneered, Leo shouted.

“Kal! Prepare what I told you!”

“Augh! If only it wasn’t for that bathroom cleaning duty!”

Kal gathered his magic.

Kal was an earth-element specialist.

Earth magic leaned towards defense and weight manipulation.

A faint brown magic flowed out from Kal’s body, protecting him while also reducing his weight through gravitational magic.

Leo, who was holding his hand, threw Kal towards the goal with all his might.

Kal was going to perform a human shield play.

Buuung! Whooaaak-!

Kal flew towards the goal.

Hooook! Zzziiiiingggg-!

Simultaneously, the ball successfully broke through Chelsea’s defensive magic.

With his weight significantly reduced, Kal, propelled by Leo’s force, reached the front of the goal faster than the ball.

“It’s no use! The ball will still go in along with me!”

Duran sneered.

But just before getting hit, Kal used magic to maximize his weight.

Additionally, Chelsea hastily cast a shield spell on Kal.

Puhk-!

“Gyooek!”

Clang-!

Kal alone, hit by the ball, went into the goal, while the ball was deflected.

If the ball touched the ground before being caught, the attack privilege would be lost.

Tak-! Tae-guleegglee.

The ball rolled on the ground.

Dung!

“Attack privilege switches to Class 5!”

“Kyaaa! That’s so cool, Kal!”

“Your sacrifice for our class! We’ll never forget!”

When Class 5 successfully defended through the collaboration between Leo, Chelsea, and Kal, cheers erupted from their classmates.

Kal, seeing his classmates didn’t remember or worry about his sacrifice, gave a wistful smile.

“Sorry, Kal.”

“Are you okay?”

“Only the two of you are left for me.”

Seeing Leo and Chelsea approach with apologetic smiles, Kal was deeply moved.

“That was amazing! What was that strategy?”

As Nella approached for treatment and lazily asked, Chelsea grinned and replied.

“The strategy name, Friend Shield! It was Leo’s idea to foresee this situation and plan a defense!”

“Using a friend as a tool for victory is quite impressive judgment.”

Kal felt like crying.

Meanwhile, Iliana, holding the ball, twisted her arms around.

“Good! Good! Let’s aim for an additional score…!”

Zzuuk!

Then, from Class 1’s side, a whip-like thing stretched out suddenly and snatched the ball from Iliana.

“Oooooohhhh! Howl!”

“Sexy!”

“Fitting for the successor of the Snake Spear!”

In an instant, the morale of Class 1, which had quickly regained the attack privilege, soared.

Iliana, who had blankly alternated her gaze between her own hand and the ball taken by Class 1, bowed her head and clasped her hands together with Kal.

“Sorry, it was taken.”

“My sacrifice… give it back, give it back!”

*

“Oh ho! What brings you here at this hour, Senior Ain!”

“Obviously, what do you mean? I’ve come to observe the battle studies class.”

“Huhuh! Indeed! Well, it seems Celia, Duran, and Chen Sia from the first year are in the class right now! As a subject professor of knight studies, I’d like to see how proficient the ace students of knight studies are in battle!”

“I have come to oversee all the students of knight studies, not as overtly as you, Ren.”

“I have also come to oversee all the students in the magic department.”

Ren the professor also shrugged.

These two were not merely a senior and junior among teachers.

Both were graduates of Lumeran and had known each other since their student days.

To be sure, it wasn’t a good relationship; they were rather ‘nemesis’ colleagues between different departments.

If the summoning professor, Yura, were added to this mix, it was widely known among the faculty and current students as an explosive trio combo.

“Nevertheless, when I heard professors were in charge of the first graders, I was astonished.”

“It is true that this is the first time the two of you have been in charge of the lower grades.”

“Speaking of which, Senior Ain was the first student of Professor Sedgen, right? How was that back then?”

“It was the exact same. He cherished his class students awfully. Professor Halind has changed quite a lot since then.”

“By the time I reached the fifth grade, he was infamous as the ‘Wall of Lamentation’.”

Recalling their school days, both professors entered the training ground.

And they were stunned.

“Bastera? From the very first match?”

“What an unexpected twist!”

Realizing that Class 1 and 5 were engaging in Bastera, both professors gleamed with interest.

‘The score is 1-0, with Class 5 in the lead.’

An unexpected result.

The top students of Class 1 had all gathered together for this match.

Not intentional, but Class 1 was an elite class filled with students who scored high on the entrance exam on average.

A match between the top-ranked and bottom-ranked class.

Even if the entrance exam results lose meaning a few months later, there was still a clear difference at this point.

‘Leo and Chelsea. Iliana and Teid. And Nella… these would be considered the aces of Class 5, but not the other players.’

Ain showed an intrigued expression.

“Surprising!”

After watching the game, Ren exclaimed in admiration.

“Student Leo is undoubtedly a born leader.”

“I felt it distinctly from the day of the opening ceremony.”

Class 1 relied on individual play, utilizing superior skills to dominate Class 5.

On the contrary, Class 5 focused on cooperative play.

And at the core of it was Leo.

He predicted every movement of the opponents and cleverly responded to Class 1’s attacks.

Ren looked anxious.

‘Just using aura magic?’

If Leo used spell magic, it would be better, but Leo only used aura.

Of course, it couldn’t be helped.

Leo had a remarkable ability to interpret magic symbols but possessed a relatively small amount of magical power.

Thus, his main ability in battle could only be aura.

Ren glanced worriedly at Ain.

Indeed, Ain was intently observing Leo.

However, contrary to Ren’s anxiety, Ain was watching the game with a highly satisfied expression.

Annoyed, Ren inwardly yelled.

‘Student Leo! Please use magic too!’

Ren looked anxiously at Leo.

Meanwhile, the game was progressing towards the second half.

Bastera, requiring the utilization of all abilities, consumed an immense amount of stamina.

The game usually lasts an hour, but with the current stamina levels of first-year students, twenty minutes was their limit.

Then, an overwhelming attack by Celia shook the goalposts of Class 5.

“Celia! That’s awesome! Falling in love here!”

“Sister! Make me your younger sibling!”

The students of Class 1 cheered loudly.

Celia had successfully scored by piercing through three Class 5 students standing in front of the goal in a human shield.

“Mon, monster…”

Kal, who was hit directly by the ball, muttered with an exasperated face, then flopped down and fainted.

“Huuuhk-! Huuuhk-!”

Celia, who had poured all her strength, was also in a state of exhaustion.

“Three people were taken down, and there’s not much time left! If we defend this attack, we can counterattack and win, so absolutely turn this around!”

Celia called out weakly.

The previously narrowly held advantage of Class 5 was instantly lost, leading to the worst atmosphere.

On the other hand, the morale of Class 1 was soaring to its peak.

Chloe from the back glared at Class 5.

Unquestionably, Chloe was the most standout player in this match.

Although Class 5 was allowed a surprising counterattack at the start, thereafter Chloe blocked Leo and Chelsea, the core of Class 5’s attacks, perfectly.

No matter what kind of surprise they tried, they couldn’t surpass Chloe.

While observing Leo preparing for an attack, Chloe resolved:

‘Absolutely won’t lose.’

Since the first magic class,

Chloe, no matter how much she tried not to care, found herself conscious of Leo.

She had never once considered being behind anyone in magic.

Even Abad, who was lauded as the strongest magician among the peers, Chloe felt her own magical sigil interpretation ability was superior.

And indeed, that had been the case.

In the northern magic tower, she was regarded as a legendary talent in sigil work.

That was Chloe Mueller.

But starting from the first class, she had fallen behind in magic interpretation.

‘I absolutely cannot lose to Leo Flove.’

Chloe clenched her fists tightly.

With Selia gone, there was a big gap in Class 1’s defense.

“Attack! If we don’t score this time, we’ll lose for sure!”

Iliana shouted.

Chelsea moved to block Durren as he rushed to mark Leo.

Other players also made efforts to put Leo and Chloe into a one-on-one situation.

With Celia as a restrainer gone, and Durren tied by Chelsea, there was no one to stop Leo from making his move.

But Class 1 had something they could count on.

Chloe stood in Leo’s path.

“I won’t let you get through.”

“Sorry, but for a one-on-one, I might be able to penetrate, don’t you think?”

With Leo’s words, Chloe smirked.

Tsch-tsch-tschhh!

Leo’s eyes twitched.

In the air, ice immediately gathered, and ice shards formed.

Four ice shards, identical to Chloe, stood blocking Leo.

“Unbelievable! An ice duplicate? He’s using a high-difficulty magical sigil? Even Brother couldn’t do this!”

Chelsea gasped in astonishment.

“That’s not just a simple duplicate!”

A magic circle appeared around the ice duplicates.

You could see each one as individual magicians.

“To be able to use this kind of sigil at this age? Genius.”

Leo marveled.

Chloe’s eyes twitched.

“Are you mocking me now?”

‘He ranked first in the magical theory exam!’

With an intimidating look, Chloe scornfully laughed.

“Anyway, you won’t break through me. So just give up!”

“It’s true that with just my aura abilities, I might not be able to break through.”

Leo grinned.

“With just my aura abilities, I mean.”

Whoosh!

“Magic power?”

Chloe was startled.

She hadn’t expected Leo to use magic at this critical moment.

Leo’s body multiplied into several forms.

“Illusion magic? How shallow!”

Though taken by surprise, illusion magic was something Chloe could counteract easily.

Attacking illusions created by magic is considered foul, but attacking magical illusions themselves is fair game.

“What’s the real one?”

Finding the true form within the simple illusion was an easy task for Chloe.

She concentrated magical energy into her eyes and looked at the illusions.

Then Chloe froze.

“No way… I can’t distinguish which one is fake!”

Without identifying the real one, she couldn’t recklessly attack.

But more astonishing fact was something else.

‘This… this magic…!’

As Chloe was shocked, Leo slipped past her and lightly scored against the goal.

Too stunned to even respond, Chloe collapsed into her seat.

A perfect illusion magic that couldn’t figure out the truth.

The magic Leo had just used was known to Chloe.

However, it was something she could not use.

Because the magic Leo had used was not human magic.

Dazed, Chloe stared behind her.

The fading illusions scattered like falling leaves.

A totally different magical system at its root.

“The Elf’s… Magic of the Stars?”

Mirage.

The magic Leo used was created by the progenitor of Star Cloud, Luna.