69. Exploration Battle (12)
By the time Ivan had defected, the flow of the Exploration Battle was clearly in favor of the Western team.
In the early stages, when the Eastern students still had their mana reserves fully charged, the Eastern team had a distinct advantage.
Regina was a user of Freeze Magic, capable of both offense and defense with stats above average. Liam, with his overwhelming physical power added to his Flame Magic, could easily handle frontline duties and breakthroughs. Emil provided mid-range magical support, making for what was a well-structured team.
However, as the Exploration Battle proceeded past the halfway point and the Eastern and Western teams began to clash directly, Regina’s insufficient mana capacity paired with the enormous mana consumption of Freeze Magic caused her effectiveness to drop significantly.
The void left by Regina needed to be filled by Emil and Liam. But the two of them struggled against the Western team’s composition of two offensive mages and a defensive mage.
“I-I’ll give it a try somehow…!”
Regina gathered up every last bit of her depleted mana to somehow conjure a freeze. Her freeze, which should have gleamed silver even in the darkness, darkly flickered, testifying to her emptying mana reserves. Even then, it struggled to shine properly.
The freezes needed to destroy the small killer dolls advancing in the darkness, but they could no longer achieve the power of earlier stages, when a single freeze could easily crush two or three dolls in succession. With difficulty, they could manage one, at best two. Consequently, the rate of depletion of Regina’s mana was significantly outpacing the destruction of the killer dolls.
“Maybe it’s time to quit while you’re ahead, Liam. No matter how well you perform, the balance of our composition is already lacking.”
“Quit your chatter. You northern bastards fight with your mouths, huh?”
Liam’s curved sword, imbued with flames, struck a large mud wall. The flames that should have broken it apart only fizzled, owing to the heavy rain having soaked the wall thoroughly, preventing the fire from igniting properly.
Behind Liam, magic bullets flew one after another. Emil, supporting Liam, was firing these magical bullets at the mud wall. Just as they were about to hit, the bullets wobbled wildly and plunged downwards instead, fading away without any noise.
“Michele…”
Michele, the girl scratching her disheveled hair as if annoyed, spoke. Restoring the inverted gravity she had caused, she told Wilhelm:
“Let’s just trap them here and proceed alone. Regina isn’t much different from having Sophia finish her off. There’s no reason to keep doing this.”
“The Exploration Battle isn’t over yet, Michele. We need to end this properly to avoid any trouble later.”
“Damn, you’re really stubborn…”
Even as she complained, Michele turned her palm over. Gravity inverted again, and this time Liam hastily pulled his curved sword from the mud wall and stepped back.
“Are you alright, Emil?”
Emil was breathing heavily, his face ashen. Magic bullets, while simple to cast, consume a significant amount of mana due to their rapid-fire capability. Even Emil, who possessed a top-tier mana capacity, felt the depletion from utilizing only magic bullets without any refinement or assistance.
“…Unfortunately, I’m not doing so well.”
“This guy Ivan is taking too long. Did Karla run into some trouble?”
As Liam muttered under his breath while glaring at the rising mud walls, he realized the frustration: the walls were a good defensive measure, but the way they were set up made it easy for Michele to counter them with gravity inversions. Wilhelm and Michele’s synergy was impeccable.
“With Ivan gone, your chances of breaking through are slim, Liam.”
From beyond the mud walls, Wilhelm’s voice came through. And, unfortunately, it was true – as things stood, they lacked the firepower to overcome Wilhelm’s defenses.
“KYAAH!”
Regina’s scream echoed from the forest edge. To avoid being targeted while bunched up, Liam had kept some distance from Regina—but this decision had made them vulnerable to being picked off one by one.
“H…Damn it.”
Liam looked up at the sky. The downpour had stopped, but the clouds remained thick and ominous. Despite triumphs in the individual and team battles, the Exploration Battle was looking bleak. If things continued like this…
“LIAM!”
Regina’s voice drew nearer, indicating Sophia was also moving closer. On top of that, Wilhelm emerged from his defensive position, and Michele’s silhouette, flipping her palm, became visible beside him.
“So this is where it ends…”
Lifting his curved sword, Liam recalled his father’s words: “War is not fought alone.” Even if one individual was strong, teamwork was essential. There hadn’t been a moment when those words resonated as deeply as right now.
“…I won’t be toyed with.”
Liam concentrated fire into his curved sword with renewed vigor. Even if they were going to lose, Liam wasn’t about to go down quietly. As he raised his sword to charge Wilhelm—
—GWAHNG!
A bolt of violet lightning tore through the dark clouds.
The straight lightning bolt had an immense force, and upon striking, a tremor shook the ground, leaving everyone to stagger and barely maintain their balance.
“KIIIYAAAAH!”
The scream was not Regina’s, nor Emil’s, nor even Liam’s embarrassing cry.
It was Sophia.
Sophia, suspended in the air, was surrounded by fragments of her shattered killer dolls. Each part—heads, arms, legs, torsos—was entirely obliterated, suspended in the air.
“Electromagic, [Instant Kill]!”
Her long, black hair danced wildly in the air. Her elegant legs kicked Sophia into an upward thrust, sending her soaring into the sky twice, before delivering a final kick.
“[Thunderfall]!”
A fist, clearly Liam’s left, descended like a streaking bolt of lightning, striking Sophia at the chest with incredible speed. After hitting the ground like thunder, Sophia did not move.
“…Kar, Karla… her arm…?”
Regina watched in a daze, muttering.
It was Karla.
Karla’s left arm, which had been lost, had regenerated, blending naturally with her running figure.
“Karla is… smiling…”
Emil was right.
Karla was smiling. Dashing through the air, bathed in violet mana, Karla lunged at Michele, kicking her waist faster than Michele could invert gravity.
“KYAAAHHH!”
Michele’s scream echoed as she collided with the mud wall Liam’s sword had failed to destroy. The wall shattered completely, and she slumped to the ground.
“Haha, HAHA, HAHAHAHAHAHA!”
Karla, her eyes glinting madly, burst into laughter as she charged at Wilhelm. With two down in a flash, Wilhelm summoned not a mud wall but a rock wall to block Karla’s charge.
“THIS is nothing!”
Karla jumped and struck the rock wall with her heel. There was a thunderous crash, and cracks spread across before the wall ultimately collapsed.
Seeing this, Wilhelm chuckled and dropped his bastard sword and shield, raising his hands in surrender.
“I surrender, I give up.”
Even before Wilhelm could finish, Karla was already punching at him. Ivan appeared, grabbing her wrist mid-strike, saying:
“Enough, Karla. He’s surrendered.”
Karla glared at Ivan with an expression full of discontent.
Ivan, however, met her gaze with a calm smile, and after glaring at him for some time, Karla let out a disgruntled “Tch,” and unclenched her fist.
“Quick thinking saved you, Wilhelm.”
“Karla, your arm is restored.”
“There were some incidents.”
Karla gave a curt reply to Wilhelm and turned away. Approaching Liam, Emil, and Regina, who were still in a daze, she placed her hands on her hips and said:
“Get up. What are you waiting for? We need to wrap this up.”
On the map, the final destination was marked with a statue.
There was no specific instruction on what to do with the statue, but Ivan quietly approached it, observing it from top to bottom.
“Beginner-level teleportation magic.”
Ivan chuckled faintly as he struck the head of the statue with a clenched fist. The statue crumbled into dust, surprising everyone and prompting them to scold Ivan for his actions.
However, the surprise didn’t last long. As the statue crumbled, a small stone door appeared in its place.
A door about the size to pass one or two people through—pointing at it, Ivan gave a sly smile.
“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.”
