episode_0034

XXXI.

If the favor continues, I think it’s a favor.

―From the movie Unfair Trade.

◈

Is it because it came down to the oracle and the Temple of Caligo took an active part?

The road leading to the real Evergreen Academy and the place where the Evergreen Festival was held was unrecognizably different from before.

What the priests took from the Temple of Caligo was a gold metal plate that looked nothing special.

All it had to do was stick them tightly into the floor like tiles.

What was even more absurd was that the Caligo priests who carried out the deed did not know what the metal plate was.

Then, why did you go to the trouble of installing and securing this to the floor?

Because God ordered it.

What would God have done for those fanatics, even if it meant jumping into a fiery pit? do.

And that morning, the prophecy was made by an oracle.

At the same time as the sun rose and scattered light on the earth, light came up from the golden metal plates that the priests of the Caligo Temple had laid with all their passion and care.

Drop drop.

Although it is an onomatopoeia that is not appropriate to describe light, nothing can explain the current situation other than the expression drop.

The moment the light scattered from the sun touched the golden metal, the light particles came together in droplets and floated into the air.

Groups of light that decorated the air with droplets floated slowly but regularly, stopping at a certain height and settling down. In this way, a roof and walls made of droplets of light were formed.

“Wow, wow!”

A huge stadium was completed where light particles condensed and scattered and reflected light, revealing rainbow colors beyond sparkling.

When viewed from the outside, it does not appear as transparent as if the inside was made of glass, but as if the scattered light has a halo effect, even the leaves that are blowing forlornly in the wind look like mysterious leaves that emit light with the vitality of the world tree.

Even before the change began, the nobles who had servants and other attendants on standby delivered the news, and when everyone, including the nobles who visited Evergreen, gathered in the area, there were indeed empty seats in the stair-shaped audience seats prepared by magic at Evergreen Academy, including Dean Hu. I couldn’t do it.

A sudden trust and a short deadline of one week.

Nothing will improve if you do something during that period, but all the candidates who took the test did not show up, as if a skill called cramming had been activated.

And the candidates who were so hard to find appeared here, at this moment.

However, he did not appear at the right time on his own accord.

“Huh?”

“Ugh?!”

.

.

All kinds of screams erupted from the candidates. There was even a candidate who was wearing a scraggly training uniform that would normally have his shoulders raised as if he were an aristocrat.

“Ahh?! Wow!”

There are also candidates who appeared in underwear.

In short, to evaluate the candidates’ status:

“That’s shit.”

… … It was. Just like Gray’s sentiments.

“Isn’t it normal to wake up early and do everything on days like this?”

Gray’s voice muttering as if he were lamenting caught the ears of all thirty-one candidates. Even if you don’t want to hear it, the space where the candidates were summoned was not that wide.

Thirty-two candidates were gathered in a space that could fit comfortably if they sat comfortably.

However, no candidate had anything to say to Gray, and the reason was obvious. Unlike the other candidates, there was a clown sitting next to Gray with his red hair twisted with his fingers.

“That’s right. Stupid.”

Only Lina agreed with Gray’s remarks and stayed right next to him.

“Candidates. Ready.”

What broke the awkward atmosphere was Dean Hu’s voice, which did not contain any emotion at all.

“Candidates subject to evaluation are automatically summoned there.”

The candidates swallowed their saliva as Dean Hu pointed to the beautifully sparkling space.

It’s a competency evaluation, but it’s the same as saying that if you fail here, it’s the end. The candidates were looking at the sparkling exam hall in a very nervous state.

And then, quite suddenly, a man disappeared.

The phenomenon of a man disappearing from a not-so-large space occurred immediately without any signs or signs. It’s as if it gets dark when you close your eyes, naturally.

“Huh!?”

The candidate who was summoned with a seemingly non-existent scream was a male candidate named Lee Sun Ramnu.

The third candidate chosen as a candidate, following Benjamin and Amelia.

His nickname is Dark Slater.

He was a candidate who displayed somewhat unusual abilities.

The first is to use sword and magic at the same time,

And the second thing is that only light-type magic can be used.

So the nickname given to him is Dark Slater.

It is known to be specialized in hunting undead and demonic beasts.

Would you say that it is similar to a paladin, but has abilities that are more efficient than a paladin?

Moreover, since they do not use divine power like a paladin, they do not need to do troublesome things such as having to replenish their divine power through prayer every morning.

Anyway, the guy with the strange name of Lee Son Ramnu appeared as if he was not there, but immediately prepared for battle by casting magic on his body.

If you hear this far, you’ll think he’s doing well.

“Stupid bastard.”

However, the evaluation that came out of Gray’s mouth was absolutely bitter and the worst.

why?

That’s because a guy named Lee Seon was leisurely and splendidly displaying his magic as if he was showing off his abilities to nobles.

Before his auxiliary magic was fully completed,

Ssssuuu.

Something appeared on the floor, spewing black mist.

and,

“Battle.”

“Now, wait!”

“Start.”

Ignoring the voice of Lee Sun, who was struggling to use magic, he announced the start of the battle.

The being that appeared as if rising from the ground along with black clouds quietly looked around and extended its finger towards Lee Sun in front of him.

“Death―Ray.”

The moment the fingers hidden by the robe are revealed and the magic language comes out,

“Lee, Richie?!”

I immediately recognized its identity.

A famous magical undead figure. It’s Lich.

However, just because it’s famous doesn’t mean it’s easy to deal with or ‘Hello! It is definitely not a being that can be greeted with ‘Nice to meet you!’

In fact, most people should do their best to stay away from the lich as soon as they witness it. certainly.

As if someone was screaming, “Lich,” the magic of the lich came at the same time and struck candidate Lee Seon, who was shaking. A magic with the terrifying name of Death Ray.

“Ugh!”

As befits the name ‘ray’, the speed at which the magic was applied was very slow. Anyone with decent ability can easily avoid it.

But our proud candidate, Lee Sun, is screaming, covering her face with her hands, and closing her eyes. Like a pheasant that sticks its head into a bush when a hawk appears.

Clink-clack-crack-!

Lucky or bad, the defensive magic he had cast on himself in advance succeeded in reducing the power of the lich’s magic by quite a bit.

“Ugh!!”

If the previous scream was a scream of fear, this scream was a scream of pain. The black ray of light that hit Lee Sun’s upper body, which was clearly exposed by covering his face, penetrated the gorgeous armor he was wearing and hit his body.

The skin exposed where the armor penetrated was not as white as his face. The candidates and spectators who saw the black and gray necrotic flesh opened their eyes and held their breath.

It was the moment when I realized that this series of events that seemed like festivals or shows had nothing to do with that, but were literally a place to ‘evaluate’ capabilities and qualifications.

“Oh, I forgot to mention, but the method of this evaluation match is “annihilation.” It only ends when one of them dies. So cheer up.”

Dean Hu’s explanation, which was perhaps obvious, further strengthened the shoulders of the already nervous candidates. The small waiting room where the candidates were gathered was filled with so much tension that even the air felt heavy.

“Rich. Three?”

Of course, there were candidates who did not feel nervous at all. A representative example was Lina,

“Well? What do you think?”

So did Gray,

“Hmm~. well? It’s too boring for me. Even our little one can win, right? I might sweat a little, but.”

The same was true for the clown. No, the clown was yawning as if he was watching a boring fishing channel.

In that short time where several conversations took place between Lina and Gray,

“Aaagh!”

“Ugh?!”

“Gasp!”

“Ugh!”

.

.

The brightly lit stage was filled with sparkling red light.

There is no way a lich can spout red blood, so the owner of that red blood must all be Candidate Ethan.

“Save me! Save me!!”

Lee Seon’s scream. From his perspective, who had grown more beautiful than a flower in a greenhouse and had only dealt with low-level undead like zombies at best, each of the lich’s attacks turned his mind pure white with fear.

Even though there was a lot he could do, Lee Sun was in a hurry to run away. I could at least try to raise my sword, but I couldn’t even do that.

The third candidate, Lee Sun, suffered a penetrating wound to her abdomen, wounds with clearly visible bones on her shoulders and thighs, and burns all over her body.

“Lord, are you dead?!”

dead.

He wasn’t injured to the point of death, he was really dead.

In other words, this means that candidates who are subsequently evaluated can also die.

A feeling of fear and tension began to creep in among the candidates, and it began to show on the surface.

Some people bit their nails, and some people said, ‘Where can you find something like this!’ and later challenged the dean, only to be hit by a flying lump of mana and become quiet.

“This is really shit.”

“What?!”

“No, fuck. What’s the difference between giving a knife to kill an enemy and then whining that it’s too much because the person you sold it to is in danger of dying?”

Gray couldn’t understand the behavior of such candidates.

In the first place, the candidates were given power on the premise of fighting demons and demon lords who were more vicious and stronger than lichs.

However, from Gray’s perspective, he couldn’t understand either the guy who just screamed and ran away because the undead had appeared, or the guy who looked at it and said it was too much.

One candidate, who had reacted nervously and stood up, sat down with a frown on his face after being attacked with harsh facts.

Gray cannot understand the candidates numbered first to twelfth because he does not know what they have been doing for a week.

First of all, most of the candidates were nobles or even members of the royal family.

What they did was get together and come to an ‘agreement’.

What kind of bullshit are you talking about?

Twelve candidates from various countries gathered together and used their connections to inform the country’s master-level powerhouses.

If you are chosen as your opponent, lose.

This is an extremely aristocratic way of thinking and a way to prepare for evaluation.

But the third candidate, Lee Sun, has Richie as his opponent?

A feeling of disappointment appeared on the candidates’ faces.

And the moment Lee Seon’s death was confirmed, an intense fear enveloped the candidates’ bodies and minds.

“Medicine… … .”

While everyone was lost in their own thoughts, Richie, who was standing quietly in the middle of the stadium where the evaluation was taking place, opened his mouth.

And the answer to Richie’s incomprehensible remarks is,

Exactly!

“It is done.”

Afterwards, it came from the dean.

The moment he heard the sound of his fingers rubbing, a steady wave of Mana spread around the lich.

“Good.”

And just as Richie felt, his momentum grew incomparably greater than before.

“Hmm~?”

So much so that the clown reacts.

“As promised, you won, and the seal was lifted. Is that right?”

“That’s right.”

“Then. now… … .”

Dean Hu nodded at Richie’s answer, ‘That’s right.’ At the same time, two golden magic circles appeared behind his head and above his head.

The mere fact that the magic circle has been revealed means that the magic that Dean Hu is creating ‘silently’ while making different noises is at least Circle 7.

“What are you doing? ”

“Huh? Why?”

After innocently asking the dean as if he knew nothing, Richie also gained momentum and asked, ‘Are you going to break your promise?’

“You said you would release the seal. I never said I would save your life?”

It was so calm that it felt even more eerie, and as the dean made his remarks, his right hand, which had been holding up to his shoulder, fell down.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-!

As a signal, it was a shower of thunder that completely occupied the stadium.

This is Lightning Storm, a lightning spell that represents Circle 8.

After the thunderbolt that colored the entire field of vision with pure white light disappeared, there was a corpse in the center of the stadium, spewing out something black and shimmering intermittently.

“Ho? Did you hold on?”

As if the admiration of seeing the lich looking like a corpse was meaningless, a magic circle appeared behind the dean’s back and drew a golden picture. More clearly than before.

and,

Grrrr-

A pillar of red, blazing fire rose from the ground the Lich was standing on, and reached the ceiling of the stadium, where droplets of light formed.

The stadium floor, which was made of gold metal plates, and the stadium ceiling, which was made up of droplets of light, were not even scratched by Dean Hu’s incredible magic.

Only the lich inside and the now corpse of Ithon Ramnu were reduced to ashes by the Dean’s magic.