episode_0087

“Wh-What in the world…?”

Gashurin stared at Loki with trembling eyes, unable to grasp what had just happened to him.

‘Can someone who’s already eliminated eliminate someone else?’

Even after being eliminated by Loki, Gashurin didn’t realize that the news of Loki’s elimination that had spread earlier was false.

“I’ll explain what happened just for you, Gashurin. This is a special favor because we’re friends, so be grateful~.”

Loki dispelled the illusion he had used to create Alicia’s appearance.

If it had been a student from another class, he wouldn’t have told them, but Gashurin was a classmate.

And there were no other presences nearby either.

“Ta-da! Look at this.”

Loki pulled out a doll and a sound-emitting magical device from subspace and whispered.

[Loki eliminated]

“…………So that’s how it is. Thank you for telling me.”

After a moment of thought, Gashurin nodded, seemingly having finally realized what had happened.

“Aren’t you angry?”

Loki was rather flustered by Gashurin’s much calmer reaction than expected.

He had thought that even if Gashurin wasn’t annoyed, he’d at least show some signs of despair.

“It’s all my own fault. How can I blame a friend?”

Loki scratched his head.

This makes me feel like such a jerk.

“Your performance defeating Ren earlier was excellent.”

“How did you know? There was no one around…”

“Didn’t I tell you before the test began? That I would always be watching you.”

Loki’s words from earlier echoed in Gashurin’s mind.

‘No matter how far you are, I will always be watching you all.’

He had naturally thought it was just the usual nonsense.

He never imagined it was actually true.

“Hahahaha! I thought it was a joke, of course. Since things turned out this way, go on and win the test.”

“Of course! I’ll send everyone else your way, Gashurin.”

“Don’t talk as if I’m dead.”

* * *

The control room where all the professors were gathered.

“In the end, that crazy bird—no, student Loki—defeated student Gashurin.”

“Honestly, wouldn’t anyone fall for that?”

“Indeed.”

While the professors were discussing Loki’s defeat of Gashurin, a professor looking at another screen spoke up.

“Oh? Did he finally get caught?”

Not all professors were watching Loki.

To be precise, they couldn’t watch him even if they wanted to.

Because they had to watch other students and assign their evaluation scores.

Of course, the screen showing the forest had a save function, so they could watch it again later, but that would make the grading time too long.

The professors’ evaluation criterion was simple:

How well one utilized their abilities.

“That student is wasting too much mana.”

“This one fell into their own trap.”

“That student is good at catching artificial monsters, but they’re using more power than necessary.”

“Clara is also continuously using mana, but since it’s Clara, it should probably be seen as good usage.”

If another mage used as much mana as Clara, they wouldn’t receive a high score.

But Clara was different.

Clara’s unique characteristic was her nearly infinite mana.

It was incomparable to the mana of other mages.

Alicia, after Loki, coveted Clara the most.

In terms of mana quantity, she surpassed even Alicia, a dragon.

“Sepia is also utilizing her spirits well.”

“Using unseen wind and earth spirits to find other students or monsters is the best method.”

“To have two spirits scouting while using fire and water spirits to protect herself—she truly uses all four elemental spirits well.”

After that, the professors quickly continued evaluating other students.

“…So, how should we evaluate Loki?”

“””………………”””

At one professor’s cautious question, the other professors fell silent for a moment.

“His ability utilization is extremely good… isn’t it?”

“We can’t deny that.”

Before the practical exam, the professors had predicted how the students would behave during the test.

Most students didn’t deviate much from those predictions.

But Loki deviated from all predictions.

And not long after the test began, when Loki entered this place, all of the professors’ predictions went awry.

Footsteps.

The sound of someone walking this way was heard.

They didn’t check who was coming, but there was only one person who would come here now.

“I’m back! It’s still chilly outside. Home truly is the best! Professors, please don’t go outside your homes if possible.”

The professors hated themselves for slowly getting used to that nonsense.

They shouldn’t get used to such things.

Loki, having returned to “home?”, greeted the professors and compared his own scores with those of other students on the screen.

“As expected, I’m in the top ranks.”

Gashurin already had a lot of points, having defeated Ren before Loki eliminated him.

Ren also had a lot of points, and all of those points were absorbed by Gashurin.

Loki then absorbed Gashurin’s points.

Honestly, even if he just stayed still here, a high rank was guaranteed.

‘The goal is first place.’

Loki shifted his gaze to another screen and checked the remaining students.

“No other students are left, and only three special class students remain besides me. So many have been eliminated already. Don’t other students have any tenacity?”

That’s all because of you.

As Loki returned, the professors’ heads began to throb again.

They were seriously debating whether to just kick him out and pretend not to know, when Loki pulled out a chair from subspace, sat down, and pointed a finger somewhere.

“Oh! Sefaa and Lucas are starting to fight! Professors, why don’t you sit next to me and watch? Oh! Should I get you some popcorn?”

They had a feeling that the ownership of this place had changed, but for now, the professors also looked at the screen Loki was pointing at.

* * *

[Lucas Leonhart eliminated.]

‘Who’s left now?’

Clara heard the broadcast announcing Lucas’s elimination and wondered who was left.

When a student was eliminated, it was announced via broadcast, but Clara only knew the names of the special class students, not all the names of the other students.

Therefore, she knew that with Lucas’s recent elimination, all special class students except herself had been eliminated.

But she didn’t know how many first-year students who weren’t in the special class remained.

A professor had announced on the broadcast that there were 30 minutes left, so by now…

A throb.

Clara, calculating the remaining time, touched her left shoulder, which ached, with her right hand.

If Lucas hadn’t been exhausted, she might have been the one to collapse.

[10 minutes remaining until the end of the test.]

Clara listened to the broadcast and thought.

‘I’ll probably be first place even if I just stay still like this.’

Just moments ago, Clara had gained an enormous number of points by eliminating Sepia and then the exhausted Lucas.

Just as she decided to rest for the remaining 10 minutes.

“Hiiik!”

Someone burst out of the forest and screamed.

It was a face she’d never seen before.

Thinking it was a student from another class, Clara quickly chanted a spell and threw a fireball, intending to eliminate him and then rest.

Whoosh. Bang!

But the man threw himself aside with quite fast speed, dodging the fireball.

“Tsk.”

This time, she created dozens of flame arrows and shot them at the man.

‘That movement?’

But the man dodged all dozens of arrows with a unique movement.

It was a movement she had seen somewhere before.

Just as Clara was thinking about where she had seen it.

Clang!

A dagger flew in, struck the shield she had activated, and ricocheted away.

Clara stared intently at the dagger lying on the ground.

It was a familiar dagger.

It was the dagger someone threw at Alicia every morning in the special class.

“…Why are you still here?”

Clara said, furrowing her elegant brow.

“Oh, I’ve been discovered. By the way, it doesn’t look like you activated the shield in response to my dagger. Did you perhaps keep the shield active all along?”

The appearance of an ordinary man vanished, and the familiar man who always spoke playfully appeared.

Clara didn’t answer and silently chanted a spell.

“Others use shield magic momentarily when the opponent attacks. Isn’t it a bit cowardly to keep the shield active throughout the fight?”

Clara didn’t answer again and fled using flight magic.

‘The broadcast clearly said he was eliminated earlier.’

Clara’s judgment was quick. She didn’t know why Loki was still here.

But what was certain was that in her current physical condition, she absolutely could not defeat Loki.

‘If I’m going to be eliminated, it has to be by a monster.’

If she was eliminated by Loki, Loki would gain her points, but if she was eliminated by a monster, Loki would not.

* * *

Bang! Boom! Crash! Boom!

Clara flew around with flight magic, barraging Loki, who was chasing her, with spells.

‘I can’t see any monsters.’

Clara tried to find a monster while dodging Loki, but not a single one was visible.

“Surely, Clara, you’re not intentionally trying to be eliminated by a monster so I don’t get your points, are you?”

Clang! Bang! Boom!

Clara answered by launching spells instead.

“Unfortunately, I’ve already dealt with all the monsters nearby before I could get to you, Clara.”

But Loki blocked or dodged all the spells flying his way.

[1 minute remaining until the end of the test.]

“Oh my, time really flies when I’m on a date with Clara. But if things go on like this, I might lose, you see.”

And so, several Lokis said.

“””Now, why don’t you just let yourself be caught?”””

Seeing the clones rush at him, Clara clicked her tongue.

“Tsk.”

Even if she launched a spell at one and happened to hit it, if it was a fake, she would be defenseless if the real one attacked.

In a situation where she could neither advance nor retreat, Clara stopped her flight magic and descended to the ground.

“””Now give up. There’s no more hope for you. Oh! Didn’t I sound like a villain just now?”””

Ignoring the nonsense, Clara silently chanted.

This magic was one she had learned from her master, the Tower Lord, and she still lacked the proficiency to chant it while maintaining flight magic.

“I’m not some third-rate villain who waits around while a magical girl transforms, you see.”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Boom!

Loki, who was rushing to interrupt Clara’s chanting, suddenly jumped backward to dodge a fireball falling from the sky.

“Ahaha, this is ruined.”

Loki looked at Clara, who was supporting a fireball with both hands.

If it had been an ordinary fireball, he would have just rushed in.

The fireball Clara was supporting with both hands was dark and so massive that he had to tilt his head back to see it.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to throw it at you.”

Clara threw the spell onto the ground.

CRASHHHHHHH!

Along with an enormous explosion, the broadcast announcing the end of the test was heard.

[Test ended.]

“Haa… haa…….”

A throb.

Clara felt as though she might faint at any moment.

But her pride wouldn’t allow her to lie down on the ground.

To rest even a little more comfortably, she also released the shield she had continuously maintained around her body.

She probably threw it at the ground on purpose, so he wouldn’t have been hurt either.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

Someone walked out from a place filled with dust, clapping.

“To think you’d throw a spell at the ground at the very end to obscure vision. You’re truly amazing, as expected.”

She was too exhausted to turn her head to look at the owner of that playful voice.

“Clara, you’ve worked hard.”

Because of this, she didn’t notice Loki placing a sword against her back.

“The test is already ov…………”

Just as Clara was about to express her displeasure at Loki putting a sword to her back even though the test was over.

[Clara Adelien eliminated. Time remaining until the end of the test is 2 hours and 33 minutes. However, since only Loki remains, the practical test will now end.]