Ch.148Exam (4)

# Sylvia’s Terrifying Threat

*Or kind warning, to which I responded by chanting a spell that enveloped Pia’s body in even fiercer flames.

A hot wind blew violently.

I could see the tips of my hair slightly melting and falling off.

Pia, now engulfed in such a massive fireball that her fox form was barely visible, took a step toward Sylvia.

“More flames? Certainly hot enough to cause burns, but—”

“You melt ice with fire. What else would you use?”

“…Melt it?”

Sylvia threw the ice chunk in her hand.

“A bit impudent, aren’t you.”

At that moment, I immediately realized it.

That I had been careless, no, arrogant.

Perhaps I had been overconfident in my training results, or maybe I hadn’t kept my guard up thinking Sylvia wouldn’t actually try to kill me.

That careless thought still lingering in my mind—even after having my shoulder pierced by an ice chunk noticeably larger than before—was shattered by the second attack.

Bang!

Before I could hear it flying, I first heard something explode.

No, perhaps it was the thunderous roar of ice tearing through the air as it left Sylvia’s fingertips.

A violent, chilling roar incomparable to the sound of a blade cutting through air.

Training meant nothing at that point.

In that moment when I couldn’t even flinch, let alone dodge, the ice chunk that pierced through Pia’s body grazed the tip of my ear.

It seemed Sylvia couldn’t aim properly due to Pia’s flames growing too large and the ice moving too quickly.

Frozen stiff, I couldn’t turn around, but from the two cracking sounds, I knew.

The ice chunk had pierced through the log wall of the cabin behind me like paper and even through the opposite wall.

Only after realizing this did a strong gust of wind finally hit me, wildly disheveling my hair.

“Ugh…”

It was fortunate that I hadn’t reacted.

Had I awkwardly responded and moved my head even slightly in the wrong direction, my head might have exploded.

It almost seemed like Sylvia was asking me, “Do you really think I can’t kill you?”

Just as I was thinking that, I remembered that Sylvia had created two ice chunks.

I immediately crouched down on the floor, squeezing my eyes shut as I waited for the impact.

“Ash!”

When I raised my head at Pia’s cry, I saw a large earthen wall before me.

Pia, now covered in earth instead of flames, was shielding me.

“I know it’s part of the plan, but this is urgent so I’ll—AHHH!”

BOOM!

Another thunderous roar.

As if an explosive had gone off nearby, my ears went numb.

Dirt scattered and fell over my crouched head.

The large earthen wall shaped like a fox gradually tilted toward me, then planted its massive front paw beside me to support itself.

The large earthen wall that had been slowly tilting as if about to cover me stopped abruptly about two meters above.

The earthen wall, just about to collapse onto my body, spoke to me.

“I’m sorry, Ash. I couldn’t wait for you to use magic, so I did it first. It probably drained more magic than if you had done it alone.”

“Yeah, it’s okay. Thank you.”

Before leaving the cabin, I had planned to change Pia’s body to earth to withstand Sylvia’s attacks.

Although Pia was accustomed to taking on a fiery form, and I had named her after the magical word for flame, she wasn’t actually a fire spirit, so I realized we could adapt using other types of magic.

However, creating flames and creating earth were entirely different matters.

Generating heat energy versus creating matter were completely different concepts, and the amount of magic required was on a different scale.

Indeed, according to that theory, I could feel a chunk of magic being torn from my body.

Though I still had plenty of magic left, it was still a startling expenditure.

“Ugh…”

Perhaps due to the alternating heat and chills, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through my pierced shoulder.

Gripping my shoulder tightly, I said:

“Since it’s come to this, let’s stick to the plan. We’ll move forward little by little.”

“Sorry, Ash. I don’t think that’s possible.”

“What?”

BOOM!

With another tremendous roar, the head of the large earthen fox exploded.

Then the huge mound of earth came crashing down on me.

“…!”

Is this what being caught in a landslide feels like?

I quickly chanted a spell while covering my face to prevent dirt from getting in.

*

Sylvia slowly walked across the flattened ground covered in a mess of earth.

There was no sign of Ash.

He seemed to have been completely buried under the mound of dirt.

However, Sylvia could roughly tell where Ash was.

She could sense the flow of magic emanating from his body.

Which meant that Ash was neither dead nor unconscious yet.

Sylvia slowly opened her mouth.

“Choosing to block rather than melt was a good choice, but earth was a mistake.”

No response.

But as if certain Ash was listening, Sylvia continued slowly.

“But I didn’t expect you to create earth from scratch rather than using the ground… what a waste of magic. Though I understand it would have been difficult to use the frozen winter soil…”

Suddenly, Sylvia stopped speaking.

She felt something odd about her own words.

Sylvia slowly tried to step back but stopped abruptly.

Or rather, she had no choice but to stop.

Her ankles were gradually sinking into slushy mud.

“…Ha, Ash, you’re being quite clever.”

As soon as both feet were bound, a huge mound of earth rose up and engulfed Sylvia.

It was visibly larger than the massive earthen wall Ash had created earlier.

“Seems like Sylvia knows some magic too.”

Indeed, creating earth from nothing was a foolish waste.

But that was merely Pia’s improvisation in an urgent situation. From the beginning, Ash had been targeting the frozen ground.

Covering Pia with flames hot enough to cause burns was also part of the strategy to soften the hard-frozen soil.

He had calculated that Sylvia, having only seen Pia wrapped in flames, wouldn’t easily notice they were using earth.

The mound of earth, several times larger than Sylvia—even larger than the cabin—pressed down on her like an elephant’s leg.

Soon, that mound took the shape of a beast’s leg, then slowly transformed into the form of a giant fox.

It was even larger than the initial flames or the recent earthen wall—large enough to tower over the trees surrounding the lake.

And atop it, as if riding a horse, sat Ash.

“Whew, this is high, so high.”

Ash spoke smugly while clutching the earthen mound with one arm.

His face wore a triumphant smile.

From the beginning, Ash’s victory condition wasn’t to defeat Sylvia.

He just needed to knock her down or somehow subdue her to pass.

This earthen mound was so high it could give someone acrophobia.

With such weight pressing down, even Sylvia couldn’t withstand it.

He might even need to worry about whether she would survive.

“Um, Ash.”

“Pia? What’s wrong?”

“Something feels strange.”

“Huh? What?”

“The ground beneath…”

“The ground? Don’t tell me… Sylvia got squashed?”

Ash looked down with a horrified expression.

“No, that’s not it.”

“…?”

“My feet aren’t touching the ground…”

“What do you mean… Pia?”

Pia’s trembling voice resonated throughout Ash’s body.

“Sylvia… she’s standing firm… no, she’s lifting my feet…”

“…What?”

Ash chanted a somewhat long and difficult spell.

X-ray vision.

It was a high-difficulty spell somewhere between intermediate and advanced magic, but as someone well-versed in theory, Ash could cast it given enough time and composure.

After a moment, having barely activated the spell, Ash slowly peered through the earthen mound that constituted Pia’s body.

“…Is this insane?”

Sylvia was supporting Pia’s legs with both arms.

Moreover, her bent elbows and knees were gradually straightening.

“Oh no.”

Apparently, the mud he had magically prepared to bind her feet had absorbed the impact.

Ash watched in astonishment.

He could see faint traces of magic enveloping Sylvia’s body.

That was it.

Just as Sylvia didn’t know everything about Ash and Pia, Ash didn’t fully know what magic Sylvia could use.

Ash slowly opened his trembling lips and murmured.

“Enhancement magic…”

At that moment, Sylvia let out a short “Hup!” and pushed away Pia’s feet.

Of course, given the weight, the time Pia’s feet were separated from Sylvia’s hands was very brief, but that brief instant was enough for Sylvia.

Sylvia lifted her leg with such force that she nearly twisted her knee.

The mud encasing her ankles released her feet as easily as if it were a calm water surface.

Sylvia rolled backward and escaped from under Pia’s feet.

Simultaneously, Pia’s legs crashed to the ground, and Ash was flung off Pia’s back from the impact.

“Whoa!”

“Ash!”

Momentarily suspended in mid-air, Ash plummeted headfirst toward the ground.

And directly below Ash,

“…Congratulations, Ash.”

Sylvia was once again drawing an ice chunk from her hand.

“I didn’t expect you to push me this far.”

Ash was horrified.

He couldn’t dodge in this situation.

Even his trained legs were useless without ground to stand on.

He tried to think of a spell, but in this situation, no appropriate magic came readily to mind.

It was a common problem for theory-focused students.

“Pia!”

But Ash had a loyal guardian spirit.

A large mound of earth wrapped around Ash’s body.

Like a giant ball, the compacted earth was falling toward Sylvia.

Sylvia sensed intense magic surging from the falling sphere.

Was he hardening it with solidification magic?

Under the shadow that grew larger as it blocked the sun, Sylvia smiled slightly.

“Alright, I don’t mind a head-on confrontation.”

Sylvia enlarged her ice chunk.

Beyond her grasp, the ice chunk—now almost the size of Sylvia’s head—was surrounded by a fierce cold aura of magic.

Sylvia felt her fingertips go numb.

Mild frostbite.

Though she could use magic, it was clearly unfamiliar to her, and Sylvia realized this would be her final attack.

Sylvia squeezed out vast amounts of magic to make the ice as large and cold as possible, then raised her other arm high.

“HAAAAAAH!”

With a thunderous battle cry, she hurled the ice chunk skyward with all her might.

Like a compressed spring suddenly released, the ice shot upward.

CRASH!

The ice shattered the earthen mound instantly.

Wait,

Shattered it?

“Oh no!”

Sylvia startled, looked up at the sky, then quickly covered her face with her arm.

Hard fragments like glass shards rained down on Sylvia.

The pieces stabbing into Sylvia’s skin were strangely hot.

“Ash, you… ack!”

Apparently, the intense magic she had felt was fire magic.

It seemed the earth had been baked from the inside with intense fire magic, and when Sylvia’s ice created rapid cooling, it had turned into a sort of ceramic state.

Sylvia raised her head, dispersing holy power.

The fragments embedding in her face healed and adhered simultaneously.

Ignoring this, Sylvia looked around for Ash.

But Ash was no longer in the air.

“…What is this?”

That’s when she heard it.

The sound of someone forcefully pushing off the ground tickled Sylvia’s ear.

“…!”

Before Sylvia could react, Ash leaped from outside her field of vision and embraced her side.

It was almost like a tackle.

Sylvia tried to brace herself, thinking of how Ash usually hugged her, but Ash’s strength was greater than expected.

Her body gradually tilted sideways.

“Ash!”

Though she was already losing balance and falling, Sylvia’s formidable core strength refused to give in and kept her standing.

Seeing Sylvia still standing in an impossible posture that was practically fallen, Ash let out the fierce battle cry he had been holding back for fear she might react quickly.

With the cry came an even stronger force pressing down on Sylvia’s upper body.

Sylvia gritted her teeth.

No,

No.

You can’t defeat me.

“Just…! Fall down already!”

“Ugh!”

Why don’t you understand?

This is for your own good!

The Demon King is such a dangerous being,

What you’re trying to do is so dangerous!

Sylvia grabbed Ash’s nape with her strong hand.

It was almost a habitual action.

Usually, she would break the neck of an enemy who clung to her like this.

But at that moment, something caught Sylvia’s eye.

Ash’s shoulder blade covered in bright red blood and the sharp ceramic fragments embedded in his back.

“…Ah.”

Sylvia’s eyes trembled greatly.

She immediately squeezed her eyes shut, let out a short sigh, and slowly fell with Ash.