Ch.166166. Week 2 Evaluation (2)

The Faction War will be held over two days.

Professor Muniher has certainly shaken things up a bit, but the framework remains clear.

Day one is for individual matches. Day two is for team matches.

They can send inspectors to evaluate the opposing players, but since the educators also need to score, it seems difficult to allocate personnel.

As a result, they can’t hold multiple events simultaneously, which has extended the competition by another day.

“Those kids, they’re actually quite good, aren’t they?”

Rana is using wind magic like a mobility skill, not giving her opponent any openings.

Showcasing movements advantageous for both attrition and mobility battles, she seems about to take down her third opponent.

Crack-!

She closes the distance and releases a spark.

The opponent realizes from behind that their spell formula has been cut off. Not missing the opportunity created by the mana down, Rana finishes the job cleanly.

“She caught them well. I thought she’d struggle quite a bit since this opponent was like a fixed artillery position.”

To overcome and win despite an unfavorable matchup.

If I weren’t bound by regulations, I would have rushed over immediately to give her a thumbs up for a job well done.

─She won’t fall in the individual matches until she meets someone with the same attribute.

─The problem is tomorrow. She’ll be stirring up trouble all over the place.

─We might need to mark a couple more offensive wizards before we enter an unfavorable situation.

Quite a few educators were keeping a close eye on the match, impressed by Rana’s mobility.

They’re all racking their brains about how to counter that participant.

─Hey! She’s not the problem. Look at that!

─Oh, come on. My head’s already complicated enough without sudden… Wait, who is that now?

And so, another person was drawing attention.

It was Ethan.

─The main characteristic of fire attribute magic is firepower… but has he given up on firepower?

─Rather than giving up…

─It seems his purpose is to completely seal the source.

Rana had prioritized mobility, focusing more on evasion than attack.

Ethan, who attended the same lectures and trained with her, was the complete opposite.

Rather than evasive maneuvers, he chose to confront opponents head-on.

However, Ethan’s magic only exceeds the standard amount. He carefully controls the mana he uses, forcing his opponents into a battle of attrition.

With awkward mobility, like the previous opponent, they end up quickly caught by Ethan.

‘That Ethan. Did he see that and interpret it in his own way?’

Junon smiled slightly and turned his gaze to another arena.

─Down, victory to Ethan!

The inspectors burst into applause.

He had become a person of interest to be wary of in regions other than Sirah.

And then.

“Wow, he uses mana so efficiently.”

“Sirah is putting in quite an effort in this faction war, isn’t it?”

“Oh my goodness…! When did Uncle Jake arrive? Are you skipping work again?”

“R-Renias… You’re saying something that could get us in big trouble if overheard. Ahem… I am a professor at Lebrant Academy after all. Of course I had to come.”

They became quite the spectacle for spectators and judges alike.

For Ronelion, who had been closely observing the two from the beginning, this was quite a unique approach.

‘In individual matches where Road School students can’t even draw out their magic armor, magic-related indicators would naturally be dominant, but to turn this into an advantage… It’s clearly not a conventional method by anyone’s standards.’

His gaze returns to him once more.

‘But it seems it’s just those two?’

Although Rana and Ethan are scoring points, overall they’re falling behind as many others are struggling.

The gap will widen even more tomorrow. Unless the other educators are fools, they’ll obviously prepare countermeasures for those two key figures.

Even if they fought well in the individual matches, Sirah’s tomorrow looks bleak.

The main event taking place the next day. In team matches, captain battles, and group competitions, this power difference won’t change unless someone emerges who can overturn it.

‘Now, senior, what are you planning to do?’

Although Renias had shown such enthusiastic interest and praise, what I’ve confirmed directly is just his character.

It’s absurd for someone whose skills haven’t been proven to be by Renias’s side.

So this was a test of Junon from Ronelion’s perspective.

“Uncle, since you’ve taught all the third-years now, does that mean you know how they all fight?”

“Hmm? Not necessarily, but… I know their main magic at least.”

“Then, can you commentate on this match for me?”

“Huh?”

Renias asks, pointing to the match schedule with her finger.

‘…You’re asking too obviously, Renias.’

Her finger was blatantly pointing at the name Junon, showing just how interested she was.

“Let’s see. One side uses mana bullets, materializing mana and firing it. And…”

“And? What about the person on the other side?”

“…”

Unlike Renias’s expectant question, Jake didn’t answer immediately, instead making a troubled face and scratching his head.

“Well, you see. That guy… I don’t really know either.”

“What?”

Renias tilted her head in confusion.

Along with her, Ronelion also wondered what this meant.

Jake was a professor who had been at Lebrant Academy for years. It was natural to be puzzled that he didn’t know the main magic of a current third-year student.

He should have been observing them for at least three years.

“His unique magic is a mana shield, but that’s not a magic that attacks opponents.”

“Huh? So Senior Junon fights with basic magic?”

“…Unfortunately, I heard he can’t use that either. I heard the efficiency is poor.”

“Whaaaat?!”

Ronelion couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the statement that he couldn’t even use basic magic.

‘Not being able to use anything… means he can’t defeat opponents. Then how does he…’

Is he a vanguard who fights with weapons?

No, even then, the scales of victory would be too heavily tilted to one side.

The reason humans no longer fight barehanded is because they can employ various tactics by manipulating mana, but being able to only defend is too great a penalty.

“Actually, until the second semester of his second year, he fought barehanded because of that. He got absolutely crushed when evaluations involved duels.”

“Then… Senior Junon…”

“Will just defend and lose. That’s what you’re saying.”

That was the only answer that made sense. In team events like the Talbert Arc-based monster handling, where multiple people combine their strength, it might be different, but this is an individual match. A one-on-one duel, no less. It’s a discipline where he simply has no chance of winning.

‘…That’s a shame.’

Even if he’s someone Renias has opened her heart to, if he lacks strength, he can’t protect his only blood relative.

Ronelion was about to give up on any lingering attachment to Junon.

“Ronelion. You seem to be seriously misunderstanding. I said I don’t know, not that he’ll lose.”

“…Pardon?”

“I said he got crushed, not that he never won. Junon isn’t the type to give up just because he can’t use magic.”

He even added that it was a story from the past.

But it contradicted what he had just said.

If he can’t handle magic and therefore can’t attack, wouldn’t he just end up getting hit until it’s over?

‘At best, it might be a battle of attrition, but…’

Unless the opponent is a fool, they won’t use mana recklessly.

“…Does he really have a plan for victory?”

“Well, the match is starting, so see for yourself. You’ll understand much better why I said I don’t know.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the duel began.

As Jake had said, Junon’s opponent transforms mana into bullets and fires them.

Long-range versus close-range.

It was an extremely unfavorable condition in a situation where distance was maintained.

However, Junon doesn’t move.

The mana bullets advance straight toward him as he just stands there, staring blankly.

And then, they hit.

Dust rises from the point of impact.

“Senior!”

Just as Renias had jumped to her feet just now, anyone watching that scene would not predict his victory.

However, through the rising dust, the silhouette of Junon, who had been standing without moving, appears.

“Phew.”

“!!”

“Huh? What happened…?”

He’s fine.

On his body, where the mana bullets had undoubtedly hit, there wasn’t even a scratch.

Ronelion narrowed his eyes, finally sensing that something was hidden.

‘If I don’t concentrate, I’ll miss it!’

He couldn’t tell what had just happened.

But if he focused all his senses on mana detection, his perception should faintly reach that space not too far away.

He needed to detect movement there and notice the flow of mana and the activation of spell formulas.

The opponent, who was about to turn away thinking Junon had fallen, stops and turns back to create another mana bullet.

The process seemed not much different this time either.

“Huh? What’s this? Why did the bullets suddenly…”

But as Renias said, they disappeared.

The mana bullets vanish without a trace, and the opponent flounders with a bewildered face.

“Wow, I have no idea what just happened.”

“That’s why I said I don’t know what Junon’s main magic is. I saw the same situation once before, but I couldn’t quite grasp it.”

Chuckling, Jake adds one more thing.

“And I can say this with certainty: there’s hardly anyone in the third year who can match Junon in physical combat right now.”

Junon approaches slowly. If he could rush over and subdue the contestant with just physical techniques right now, he would have.

His eyes fixed on the opponent, he takes just one step at a time, as if not in a hurry at all.

‘If he’s being cautious until the end, aware that the opponent still has a final resort…’

Gulp.

Perfect is the only way to describe it. There’s no other way to express it.

The opposing student, seemingly concluding there’s no answer, uses their magic armor in a mirage state, converting it to mana as a final attack.

And this was the moment that decided the match.

“…Insane.”

“Ronelion?”

“Oh. Looks like Ronelion saw something? Judging by his gaping mouth.”

“What, what? What is it? Tell me too!”

Renias immediately approaches her twin brother, whose mouth is hanging open, and shakes him back and forth.

Despite his twin sister whining and shaking his body, Ronelion’s gaze remains fixed and rigid.

‘Slowly… I need to unravel this slowly.’

What he saw in the moment the match was decided needed to be unraveled one by one, like untangling a complex ball of thread.

What Junon had wrapped around his hand was clearly Mizar-type mana.

Without using his unique magic, the mana shield, he offset the opponent’s magic solely with mana.

Up to this point, he could understand.

It was a complete upgrade of the technique shown by the student named Ethan. The technique of countering mana with mana was something he himself often used, so he couldn’t fail to recognize it.

Even just this much was impressive enough.

Cleanly offsetting the opponent’s attacks with Mizar-type mana, which is rare and difficult to handle.

In terms of technique, it would have required thousands of practices to achieve such operation.

But what came after made him doubt whether he had seen correctly.

“Tsk, don’t just keep it to yourself, tell me. Hmm?”

“…Sorry. I don’t know anything.”

“Eh? You don’t know? That’s a lie. If you don’t tell me soon, I’ll keep whining?”

Although Renias keeps pestering him, he truly can’t tell her.

He only has suspicions and doesn’t know how to explain them.

The opposing student clearly drew a magic circle to create mana bullets. He then inserted mana to proceed to the next step, the activation of the spell formula.

And at this point, the mana bullets disappeared in the middle of formation.

What could be understood from this?

He could only speculate. Just that Junon had somehow interfered with this series of processes.

‘But if this speculation is true…’

He becomes an extraordinary person who can stop all magic before it’s even cast.

“…Uncle Jake. Can I meet Aunt Denis?”

“Huh? My wife? I heard she’s been quite busy lately. She discovered some ruins, I think.”

“Do you know which direction she went?”

“I’m not sure exactly. I just saw her walking down the path that leads from Lebrant to 3rd Street… Hey! Ronelion!!”

“Ah! Ron, how can you run away without telling me! Ugh.”

He could read most spell formulas and, by pouring mana into his senses, could read most processes. But this time, he lacked certainty.

Ronelion needed confirmation.

To the extent that he had to directly seek out an expert in this field to ask.