Ch.36Reassignment Exam (4)

Rustila, Rustila. Zernya, who had been repeating that name over and over, smirked.

Whoever she was, her attitude of trying to leech off Eidel was impudent. She probably lacked skill too.

It didn’t matter anyway.

Zernya continued to move. This still wasn’t enough. She needed to exert more effort and create a gap that Eidel’s team couldn’t overcome.

Zernya shifted her steps.

Thud, thud, thud!

Loud noises came from the side clearing.

The footsteps of a golem.

Zernya lowered her body and hurried toward the source.

There was a golem.

But someone had arrived before her.

“Hmph.”

The golem charged fiercely toward the boy. However, he smiled leisurely as he adjusted his sunglasses.

An elegant-looking sword hung at the boy’s waist. It looked like a sword from the eastern region. The scabbard extended smoothly.

Zernya’s steps halted as she was about to rush into the battlefield.

“…That guy.”

She had seen him somewhere before.

Yes, where had they met?

“…”

She remembered.

The vermin who had pretended to be a teacher on the first day of school and made her the laughingstock of the class.

Grind! She gritted her teeth.

He was obviously the type to act recklessly without thinking. Not knowing his place. He would certainly get beaten up by the golem.

Zernya waited quietly. She wanted to see that boy get thrashed by the golem. There were plenty of golems around anyway, so she could spare one or two.

“Come on, you rock pile.”

The boy, Welton Yusoford, said.

“I’ll show you some sick swordsmanship.”

Welton bent his waist and twisted his body. He lowered his stance by bending his knees and gently caressed the sword’s handle.

His posture was impeccable. No openings.

That preparation motion, she remembered seeing it somewhere.

Iaido.

“…Are you kidding me?”

She blurted out words she had meant to swallow, having lost her composure.

The completeness of Welton’s stance was high, but the technique itself was garbage. It would be difficult to demonstrate high destructive power. It would be useless except when used for ambushes.

But the next moment.

“Huh?”

The blade, stretching like taffy, pierced through the golem.

No, the blade didn’t stretch. It was the delayed appearance of ionized Aether.

The friction heat generated when drawing the sword, combined with the power of Aether, had succeeded in explosive ionization.

Zernya, who had pieced together the situation, smirked.

Indeed, that method might consume less Aether in terms of energy transfer.

[Real-time Scoreboard]

[1. Zernya von Adelbein: 900 points]

[2. Eidel von Rheinland / Seti von Rheinland / Rustila Kersil: 660 points]

[3. Welton Yusoford: 480 points]

Welton had also instantly gained 300 points from his previous 180, rising to third place in one go.

Zernya bit her lip slightly.

How impudent.

At this point, she needed to be more wary of him than Eidel. In terms of score ratio, he was essentially in second place.

But regardless of that, his swordsmanship was far inferior to Zernya’s.

Iaido was inadequate against A-class or higher monsters. If that was all he could do, she could win easily.

“…”

Let it go.

According to the test rules, fighting others would only result in penalties.

Sighing, Zernya continued to watch the scoreboard.

The situation was developing more interestingly than expected.

[4. Kristin Heresset / Mezulen Hueritia: 374 points]

Soon, the fourth place was catching up, but then…

[4. Mathers Byteling: 450 points]

[5. Kristin Heresset / Mezulen Hueritia: 374 points]

They were overtaken by another student.

Students scoring 300 points at a time were starting to appear. They had each defeated a golem.

If there are students who win against golems, there must also be students who lose.

[Eliminated: 1]

The number of dropouts who retired due to golems.

They probably weren’t seriously injured since they all had Aether barriers, but once the shield broke, it was game over.

[Eliminated: 17]

The number of dropouts increased rapidly. The speed was alarming.

[1. Zernya von Adelbein: 1200 points]

While she had hunted one more, the number of retired students approached one hundred.

So the mediocre ones have already been evaluated?

In other words, from now on, the test was to identify the upper ranks in combat ability.

And as if to confirm Zernya’s speculation, the scoreboard began to fluctuate wildly.

***

Behind Rustila. A scorpion-type golem leaped out, targeting her blind spot.

A B-class monster of the Darwin series, Scorpion. The golem modeled after it swung its pincers toward her.

“Dodge!”

Seti shouted. Before she spoke, Rustila was already twisting her body.

But unfortunately, Eidel was in Rustila’s path.

“Aah!”

Rustila let out a short groan. She avoided the golem’s attack, but they ended up rolling on the ground together.

“A-Are you okay?”

“Uh…”

“What are you two doing? Get up quickly!”

Seti hurriedly pulled Rustila off Eidel, who had collapsed beneath her. She drew her sword and took aim.

“Stop showing off and both of you prepare for battle…! Huh?”

Seti’s gaze swept through the empty space.

“Where did it go?”

“It ran away.”

Eidel said, brushing off the dirt on his body.

“Ran away?”

“B-class monster Scorpion. Darwin affiliation. Specializes in ambush and surprise attacks.”

In simple terms, it’s a monster good at hit-and-run tactics.

The golem seems to have been programmed with those same habits.

“Let’s chase it.”

“Can we now make a score jump too?”

“Little brother, just pick up Aether fragments.”

“Want to die? I can fight a little, you know?”

The bickering Rheinland siblings turned their gaze to Rustila.

“Rustila, let’s move.”

“…”

“Rustila?”

Rustila nodded slightly. Her head was hanging low toward the ground.

In her mind, the recent incident was replaying over and over.

They had touched.

Clearly, her entire body had made contact with Eidel.

It was an unfamiliar sensation.

Having her hand held, having her wrist grabbed. These were all experiences she’d had before, and not particularly worth making a fuss about.

But having her entire body pressed against someone was something she had never experienced before, and it was an embarrassing sight.

Moreover, the fact that she was the one who initiated it made her face feel increasingly hot.

Her male tolerance was reaching its limit.

“…Rustila?”

Was she overthinking it too much?

Tap, tap. Eidel snapped his fingers a few times, but Rustila didn’t respond.

Eidel wondered. Could she have died standing up?

Eidel lowered his head to make eye contact with Rustila almost forcibly.

“Hyaak!”

Rustila let out a shrill cry. The deep reverie she had fallen into shattered completely.

Rustila jumped up. Her yellow bangs fell to the side in disarray, and her ponytail bounced up and down.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt somewhere?”

The girl’s lips were trembling, and her cheeks were flushed like peaches. Ripples were forming in her navy blue eyes.

She looked like she might cry at any moment.

[— ‘God of Purity and Resolve’ whistles.]

[— You have received a 300-coin donation.]

Rustila finally regained her composure.

“N-No. It’s nothing. So, wh-what were you saying…?”

“Let’s go quickly. We need to hunt golems.”

“Oh, y-yes… right…”

Unlike Rustila, Eidel’s expression showed that he wasn’t bothered at all.

Maybe she was just being too sensitive?

Despite having lived a constrained life, she had learned not to attach too much significance to everything.

Yes, act normal. Just be normal.

[— ‘God of Purity and Resolve’ demands that you focus.]

Rustila ran after Eidel and Seti. A stream could be seen beyond the slope. And traces of the Scorpion were visible in the nearby bushes.

“Over there!”

Seti shouted.

Shing. Rustila drew her sword and preheated the blade simultaneously.

“Here it comes!”

The Scorpion appeared from the bushes with a rustling sound. Its ambush was sloppy, probably because it was only B-class. Rustila intuitively knew that her skills were at least equal to those of an A-class swordsman.

“Sis!”

“I know…!”

She infused Aether into her Plasma Sword. Flames flickered. With a discharge sound bursting forth like a flood, Rustila swung her arm with a whoosh!

The perfectly charged blade of light enveloped the Scorpion. It cut off the pincers and crushed the body.

And so Rustila…

[300 points added!]

…sliced through the Scorpion in one strike.

The scorpion emitted mechanical squeaks. Soon its tail crumbled to dust. Where the sword strike had passed, melted iron and thick mist lingered.

“Sis, amazing!”

Seti hugged Rustila tightly.

But it wasn’t over yet.

[— ‘God of Purity and Resolve’ demands that you focus again!]

Rustila gently detached Seti and turned around. Another one was coming.

“…Stay back.”

Another B-class golem. This one looked like a giant.

“…Ugh.”

Its size was overwhelming.

But it was still just B-class, wasn’t it? Having information reduced her fear.

“Little brother, you stay back.”

Eidel said. He readjusted his grip on his calipers and stood side by side with Rustila.

“Eidel?”

“I want to try too.”

“Won’t it be dangerous?”

“Even if it’s dangerous, I have to try. The homeroom teacher said so, right?”

Even those who will become researchers should train sufficiently in swordsmanship.

“I’m trying to put that into practice.”

“…”

Rustila recalled what had happened during the reclassification test. The sensation of when she blocked the cluster and Eidel finished it off with his calipers. The two of them had unexpectedly good synergy.

She couldn’t assign dangerous tasks to Eidel. It was something she, as a constellation bearer, had to do. Rustila gripped her sword tightly and supplied Aether to the blade.

Crackle!

The blade emitted a discharge sound and howled sharply.

Boom boom boom!

It wasn’t just the giant golem in front of them. Behind it, dozens more were swarming in.

“Wow.”

Seti’s shoulders trembled.

“Why are there so many?”

“…Must be an anomalous reaction.”

[— ‘God of Purity and Resolve’ warns you. The malicious energy is growing stronger!]

It wasn’t the presence of golems. She could tell that for certain.

But now was the time to focus on the enemy in front of them.

“Hoo.”

Rustila inhaled.

[— Paying 3000 coins to use a skill.]

And exhaled again.

[— A-class Conversion: Comminution]