Oops, I pressed it by mistake?

“Good. We’ve now arrived at Training Ground No. 3. Although it took some time in the process, we should be thankful that we entered without any casualties.”

“In the end, we couldn’t find the sniper though.”

At Phillips’ sharp comment, Marcas frowned slightly and grumbled.

“That’s… only because the sniper was too skilled. It was because the opponent was too strong for us to subdue with our capabilities, not because my judgment was wrong.”

“Yes, yes. If you say so.”

“….Phillips. Do you suddenly feel like climbing up?”

“Our leader wasted a good 30 minutes flailing around, so I thought a little jab would be acceptable.”

“This bastard really…!”

As the atmosphere was growing increasingly hostile, Elina, who had been quietly keeping her eyes closed, slowly opened her mouth.

“….Both of you, please calm down. A large-scale battle is taking place up ahead.”

“….We’ll deal with you later. Everyone, move stealthily to the battlefield. We’ll attack when the enemies are exhausted after fighting each other.”

Marcas gestured, and everyone followed him, slowly moving in the direction Elina had indicated.

After about 4 minutes of travel, the Blue Team finally arrived at the battlefield.

There, a small number of people were facing each other and launching attacks.

The situation was proceeding with 3 against 2. Perhaps one of them was the Red Team, and the other side was a team that came to attack this place.

From Blue Team’s perspective, either side was an enemy that needed to be taken down. Now was the opportune time while the enemies were draining each other’s strength.

“Everyone. Eliminate the remaining stragglers!”

Under Marcas’s command, Blue Team launched their attack.

Both teams, focused on each other, couldn’t withstand the fierce attack of the Blue Team at full condition for long and fell like autumn leaves.

Just as Marcas was about to eliminate the last remaining female student, that girl with orange hair gritted her teeth and muttered.

“Ugh…. Sion…. I won’t let you get away with this!”

The female student was eliminated by Marcas’s magic.

However, although they should have been happy about the successful ambush, only uneasiness lingered on Marcas’s face.

“….If it’s Sion, isn’t that the guy who was eliminated by the sniper?”

Why did that female student call out that guy’s name as she was eliminated? That guy should have been eliminated long ago.

After pondering for a moment, the question remained unsolved.

Only a sense of uneasiness spread quietly through Marcas’s mind. Nothing improved.

“Good. With this, the Red Team occupying this place has been completely wiped out. Now our mission is to defend this Training Ground No. 3 for the remaining time…..”

“Excuse me, I’m not cutting you off out of personal malice, but could you look over there?”

Marcas growled with a hostile expression at Phillips, who was once again finding fault.

“….Phillips. We could manage to defend this territory just fine without you. Shall I eliminate you myself?”

“I know you don’t like me, but before that, just look at that.”

“What is it. Uh….?”

Marcas turned his head irritably following Phillips’ gesture, and slowly his expression hardened.

“….Why is the flag color still red?”

The flags hanging inside the building were red.

In other words, this territory still didn’t belong to the Blue Team.

“Those guys who were fighting each other earlier…. were the Yellow Team and Green Team? Where did the Red Team go?”

“This is enough to make ghosts wail. It’s practically unheard of for attacking teams to fight each other and self-destruct before encountering the defending team….”

“Elina. Use your reconnaissance magic again. Take as much time as you need, but cover as wide an area as possible.”

“Understood.”

Elina nodded and closed her eyes, taking time to use a large-scale reconnaissance magic.

“….Ah! I detected just one person. From my position…. about 50m to the east.”

“That must be the last remaining member of the Red Team. Everyone, move to eliminate the final person.”

The Blue Team moved in the direction Elina indicated to eliminate the last Red Team member.

“This place…. it’s where the training magic devices are placed.”

The place Blue Team arrived at was where various training magic devices were arranged.

Magic launchers, swordsman puppets, magic concentration controllers, and other training tools made from the essence of magical engineering were placed as if targeting them.

“This seems to be the place Elina mentioned, right Elina?”

“Yes, that’s right. They’re hiding behind the magic launcher over there.”

“Hey! You must be the last remaining Red Team member. All your teammates have been eliminated. You have no chance of winning, so surrender!”

Marcas shouted toward the magic launcher where the last Red Team member was hiding, and soon after, a man slowly walked out from behind the magic launcher.

“Haha, this has become troublesome.”

The one who walked out from the magic launcher was Sion.

“Huh? Wasn’t he the one who was eliminated by the sniper earlier….”

“What’s going on here?”

The entire Blue Team was confused by the appearance of Sion, who should have been eliminated.

“Nice to see you. It’s been exactly 41 minutes since we last met? I’m glad to see you all again. Do you still have the potion I gave you?”

“….You were never a part of Blue Team from the beginning.”

“Ahaha, I’ve been found out. Have you ever considered becoming a detective?”

“Stop this pathetic stalling. Choose whether you want to be eliminated painlessly by surrendering, or suffer a painful elimination.”

Marcas asked while aiming his magic at Sion, and Sion scratched the back of his head before answering.

“Since my motto is ‘doing my moderate best,’ surrender seems difficult for me.”

“In that case…..”

“But you know. Blue Team, everyone. Aren’t you being too careless just because I’m alone? If you show such blatant disregard, you might regret it later.”

Marcas snorted and replied.

“Careless? There are 10 of us, and I’m even a 3-star magician. Unless you’re a 4-star, it’s impossible for you to defeat us.”

At that moment, Sion wagged his index finger and said leisurely:

“Ahem, such recklessness isn’t good. Surely you don’t think I was just playing the guitar while waiting for you all to arrive?”

“What?”

“The place where you’re all standing now has all kinds of training magic devices arranged. And I’ve set the training level of all these devices to the maximum.”

Sion held up one finger and asked with a bright smile.

“Here’s a question! If these magic devices were to activate… who would be laughing then?”

Marcas’s spine chilled instantly upon hearing Sion’s words.

Oh no. Is that it? He was aiming for this and that’s why he’s here…!

“That doesn’t make sense to begin with. The switch to activate the magic devices is over here. Unless that guy approaches this place, it’s impossible to activate the magic devices.”

At that moment, thanks to Phillips who coolly observed the surroundings, Marcas regained his composure.

As Phillips said, the switch to activate the magic devices was placed in front of the Blue Team.

“How foolish. As Phillips said, unless you, Sion, approach directly, the magic devices won’t activate. Seems like you only thought of one thing and not two.”

Marcas glared at Sion with a pleased smile.

Surely his face would show panic as his entire plan falls apart…..

“Hmm? Is there really a need for me to press it?”

Contrary to Marcas’s expectation, Sion still maintained a relaxed expression.

No, beyond relaxed—it was as if he was mocking his enemy.

“This is absurd. There’s only us and you here, so if it’s not you, who exactly is going to press this switch?”

“That’s what I’m saying. Who knows? Maybe one of you harbors ill intentions and might press the switch? You never know what can happen in this world.”

“You boldly spout nonsense. The word games end here. Everyone! Eliminate the last Red Team mem…!”

Just as Marcas was about to give the attack order, Sion gave a meaningful smile and…

“By the way. Look around you, everyone.”

He opened his previously half-closed eyes and sneered.

“Since when… have there been eleven of you?”

“What…?”

Marcas, momentarily intimidated by Sion’s chilling gaze that felt like it could tear him apart, frowned and turned around.

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and Marcas himself… eleven?

“Huh…?”

The Blue Team clearly consisted of 10 people, so how could there be one extra?

Just as he felt something was seriously wrong, an unbelievable sight unfolded before Marcas’s eyes.

Sion was mixed in among the Blue Team, grinning.

Clearly Sion was over there in the distance, so why was another Sion naturally blended among them here?

Two Sions? Was it an illusion?

“Oh? What an interesting-looking switch.”

As Marcas was frozen in confusion, the other Sion who had naturally blended in with the Blue Team stepped forward cheerfully.

“I just can’t resist pressing a switch like this!”

• • Click.

He pressed the switch of doom.