episode_0064
by fnovelpiaLaura von Adelheid opened her closed eyes.
“Here is… .”
Dirt here. Dirt there. Mud walls and floors made entirely of dirt.
It didn’t take long for Laura to realize that she was standing inside a maze built into the training ground. She slowly looked around.
Because it was built with solid earthen walls surrounding it on all sides, the passages in the maze were so narrow that only two people could pass through at a time.
Looking up at the sky of the maze, it was covered with a dark curtain, just as Professor Andres had said. It was impossible to see outside from inside the maze.
Laura put her hand to the mud wall. The straight mud wall was so tightly packed that not a single grain of dirt could be moved by simply running her hand over it.
It also meant that it would be difficult to break down the walls of the maze and find a way out. Laura thought about using magic to break down the mud walls, but soon gave up.
“You have to conserve your magic power.”
The maze that I saw from the stands. It was clearly huge, and the magical power was not infinite to destroy all those earthen walls. Laura clicked her tongue without realizing it and slowly walked forward.
‘The condition for winning this match was to capture the flag.’
Yes. If you capture the flag, you can advance to the next duel. It’s a very simple rule.
‘There are 64 flags in the maze.’
In other words, only one-fifth of the students will advance to the next round. Laura must be one of them.
In a maze where the structure changes in real time, it is pointless to try to figure out the structure.
So, first of all, we have to explore this maze.
It was the moment when her first goal was set. Laura took out her magic wand from her bosom and held it up.
Just as an orchestra conductor swings his baton, pure white magic power from the elegantly dancing staff lingers in the air, forming a magic circle.
“Output, conversion, repulsion.”
The circular magic circle drawn at the innermost part outputs the magical power that Laura emits.
The complex orbit of magic surrounding it is a transformation system that transforms external impact into magic.
And finally, the small magic circle is surrounded by a regular dodecagon technique without any gaps. Other students would not have been able to draw a regular dodecagon in this short time, but Laura was able to do it.
“Magic Protection(υπερασπίζω).”
It’s not defense, it’s protection. It’s not simply a defense against a specific attack, but a complex technique where a semi-transparent dodecagonal membrane spreads out on all sides of Laura, protecting her from all attacks.
Laura smiled contentedly, looking at the translucent membrane swirling around her.
Now all she has to do is find the flags hidden throughout the maze.
Laura’s footsteps began to move. Of course, the direction was forward.
* * * * *
– Cornwell student! What a pity! We left the flag right in front of our noses!
Another student was kicked out of the maze after losing a duel with another student. I stared at the monitor that was broadcasting the scene in real time, my mouth tightly shut.
The students of Class 1-A were still holding on well. A couple of unlucky students had dropped out, but there were still about thirty Class A students left in the maze.
Among them, Chloe, Laura, and Elin have not been eliminated yet. However, these three have not yet found the flag.
The time limit for Capture the Flag is one hour. Forty minutes have already passed, and only twenty unclaimed flags remain.
The number of students remaining was only about 100. This meant that 220 students were eliminated in 40 minutes.
Among these, there are 56 students without flags. These 56 students will have to find the flags quickly during the remaining 20 minutes.
“Student Adelheid still hasn’t found the flag… . A bit surprising, don’t you think?”
Professor Esther asked with an anxious expression. Since Laura was also attending Professor Esther’s class, it was not surprising that Professor Esther was paying attention to Laura.
“… Yes. That’s right.”
I clenched my fists and watched Laura’s appearance being relayed on the monitor.
No, I looked at it.
‘You are of Adelheid’s blood. Laura von Adelheid.’
Yes. Laura von Adelheid. That child is clearly the eldest daughter who inherited the blood of Maximilian von Adelheid the most.
A genius who is widely evaluated as the daughter of the magic powerhouse, Adelheid. A noble girl who is said to have received all of Maximilian von Adelheid’s love. A daughter of magic. A great magician who can enlighten anything.
however….
‘What on earth are you doing…?’
I clenched my fists. Through my tightly clenched teeth, a silent scream seemed to escape.
‘If it were you, if it were someone like you…! Shouldn’t you be able to solve something like capturing the flag easily…!’
I stared at Laura silently, as she wandered around the ever-changing maze with an impatient expression on her face.
And then,
– Ah! Chloe! You finally got the flag! Now, it’s time to get to the center of the maze!
The monitor that was relaying the situation in Dalian captured Chloe standing there with a bewildered expression.
In front of her, holding the flag in her right hand, the earthen walls slowly began to move aside to make way for her, changing their structure in real time so that she could run straight to the center of the maze.
That’s why the structure of the maze keeps changing. As the students find the flags, the structure of the maze becomes more and more complex, and there are more and more dead ends.
The chances of the remaining students being left behind increasing. It was an extremely vicious way of operating.
As the previously clear path became blocked, Laura was seen biting her lip and turning around, which was relayed on the monitor.
I looked at it, and it was hard to hold back the feeling of tightness in my chest.
‘Laura von Adelheid… .’
There are now only twelve flags left.
This meant that Laura’s chances of capturing the flag had become even lower.
* * * * *
Time is running out, the number of flags is decreasing in real time, and the maze structure is narrowing.
Laura didn’t like the whole situation she was in. She thought she could confidently get through something like this flag-capture, but reality wasn’t so easy.
I was so unlucky. I could easily deal with other students who ran into Laura or who blindly attacked her, but the flag just wouldn’t show up.
‘If this continues, really… .’
Could it be that I’m going to be eliminated on the first day of the grade-by-grade competition? Something so absurd?
“… No.”
At least, Laura had no intention of giving up. Laura shook her head to shake off the negative thoughts, and was about to turn the corner of a mud wall.
“Huh… ?”
Unlike before, a fairly wide open space appeared. Laura looked at the space with a slightly bewildered expression.
And soon, Laura’s eyes began to shake violently.
It was because I discovered a lonely flag fluttering straight in the middle of an empty lot with an evenly packed dirt floor.
“Gi, flag… !”
It was a flag. After diving into this tedious maze for about 50 minutes, she finally found the flag. Laura felt like she was going to burst into tears.
Her hands were covered in dirt, and her clothes were also covered in dust, clearly showing how much she had struggled to find the flag. Laura wiped away her tears with her fern-like hands.
Just then, Laura was about to take an excited step towards the flag.
– Tata-tang—!
Suddenly, a dull, piercing sound of the surrounding air bursting and tearing apart reached Laura’s sensitive ears. Laura stopped walking immediately.
– Pavabak!
Three bullets were stuck in the hard dirt. Laura’s eyes, upon seeing them, instantly turned into sharp knives and she calculated the trajectories of the bullets.
Calculation, search, and deduction.
“Tsk. This isn’t right.”
A boy, holding a revolver in his hand, slowly walked out from around the corner of the mud wall on the other side. Laura could tell who he was.
He was a student in the same class, Class A, who I had seen in passing during Professor Antonelli’s theology class.
He looked at Laura with slightly surprised eyes, as if the other person was also surprised after realizing her identity.
However, that was only for a moment. Soon, Laura saw the boy’s eyes turn into those of a fierce hunter, and she quickly got into a fighting stance.
“You’re Adelheid’s daughter, right? Laura von Adelheid.”
“Who are you?”
“… Aren’t we in class A? Don’t you know my name? ”
“I don’t remember people I’m not close with.”
Taking it as a provocation, the unnamed male student ground his teeth and reloaded his revolver.
“My name is Nils. Nils Chambers, a combat instructor in Class 1-A.”
“Niels Chambers of the Combat Faculty… . I will remember.”
“Laura von Adelheid. Why don’t you just give me the flag instead of fighting?”
“Do you think I would allow it?”
“Do I really need to get your permission?”
“Then, do you think I’ll just sit back and watch you take the flag? I guess I underestimated you.”
After Laura’s words, a suffocating silence descended on the empty lot.
Since the students Laura had met so far were not from Class A, she looked at them with nervous eyes at the appearance of a strong opponent she had encountered for the first time. And the same was true for Nils, who was standing on the other side.
Since the students in Class A had never sparred with each other before, it was no wonder that their tension towards each other was at its peak.
The students of Class A are the top students of the same year at Chaldea Imperial Academy. There are no exceptions, no matter what the field.
A tumbleweed that had popped out from somewhere rolled between the two and toward the flag that was planted there.
“… … .”
“… … .”
And the moment the tumbler touches the flag and stops.
“Be crushed(συντριβή)—!”
– Tata-tang! Kwakwang!
Without a word about who would go first, attacks flew towards each other. The three bullets heading towards Laura were blocked by the magic defense and shattered into pieces, and the invisible attack flying towards Nils strongly pressed down on his body.
“Krrr…! Lord, gravity manipulation magic… !”
“Hoo… !”
It was a stroke of genius to have prepared the magic circle in advance. However, Nils still did not fall.
“You’re persistent…!”
“This, what the heck… !”
Laura quickly began to formulate a spell. Her brilliant mind quickly completed the calculations, and soon a magic circle began to form in the air following the movements of her wand.
“Liquid, conversion, amplification, absolute zero… .”
A pure white chill began to form on the magic circle. Her magic circle was completed in an instant.
However, Nils had no intention of just letting this happen. Almost completely free from the influence of magic, he quickly emptied the bullets in his revolver and quickly filled it with glowing red bullets.
“Eat this!”
“Freeze like this! Snowstorm (χιονοθύελλα)!!”
– Kwakwakwang—!!
There are only five minutes left in the match, and these two students have absolutely no intention of backing down.
It was a moment of fierce battle to achieve the first victory.
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