Round of 4

The next day.

The semi-finals of the duel began amidst the cheers of countless spectators.

As if to prove that even more people had come than yesterday, there wasn’t even room to set foot in the stands.

The thought that Luna might be among these many people made the corners of my lips lift on their own. The emotions I had shared with Luna last night remained in my heart like a burning ember.

Although I couldn’t see her, the thought that Luna was cheering me on erased any tension or worry.

My own personal nerve stabilizer. And a highly addictive one at that.

,So, we finally meet?”

At the sudden words, I turned my head from the stands and looked at Elena.

,Yeah, now that I’ve made it this far, I should aim for the finals.”

Elena nodded with a cheerful smile at my answer.

-1st Year Semi-Finals! We will now begin the first match! It’s a battle between the Combat Department and the Magic Engineering Department!

The host’s shout was followed by a roar that seemed even louder than yesterday, echoing through the arena.

As a heavy pressure settled over the arena, Elena’s expression stiffened slightly.

A moment later.

With the host’s countdown, the duel began.

As Elena swung her staff, a huge ice spear appeared above her head.

I drew out the power of Destruction and charged towards Elena at the same time.

As if she had been waiting for me to move, Elena fired the ice spear at me as soon as I came within range.

The arena floor shattered from the terrifying power. A path of ice formed where the ice spear had passed.

I swung the Spear of Destruction mightily against the onrushing ice spear.

The ice spear, which had boasted a formidable presence, burst apart as if embarrassed by its own insignificance when it touched the spear’s blade.

As a result, shards of ice fell all over the arena.

As if she had expected her attack to be blocked, a new ice spear was already floating above Elena’s head, aimed at me like an arrow nocked in a bow.

I closed the distance with Elena, deflecting the ice spear that was rushing in with terrifying force once again.

Despite the disadvantage of me closing the distance, Elena still had a relaxed expression.

I dodged a small ice spear that flew in unexpectedly by bending my upper body back, and at the same time, I swung my spear wildly at Elena, who was now within range.

But Elena had already finished preparing to move from her position the moment she fired the small ice spear.

As Elena swung her staff greatly, creating distance between us again, the ice fragments that had fallen on the arena floor floated up and gathered in one place, forming another ice spear.

Two ice spears created by Elena.

If even one attack were to land, it would be so powerful that my upper body would disappear completely.

But I had the Spear of Destruction. With a short breath, I dashed towards Elena like a beast.

The huge ice spears rotated and rushed towards me like an explosion.

At the sight of the ice spears approaching in succession, I reflexively gripped my spear tightly and unleashed a series of strikes.

Kwaaaang–!

With a huge explosion, ice fragments once again fell onto the arena.

Seeing her create ice spears again and create distance, I got the feeling that Elena was planning something.

I was concerned about the ice fragments scattered throughout the arena.

Even if I chased after Elena like this, she would just create distance in the same way.

Approaching a mage without being able to use space magic was incredibly annoying.

In the end, whatever trap Elena had set, all I had to do was make it so she couldn’t run away anymore.

I took out the cloud bean seeds that I had put in my pocket beforehand.

As soon as I concentrated my magic power on the seeds and threw them, the giant beanstalk flew towards Elena.

The giant beanstalk, blocked by the huge ice pillars that had grown on the arena floor, instead fell towards me.

Kwaaang-!

Instinctively throwing myself forward to avoid the beanstalk, I rolled without stopping to avoid the giant ice spears falling from the sky.

There was no direct attack, but the light of the artifact on my chest turned yellow from the shockwave created by the ice spears falling from the sky.

As the time spent fighting Elena increased, there was no telling when the ice fragments that had fallen on the arena would turn into ice spears and fly at me from behind.

I sighed at the sight of the hateful Elena, creating ice spears above her head after creating distance, and preparing to run away.

It was dangerous to be led around any longer. Quickly racking my brain to come up with another method, I concentrated my magic power and threw a bean seed under my feet.

The beanstalk that had taken root on the arena floor began to grow rapidly.

As I grabbed onto the growing beanstalk and climbed up into the arena, ice spears flew at me with the intention of knocking me down, but I immediately swung my spear and deflected them.

Seeing Elena looking visibly flustered by my actions, I grinned and took out all the bean seeds I had in my pocket and threw them all at once towards the arena.

The beanstalks that had grown rapidly in the air rained down on the arena like giant hailstones.

Two ice pillars appeared on either side of Elena, blocking the falling beanstalks, but the pillars shattered from the impact, and ice fragments covered Elena.

Whether the impact wasn’t as great as I thought, Elena’s artifact only turned red and she wasn’t eliminated.

I had used up all the bean seeds I had in my pocket, but it didn’t matter. As I had initially intended, the arena was filled with beanstalks, and Elena had no way to escape anymore.

Elena’s ice spears flew at me as if in a last-ditch effort as I descended the beanstalk, but they were all blocked by the Spear of Destruction and burst apart.

Although I knew that Elena had nowhere left to run, I didn’t let my guard down and safely swung my spear, slowly closing the distance with Elena.

As the distance between us grew closer, Elena’s face became filled with terror for some reason, and I, flustered, couldn’t find the words to say. I greeted her with a small whisper and a dumb smile.

,Hi?”

,Kyaaaa!”

Elena’s reaction, as if she had seen a ghost, was a little hurtful.

*

The first match of the 1st year semi-finals was over. Lican stroked his chin as he watched Ross walk out to the cheers of the crowd.

,He’s amazing. I didn’t think he’d make it to the finals…. That student, Ross, was definitely admitted through special admission, right? Roel’s younger brother, the top student of the 2nd year.”

Lican nodded at Professor Tia’s question, who was sitting next to him.

Lican sighed, crossed his arms, and leaned back in his chair.

,That guy… he’s grown a lot.”

Lican muttered to himself in a bitter voice, then roughly ran his hand over his face.

In his first class, he couldn’t even swing a weapon and fainted from a single blow, and later he screamed at the sight of a corpse and even fainted.

Lican thought of Ross as a seriously underachieving student. So he seriously advised him to drop out.

He thought that if he stayed in the academy like this, he wouldn’t grow at all and would eventually be expelled for failing to graduate.

Until recently, Lican thought that Ross was below average.

But then he suddenly came to him and proposed an absurd bet that if he came in first place in the survival exam, he would train him.

He thought he didn’t know his place. He thought he was being arrogant because he had grown a little.

Young students often made childish mistakes.

But Ross confidently came in first place.

He even surpassed everyone’s expectations by ending the exam early and recording a new high score.

,Was I the arrogant one….”

Lican chuckled at his own patheticness. His judgment was completely wrong.

He was so caught up in his position as a professor that he arbitrarily judged the growth of his students.

,As expected, the Sage is different. Where did he see the potential….”

Lican nodded in agreement at Professor Tia’s mutterings.

Now, if someone were to ask him who had grown the most among the 1st year students at the academy, Lican could choose Ross without hesitation.

He couldn’t help but think that Headmaster Nelson had a reason for allowing Ross’s special admission despite everyone’s opposition.

As the host announced the start of the next duel, Lican stood up from his seat.

,Huh? Aren’t you going to watch the next match?”

,Something came up that I have to do.”

It was time to correct his mistake.

Reflecting on his arrogance, he was going to revise the training method for Ross, who had won the bet.

,If a student is working this hard, how can a lacking professor just be watching the match.”

Professor Tia instinctively fixed her gaze on the arena at the sight of Lican’s ferocious appearance, burning with passion.

,The worst…. No, I’ll prepare the strongest training….”

Professor Tia didn’t want to know what the words she heard in her ear meant.

*

I was hugging Luna, who had come to the waiting room after the match, and rubbing my cheek against her head when I suddenly shuddered at a chill that ran down my spine.

I stopped rubbing my cheek against her head and trembled slightly, and Luna lifted her head from my arms and looked up at me with a lovely expression.

,Why~?”

,Ah, no, it’s nothing….”

The uneasiness was soon buried in Luna’s warm embrace, but a strange feeling of discomfort remained in a corner of my heart.