Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Killing the Talent Freaks (2)

“She really is amazing, is she not? Headmaster Levia.”

I felt none of the nausea or dizziness that came as side effects of Teleport.

It was probably because the distance moved was short, but even so, she had randomly moved well over a hundred students to different locations and even adjusted it so there were no side effects.

As expected of a Headmaster evaluated as a Special Grade who had surpassed the realm of Grade 1.

Rumble, rumble, rumble…….

Along with a vibration echoing from far away, an ice castle rose in one corner of my vision.

Since I could see it even from this far away, the other students must have immediately figured out that place was the passing point.

Brrr.

At the same time the band vibrated briefly, letters made of mana appeared in front of my eyes for a moment, then disappeared.

[Grade 1 300 Points] [Grade 2 100 Points] [Grade 3 30 Points] [Grade 4 8 Points] [Grade 5 4 Points] [Grade 6 2 Points] [Grade 7 1 Point]

“The point gap is just insane.”

The higher the grade, the more exponentially the points increased.

In particular, the point difference between Grade 3 and Grade 4 was on an entirely different digit.

Well, they had to make the difference about that large for the other Low Grade students to cooperate without hesitation.

Clang! Clash! Creeeak! THUD! Crackle!

Large and small sounds of impact and destruction, along with shouts, came from every direction.

“Yes! 8 points! Nice.”

“You bastard, betraying me like that……. You said we should team up!”

“Hehe, and you believed that? It is the fool who was deceived who is at fault.”

How long had it even been since the start, and they were already backstabbing one another?

As I had said before, Saengterminum was an academy, but at the same time, it was a combat training institution that cultivated superhumans who dealt with monsters and demons.

And even while knowing all of that, the ones who had knocked on Saengterminum’s door were the students here.

There were many with strong belligerent tendencies, like that.

Good. 

From now on, the survival joint class began.

After calculating what I needed in order to obtain the items I was aiming for, I came to the conclusion that I had to pass after earning roughly 200 points.

And right now, my points were treated as Grade 3 thanks to the Headmaster exercising her discretion, meaning I had 30 points. 

I only needed to fill in 170 more.

I had also prepared a form of insurance, just in case.

After briefly closing and opening my eyes, I smiled boldly.

“Heh……. Good.”

The curse had activated properly.

Elementary Black Magic, Detection Curse.

Originally, it was Black Magic that detected the location of a target through that person’s hair and nails as a medium, but this curse had one weakness.

It would only activate properly if there were enough hair or nails used as the curse medium to fill an entire fist.

However, if the caster placed the ‘Detection Curse’ on a part of his own body, this curse could be used in a slightly different way.

It used a part of the caster’s own body as a substitute for location tracking.

I had attached hair cursed with ‘Detection Curse’ to the water bottles I had given the two women.

That meant I could roughly detect the locations of Yulia and Viole.

Only the location was detected, though. 

It did not tell me exactly who the detected person was.

Southwest and northeast from my position, was it? 

The directions were completely opposite.

Oh, the southwest was fairly close. 

Should I check there first?

I activated my Sacred Mark and placed Holy Power into my heart.

The Mid-Rank Holy Magic spells I was activating this time numbered two in total.

Auto-Casting.

Grace of Strength, Grace of Agility.

“This is it.”

Casting the two graces, strength and agility, together gave a rather satisfying sense of elevation.

With confidence rising in me, I moved southwest, following the flow I sensed from the curse.

Had I taken about ten steps?

Ping!

“……!”

The moment I heard the sound of a bowstring snapping, I instinctively stretched one forearm forward.

Holy Light Forging.

Holy Light Shield, Single Forging.

The Holy Light Shield was large enough to cover my entire body.

Thanks to having plenty of Holy Power, I was able to expand its width from the start without worrying about the amount of mana.

Thung!

At the same time a dull vibration passed through the Holy Light Shield, something bounced away.

Beyond the shield, an arrow that had failed to hit its target spun through the air.

Pipiping!

There was not just one arrow fired.

Numerous arrows stretched out in several directions, drawing elegant curves.

“Uwaak!”

“Ah, my band!”

The arrows accurately struck the vital points of the nearby students and cut their bands in one blow.

The snapped bands were swept up by the wind and floated into the air.

“Woohoo……. That makes 150 points.”

When I turned my gaze in the direction the bands were moving, I saw a woman on top of a tree, flexibly holding her posture as she drew her bowstring toward me.

“Mmm. It is embarrassing when you look at me like that.”

The student who met my eyes covered her mouth seductively and giggled.

Long ears, bronze skin, and silver hair.

The exiled Dark Elf, Karin.

A first-year student enrolled in the Magic Department, and a talent freak who had been granted Grade 2 in the Entrance Exam.

“You have got to be kidding me…….”

To think I would run into a Grade 2 bastard in such a wide jungle?

My luck was filthy.

“What is this? Now that I look… there is someone who was Grade 7 but temporarily became Grade 3 too?”

Soon, Karin’s emerald eyes, having recognized me, fixed on me.

“I am lucky, am I not? I wonder if you will be easier to catch than the other Grade 3 students?”

Karin looked at my yellow band and licked her lips as though it seemed delicious.

This was truly ridiculous.

“An obsessive woman is not my type. Would you please get lost somewhere far away?”

“O-Obsessive? What are you talking about? You are the one who confessed to a Senior and got rejected.”

“You knew about that too?”

A sigh came out on its own.

This was exactly why students were troublesome.

In any case, I had gotten caught by a troublesome opponent.

Those arrow trajectories that moved freely by adding Wind Magic were nothing but a nuisance.

It might be different if I could drag her into close combat, but the distance was too great. 

If I tried to approach, she would immediately widen the distance.

With my current physical ability, without using Black Magic, I could not shake off an Elf who moved through the trees as freely as if they were her own home.

The one fortunate thing was that this place was a jungle, so there were many obstacles in the path of the arrows. 

Shaking her off would be difficult, but I thought I could somehow run while dodging the attacks…….

“…Ah.”

Then that would do.

After coming up with a solution, I kicked off the ground again toward the southwest.

“I will not let you go.”

The sound of arrows cutting through the wind came repeatedly from behind me.

***

Viole swung her mace toward the last remaining student.

THWACK!

“Gwek!”

With a dull sound, the male student flew forward, crashed into a nearby tree, and then his band snapped as he slid down to the ground.

“Ugh…….”

“Oww…….”

Around her, about ten students whose bands had fallen off were lying down, groaning while clutching various parts of their bodies.

After lowering the heavy weight of her mace to the ground, Viole looked over the eliminated students and smiled brightly.

“It was good that you cooperated, but I did learn self-defense too, you know.”

She spoke triumphantly, but there was a faint bitterness around her mouth.

That was because she had many complaints about the survival joint class currently underway.

‘I specialize in the blessing type, though…….’

The other Grade 2 students had learned quite a bit of martial arts, but she had mainly learned techniques such as blessings and healing, so she had not deeply trained in martial arts.

‘Yulia… has she already gone to the ice castle?’

If one only considered pure combat power, she was definitely the weakest among the Grade 2 students here.

Viole grew a little discouraged, but soon clenched both fists tightly and steeled her resolve.

‘It is fine. It is fine. I just need to be careful not to run into the other Grade 2 students.’

Just as Viole was about to reach out to pick up the bands dropped by the other students, she flinched in shock.

Thwack!

“Kya!”

An arrow had flown in and embedded itself near the ground where she had been about to reach.

“Ahh……. That startled me…….”

After patting her chest, she looked around.

Where on earth had that come from…….

Whoooooosh……! 

Pipiping!

Viole immediately turned her gaze toward the direction the sound came from.

“…Huh?”

Then, after recognizing who the figure running toward her in a zigzag pattern was, she opened and closed her mouth in bewilderment.

“Huh? Damon?”

“Oh, Viole. It is nice to see you here!”

Damon, who had discovered Viole, smiled brightly and waved his hand at her.

It was fortunate that the one nearby was Viole. 

It would have been a little troublesome if it had been Yulia.

“Y-You…….”

Unlike Damon, who was relieved, Viole’s face stiffened when she saw the scene unfolding behind him.

Papapapak!

Arrows embedded themselves viciously along the path Damon had run, as if they were about to turn the ground into a porcupine.

She caught brief glimpses of afterimages, dozens upon dozens of arrows drawing elegant curves as they moved.

“Who… who on earth did you bring with you?”

“Karin, Grade 2 from the Magic Department. I was unlucky.”

“What?”

Viole stepped backward.

“C-Could you… not come this way?”

“Nope, too late.”

Now, even in Viole’s eyes, the Dark Elf approaching while leaping across the trees was clearly visible.

“Oh my, there was another Grade 2 here?”

After confirming the orange band wrapped around Viole’s wrist, Karin’s eyes sparkled.

“Hmm. You do not look that strong, though.”

“This is ruined……!”

Viole’s face looked as though she were about to cry.

She had no confidence in facing a Grade 2 like that head-on and winning.

“This is a problem. At this rate, both of us will be eliminated. Right?”

“Damn it…….”

Viole was about to sincerely say something to Damon, whose attitude was not only cruel but shameless.

“So cast a blessing on me.”

“Huh?”

At Damon’s following request, Viole immediately changed her mind.

“…If I cast a blessing on you, can you win?”

“If you cast it with a focus on Agility Enhancement, more or less?”

There was nothing to lose by trying.

Viole immediately filled the end of her mace with Holy Power and pointed it at Damon.

Rumble…….

Viole’s blessing, cast with Agility Enhancement as the focus, wrapped around Damon’s body.

“This is it.”

Damon, who fully accepted Viole’s blessing, let out an exclamation.

Whooong…….

His body felt not merely light, but as though it had become a feather.

‘Grace of Strength’ and ‘Grace of Agility,’ which he had cast with his own power.

And on top of that, the additional Agility Enhancement blessing Viole had given him.

With this level of nimbleness… it was worth trying.

Holy Light Spear, Single Forging.

Crack! 

Whoosh!

He rotated 180 degrees with his right foot as the axis.

Since his agility had risen, the time between his movements was faster than before.

The image of Karin leaping freely across the trees, changing her position in every direction, was captured on his retinas.

The distance was roughly thirty meters, was it? 

At that distance, it was enough to catch Karin off guard.

He stopped breathing.

Creaaak!

At medium range, where a single wrong breath would make the attack miss.

Considering Karin’s speed and movement, the point where the spear had to be thrown was…….

There.

Shweeeeek!

“Huh?”

Karin swallowed her breath when she confirmed the tip of the spear rushing toward her at high speed.

It was an acceleration that made no sense with the physical ability he had shown while running away just now. 

Had he received an additional blessing from that woman named Viole?

Before she knew it, the spear tip was already right in front of Karin’s eyes.

Whoooooosh!

She hurriedly made a fierce wind swirl around her body and twisted the spear’s trajectory.

‘…That almost got me, did it not?’

Karin calmed her chilled heart as she glanced at the Holy Light Spear that slightly missed her body.

Considering how he had dodged every trajectory of her arrows just now, was he really a student temporarily treated as Grade 3? 

The skill he had built up was absurd for that.

Perhaps it would be better to give up on catching him and aim for another student…….

Crackle!

Karin’s thoughts had no choice but to stop.

“…What?”

Because the Holy Light Spear passing by her was losing its form and being replaced by pure white light.

Damon, who had drawn an additional formula into the Holy Light Spear, curved his lips in a vicious arc.

‘It was a fake, you long-eared bastard.’

Holy Light, remote casting.

Faaaaat!

“Ugh!”

Karin’s vision turned white from the ‘Holy Light’ that exploded by surprise like a flashbang.

The intense light blinded her for an instant.

‘This is dangerous!’

Kwaaaaaa!

Karin rapidly accelerated the wind she had wrapped around her body.

It was an appropriate instinctive judgment to protect herself until her sight recovered, but.

She had chosen the wrong opponent.

“You are still immature, are you not?”

Damon’s voice came from above her head.

Karin, whose vision had recovered, hurriedly raised her eyes upward.

“Ah.”

Dozens of dagger blades flashed toward her.

Before she knew it, Damon had approached a position higher than her and had thrown numerous Holy Light Daggers from above to below.

‘If you rotate the wind that hurriedly, the center becomes weak.’

It was what people called the “eye of the storm.”

Damon had long since noticed the vulnerable point and thrown the Holy Light Daggers.

“Phew…….”

After confirming dozens of Holy Light Daggers rushing toward her, Karin let out an empty breath.

‘I have been completely played, have I not……?’

Papapak!

Karin of the Magic Department, Grade 2, eliminated.