Editor : Amethyst00



Qwoooooong!

The sound of the golem's activation echoed out.

The first target the golem locked onto was none other than Leah.

"Tch!"

Thud—! Splash—! Thud—! Splash—!

Clicking her tongue, Leah stared at the Lava Golem charging toward her.

"How annoying."

Unfortunately, because the Lava Golem had been summoned so close by, she was within its range.

If one had some knowledge of magic engineering, designing a golem itself wasn’t too difficult.

Its simplicity made it easy to modify as well.

Of course, most modified golems were crude.

But with a Lava Golem, the story was different.

To begin with, Lava Golems were incredibly difficult to create.

Their bodies covered entirely in magma, they possessed overwhelming destructive power on their own.

‘Lava Golems don’t respond well to water-elemental magic, which is fire’s weakness. On top of that, they turn the area into a lava zone, so defeating them is tricky!’

Since Lava Golems were composed of magma, their attack and defense increased drastically within lava zones.

‘The best option is not to fight.’

Fwooooosh! Boom! Splash!

As Leah dodged the Lava Golem’s attack, waves of magma shot upward.

In the intense heat, she cast Fly magic and escaped the golem’s attack range with ease.

Then Medvez appeared beside Leah.

"Leah Tingel. Are you ignoring me and targeting that coward Luke Eldar instead?"

"Luke Eldar may be a coward, but he’s more worth defeating than you are."

"Oh? Then I suppose I must prove I’m more worthy of being defeated than Luke Eldar."

"Can you, though?"

Leah smiled with mockery.

At that moment—

Tap—!

“Luke!”

A burst from the ground and Aina’s flustered voice rang out.

In that instant, a silver flash burst between the two.

"Luke Eldar?!"

"What the—?"

The two opened their eyes wide as they saw Luke charging straight toward the Lava Golem.

Kwaaak—!

As he stomped the ground, the surrounding lava scattered outward.

Luke's entire body shone with silver brilliance.

A power that pushed Luke’s mana characteristic—where mana surged with emotional upheaval—to its limit.

His unique magic, which granted power that briefly surpassed his limits.

‘Transcendence.’

Flash—!

Kwa-ga-ga-ga-ga-gaang—!

A silver wall that soared as if to pierce the heavens—it was a massive sword strike.

The bisected Lava Golem collapsed.

Splat! Fwoooosh—!

Like a tidal wave, a surge of magma rose high.

Uwooooooooooo—!

Thunderous cheers erupted from the audience.

"With just a single blow!"

"He seemed weak and just ran around, but he really is Lumene’s grade representative!"

"Amazing!"

The crowd went wild.

Ever since the opening match began, the audience had cheered for the first-years’ dazzling aura, magic, and summoned beasts.

They were still young and inexperienced first-years, but a year at the Hero Academy had clearly honed their skills.

‘Young and inexperienced’ only in comparison to their seniors.

To ordinary people, just attending the Hero Academy already made them superhuman.

But the performance Luke had just shown was overwhelming enough to reject any comparison to his peers.

“No wonder he was Leo Plov’s mentee!”

Hearing a few audience members shout, Leah’s ears perked up.

“Luke… Eldar…!”

Leah’s eyes narrowed.

“I’ll earn recognition from Senior Plov too! By defeating you!”

“Kyaaaaaa!”

“Stop!”

As Leah charged with a roar, Luke screamed and fled, while Aina jumped in to stop her.

“Leah! How long are you going to act alone?!”

“Aina! Leave Leah Tingel be! If it’s Luke, he won’t go down that easily!”

Yoinia and Juen rushed over to Leah and Aina, shouting—and their eyes met.

The two girls glared at each other and simultaneously raised their staffs.

Flash—! Kwooooom—!

Their magics clashed in a huge explosion.

“Uwaaaa! Let me go! Let go of me! I’m the one who’s going to take down Luke Eldar!”

“Calm down already!”

Angel forcibly dragged Leah away.

Meanwhile, Medvez, who had stood still all this time, recalled what had just happened.

‘He was definitely smiling.’

When Luke charged at the Lava Golem, he had definitely been smiling.

‘Why was he smiling?’

Taking down a Lava Golem in one hit—Medvez could do that too.

But in this situation, there was no merit in expending so much power just to defeat a Lava Golem in one shot.

‘Does he enjoy fighting? No, he wasn’t that type. Then why?’

Medvez looked toward the audience showering Luke with cheers.

Then her eyes met Aru’s among the Azonia students.

‘You’re great in every way, but you’ve got this unexpectedly petty side, huh? You gave up faster than I thought.’

Words Aru had said to him after he’d challenged her upon enrollment.

Even knowing he would lose, Medvez had wanted to confirm the gap between him and Aru—and had challenged her.

And surrendered without even getting a good glimpse of that gap.

‘Using your head is good, but sometimes it’s okay to act on what your heart tells you. That’s what a challenge is—rushing in without thinking too much.’

Medvez had once asked Aru, arms folded under the moonlight as she stared at the sky,

‘Is that why you’re so reckless, senior?’

Right after saying that, he’d been punched in the jaw and knocked out cold.

For some reason, that memory resurfaced.

“So, he’s planning to take down the Lava Golem, crush all the other schools, and claim victory.”

He had heard that some people were like that.

The kind that couldn’t suppress their excitement when taking on something nearly impossible.

And the cheers from the audience must have been for that very challenge.

“Brave indeed. He’s more like an Azonia student than I am.”

Medvez curled his lip into a smile as he looked in the direction Luke had disappeared.

“I’ll apologize again. Luke Eldar. You’re a man worthy of being defeated.”

“Kyaaaaah!”

“What are you, a beast?! You’re usually calm—why do you lose it whenever it involves Luke Eldar?!”

Angel yelled as he carried Leah like luggage under his arm.

“In Seiren, I’m the top among our year! So I’ll prove I’m the best among all schools and grades too! Taking down Luke Eldar is just the beginning!”

“That’s just your personal grudge!”

“I’ll settle my grudge and prove I’m the best! Two birds with one stone!”

“Remember what Senior Lunia told you!”

Leah paused at Angel’s words and pouted.

‘Didn’t you steal that Luke kid’s meal during the retreat?’

She recalled Lunia’s exasperated face.

‘Are you a bully? Why’d you steal his food? You know you embarrassed our whole school, right?’

‘I’m not the bully, you are, Senior Lunia.’

Crack!

“Guh?! Gkkk—!”

Without hesitation, Lunia had choked her junior with her beautiful sculpted hand.

‘I get why you’re so obsessed with Luke Eldar. But don’t get too fixated on what’s right in front of you. You might trip over something at your feet.’

‘Uh… Miss Lunia. Leah’s passed out.’

‘Eh, did she really faint just from being choked a little? So fragile.’

‘Most people die if you choke them like that.’

As her mind faded, Leah heard the disapproving voices of Lunia and Eiran.

‘Surely, being too obsessed with Luke Eldar isn’t good either?’

Rivals weren’t only outside the school.

Even within Seiren, there were classmates who could threaten her position.

‘…When I saw our ancestor, I made a vow. To be someone who can hold their head high in front of those I respect. And to be recognized by them.’

That’s what she envied about Luke Eldar.

That he had earned recognition from Leo.

As Lunia wore a serious expression—

Fwssh—!

“You shouldn’t let your guard down.”

“When did you—?!”

Suddenly appearing before her, Damien’s representative, Rixen, grinned meaningfully.

“This is an invisibility cloak I made. It even erases presence!”

Rixen swung a giant war hammer at Angel.

BAM!

With the massive impact, Angel dropped Leah.

“Ah?!”

As Leah fell toward the lava zone and hurriedly tried to cast Fly—

“Checkmate!”

BAM! Rixen smashed Leah down with the battle hammer and knocked her straight into the lava zone.

“If you’re deemed eliminated, you’ll be warped automatically, so she shouldn’t be hurt!”

Rixen smiled brightly.

“Leah Tingel’s strange obsession with Luke Eldar—I knew there’d be an opening to exploit!”

He shouted proudly.

“Ugh! Coward!”

As Angel gripped his sword in fury, Rixen shrugged.

“There’s no such thing as cowardice in battle. Though Senior Drianna got mad, saying my methods weren’t beautiful.”

Rixen recalled Drianna, his senior by a year.

‘Rixen, your actions are vile and cowardly! They're not beautiful!’

‘If the result’s good, why does it need to be beautiful?’

‘Of course it does! Even Lord Dweno pursued beauty! Damien’s students must make not just beautiful artifacts, but act beautifully too! You’re a top talent! You don’t need to rely on dirty tricks! Act disgracefully and you’ll be called vile!’

‘Aren’t your works the ones that are vile…?’

At that, Drianna had smashed Rixen’s head with her hammer, knocking him out cold.

‘Yeah, maybe I was a bit too underhanded.’

Rixen scratched his cheek.

He could hear boos rising from all over.

“Since it happened right after Luke Eldar’s moment, the criticism’s harsher. But this method is the most efficie—”

Thump—!

“Huh?”

Just then, a small hand burst from the lava and grabbed Rixen’s ankle.

Startled, he looked down.

There was Leah, her body shielded, smiling eerily.

“Cold winter, huh? It’s warm here.”

“I-I’d like to pass…”

“No need to.”

“Gyaaaaah?!”

Dragged into the lava by Leah, Rixen was eliminated.

Leah dusted off her hands and scoffed.

“Serves you right.”

At that moment—

RUMBLEEEEE—!

Bubble bubble bubble—!

The expanding lava zone began to shake once more.

KWA-GA-GA-GA-GANG—!

“Another Lava Golem?!”

“This time, four of them!”

“What, are we supposed to fight the other schools or not?!”

“They said survival! This isn’t a battle between schools anymore—it’s a pure survival game!”

Screams erupted among the students.

Those who had initially planned to avoid the lava and attack opposing teams were now forced to deal with the Lava Golems head-on.

“Grr! The real enemy isn’t the other schools—it’s this terrain itself!”

The merciless environment drove students to scream.

Defeating a Lava Golem triggered more to spawn like waves.

Even amidst that, clashes to deplete enemy numbers continued.

The areas safe to fight shrank by the second.

Eventually, all four schools converged at the center of Erek.

Bubble bubble—

With lava rising, there was no retreat.

“Sigh… So this is where the last one standing will be decided.”

Medvez stepped forward and clenched her fist.

“Just what I wanted.”

Leah cracked her knuckles in response.

“It’s time to settle this.”

At Lumene, Haviden curled his lip into a smirk and looked behind him.

“Luke, aren’t you going?”

“If I go out now, those two will target me first.”

“If you’re Lumene’s rep, tough it out.”

“Go! You’re our representative!”

“Ugh, seriously!”

Even Shasha joined in, pushing Luke forward.

Under pressure from a prince and a crown princess, Luke had no choice but to step up, looking miserable.

Then—

BEEEEEEEEEP—!

A strange cry echoed.

Thud—roll roll—!

A red furball fell from the sky and rolled to Luke’s feet.

He picked it up, puzzled.

“Chirp!”

“Fiora? It’s been a while! You’ve been well?”

Recognizing Leo’s phoenix Fiora, whom he had seen several times during the first semester, Luke smiled brightly in welcome.

“Chirp! Chirp!”

Fiora flapped her wings and cried loudly.

Everyone still standing went pale at the sight.

“N-no way. It can’t be. No matter what…”

Shasha trembled, murmuring in denial.

Surely it couldn’t be that cruel?

“Give it to me!”

“Eek!”

Leah suddenly lunged at Luke.

Startled by her force, he dropped Fiora.

Snatching her up, Leah greeted her with a smile.

“Nice to meet you. You’re Fiora, right? I’ve wanted to meet you.”

Anything related to Leo made Leah immediately happy.

Just then, Fiora’s eyes widened—and her body began to swell.

“Huh?”

GOOOOOOO! FWOOSH—!

As she grew larger, flames ignited on her body.

“…”

Leah, now expressionless, hurled Fiora at Luke like a bomb.

“H-here you go.”

“Don’t throw her at us!”

“R-run!”

The Lumene students panicked and scattered.

CHIRPAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

FWOOSH! KWA-GA-GA-GA-GANG—!

Fiora let out a fearsome cry and began relentlessly attacking the entire first-year cohort.

“No matter what, that’s way too much.”

Watching the first-years flee screaming from the phoenix disaster, Chelsea shook her head.

It was truly unforgiving.

This wasn’t about who could take out the most—it was about who could survive the longest.

To Chelsea’s comment, Carl replied:

“No wonder they call him the Demon King.”