Editor : Amethyst00



“Haaap!”

Chelsea moved quickly, firing off spells in rapid succession.

“You’re fast.”

Haowl of Class 1 narrowed his eyes, batting away the raging wind magic with his spear.

Seeing that, Eliana raised both arms and hopped up and down.

“As expected of Chelsea! Small but strong!”

“Who are you calling small!”

“Why aren’t you helping! Raden!”

Chelsea and Haowl shouted at Eliana at the same time.

At that, Eliana flinched, shrinking her neck.

“Wind Chain!”

Chelsea conjured chains of wind and shot them out.

Haowl lightly tapped into his Aura Step and slipped past Chelsea’s attack.

‘So it’s true she wants to be a Battle Mage. She’s no joke. To be able to cast magic at that speed while moving like that…….’

He had already eliminated five students from the Magic Department, but Chelsea was on a different level from those who came before.

‘And even if you close the distance, she’s used to melee combat.’

Unlike the other Magic Department students, Chelsea didn’t crumble even when an opponent got close.

For Chelsea as well, though, Haowl was just as troublesome.

‘He keeps slithering in like a snake. So annoying!’

Haowl’s Poison Aura would have been lethal against other mages, but with Chelsea’s specialty being wind magic, she held the upper hand.

She blew away his poison with the wind.

But even with the elemental disadvantage, Haowl kept dodging Chelsea’s magic and closing the gap.

‘My speed is better, but…….’

As someone ranked just below the top three of the Knight Department, Haowl wasn’t showing any signs of losing.

“Both of you, Go! Go!”

“Stop watching and help already, Raden!”

“How long are you going to hang back! Hurry up and join in, Eliana!”

As Haowl and Chelsea yelled at the same time, Eliana scratched her cheek.

“Even if you say that, it’s a bit awkward to attack either of you right now?”

“What’s awkward about it! You’re in the Magic Department!”

“What are you talking about! You’re in the Knight Department!”

“No. I haven’t chosen either yet.”

Leo wasn’t the only one who hadn’t picked a department.

More precisely, among dual-class students, there were a few whose placement was ambiguous.

Eliana was one of them.

During training for the Department Competition, since the Magic Department focused on mobility, she instead leaned more on the Knight Department classes.

Being a Magic Swordsman, she already had plenty of mobility.

So she spent the entire preparation period training with the Knight Department students.

“Then help me! Haowl’s in Class 1!”

“Sorry, Chelsea. This time during Knight Department training, Haowl grumbled a lot but still taught me well. So even if he’s Class 1, I can’t just coldly attack him.”

Haowl had gone out of his way to guide Eliana to make sure she’d fully side with the Knight Department for the competition.

Chelsea pressed her temples.

“If you’re not going to help either side, then just leave. Stop hanging around being a distraction.”

“I agree with Chelsea Lewellin’s words.”

Haowl sighed as he spoke, and Eliana gave a mischievous smile.

“But hey, if you two keep fighting, eventually one of you will win, and the winner will be worn out, right? That’s when I knock them down! Fufu, great strategy, isn’t it?”

Chelsea and Haowl’s faces turned cold at the same time.

“I’m joking! Joking! When one of you gets tired later, I’ll help…….”

“So. You plan to stab us in the back?”

“A ruthless strategy.”

“Wha—? No, I said it’s a joke!”

“Chelsea Lewellin. I propose we take care of Raden first.”

“Perfect. I was thinking the same thing.”

“Ah! I said it was a joke!”

Eliana screamed.

Whoooosh! Boom—!

Something came crashing down behind her from the sky.

Grrroooaaarrr!

It was a bizarre creature, towering three meters tall.

Thick hands that looked like they could shred a person with just a graze gripped a vicious battle axe.

Snort—! Snort—!

It blasted out hot air from its nostrils.

A monster with the head of a bull.

“Minotaur?!”

“Why is a monster here!”

Chelsea and Haowl shouted in shock.

Groooaaarrr!

The Minotaur swung its axe down toward Eliana.

KWAANG—!

bl

“As I thought, you’re here. Vice-Head Lord Zeiss.”

“It’s been a while. Not since the entrance exam, Sir Rozes.”

The people around Zeiss scrambled to their feet in a hurry.

Rozes raised a hand toward them.

“Every day, word of your nephew reaches the Imperial Court. As expected of a Zerdinger—His Majesty the Emperor himself has praised him.”

As Rozes Lewellin smiled and spoke, Zeiss chuckled softly.

“Abad and Chelsea also took first and second place in the Magic Department during midterms, didn’t they? I’d think His Majesty is even more pleased about that.”

The surrounding gazes naturally turned toward the two great powers of House Zerdinger and House Lewellin, pillars of the continent’s strongest western empire, Lordren.

At that moment, murmurs spread through the audience watching the Inter-department Tournament.

“That’s… a monster?”

“Why would a monster appear in the competition?”

“Was Neigrang a monster-infested region?”

As the crowd looked puzzled, the professors also sensed the anomaly.

“Why has a monster suddenly shown up?”

Sedgen’s eyes widened.

Harrid rose from his seat and headed quickly toward the control room overseeing the competition.

“What’s going on?”

“P-Professor Harrid! It’s bad! We can’t reach the control room on the Neigrang side!”

“What did you say?”

Harrid’s face hardened.

“Immediately halt the competition and recall the students.”

“Eh? What are you…?”

The staff looked startled at Harrid’s sudden order.

“You’d leave the students in danger when we can’t even control the situation?!”

“But Professor Harrid, if we do that, the higher-ups will…”

“I’ll take the responsibility! Stop talking and recall the students now!”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Startled by Harrid’s fierce glare, the staff activated the teleportation spell.

“A-aah, it’s not working! The teleportation won’t activate!”

At the panicked shout, Harrid’s eyes went wide.

“What’s happening, Harrid?”

“It’s an emergency. All contact with Neigrang has been cut!”

“What?”

Sedgen’s face went pale.

The competition had been underway for several hours, and nearly a hundred students were still in Neigrang.

“You stay here and oversee things. I’ll go to the Principal.”

“Understood.”

Harrid left the control room, his face twisting as he glanced at the magical broadcast screen.

‘Just what in the world is happening?!’

bl

The students surviving the competition also began to notice the irregularities one by one.

“Haaap!”

“Khuk!”

A Knight Department student was pressing hard against a Magic Department student.

“You gave me a hard time with your speed, but this is the end! Don’t resent me for knocking you out! I’ll treat you later!”

The two classmates were close friends.

They had promised beforehand not to resent each other if they ended up fighting during the competition.

The Knight Department student grinned as he found an opening and thrust his sword toward his friend’s stomach.

The magic bracelets issued to the students were enchanted to detect danger and immediately trigger a teleport spell.

It was a safeguard to protect the students.

So even if he struck the stomach, it wouldn’t cause any real harm.

Stab—!

“Guh?”

“Huh…?”

But at what happened, both students’ eyes went wide.

“Wh-what the… kuhuk?”

Blood gushed from his friend’s mouth, making the Knight Department student’s hand tremble.

“Wh-what is this? Hey! Stay with me! Stay with me!”

With a face drained of all color, he grabbed his friend and cried.

“Somebody! Anybody! Help! My friend is hurt!”

Meanwhile, outside the fortress walls, monsters from the surrounding region suddenly began swarming toward the ruins.

The students guarding the gates saw this and looked shaken.

“What’s happening?!”

A Summoning Department student stared wide-eyed at the scene.

In the middle of the heated inter-department battles, a horde of monsters suddenly attacked.

Chaos erupted before the gates.

“Monsters?”

“W-wait, there are way too many!”

The numbers were overwhelming.

Normally, they would have to join forces, but since it was the Inter-department tournament, they couldn’t work together.

“This is lucky!”

A Summoning Department student shouted with joy.

While struggling to hold back the Knights and Mages, the monsters had shown up at just the right timing.

For those defending the gates, it was a favorable development.

At that moment, Walden, who had been sitting on the wall above, narrowed his eyes.

He had never joined the battle.

As if waiting for something, he simply sat and watched the competition unfold.

Even when his Summoning Department peers asked for help, he ignored them.

But suddenly, Walden stood up.

“What, you’re finally helping?”

The Summoning Department student leading the defense clicked his tongue, thinking he was only now stepping in.

But Walden only stared at the monster horde.

‘Strange. Monsters suddenly moving as a group like this?’

As a summoner, Walden felt the oddness in their movements.

‘They’re being controlled by something.’

Following that thought, Walden lifted his head.

High above the ruins, he spotted the black wyvern he had seen during midterms.

He roused his spiritual power.

“Huh? Walden?”

Vwooooom—!

Walden’s entire body glowed with a crimson aura.

Flash! KABABABABOOM!

A massive explosion erupted in the middle of the monsters besieging the Knights and Mages.

“Wh-what’s happening?”

“Walden? Why is he helping us?”

A student from another department gaped in disbelief.

During the competition, for someone to aid another department… and Walden of all people, who didn’t even get along with his own peers?

“Open the gates.”

“What? What nonsense are you spouting? And why suddenly help them?!”

“Stop talking and open the gates. This isn’t the time for the competition.”

“What the hell are you saying? And why should we listen to—ugh!”

Walden’s hand clamped around the throat of the student leading the defense.

“No time to explain. Sleep.”

“Ghhhk—!”

The student’s eyes rolled back as he collapsed unconscious.

As the surrounding students looked on in shock, Walden spoke coldly.

“From now on, I’m in command. Open the gates.”

He shoved the unconscious student aside.

“Our enemies now are the beasts and monsters. Anyone who still fights other departments, I’ll deal with them first. Make that clear.”

“U-understood!”

“I’ll pass the word to the others too!”

“And you.”

“Eek? Wh-why me?”

A girl flinched as Walden called on her.

“You’re contracted with a wind elemental, right?”

“Y-yeah!”

“Then go to the other gates and spread the word.”

As Walden raised his gaze, gathering spiritual power, Fafnir began descending at terrifying speed.

“Tell them an abnormal situation has occurred. The Inter-Department Tournament is suspended.”