Chapter 575

Vrrrrrrrrr!

The Golem’s mechanical rumble echoed across the arena.

Its first target was none other than Lea.

“Tsk!”

Thud! Slosh! Thud! Slosh!

Lea clicked her tongue as she watched the Lava Golem charge toward her.

“What a nuisance.”

The Lava Golem had happened to be summoned nearby, placing her within its attack range.

For someone versed in magical engineering, designing a Golem was not particularly difficult.

Their simplicity also made them easy to modify.

Of course, most modified Golems were crude.

But a Lava Golem was a different matter.

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

A Golem covered from head to toe in lava possessed tremendous offensive power by its very nature.

'Even water magic, which should exploit a fire attribute’s weakness, isn’t very effective against a Lava Golem. And because it turns the surrounding area into a lava field, bringing one down is a real pain!'

Since a Lava Golem’s entire body was composed of lava, both its offensive and defensive power rose to overwhelming levels within a lava field.

'Avoiding the fight would be best.'

Fwoooosh! Boom! Splash!

When Lea evaded the Lava Golem’s attack, a wave of lava surged upward.

Feeling the searing heat, Lea effortlessly cast Fly and escaped the Lava Golem’s attack range.

Medvez appeared beside her.

“Lea Tingel. Are you going to ignore me and pursue only that coward, Luke Elda?”

“It’s true that Luke Elda is timid, but he’s still more worth defeating than you are.”

“Oh? Then I suppose I must prove that I’m more worth defeating than Luke Elda.”

“Do you think you can?”

Lea gave him a derisive smile.

At that moment—

Tap!

“Luke!”

Something kicked off the ground, followed by Aina’s bewildered cry.

An instant later, a silver streak shot between the two of them.

“Luke Elda?!”

“What is he doing?”

Their eyes widened as they saw Luke charging straight at the Lava Golem.

Slam—!

Lava sprayed in every direction as he kicked off the ground.

Luke’s entire body shone with silver light.

It was the power born from pushing his Mana Trait—which caused his Mana to rise whenever his emotions surged—to its limit.

Luke’s Original Magic granted him the power to exceed his limits for a short time.

'Transcendence.'

Flash—!

Kabababababoom—!

A silver wall soared as though it would pierce the heavens. It was an enormous sword strike.

The Lava Golem, cleaved cleanly in two, collapsed.

Splat! Fwoooosh—!

A tidal wave of lava surged high into the air.

Woooooooooah—!

Thunderous cheers poured from the stands.

“He defeated it in a single blow!”

“I thought it was strange that he looked so weak and did nothing but run away! He really is Lumene’s first-year representative for a reason!”

“Incredible!”

The crowd erupted with excitement.

Even after the opening match began, the spectators had cheered for the dazzling Aura, magic, and Summoned Beasts displayed by the first-years.

They were still young and inexperienced, but the skills they had developed over a year at the Hero Academies were anything but ordinary.

They only appeared young and inexperienced when compared to their upperclassmen.

To ordinary people, anyone capable of attending a Hero Academy was already an extraordinary superhuman.

Yet Luke’s performance just now was so overwhelming that it defied comparison with the other first-years.

“He really was Leo Plov’s mentee for a reason!”

Lea’s ears twitched at the shouts from some of the spectators.

“Luke... Elda...!”

Lea’s eyes flared.

“I’ll earn Plov Sunbae-nim’s recognition too! By defeating you!”

“Eeeeeek!”

“Stop!”

Luke fled in terror from the roaring Lea, while Aina moved to block her path.

“Lea! How long are you going to keep acting on your own?!”

“Aina! Leave Lea Tingel alone! Luke won’t be defeated that easily!”

Yoinia and Juen approached Lea and Aina, shouting—then their eyes met.

The two girls immediately raised their staffs at each other.

Flash—! Kaboom—!

Magic collided with magic, causing a massive explosion.

“Aaaah! Let go! Let go of me! I’m the one who’s going to defeat Luke Elda!”

“Calm down!”

Anri forcibly dragged Lea away.

Meanwhile, Medvez remained where he stood, recalling what had just happened.

'He was definitely smiling.'

Luke had unmistakably been smiling when he charged at the Lava Golem.

'Why was he smiling?'

Medvez could also have defeated the Lava Golem in a single blow.

But in this situation, there was no advantage to be gained by expending so much of his strength to do so.

'Does he enjoy fighting? No, that wasn’t his personality. Then why?'

Medvez looked at the spectators showering Luke with fervent cheers.

Then his gaze met Ar’s among the Azonia students.

'You’re admirable in every other way, but you can be surprisingly petty, can’t you? You surrendered sooner than I expected.'

Those were the words Ar had spoken after Medvez challenged her following his enrollment.

Although he knew he would lose, Medvez had challenged Ar because he wanted to learn the extent of the gap between them.

Yet he had surrendered before he could even properly gauge it.

'Using your head is fine, but sometimes it’s good to follow your heart. That’s what a challenge is, isn’t it? Charging in without weighing the consequences.'

Medvez had looked at Ar, who stood beneath the moonlight with her arms crossed as she gazed up at the sky, and asked,

'Is that why you’re so reckless, Sunbae-nim?'

The moment he finished speaking, she struck him in the chin and knocked him unconscious.

For some reason, that memory returned to him now.

“I see. So you intend to defeat the Lava Golem, vanquish every other academy, and then claim victory.”

Medvez had heard that some people were like that.

They were the type who could not contain their excitement when facing a nearly impossible challenge.

And the audience had surely cheered because he dared to confront that impossibility.

“You’re courageous. More like an Azonia student than I am.”

Medvez curled his lips into a grin as he looked in the direction Luke had disappeared.

“I apologize once more, Luke Elda. You are a man worth defeating.”

===

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Are you some kind of beast? You’re normally so well-behaved, so why do you lose your mind whenever Luke Elda is involved?!”

Anri shouted as she carried Lea under one arm like a piece of luggage, preventing her from charging after Luke.

“I’m already the best in my year at Seiren! So I’ll prove that I’m the best among the first-years at every other academy too! Defeating Luke Elda is only the beginning!”

“That’s nothing more than a personal grudge!”

“I’ll settle my grudge and prove I’m the best! That’s killing two birds with one stone!”

“Remember Lunia Sunbae-nim’s advice!”

Lea flinched at Anri’s words, then stuck out her lower lip.

'I heard you stole a boy named Luke’s food during the training camp?'

She recalled Lunia staring at her in disbelief.

'Are you a thug? Why would you steal his food? You do realize you’ve disgraced our entire academy, don’t you?'

'You’re the thug, Lunia Sunbae-nim, not me.'

Squeeze!

'Ghk?! G-Gaaaaaagh!'

Without hesitation, Lunia wrapped her sculpted, beautiful hands around her junior’s throat.

'I understand why you’re so obsessed with Luke Elda. But listen. Don’t fixate too much on the thing directly in front of you. If you do, you might trip over something at your feet.'

'...Um... Lunia-yang. Lea has passed out.'

'Jeez, she passed out just because I squeezed her neck a little? How frail.'

'Most people die when you choke them like that.'

As her consciousness faded, Lea heard Lunia’s displeased grumbling and Eiran’s voice before finally passing out.

'Maybe focusing too much on Luke Elda really isn’t a good idea.'

Her rivals did not exist only outside her academy.

Even within Seiren, there were plenty of classmates capable of threatening her position.

'...When I saw my honored ancestor, I made a vow. I would become someone who could proudly hold her head high before the people I admire. I would earn their recognition.'

That was what Lea envied about Luke Elda.

Leo had recognized him.

Just as Lea’s expression turned serious—

Whoosh—!

“You shouldn’t let your guard down.”

“When did you—?”

Damienne’s representative, Rixen, suddenly appeared before her with a meaningful smile.

“It’s an invisibility cloak I made. It even erases my presence!”

Rixen swung a massive war hammer at Anri.

Kaboom—!

The tremendous impact forced Anri to drop Lea.

“Ah?!”

Lea was falling toward the lava field and hurriedly tried to cast Fly.

“Checkmate!”

Kaboom—! Rixen smashed Lea downward with his war hammer, sending her plunging into the lava field.

“She’ll be warped out automatically once she’s declared eliminated, so she won’t be hurt!”

Rixen beamed.

“I knew Lea Tingel’s bizarre obsession with Luke Elda would give me a chance to strike!”

Rixen shouted triumphantly.

“Ugh! That was cowardly!”

Anri gripped her sword in frustration, but Rixen merely shrugged.

“There’s no such thing as cowardly in a competition, is there? Though Driana Sunbae flew into a rage and said my methods weren’t beautiful.”

Rixen recalled Driana, who was one year his senior.

'Rixen. Your conduct is base and cowardly! It lacks beauty!'

'Does it need to be beautiful as long as it gets results?'

'Of course it does! Even Dweno-nim pursued beauty! We students of Damienne must ensure that not only the things we create, but our conduct itself is beautiful! Are you not an exceptional talent? You can claim victory honorably without resorting to underhanded tactics! If you continue behaving so despicably, people will point at you and call you hideous.'

'Aren’t your creations the hideous ones, Sunbae-nim...?'

At those words, Driana brought her hammer down on Rixen’s head and knocked him unconscious.

'Well, I suppose that was more than a little underhanded.'

Rixen scratched his cheek.

He could indeed hear boos pouring in from all around the stands.

“The criticism seems especially harsh because this happened right after Luke Elda’s display. Still, this is the most efficient—”

Grab!

“Hmm?”

At that moment, a small hand abruptly emerged from the lava field and seized Rixen’s ankle.

Rixen looked down in shock.

Lea was there with a shield surrounding her entire body, an eerie smile on her face.

“It’s winter, so you must be cold. It’s nice and warm down here.”

“I-I think I’ll pass—”

“There’s no need.”

“Gyaaaaaagh?!”

Lea dragged Rixen into the lava, and he was soon eliminated.

Lea emerged, dusted off her hands, and snorted.

“You had some nerve.”

At that moment—

Ruuuuumble—!

Bubble-bubble-bubble—!

The steadily expanding lava field began to tremble once more.

Kabababoom—!

“More Lava Golems?!”

“There are four this time!”

“Come on! Are we supposed to fight the other academies or not?!”

“They said this was a survival match! It’s not even about fighting the other academies anymore—it’s become a pure survival game!”

Screams erupted among the students.

At first, they had tried to avoid the lava field and the enormous Lava Golem while attacking the opposing camps. Now they were being forced into a situation where they had no choice but to confront the Lava Golems.

“Ghk! The real enemy isn’t the students from the other academies—it’s the terrain itself!”

The students screamed at the utterly brutal environment.

Whenever they defeated a Lava Golem, even more of them surged in like successive waves.

Even amid the chaos, the clashes continued as each side tried to whittle down the others’ forces.

As the lava spread, the terrain on which they could fight steadily shrank.

Eventually, the four academies encountered one another at the exact center of Erek.

Bubble-bubble—!

Lava surged around them, leaving nowhere to retreat.

“Whew... So this is where we determine the last one standing?”

Medvez stepped forward and clenched his fists.

“That’s exactly what I wanted.”

Lea cracked her knuckles as she answered.

“The time has come to determine the victor.”

Among the Lumene students, Haviden curled his lips into a grin and murmured before glancing behind him.

“Luke, aren’t you going out there?”

“If I do, I think those two will come after me first.”

“As Lumene’s first-year representative, you’ll have to overcome that.”

“Get out there! You’re our representative!”

“B-But—!”

Sasha joined in and shoved Luke forward from behind.

Pressured by the crown prince of one nation and the crown princess of another, Luke had no choice but to step forward with a tearful expression.

At that moment—

Piiiiiiiiii—!

A strange cry rang out.

Plop! Roll, roll—!

A ball of red fur fell from the sky and rolled to Luke’s feet.

Luke picked it up with a puzzled look.

Chirp!

“Fiora? It’s been a while! Have you been well?”

Luke smiled brightly in delight at the sight of Leo’s Phoenix, Fiora, whom he had seen several times during the first semester.

Chirp—! Chirp—!

Fiora flapped her wings and cried out repeatedly.

Every surviving student went pale at the sight.

“N-No. Surely not. Even he wouldn’t go that far....”

Sasha muttered in a trembling voice, as though denying reality.

Surely he could not be that merciless.

“Give her to me!”

“Eek!”

At that moment, Lea lunged at Luke.

Overwhelmed by her intensity, Luke lost his grip on Fiora.

After snatching Fiora away, Lea smiled and greeted the Phoenix perched on her hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. So you’re Fiora? I’ve wanted to meet you.”

Lea, who adored anything connected to Leo without question, greeted Fiora with a radiant smile.

At that moment—

Fiora’s eyes suddenly flared, and her body began to swell.

“Hmm?”

Vwoooooom! Fwoooosh—!

Flames ignited across Fiora’s body as she grew larger and larger.

“....”

After staring at her, Lea hurled Fiora toward Luke like a bomb.

“I-I’ll give her back.”

“Don’t throw her at us!”

“R-Run!”

The Lumene students scattered in horror.

SKRREEEEEEEEE!

Fwoooooosh! Kababababoom—!

Fiora unleashed a roar and mercilessly began attacking every first-year.

“Even so, that seems a bit much.”

Chelsea shook her head as she watched the first-years scream and flee for their lives after encountering the disaster known as a Phoenix.

It was merciless beyond belief.

This was no longer about who could eliminate the most opponents, but who could cling to survival the longest.

Carr shook his head at Chelsea’s remark.

“There’s a reason they call him the Demon King.”

===

Nothing remained on the Erek parade ground.

A man clenched his fist as he watched the embers at its center begin to fade.

“What are you staring at so intently, Lumene?”

“Nothing, Rodia. More importantly, there’s something I need to tell you about Erebos.”

Lumene turned his back on the parade ground where black embers had risen and bit down hard on his lip.