Chapter 138
There was no room for debate. Everyone silently nodded at Dick’s words.
Simon scratched the side of his head, a little embarrassed, while Hector showed no reaction at all.
“And the weakest team is…”
Dick glanced at Maelyn, then said,
“It’s probably Team 1, the one you and I are in, right?”
“Hey! Why are we the weakest!!”
Maelyn protested, her face turning red.
“Maelyn, do you know any enhancement-type black magic?”
“Uh, um. A few minor ones…”
“Unless you’re planning to burn all the Class C kids with Dark Flare, it’s hard to make an impact in a match like this.”
Light chuckles erupted around them. Maelyn’s face flushed even more.
Dick continued his explanation as if nothing had happened.
“Team 1 is centered around Maelyn, while Team 3 has depth in power.”
Class A Spiritology ace, Cindy Vivace.
Class A Katarology ace, Jaime Victoria.
Class A Summonology ace, Pierre Buckley.
Class A Toxicology ace, Claudia Menzies.
Those who scored in the 90s on written exams for their major subjects were all gathered in Team 3.
Though Simon and Hector’s performances had been overwhelmingly impressive, there were still students who thought Team 3 was the strongest.
In contrast, Maelyn, who had to lead Team 1 alone, didn’t possess black magic particularly suited for ball-based games.
“So, our class lineup is: weakest, strong, and strong-mid. We have to find a way to pit Maelyn’s Team 1, the weakest, against Serne’s team.”
“…You’ll pay for this later.”
Maelyn shot Dick a glare, crossed her arms, and turned her body. Then she began to burn with fierce fighting spirit.
Dick smiled subtly at her reaction.
Besides that effect, he believed that if the opponent was Serne, Maelyn would try her hardest no matter what.
“Thinking he's hot shit, running his damn mouth…”
The once-lively classroom atmosphere chilled at the cold voice.
Hector glared viciously as he cut in.
“Quit dragging it out and just spit it out already.”
“Man, you’re so impatient~ Just wait a bit.”
Dick replied leisurely with his hand in his pocket.
‘He’s being cocky because he trusts Simon Follentia.’
But even Hector didn’t react further.
There was no need to waste energy on some side character. One person was already too much to focus on.
“I found it.”
Suddenly, a male student’s voice rang out from the air. While everyone looked around in confusion, the air shimmered and melted, revealing a bespectacled student appearing next to Dick.
It was Camouflage, a stealth-type concealment technique.
“Can you tell us?”
Dick smiled widely.
* * *
“Alright then, students. Prepare for the match.”
Bred, who was acting as referee, grumbled as he spoke. The students gathered in front of the court.
‘Ugh, so annoying.’
Hongpeng and the other assistants had vanished saying they were preparing meals, leaving Bred and two senior assistants behind to play with the students and act as referees.
Of course, even those seniors had dumped everything on Bred and hidden somewhere.
‘Tsk, I’m gonna lose it! I’m not at the age to be treated like this!’
Bred ruffled his hair furiously.
‘Ever since that incident with Simon, Professor Hongpeng’s been treating me coldly! The other assistants are subtly looking down on me! Damn it! Damn it! They must all know! Did that bastard Simon spread the rumor?’
Of course, it was all just Bred’s own victim complex.
‘Simon Follentia…!’
To make matters worse, something even more irritating had happened earlier.
Simon had brought a girl named Kamibarez.
—Assistant, Kami’s showing signs of anemia. She needs some medicine.
Bred curtly told them there was nothing and to just endure it.
Simon’s next words, spoken with a chilling smile, were infuriating.
—So if a student is sick and you say there’s nothing, does that mean your assistant duties are over?
His heart dropped.
An unspoken threat to reveal everything to Hongpeng and have Bred removed from his assistant position!
Having his weakness caught, Bred had no choice but to run to Hongpeng’s hut to fetch the medicine.
‘Aaaaah! So annoying! That bastard’s getting way too cocky!’
Tremble, tremble.
Bred shook with rage. At the same time, he felt pitiful for not being able to stand up to Simon.
How was he supposed to endure the next three years while that bastard was still enrolled?
Maybe Simon wouldn’t take Magical Combat next semester?
No way. Professor Hongpeng put so much effort into that kid, and Magical Combat was where he demonstrated the most talent.
What really got to Bred was when Simon successfully performed ‘Internal Darkness Divergence’, Professor Hongpeng had smiled with the happiest face Bred had seen in five years of working under her.
‘Grrrk!’
With jealousy, rage, and misery bubbling inside, Bred felt like his head would explode. He gripped his hair in frustration.
Still in his fresh mid-twenties, yet already losing hair from stress. At this rate, he’d end up just like his father…
“Assistant!”
A voice woke Bred from his thoughts.
Jaime stood at attention in front of him, addressing him.
“Class A and Class C have all gathered.”
“Ahem.”
Bred slowly got to his feet.
“Then let’s begin the match. Class A and Class C, first teams step forward.”
From Class A, Team 1, including Maelyn and Dick, stepped forward.
And from Class C—
“It’s Serne! Serne’s up!”
“Serne is the first!”
“Wooooow!”
Class A erupted in cheers, throwing their arms in the air.
Meanwhile, Class C students, who had been watching Simon and Hector, let out disappointed sighs when they didn’t step forward.
From Class A’s perspective, this was the ideal outcome: matching their weakest card against the opponent’s strongest.
“Pulling Serne’s team with that one? Huge win.”
“The others will handle it somehow.”
Class A students were already treating the loss as inevitable.
“Don’t celebrate, you crazy bastards!”
Maelyn turned and yelled at her classmates.
“We’re going to win!”
Class A responded with a bland round of applause. None of them looked remotely convinced.
Maelyn turned her head, thinking she’d already had her stomach flipped inside out multiple times today.
Rustle, rustle.
There stood Serne, wearing a white coat over her uniform, smiling and waving at Maelyn. Maelyn glared at her with a twitching expression.
‘You’re dead today. Seriously.’
Twenty students from each side entered the court.
Outside the court, both classes launched into heated cheering battles.
As the students inside the court stood ready, brimming with fighting spirit, only Bred yawned widely and blew his whistle with an expression full of irritation.
“Silence! Team captains, step forward.”
Maelyn and Serne walked up. Bred pulled a 1-silver coin from his pocket.
“Heads or tails?”
“Heads! No matter what!”
Maelyn shouted, already fired up.
"Then I’ll take tails~"
Serne replied in a soft voice. Bred lazily flipped the coin and caught it just as carelessly.
"Heads. Class A serves first."
"Yes!"
Maelyn clenched her fists tightly. Serne turned around, her hair fluttering.
"So cute~ Did you want to win at least something like this?"
"I’m just happy imagining smashing your skull with the ball!"
Like fire and water, the two turned their backs to each other and walked off. Serne, meanwhile, was giggling the whole way.
Bred tossed the ball toward Class A.
"Begin."
Piiik
He blew the whistle. Maelyn passed the ball to Dick.
"Hey, enchantment mule. Hurry up."
"Yay~ yay~ To headquarters we go."
While Dick enchanted the ball, Maelyn drew a magic circle. Dick glanced at her from the side and said,
"You know you get disqualified if you use offensive magic on the opponent, right?"
"I know that too!"
She finished the magic circle and took a few steps back. Loud cheers erupted from the Class A students.
"Land that first strike beautifully!"
"Take someone out and do 'the pose'!"
Flustered, Maelyn turned her head sharply.
"Ugh, shut up! All of you!!"
After silencing the Class A students who kept messing with her mental state, Maelyn returned to a serious expression.
Dick, having finished the enchantment, gestured upward with a shrug. She nodded in response.
"Here I go."
Dick tossed the enchanted ball high like a serve. Maelyn, who had moved back, activated her Internal Darkness Deviation and sprinted forward, leaping with all her strength.
Vwoooooom!
Soaring like a butterfly, she swung her arm powerfully.
Just before the ball touched her palm, the magic circle drawn on the back of her hand activated a Dark Flare spell.
Fwaaaaaaah!
Flames burst out like an explosion as she smashed the ball with all her might.
Crack!!
The ball struck a male student from Class C square in the face. He couldn’t even react.
Thunk.
Rollrollroll.
The ball fell from his face and rolled away. Landing gracefully, she let out the breath she had held.
"Woooooooooo!"
"Nice one, Maelyn!"
Cheers exploded from all around.
"See that?"
Maelyn straightened up and turned to Dick.
"I told you I could win without enhancement magic!"
"Sheesh, well of course~ You're the absolute best~"
She kicked Dick in the butt as he grinned, then turned her head away.
She saw Simon among the students watching, clapping with a wide smile. Her mood lightened, and she felt a sense of pride rising.
Bred, perched at the referee stand, waved his hand lazily.
"Chop-chop. Next, Class C serve."
From Class C, a girl with pigtails stepped forward. Maelyn gave her orders.
"Tanks! Move to the front!"
Maelyn, as the main attacker, and a few other students stepped back, while several large male students moved forward. They were Magical Combat majors or had defensive black magic.
The pigtail girl glanced at Class A’s formation and awkwardly threw the ball. The ball was heading out of bounds.
"Haha! Where are you throwing—!"
But suddenly, the ball veered and struck a student in the chest.
This time, Class C erupted in cheers.
"You idiot! Didn’t you see the professor’s demo earlier? The ball curves! Don’t let your guard down!"
Maelyn shouted in frustration. The student who was hit scratched his head sheepishly and walked off the court.
"Dick! Enchant again and send it up!"
Maelyn played the role of Class A’s main cannon. Whenever the ball came over, the whole team fed it to her.
Her offensive power was certainly remarkable. A 100% success rate. Not a single student had caught the ball she sent flying.
Meanwhile, Class C rotated different students to take the lead in attacking. Serne, however, stood off in a corner of the court, not attacking, calmly trimming her nails with a blank expression. The other Class C students didn’t dare say anything and simply watched for her cues.
Smack!
A Class A student missed the ball as it hit his arm and went out.
Watching from the sidelines, Simon gave a bitter smile.
'Actually, attacks almost always land.'
This game overwhelmingly favored offense. Beyond that, the trend among first-year Keyzen students was to neglect defense.
In first year, each curse had significant power, so in duel assessments, whoever landed the first curse or hit gained a huge advantage.
With both sides still lacking in fundamentals, the trend of "first hit wins" was deeply embedded.
Moreover, in real combat, defense could be handled by protective suits or the Keyzen uniform, further reinforcing the offense-heavy tendency of first-years.
Of course, as students advanced to higher years or reached professor level, the importance of defense naturally increased.
Tuuuump!
"Woooooooah!"
At that moment, cheers erupted from both Class A and Class C.
In a match where successful attacks were nearly guaranteed, a "super play" was, without question, defense.
A Class A Magical Combat student had blocked a Class C attack for the first time. Darkness flowed from his body.
'He used Internal Darkness Divergence.'
A Magical Combat major with prior training. He immediately counterattacked and hit a Class C student.
Blocking an opponent’s attack and then landing one himself, double the value. Everyone on the court rushed to high-five him.
Having defensive black magic, or else a strong Magical Combat skill, was the key in this match.
"Defense, huh…"
Simon’s eyes sparkled.
With just a simple ball game, Hongpeng had given the students a whole new topic to think about.
Superb.