Chapter 819
“Just come at me all at once.”
Silence fell.
Everyone’s gaze turned to Simon. He was leaning back lazily, a nonchalant smile on his lips.
A look brimming with confidence.
The first to react to Simon’s demeanor was, surprisingly, Hector.
[All at once, you say?]
Strength flared in his pupils.
[Don’t push your luck! Simon Follentia!]
The dragon’s jaws split open, and fiery breath flickered from his maw.
Fwoooosh!
A blazing globe of fire flew forth, scattering foul smoke as it came. Simon casually set his hand on his waist, then slipped lightly to the side.
Kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-kwah-boom!
“Kyaaa!”
The attack had been aimed at Simon, yet strangely, it was Elisa’s scream that rang out from behind.
It seemed she had been preparing something in secret again.
Fwoooosh!
Fwoosh!
Hector, even after striking Elisa, continued to unleash his breath in rapid succession.
While dodging the onslaught, Simon drew forth the Spear of Chaos from his waist and hurled it skyward.
[What the…!]
The unpredictable trajectory of the spear, spinning wildly, soon homed in on Hector.
Bzzzzzzzt!
Hector hastily thrust both wings forward to block the Spear of Chaos.
But this was no ordinary Chaos Spear. Violet sparks crackled out, clouding his reason and dulling his senses.
Simon’s new chaos technique.
Rather than focusing on penetration like the Chaos Spear, this one spread a state of confusion into its target.
<Chaos Stinger>
Before the other Top 10 could even react, Simon was already moving.
He hurled Chaos Stingers in rapid succession into the sky. The chaotic magic scattered in unpredictable paths, then plummeted toward Merida, Jule, and Elisa, who had yet to be struck.
Jule deflected it with the hilt of his demonic sword, and Merida used her toys to take the hit in her stead.
“Hyiiiik!”
Elisa, crawling out of the debris, screamed at the sight of a Chaos Stinger falling right in front of her face.
Simon was truly facing them all on his own.
While everyone else scrambled to avoid the chaos magic, Simon completed his most powerful spell.
‘Come forth.’
From the ground where he pressed his palm rose a thin, lanky figure, wearing a mask with a clown’s grin, armed with a long scythe.
<Chaos Reaper>
At once, Simon and the Chaos Reaper began to move together.
[You shall not pass.]
Rumbleeee!
At Merida’s voice, toy soldiers poured from an alley, but Simon casually lobbed Chaos Stingers that way.
The stingers struck the narrow alley, then spread like current, throwing the summons’ command system into disarray.
“Hup!”
Jule dashed forward, reaching for the hilt of his demonic sword, but was blocked by the scythe of the Chaos Reaper.
Everyone was thrown into disorder. Hector, overcome by the chaos effect, shook his head violently and spewed breath wildly. Merida struggled to keep her toy soldiers under control. Elisa was darting left and right, trying to avoid the randomly falling Chaos Stingers from the sky.
Indeed, in a melee, nothing was as effective as chaos magic.
‘That should do it.’
Sssss—
Simon raised his arm and clenched his fist.
Immediately, the Reaper fighting Jule melted into hundreds of chaotic tendrils, shooting upward into the sky.
<Simon’s Original – Chaos Barrage>
Kwooooosh!
A rain of great chaos descended.
Merida’s dream city was slashed apart in a frenzy of violet strikes. The Top 10 had no choice but to halt all offense and either defend or flee.
For a time, the battle entered a lull, with no attacks exchanged. Hector, swatting away a Chaos Spear with his scale-covered arm, shouted irritably.
[Simon Follentia!]
“Simon.”
Floating on her blanket, Merida closed her eyes.
Crackling chaos rippled over her body. The effect of confusion gnawed at her reason.
“My words aren’t finished yet.”
Now was when Merida’s Lost in a Dream truly began.
The dreamworld she created began spreading swiftly. If she wished, she could turn this entire island into her dreamscape, a force of overwhelming power.
As the toy city expanded and widened its scope, Simon tilted his head slightly.
“Merida.”
And then he pointed to the side.
‘?!’
Sensing something wrong, she snapped out of her trance and looked up.
No wonder it had felt so hot.
Ruuuumbleee!
Magma was pouring down.
Kwoooooooosh!
A tremendous tide of magma slid down the mountainside, flooding over Merida’s toy city like a sweeping deluge.
From the heavens, house-sized meteors of molten rock began to rain.
“What the hell is that all of a sudden?!”
Elisa reassembled the remaining wreckage of the ghost ship into a small boat and took flight to escape.
Hector spread his wings and soared upward in haste, while Jule used the power of his demonic sword as a booster to retreat.
“Kh!”
Merida too grabbed her floating blanket and flew upward. In an instant, the toy tiles of the ground were engulfed in lava.
The skies were no safer. Meteor showers poured down from above, forcing them to focus all attention on evasion.
“Simon……!”
Merida, who had undone her Lost in a Dream completely, quickly turned her head toward where Simon had been running.
Simon was gone, vanished without a trace.
* * *
While the Top10 battled fiercely on the central island, chaos was erupting on the starting islands as well.
—We need to crush them now!
—Eliminate them all!
This was an exam where fighting among students was unnecessary. The risk of elimination was high, and the merit to be gained was low.
But a handful of students, steeped in competition, stirred the waters like loaches in mud, dragging their surroundings into chaos. Battles bred vengeance, vengeance birthed victims.
Especially once mid-rank students banded together to hunt the high-rankers in groups, the high-rankers too began banding together, or forming alliances with others to counteract.
—Hahaha! This fortress, I, Raheim of Snowfield Castle, claim for myself!
Dick, who had built his own fortress and devised the strategy of holding out within it, was one of the major victims of the incident.
In the end, it wasn’t magma but people who stole the fortress. Top-rank students, including Raheim, attacked Dick’s group and seized it.
Before Dick could even attempt negotiation, yet another faction attacked the fortress Raheim had taken, pushing the situation further into extremity.
Dick and his comrades had no choice but to scatter and flee.
‘Damn it, why are we fighting each other in the first place!’
A miscalculation.
He had assumed that, burdened by the risk of expulsion, the students would pursue sheer survival above all else. He hadn’t expected the battles to be this fierce. Human desire had surpassed even his predictions.
Given how chaotic things were, he thought it might actually be better to push toward the central island.
As Dick thrashed through the undergrowth toward the sea—
“Hey, you! Stop right there.”
He stumbled upon a group of students walking nearby.
Dick froze in shock, halting in place.
“W-wait! I don’t want to fight—”
“Shut it.”
At the venomous words of one student, Dick clamped his mouth shut. His eyes darted around rapidly.
‘A kill group of mid-rankers. Five of them. Damn, can I stall for time to escape?’
As Dick’s eyes rolled, the students spoke among themselves.
“Should we eliminate him?”
“Leave him.”
Then, one student spoke with weary eyes.
“That’s Dick Hayword. He’s ranked 400th.”
“Ah.”
“Leave him alone and he’ll drop out on his own.”
They chuckled and turned their backs, disappearing. Dick, who had been tense and ready for a fight, let out a hollow laugh as he dropped his arms limply.
‘Never thought being dead last in the whole school would actually help me one day.’
Still, he had survived, and that was what mattered.
Even rolling in filth, survival was the most important thing.
Now battles were breaking out across all five starting islands. Unless he met Simon’s group, he couldn’t trust anyone.
‘First, let’s head for the central island.’
Fortunately, he had saved up just enough points for a small boat. Dick hurried to the shore, ready to buy one with his points.
Ruuuuumble—!
The volcano on the central island erupted. Magma could be seen rushing swiftly down the slopes.
“Ah, what impeccable timing.”
Dick smirked bitterly and clicked his tongue.
“If it was going to blow, it could’ve done so just a little earlier.”
* * *
The power of the volcanic eruption and the lava was far beyond what the students had imagined. The violet magma streaming down the mountainside swept away everything, devastating one side of the central island.
Soon, the magma spread into the sea.
Because it contained Darkness, it wasn’t normal magma. Instead of cooling upon touching the ocean, it spread even faster, racing toward the other surrounding islands.
From the sky, chunks of molten rock, from the sea, tides of magma. Students who had been fighting each other panicked, scrambling desperately to avoid the oncoming lava.
At that moment, eliminating each other wasn’t the problem. Their own lives were what mattered most.
Ruuumbleee—!
And where the magma spread, lava monsters began to rise one after another, attacking the students.
The students tried to flee to the sea to survive, but—
—Grooar!
—Screeeech!
Startled by the magma flowing into the sea, aquatic monsters also began to move, and the students soon found themselves attacked by them as well.
There was no room left to fight each other. Everyone had to join forces to escape this place.
And amid the chaos, one person in particular benefited from the eruption.
‘The timing was perfect.’
That person was Simon.
Sensing the volcano was about to erupt, Simon had immediately released the Chaos Reaper and cast Chaos Barrage.
The Top 10 had their attention fixed on the devastating firepower of Chaos Barrage, and, clouded by the confusion effect, they failed to notice the lava advancing right before them. Simon seized that opening and managed to slip away from the melee.
Now he was walking calmly near the safe shore.
‘I had guessed this might happen, but not to this degree.’
He had been attacked by the Top 10. As he walked, Simon recalled the battle that had just taken place, then remembered what Dick had told him.
—Especially the upcoming group exam. There’s a 100% chance the student council will interfere!
It seemed Dick had been right.
Of course, Simon had already prepared for such a possibility, and he had confidence he could overcome any situation. Still, battles like these posed a real danger.
There wasn’t a single easy opponent among them.
‘The strangest thing, though, is why the supposed ringleaders, Aseraz and Meridiana, didn’t show up.’
Simon believed he could handle up to four Top10, but if there had been six, it would’ve been overwhelming.
And the four who had come hadn’t even all attacked Simon with hostility. More often than not, they had clashed among themselves.
‘Troublesome.’
Simon folded his arms.
‘Just what the hell is happening in this exam?’
* * *
Central island, a certain shoreline.
“……”
A girl with a blank expression wandered aimlessly along the beach.
Her eyes had lost all focus, her face void of expression.
Her steps were like those of a sleepwalker.
Fwoosh!
At that moment, a nearby lava monster spotted her and approached with hostility. Even as the monster closed in, she continued walking defenselessly.
Soon, the lava monster swung its arm.
Smaaash!
The heavy blow sent her body flying, rolling across the sand. Cold seawater surged in, brushing her face before receding.
“……Haaah!”
Her eyes suddenly snapped open.
“Cough! Cough, cough, cough!”
She sputtered and spat out seawater and sand that had entered her mouth.
“Ugh, what the—?”
Her hazy mind began to clear.
Her knees and elbows were scraped raw and bleeding, pain throbbing all over her body. It was impossible to guess how much she had been battered about.
“What was I just… doing?”
—Groooar!
A lava monster charged at her while she was still defenseless. She turned her head to see it.
Craaaack!
Slash!
In an instant, black blades erupted from magic circles in all directions, shredding the monster to pieces.
The monster collapsed, and she rose to her feet with a hardened face.
Her identity was the overall 5th rank, Aseraz Mikel.
‘Why am I in a place like this……’
Slowly, she gathered her focus, trying to retrace her memories.
The last point where her memory had been cut off.
She had definitely crossed to the central island with Meridiana by boat, and had joined with the 4th rank, Merida Hugh Ikel.
The two of them had been already weary from evading Hector’s attack that had descended from the sky.
—Good. Then let’s all go catch Simon Follentia. Jule should be fighting him right now.
That’s what Meridiana had said, turning her back. Aseraz had walked alongside her.
While preparing for the major battle ahead, pondering how to deal with Simon—
—I said we’d fight Simon.
Merida’s voice rang out behind them.
—But from here on, this is my personal affair.
—Huh?
Aseraz had felt Merida’s palm press against her back.
—You two are in the way.
That was the last thing she remembered.
Exhausted from Hector’s battle, her curse resistance had been broken in an instant, leaving her helpless.
“Then, Merida………”
Aseraz’s lips trembled.
Merida had only used them as convenient pawns to track Simon’s location.
In truth, from the very beginning—
“…she had planned to betray us?”
Assuming that backing by the new student council meant all the Top10 would move as intended had been a miscalculation.
It seemed they had been the ones played for fools.
‘Damn it!’
She clenched her fists tightly.
The many lava monsters scattered along the shore spotted her, and began approaching one by one.
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