Chapter 829
"Let’s stop here."
For a moment, a heavy silence flowed through the Volcanic Castle. Some students swallowed their saliva.
"W-what do you mean stop......."
"This test, I mean."
Meridiana looked at the output device strapped to her wrist, smiling.
"About an hour remains, total survivors are 155. Isn’t it perfect? If we just stop here, our 329th class will return with these 155 as the baseline. To put it a bit more bluntly—"
Her lips parted.
"This school will fall right into our hands."
"......."
"Don’t you all feel it, always? That our class is unusually large. Scholarships, club funds, even the smallest things come with competition. Some of you couldn’t get into the major you wanted because the seats were full, some of you couldn’t take the classes you wanted."
She clenched her fist.
"But if we end this exam here, everything changes. Imagine it! All resources and support concentrated on us. The positions as professors’ direct disciples will be empty, club president seats, Top 10 seats, even student council seats."
Her voice grew louder as she looked around at the students.
"Since too many students dropped out at Keyzen, they’ll make sure at least us survivors graduate. The endless fear of expulsion ends here! It’s perfect. No more losses, we can finally enjoy the rewards of surviving up until now!"
Meridiana spread her arms wide.
"How is this bad?"
A dreadful silence settled.
Then, one of the raid squad students spoke.
"Your proposal doesn’t even stand in the first place."
"?"
"Even if we sit still here, there’s no way the Volcanic Lord will leave us be."
"She leaves us be."
Meridiana shrugged, smiling.
"This is a safe zone."
She explained how they got here.
Ranked 4th overall, betrayed by Merida, and unable to participate in the Top10 melee, Meridiana and Aseraz had no choice but to completely revise their strategy.
Their new plan: to climb onto the Volcanic Castle before anyone else.
The two of them had reached near the crater before the 24-hour mark when the Volcanic Lord would appear.
If the castle was going to appear, they believed it would only be from the central volcano, the highest peak of the Lehlon Archipelago, accessible from every region.
And just as expected, the Volcanic Castle rose from the magma inside the crater.
Afterward, Meridiana used some kind of black magic to conceal themselves and infiltrated the castle interior with Aseraz, unnoticed.
Once inside, they weren’t attacked. Even after releasing the concealment spell used for the infiltration. From the 1st to the 2nd floor, there were no troops, and no lava streamed in from outside.
A perfect safe zone.
"But from the 3rd floor onward, soldiers guard the castle, so we couldn’t go. And on the top floor, there’s the Volcanic Lord. You all know the Volcanic Lord is Jin Arskalt, right?"
At the weight of that name, some raid squad students flinched.
"Seriously, how could students defeat an active Legion Commander? Even if by some miracle the fight went evenly, only 2 or 3 people here would survive."
Meridiana’s voice rose.
"And if they lose? The test ends here. Then who does Keyzen fall to?"
She pointed outside.
"To the ones too busy clinging to life, shivering in the farthest corners of the archipelago."
Meridiana created an imagined external enemy.
"And you’d hand this school over to scum like that? We’ll be expelled and go back to being ordinary, while those trash parade around as Keyzen graduates, living it up? You can just sit back and watch that happen?"
Inside, she formed bonds between those present, while rousing hostility toward the imagined enemy outside.
"Only we can take down the Volcanic Lord anyway. Best case, we gain nothing, worst case, we lose everything. Why should we do others a favor? If we stop here, it’s over. Let’s just enjoy the rewards of our efforts and survival up until now."
She laughed, spreading her arms.
"Like true Keyzen students."
Their opponent was Jin Arskalt.
She stoked their fear of the future, whispered of humanity’s most primal desires, and the most stable, peaceful conclusion.
Let’s stop here.
We’ve done well enough, it’s enough.
Who among them could avoid being shaken, even a little, by such temptation?
"However, we also have one condition."
This time, Aseraz stepped forward, pointing a finger at Simon.
"Hand over Simon Follentia."
"......."
"Even us Top10 need to move up at least one rank for it to have merit, don’t you think? I don’t see it as a difficult demand."
The raid squad students’ eyes rolled around, then fixed on Simon.
Simon’s reaction was calm.
The silence was so heavy, one could hear a water droplet fall.
Nobody could easily open their mouths—
"Ha-ha."
Laughter rang out.
"Ahahaha."
Everyone’s heads slowly turned.
One person was covering her forehead and laughing, her lips stretched wide.
"Thanks, Aseraz. To be honest, I was a little shaken."
It was Cindy Vivace.
She lowered the hand pressed against her forehead.
"But because you mentioned eliminating Simon, I snapped right out of it."
"?"
"What did the Queen Bee say earlier again? Those scum shivering in corners, too busy trying to survive?"
Cindy raised her arm, pointing at the output device.
"Then what’s this?"
[The challengers have occupied the Sealing Stone.]
"And what’s this?"
[Darwin Carradin has been eliminated.]
[Amelie Fishburn has been eliminated.]
[Canis McGrory has been eliminated.]
Other raid squad students too raised their arms, looking at their own devices. Elimination messages kept appearing.
"Shatel is holding back the volcano, so what are all these eliminations? You think they’re just idiots fighting among themselves? No way."
Cindy’s expression grew serious.
"It means those outside are fighting fiercely this very moment. For us, to raise even slightly our chances of defeating the Volcanic Lord."
"......."
"This is the right path. The road we’re on now is the just path. Everyone is working together, marching toward victory, and the only obstacles in all of Keyzen."
She raised her arm.
"While everyone else is fighting, you two were the only ones holed up in this Volcanic Castle, scheming how to take down Simon Follentia."
Meridiana and Aseraz’s expressions hardened.
"And also, calling this our achievement is wrong. This is not our achievement."
At that moment, another male student stepped forward, pointing downward.
"You wouldn’t know, since you were hiding in here. But some sacrificed themselves on purpose just to get us up here. They took arrows from the Volcanic Lord, even though they could be expelled. This is not just our problem."
The ponytailed girl who had carried students, Guinevere, stepped out.
"Keyzen-like, you say? Not a single professor ever taught that tucking tail and turning your back is what being Keyzen-like means."
She raised Darkness.
"Keyzen-like, I’ll do anything to win."
The atmosphere heated up.
The entire raid squad now looked resolute, their faces flushed, eyes gleaming with determination. Behind them, Hector, who had been standing with arms crossed, watching quietly, let out a faint sigh.
"If there were any trash tempted by that offer, I planned to burn them first."
Jule and Elisa steadied their stance, and Simon at the front also summoned up Darkness.
‘Tch, it’s not working.’
Meridiana thought so, stepping backward.
"Aseraz, let’s just retreat for now......."
"Truly—"
Aseraz bit her lips hard enough to bleed. Her eyes rolled back in frenzy.
"I don’t understand!"
Fwoooosh!
Aseraz unleashed all of her Darkness. The magic golems behind her immediately responded, activating the magic circles embedded in their bodies.
"If we just end it here, we all benefit! Weaklings being eliminated, that’s competition! Victory? What victory? Isn’t victory just us gaining the most benefit? You refuse this gift dropped into your laps! You’ll risk your lives for a future where, at best, you break even? Are you out of your minds?"
She screamed, almost in desperation.
"Please! Please, think and act rationally! Stop letting emotions control you, stop doing these incomprehensible, stupid things!"
At that moment, Cindy behind her raised her fist, the tail of her Spirit rising. Aseraz gasped, clutching her throat.
"By now, it’s just pitiful."
"Ghhk!"
Aseraz’s eyes bulged as she clutched her neck. The three magic golems’ circles opened at once, unleashing hundreds of large and small black magic spells.
Kwakakakakakakak!
All manner of elemental Darkness magic and curses. Poison and blood magic as well. It was like dozens of casters were unleashing their black magic at once, leaving everyone’s eyes wide.
"Fall back!"
Two Keyzen raid squad students leapt forward, spreading their arms. A massive gate rose, barrier circles unfolded, and the flood of black magic was blocked.
Because of that, Cindy’s spirit magic was canceled, and she withdrew her hand with a regretful look.
"There’s no time to waste on pathetic losers like this."
Hector lowered his stance. Scales spread, wings sprouted, his body swelling as he transformed into the form of a dragon.
[Leave them to me, go.]
Simon’s eyes widened as he turned.
"Will you be alright?"
[With that 4th-ranker here, she can serve as my substitute.]
Hector glanced at Merida, slung on his back. She was soundly asleep, even in this chaos.
The dragon-shaped Hector spread a circle in front of himself, then opened his jaws.
<Dragon Breath>
Fwoooooosh!
A distorted black flame poured out in the shape of a hollow tunnel, sweeping away Aseraz’s magic and pushing back the golems.
[Go!]
Boom!
Hector soared savagely, catching a golem with his legs, slamming it into the wall, shattering it.
"Thanks!"
"We’re going first!"
Simon and the students quickly rushed into the flames Hector created.
"Not letting you go."
Meridiana stepped aside, raising her arms to cast black magic, but a sword slash grazed her side.
"!?"
"Your opponent is here."
Jule approached, gripping the hilt of his demonic sword.
"Oh my, so you finally chose a side. Have you overcome that sense of loss, demonic sword user?"
"Do not prattle."
His eyes gleamed.
"I will fight with all my strength. I will not hold back."
Hector, who had already destroyed one of the three magic golems, now fixed his gaze on Aseraz from the sky.
Aseraz ground her teeth furiously.
"Hector Moore! I thought you and I were the same kind!"
[What a disgusting thing to say!]
His jaws opened, Darkness surging within.
[You are nothing but a loser!]
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