Chapter 144 - Death Bridge Run! II

—Lehte's POV

[Now then! Event No. 2 will be the Tentacle Guard! The participants are Myla from team A! Naty of team B! Hermie of team C! And Lehte of team D! 

As to be expected, the eyes are probably going to be on team C's Lady Hermie! In the second year rankings, she holds the position of 48th as she has always defeated all her opponents with her exceptional Flame Magic. 

She is the first one of the top 50 to be participating in the events of this festival.

Against the coming malevolence, how good will flame magic fare!?]

Hearing Sir Tom Belphegor's plucky commentary, I could not help but slip into a wry smile. There are probably less than a few in this academy who are bold enough to publicly introduce the daughter of a Marquis like Lady Hermie and the son of a Margrave by their first names alone. Taking a quick glance at Lady Hermie, she also has a wry smile but she does not look particularly displeased, so she does not seem to be angered.

[Now then, let us move on to the event exposition!]

As he said so, flags were planted behind us. Each flag has the letters A-D written on it respectively and, as a bonus, drawings the faces of us participants.

[The rules are simple! Defend your flags against the upcoming "enemies"! How long you remain will decide your placement! Ah, lastly, attacking the other teams is forbidden!]

I've been told that it's similar to "kick the can" but instead of a ball, we're protecting these flags, huh. Instead of the other team attacking, the event planning committee will provide the opposition. In this case, it seems that I really was the best choice for this. All the other members on my team are really not the best at defending.

[Now then, please welcome the attackers!!]

On the Prince's signal, two figures landed right in the middle of the training ground, exactly between us four participants. 

One was a girl of average height and slim build.  She had fair skin, long black hair that spills over her shoulders and down to her waist. Her almond-shaped green eyes and spruce eyebrows complemented her beautiful face and made her seem expressionless like a doll.

Beside her was a very cute young girl of average height with straight mid-back length black hair that she sometimes wore in a rough high ponytail. She had bangs that were cut straight across her forehead and covered her eyebrows. Below that were her rather large indigo-purple eyes that seemed to be sparkling.

As a member of Class A of the second year, it was quite hard to not recognize who the two girls were.

[That is right! The attackers are Lady Layla and Lady Nicole.]

"Ah, umm, to be exact, we're here to summon them."

"I can't believe I'm actually helping to summon this..."

Lady Eryrth seemed to be in a very bad mood as ominous magic power was escaping from her body. Despite her face looking expressionless, one could clearly tell that she was quite unhappy with being there.

[I would have loved Layla to participate in this but not all things go the way we want them to now do they?]

Lady Eryrth' brow visibly twitched upon the Prince's words while Lady Nicole seemed to be lost as she stared at Lady Eryrth with a curious look on her face.

"Let's get this over with Nicole."

Saying so, Lady Eryrth and Lady Nicole linked hands and bumped each other's foreheads. They were strangely close to each other and just seeing them from here is making me feel weird, but it looks like the three girls do not feel the same way. W-well, I probably would not last even ten seconds against those two, so it is considerably relieving that they are not the actual attackers.

Especially Lady Nicole, the spell she used against Sir Kian recently is not one i would like to be on the receiving end of.

"I call for an ancient monster-"

"Of unfixed shape and eternal life-"

""Come forth! Takaku! ""

As the two finished chanting, something gushed out around them. What emerged were four long arm-like black appendages that were somewhat slimy and shiny. 

'Are those tentacles?'

The tentacles entwined with Lady Eryrth's and Lady Nicole's white legs were unusually sensual, all the boys in the arena, myself included, spontaneously slouched forward. No, it seems like the girls feel the same way as well, as even Lady Hermie was so flushed that it was visible from where I am.

On closer inspection, I noticed a thin layer of aura around both Lady Eryrth's and Lady Nicole's legs, even so they seemed to be holding back from reflexively attacking the 'tentacle creature' as i could see that the tentacles on Lady Nicole's legs were freezing up and those on Lady Layla's legs had taken quite the distance from her.

Oh, did i add that they were being burnt by black flames?

[The attacker is this magic lifeform? Takaku! Please valiantly defend your flags against the coming assault of these tentacles! ]

The tentacles are sprouting out from the ground, so its whole body is not visible but with how big the visible parts already are, I'm sure that its whole body is considerably enormous.

Well, we are merely defending this time, so I should be able to manage… I really hope so.

Belated may it be, I finally recalled what Lady Blair said to me before the event; that she had a bad feeling about this.

[With that said! Tentacle Guard! Begin!]

On the Prince's signal, the four tentacles in front of us began to move independently.

[Uoh, wha-!? "Wall"!!]

Just as the tentacles curled backward, they suddenly lashed down like a whip so I frantically created a wind attributed "Wall" to block the attack. The tentacles were less powerful than I imagined, as it seems like one attack will not destroy this "Wall".

With the first attack being more tolerable than expected, I had the leeway to observe the other three. Right next to me, Lady Hermie was using wind and water magic to freeze a tentacle and slow its movement. She has a barrier of wind cast around the flag, so her defense seems to be flawless there.

On the opposite side, Team C's Naty appears to be trying to push away the tentacle with a large volume of water. If the enemy is the type to push on with numbers, then Naty's choice wouldn't be a mistake, and may have been chose with that in mind but unfortunately, her enemy isn't like that.

While the tentacle is overwhelmed by the strong flow of water, it gradually slithers towards Naty.

[Hii! Stop, s-stay away!!]

With Naty's shriek, the water current increased in pressure. Thanks to this, the tentacle that was close to Naty was once again pushed back and she somehow escaped her predicament.

Lastly, Team A who's behind Lady Eryrth and Lady Nicole, and on the side opposite of me. In regards to one of the weirdest second year student I know... Hm? What the heck is she doing? Looking entranced, she's running towards the tentacle with open arms!?

[What!? Myla of Team A! She just willingly embraced the attacking tentacle!? What exactly is her plan!?]

No, really, what exactly is her plan!? Somehow, the tentacle stopped for a moment, seemingly surprised as well, but it immediately pulled itself together and entwined itself around Myla who's hugging it. It slithers its way from her ankle to her calf, thigh, and stomach, coiling itself around her. Ah, I can see her navel.

"Whoah!?"

While I was distracted by looking at Myla's navel, the tentacle smashed through my "Wall" and rushed towards me. No, honest! I don't have a fetish for that! I did think to myself, tentacle girls might be nice, but still!

'I feel like i can understand why the Prince suggested this event, seeing him laughing his ass out on the monitors and Lady Eryrth's ever increasing annoyance only confirms my theory'

While avoiding the tentacle attack, I hit it with the magic needles to limit its movements. The tentacles attacking the other teams seem to have become more active as well; particularly, Naty from Team B is screaming a lot.

"Kyaa! Kyaa! Stay away! Stay awayyyyyyy!!!"

Stealing a glance, it appears that the tentacle has given up on swimming through the water and is now stretching its long body to approach Naty from above. Visible right in front of Naty is the tentacle coiling around Myla, so she's desperately avoiding the tentacle attacking her lest she ends up like her.

"Wha-!? Stoppppp!!"

[Oops... Naty of Team B fought a good fight, but she finally dropped out! Succeeding Myla, she has fallen prey to the tentacles!"

"Don't just talk there! Helpppppp!!!"

However, this didn't continue for long, as she couldn't avoid the tentacle falling overhead and was captured. How should I say this? The tentacle is just coiling around her, but it's awfully sensual... It seems like the other boys in the arena feel the same way too, as I can hear the sound of breathing similar to a sigh.

I also feel just as many chilling gazes, so I stopped observing, and I can't do it for long anyway as I have to focus on the tentacle right in front of me. Still, it seems that the other students in the arena, particularly the second year's, are staring so closely that they don't notice the cold gazes from the girls.

"Um... Layla, as much as you really don't want to, I think it's high time that we gave the command..."

"Tch..." 

I turned towards Lady Nicole reflexively after hearing the very ominous words she said but was met with the sight of Lady Eryrth stretching her hand towards the tentacle monster.

'It couldn't be?!'

Her next words confirmed my thoughts.

"Phase Two."

The large tentacles, as well as the small ones that were twitching on the floor around the two of them, began to attack. We already had a hard time with the big ones, now there's more!?

"Kuh! I won't fall here! Wind Magic: Tornado!"

"Tsk! These big ones were already enough trouble! Like I'd let them near! Poison Magic: Poison Needle"!!"

Using my specialty, Poison Needle, a large number of spikes sprout out of the ground and intercept the tentacles. Poison Needle is a spell that produces heavily poisoned spikes. The poison applied is based on my imagination but this time I chose paralysis poison to stop their movements.

The needles pierced through the tentacles, blocked their path, and successfully stopped them on their tracks. Or so I thought.

Without being affected by the paralysis poison, the free tentacles slither through the spikes and the tentacles that were pierced through.

[Team D's Lethe just made an attempt to keep the tentacles away with a spell but it doesn't seem like the poison is working… Why might that be, Miss Layla?]

Lady Eryrth clicked her tongue once more before activating what seemed to be a microphone on her academy issued wristwatch and answering the Prince's Question.

[It's a magic lifeform that Nicole and I summoned. Being a magic lifeform, it is essentially the same as a golem so poisons are useless against it.]

"Is that even fair!?"

I couldn't help but yell so; still, it makes sense, there's no way tentacles are normal creatures, huh…

I stole a final glance at Team C and saw a small-scale tornado burst out with Lady Hermie and her flag in the middle. The tentacles approaching Lady Hermie could not break through this tornado and were instead tossed about by the winds.

'It's weird that she has not used the flame magic that she excels at though?'

[With a Tornado splendidly controlled in size, the event is settled! The results are it! First place! Lady Hermie of Team C! Second place! Sir Lehte of Team D! Third place! Naty of Team B! Fourth place! Myla of team A!!!]

[... Ah, before we finish up, Myla? Why did you throw yourself to the tentacles?]

To the Prince's question, Myla heaved a sigh before replying with a crazy look in her eyes.

[Haahaa... Ahn? Are we done already? Hm? Why? Why of course! It is obviously because this is a unique magic Lifeform. This truly is a magic lifeform, no mistake, but unlike a golem, which is command-response type, it even appears to have its own free will! No? Rather that will, is it intellect? I can even observe rationality from it! Ahh, before something of this sort-....]

[Er, right. It seems like this will not end anytime soon, so I would like to cut it here.. After setting up the stage, we will proceed to event no. 3, Fall Towers!]