Chapter 48

Mightiest Melee Magician

Chapter 48

“One, two, three, four, five, six…… wait. Why are there only eleven, not fifteen? Did they leave four behind? They are underestimating us too much.”

“No. They’re probably already eliminated. Since they also had non-stop battles, there would’ve been some casualties.”

“Ah.”

The fifteen turned into eleven.

And the seven people in Callus’ team were either totally annihilated or left with only a few survivors.

We also eliminated five people ourselves.

If we assumed that Doom Prime was still in the game……

‘……Huh?’

It was hard to discern the exact numbers because of the darkness,

But the 11-person group that Dylan Marken was leading had engaged in a battle against a small group of about two or three people.

This meant,

“I think this event’s results will be decided here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone’s gathered right here.”

“……Eh?”

There was a total of 32 people.

And the estimated sixteen or seventeen survivors were all gathered here.

This also meant……

“Be careful. There’s a high chance Doom Prime is here too.”

Doom Prime.

No, I was certain.

He would definitely appear here.

He wouldn’t miss such a good chance to gain more kill points.

I asked Irene,

“Are you ok? We haven’t been able to rest once yet.”

She shook her head, signaling that it didn’t bother her.

“Don’t worry about me. During assessment periods, I stayed up for three days straight without issue. This much is nothing.”

“That’s a relief. Let’s finish up quickly and go take a rest.”

“Yes.”

I spat out the apple seed in my mouth, then lowered my body and readied myself in a running stance.

The target was just one place.

Dylan Marken’s 15-person group.

It would all be over if I could destroy that.

“Let’s go.”

“Alright! Let’s go!”

Papapat!

As soon as I kicked my legs and shot forward, I accelerated so much that it was hard to control.

I rushed through the darkness at breakneck speeds and I aimed at the side of the 11-person group, who was busy attacking the small group.

Sssst!

“Ack!”

I appeared out of nowhere into their side and jumped up, striking down.

“One!”

Boom!

As the magician burnt to a crisp after getting hit by a fireball in the side, the exploding conflagration lit up the night.

Thanks to this,

“R-Ruin?”

“It’s Ruin Ardell! Dylan! The guy’s here!”

I became the target of everyone’s attention.

However, it was too early to be surprised.

“I’m here too, you bastards!”

Seta and Irene provided support with firepower from the back as they cast Iron Knuckles and Blizzard.

“Two!”

Crack!

I pushed through, in-between the ten magicians.

Obstructing them from casting magic, I used my strength to break their formation.

“Th-this bastard… Why is he so strong……?”

As I approached, multiple gaps of all sizes started appearing in their formation.

“Now!”

The small group that was being pushed back used this opportunity to counterattack.

Their goal was the same as mine.

Dylan Marken’s 15-person group.

A temporary alliance, so to speak.

Dylan was their target of fear and also the common enemy.

If they were removed, the survivors’ ranks would instantly increase by eleven places.

There were many benefits to choosing my side.

“Damn it! Don’t panic! There are only six of them!”

The large group panicked for a second from the sudden ambush and counterattack, but Dylan didn’t back down.

Rather, he riled up his teammates, as if intent on finishing this game in this fight.

“We still have the numbers advantage! Don’t fight in close range with Ruin and try to get some distance!”

With Dylan’s commands, the magicians started to make space between me and them.

Yeah.

The side with more soldiers was stronger.

This was an undeniable fact.

However, because of our ambush, Dylan Marken had lost two magicians and became a group of nine.

Six vs nine.

A difference of three was quite possible to narrow by individual competence.

“If it’s this much, don’t you think we can do it?”

“Of course it’s possible. Don’t worry about it.”

This had created a tense state of balance.

However,

“Ruin! Behind you!”

“……”

The lone person who appeared after the warning had instantly broken this balance.

Swoosh!

A singular pillar of light cut through the darkness and shot right between us.

It was fast.

And it was sharp.

The place the light swept through was filled with wind, and people couldn’t help but shut their eyes.

“Wh-what was that? Just then…”

“……”

This gargantuan light was similar to the ‘sword spirit’ used by the knights.

There was only one magician in this competition that used this type of magic.

“I-it’s Doom Prime……”

“Doom appeared again!”

* * *

* * *

Doom Prime.

The entrance that everyone recognised.

We were all instantly filled with nerves.

“……He’s finally appeared.”

It wasn’t that hard to find where Doom was.

The direction where the light came from.

In this dark forest, the artifact he held onto, the Sword of Brilliance, constantly produced a majestic light like the morning sun from its scabbard.

Seeing Doom, Dylan’s face instantly turned into a frown.

“Damn it……! Why now……?”

He had foreseen what would happen.

In that moment,

“D-dodge!”

Another huge pillar of light shone past.

Swoosh!

This huge light scraped across Dylan’s shoulder.

“Aaaack!”

In one shot, it eliminated the magician standing next to him dazedly. Dylan could only breathe haphazardly, petrified.

“Ha…… Ha……”

A strong second attack.

It was all aimed at Dylan’s group.

The meaning of this attack was clear.

“Doom Prime. That guy…… Is he intending to be on our side……?”

Just like what Seta was muttering, Doom was telling us something.

That his target wasn’t us, but Dylan’s group.

Naturally, this came with a condition.

“You’re right. This is quite the temporary alliance. Only until those guys are eliminated.”

Only until that bothersome 15-person group was eliminated.

Doom’s entrance had changed the six vs nine into a seven vs eight in an instant.

The tight balance had abruptly turned in favour of our side since we had both the number 1 and 2 strongest winning candidates.

This was quite the fatal blow for Dylan.

“D-damn it…… Why are you only attacking us?! Why?!”

It had started to crumble their belief that they were the absolute strongest, and this had initiated his group’s dissolving.

That wall of faith.

It looked so stable, but in reality, it was quite faulty.

Just as if a dam had broken open, when one crack started to appear, it lost its structure and the whole thing came tumbling down.

“Everyone, run away! Get to the facility!”

“Hold your ground! We need to stand together.”

“W-we can’t win! We can’t win this! We need to at least get back to our building and try to defend— Ack!”

“D-damn it……”

Dylan Marken tried to fight back to the end, but most chose to turn tail and flee.

This was quite the pandemonium.

The situation became heated and the winners seemed to have already been decided.

Now, everyone just looked to increase their kill points.

The signal to start was Doom Prime.

Slice! Ssssshoot!

Doom Prime revealed himself from the darkness and started to chase down the enemies.

He had started the full-scale hunt.

“……We can’t lose out.”

I also upped my pace.

I couldn’t let them escape.

After all, I too wanted to obtain the maximum amount of points possible.

I shot forward using Bend Time to block their escape routes and slammed the ground.

Bang!

An Earthquake that could cause a shift in the crust.

And on top of that, strength comparable to an ogre’s.

These two powers formed into one and clashed in the ground, starting to distort it around me.

“Ack!”

This swallowed the magicians that ran straight into it.

Right next to me, Doom had stuck his sword into some magician’s defensive item.

“……”

It was the face of a hunter who had found their prey.

This Doom’s eyes and mine met in the air, and he called out to me.

“Ruin Ardell.”

“What? I’m busy right now.”

“I’ll eliminate you here myself.”

An emotionless face.

However, the emotion mixed in his gaze was definitely hostility.

Just that,

“Really? Then you wanna go?”

“……I’ll do it later. You look tired. Rest up first.”

“What? Hey! Hey!”

This hostility wasn’t currently aimed at me.

After finishing his talk, Doom Prime started to run after other magicians that were running away.

“That self-centered bastard…… He just said what he wanted to and went away.”

I also ran full speed after other magicians.

‘I should fight after resting up?’

It was an arrogant remark.

It was like saying that he could eliminate someone like me whenever he wanted.

There was another reason that he was taunting me unnecessarily like this.

‘Fire King Teron’.

He wanted to show Teron.

That he won against the magician that the Fire King was paying attention to.

That he was the best.

Fighting against me while I was at full strength so that I couldn’t make excuses and then defeating me would definitely garner a great amount of attention from the Fire King.

Thinking like this, he reminded me of a child that worked their hardest to receive praise.

Well, his outer appearance wasn’t like that.

‘Then, come at me if you dare.’

Of course, I didn’t have the slightest intention of going along with his plans.

I needed to obstruct them as much as possible.

I forcibly suppressed the fighting spirit rising inside me and threw a punch at the next student.

Slowly but surely, the dawn signaling a new day approached.

* * *

At the same time,

Fire King Teron, who was watching everything that was happening on Battle Island through his singular magic crystal, laughed out loud.

“He made a commotion on purpose to drag out his enemies and he drove them out with his other enemies…… For a method that was concocted in the midst of danger, it’s pretty good. I didn’t know he had interests in military tactics.”

“With this, the top 10 is confirmed.”

“Right. The students that should be here are here.”

The people who should be here were here.

Over 4 people remained from the 11 Children.

And Ruin Ardell from the Academy was here too.

This was the start of the real battle.

“Tirion. Who do you think is going to win?”

“……”

Having nurtured him himself, he naturally wanted Ruin to win.

But he was here in the position of a judge.

A position where he couldn’t show personal opinions.

Tirion chose his words carefully.

“We’ll know if we wait.”

“Pft. I knew you would respond like that.”

Having known this, Teron smiled mischievously.

“Ruin Ardell. That child told me before this event. That he would show me that he was better than the 11 children.”

“Did he say that? From what I remember, he was just curious about the outcome.”

“He was saying it in a roundabout way. In the end, what he meant was that he would show me. I know that you know what he meant.”

“He’s not an arrogant child. Just treat it as a joke from a cute student.”

“I’m also very curious whether he’s a cute student or just full of talk.”

Teron.

His gaze stopped on Doom Prime, who was hunting down the other students.

“And if he can beat that guy too.”

——