Volume 3 - CH 22

It was finally the day of the A-rank promotion test, Teto and I left the home we had bought in the royal capital and headed for the examination venue for the test一 the guild's training ground.

The training ground of the royal capital guild was an arena-like circular area equipped with audience seats.

B-rank adventurers of the Iska kingdom could be seen gathering in the arena, the venue for the A-rank promotion test, and they numbered 16 people.

"So it would be a contest between these 16 people."

"I'm so pumped to fight these people-nanodesu!"

About 10 adventurers out of the 16 were taking this promotion exam more than once while the rest fulfilled the criteria for the test just this year.

It was also said that those who qualify for the A-rank promotion exam are twice as many as those who take the exam. However, half of the count who didn't take the exam were either satisfied with being B-rank or had already reached the limit of what they could achieve as adventurers.

"There seem to be spectators beside the examinee, maybe party members?"

The venue generally wasn't open to the public but there were a few people who seemed to be cheering for their comrades.

Among them, I spotted Selene dressed in a church sister's attire surrounded by other sisters and escort knights waving her little hand at me.

"Majou-sama, Selene is there-nanodesu."

"Yeah, she found a good spot to not be easily seen."

Just as Teto and I had spotted Selene, the guild master of the royal capital's adventurer's guild appeared.

"I'm glad to be able to conduct the promotion test this year again. I'm not a fan of long-winded speeches so I'll keep it short. As I see that there are many fresh examinees, I'll explain the rules briefly."

The rules for the tournament, which was the promotion exam of the adventurer's guild, were as follows:

Examinees aren't allowed to kill their opponent. They will be disqualified if that ever happens. (The reason is to not lose excellent high-ranking adventurers)

Examinees can use any kind of method as long as it doesn't kill their opponent, the guild will bear the responsibility of healing the injured.

However, examinees cannot participate in further battle if it was judged that they aren't in a state to continue even after being healed. But, the result of their test would be judged based on their battles up to that point.  

This contest isn't to vie for the most win count but to see the necessary qualities of an A-rank adventurer.

The guild master finished explaining the rules and soon, draws were pulled.

"...... I'm number 8."

"Teto is number 3-nanodesu!"

It seems like it would begin with the battle between No.1 and No.2 and afterwards, the winner will continue to fight to defend his rank.

Both the number 1 and 2 adventurers were human warriors. And thus, the contest began.

The first battle was fought between a rough and wild-looking adventurer with a unique skill and another who was taking the exam for the first time.

The victory was decided in a short moment under the onslaught of the unique skill holder's overwhelming might. It wasn't like the first-timer adventurer wasn't good, but «Body Strengthening» alone wasn't enough to deal with the sword swung by a unique skill holder on whom a glimpse of «Body Hardening» could be seen.

The fact spoke for themselves, the first-timer adventurer was blown tens of meters away with their arms broken. This decided the outcome.

"I'm heading on, Majou-sama!"

"Be careful, Teto."

Continuing on with the match was number 3's turn, Teto.

It seems like the unique skill holder was a B-rank adventurer with the alias 「Flesh severing Lock」.

His behavior was just as his looks suggested, violent and easy to get into a fight, and he had been classified as an inferior adventurer because of his unskillful use of his power. Apparently, he had killed his opponent whose provocation got into his head in last year's promotion test and was disqualified.

"Let's have a good match-nanodesu."

"Tsk, to be looked at by a brat. Go and be pulverized!"

The match began with the unique skill holder swinging his large sword down which Teto received upfront.

Clang

A dull sound of metal colliding against metal resounded into the venue, Teto had stopped the blow.

"Ohh, amazing. You have good strength there."

"Shiiitt, just shut and die you bitch!"

He must have taken down powerful opponents with the synergy of his tough body, body strengthening nearing «Body Hardening», and unique skill.

Had it been a normal adventurer, their hands would have gone numb, and they would have been blown away, unable to withstand the shock. The strike had enough power to cut apart an arm or fracture ribs but Teto easily received the thick blade of a big sword with her magic steel sword.

"A pity, there's just too much difference between our levels."

His unique skill should have been about instantaneously detonating his mana to strengthen his physical abilities.

However, Teto, who had a huge amount of mana and was clad in «Body Hardening», which gives no blind spot to be exploited, far surpassed him in both attack and defense.

The barbarian-looking adventurer's attacks were unable to dent Teto's defense and even the mana he had detonated instantaneously with his unique skill began to exhaust him.

"Fuck, why are my attacks not working."

"Your attacks don't have any substance. An attack should be like this."

Teto slipped into the chest area of the hulk-like adventurer with an unhurried tempo and swung her sword down.

Normally, torsos would have been sliced apart by that blow but Teto had intentionally covered her sword with body hardening, thus dropping its sharpness, and used it like a bat.

The hulk-like adventurer, who bore the brunt of the magic sword's strike, rolled onto the ground just like the other adventurer he himself had sent flying and fainted.

"I won, Majou-sama~"

She waved her hand at me and then turned to look at the audience seat where Selene was.

Like before, Teto was to guard her rank. Adventurer number 4, this time, was a magician.

The magician began by firing magic while keeping their distance from Teto, back-stepping from his starting position, all while firing their magic.

In contrast, Teto slashed apart any incoming magic while closing the distance between them, cutting apart the barrier covering the opponent's body, and finally pointing her sword at them.

"I, I surrender......"

"I won again."

Continuing on, adventurer number 5 was Elf Refrya-san.

"I'm different from that time!"

She began to rapid fire with her bow and arrows enchanted with spirit magic. Arrows enchanted with magic attacked Teto from various angles.

Teto tried to escape but the arrows kept following after her until they hit.

"Un, that's so annoying."

"Be prepared! I'm increasing the number!"

This time she fired more than 30 arrows simultaneously.

And then一一 Compressed air exploded when they hit Teto which blew her away. Such arrows continued to strike Teto and Teto who had hit the inner wall of the arena 一一

"Hey, that hurts!"

"Are you joking, it was my deadly attack which could take down even a red dragon......"

Teto was covered with dust but was, otherwise, unscathed due to her whole body being wrapped in «Body Hardening».

"...... I surrender."

"Registered. The victor is adventurer Teto!"

"Huh? The fight's already over?"

A puzzled-looking Teto repaired the inner wall she had crashed into with earth magic while waiting for her next opponent.

Number 6, this time, was a scout-looking adventurer, the complete opposite of No.1.

He hurled out numerous knives at the same time as the fight began and accelerated them by supplementing them with wind magic.

Teto swept them apart but this also undoes the pouches tied to the knives' hilts as the fine powder inside them spread around Teto.

"What's with this smoke, it has such a weird smell to it!"

"So you inhaled it! It's an instant-effect anesthetic that could paralyze even grown-ups!"

He must be an adventurer specialized in subjugating bandits. That person's mana seemed to be average and the magic that he could use was only weak wind magic.

Drugs and wind magic. He may have average physical strength but he has risen so far by using wind magic to assist and control the drugs.

"It's ineffective against Teto."

"I, Imposs......guh."

Drugs are ineffective against the golem girl Teto.

He was probably using a gas-proofing magic tool as he lunged towards Teto unhesitatingly while holding a dagger even though the anesthesia was dancing in the air but Teto effortlessly caught his arm when he got close and slammed him into the ground with a shoulder throw.

"I, surrender. Heck, so you even came here with drug-proofing. Just how strong are you?"

The gazes with which surrounding people were looking at Teto changed, seeing her almost unscathed as she won the rounds while consuming only a slight amount of mana.

The next opponent, number 7, was a magician-type adventurer.

He captured Teto inside the ice prison to seal her movements and fired a huge mass of ice toward that prison.

"That's the end for you!"

That Adventurer, too, must have fought with everything he had to win. Teto readied her magic steel sword inside the ice prison.

"Get ready! nanodesu!"

She swung it together with a slow shout and fired the mana coiling around her magic sword. The mana slash attack strengthened by «Body Hardening» split apart the mana prison and shattered the ice block.

Teto used her hand to brush off the tiny pieces of ice on her head, approached the adventurer who was shocked from seeing his ace attack magic being defeated and pointed her sword blade at him.

"That's the end-nanodesu!"

"I, surrender!"

"It's finally the time to fight against Majou-sama! I'm not going to lose~!"

It's a tournament so I know I'll have to face Teto. I wasn't keen on fighting against her but she would sweep down all her opponents alone at this rate. I'm also aiming for an A-rank promotion after all. Besides一一

"Good luck Okaa-san, Teto oneechan......"

Selene was cheering for us. I don't like the idea of losing to Teto while Selene was watching.

"Selene is looking at us, so I can't show her my uncool side. I will be quite serious with my methods."

"I got it. Teto will be serious too!"

Teto readied her magic sword and further released the mana she had been saving until now, pressuring me.

I, on the other hand, quietly cover myself with «Mana Hardening» by compressing my enormous mana to the limit.

"S, Start一一!"

Teto came rushing at me swiftly so I escaped into the sky with flight magic by jumping backwards.

"Here I come. 一一«Thunderbolt»!"

It was the lightning bolt magic I used against the land dragons.

The magic just now was an even more improvised and fuel-efficient version but even such a strike drained around 3000 units of my mana which was the total average amount of a normal adventurer's mana.

The adventurers in the venue showed an astonished expression when I fired that lightning-strike magic ten consecutive times.

My mana reserve at present had surpassed the count of 100,000 units, so it was a great magic I could fire freely but Teto escaped all of the attacks by running and dodging.

"It's unfair to escape into the sky. Since it's like that一一"

Teto slammed her hand onto the ground, manipulated the ground, cut it into a long strip of clay, and lifted it up. Then she compressed the soil to produce a mass of stone.

"I will do this-nanodesu!"

"That's dangerous!"

Teto threw the stone at me who was in the sky with such speed that if I dodged it carelessly, it would fly out of the arena.

I stopped the rock by covering it with a barrier but as the stone itself was thrown with the magic of «Body Hardening» coiling around it, its strength and momentum were like that of a cannonball.

I tried to stop it by erecting multiplex barriers but they were smashed one after another. One multiplex barrier consumed 1000 units of mana and I made 10 but to no avail.

At this moment, my mana reserve was reduced to 60,000 units. Teto, on the other hand, was一一

"This is, the lasttt-nanodesu!"

The stone she had thrown was a feint apparently as she took that moment to kick the ground and launch herself into the sky towards me.

She jumped as high as ten meters into the sky but一一

"一一«Gravity»!"

I barely stopped the sword from striking me as I used weight magic and Teto slammed onto the ground with great momentum.

"Gugigi...... I can't move anymore, Majou-sama. I surrender-nanodesu, it's Teto loss-nanodesu~"

I relaxed at Teto's declaration of surrender and unbind my magic while letting out a long sigh.

The outcome of a magic battle basically boils down to how much of your opponent's mana can you consume. Mana is needed for offense and when the barriers were destroyed, my mana decreased.

The crux of such a battle lies in either a strong attack that can breach an opponent's defense or gradually chip down their mana.

"Good grief, I really didn't want to fight Teto. That was so chilling."

"But if I hadn't done that, it would have been impossible for my attack to reach Majou-sama."

Teto had reduced my magic quite efficiently as compared to the amount of magic used by «Body Hardening» and earth magic. In fact, Teto, who has reduced my mana reserve to half, had consumed around 10000 units of mana in the matches so far.

She could have resisted the binding of weight magic with «Body Hardening» but she might have considered that it was the best time to get off the stage.

"Y-You!? Where are the healers?"

"Majou-sama."

"Yes, Yes. 一一«Heal» (also, «Charge» for mana replenishment)."

I healed her with magic and further replenished the mana she had consumed so far.

With this, I now have 40,000 units of mana left. Well, I have enough free time to drink a mana potion before the next match, so it should be enough to recover.

Though the people watching were dumbfounded at the intensity of the battle between me and Teto and looked even more surprised when I used healing magic even though the next match was just a few moments away.