novelraw Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78 : Chapter 78
Chapter 78 : Winning Streak
Just as Sal had expected, as time passed, the atmosphere in the arena grew hotter and hotter.
As the number of spectators increased, the tension rose vertically in proportion.
And that tension hit the participants directly.
When the fact that guilds were watching with their own eyes became real, some students crumbled under the pressure.
Simple mistakes started happening more and more often, like shouting the wrong orders or missing attacks that were supposed to land.
When Round 5 ended, the organizers installed a giant screen on the outer wall of the Prism facing the stands.
They showed the current rankings and each team’s status, sharing the flow of the battlefield with the audience in real time.
1st: Salvatore Argento(#2) - 5 wins 0 losses - S / S / S / S / S
2nd: Whisper Ding(#12) - 5 wins 0 losses - C / D / O / S / S
3rd: Victoria Chase(#7) - 5 wins 0 losses - C / S / S / S / D
4th: Lucia Hernandez(#4) - 4 wins 1 loss - O / S / S / S / S
5th: Gerard Kilsey(#20) - 4 wins 1 loss - O / O / O / O / O
6th: Crypto Daniels(#18) - 4 wins 1 loss - O / D / D / C / S
7th: Divinity Khan(#1) - 3 wins 2 losses - C / S / S / S / D
8th: Jenny Stravos(#17) - 3 wins 2 losses - C / O / D / D / S
● S: Supporter
● C: Controller
● D: Defender
● O: Offense Class
Because the match against Zachary had been excessively one-sided, Sal’s team kept their perfect-win streak and held onto 1st place.
Only after the chart appeared did Sal realize that a perfect win was not a record unique to them.
It seemed the audience was most interested in the class composition, and in the fact that a team made up entirely of Supporters was jointly in 1st place.
Sal frowned as he stared at the score for a few more seconds.
Only Sal’s team was in 1st, and Whisper and Victoria, who were also 5 wins and undefeated, were split into 2nd and 3rd.
Are they not ranking this simply by wins and losses?
Sal fell into brief contemplation, but he soon focused on the fact that he would be facing Whisper in the next match.
It was time for a crack to form in one of their perfect winning streaks.
Sal still was not used to the applause pouring down before the fight began, but he tried not to be aware of the noise as much as possible, and he entered the Prism assigned to them with his team.
Whisper, standing on the opposite side, had a face of complete focus.
Sal began to steady his mind for the coming battle.
Her team was a balanced composition of a Controller, an Offense Class member, a Defender, and two Supporters.
Sal had a premonition that this match would be a fight on a different level than before.
Just looking at Whisper’s combat style in the match where she fought Jenny was enough.
"Full-power charge!"
Sal shouted and rushed forward with his teammates.
It was the first time Sal had stepped onto the front line himself instead of staying in the rear as the temporary Controller.
He activated his ability and overcharged Essence into his gloves and uniform.
And the effect showed itself at once.
Mechanical arms surged up from his fingertips, and his entire torso was covered in glossy black armor.
Sal caught Whisper’s startled expression, and Sal wanted to exploit that opening even more.
In that moment, he recalled the feeling he had when he saw a Commander-rank monster, or maybe it was simply the desire to hold a sword.
Sal wished to transform his mechanical arm into a weapon.
Then a shield bloomed on his left arm, and a black longsword slid out over the back of his right hand.
At that moment, Jack and Blanid sprang into the air and fired low-noise Essence rounds from their gauntlets.
Whisper’s Defender protected the top and blocked them, but Anthony’s low-altitude diagonal projectile flying toward beneath his shield dug under the barrier.
When the Essence round slammed the shield hard, the Defender’s stance collapsed.
Whisper quickly reached out and granted an amplification ability to his shield.
The shield noticeably grew larger and restored the defensive posture.
Now that her amplification ability had truly kicked in, a simple ambush would not be enough to bring them down.
But right then, her Offense teammate screamed, and Whisper hurriedly turned to witness him wildly spraying lasers toward their own team area.
The two Supporters were instantly incapacitated on the spot.
All Whisper could do was suppress the Offense teammate’s attack power and minimize the damage.
Confusion and fluster were obvious on her face, but before long she was grinding her teeth and trying to reorganize the battlefield again.
Sal did not need to confirm it to know that Barry had neutralized the laser attacker with an illusion.
With a single illusion, he had driven their main attacker insane and eliminated even the two Supporters.
Yet even though the flow had flipped, Whisper did not collapse.
With precise, concise orders, she reorganized her team, took a short breath, and amplified one Supporter’s ability to bring them back.
The Offense teammate closed his eyes to avoid seeing the illusion and tried to attack by relying on Whisper’s directions.
But that plan did not work.
Sal’s team had already thoroughly analyzed their strategy and abilities.
Anthony fired Essence bullets at Whisper three times in a row.
As expected, the Defender deployed a barrier and sprang forward to protect her.
However, each bullet changed direction at the last moment, with two striking the Offense teammate and one hitting the Supporter who had just barely returned.
In an instant, their combat power collapsed again.
Whisper leaped behind the barrier and stared at Sal’s team with a wary gaze.
She looked like she was trying to devise a counterattack strategy, but Sal had no intention of giving her that breathing room.
"Overwhelm them!"
Sal shouted that and charged immediately.
In a situation like this, where the enemy had no room to counterattack, the best approach was to overwhelm them without wasting Essence.
The moment Sal’s sword touched the barrier, something happened that would make anyone gasp.
The barrier split like paper.
Sal raised his shield high and prepared in case Whisper tried something.
But Anthony was the one who seized that opening.
He fired one last Essence bullet at the Defender.
Trapped inside the barrier with no escape route, the Defender took the explosion head-on and collapsed.
While Sal blocked the explosion completely thanks to his shield and armor, Whisper was coughing with her back against the ground.
When all the opponents were incapacitated, Sal relaxed and dismissed the armor and gloves.
The cheers and applause that covered the arena sounded like they were going to tear his ears apart.
Instead of listening to it, Sal went straight to Whisper and helped her to her feet.
Not even a third of the whole tournament had passed yet, and this was not the time to get excited.
And soon, Sal would be facing Gerard.
Sal was worried because he was looking forward to that battle too much.
---
Blanid stared blankly at the scoreboard, completely stunned.
The other teammates were already sitting in the stands eating lunch, but she still could not close her mouth like she could not believe it.
Even when Sal smiled and handed her a sandwich, Blanid did not respond right away.
Barry shook his head and snapped his fingers to get her attention.
"What are you thinking about that you are spacing out like that?"
Blanid pointed at the scoreboard with an expression like they were the weird ones.
"It is eight straight wins! Statistically, even if we lose every remaining match, we avoid demotion! We are not getting expelled!"
With a smile like she was dreaming, she stared at the scoreboard again.
This time Jack followed her gaze and said with a bewildered expression.
"Really?"
He looked back at Sal and Barry with a voice like he could not believe it.
"We are really out of the demotion zone?"
Barry tilted his head and looked at the two of them with a face that said, what are these idiots even talking about?
"Of course. Look at the chart. Half these teams do not even know each other’s names, and they are not a team at all, let alone cooperating. We trained for weeks, our gear is good, and our strategy is way better. Why are you setting such low goals? We are going for 1st place!"
Sal smirked, but when he saw Blanid and Jack’s disbelieving faces, he ended up bursting out laughing.
Anthony also laughed and quietly said.
"Honestly, I did not expect it to be this easy. But we still have matches left against even stronger teams. The only thing we can do is do our best."
Barry nodded and raised his paper cup high like a toast.
"To do our best…. And to win."
At those words, the teammates burst into laughter.
Once again, Sal smiled at just how well this team was united as one.
Only a few weeks ago, he had been gripped by anxiety about their team’s performance.
But now, they were running at 1st place across the entire Cohort!
Sal turned his head and looked at the other teams, and he saw Nova curled up in pain.
Her teammates were trying to help her somehow as her arms trembled, but it did not look like there was anything they could do.
Essence exhaustion had begun.
Sal could not help admiring the fact that she had been leading these matches practically on her own.
Even as he felt respect for her, he quickly swept his eyes over the scoreboard again.
He judged that sharing one of the recovery drinks he had bought from the stall would not be a huge loss.
His match with her was already over.
An excuse came to mind that her doing well against other competitors could indirectly work in his favor for his overall score.
Accepting that logic, Sal pushed himself up from his seat.
As he crossed the stands and approached Nova, her teammates instinctively made way for him.
Sal could not tell whether it was because of the impact from the earlier battle, or because they knew he was close with Nova.
Nova was in a state where even turning her head looked difficult, but she barely managed to wink at Sal and said.
"Do not worry, Sal. If I just catch my breath for a bit, I will be fine."
"Drink this. All of it. Then you will feel a little better."
Sal handed her a small portable metal flask and said it firmly.
Nova did not ask a single question and carefully took one sip.
Her eyes widened dramatically, and then she gulped down the rest of the flask in one go.
Sal was about to say it would take a few minutes for the effect to kick in, but the words never came out.
Because steam started rising from Lucia’s body.
She cracked her neck, stretched, rolled both shoulders, and lifted the corners of her mouth.
Then, after stretching her whole body long, she suddenly hugged Sal tightly.
Startled by the unexpected embrace, Sal did not know how he should react.
"Thank you so much. But I am definitely going to pay you back for what you did to me… so you better look forward to it."
Her words were vicious, but her smile was brighter than anyone’s.
Even so, Sal did not regret giving her the recovery drink at all.
When Sal quietly returned to his team, the teammates were staring at him like he was insane.
But Barry nodded and judged seriously.
"I did not know Lucia was your type, but now I kind of get it."
He tilted his head toward Nova and swept his gaze over her once.
Sal laughed like it was absurd and shook his head.
"I just helped a friend. And besides… dating someone who can change their appearance into anyone is honestly kind of not great."
Sal chewed on those words, then looked back at Barry and burst out laughing again.
"…No, wait. Thinking about it again, it is not bad."
Blanid rolled her eyes, and Jack turned away with a serious face.
"Do not forget, Sal. She can transform into a giant too!"
Everyone burst into laughter at that.
Then, when Barry’s illusion magic showed a scene of a gigantic Nova stepping on and crushing Sal, the laughter turned into outright roaring.
When the laughter died down, Sal turned his head to check the next match.
The ninth match, which would begin shortly, was against Crypto Daniels, ranked 18th.
He had wandered badly in the early part, but he had regained his pace in the later matches and was a skilled fighter who could now even aim for a high ranking.
But to Sal, he was nothing more than a speed bump in the middle.
The real destination was the match after that, the tenth match.
The opponent was Gerard Kilsey, ranked 20th.
That bastard Sal had met in the bathroom on the day he joined the Academy.
And the guy who had led all the mocking throughout Combat class.
Sal was not usually the type to be competitive, but Gerard was the exception.
Gerard had pushed him too far.
Sal could not help looking forward to their fight.
It was a fight of five Supporters against five Offense Class members.
Every probability was against them, but Sal did not care at all.
There was only one thing Sal wanted, to see Gerard’s face when he lost, with his own eyes.