novelraw Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80 : Chapter 80
Chapter 80 : Reveal
"Damn it, how on earth did that happen?"
Jez was astonished, staring at the Prism in front of him with his mouth open.
He looked around.
Anna Sakura sat frozen in her seat, and the Guild officials also kept their seats holding their breath.
Only Alastair was sitting next to him with a calm expression.
Jez pointed to the spot where the illusion, which had disappeared as the battle ended, had been, and with his other hand pointed at Alastair, asking accusingly.
"Was that really an illusion? It's far superior to any deception-type ability I've seen!"
Alastair handed his hip flask to Jez and shrugged his shoulders.
"Barry Francis. The kid who held down the Mental Type Commander so Neuro could secure the ambush location. I was expecting something originally, but this honestly completely exceeded my expectations. The illusions Barry made roam the entire battlefield and move like real entities, right? At that age, demonstrating tactical sense in such an environment is ridiculous, isn't it?"
Jez looked at the empty Prism again, shook his head, then smiled bitterly and said.
"I watched about five of their matches before this one.... Were they hiding their real skills all this time? What on earth was different just for this round?"
He looked at Alastair hoping for more explanation, but the well-built man just shrugged and waved his hand.
"I don't know either. Maybe... he just wanted to completely smash the Attacker team and show the power of a Supporter team?"
Anna Sakura turned her body from her seat and looked up at Jez and Alastair.
"About the candidate Rogue on Team 20. It's no secret that he dislikes his team captain, Gerard Kilsey. And I heard Gerard considers Salvatore Argento a thorn in his side because of something on the first day of admission."
Sakura tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear and continued with a complex expression.
"This match... was an emotional fight. But it was too one-sided."
Hearing that, Jez clapped his hands and laughed brightly.
"I should watch a bit more before going. Who knows what other twists might come out. How about you, Alastair?"
Alastair frowned and stood up from his seat.
"I spent too much time on the Gold Cohort side. I should wrap things up here.... I've seen everything I needed to see. I'm thinking of inviting Sal and Barry to the Tactics class. I wanted to see Divinity's match too, but I can watch that later on video. How about you, kid? Is there anyone else you need to see separately in the Black or Purple Cohort?"
Alastair raised his eyebrows and looked at Sakura.
But she shook her head.
"Information from just this match is insufficient. I'll watch a few more matches before going."
Alastair nodded and turned toward Jez.
"Are you really not coming? I just received a piece of information. They say there's another hidden gem among the first years."
Jez shook his head and pointed toward the spectator seats where Sal was sitting with his team members.
"I must watch wherever my student goes. Skill Master and Mythos Crafter, plus he handles the role of team captain lightly? I can't leave until I find his limits."
Alastair smirked and said.
"Go easy on him. He's my retirement insurance."
Jez scoffed.
"Have I ever gone easy on my students?"
Alastair nodded and left the spectator seats.
In the path he passed, there was a group of excited Guild scouters.
It was starkly different from the atmosphere of the stadium which was empty just a while ago.
Jez looked down at Anna Sakura sitting below and said.
"I don't want to talk looking at the back of your head for the next few matches, so why don't you come up here and sit?"
He shook the bottle as if it was the greatest temptation.
Sakura got up from her seat and sat one seat away from Jez.
And she did something unexpected to Jez.
She reached out, took the bottle, drank a mouthful without hesitation, and returned it.
Jez took it, closed the lid, and smiled.
It was a look as if he saw Sakura in a new light.
"I thought you were the type who is very serious and only knows studying... I'm glad I was wrong!"
Sakura turned her gaze toward the Prism and smiled.
"You said Salvatore is a Mythos Crafter earlier, right? What does that mean?"
She turned her face slightly and waited for Jez's answer.
Jez laughed slightly embarrassed and shook his head.
"Uh, that... was a part you shouldn't have heard. Let's keep it a secret between just the two of us?"
"Instead, you have to tell me everything. Then it becomes a secret. Right?"
Jez sighed and looked at Sakura.
Playfulness and wariness were dwelling together in his eyes.
"I gain nothing from this deal. I'll pass."
Sakura pointed to the side where Sal was sitting.
"There is one Guild that requested an evaluation of Sal. I could tell you which Guild it is...."
Jez burst into laughter as if genuinely surprised.
"Vila is approaching openly. That's nothing new."
But Sakura shook her head.
"It's not the Reavers Guild."
"Oh, really? Then I'm interested."
Sakura smiled sweetly and held out her palm.
"If you tell me about the Mythos Crafter first."
Jez smiled even more brightly.
"Do you really have no intention of quitting the Assassination Module and moving to the Administration Module?"
Sakura laughed and shook her head.
"Absolutely not.... Ah, if you give me a spot in your Master Class, I might consider it a bit? I think I can change my schedule slightly."
Jez deliberately frowned and pretended to think.
"Putting a third-year Savior in my Master Class? Well, considering your dungeon operation performance, I could accept it. But I don't want to hear that I went soft for no reason, so let's write it down like that."
Sakura just smiled without any reply, and eventually, Jez sighed and pointed to the Prism.
"'Mythos Crafter' is literal. Sal can craft Mythos-rank items. He created that skill himself at registration early in the semester, and so far, it seems he made one Legend-rank sniper rifle for the Reavers Guild. Because of that, Vila is going crazy. She wants Sal.... No, precisely speaking, she wants Mythos. Ah, Mythos is the avatar Sal uses when crafting. It's safe to assume all the gear used in this match was made by Sal."
Jez looked at the spectator seats and watched Sal rising from his seat with his team members.
"It's an example showing that with good positioning and a few well-made pieces of gear, results like this come out."
Sakura looked at Sal again.
It was a completely different look from before.
Sakura began to doubt whether that Guild which entrusted her to evaluate Sal truly knew his real value.
"It's Shade, right? From the Delvers Guild."
Jez guessed the correct answer at once, surprising her.
As Sakura nodded, Jez chuckled and said.
"I knew that slick guy would aim for him. Probably because of the appraisal work at the Credit Floor, definitely."
As Sakura looked at Jez with a blank expression, he added a detailed explanation.
"That guy appraised over seventy items in one night for the Reavers Guild. The Guild Shade belongs to almost monopolizes the appraisal market, and high-priced dungeon loots are under exclusive contract with the Argento Auction House. The problem is they pay almost no appraisal fee for low-rank items, so decent appraisers try not to work with them. If Sal joins that team, most of their headaches would be solved. But I am a bit curious about what they plan to propose to Sal.... Should I provoke Vila? To raise Sal's price a bit more."
Jez muttered almost like talking to himself, but Sakura was still surprised at how much he had deduced on his own.
Moreover, Sal was a figure far exceeding her expectations.
At first, she thought he was just an ability user who could mimic other people's skills, but it turned out he was an outstanding crafter and appraiser.
A bit unlike her usual self, Sakura let down her guard and asked Jez directly.
"The items I got from the Commanders.... Do you think Sal could make something with them?"
Jez smiled.
"Since over 50 faculty members heard that Sal is a Mythos Crafter, the order waiting line will increase crazily from now on. If you want to entrust something before he properly realizes his own value, right now is the chance."
Before Sakura could react, the countdown for the next match started, and her gaze turned toward the Prism again.
Jez smirked and brought the bottle to his mouth.
He looked at Sal and his team meaningfully, expecting if they had anything more hidden.
***
After the match with Gerard's team, which was entirely Attacker class, ended, all other teams seemed to have lost morale entirely.
Dominic Walters stood on the opposite side of the Prism with a very tense expression.
He was watching Sal carefully just before the battle.
Now the winning streak record itself seemed like an insurmountable wall.
No one was able to cross that barrier.
Looking around at other Prisms, Divinity was preparing to face Whisper, and Nova was scheduled to fight Gerard's team.
That team's mental state was already greatly shaken.
In the fourth Prism, Jenny Stravos and Victoria were facing each other.
Sal wanted to watch all these matches himself, so he wanted to finish the match with Dominic as quickly as possible.
Thinking about the past when he feared fighting one-on-one with Dominic, the situation overflowing with confidence like now felt unfamiliar even to Sal.
Looking around, that confidence had been transmitted to the team members as well.
As the countdown ended, Sal shouted.
"Full charge!"
Since Barry received instructions to save illusions for subsequent matches, this was an opportunity to unleash his own combat ability to his heart's content.
He engaged seriously, and Sal watched him jump high into the air aiming the Pulse Gauntlet precisely at Dominic.
The shield created to protect Dominic was absurdly thin, so Sal could guess how exhausted he was.
Nevertheless, he blocked all of Barry's attacks, and thanks to that, the opposing team's defense became completely lax.
Anthony's sword had already started the third wave attack.
The blade fired from the sword passed over Dominic's head and changed direction again, attacking his team from the side.
Inside the Prism was filled with screams engulfed in chaos, but soon it turned into shouts of fear.
While the team members were floundering to dodge the attack, Blanid and Jack narrowed the distance in an instant and entered combat.
In less than 10 seconds, Dominic stood alone in the middle of the battlefield.
His team had all fallen almost without being able to resist.
Even if it was the eleventh match, the result was truly miserable for Dominic.
He looked around at the team members scattered on the battlefield and made a crumbling expression.
Meanwhile, Barry, Blanid, and Jack's three-way Pulse Gauntlet fire flew in constantly, knocking on Dominic's shield continuously.
Sal felt a strange satisfaction watching that shield crack little by little.
Dominic staggered and stepped back.
He tried to raise his hand to unfold another shield, but before he could activate the ability, he knelt down just like that.
Sal raised his voice.
"Cease fire!"
Fortunately, the team members had the same thought as Sal, so as soon as his order fell, they stopped attacking immediately.
As Anthony changed the direction of the attack he was about to fire at Dominic, it hit the Prism wall and exploded with a huge boom.
Dominic's voice declaring forfeiture was almost buried in that roar.
Sal walked toward Dominic and reached out his hand.
Dominic looked at Sal with a resigned expression, then accepted that hand.
"Good job."
There was no emotion in his voice.
It was hard to guess how big of a shock this experience would be to him.
But Sal did not try to comfort him or make him less embarrassed.
Instead, he composed his mind and turned his body to watch the next match with his team members.
Divinity was engaging in a fierce battle with Whisper.
That scene was truly spectacular.
Divinity, with eyes glowing pure white, predicted the location the opposing team would soon occupy and fired the Pulse Gauntlet.
Every attack was a perfect hit.
Divinity's team overwhelmed Whisper and her Defender with thorough positioning.
Sal turned his head again and confirmed Jenny Stravos crushing Victoria's team miserably.
Thanks to Jenny's team members wearing gear covering their faces with an interesting strategy, Victoria's ability did not work at all.
The most impressive was the second Prism.
Nova was overwhelming and wiping out Gerard's team.
It might be due to fatigue from the previous match, or maybe fear of Nova in her giant form.
For whatever reason, they were being trampled mercilessly by Lucia in her giant form.
Volt's attacks had no effect on Lucia and were virtually ignored.
Lucia kicked Gerard from one end of the Prism to the other, sending him flying like a toy.
Sal burst into laughter.
It made him wonder if Gerard's team was intentionally letting their team leader get hit.