novelraw Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Chapter 37
[Hei]
Just as I’d hoped, Hei was selected for the fire element.
‘Good.’
Looking somewhat tense, Hei grabbed his wand and headed down to the first-floor dueling grounds.
“Hei, I’m not going to go easy on you either.”
Instead of answering, Hei pointed his wand at me.
He still looked nervous, but at least he seemed motivated.
“Begin.”
Nide left only his stiff announcement of the start and stepped back a few paces.
“I’ll go all out too!”
Hei immediately began manifesting every spell he could use.
Fwoosh—!
‘Oh? Two spells at once?’
While simultaneously manifesting two spells wasn’t surprising for a 1st Class, it was remarkable considering Hei had been the slowest among the fire element students in keeping up with the lessons.
On top of that, it wasn’t something he’d ever shown during class.
I could clearly imagine how much he must have practiced alone in that cramped dormitory.
The two spells Hei manifested were Fire Ball and Fire Shroud.
‘So, is he thinking of using Fire Shroud for defense and attacking with Fire Ball?’
I could just check directly.
I immediately manifested a very basic spell from the darkness element—so primitive it didn’t even have a name.
A small black sphere.
It was the same small sphere I had tested alone right after reincarnating in the Class 0 dormitory.
‘Let’s see.’
With a faint feeling of excitement, I lightly tossed the black sphere toward Hei.
The sphere shot toward him at high speed, only to be blocked by his Fire Shroud.
And in that instant—
From behind the Fire Shroud, a Fire Ball blasted toward me at the speed of a cannon.
I twisted my body to the side in a hurry and dodged it.
‘I wondered if he might do something like this, but he actually pulled it off. Kind of shocking, honestly.’
This was also a method I’d never taught during class.
It meant Hei had the ability to pioneer new methods on his own, even without being taught such applications.
‘That doesn’t mean I’m going to let him win.’
I detonated the black sphere I had planted inside Hei’s Fire Shroud.
Fwoosh—!
Hei’s Fire Shroud burst apart like a fruit exploding and scattering its juice, spraying faint streams of fire in every direction as much of it vanished.
With the shroud cleared, Hei’s face came into view.
“Haa… ha….”
He breathed heavily, his eyelids flickering unnaturally as if electricity were running through them.
A clear sign of exhaustion.
He hadn’t even done much, yet he was already this tired because today was his first time manifesting two spells simultaneously in actual combat.
The unexpected mana consumption had drained him quickly.
In that state, dragging things out would automatically lead to my victory.
But I had no desire to do that.
He wasn’t my enemy like Tyrant or Sylarid—he was my friend.
Winning by stalling while he was pouring out everything he had in a spirit of challenge would only stain the reputation I held as a former Archmage.
“Hei, can you keep going?”
“Huu… of course.”
His answer lacked strength, but Hei quickly restored his shattered Fire Shroud.
“I’m coming, Hei.”
Hei silently stared at me with half-unfocused eyes.
Whether he didn’t have the strength to reply or didn’t want to waste focus on answering, I didn’t know—but that gaze alone was answer enough.
I manifested the Spear Wall I had summoned when facing Kiena.
The difference this time was that instead of forming a wall, it wrapped only my left arm like a sleeve of armor worn by swordmasters.
“What’s that…?”
“Is it like when he turned the Fire Shroud into a gauntlet last time…?”
The voices of students drifted from the second-floor elemental stands.
I ignored them and manifested two more of the nameless basic spells, the black spheres, in preparation to attack Hei.
And I aimed directly at his front.
The reason I only aimed at his front was because that was where the Fire Shroud was located.
Fire Shroud didn’t automatically block incoming spells just because it was manifested.
The moment an enemy’s spell collided with it, one had to refocus to neutralize the incoming attack.
Even that alone consumed a tremendous amount of mental strength for someone at 1st Class.
There was a reason Fire Shroud was called the strongest among 1st Class spells.
Its strength wasn’t in raw power but in the difficulty of manifesting it.
And Hei was not only defending against my spells but counterattacking as well, consuming several times his usual mental energy. Naturally, the time until his mana depletion would arrive quickly.
Whenever my black sphere struck Hei’s Fire Shroud, his Fire Ball immediately fired toward the area where the measuring device was attached.
Each time, I blocked the incoming Fire Ball with the arm wrapped in Spear Wall.
Like Kiena’s Pegasus, it instantly reacted to anything entering a twenty-centimeter radius and spat out spikes, causing Hei’s Fire Ball to vanish like a mirage.
Not even three minutes had passed since we began our stationary exchange of spells when—
Thud.
“Haa… huu… ha….”
The two spells Hei had been maintaining suddenly vanished, and he dropped to his knees.
And he began exhaling in short, harsh bursts even rougher than before.
‘Burnout?’
For a mage, burnout was never a good sign.
Even more so for a beginner mage like Hei.
It meant he had exceeded his limits and used so much mana that he could no longer even move—he was on the verge of collapse.
If he pushed himself to manifest more spells in this state, the strain on his brain could send him into a coma. It was extremely dangerous.
And with worse luck, it could lead to brain death.
Experienced mages understood their limits and stopped before hitting burnout, but a 1st Class like Hei didn’t have that ability, making this quite a dangerous moment.
I felt nervous as well.
“Student Artel, stop for a moment.”
Nide immediately recognized Hei’s condition and halted the duel.
‘I thought this was just a light spar… but maybe that wasn’t the case for Hei.’
What purpose had driven him to pour out enough mana to hit burnout?
I found myself genuinely curious.
Meanwhile, while checking Hei’s condition, Nide looked toward the second-floor elemental stands and called for Teacher Ever.
Ever hurried down and tried to support Hei, but Hei’s body had lost all strength, and he swayed so badly that he could barely be held upright.
“Move him to the infirmary.”
“Understood, Professor.”
And so Hei left the dueling grounds on Ever’s back.
[Scoreboard]
-Summoning : 5(5)
-Darkness : 2(2)
With my official duel against Hei concluded, the scoreboard changed, yet this was the most uncomfortable victory I had ever earned.
“We’ll proceed with the next draw immediately.”
Perhaps Nide considered a student going into burnout a trivial matter, because he moved straight into the next duel.
[Scoreboard]
-Darkness : 9(9)
-Summoning : 5(5)
“We’ve gone through the rotation again, and it’s now the fire element’s turn.”
All elements except Darkness and Summoning still had zero wins.
And only three students per subject were allowed to participate in these magic duels.
Summoning had already used all three cards as the lead subject, ending with five wins.
While Nide drew a fire element student, I fell briefly into thought.
‘There’s no point in suppressing the fire element again and taking first place with eighteen straight wins.’
The reason was the massive point difference between subjects.
Even after the rule changes and the past month of classes, the fire element students—who had taken first place in the last duel—still overwhelmingly dominated the upper ranks due to their high point totals.
From the start, my plan was only to disrupt the fixed upper ranks.
Therefore, Darkness needed to take first, but the point gap with second and third couldn’t be too large.
[Banshi]
At that moment, Nide finished the draw, and when I saw the name floating in the air, it felt like hope had found me.
‘Got lucky for once.’
If Banshi came out as the fire element’s final competitor, there was one spell I could use.
So I waited for Banshi to stand before me.
Clack!
“What?”
As soon as she stood in front of me, Banshi pointed her tool, her staff, at me.
“You’re not going to go easy on me either, right?”
“Why ask something so obvious?”
After hearing my reply, Banshi seemed to think for a moment, then nodded once and said,
“Good, then I can go all out without worrying.”
“Anytime.”
‘Because that’s how my plan will be completed.’
I intended to manipulate the match just a little from this point on.
Thus the duel began.
Banshi immediately swung her staff as though painting in the air.
Fwoosh!
Fwish!
Countless strands of fire were drawn into the air along the path of her staff.
‘What spell is that?’
Since I had never seen it before, it was clearly a spell Banshi developed on her own.
As expected, she was like me—fully displaying her abilities within the confines of 1st Class limitations.
‘I won’t move recklessly against a spell I’ve never seen before. Not until I understand what it does.’
In terms of circle alone, Banshi wasn’t my match at all, but letting my guard down was forbidden.
As I had against Hei, I formed Spear Wall into a sleeve-like shape and wrapped only my left arm.
But the flow of this duel differed entirely.
I sprinted straight toward Banshi to close the distance.
The moment I started running, the second-floor elemental stands buzzed again.
Normally, a duel between mages involved both sides standing still and clashing solely with magic.
There was no such thing anywhere as dueling while moving the body like a swordsman.
But I had a reason that made it absolutely necessary.
“What are you trying to show me now?”
While I ran, Banshi flung the fire strands she had scattered like she was flicking a painting.
‘So that’s how she intended to use them. I guess it’s a type of variation of Fire Shroud.’
Only then did I understand the nature of the spell Banshi had created.
Fire Shroud, at its core, was a simple defensive spell.
But Banshi had shredded the Fire Shroud into thin threads and scattered them through the air, modifying it so she could use some for defense and some for offense.
Cutting through Banshi’s magic with my left arm, I approached her faster and faster.
Her expression grew increasingly complicated.
No matter how much she thought about what I was planning, why I was rushing toward her, or what I was aiming for, she couldn’t find an answer. Her mind grew more tangled, and as a result, the power of her attacks weakened bit by bit.
When only a short distance remained between us, I manifested five small beads—black spheres small enough to fit between my fingers—and threw them at her.
Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang—!
The beads exploded the moment they touched her magic, releasing black smoke.
I used them deliberately to block her vision.
Without missing that brief opening, I held my breath and sprinted even harder.
Banshi finally entered the radius of Spear Wall, and countless spikes burst from my left arm, stabbing Banshi’s right arm.
Thud—!