42 – Tournaments (6)

* * * *

“Wait, you…you don’t intend to deal with us alone, do you?”

“…”

Elania Leafre, the head of the Department of Archery, saw me standing in front of them again, holding a sword, and her clear eyes trembled.

No matter how rumors spread that he was a monster, it seemed that he never thought that he would be the head of the Department of Archery and not only himself, but also the head of the Physical Education Department.

“That’s more than arrogance, it’s a disease called arrogance, Ellie. Let’s take this opportunity to understand the subject to some extent.”

Bianca Lopez, head of the Physical Education Department, snarled a husky voice as she pointed her gauntlet at me with the sharp bones of her knuckles sticking out.

A graceful elf and a ferocious human like wild beasts,

At first glance, there was a lot of interest in how the two of them, who seemed to be in a relationship like water and oil, came to form a duo because it was not shown in the original work, but that’s all.

After the tournament, there is no need to talk about things during the match that could be asked when the opportunity arises.

Turbuck. As I silently stepped forward without replying, I felt as if I could hear the sound of their pride being crushed.

No, maybe it was the sound of Bianca kicking the ground, unable to hold back her anger.

“Even if this gives you advice, will you ignore people to the end?!”

In the blink of an eye, Bianca narrowed the distance between me to two steps and came in.

As befits a martial arts department who trains the body to the limit instead of being unable to handle weapons, it seemed that his skill was close to that of Ian in terms of instantaneous speed.

But just about that. It was only close enough.

For Bianca, who fights with her fists, the distance difference of about two steps was the reason that the subsequent attack motion did not flow smoothly, and because of that, her fist cut through the air.

Booung!

As I twisted to the right to avoid Bianca’s fist, I noticed the corners of her mouth lift slightly.

The sound of something cutting through the air. I could tell without turning my head to confirm its identity.

‘If Bianca’s attack fails, it’s a structure where Leafre provides covering fire.’

Even if you don’t hold the bow of the elves, which is your main weapon, you can’t cheat that innate blood that is also synonymous with the bow.

The trajectory of the bow was not a straight line, but an odd curve, rushing toward my leg.

‘Here, moving your legs to evade the attack is a handshake.’

If Bianca, who specializes in taijutsu, is close to me and I move my legs supporting my body, my upper body becomes defenseless at that moment.

That’s why, with her feet still on the ground, she cut arrows with her sword blade and did not take her eyes off Bianca.

Leafre’s attack is an arrow anyway, so you can predict her attack sufficiently by sound.

If I had been able to use the elves’ bows, I would have been able to show the phenomenon of silent arrows, arrows splitting into three or five out of nowhere.

Currently, she is using an extremely common wooden bow, so there is no need to worry about that possibility.

Bianca’s fist was thrust at me again, and at the same time I heard the sound of arrows from both directions, behind my right and behind my left.

Attacks from three directions that could not be avoided or blocked.

“Asshole.”

Bianca smiled at me, her white teeth showing. It seems that one of the three attacks will surely hit.

It was as if you wanted to resent your own brazenness for stepping out to face the two seniors alone.

In order to betray her expectations, he took a step towards Bianca, brushed off her gauntlet with his sword blade, and then quickly turned behind Bianca with magical energy in his feet.

The arrows that had targeted me now rushed to target my colleague, Bianca.

“What the hell…!”

To keep Bianca from defending the arrow, he drew a deep sword into her deltoid muscle.

Chew!

“Gup!”

Perhaps his body was made of steel, he could not inflict deep wounds even if he slashed with power with such an ordinary sword.

Maybe it’s because of the muscle?

But even so, I couldn’t use my special skill to aim for a clear human vital point.

No matter how much Grace and other divine departments were on standby, I didn’t have the confidence to fully control my powers in such an urgent situation.

It’s because if you lose your life before the Divinity Faculty can heal you, there’s no way you can do anything about it.

But it doesn’t matter. After all, my purpose isn’t to neutralize Bianca first.

The most important thing in battle is not to defeat the vanguard in front of you. If you see a gap, it’s the best choice to deal with the wizards, healers, and archers who support from the rear first.

That’s why Bianca, who was poised to defend herself from the arrow with her numb arm from a light deltoid wound, fired her body at Leafre with all her might.

To be precise, like any other assassin, he aimed at Leafre’s back.

Neither exhaling nor inhaling. Even if it’s only 0.1 seconds, I have to notice my presence late.

Even my eyelids don’t twitch, only I can stop breathing… No, it only faces the target to be cut.

Erasing life, but with eyes that have sunk like the mist of dawn.

wickedness.

As if it were quite natural, the blades of the sword were placed side by side on Leafre’s neckline.

Leafre seemed to have noticed the cool sensation of the blade first than my presence behind her.

The moment the blade of the sword was placed on her neck, she didn’t even move, just the hand holding the bow trembled.

It was more strange that it didn’t succeed in the first place. I poured half of my remaining mana into this single move.

If Leafre had noticed my approach and succeeded in defending it, the final might not have been a problem.

“Where are you bastard…!”

“Surrender.”

Bianca, who was looking around to find me, turned her gaze to Leafre and then to me holding a knife to her throat.

Bianca’s eyes tremble as if vibrating. Then, he turned his head backwards and his eyes pointed in the direction where Lily was.

Apparently, from an angle invisible to me, it seemed that Leafre was glancing at Bianca and at Lily.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

If he was taken hostage, it would mean that he would take Lily hostage.

Fu-wook!

“Kyaaa!!!”

With no time to think about it, or even time to take Lily hostage, I thrust my sword through Leafre’s armpit.

Soon after, Leafre’s beautiful voice resounded in the arena as a broken scream.

Hearing Leafre’s scream, Bianca hesitated as her lips and eyes moved together.

“No three times. Surrender.”

Woowook!

He twisted the sword that had dug between Leafre’s armpits and cut it as if scraping between his ribs.

“……!!!”

Leafre couldn’t even scream due to the intense pain, and his whole body started to tremble like a mobile phone.

“Ha, surrender!! I will surrender!!!”

As soon as Bianca’s declaration of surrender was heard, the referee hurriedly called the Divine Faculty.

“Winner! Team Berry! Divine Faculty!! Call Divine Faculty!! Quickly!!”

As Leafre flinched away from the pain, he held her body tightly so that she couldn’t move.

“Haaa…!

“What are you doing!! The match is already over!!”

“If you draw the sword like this, you may faint from shedding too much blood. Even if it hurts, take a deep breath and endure it.

“…”

I want to shoot at me, but Bianca just rolls her eyes, as if she thought I had no reason to lie when the match was over.

Soon after, Sacred Division personnel rushed in and healed Leafre and moved her to the healing room.

* * * *

“Berry, you showed us a battle that was so radical than expected that the third team against us might fight to die from the start.”

Because once you get caught behind it, you may have been anxious that you don’t know what to do.

These were the words Lily threw at me after the second match.

Trying to die… Even so, not much will change. On the contrary, if you show emotional turmoil, afraid of being like Refre, that’s a bad thing for me.

It would have been quite disappointing if the duo of Leafre and Bianca showed a move that was prepared for death from the beginning, but

The third party I’m going to deal with isn’t as well-established as they are, so such a reckless move will catch them off guard.

And of course.

“Heo-euk…ha…ha….”

“Winner! Berry Team!!”

Although we were quite tired from the rapid consumption of mana in the series of battles, it was Lily and I who still won the victory.

As the declaration of surrender continued, it was a bonus that the Department of Divinity, which had been waiting in advance this time, immediately developed sacred arts.

As planned, even though there was no noticeable trauma, my magic power was almost exhausted, and I had consumed quite a bit of stamina.

The only match left now is the final against the duo of Ian and Selina.

After giving Ian a chance and collapsing, accepting the second-class injury, the secret flower garden pass, saying it was a pity, and sleeping soundly in my room is the schedule left for me today.

“Berry! I know you’re tired, but now all we have left is the finals. Let’s stay focused a little longer.”

As the fanfare announcing the entrance to the finals resonated throughout the waiting room, Lily urged me to say so.

“…That’s right. I’ll hold out a little longer.”

“Yes, trust me this time. I’ll crush them in an instant, just like you did.”

Then, as I moved to follow Lily to the arena, there was a boom through the window! I saw something like a fireworks display unfolding in the night sky.

Since it’s the last highlight match of the day, did the academy prepare this with care?

Grabbing his head, which was not working well due to his lack of magic power, he headed for the arena.

* * * *

“You’re late, Bifrons.”

“I’m sorry, Poras-sama.”

In the darkness of the night sky, Bifrons folded its spread wings and appeared in front of Porras.

“I was late because I had to fill up the magic orbs I was preparing to use this winter.”

Bifrons implicitly showed that he had been spending all his time hastily refilling the magic orbs he had been preparing for the winter season when he was originally scheduled to attack.

“Then there’s nothing we can do about it. Have you filled up all the magic beads?”

“Of course. Originally, I was going to infiltrate alone, so I was collecting enough to think it was a bit excessive.”

“Okay. Then the preparations are certain.”

“But wasn’t the target I was supposed to aim for originally a human named Ian Cedric? Is it okay to suddenly change the target to the imperial princess…?”

“I heard that everything could be twisted because of the imperial princess and a certain swordsman. What can we do? We just do our best for the demon.”

Soon after, images of fireworks spread out of nowhere in the night sky formed in the dark eyes of Bifrons and Porras.

In response, Poras held his jet-black sword, and Bifrons held a dark red magic ball in his hand, announcing the start of the operation to the other demons.

“Start the operation, the target is Lilithiana Ekaterina and Berry. Let’s make perfection perfect.”