Book 1 Chapter 199
199
[Ah! The three riders burst to the front simultaneously! The one in the very lead is… Eiran! Seirun's first-year vice-chief! It's Eiran Eisair! And closely pursuing him are Duran Moira and Eliza Hergin of Lumerin!]
Eiran was running at the very front, his long silver hair fluttering.
Duran curled up the corners of his mouth as he followed closely behind Eiran, who was running like a gust of wind.
“A magic swordsman? His feet are quite fast.”
Crackle-
Violent sparks began to fly from Duran's body.
Duran, wreathed in golden lightning, lowered his stance.
Fzzzzzt-!
Duran closed the distance with Eiran at tremendous speed.
“Shall we see what you’ve got? Seirun’s vice-chief!”
Clang-!
Duran drew his sword like lightning, threatening Eiran.
Whoosh-!
“……!”
In an instant, Eiran leaped, avoiding Duran's attack.
Thump-!
And as if there were ground in mid-air, he regained his balance by stepping in the air, widening the distance from Duran.
Seeing Eiran avoid his attack so easily, Duran curled up the corners of his mouth.
“Interesting.”
It was obvious at a glance.
The Seirun vice-chief before him was not a magic swordsman whose main strength was magic, but one specialized in physical movement.
Fzzzzzt-!
Ferocious lightning aura swirled around Duran's body.
Duran, filled with competitive spirit, raised his sword.
Flash! Crackle-!
A bolt of lightning struck Duran's sword from the sky, as if his sword had become a lightning rod.
Fzzzzzt-!
Wreathed in an even more ferocious lightning aura, Duran put strength into his legs.
Clang!
“Draw your sword! Eiran Eisair!”
Duran's terrifying sword strike aimed for Eisair's back.
Eisair, once again, lightly bounced his body, evading all of Duran's unconventional sword strikes pouring down from all directions.
Duran's eyes twitched.
His first attack might have been a light probe, but this attack had a quite complex pattern.
Yet Eiran evaded that attack like a ghost.
Moreover, while showing such divine-like movements, he didn't even spare Duran a glance.
“Huhu. So this is Seirun’s vice-chief, indeed? Not to be underestimated!”
Sparks flew in Duran's eyes.
Whiz-!
“You’re still just thinking of pushing through with brute force again.”
Just then, Eliza, who had been observing the situation from slightly behind, caught up to Duran on her Wind Wyvern.
The Wind Wyvern, wreathed in storm, squeaked, “Peep-!”
It seemed to mock Duran, just like its owner.
“An unlucky master with an unlucky pet mount.”
As Duran spoke in a cold voice, Eliza's Wind Wyvern tried to hit Duran's head with its tail.
Thwack-!
Of course, Duran easily blocked the attack and said,
“Shall I skin it?”
Duran's eyes glinted.
But the Wind Wyvern merely snorted.
“As much as I’d like to punish you for your rude words, the Luse War takes precedence now, so I’ll let it slide.”
Eliza drew a whip from her waist.
“Watch. I’ll show you how to catch prey. Let’s go! Peep-Peep!”
The scoffing Eliza pulled the Wind Wyvern’s reins.
Watching the Wind Wyvern charge towards Eiran at tremendous speed, Duran muttered,
“I just can’t get used to that beast’s name.”
The arrogant and haughty Eliza's main spirit beasts are all exceedingly lavish.
Each one is a powerful spirit beast capable of shaking the battlefield, but their names are so cute it's hard to get used to them.
Whether Duran clicked his tongue or not, Eliza, who had quickly approached Eiran, said,
“Peep-Peep. Block that elf’s path with a storm.”
At her words, the Wind Wyvern soared into the sky at tremendous speed.
Then, descending and gaining acceleration, it swiftly cut across Eiran's path.
And as it did so, it unleashed a storm in front of Eiran.
Whoooooosh-!
With the Wind Wyvern’s special ability, Atmosphere Manipulation, an invisible wall of air blocked Eiran’s path.
As Eiran's speed began to decrease, Eliza smiled faintly and cracked her whip.
Whish-! Thwack-!
“Good, I got hi… Eek?”
Eliza, who had been smiling triumphantly, almost got pulled along by Eiran, who regained speed and charged through the storm.
Eliza, barely regaining her balance, wore an astonished expression.
“What? Why isn’t Peep-Peep’s storm working?”
“It’s the Armor of Animus.”
“Wait! Where are you riding right now?!”
Eliza frowned, seeing Duran, who had somehow leaped and climbed onto her back.
“This is the Luse War. So, isn’t this level of cooperation natural?”
“Hmph!”
“The Armor of Animus, that is. A powerful technique passed down through generations of the Eisair family.”
Listening to Duran's words, Eliza narrowed her eyes.
“Fast mobility and strong defense. He’s certainly an ability user specialized for this obstacle race.”
“Yes. So, as much as I dislike it, Eliza Hergin. I propose cooperation.”
“Understood.”
Eliza cooperated readily.
She actually wanted to defeat Eiran by herself, but this was the Luse War, where personal feelings had to be set aside.
Though the two were famously arch-rivals, for now, as riders representing their year, they immediately chose to cooperate.
Whoooooosh!
As Eliza invoked her spiritual power, the Wind Wyvern’s speed increased even further.
Crackle-!
Duran unleashed his lightning aura.
In truth, if they put their minds to it, the two could have overtaken Eiran.
However, the current leading group was a 2:1 situation with Eiran, Duran, and Eliza.
If Eiran, Seirun’s vice-chief, were eliminated here, the Lumerin side would gain a distinct advantage in this race.
Whiz-!
Eliza, who had already overtaken Eiran by a considerable distance, commanded her Wyvern to charge towards Eiran.
Meanwhile, Duran, who had pushed his aura to its limits, unleashed a lightning sword strike towards Eiran.
Thud-!
Seeing that, Eiran ducked his head.
‘Surely he hasn’t given up already?’
It was then that Duran and Eliza wore puzzled expressions.
Flash-!
An energy reminiscent of flora enveloped Eiran’s entire body.
Eiran covered his face with both arms, increased his speed, and charged forward.
Crackle-!
Clang-!
Lightning and storm enveloped Eiran's body.
But Eiran pierced through the attacks and ran past the two of them.
A head-on breakthrough that was nothing short of magnificent.
At that, Duran's and Eliza's faces stiffened.
“Without counterattacking our attacks…”
“He just ignored them and left?”
The two looked at Eiran's retreating figure, running swiftly.
His entire body was tattered, as if he had taken significant damage from their powerful attacks.
But Eiran advanced, never looking back at the two.
The two, famous for their bad temper, were the type who felt unsatisfied unless they retaliated unconditionally when attacked.
Therefore, Eiran's behavior of charging forward without looking back despite receiving threatening attacks felt like he was ignoring them.
“Huhu, truly Seirun’s vice-chief. I heard he had quite a gentle personality, but he’s arrogant and insolent.”
Duran dismounted the Wind Wyvern and stretched his neck.
Eliza habitually groomed her fingertips and muttered,
“If he won’t look this way, I’ll have to make him turn around, even if by force.”
“Eliza Hergin. I don’t need your help anymore. I’ll defeat that guy.”
“That’s what I should say, Duran Moira.”
The two, now infuriated, glared at each other, Ziiiip-.
Then they shot off at tremendous speed.
“Stop right there! Eiran Eisair!”
“Fight me, for the honor of your school! Seirun’s vice-chief!”
As the two pursued him, scattering a chilling, murderous aura, Eiran shrieked, ‘Hiiiik!’
The reason she didn’t counterattack at all was very simple.
‘Scary! Scary! Scary! The Lumerin people are too scary!’
The reason he poured all his strength into the Armor of Animus and focused all his family’s secret ability, Evergreen, on defense, and the reason he took all the attacks without retaliating, was because he was terrified.
In truth, she didn’t want to be a rider or anything like that.
She disliked being the center of attention and was scared of being heavily targeted by Lumerin students.
It was a position with too much responsibility for her timid self to handle.
But…
‘Eiran! There’s no one more suited to be a rider than you!’
‘Oh, no! Student Council President! I’ll just get scared and run away!’
‘Exactly! I’ve never seen anyone run away as well as you!’
Student Council President Lieniya gave a thumbs-up to a tearful Eiran and forcefully registered him.
So Eiran vowed that when it came to the race, he would run as much as possible without fighting other students.
But Eiran’s timid strategy beautifully created a misunderstanding and successfully provoked the two most famously belligerent first-year Lumerin students.
“Stop right there!”
“Stop there!”
“Hiiiiiiiiiik!”
Eiran ran like mad, his face about to cry.
Eiran, whose body had become tireless using the power of Evergreen which grants infinite vitality, ran and ran like a herbivore chased by carnivores, not caring about stamina distribution.
Seeing Eiran, who seemed about to be caught but never was, and who evaded all attacks with insane agility, Duran and Eliza became even more infuriated.
“I’ll get rid of him!”
“If I catch him, I won’t let him off easy!”
“Hiiik! I’m sorryyyyyy!”
Eiran pleaded for forgiveness, almost screaming, but the two couldn't hear him.
Rumble-!
Just then, the ground surged up before them.
The three in the leading group paused.
Grwoooooooar!
The three stiffened their faces upon seeing the monster that burst from the ground.
“Cyclops?”
***
Grwoooar!
The Cyclops didn't just ambush the leading group.
The second group, where many students were positioned, also began to face Cyclops attacks.
Seeing that, Leo muttered,
“Is it a Cyclops captured by Seirun?”
Leo’s eyes spotted control devices attached to the Cyclopes’ necks.
It seemed they were monsters captured by Seirun for research purposes.
And, fitting for an obstacle race, they used these monsters as obstacles.
At the appearance of the top-tier monsters, the students instantly fell into a panic.
Just then, Leo launched himself.
Rumble! Bang-!
Fierce flames engulfed the spot where Leo had been.
“Hey! You bastard! I said let’s fight!”
Seeing Lunia with her red eyes flashing, Leo let out a short laugh.
“Sorry, but I refuse.”
“I don’t care whether you refuse or not!”
Seeing Lunia’s blazing eyes, Leo pointed behind her.
“Watch out.”
“Huh?”
A gigantic Cyclops’s palm slammed down on Lunia.
Seeing that, Lunia’s eyes flashed.
Fwoosh-! Clang-!
Grwoooooooh!
With just one spell, the Cyclops’s arm turned to ashes.
Without even looking at the Cyclops writhing in pain, Lunia said,
“Do you think these things will get in my way?”
Though it was a top-tier monster, its power was restricted by a restraint device, and being a Cyclops without a monster tamer, it was no great threat to Lunia.
Seeing Lunia snort, Leo calmly said,
“No, that’s not what I was talking about.”
“Huh?”
Fwoooooosh-! Clang-!
Aura flames rained down on Lunia.
Fierce flames raged in all directions as aura flames and magic flames clashed.
Celia, standing before Leo, swept her hair back.
“Your opponent is me, Lunia El Rundia.”
Looking at the red eyes exactly like her own, Lunia narrowed her eyes.
‘Celia Zerdinger. Lumerin Knightry Department, 1st place.’
In a sense, she was a direct descendant of a rival family to the Rundia family, who also wielded the same Phoenix power.
‘I wanted to target Leo, the rider, first, but.’
Lunia glanced at Leo.
If it comes to this, it won't be easy.
Moreover, the main obstacles had begun to activate.
Initially, Lunia had targeted only Leo, regardless of anything, but she quickly regained her composure.
‘If I let Celia Zerdinger run wild, our side’s damage will be great. It’s better to definitely keep her tied up here.’
Fwoosh-!
Lunia conjured flames.
“Rundia, Zerdinger. It would be good to definitively determine who is superior between the two.”
At Lunia’s provocation, Celia curled up the corners of her mouth.
“That would be good. Of course, I’ll win, though.”
Leo withdrew from the clash of the two.
And looked around.
Everyone was busy dealing with the activated obstacles and keeping each other in check.
‘The Seirun students are formidable as well.’
In this second group, the students of Seirun’s advanced Class 1, whom he had seen during the school trip, were clearly visible.
They, too, had grown into skilled individuals, incomparable to how they were in the first semester.
Grooooan-!
Just then, another Cyclops burst from the ground, revealing itself again.
But it was different from the Cyclopes so far.
Although it wore restraints, it was significantly larger than the other Cyclopes.
At its menacing appearance, the surrounding students flinched and backed away.
Thump-! Thump-! Thump-!
The Cyclops spotted Leo and lunged.
Seeing that, Leo let out a short laugh.
“Perfect timing. I’ve been wanting to try this out.”
Leo reached out his hand.
A subspace opened, and a longsword appeared.
Outwardly, a normal longsword.
But this was a magic sword made of dragon bone.
Woooong-!
A magic spell array formed on Leo's sword.
The magic circuit drawn on the sword began to glow vividly.
The surrounding elf students flinched.
Leo, having activated the magic spell array, thrust his sword forward.
Crash-!
A giant beam of light, reminiscent of a comet, extended from the sword and soared into the sky, drawing a tail.
Seeing that, the Seirun students wore astonished expressions.
“Surely… Lampas…?”
“Isn’t that the Star Magic taught in third year?”
Leaving the stunned Seirun students behind, Leo moved on.
Thump-!
The Cyclops’s massive body crashed to the ground.
Thud- Thud-!
Leo, leaving the Cyclops behind, looked down at his sword.
Kiiiiiiiiiiing-!
The sword was trembling finely.
It was because it had been overloaded trying to withstand the complex magic spell array.
Looking down at it, Leo let out a short laugh.
“Hmm. Not bad.”