Book 1 Chapter 222

"……What is this situation?"

Kal drooped his shoulders, wearing a dejected expression.

"Do you all think I'm that easy to deal with?"

"Sorry, senior."

As Kal lamented, the student at the forefront of the group curled the corners of his mouth up.

"But you said it yourself, didn't you? You said you were the weakest of the second-years."

Kal was surrounded by eleven examinees.

This year's entrance exam theme was survival, and the task was to survive against the second-year students.

However, the opposite could also happen.

There was no rule preventing the examinees from attacking the second-years.

Defeating the second-years and surviving was also a method of survival.

And it was natural for the examinees to target Kal, who had boasted of being the weakest among the second-years.

"Kyaaak! I didn't think promoting the sale of lucky charms for passing would come back to bite me like this!"

Kal screamed, clutching his head.

Watching him, the examinees gripped their respective weapons.

The knights stepped forward, while the mages and summoners took positions in the rear.

Kal crossed his arms as he watched them.

"Can't we do this peacefully?"

At Kal's words, the examinee who appeared to be the party leader shook his head resolutely.

"We refuse. We will defeat you, senior, and enter Lumen."

Even as he said that, he cheered inwardly.

'As expected, this guy is nothing special!'

Kal had already advertised that he had the lowest grades among the second-years and had barely survived.

Thanks to that, the perception that Kal was weak was firmly ingrained in the minds of all the first-years.

Defeating a second-year would undoubtedly increase their chances of admission.

They absolutely did not want to let Kal go.

Just as Kal let out a sigh, "Egh!"

"You brought this upon yourself."

A voice from above made everyone flinch and look up at the empty air.

And then they froze as they saw a blonde, blue-eyed female student riding on a staff.

"Chloe!"

Kal waved his hand with a bright expression.

At his words, the other examinees' faces turned ashen.

Chloe Muller!

She was an absolute powerhouse among the second-year mages, rivaling Avad, and an opponent the current examinees absolutely should not have encountered.

Her sudden appearance made all the examinees' faces turn ashen.

"You're finished now! Brace yourselves!"

At Kal's shout, Chloe sat cross-legged and said,

"Kal. You handle it yourself."

"Huh?"

"In the end, it's all the seeds you sowed."

Chloe said with a smirk.

"Hey! Even so, aren't you going to help your friend?"

"No."

Chloe said resolutely, and as if she had no intention of getting involved further, she opened the grimoire she was carrying.

Watching his friend engrossed in leisurely reading, Kal drooped his shoulders.

"And."

Chloe glanced at the examinees and smirked.

"If you let your juniors underestimate you, what will happen to your reputation as a senior?"

"Egh. Fine. Fine. I guess there's no helping it."

Kal straightened his shoulders and stepped forward.

Seeing him, the examinees wore tense expressions.

'At least Chloe Muller isn't intervening!'

'This is a good opportunity!'

Cheering inwardly, the examinees tightened their encirclement.

Seeing this, Kal opened an extra-dimensional space.

Whoosh-! Clatter-!

Weapons of all kinds poured out.

The aspiring knights who were closing in flinched.

"Enchant."

As Kal cast the magic, the swords began to move as if they had gained life.

The knights in the front line wore tense expressions as they watched.

Even if he was the lowest-ranked, he was still a student of Lumen.

They had to be cautious.

Meanwhile, the mages in the rear began casting their spells.

Kal quickly chanted a dispelling spell as he saw this.

"Whoa!"

"The magic cast was canceled!"

It was surprising that the spells of three mages were dispelled simultaneously, even if they were simple spells used for deterrence.

As the magic was dispelled, the party leader shouted urgently,

"Hey! Front line! Hurry up and pressure them to stop them from casting magic!"

"But what about those spells?"

"They're just simple enchantments! You don't need to be scared!"

Encouraged by his words, a knight charged towards Kal.

"Oops! Unfortunately, you chose the wrong answer."

Kal grinned and generated mana.

As alchemy activated, the sword swung by the charging student glowed bright red and then exploded with a bang-!

"Kwaaak?"

"It… it exploded?"

"What? Is it a magic sword?"

Confused shouts erupted from among the examinees.

"Hey! You said it was just a simple enchantment!"

One of the front-liners shouted at the party leader, as if demanding an explanation.

Although he didn't faint or anything, thanks to the aura armor, he took considerable damage.

The flustered party leader retorted,

"It wasn't damage enough to make you fail! Just fight back! That's the front-liner's job!"

"You're going to use us as shields? And then you're going to snatch the major?"

The examinee who had charged at Kal staggered and asked, as if questioning him.

Watching him, Kal stroked his chin.

'Hoho? This might be easier to deal with than I thought?'

If it had been Kal from a year ago, he would have been defeated in an instant.

Kal was a student who had barely scraped through the entrance exam and barely managed to advance to the second year.

Always the weakest in the second year.

But even so, he wasn't weak enough to be defeated by this hastily assembled party.

A year at Lumen.

That one year was enough to transform the boy who dreamed of being a supporter.

'A supporter is someone who assists a hero.'

Click-

Kal pulled a one-handed crossbow from his extra-dimensional space.

'Assisting also means protecting the hero's back.'

And Kal had watched the backs of countless comrades for a year.

'I don't have the ability to stand by their side or the strength to keep up. But to be a supporter, I have to stand behind them somehow.'

He knew the gap keenly.

He knew that gap would widen.

'But I still have to try and chase them as much as I can. Using everything I can.'

When the hero stumbled, exhausted.

To gain the right to support their backs and tell them to cheer up, he had to at least be able to chase at their heels.

That's why Kal researched and tried his best to do what he could.

Kal aimed his crossbow at the party leader behind him and pulled the trigger.

"Attacking with such crude attacks… for a mage."

Bang-!

The enchanted arrow exploded.

It was a special exploding arrow created by Kal's alchemy.

'Of course, the cost per shot is ridiculous, though.'

Kal grinned and loaded the next arrow.

"Tch!"

The party leader, surprised by the unexpected power, looked flustered and focused more energy on his shield magic.

Ping-! Tick-!

And this time, the arrow was bounced away harmlessly by the shield magic.

This time it was just a regular arrow.

It was a feint to deplete his mana.

"Now, the question is, will the next arrow be an exploding one? Or a regular one?"

Kal grinned slyly and loaded an arrow.

And he fired an arrow at one of the flustered members of the rear line.

KABOOM-!

"The answer is an exploding arrow!"

"Hey! Front line! Block properly!"

"Are we your shields?!"

Cracks began to appear in the hastily formed party.

'Their biggest weakness is their cohesion.'

One of the biggest characteristics of Lumen examinees was their pride.

They were all talented enough to challenge Lumen's entrance exam.

Therefore, their pride in their abilities was also strong.

Given that they thought they were the best at such a young age, it was impossible for them to work well together.

'Problems like this last until early in the first semester at Lumen.'

Having experienced it himself, Kal exploited that gap.

'Once a party breaks down like this, there's no stopping it.'

Kal took out a potion bottle from his pouch.

His mana was instantly consumed by casting enchantment magic.

Even after drinking the potion, he continued to "cook" the opposing party with alchemy.

Chloe, who had taken her eyes off her grimoire, watched him with a smirk.

'Yes, Kal. Your strengths are enough for you to have advanced to the second year.'

Most second-years think Kal advanced through luck, but that's not the case.

Based solely on written exam scores, it's true that Kal barely passed.

However, in terms of practical combat, Kal is skilled enough to be a second-year.

Of course, he's not in the middle ranks, but he's definitely not weak enough to be defeated by examinees.

'And there are no truly outstanding examinees among them.'

Thinking so, Chloe glanced sideways.

CRASH! CLANG-!

Ice crystals gathered in the air, creating a shield.

Along with it, projectiles of mana aimed at Chloe scattered in all directions.

Chloe's eyes narrowed.

'Sniper magic.'

It was magic of considerable power.

Chloe scanned the surrounding area.

'They've completely masked their presence.'

Thump-

Chloe closed her book and descended from her staff.

Floating in the air, Chloe flew towards where the sniper magic had come from.

ROAR-!

CLANG! CRACKLE!

Then, sniper magic flew from behind.

With even greater power than before, the barrier magic cracked.

Seeing this, Chloe tilted her head.

'I still couldn't detect the flow of mana this time.'

It seemed like a mage specialized in this.

Chloe also knew about mages of this type.

'Looks like a magician killer.'

They are like natural enemies to traditional mages like Chloe.

In fact, if she kept getting sniped like this without being able to locate her opponent, Chloe would be in trouble.

'If the sniping continues, that is.'

Thump-!

Chloe gripped her staff.

WHOOOOSH-!

Chloe's cold mana swirled.

"If you can't locate the position."

Chloe smirked.

"Then I'll just freeze it all."

Chloe's unique magic.

The World of Ice was activated.

An aura of extreme cold swept across the vast area.

CRACKLE-!

Chloe, who had instantly frozen a vast area, glanced in one direction.

'It's there.'

Sensing the mana fluctuations, Chloe quickly headed there.

Kal, watching from afar, clicked his tongue.

"Chloe is also a complete monster now."

Saying that, Kal looked at the examinees who had attacked him.

"Well then, shall we finish this?"

Swoosh-!

Kal, with a long potion bottle hooked around his finger, grinned.

"I'll show you the fear of a Lumen student."

"Eek!"

The examinees who had rashly attacked screamed.

Kal easily defeated the examinees.

***

"Lumen students are quite something."

Ars watched the exam with sparkling eyes.

Then, when he saw Leo on the screen, he clenched his fist.

"He's here! The black rabbit!"

Ars, his feelings for Leo having softened, was now calling Leo "the black rabbit" again.

"Ars-nim. I have a question."

"Yes? What is it?"

"Why do you call Leo-nim the black rabbit? Of course, Leo-nim has a cute side like a rabbit, but based on his appearance, wouldn't a white rabbit be more fitting?"

"When I first saw him, he was in his rabbit-beast form, and his hair was black then. So it just stuck."

"Leo-nim with rabbit ears…?"

Eiran placed her hands on her cheeks, her face flushed, and squirmed.

"I… I want to see it…! Do you have any pictures?"

"No."

Eiran was frustrated by his firm reply.

It was then.

"Hmph. That examinee is brave."

Ryunia rested her chin on her hand, looking amused.

Ars and Eiran also looked at the screen.

Usually, when Leo appeared, the examinees would flee in a frenzy.

But this time, the examinee was different.

A girl stood before Leo, gripping her sword with a resolute expression.

"That's incredible courage. Who is she?"

It was as Eiran exclaimed.

Ars's eyes widened.

"Aina Veidna."

The examinee was a girl Ars knew.

"She's the great-granddaughter of the Sword Saint."