Book 1 Chapter 29

Duran's ball, enveloped in lightning aura, flew towards the goal.

"Wind Shield!"

At that moment, Chelsea hastily cast a defensive spell.

A powerful wind blew from the goal on the 5th-class side.

Then, the ball, flying at an immense speed, suddenly slowed down.

However, the momentum wasn't gone.

It was merely a fleeting moment to hold the ball.

Since the ball was wrapped in lightning aura, it couldn't be caught carelessly.

Even if caught, it would undoubtedly fly into the goal, piercing Chelsea's defensive magic before reaching other students' hands.

"A futile effort!"

As Duran scoffed, Leo shouted.

"Kal! Get ready for what I told you!"

"Argh! If only I wasn't assigned bathroom cleaning duty!"

Kal unleashed his magic.

Kal was an earth-elemental mage.

The earth element's specialized traits were defense and weight!

A faint brown magic emanated from Kal's body.

Leo, whose body was protected by defensive magic and whose hands, lightened by gravity magic, were grabbed by Kal, threw Kal towards the goal.

He intended to use his body as a physical defense.

Woosh! Whoosh-!

Kal's body flew towards the goal.

Hook-! Swaaaaaaa-!

Simultaneously, the ball also succeeded in piercing Chelsea's defensive magic.

Lighter than the ball, Kal reached the goal before the ball due to Leo's strength.

"It's no use! It's going into the goal with the ball!"

Duran sneered.

But just before the ball hit him, Kal used magic to increase his body's weight to the maximum.

On top of that, Chelsea hurriedly cast a shield spell on Kal.

Thump-!

"Gack!"

Splash-!

Only Kal, hit by the ball, went into the goal, and the ball bounced off.

Before hitting the ground, if the ball is caught, the right to attack is maintained, but if dropped, it is lost.

Tap-! Rolled.

The ball rolled on the ground.

Beep-!

"The right to attack goes to Class 5!"

"Kyaaak! So cool, Kal!"

"We won't forget your sacrifice for the class!"

Cheers erupted from Class 5 as they narrowly succeeded in defense through the coordinated effort of Leo, Chelsea, and Kal.

Kal smiled sadly, seeing his classmates only remembering his sacrifice and not worrying about him.

"I'm sorry, Kal."

"Are you okay?"

"Leo, Chelsea, you're the only ones for me."

Kal was touched by Leo and Chelsea approaching him with apologetic smiles.

"That was amazing. What kind of plan was that?"

Nella, who approached for healing, asked lazily, and Chelsea replied with a bright smile.

"Operation name: Friend Shield! It's a defensive plan Leo-oppa conceived, predicting this situation!"

"To use a friend as a tool for victory. A magnificent judgment."

Kal felt like crying.

Meanwhile, Iliana, holding the ball, spun her arm around and around.

"Great! Great! Aiming for an additional score…!"

Whoosh-!

From Class 1, something like a whip stretched out with a whoosh-! and snatched the ball from Iliana's hand.

"Oooooooh! Howl!"

"Sexy!"

"As expected of the successor to the Snake Spear!"

Class 1's morale soared as they instantly regained the right to attack.

Iliana, blankly looking at her hand and the ball taken by Class 1, bowed to Kal, placing her hands together.

"Sorry, it was taken."

"Give me back my sacrificeeeeeeeee!"

***

"Oh my! What brings you to the training grounds at this hour, Ain-senpai!"

"What's there to ask? I came to observe the Combat Studies class."

Ain and Ren encountered each other in front of the training grounds.

"Heh heh! I see. Indeed. Celia-student, Duran-student, and Chen Xia-student are currently taking class in the training grounds! As their major professor, you must want to see how skilled the Knight Studies aces are in combat!"

"I came to observe all Knight Studies students, Ren. Not to specifically watch someone like you."

"I also came to observe all Magic Studies students."

Professor Ren shrugged his shoulders.

The two were not merely senior and junior colleagues but teachers.

Both were graduates of Lumern and had known each other since their school days.

Of course, it wasn't a good relationship; they had a "bad relationship" spanning different departments.

Adding Summoning Studies Professor Yura would create a perfect bomb combination, a common knowledge among professors and current students.

"By the way, I was surprised to hear that professors were in charge of the first years."

"It is indeed the first time for both of you to be in charge of lower grades."

"Speaking of which, Ain-senpai, you were Professor Sedjen's first student, weren't you? What was it like then?"

"It was the same as now. He cherished his students dearly. Professor Halind has changed a lot since then."

"By the time I became a fifth-year, he was already called the Wall of Lamentations."

Recalling their school days, the two professors entered the training grounds.

And they were surprised.

"Basterra? From the very first class?"

"That's unconventional."

The two professors' eyes lit up as they realized it was Class 1 and Class 5 playing Basterra.

'The score is 1-0, with Class 5 in the lead.'

An unexpected result.

Class 1's aces were all out.

Not intentionally, but Class 1 was an elite class filled with students who had high average entrance exam scores.

A match between the first and last place classes.

Even though entrance exam scores would become meaningless a few months later, there was clearly a difference right now.

'Leo and Chelsea. Iliana and Tate. And Nella… they can be called Class 5's aces, but the other players aren't.'

Ain wore an intrigued expression.

"Remarkable."

Ren, who was watching the game, exclaimed.

"Leo-student is undoubtedly a born leader."

"I felt it clearly since the entrance ceremony."

Class 1, with their superior skills, dominated Class 5 through individual play.

Conversely, Class 5 was playing with a focus on cooperation.

The key to that was Leo.

He predicted the opponent's movements at every moment, sometimes displaying quick wit to respond to Class 1's attacks.

Ren looked disappointed.

'He's only using aura!'

It would be good if he used magic too, but Leo was only using aura.

Of course, it couldn't be helped.

Leo's spell interpretation ability was excellent, but his magic power was low.

Therefore, aura had to be his main combat ability.

Ren nervously glanced at Ain.

Ain was also watching Leo.

However, unlike the anxious Ren, he was watching the game with a very satisfied expression.

Feeling a sense of resentment, Ren inwardly shouted.

'Leo-student! Please use magic too~!'

Ren looked at Leo with an anxious heart.

Meanwhile, the game was heading into the second half.

Basterra consumed a tremendous amount of stamina as it utilized all special abilities.

The game was originally an hour long, but with the stamina of first-year students, twenty minutes was the limit.

At that moment, Celia's fearsome attack shook Class 5's goal net.

"Celia! Amazing! I'm falling for you!"

"Onni! Please adopt me as your sibling!"

Class 1 students cheered.

Celia had scored a goal after breaking through three Class 5 students who were defending physically in front of the goal.

"Are you a monster…?"

Kal, who had been hit directly by the ball, muttered with a disgusted expression, then slumped and fainted.

"Huff! Huff!"

However, Celia, who had exerted all her strength, was also exhausted.

"I took down three, and there's not much time left! If we block this attack, we can counter and win, so we have to come from behind!"

Celia shouted with difficulty.

Class 5's atmosphere was at its worst, having suddenly lost the advantage they barely held.

Conversely, Class 1's morale reached its peak.

Chloe watched Class 5 from the rear.

Chloe had been the most brilliant performer in this match.

Although she conceded a surprise goal early on, she perfectly defended against Leo and Chelsea, the core of Class 5's offense, afterward.

Despite trying various methods to outwit them, she couldn't overcome Chloe.

Watching Leo prepare to attack, Chloe resolved.

'I will never lose.'

After the first magic class.

Chloe couldn't help but feel conscious of Leo, even when trying not to.

She had never felt behind someone in magic.

Even compared to Abad, who was considered the strongest mage among her peers, she believed her spell interpretation ability was superior.

And indeed, it was.

A genius in spellcasting, evaluated as a once-in-a-generation talent even by the Northern Magic Tower.

That was Chloe Muller.

Yet, from the very first class, she had fallen behind in magic interpretation.

'I can never lose to Leo Flob.'

Chloe clenched her fist tightly.

With Celia's absence, Class 1 also had a gaping hole in their defense.

"Attack! If we don't score this time, we'll definitely lose!"

Iliana shouted.

Chelsea blocked Duran, who was rushing to mark Leo.

Other players also tried their best to create a one-on-one situation between Leo and Chloe.

Leo, with his swift movements, weaved through Class 1's formation and ran towards the goal.

With Celia, a check, gone, and Duran tied up by Chelsea, it was no exaggeration to say that there was no one to stop Leo.

But Class 1 also had a trump card.

Chloe stood in Leo's path.

"You can't go."

"Apologies, but if it's a one-on-one, I think I can break through?"

At Leo's words, Chloe smirked.

Crack crack crack-!

Leo's eyes twitched.

Ice instantly condensed in the air, and ice shards appeared.

Four ice shards, identical to Chloe, blocked Leo's path like living dolls.

"Impossible! Ice clones? Using such a difficult magic spell? Even my brother isn't this advanced!"

Chelsea exclaimed in shock.

"This isn't a simple clone!"

Magic circles unfolded around the ice clones.

Each one could be considered a mage.

"Using this level of spell at that age? She's a genius."

Leo marveled.

Chloe's eyes twitched.

"Are you mocking me now?"

'Even though you got first place in the magic theory exam!'

Chloe glared at Leo with menacing eyes and snorted.

"In any case, you can't break through me! So give up!"

"Certainly, with my aura ability, I can't break through this."

Leo smiled faintly.

"With aura ability, that is."

Whoosh!

'Magic?'

Chloe was flustered.

She hadn't expected him to use magic at this moment.

Leo's body multiplied.

'Illusion magic? That's shallow!'

Despite being caught off guard, illusion magic was something she could easily counter.

While attacking players with magic is against the rules, illusions created by magic can be attacked.

'Where is the real one?'

And finding the real one within simple illusion magic was very easy for Chloe.

She focused her magic power into her eyes and looked at the illusions.

At that moment, Chloe's face stiffened.

'I can't distinguish which one is fake!'

Without knowing the real one, she couldn't attack carelessly.

But there was something even more astonishing.

'This… this magic…!'

While Chloe was astonished, Leo, who had bypassed her, lightly put the ball into the goal.

Chloe, too shocked to even react, slumped to the ground.

Perfect illusion magic that made it impossible to discern the real one.

The magic Leo had just used was also a spell Chloe knew.

But Chloe couldn't use it.

Because what Leo used was not human magic.

Chloe stared blankly behind her.

As the illusions disappeared, leaves scattered.

A magic system fundamentally different.

"Elf… Star Magic?"

Mirage.

What Leo used was magic created by Luna, the progenitor of the nebulae.

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