Book 1 Chapter 575

575.

Quoooooong!

The sound of the golem starting up echoed.

The first target the golem chose was none other than Lea.

"Tsk!"

Thud-! Splash-! Thud-! Splash-!

Lea clicked her tongue as she watched the Lava Golem charge towards her.

"Annoying."

Just her luck, the Lava Golem had been summoned nearby, placing her within its range.

If one possessed expertise in magic engineering, designing a golem itself wasn't difficult.

Its simplicity made it easy to modify.

Of course, most modified golems were crude.

But when it came to a Lava Golem, it was a different story.

Firstly, a Lava Golem itself was an incredibly difficult golem to create.

A golem whose entire body was covered in lava boasted immense offensive power by itself.

'Lava Golems aren't even vulnerable to water magic, which is a weakness of fire-types. Moreover, the surroundings have turned into a lava zone, making them tricky to defeat!'

As a golem made entirely of lava, the Lava Golem's attack and defense overwhelmingly increased in a lava zone.

'It's best not to fight.'

Whoosh! Bang! Splat!

As she dodged the Lava Golem's attack, a wave of lava surged.

Due to the intense heat, Lea lightly used Fly magic and escaped the Lava Golem's attack range.

Medvedev appeared by Lea's side.

"Lea Tingel. Are you leaving me alone and only targeting that coward Luke Elda?"

"It's true that Luke Elda is a coward, but he's more worth defeating than you are."

"Oh? Then I suppose I'll have to prove that I'm more worth defeating than Luke Elda."

"Do you think you can?"

Lea smirked.

It was at that moment.

Thump-!

"Luke!"

Aina's flustered voice was heard, accompanied by the sound of something kicking off the ground.

At that moment, a silver flash swiftly pierced through the two people.

"Luke Elda?!"

"What?"

The two people's eyes widened as they saw Luke charging directly towards the Lava Golem.

Crash-!

As he kicked off the ground, the surrounding lava splattered everywhere.

Luke's entire body glowed with a silver flash.

A power that pushed Luke's mana characteristics, which caused mana to rise when his heart pounded, to their limit.

Luke's unique magic that granted him power beyond his limits for a brief moment.

'Transcendence.'

Flash-!

Cr-cr-cr-cr-cr-crash-!

A silver wall that soared as if to pierce the sky—it was a massive sword strike.

The Lava Golem, cleaved in two, crumbled down.

Splash! Poof-whoosh-!

A wave of lava surged high like a tsunami.

Woooooow-!

A thunderous roar erupted from the stands.

"In a single blow!"

"I thought it was strange how he kept running away and seemed weak! He's not the first-year representative of Lumen for nothing!"

"Amazing!"

An enthusiastic reaction poured out.

Even after the opening match began, the audience cheered for the first-years' spectacular aura, magic, and summoned beasts.

Though still young and inexperienced, the first-years' skills, honed after a year at the Hero Academy, were extraordinary.

Being young and inexperienced was a standard compared to their seniors.

In the eyes of ordinary people, simply attending the Hero Academy made them incredible superhumans.

But what Luke had just shown was an overwhelming performance that defied comparison with other first-years.

"As expected, he wasn't Leo Flov's mentee for nothing!"

Lea's ears perked up at the shouts of some spectators.

"Luke… Elda…!"

Lea's eyes narrowed.

"I'll be recognized by Senior Flov too! By defeating you!"

"Eek!"

"Stop!"

Luke recoiled and fled upon seeing Lea charging with a roar, and Aina blocked Lea.

"Lea! How long are you going to act alone!"

"Aina! Leave Lea Tingel alone! Luke won't be easily defeated!"

Yoynia and Ju-eun approached Lea and Aina, shouting, and their eyes met.

The two girls stared at each other and simultaneously aimed their staffs.

Flash-! Cr-cr-cr-crash-!

Magic clashed with magic, causing a huge explosion.

"Aaaah! Let go! Let me go! I'll defeat Luke Elda!"

"Just calm down!"

Angre forcibly dragged Lea away.

Meanwhile, Medvedev, who had stood still, recalled the recent situation.

'He was definitely smiling.'

When he charged at the Lava Golem, Luke was definitely smiling.

'Why was he smiling?'

Medvedev could also defeat a Lava Golem in one blow.

But in this situation, there was no merit to be gained from using up so much of his strength to defeat a Lava Golem in one go.

'Does he enjoy fighting? No, that wasn't his personality. Then why?'

Medvedev looked at the spectators who were enthusiastically cheering for Luke.

Then, his eyes met Ar's, who was among the Azonia students.

'You're good at everything, but you have a subtly petty side, don't you? You surrendered faster than I expected?'

Those were the words he heard after challenging Ar upon entering the academy.

Despite knowing he would lose, Medvedev challenged her because he wanted to confirm the difference between himself and Ar.

And he surrendered without even seeing a proper gap.

'It's good to use your head, but sometimes it's good to act on impulse. That's what a challenge is, isn't it? Charging in without thinking.'

Medvedev asked Ar, who was looking up at the sky with her arms crossed under the moonlight.

'Is that why senior is so uncultured?'

After saying that, he was punched in the jaw and immediately fainted.

For some reason, that incident came to mind.

"Indeed, is he aiming for victory after defeating the Lava Golem and crushing all the other schools?"

He had heard that there were sometimes such people.

The type who couldn't control their excitement when attempting something almost impossible.

And it was for that challenge against the impossible that the audience cheered.

"He's courageous. More like an Azonia student than me."

Medvedev curled the corners of his mouth, looking in the direction Luke had disappeared.

"I apologize once again. Luke Elda. You are a man worth defeating."

"Kyaaaak!"

"Are you an animal? You're usually so docile, so why do you have a fit when it comes to Luke Elda?!"

Angre shouted as she held Lea, who was trying to run towards Luke, under her arm like luggage.

"Among the same year at Seirun, I'm the best! So I'll prove that I'm the best among other years from other schools too! Defeating Luke Elda is just the beginning!"

"That's just your personal grudge!"

"I'll settle the grudge and prove I'm the best! It's killing two birds with one stone!"

"Recall Senior Lunia's advice!"

At Angre's words, Lea paused and pouted.

'You stole food from a kid named Luke during the training camp, didn't you?'

Lunia's dumbfounded expression came to mind.

'Are you a thug? Why did you steal food? You know you brought shame to our school, right?'

'I'm not the thug, Senior Lunia is.'

Squeeze!

'Gasp!? G-g-g-g-gasp-!'

Lunia, without hesitation, choked her junior with her beautiful, sculpted hand.

'I understand why you're so obsessed with Luke Elda. But listen. Don't be too fixated on what's right in front of you. You might trip over something.'

'…Uhm… Ms. Lunia. Lea has fainted.'

'Huh, she fainted just from a little choking? So delicate.'

'Normally, if you choke someone like that, they die.'

Lea had fainted, hearing Lunia's displeased voice and Eiran's voice amidst her fading consciousness.

'Is it really not good to be too fixated on Luke Elda?'

Rivals weren't only external.

Within Seirun, there were enough classmates who threatened her position.

'…When I saw my ancestor, I made a vow. To become someone who can proudly hold my head high in front of the people I respect. That's why I want to be recognized.'

That's what she envied about Luke Elda.

That he was recognized by Leo.

It was when Lunia had a serious expression.

Whoosh-!

"You shouldn't let your guard down."

"When did you get here?"

Rixson, Demian's representative, who suddenly appeared before them, smiled meaningfully.

"This is an invisibility cloak I made. It's an item that even erases your presence!"

Rixson swung a massive battle hammer at Angre.

Clang-!

With a huge impact, Angre lost her grip on Lea.

"Ah?!"

As Lea was falling into the lava zone, she tried to hurriedly use Fly magic.

"Checkmate!"

Rixson slammed his battle hammer onto Lea with a clang-! and pushed her straight into the lava zone.

"She'll be automatically warped out if she's eliminated, so she won't be hurt!"

Rixson beamed.

"I knew there would be an opportunity to target Lea Tingel, who is unusually obsessed with Luke Elda!"

Rixson shouted triumphantly.

"Ugh! Cowardly!"

Angre grabbed her sword in frustration, and Rixson shrugged.

"What's cowardly or not in a competition? Well, Senior Driana was particularly furious that my method wasn't beautiful."

Rixson recalled Driana, a senior one year ahead of him.

'Rixson. Your actions are base and cowardly! They're not beautiful!'

'As long as the result is good, does it need to be beautiful?'

'Of course it does! Even Lord Dweno pursued beauty! Our Demian students must not only make beautiful creations but their actions themselves must be beautiful! Aren't you a talented individual? You can claim victory honorably, even without using despicable methods! If you act despicably, you'll be pointed at and called ugly.'

'Perhaps it's Senior's works that are ugly…?'

At that, Driana slammed her hammer directly onto Rixson's head, and he immediately fainted.

'Well, it was a bit too dirty, I guess.'

Rixson scratched his cheek.

He could actually feel boos pouring in from all over.

"It seems the criticism is severe because of what happened after Luke Elda. But this is the most efficient way…"

Grab-!

"Huh?"

At that moment, a small hand suddenly popped out of the lava zone and grabbed Rixson's ankle.

Rixson looked down at the ground with a surprised expression.

There, Lea, surrounded by a shield, was smiling chillingly.

"It's cold in winter, isn't it? It's very warm here."

"I-I'd like to decline…"

"No need to decline."

"Kyaaaah?!"

Rixson, pulled into the lava by Lea, was soon eliminated.

Lea dusted off her hands and snorted.

"Don't get cocky."

It was at that moment.

Rumble-rumble-rumble-!

Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle-!

The lava zone, which was steadily expanding, began to tremble again.

Cr-cr-cr-cr-crash-!

"Another Lava Golem?!"

"This time it's four!"

"No! Are we supposed to fight other schools or not?!"

"They said it was survival! It's not fighting other schools, it's turned into a complete survival game!"

Screams erupted among the students.

The students who initially tried to avoid the lava zone and the giant Lava Golems to attack the opposing camps were involuntarily forced into a situation where they had no choice but to confront the Lava Golems.

"Ugh! The real enemies aren't the other school students, it's this terrain itself!"

Students screamed at the incredibly harsh environment.

If they defeated a Lava Golem, more Lava Golems would continuously surge, like waves.

Even amidst this, clashes continued to deplete the opponent's forces.

The available fighting ground steadily diminished due to the lava.

Eventually, the four schools met in the very center of Erek.

Gurgle-gurgle-

The lava surged, leaving no place to retreat.

"Hmph… Is this where the last person standing will be decided?"

Medvedev stepped forward and clenched his fist.

"It's what I wanted."

Lea also cracked her finger joints and replied.

"It's time to test our strength."

From Lumen, Harviden curled his lips and muttered, then looked behind him.

"Luke, aren't you going out?"

"If I go out, those two will probably target me first."

"As Lumen's year representative, overcome it."

"Go out! You're our representative!"

"Th-that's…"

Shasha also joined in, pushing Luke's back.

Forced by the crown prince and imperial princess of a nation, Luke could only step forward with a tearful expression.

It was at that moment.

Peeeeeeeeeeeeep-!

A strange cry echoed.

Thump- Roll-roll-!

A red furball fell from the sky and rolled to Luke's feet.

Luke picked up the furball with a puzzled expression.

Cheep!

"Fiora? Long time no see! Have you been well?"

Seeing Fiora, Leo's phoenix, whom he had seen several times in the first semester, Luke smiled brightly and showed a welcoming expression.

Cheep-! Cheep-!

Fiora flapped her wings and chirped wildly.

The faces of all the survivors who saw this turned white.

"E-er, no way. It can't be. No matter what, it couldn't be that bad…"

Shasha mumbled in a trembling voice, as if denying reality.

No matter what, could it really be that harsh?

"Give it here!"

"Eek!"

At that moment, Lea charged at Luke.

Overwhelmed by Lea's momentum, Luke lost his grip on Fiora.

Lea, who had snatched Fiora, smiled and greeted Fiora, who was in her hand.

"Nice to meet you. You're Fiora, aren't you? I wanted to meet you."

Lea, who unconditionally loved anything related to Leo, smiled brightly and greeted Fiora.

It was at that moment.

Suddenly, Fiora's eyes narrowed, and her body began to swell.

"Huh?"

Whoosh-! Roar-!

Fiora's body, which was growing larger and larger, caught fire.

"…"

Lea, who had been watching the scene, threw Fiora at Luke like a bomb.

"I-I'll give it back."

"Don't throw it at us!"

"R-run away!"

The Lumen students scattered in terror.

Screech-!

Roar-! Cr-cr-cr-cr-cr-crash-!

Fiora roared and mercilessly attacked all the first-years.

"No matter what, that seems a bit too much."

Chelsea shook her head, watching the first-years screaming and running away frantically after encountering the disaster known as the phoenix.

It was truly unimaginably harsh.

This wasn't about who defeated the most opponents, but who survived most tenaciously.

Karl shook his head at Chelsea's words.

"Why else would they call him the Demon King?"

***

Nothing remained on Erek parade ground.

The man clenched his fist, watching the embers that began to die down in the very center of Erek parade ground.

"What are you looking at, Lumen?"

"Nothing. Rodia. More importantly, I have something to say about Erebus."

Lumen clenched her lips, turning her back on the parade ground where the black embers had risen.