Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The Class Placement Exam (1)

Amon Caligus.

I knew this guy just as well as I knew Yuri Clementine.

A typical character who was weak against the strong and strong against the weak.

He either fell to corruption or turned over a new leaf.

He was a guy with two routes, each with a different role.

If he fell, he had a story close to that of a third-rate villain, but if he turned over a new leaf and underwent inner change, he became a reliable companion as a tank boasting formidable defense.

Of course, even after becoming good, his particular habit of grumbling never changed.

“...He doesn’t seem like an easy opponent.”

I said, fiddling with the sword at my waist.

Of all things, I had to face earth magic with high physical defense while holding a sword.

The matchup was bad.

If I were a mage, I might have been able to twist and turn somehow and pull off a win.

“Hmm... Amon is simple, so he falls for provocations easily, and he’s also prone to letting his guard down, so if you aim for an opening, it might be worth trying.”

“I’ll have to do my best.”

Yuri seemed to know the matchup was bad too, so she gave me advice.

“...Monstero. The ten people called above, step forward.”

Once the roll call ended, I moved forward according to the instructor’s words.

As I walked, I saw the group that had taken the exam before us returning to their places.

Among them was Eisel.

The nine others, excluding Eisel, were keeping a wide distance from her, as if she frightened them.

“Do well on the exam.”

As Eisel passed by me, she left those words in a voice small enough that others would not hear, then walked on leisurely.

“...”

Considering the incident before, and for whatever reason, it seemed certain that she was keeping an eye on me.

One thing was clear: the Eisel I had encountered countless times in the game and the Eisel now were different.

How much of the game information I remembered was still right, and how much of it was wrong?

What had she gone through for her to show this kind of attitude?

Thanks to Eisel’s unpredictable movements, my head grew confused.

But I did not stop my legs.

I had to move forward.

Still, aside from Eisel, things were flowing according to my expectations so far.

The ten students, including me, took their places before the instructor.

After confirming that, the instructor continued with the same explanation as before.

“This exam is a deathmatch, killing and being killed within a space created by illusion magic. As you saw earlier, dying inside does not mean you will die in reality.”

Facing the instructor’s stern gaze right in front of me, tension began creeping up.

Amon’s massive body standing beside me was also more than enough to make me tense.

“So do not be afraid, and show the greatest ability you can display. From the moment the exam begins, consider the other academy students not fellow students, but enemies you must kill, and fight accordingly. Whether you survive for a long time by using your abilities, or crush every enemy. The instructors will watch all of your actions and score you. That is all.”

Having finished the necessary explanation, the instructor activated the magic circle prepared on the floor of the exam hall.

Soon, a dimensional gate opened from the floor and swallowed all ten students, including me.

Before long, my consciousness gradually.

Faded.

***

The moment I came to my senses and raised myself up, I found myself in a place thick with grass and trees.

“The terrain is a forest?”

When I lifted my head, countless stars were each giving off their own light.

The sounds of insects came from around me, and the fragrant scent of grass stimulated my nose.

All of this was made of illusions?

The environment was so vivid that it sent chills down my spine.

“So it takes about this much to be called an archmage.”

This illusion magic was none other than the work of the academy’s headmaster, Juliut.

A cool wind blew, scattering my hair.

“I don’t hear any loud noises yet.”

It seemed combat had not begun already.

Everyone was probably coming to their senses around the same time and making judgments about the situation.

But given the nature of the exam, there was a high chance they were not very far away.

For now, should I start moving somewhere?

In this kind of situation, the side that moved first and found the enemy first was bound to gain a great advantage.

“But.”

I quickly drew my sword and struck away the object flying toward me.

—Crack!!

An arrow made of ice met my sword and shattered into powder.

“...So they found me first.”

It was an attack close to an ambush, one that made no sound at all, but thanks to possessing the “Keen Senses” skill, I barely managed to react.

I checked the direction the ice arrow had flown from.

There, atop a tree, I saw one student wearing a startled expression.

A mage who mainly used ice magic, was it?

His level did not seem very high, so he was perfectly suitable as my first opponent.

“I was worried I might run into Amon from the start.”

I was lucky.

I dashed toward the guy who was still preparing his next spell without even moving from his spot.

The opponent was atop a tall tree, about the height of a third-story building, but for me, who had reached level 10, it was a height I could reach with a single leap.

“Ice Arrow!”

As I charged toward him, another ice arrow flew at me, but I struck it away with ease.

Then I infused mana into my body and lightly leapt.

“What kind of crazy...”

He seemed completely flustered, perhaps because he had not imagined I would leap up to that height in one go.

The moment I was about to cut down the guy standing on the branch with a dumbfounded face.

Several half-transparent red circles appeared over his body.

Instinctively, I cut through his waist, where the largest of the red circles was.

—Slice!

“Guh... Guhk!!”

Soon, a groan filled with pain rang out, and his body, split in half, instantly turned to ash and disappeared.

No blood splattered.

It was due to the influence of the illusion magic.

“Those red circles just now...”

Could they perhaps be the effect of the “Weakness Detection” skill?

“I’ll need to look into it in more detail.”

Combat was more enjoyable than I had expected.

It was because I felt that my knowledge and effort had not been in vain.

In the dark forest filled with an eerie chill, I stood with my sword in hand and smiled faintly.

***

—Craaaack!!

I lowered my stance and charged in at tremendous speed, cutting down the enemy before me.

The opponent, split in half without even managing to scream, turned to ash like before and scattered away on the wind.

The opponent who had fallen just now had used a two-handed sword.

I strongly wanted to see how far the performance of Demon Swordsmanship could go without a “cursed blade,” but...

I felt that if I forced any more unreasonable mana operation, my body would not hold out until the end of the exam, so I ended most of the battles as quickly as possible.

This made four.

After several battles, I was able to gain a better understanding of Weakness Detection as well.

As I had guessed, the red circles indicated the opponent’s weaknesses.

No matter how hard the object, if the blade passed through a red circle, it sliced through smoothly as if cutting tofu.

“What matters is.”

The weaknesses were not limited to the opponent’s body or weapons.

The effect of max-level Weakness Detection was not merely that much.

“Magic has weaknesses too.”

Here, I was able to find a clue to how I should deal with Amon.

Luckily, I realized this before meeting Amon.

I could not understand why red circles also appeared on magic. The skill did not work on this principle in the game either.

“Is it simply because the skill level is maxed? Or is it the influence of the ‘blindfold’?”

Since it was a Legendary-grade item, there might be more hidden effects.

High-grade items often had things like that, after all.

For now, the fact that I could see at all had to be considered a hidden effect of the blindfold.

...Of course, wishing for even more effects on top of that might be greed.

While I was wondering whether to rest for a moment.

I sensed a presence behind me.

Judging by the footsteps, the body seemed quite large.

“What are you?”

I heard the voice of the guy who had taken in my appearance.

“Speak of the tiger, and it comes.”

I turned around and took in the guy’s appearance.

“What are you, huh? Are you blind or something? You can’t see...?”

“...”

It was the appearance of Amon Caligus, whose manner of speaking was far from good.

A massive body that looked to be two meters tall.

On both of his arms, huge gauntlets made of rock stood out.

Amon’s basic attack was a strike using gauntlets created through earth magic called “Earth Gauntlet.”

Depending on the situation, he also used earth magic like “Rock Wall” or “Stone Shower.”

Earth magic boasted formidable physical defense.

On the other hand, there was no such thing as magic damage in my attacks.

The guy saw the sword in my hand and grinned wickedly.

However, likewise, after confirming his appearance, I could not lose my smile either.

Because red circles were clearly visible on his gauntlets.

“Whether he falls or turns over a new leaf.”

If possible, the side where he became good would be better.

I slowly took one step after another toward him.

***

The place where the instructors had gathered to watch the class placement exam.

Most of the instructors were focused on the transmission screen.

Scoring was scoring, but from the instructors’ perspective, many interesting things had unfolded in this exam, so the atmosphere had ripened considerably.

“They finally met.”

“Amon Caligus has four. Zeto has four. Since only the two of them are left now, will the winner of this fight take first place?”

From the instructors’ perspective, Amon Caligus’s performance had been within the realm of expectations.

This year, with all four elemental families gathered, one could say the results had seemed obvious.

But with the appearance of Eisel, a “genius outside the standard,” the instructors could not hide their excitement.

And then came a student named Zeto.

He was neither from a famous family, nor had he displayed his skill early on and made his name known across the continent.

A new face.

That was not the only element that caught the instructors’ eyes.

“That guy called Zeto. Where is he from?”

“His place of origin is unknown. Beyond that, why are there so many unknowns in his documents? In the first place, there’s too little information on him... How did he even enroll?”

“With that deep black hair... and judging by the shape of the sword he’s using, I wonder if he came from the East.”

At that moment, an interesting answer followed from an instructor who had deep knowledge of swordsmanship.

“The East... Come to think of it, I once happened to visit the East. I heard that when they teach swordsmanship there, they sometimes deliberately cover the field of vision and train.”

“What? Then are you saying Zeto isn’t blind?”

“That’s probably not it. They only train that way for sharper senses as well. I heard it has no practical value.”

Whatever else one might say, when it came to swordsmanship, his words had to be considered correct.

The instructors could not easily acknowledge Zeto’s existence.

“Then that young boy, who can’t even see, dispelling magic with a sword is...”

“Reina, I told you, that was luck from overlapping circumstances, right? You saw it wrong. How could anyone dispel magic with a sword...”

Dispel.

The act of interfering with a spell being cast and structurally destroying it.

Originally, dispel had to be considered another kind of magic that nullified an opponent’s magic.

When Zeto had previously faced a student who used magic, he had dispelled the magic with his sword.

But the instructors all thought it must have been coincidence.

All except Reina, who was confident in dispelling.

—What the fuck!! What the hell!!

Around the time the instructors were conversing, curses suddenly burst out from the transmission screen.

The owner of the vulgar profanity was none other than Amon, who was fighting Zeto.

“The gauntlet... disappeared...?”

The instructor who had been denying Reina’s opinion just moments before stared with his mouth wide open.

Since this was a gathering of instructors who had experienced numerous battles, this time, they had no choice but to acknowledge it.

The gauntlet had not been physically broken.

The moment the gauntlet touched the sword, it disappeared.

It disappeared.

Amon’s “Earth Gauntlet” had.

Amon’s earth magic had.

It was certain that Zeto’s sword had dug into the structural part of Earth Gauntlet and dispelled it.

Reina looked at the instructor whose mouth was hanging open as if to say, “See?” and shouted.

“I told you that bastard’s seriously weird! He’s breaking magic with a sword!!!”