Episode 28. Who is the crazy X in this area? (1)
On the day of important exams such as midterms or finals, professors are just as busy as their students.
You have to rack your brain to come up with the most difficult written exam questions possible, and when the actual exam day comes, you’ll be busy installing the subspace gates again.
This isn’t just about creating a subspace and disappearing like in the practical exam. You have to create virtual monsters in it and set them up so that they can always respawn even if they are defeated.
“Thank you for your hard work, Professor Radian.”
“Don’t worry. I’m more grateful to Professor Stella for coming all the way here to help me out.”
Stella Vermillion, a medical officer, is cooperating in creating a practical testing space for first-year students.
The role was originally supposed to go to Adela Merhena, Radian’s assistant, but she is currently hospitalized.
Adela was imprisoned during the Lycanthropy incident. During the process, she was poisoned and lost consciousness.
Fortunately, he is scheduled to be reinstated as soon as the midterm evaluation is over.
“Adela is so lucky. She was able to avoid such hardships with good timing.”
“So I plan to work as hard as I can. I think I can figure out how to distribute grades myself.”
“Is there a student you are looking forward to among this year’s first-year students?”
“Well, there are so many that it would be difficult to pick just one.”
I don’t know about other grades, but among the first-year students, there were more rookies like Hyesung than in other grades.
Crona Delaware, known as the blazing sun.
Kent Easyst, who also served as the first-year representative.
Jenny Chainsilver, who recently gained control of her strange freezing ability.
Although she is an eccentric, Mary Ludciel is said to be the strongest in terms of talent and magic.
Ruska Mad-Eye, who took the A class spot solely on her skills despite having no support.
Bayman Dreadnought, known as the Alchemist and Mad Scientist.
Lyman Begilius, who has many unknown aspects, but whose skills can be acknowledged.
There are also students who have not recited, so this generation is overflowing with talented people to the point that it can be called the golden generation of singers. It is so much that the situation of the upperclassmen is becoming miserable.
“How is the prince of the Papyrus Kingdom? I wonder if he is growing well these days.”
“Totema, you mean? Although I don’t know the details because he’s a magician. I heard about it while talking to Professor Kerix, who’s in charge.”
As a prince of the Kingdom of Papyrus, he entered the academy as ‘Totema Red Hall Papyrus’. Although it was an academy where social status was not given priority, it would have been strange not to have expectations when looking at the label attached to him.
But Radian told the grim truth with a complicated expression.
“They say there is no answer.”
“Oh my… … .”
“Why else would we be preventing grades from leaking out of the academy?”
If a prince of a country has poor grades, can he really save face? But he can’t falsify his grades either. He was a cadet whose mere existence was an awkward situation.
“Then let me ask you one more thing.”
“… … .”
“What do you think about Radon Crawler?”
“Why is that kid suddenly asking that?”
“You said you discussed that child a while ago. You said there was a chance he could be promoted to Class A.”
Stella remembered the practical exam. It was the moment when she broke Jenny’s wooden sword with a fishing rod that revealed her hidden skills.
“That’s… … a bubble.”
“yes?”
“At that time, Radon was no different from fighting with a real sword.”
But I later found out that it was an underestimation that made me lose my cool.
“This test is not a practice test, but a real test. It is unknown how much skill will be displayed in a space where everyone is fighting with real weapons.”
* * * * *
The midterm exam that marked the beginning of Chapter 2 was also nearing its end. As soon as the current practical exam was over, we would move on to Chapter 2.
There hasn’t been any villains yet.
This is because a heartwarming story is about Jenny, Mary, and Crona naming the white girl they met in the forest ‘Angela’.
However, even without a villain, there was someone to fight against: Ruska Mad-Eye.
This test is a method where the higher the score, the more monsters you hunt that are visualized in the subspace.
Attacking other cadets is prohibited, as it is essential to distinguish between friendly forces and unfriendly ones in real combat.
But Ruska doesn’t care and fights Jenny. The fight between the two intensifies as the subspace is not yet perfect and a forced shutdown is impossible.
The fight ends with an enraged Lyman appearing and toying with her while teaching her a lesson.
Because Lyman is so powerful, there is no description of him struggling, which reduces the tension. That is why the pattern of the main character’s absence is often used.
A story where a crisis situation arises, a supporting character or heroine is suffering, and then the main character appears at the end and overwhelmingly brings about the end.
In addition, since Lyman also has the attribute of being a ‘protagonist who hides his power’, it is not easy for him to even demonstrate his true abilities. The final battle of Chapter 2 will be when he truly demonstrates his power.
Until then, it’s just using sealed power. The more I think about it, the more I realize it’s a monster.
“It’s so hot I’m going crazy… … !”
The test field that the subspace reproduced was a volcanic area.
The boiling temperature of the lava made me sweat as if I was standing under the blazing sun, even though I was far away.
As I showed off my various emaciated appearances, virtual monsters jumped out and attacked me. I could only admire the way their habits were recreated, but I could only laugh.
These are magma-type monsters that attack their exhausted prey from behind. Each beast, whose entire body is made of lava, often drools at the sight of a emaciated human.
It was hot and I was losing weight, but what better place to fool around than this?
-Trick Hit Lv3 (Activation)
Those who rushed at me while I was struggling were cut down horizontally. This was because they were cut by the fishing rod from an unexpected direction.
As soon as they became corpses, they turned into particles and evaporated.
Normally, it would take over 20 minutes to deal with one of these monsters, but thanks to steadily increasing their abilities, they were easily subdued.
The place where I was summoned happened to be a high point of a volcano. Thanks to that, I could clearly see the cadets fighting the monsters at the foot of the mountain. Among them, I could see some faces I knew well.
Bayman with Alchemy spread gas that weakened heat properties everywhere, making the monsters’ defenses weak.
Those exposed to the gas would flounder like Superman exposed to kryptonite, then be destroyed by a light dagger strike to a vital point.
Bayman struck his signature pose of intellectualism, adjusting his horn-rimmed glasses with one hand.
Mary is still using elemental magic without limit.
He was still laughing and laughing as if he was playing. It was amazing how he could control himself so that the cadets wouldn’t get caught up in that situation.
So what are the rest of the main characters doing?
By now, Ruska and Jenny will have coincidentally been hunting the same monster and will be clashing with each other. As for Lyman, he will have been hunting quietly somewhere and will have stumbled upon them and intervened.
If there are no major variables, I can just hunt quietly.
– Threat Detection Lv4
… … I thought it would work.
“!!”
At that moment, all my nerves stood on end and I felt an arrow behind my back.
I turned my body and swung my fishing rod to knock away the arrow. The arrow bounced and pierced the rock next to me.
“It’s pretty good, isn’t it?”
The direction the arrow came from was up the hill. There, standing there, was Ruska Mad-Eye, her brown muffler fluttering. I had already guessed that it was her from the purple trail… …
“Why are you here?”
“Why, I have nothing to do.”
“Why isn’t there one? Aren’t you hunting monsters?”
“I’ve already caught 99 of them, but catching more is just boring. There are only 60 minutes left until the exam ends, so shouldn’t I find something to do to pass the time?”
In the main story, she is the one who has to catch 100 monsters. She has caught about 99 of them, so she decides to reach 100 and goes after one monster, where she ends up clashing with Jenny.
But for some reason, the target changed from a monster to me. Why?
“Why me, of all people?”
“Have you forgotten who pissed me off at the Rebel Hall?”
When I heard that answer, I made a shit-eating expression. At that time, I just had no choice but to switch things around because I wanted to avoid unnecessary friction.
No matter how much Ruska hates scammers, she is the type to coolly ignore them if they have nothing to do with her work. I wonder why I, who have nothing to do with it, am catching her eye.
“Take it and drink it so you don’t get hurt.”
“Then why don’t you just not aim for it!”
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of killing you.”
The drawn bowstring turned black.
Just like that time, I plan on using ‘Break Rain’, which rains down countless arrows. Even if I don’t die, I’m sure I’ll at least be in the infirmary!
I don’t know why they did that, but it is clearly a situation where self-defense can be established.
[Break le… …]
-Howling Thunder Lv2
Just as the blackened bowstring was about to be released, lightning struck from the sky as if it were out of the blue.
The first strike is a sure win.
Kroong!─
“Ugh!”
Ruska fell down the hill because of the lightning. Was it just because she was feeling like she was speaking in an unusual girlish voice just now?
But there was no time to be embarrassed.
Ruska slowed down her fall by shooting her bow at the falling cliff while scanning it. She managed to land, but was met with an additional lightning strike.
Kroong!─
Once again, a large lightning bolt strikes above the summit.
No matter how fast she can be, she can never be faster than a lightning bolt.
“Ugh!”
Although it was already too late, Ruska instinctively raised her bow to block the attack. Her survival instinct kicked in, and she trembled as she let out a faint voice.
Radon Crawler, that guy was strong enough to summon such a large-scale lightning strike. And since he was a combat specialist, he wouldn’t be good at this kind of magic. As expected, Radon Crawler is definitely a shadow soldier.
That was the moment when such a thought crossed Ruska’s mind.
“What are you doing now?”
… … Something was strange.
Radon’s voice of disbelief was heard… …
“uh?”
The huge thundercloud had disappeared at some point.
The lightning that struck the hill was real. But the large thundercloud that had formed afterward was nowhere to be seen, as if it had been an illusion.
“vision……?”
-Fantasy Summon Lv1
This skill was activated at the same time as Howling Thunder. Since it was activated unconsciously, even I wondered what it was.
That’s why I questioned why Ruska was crouching.
[+5000 Credits]
Anyway, since the deception was successful, the erosion rate is decreasing.
It would take some more training to master fantasy, but now was not the time to think about that.
Because I realized too late that I missed the timing to run away.
“… … It was you who did it?”
“ah…….”
“You fooled me again… … .”
Crack!─
Ruska slowly raised her head and clenched her teeth. The indescribable murderous intent in her eyes sent shivers down my spine.
The arrow flashed purple for a moment, and the bowstring was pulled back faster than before.
[Break Lane]
A huge amount of arrows rained down, creating a halo that looked like black rain.
Even if I offset it with ‘Return’, I can’t repel everything. The difference in strength between Ruska and me is so great that there’s no way to make up for it yet.
It was the moment when the worst, worst-case scenario was about to happen.
Jjajajak!─
A glittering wall rose before my eyes. It was like a diamond, protecting me from a hail of arrows.
The surrounding body temperature dropped rapidly, and it was immediately apparent that it was an ice wall.
There is only one cadet in the first year who has this ability.
“I came here because I heard a very familiar lightning strike… … .”
The girl standing on the ice wall fell to the ground with her blue hair fluttering. She opened her eyes sharply as she looked at the black-haired girl who had shot the arrow.
“Ruska. Are you out of your mind?”
Jenny was genuinely angry at the sight of the delinquent cadets who had created this mess.
Surviving as an Academy Fraudster
