Chapter 51
“Gyaaaaaagh!!”
“The examiner's gone insaneeee!!!”
“Why isn't he going after the top ranks and only usss!!!”
A man almost the size of a three-story building strode through the forest.
With every step he took, trees toppled, and whenever he swung his arms, fierce winds rose.
While third-years flew about like reeds, Totkel stared at the scene with a dazed face.
He had intended to gather the lower-ranked third-years and spring a trap on them.
A scheme that, if it succeeded, could let him rank first by overtaking countless higher-ranked students.
And it had actually been going smoothly.
He had never expected to encounter such a disaster!
'But who is that guy who looks like a first-year?'
With long white hair and only a single wand in hand, he sat on a tree branch and watched from there.
His pale skin glowed in the sunlight streaming through the trees.
'Is it that bastard!? The one who caused this!!'
But he had no time to pay attention to that.
—BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!!!
First, he had to deal with that thing.
That house-sized, muscular rag monster.
"Casting, Amplify!"
He raised his voice and shouted so loudly the forest rang with it.
"Damn it, everyone fire spells at that thing! Mana bullets, nets, whatever! Hurry!"
The third-years snapped to attention at those words.
They were students who had also taken the [Magical Combat] course.
Even the lower-ranked ones had at least Rank 3 skill.
No matter how big that brute was, he couldn't withstand this many!
"In Code, Bind!!"
"In Code, Paralyze!!"
"In Code..."
In Code.
A reinforcement formula developed for using basic and intermediate spells.
It basically poured mana into strengthening the latter part of the spell, with encryption as a bonus.
A barrage of intermediate spells was fired at Leokan, who had been tossing third-years around.
But a monstrously huge greatsword was in his hand.
"WRAAAAAA!!!!"
The wind pressure from that swing alone blew away half the spells.
—BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM!!!
And the spells he hadn't managed to blow away were simply blocked by crossing his arms.
So this really had been an examiner's test after all!!
No matter how you looked at it, there was no way a student of second year or below could pull off something like this.
And if that thing had charged at them with the greatsword, there would have been casualties.
But when he actually dealt with those who got close, he put away the greatsword and kept throwing punches nonstop.
'Then there's no way they'd assign something this unreasonable!?'
Even Karnarov's exam wasn't this malicious.
Much less this joint exam by Professor Silariel of Botany and the Magical Combat professor.
'Professor Silariel would assign something like this?'
Impossible.
But this offensive power and overwhelming presence...
It was practically overflowing with the intent to rob us all blind!
His mind was in chaos.
He realized that the momentum of the spells being fired from their side was weakening.
"The magic isn't working!!"
"We need to stop casting and run!!"
"Idiots! Keep firing spells! Just suppress him is fine!!"
Totkel shouted desperately.
Damn it, those morons!
He was only in the middle ranks, but the response of the lower-ranked students made him sigh.
If they stopped suppressing him, he would obviously rush in at once!
But there was no helping it.
To deal with that fiendish monster, they had to use whatever they could.
"If you don't want to be eliminated, just keep firing spells... huh?"
"Huh?"
"He's... not attacking?"
He and the other students voiced their bewilderment almost at the same time.
They had no choice.
Because the monstrous warrior was turning into particles of light and disappearing.
The particles of light reverted to natural mana, then quickly faded into the air.
The third-years, mouths agape, shouted.
"W-what is this!?"
"We're saved!!"
"So all we had to do was hold out for a few dozen seconds!!"
While the students cheered like that...
Totkel also let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... thank goodness."
It really was a relief.
If the third-years had been wiped out by that monster, it was obvious the whole exam would have been ruined.
"Damn it, we still haven't caught those crazy first-years...!"
The first-year top student who supposedly had robbed every third-year they ran into while gathering herbs, and the healer beside them.
Among the lower- and middle-ranked third-years, word had spread to avoid starting a fight with the pink- and gold-haired pair.
'Damn it, nobody told us about this...!'
And that unidentified person.
They were the biggest variable in this exam.
"First, reform the line. Defend the flags!!"
That mysterious person who was snatching flags was probably the examiner, after all.
Surely they wouldn't keep doggedly stealing flags without even knowing what they were.
"You did put a weight spell on the flags, right?"
Even five flags would be really heavy; that's a weight difficult for a mage to carry.
If that really was a first-year, then stealing only the herbs would have been the rational choice.
But according to what he'd heard, that bastard was even taking the flags.
Then they had to respond like this, at least.
'Damn, the plan got twisted, but it's going well enough.'
Totkel intended to coast through this exam for free.
He would lure the third-years into the traps he'd prepared and take all the flags and herbs.
A trap that spewed sleeping powder.
If you didn't cast an antidote spell beforehand, you'd be hit without even knowing who did it.
'Especially the flags. We have to defend them at all costs.'
Herbs were the scoring condition for Botany, while flags were the scoring condition for Magical Combat.
And the number of flags was limited.
If the examiner had taken even a few more flags from him, even his share would have vanished...
"T-Totkel!"
Just then, someone called out to him.
"What now!"
"The herb bag is gone!"
"What?"
"My bag is gone too!!"
"Mine too!!"
He realized what that bastard was thinking.
"Damn it! So this was his target!"
"But Totkel, where's your bag?"
Someone said.
Only then did he look down at his waist.
At the waist where the herbs and flags had been hanging, now empty to the point of absurdity.
"W-what the..."
Impossible.
He couldn't even feel any mana.
There was no presence either.
Yet nearly half the herb bags and flags among all these people were gone.
"W-what kind of bastard is this!?"
Everything went black before his eyes.
* * *
"Nyaa, hahahahahaha!!"
An inventory stuffed full, and a battle itch fully satisfied!
I was practically on cloud nine.
"Wow, I had no idea the final exam would be such a great event."
"I didn't expect this either. What the heck was that monster? I could feel divine power from it."
"You'll get hurt if you know."
In truth, I don't really know either.
Even if I tried summoning Leokan to ask him, just keeping that guy summoned burned mana potions.
He was a true money-eating hippo.
Even at this point, five high-grade mana potions had disappeared into that bastard's stomach.
"It's good and all, but the manifestation time is the problem."
As expected, having a tank made stealing really easy.
I just had to use my high agility to touch their herb bags.
Then they'd automatically go into my inventory.
"Open them first. We have to sort them out, don't we?"
"Let's do it!"
We were inside a cave somewhere in Zone A.
Of course, there had been a gatekeeper.
There was a leopard as tall as Robert, and Robert had gone pale and pulled out his wand, but...
"Gorororong..."
"Yeah, yeah. I'll give you this, so stay put, okay? Oh, can you keep watch for us? I'll give you more if you do!"
We'd neutralized it with cat treats bought from modern times, and even succeeded in hiring it as a gatekeeper.
[Fresh Mandragora(SR-) x 23]
[High-grade Mana Potion(SR-) x 15]
[Intermediate Mana Potion(R) x 35]
[Communication Crystal Ball(SR)x 10]
[Dragon Flame Grass(SR) x 15]
[Golden Mandragora(SSR) x 3]
[Rainbow-Tailed Lizard(SR) x 8]
[Thistle Grass x 32]
[Goblin Beggar-ticks x 66]
.
.
.
"Kyaa, these guys really did gather a lot!"
I don't have to worry about potion ingredients anymore!
A cool summer, confirmed!!
Honestly, I wasn't expecting much since they weren't top-ranked students.
But they even had materials exclusive to high-grade potions, like rainbow-tailed lizards and golden mandragora!
"Then all I need is to buy test tubes at the School Market now."
"Why would you need test tubes? You already got some before."
Robert had also memorized the entire herb combination chart ahead of time and gotten a test tube set.
Because Isabel had handed out test tube sets to all the students who succeeded in making potions.
But that wasn't enough for me.
I needed to make it with much stronger ingredients if I wanted even a chance of withstanding dragon mana.
'I can't resist dragon mana potions.'
"I do have something like that."
I brushed it off and, together with Robert, sorted the poisonous herbs out of the pile to submit.
I checked them one by one with the Observation Eye, and Robert judged them based only on reagents and appearance.
The speed difference wasn't much.
I'd also slacked off on studying, but that guy's sorting speed was really fast.
His accuracy was probably close to 100 percent too.
"But what's this?"
"How should I know?"
I grabbed it because the third-years were hugging it like a cherished doll, but I don't know what it's for.
[Exam Flag(C)]
A flag inscribed with a special mana mark.
Even when examined with the Observation Eye, that was all the description it gave.
"Well, it probably doesn't matter."
Not my problem.
As we left the cave and headed down the mountain, we came across a familiar face.
"Why are you two here?"
It was Linia and Aris.
"Yumia!"
Aris was teamed up with Linia.
Looking at them now, their hair was almost a complete mess.
Instead, I saw bulging sacks floating behind them.
It seemed we weren't the only ones hunting third-years.
Aris staggered over to me.
"Ugh, if that was going to happen, I should've teamed up with Yumia instead."
From what I heard, it went roughly like this.
Linia dragged Aris into Zone A.
And while gathering herbs, they apparently shook down their seniors and stole their bags.
The resistance had been fierce, and even Aris, who was only on healing duty in the back, had to actively use her unique magic.
"Still, surprising. I didn't expect Aris to loot third-years that aggressively."
"Huh? We only dealt with the third-years who came at us looking for a fight!? We only took their herb bags..."
"Now that you mention it, there was such a rumor going around. That an examiner was roaming around disguised as a first-year."
Linia said, tilting her head.
Ah.
I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
So we were the only ones ambushing people, huh.
Just then, voices rang out from all around the mountain.
[There are 10 minutes left in the first-year exam! Please return to the mountain entrance!!]
It was time to turn in the herbs we'd looted... no, gathered.