Chapter 71

Having to fight in the quarterfinals right after finishing lunch. It would have been nice if they gave us some time to digest.

I slowly stroked my chest and looked with resentful eyes at my damn friends who insisted on watching my match.

It’s not like they’re trying to monitor me, so I can’t understand their intention of insisting on coming to watch.

“If you don’t like it, you can just watch our matches.”

“Well, that’s true, but.”

“You came to see my match, so do you hate showing yours that much?”

“No, it’s not that, it’s more like….”

I’m worried you guys will see my match and say something.

Truthfully, it was ironic that I had nagged Lucian, because I also tend to fight by throwing my body around quite roughly.

“If you insist on watching, I have no way of refusing.”

After a moment of silence, I grabbed Lucian’s shoulder and spoke seriously.

“If you say something like, ‘I can’t hang out with a weakling like you,’ I’m cutting you off, got it?”

“Isn’t the relationship already severed the moment you say that?”

“That’s a good point.”

I nodded my head.

Zephyros seemed flustered by the unexpected reaction.

Did you think it would end here?

“Words that deserve a beating.”

I immediately raised my fist and tried to charge at Zephyros.

Lucian blocked the way between us and tried to calm me down.

“Lucian! I won’t kill the bastard! Let me go!!”

I’m going to teach this damn young master what social life is all about!

“You’re going to lose anyway!”

At Lucian’s shout, I felt a sense of emptiness and slightly backed away.

“You’re worse.”

You damn sweet potato protagonist.

Trudging, I mulled over my emptiness and plopped down on a waiting room chair.

“Hey, are you sulking?”

“Not that far.”

…If I say I’m sulking, will he apologize? But, I refuse to receive a forced apology.

I just got a little depressed.

“Did we kill your motivation?”

“If I get eliminated in the quarterfinals, it’s definitely because of you guys.”

“Why is that our fault?”

“Of course it is! How am I supposed to fight properly when you all are killing my motivation?!”

If I don’t get a medal and receive a failure penalty, I’ll curse you!

“Zephyros was probably joking.”

“It’s too much for a joke.”

“That’s because you’re making a fuss for no reason. I can assure you, the number of people in the first year of this academy who can beat you can be counted on one hand.”

“You don’t mean that, do you?”

“At least I’m not the type to lie.”

That’s true.

When I nodded, I was only nagged to trust people more.

I wondered if I had agreed for no reason, but I started to feel a bit motivated.

“So it’s your turn, aren’t you going out?”

“I have to go.”

Now that I’ve extorted my friends’ faith, I have to do my best to meet one of them in the 1st place special match.

I confidently raised the corners of my mouth.

* * *

Avoid weaknesses, maximize strengths.

It was the basis of tactics.

In the round of 16, I won by pushing through with pure firepower, but—

“Running away to the sky is unfair!!”

Durubel, my opponent in the quarterfinals, who had instantly risen to the sky, leaped as if flying through the air in a flash.

Crazy, what is that!

This was a different type from Barka.

Was it possible to fly through the sky with pure physical skill? Terrified, I hurriedly tried to push him away with the wind.

However, my judgment was a little late, and I gave up the hem of my clothes, crashing hard onto the ground.

“Keuk!!!”

My back! Back surgery costs at least ten million won!!!

“Flying is unfair.”

Durubel, who had brought me down in an instant with a momentary leap and fell with me, cocked his neck.

He’s a real monster.

I’d rather fly high to a distance Durubel can’t reach, but that would be a confirmed out-of-bounds loss.

“Then I’ll just have to play to my strengths.”

The basis of tactics.

Avoid weaknesses, maximize strengths.

And, even if I came down to the ground, my immense mana didn’t disappear.

I snap my fingers. With a cheerful snap! sound, a number of wind and earth circles, too many to count, floated up in the sky.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Durubel charged at me once more, but he was a little too late.

I instantly collided the magic circles that I could feel so clearly one by one.

The earth circles, exploding in the sky, became tiny grains of dirt and instantly covered the stadium.

In a situation where I couldn’t even see an inch in front of me, I heard Durubel let out a small groan.

[Ah! We can’t see the stadium! Theo! He’s blinding not only Durubel but everyone else as well!!]

However, the small commotion created by the dust wind would soon subside.

Durubel could also use physical skills, but he was a magician after all, and if he used a wind circle right now, he could settle this much dirt anytime.

If only he could use magic, that is.

「Binds Durubel so he cannot use magic.」

The system window is invisible to people, and of course, to the demon’s eye, but it couldn’t hide the act of me writing.

So, to use the writer skill in front of so many people, it’s absolutely necessary to blind them like this.

Because I want to hide the writer skill as much as possible.

The first reason is that it’s a special power that might get me branded as a heretic, and the second reason is that it’s a hidden card that the opponent can’t easily predict.

Maybe I’m a bit like Iris, with a slightly twisted personality who wants to hide the real cards I have.

“So I have to live up to the expectations.”

By moderately hiding my strength so that no one can suspect.

Letting out a faint sigh, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate.

“Let me go!!!”

How fortunate it is that just Durubel’s name is enough to maintain the binding skill.

However, it wasn’t a time to dally.

The wind was gradually dying down. I had to complete the magic before the dust wind cleared completely.

“I said let me go!!!”

No matter how much you shout your lungs out, how many people would do as you say?

It’s a binding that even Albedo couldn’t break. There’s no way a mere human can break it.

The preparations were now complete.

As the dirt completely cleared, I also released the binding magic.

Durubel, who was instantly released from the binding, staggered and then immediately corrected his posture.

“As expected, you’re amazing.”

Durubel was a skilled person who placed 4th in the preliminaries, so is it to be expected?

“But you’re a little late.”

I smiled a victorious smile.

[A giant golem stands behind Durubel!]

Kalen’s shout rang out resoundingly in the stadium.

It was so loud that my ears hurt.

Durubel looked behind him with wavering eyes.

A golem, so huge that its shadow alone covered the entire stadium, raised its massive arm high into the sky.

“Heok—!”

The earth created from the earth circles was a being within my authority that I could control.

It was entirely possible to gather it in one place and control it like a golem.

The fact that my head hurt as if it would break was a bonus.

“It’s a cheap price for victory!”

With the shout, the golem’s arm slowly descended.

Kwaaaaaang!!!

Earth and earth collided, and a cloud of dust instantly rose.

My long hair fluttered in the wind, and I squinted my eyes in case dirt got in.

“Wow.”

As I finished dispersing the magic that formed the golem, the dust cloud didn’t settle for a long time.

Unable to watch any longer, I created a wind with a wind circle and settled the dust cloud myself.

When my vision cleared, what I saw was Durubel, who had lost consciousness and collapsed.

The golem hadn’t directly attacked him, but he must have felt the shockwave from the side.

[With amazing magic control, Theo seizes victory in the quarterfinals!!]

Along with Kalen’s shout, cheers poured down from the audience seats.

“My, what a fine day for a victory!”

* * *

Behind the hideout that Laurel had given me, there was also a simple open space.

In a space that could also be called a vegetable garden, Lucian concentrated and endlessly repeated horizontal slashes. I sat next to him, chewing on beef jerky and reading a magic book.

“I have a question.”

Lucian, who had put down his sword at some point, wiped his sweat and sat down next to me.

“Yeah? What is it?”

Pepper-flavored beef jerky is the best. Snacking after dinner is the national rule.

“The magic you’re using in the Flowering Festival now, it’s all basic element magic, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Is it possible to create a golem or lightning?”

I don’t know? It just works.

Would that sound too insincere if I said it like that?

After chewing on the jerky for a while, I swallowed it and first created a basic earth circle.

It was a use as natural as breathing, without even needing to be conscious of it.

“When I first practiced basic element magic, I did it like this, you see?”

I added about five more earth circles here.

After using large-scale basic element magic several times, even the task that used to require some concentration was no longer that difficult.

The six circles that appeared then drew a circle while maintaining their distance, as if performing a trick in a circus.

“This is where you change it.”

I made one of them a little bigger and oval-shaped, and for the other four, I just increased their length. The remaining one was kept in its circular form. If you combine the six pieces of earth adjusted in size like that—

“Tada, it’s a golem.”

Lucian’s eyes seemed to be asking, ‘This thing is a golem?’

According to the dictionary definition of a golem, this is also strictly a golem!!

“The golem you used in the quarterfinals almost covered the entire stadium.”

“That’s because I made that many earth circles.”

However, the mechanism of the golem used in the quarterfinals and the earth golem that Lucian was seeing right now was not much different.

It was just a difference in size and mana.

“Is something like that possible?”

“My father or Professor Beatrice would probably call it makeshift magic if they knew.”

However, compared to a complex magic circle, being able to use this level of magic with pure concentration was a good thing in itself.

Although it wasn’t intentional, there was another advantage.

Because it’s basic element magic, it’s easy to transform, which makes bluffing possible.

Although I was particularly weak, magicians basically fought while being protected by warriors from behind.

Even in games, if the durability was trash, they were all magicians.

Durubel, who could jump 7 meters with a leap, was the weird one!

The basic strategy for a warrior fighting a magician has to be ‘smash them before they can use proper magic’.

And, for the most part, basic element magic does not fall into the category of ‘proper magic’.

I can use basic element magic in various ways as I please, and I can even use it as naturally as breathing, so the ways to block it are also distant.

“Why? Should I teach you too?”

A hero who receives the protection of a spirit cannot use high-level magic.

But, this is basic element magic. Even the spirits can’t say anything about this!

“Really?”

“Of course.”

You have to get stronger so that I have to struggle a little less.

Seeing Lucian act like a puppy that received a treat at the words that I would teach him, I smiled gently.

When you act like that, it makes me feel like trash, you punk. No, am I trash?

“Ah, screw it.”

I’ll get the medal first and then self-reflect.

Future me, I’m counting on you!

It felt like my future self was cursing me, but I decided to gracefully ignore that.

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