Of course, but in the current Academy’s first-year class, which consists only of outstanding students, Yoon Si-woo and his party are not the only ones.
The top student of the Magic Tower, the eldest son of the 12th clan, a master of barrier techniques, and a girl loved by the stars.
Each of those students, holding their own stories, possesses their own strength to compare with them.
“What we need to eliminate first is the Yoon Si-woo side. It seems that they are also made up of about four people, so if we ally with another team…”
They also had plans to score points from other teams and win, as per the prior agreement.
Moreover, they were thinking of defeating Yoon Si-woo’s party, which seemed to be the greatest problem on that path.
There was no restriction on the number of people that could form an alliance according to the rules.
Theoretically, it meant that all participants in this tournament could even turn one person into an enemy.
However…
“This is bad! The Kaline team has been wiped out…!”
“Oh, you were here.”
That was the sound of not properly understanding which side was the hunter.
“Ugh.”
A student who rushed through the bushes to report the situation collapsed right there.
“Yoon Si-woo…? Damn! What’s the situation…!”
A giant timer floating in the sky alongside a ranking board rising and falling.
[1st Place – Yoon Si-woo: 1,023,150]
“When did it get that high…!”
Even if they received that score from their team, it didn’t make sense.
It seemed that Yoon Si-woo had scored the highest grade randomly assigned within the team.
Thanks to that, they could identify their location, but unfortunately, it wasn’t continuously broadcasted in real time, so they lost track of it.
Besides, they never expected the fight to start this quickly…
“Don’t think about anything else… I have to figure out a way out of this situation…”
“Unideal.”
However, with no time to respond, they began to overwhelmingly lose in the immediate battle.
‘I knew there was a gap, but not to this extent…!’
The sword and spear that appeared from his body collided, creating a sound of slicing air, but he was overpowered.
“Critical strike.”
After one swing, he barely managed to catch the spear that was about to be deflected, but the fight hadn’t even begun.
“Why isn’t the support…?”
“Ugh…”
“When…?”
One of the students competing for the top position in ‘mystique.’
Thus, the student, who thought they would be the most helpful in retiring Yoon Si-woo in this fight, was being held by someone’s hand.
“I smell stars.”
“Get away from me!”
Thwack.
“Ugh.”
The student with the massive build flicked the other student’s forehead with his finger, causing them to faint and their score to change.
“It’s not over yet…!”
Still, he refused to give up and tried to launch an attack.
“Harlhar Illiona.”
A wizard floating in the air caught the boy’s eye.
And behind them, countless radiant lights.
The countless magic circles unfolding in that celestial sky filled the world and rained down beams of light like arrows.
Boom, boom, boom!!!
Each one was a powerful blow strong enough to burst a large tree.
Moreover, their range wasn’t small either.
Those things fell at a rate of hundreds per second, obliterating specific areas.
“Damn it.”
***
“I’d say we got rid of the team that seemed the most troublesome.”
“Hmph! How about that, my magic skill?”
“Certainly impressive. Back then… you deliberately weakened it, didn’t you?”
“Huh… hehehe.”
“Cats are weak to tigers.”
“Who says I’m weak?!”
Yoon Si-woo wiped the sweat that had dripped down his forehead and lined up the injured people so the medical team could take care of them.
“Let’s head to the next area, Helisia. Please.”
“I know.”
Helisia’s magic detects living beings within a certain radius.
Though it consumed a considerable amount of mana, it was efficient enough to detect most teams in the vicinity.
“I got it… huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Well… something feels off. I found it for sure, but the area around it is distorted, so it’s hard to identify properly.”
“Let’s go check the area for now.”
To surrender all participants as quickly as possible.
Doing it in a single day… would be impossible for even Yoon Si-woo himself, but there seemed to be no need to stretch it to the final day of the 5th.
“I’m sorry to everyone else, but… I have to get first place.”
Thus, Yoon Si-woo’s party quickly approached the surroundings and began to understand what Helisia was talking about.
Run, run, run.
“…something feels off.”
However, even as they sprinted through the iron bars and pipes, the feeling of repeating the same location never left them.
Even though they were climbing over all those buildings and it shouldn’t be possible to circle back to the same place, it felt the same.
“That’s even the pipe you broke while passing by.”
Moreover, below, the strong traces of the path they had repeated confirmed that they were indeed circling the same space.
“Is there space magic being cast here? Who on earth…?”
“No, this isn’t space magic.”
“…huh?”
“Space distortion magic does exist, but its efficiency drops too sharply. Even I find it difficult to maintain for long. Rather, it’s better to…”
Helisia concluded.
“It would be better to distort the spatial perception of outsiders visiting the space.”
“Does that mean we’ve fallen into some sort of illusion?”
“Yes, that’s about right.”
If Helisia’s words hold true, they couldn’t proceed further.
No, in the worst-case scenario, they could be completely trapped here.
Even with Yoon Si-woo’s ‘eyes,’ he couldn’t find anything abnormal.
It only activated for people and living beings.
“What should we do…?”
“I know a way.”
At that moment, Grok, the extremely tall student next to Yoon Si-woo, gestured for him to follow, saying he knew the way.
“What? You, who are even more of a genius than me, know a way?”
“I do. It’s intuition.”
“That kind of lie won’t work… Ow! Why are you hitting me?”
“Cats are loud.”
“If you don’t use a shield, a weak person like me will have my head broken!!”
Ignoring Helisia, who was panicking, Grok began to charge forward, smashing the surrounding terrain as if he knew the answer.
“But why have you been wandering around knowing the way?”
“I was following you. I thought there was a method.”
“Ah…”
In other words, Grok decided to take action after getting fed up with silly behavior.
Helisia briefly stared in a daze, and just as she was about to scream again, they saw the end of the maze.
“There it is!”
“What? How did you even get here…!”
As soon as they caught sight of the familiar faces from Class 1, they hurriedly drew their swords and charged.
“Prepare for battle!”
In contrast to their party consisting of one vanguard and three rear members, the opposing party was an attacking type.
Thus, overwhelming amounts of attacks erupted in a broad area in an instant.
“Grok!”
“I know.”
However, there was one very stout individual in this place.
Coming from a city known as a treacherous area among cities, he had an excellent resistance to physical attacks.
Also, with his unique strength and agility, once Grok took off to leap, he landed on the ground.
Boom!!!!!
The concrete and steel debris that made up the ground burst into pieces, breaking their formation in an instant.
And amidst the gap, a strong attack captured a single archer.
“You, let go of this… Ugh!”
“One down. Finished.”
With a chilling sound, he left the unconscious archer behind and caught the incoming vanguard’s spear attack.
“You are foolish.”
“What? What do you mean…?”
“A true warrior must understand the situation.”
It was only then that the vanguard turned his gaze backward, but it was already too late.
The mage and mystic he had left behind were quickly captured by Yoon Si-woo and Hyun Seol-ah and had swords placed at their necks.
“We can’t end it like this…”
“You can’t escape.”
In a hurry, the vanguard started to flee through the winding alleys.
Resembling fleeing prey and a hunter.
Grok began to salivate.
“Whoa, whoa, Grok! Don’t think anything weird… let’s just make them faint safely.”
After all, capturing one remaining knight would be easy with just the three of them.
Moreover, as the rear three were knocked out, they could certainly leave with just one mage remaining.
“Even if they wake up again, it doesn’t matter. Resistance is impossible anyway.”
“Let’s hurry back.”
“Got it.”
With a reassuring voice, Yoon Si-woo began to chase after the fleeing vanguard.
Despite running in a clumsy manner and trying to avoid Yoon Si-woo’s gaze, he ultimately couldn’t escape.
“I got him.”
“I’ll make him faint.”
“Yes.”
“This doesn’t make sense… Ugh.”
Thus, carrying the fainted knight on his back, they quickly returned to the location where the previous battle had taken place…
“…Helisia?”
Helisia was missing.
Moreover, in the distance, innumerable magic circles suddenly unfolded in the sky.
At least, the only being capable of casting magic like this was her.
That magic carried her heavy emotions.
It was rage.
“What the hell is this…?”
Immediately after, Yoon Si-woo, surveying the situation, noticed the disappearance of one student.
From among those he had knocked out, a student belonging to the mystic.
“A bottle?”
And on the ground, there was a single bottle rolling around.
