Chapter 323 323: Crucia
As Thereb announced the start of the mock battle, almost all five 1st semester students immediately controlled their flying sticks to close the distance between them and Crucia. They were eager to land a hit and show extraordinary performance
However, would defeating or even just landing a single blow on Crucia really be that easy?
With a smile, Crucia also controlled her own flying stick, maneuvering in the air in a way that made her opponents shocked
At this point, although the students have better control over their flying sticks while wearing the limiters, none of them still come close to the skill that Crucia has. She was flying in a way that made others feel like the obstacles were not present
"Come here!" Quard said loudly as he created a single mirror in front of his magic wand
In the past, Quard could easily create multiple mirrors at once but because of the limiters he was wearing, that is currently not possible especially since he has to fight while riding on his flying stick
The single mirror that he fired shot a single beam of light to his senior who simply smiled at him
Crucia used the obstacles to her advantage as she took a sudden sharp turn to avoid a wall in front of her
Instead of hitting his senior, Quard's magic was only able to hit that wall and he immediately sped up his face to continue catching up to Crucia
"Hahahaha! Idiot! Watch me!"
This time, another freshman student also joined the battle. It was none other than Porenz. Instead of simply using her flying stick, she actually stood on top of it jumping
In her hand, a sword could be seen that she wielded against her senior. With the speed boost provided by Porenz jumping from her flying stick, she immediately approached Crucia who also gave her a smile
Just as Porenz thought that Crucia would block her attack or create a distance between them, the woman actually flew right toward her
"Heh!! Aren't you underestimating me too much?" Porenz said with a weird smile on her face. She felt like Crucia was insulting her as in her eyes, the latter is still only a senior of her by 3 months!
The difference between them couldn't possibly be overwhelming after just three the chance to attack but that is not what happened
months of training in the Academy!
She thought that Crucia would clash against her that would then give her teammates the chance to attack but that is not what happened
Just as Porenz's sword was about to attack, Crucia's speed suddenly increased by a large margin. She went passed Porenz who didn't expect this turn of events
"Huh?! Huh?! Fuck you!" Porenz cursed angrily as she kicked the air to propel her a little bit more to another obstacle in the air
This obstacle was a large ring, enough for a person to pass through. Although Porenz was a musclehead, she was also not stupid. In fact, when it comes to battles, she was quite smart
The reason why she was confident in jumping from her flying stick was precisely because of the floating rings. She could use them to not fall down since falling down means that she loses
In a battle using flying sticks, the opponent that fell down on the ground are considered to be the loser
As Porenz held one of the floating rings, her flying stick flew below her. Now that she had her flying stick again, she jumped down to ride it once more
This time, the person that attacked was Theon. He was still wearing his brass knuckles and he slashed them in the air, sending two crescent blade attacks that Crucia was able to dodge
The purpose of that attack was not to win against Crucia but to simply force her to move to the area that Theon intended and he succeeded
He immediately controlled his flying stick to approach his senior who gave him a knowing smile
"Hahaha, you're a smarty pants aren't you?" Crucia said while shaking her head
Quard and Porenz can be said to be stronger than Theon or at the very least, all three of them are at the same level
However, none of those two were able to force Crucia into using her magic. Theon was the first one
Crucia pointed her magic wand at a glowing red crystal not far from her. That crystal is one of the obstacles and it releases flames at an unfixed interval
There was no telling when the crystal would cover its surroundings with flames but there is an indication
If the crystal is dull, it would not release any flames. However, once it glowed, it wouldn't take too long of a time before it filled five meters of space around it with flames
That was the reason why Theon attacked earlier. He wanted to force Crucia to move to the crystal's location and he succeeded
This test does not test the raw power of the students but their skills and their ability to utilize their surroundings
Both Quard and Porenz can be said to be talented at fighting but both of them have a type of confidence that makes them only rely on themselves
While every test and lesson of the academy has a main thing to teach to the students, there were also other sub-lessons that are included
In this particular scenario, one sub-lesson is the mage's ability to utilize their surroundings to their advantage. There are many obstacles that hinder the students but these obstacles are also something that can be used to their advantage. It's just a matter of them realizing that and having the ability to enact it in action
"You are good but it would look bad if I lose to my juniors, right?" Crucia said as she waved her magic wand
A tentacle of white light grew out from her magic wand and it wrapped against another crystal in the air. This time, the crystal's color was green and it had a different function
If the red crystal releases flames to its surroundings at an unfixed interval, the green crystal on the other hand releases a torrent of winds all the way. It's just that the direction in which the winds were released changes and rotates
Just as the red crystal was about to release its flames, Crucia altered the direction in which the green crystal was releasing winds
As soon as the red crystal released its flames, the torrent of wind from the green crystal blew it in the direction of Theon who was surprised at this turn of events
Even if he expected that he might not succeed in defeating Crucia using the red crystal, he didn't expect that he's the one that would be affected by the red crystal's flames
Just as Theon was about to be engulfed by the flames, a piece of hexagonal barrier suddenly appeared in front of him and this hexagonal barrier started to multiply
The barrier managed to form a shield in front of Theon but the hexagonal barrier continued to multiply to create a second layer of shield
"Move!"
A voice entered Theon's ears and as someone who is still talented amongst his peers, he immediately used his flying stick to fly
As soon as he was out of the flames' range, the barrier was immediately destroyed and Theon looked at the person who helped him
"Thank you" he said to Paula sincerely. If not for Paula he might have been engulfed by the flames causing his early defeat
As a person that is not liked by the masses and everyone doesn't want to talk or even get near her, Paula simply nodded her head before she moved
This time, Paula was the one that tried to defeat Crucia. She waved her hand and a single small hexagonal barrier appeared and as soon as she created that barrier, her expression crumpled in pain
The freshmen's magic is affected by their limiters as such, casting the magic that saved Theon took a huge mental burden on Paula causing this headache
However, she is also a mage that wants to climb high despite her weak personality on the outside
Paula persevered and she sent that hexagonal barrier to Crucia who hid behind one of the floating walls to block that attack
However, at this point, Quard and Porenz finally caught up to Crucia and they all attacked her at the same time
Amongst the five students, only a single person was not attacking and that is Rezen. Even until now, his control still falls short compared to the other four. He cannot move as freely as them. As such, he has to use his brains even more than the others
He cannot give a stupid performance!
With that intention, Rezen's eyes scanned all the obstacles in the air, etching them into his brain to think of a way on how he could perform better than his peers using his currently limited ability
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m