Chapter 206 — In the End, Chaos

1

Castro tried to quickly complete the first stage after figuring out the tile pattern.

Since there were platforms to rest on in the middle, he could progress calmly.

Unlike expected, he was struggling considerably with the extremely difficult stage.

How were the others doing?

While he was waiting for the pattern again, a thunderous sound and vibration shook the entire stage.

Kurururu-.

He almost fell off the stage.

“What’s that?”

Since he couldn’t hear the announcer’s voice, he had no idea what was happening.

Surely nothing had gone wrong?

Castro frowned and continued forward.

Stepping on platforms, climbing walls, and sometimes waiting.

When he reached the end of the stage like that, he casually looked to the side.

Manus had definitely been positioned next to him.

What he saw when he looked out of curiosity was rather shocking.

“That…”

The last obstacle half-destroyed.

The surroundings completely scorched.

Fresh traces of departure.

What this meant was simple.

‘This is truly absurd.’

Beyond competitive spirit, something unpleasant stirred.

Look at the eccentric act committed by Manus the mage.

How could someone like that be called a mage?

Castro gritted his teeth.

“If he can do it, I can too.”

[Ooh! Castro! Is he going to show something too!]

Kwajijik-!

Terrifying mana erupted from his greatsword.

Aura threads wrapping around the sword.

A sight commonly called the realm of a mature [Expert].

Those watching responded boisterously.

Though Castro couldn’t hear the cheers, he could guess.

The people outside must be quite surprised.

‘Indeed, Professor Trevor was right.’

Honing mental imagery to create a more fierce sword.

That was the shortcut and royal road to reaching the Master realm.

Following Professor Trevor’s advice, he trained focusing on image training.

Stronger opponents.

Better knowledge.

As such things accumulated, he could see the realm.

But that was just his thinking.

“Huup-!”

He took a breath to harden his body and leaped.

Then swung his sword.

Seoreok-!

A clean horizontal line was drawn.

While Manus made a loud impact by smashing through, Castro was pure cleanness itself.

The bisected barrier disappeared into the pit of fire.

Seeing this, the announcer ranted.

[That’s not your power level measuring device! What do you think of the professors’ hard work! Pass normally like Guillermo over there!]

Laughter filled the sports festival grounds.

A total of four people safely passed the first gate.

The other two were mercilessly sucked into the fire pit and eliminated.

Still, they were satisfied since they could now watch an exciting competition.

The remaining four headed to the anticipated second gate.

If the first was obstacle passing, this time they had to break through giant walls to advance.

But the conditions for breaking walls were different for each.

Some walls needed strong hits, some weak hits, others consecutive hits.

“Hmm… they really used their heads well.”

It felt like practicing gimmicks that would appear in the warriors’ desert.

Manus knew the information about enemies appearing in the desert.

Of course such gimmicks existed there too.

Since there were even ones you had to take down with normal attacks, this section seemed meant to practice such things.

Situations that matched up strangely well.

Manus analyzed and understood the walls’ structure.

‘Shall we start.’

[Wall maze! How will you crush the blocking enemies! Let’s see!]

The announcer’s words seemed to reach his ears.

Kwang-!

The first wall needed to be struck with full power.

After passing the crumbling wall, he lightly punched toward the next wall.

The wall broke again.

Manus’s eyes glowed blue.

They say a dragon’s eyes observe all things.

Caesar’s eyes could understand everything about magic.

‘Later maybe I’ll learn Abrel’s mindset too.’

Though unsure how many years it would take, that would make learning magic even easier.

The Abrel family was called having cheat eyes.

If Manus himself could use that eye ability, there would be no worries regarding magic.

Well, that’s for later, now he needed to focus on what’s ahead.

Manus broke through walls without a single delay.

But he got stuck at one point, because it was a place that couldn’t be handled with physical force.

[Hahaha! This place needs two people hitting simultaneously to pass through! Or you must solve the puzzle with two different mana patterns!]

The announcer’s voice rang from the audience seats.

A trap set by professors to prevent one person’s solo run.

From this point the match returns to square one.

Plus conditions were set up for one of the two to be eliminated.

This was a bridge without railings.

A pit like a devil opening its mouth in an endless abyss spread below.

“Hmm…”

Manus fully utilized Caesar’s mindset to analyze the patterns.

Mana patterns were patterns that emerged when specific people used techniques.

Just like soccer players handle the ball differently, everyone has their preferred methods.

That’s what unique mana patterns were.

Mana fingerprints.

But Manus had a way to disrupt those patterns.

For humans, it was hard to see the end even deeply studying just one field.

“Seems doable.”

This was where paths diverged.

Thudding sounds began from behind.

Must mean others were getting closer.

‘If I break this, what will happen to the others?’

Either it regenerates, or they just pass through.

Given the professors’ thinking, they probably set it to regenerate.

‘Elemental studies in one hand.’

Pajijik-!

3rd class magic circles appeared at Manus’s fingertips.

The professors overlooked something.

Manus was a dual major, even rarer than spirit users.

A monster who could use martial arts patterns and elemental studies patterns differently.

Though expressed as mana fingerprints, they were actually habits emerging from the unconscious.

Consciously controlling them was nothing.

[Ignio]

[Martial Arts — Insert: Folgetra]

[No!?]

Combined attack.

Techniques of companions he would soon need to learn.

Originally possible only with two or more people, but Manus could do it alone.

The more he thought about it, learning martial arts was really worth it.

Manus activated the magic circles with a grin.

Hwarururuk-!

A giant fireball charged toward the barrier.

“Heup!”

And he punched at the exact timing, making different mana collide.

Kwarururu-!

The barrier crumbled helplessly.

Everyone outside gaped seeing this sight.

“Professor. You didn’t make a mistake with the magic circles, did you?”

“No way. You know I prepared much harder than for midterms?”

“But he breaks it like that?”

“What can we do, Manus is a genius. Who knew he could intentionally twist patterns.”

Should we report this to the academy too?

The murmuring grew louder.

Just what is that child?

What god blessed him to be born with talent that would shock the world?

Among the many people, Professor Kaiser had an excited expression.

What kind of performance would he show at this academy conference?

Just sharing a little of his knowledge would greatly contribute to the academy’s development.

‘They won’t be able to check Caesar anymore.’

Checking the rapidly growing magic tower was normally natural.

But if they had overwhelming power and irreplaceable knowledge, was checking really the right thing?

For an extremely powerful group, cooperation rather than checking was needed.

You need to eat even crumbs to survive in the ecosystem.

That’s called the trickle-down effect, probably?

“Looking forward to the conference. Want to make… him my assistant.”

Something flashed through Professor Kaiser’s mind.

Something very small, shorter than even 1 frame in movie terms.

But he immediately returned his expression to normal as if nothing happened.

Am I forgetting something?

‘Feeling a bit strange.’

He soon began watching Manus’s performance as if it was nothing special.

Manus had almost passed the second gate now.

The third gate was where you had to defeat a giant monster to pass through.

And the final gate…

“Huhu, this’ll be fun.”

He was curious what expression Manus would make upon reaching the end.

The match wasn’t decided by quickly passing gates anyway.

In the end, the academy’s essence was raising the strong.

At that end, there would be only one victor.

2

[Kieeek!]

“To think they’d put a drake here.”

Drake.

One of the strongest monsters in this world without dragons.

One of the strongest among monsters classified as dragon-kind.

Moreover, not just an ordinary drake, but one that seemed to freely handle all attributes.

[Drake! Are you ready to face this terrifying descendant of dragons!]

[Krururu…]

A drake breathing flames.

It seemed somewhat beyond what Manus could handle right now.

Just how did the professors make such a stage?

The difficulty seemed much higher than most tower battles…

The drake’s red eyes captured Manus precisely.

It wouldn’t take long to recognize him as an enemy.

Fighting head-on here would be foolish.

‘No need for frontal assault against an unbeatable enemy. Let’s see…’

This was like facing a strong enemy in a Souls-like game.

Veterans might challenge repeatedly to make the impossible possible, but there was no need to use such methods.

Manus’s goal was to advance forward, not wrestle with drakes here.

“There it is.”

Terrain that clearly showed you could survive by climbing up.

Terrain and holes reminiscent of some jump map were visible.

You could see various magical treatments to keep the drake’s attacks from reaching.

“Manus! There you are!”

“Phew… finally caught up.”

While contemplating briefly, voices came from behind.

Perhaps thanks to destroying all the walls, Guillermo and Castro arrived earlier than expected.

They stopped approaching upon seeing the drake.

Manus was in front.

The drake’s attacks would naturally target him in front.

Knowing this, Manus glanced back briefly.

“Good luck, Manus.”

“I’ll go first.”

“That won’t happen.”

Manus grinned and leaped lightly.

Simultaneously shot a spell under the drake’s chin.

Quite painfully.

Seeing this, the other two paled and jumped together.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

“You want us all to die together!?”

Kwaaang-!

The spot Manus hit was called the [Reverse Scale].

Manus chose the “let’s all die together” strategy.

The effect was excellent.

–TL Notes–
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