The sky was clear; droplets glittered in the air as they rained down, splashing on the ground and freezing solid. In the center of it all was a large serpent, curling around itself. Its scales were made out of ice, but it didn't appear ordinary.
For a brief moment, they'd seen its skeletal structure—it had formed right before their eyes. Its inside was still liquid, and its heart was a wanderer.
Ottah, the leader of group 1, frowned at the sight. "Absurd," he muttered under his breath. He tapped the magical device next to his ear. "We'll continue to alternate our attacks, but the priority is to lock him down."
"Copy," the other group leaders replied.
He glanced at his teammates briefly. They nodded.
"…"
Why hasn't he moved yet? Is he really stalling? Tsk… coward, Ottah thought, his legs surged with power.
—BOom!
Just as he and the other melee fighters rushed in, the serpent aggressively moved, sweeping its tail. Ottah dodged without effort, but a spike of ice suddenly protruded from the snake's body.
"…"
He frowned, instantly, he struck it with his blade, and repositioned, spinning as his feet landed on the side of the icicle—but it quickly melted and froze, grabbing him. He was about to be dragged along and flung with the tail.
However, with some quick thinking, fire shot through his leg as he spun free, landing safely as he stuck his sword into the ground to stop the momentum.
"…"
In a split moment, the arena was filled with a sea of icy blades. The blades hailed down as the recruits dodged or took cover.
Ottah's footwork was perfect as he rushed inside the storm, dodging each blade and deflecting others.
It was too risky to melt the ice into water or steam—Alum was undeniably the most powerful water mage among them. Even if they managed to take control of the steam and water, it would likely get overwritten just as fast.
"I'll get his attention, I'll leave the calls to the rest of you," Ottah said.
"Got it—get into position and get ready to increase the magic resistance in the air to make his spells less efficient! Use mana burst or whatever from every angel!" Viona exclaimed over the comms.
Second by second, Ottah avoided the blades, heading towards the serpent that continued to wreak havoc.
—Where is the heart… he continued to wonder.
In that moment, he saw wanderers—Noel, Daniel, and Kevin. Daniel jumped into the air with Noel to block the storm of blades while Kevin struggled to keep dodging.
The serpent dove and crashed into Daniel's shield, crashing down with him into the ground. During the contact, he shifted to let Noel use him as a stepping stone—just as blades were about to shred his defenses, shadowy crystal arrows redirected the swarm of icicles.
The platinum blond wanderer saw Ottah in the corner of his eye, rapidly approaching. Noel's group only happened face off against the head, but this was a good opportunity to pass some of the load.
"Ottah, below!" he exclaimed and thrusted his swirling sword into the serpent's head.
Ottah exploded forward. "Got it!" he affirmed, thrusting into the jaws just in time before Daniel's directional shield cracked.
—BOOOM!
Noel jumped off the creature as Ottah threw Daniel to a better place.
"We're in position!" someone exclaimed over the comms.
"Understood," Ottah and Noel replied.
Melee fighters took cover by the vanguard's side. They couldn't make their own mage's job harder by increasing resistances near them. Mana erupted far enough from their mages but close enough to Alum.
The air was filled with saturated elemental magic. Blades slowly decreased in numbers while the serpent headed for those erupting mana.
Not so fast—
Ottah and Noel dashed into position to block its path. Noel's sword gathered a storm while Ottah defended him from the remaining ice. With a powerful thrust, the storm engulfed the beast, coursing damning winds throughout its outer layer as it came to a halt.
The swarm of blades eventually fell as Alum probably found it inefficient—even the serpent's scales were now less tough.
Ottah calmly enhanced his sword with [Inferno's Edge] as Noel lightly panted. Just as Alum's serpent was about to dive down and swallow Noel whole, a group of vanguards appeared from the shadows through the mages.
It was teams 1, 6, and 9's vanguards who blocked the attack with a directional barrier, staggering the beast as they pinned it from sides and front. Though the head was locked in place, the rest of its body rampaged; its tail slammed the ground, dug into it as it tried to pull its head out.
"Now!" Viona commanded at the sight.
Earthy hands erupted from the ground, holding the rest of the serpent down in place. It violently resisted as arrows and magic continued to hail down from the sky, cracking up the beast's outer armor one layer at a time.
Casters from different teams had already grouped up to channel a powerful spell. The ground beneath them lit up with magical energy; a spell circuit had formed mid-air.
Earth mages struggled to keep their hands down on the ground as the beast continued to wiggle and jerk around. Drops of sweat ran down their chin. The beast was incredibly heavy despite their physical enhancement spells and coordination.
With just enough space for Ottah to squeeze through. He delivered a swift thrust, his sword dug into the beast's skull—shooting a scorching flame through the beast's inside and illuminating the battlefield in a radiant red light.
—KABOOOM!
Ottah jumped out of the blast. The beast was still mostly intact, but most of its head was missing. Emely and the other marksmen continued their assault and shot on command. This time, their arrows went straight inside the beast—the massive hands of rocks crushed the serpent, splashing water everywhere.
"!?" Sensing that something was amiss, Noel yelled, "Get to cover now!"
Quick to respond, the mages canceled their chant. Everyone got to a backline mage or a vanguard in time. Ottah scorched the water in his attack radius—just as Noel had predicted, the water morphed into hundreds of different-sized glowing droplets.
Everyone but David was in position; Ottah had no choice. He dashed toward the oblivious wanderer, who didn't seem to take it seriously at all.
Tsk… now's not the time, he thought as he forfeited his body with fired enhanced [Mana Armor]. He stood before David, clasping the water droplet with a fist, before they all unanimously exploded.
—THOMB!
The sound echoed throughout the training field. Ottah looked at his hand; smoke reeked from the sides, leaving a tiny tingling sensation. The translucent facility barrier was still intact, and no real damage had been done to disqualify him.
His sharp red eyes then turned to David's face. "Look, I don't care what you're up to, but keep this up, and you'll find yourself a court-martialed real fast."
"…I was stunned, sorry," David replied, almost timidly as he slowly backed away from the glassy, blue-haired team leader.
"…" Ottah's gaze didn't linger. "Get back into position," he simply said, glaring at Alum's position.
"—I'll clear the mist," Noel said over the comms.
"Affirmative," Ottah and the other team leaders replied.
Just a split second later, gales instantly cleared the mist, blown up toward the sky with Noel's powerful [Pressure Bomb].
In the middle of the mess was a youth with black hair, almost tumbling forward. A few opportunists took the bait and rushed toward him before they could hear Noel yell—
"He might be a mage, but not a joke in CQB!"
But it was too late. Alum dodged the infused blade directed at his chest with minimal movements, almost looking accidental. He grabbed the girl's throat. She quickly rotated the blade to stab him, but she was blown away and instantly frozen solid as the facility's protection glowed red, indicating she had 10 seconds before she was completely out.
Then came the next; his spear was redirected toward the ground with a cheap abyssal plate alongside a vapor explosion. The tip of the spear ground against the earth the moment he was about to stab Alum in the back. He got an elbow to the face as Alum stuck his foot out, tripping him off his feet as he landed on a droplet.
It resulted in him being blown away a few meters, stunned from the explosion, while becoming a solid block of ice.
"…" Ottah sighed inwardly—idiots, he thought. In his mind, they were nothing but glory-seeking idiots—that was in spite of being elite graduates. They won't last long at this rate, he added.
..
Letisha looked at the information slate before her. It displayed the mana in volume and concentration, and from the system's calculation, Alum had used more mana than all the cadets combined.
"I'm sure if I'm impressed or disappointed," she remarked casually. "Despite all that, only 2 are out."
"Now now. To you, they might all seem weak—but would you survive as long as he if 'we' all attacked you at once?" Sa'Ar flashed her a menacing grin.
"…"
"That's right, it's the equivalent of that," he added crudely.
"You got me. I am impressed. But not by the method," Letisha admitted.
"…Still, squad 1's leader piqued my interest," Boail murmured to himself.
Sa'Ar happened to overhear. "Blue boy?" he inquired.
"Yeah," Boail affirmed, then turned to Rigeld. "You hand-picked him, right, Sir?"
"I did, hahahaha. Well, he wasn't this great in his third year at the academy. But I can see I wasn't mistaken in praising his hard work back then," Rigeld replied.
"Back from when you held that one training camp a few years back?" Chely inquired.
"That's right!"
"Interesting. If you remembered him from back then, then I, too, shall have high hopes for him," Sa'Ar chuckled.
"Thinking of recruiting him?" Letisha asked.
"We'll see. I don't invite. If he applies and passes like the others, then I'd welcome him with open arms."
"…"
—More like a conditional welcome, the others thought as they blankly glanced at him with half-lidded eyes.
..
Noel stared at his best friend. Everything had been going too smoothly. The initial barriers they stripped, the large volume of water suddenly dropped on them, and now with the serpent going down too easily—what are you planning, Al?
"Sticking to the plan?" Leader 5 inquired in the comms.
"Yeah," Ottah replied. "Coordinate an attack with a vanguard—he plays dirty and likely matches most of us in CQB," he added.
"Got it," the others replied.
The others began coordinating again. "Noel?" Miu called out to him. "What's wrong?" she asked, still holding up the barrier.
"No, nothing," he replied.
Emely readied her bow as Daniel prepared to charge in alongside Kevin and Noel.
By the time they all charged in and got into position, ready to attack, they all noticed a faint glow from outside the barrier—it wasn't as though they hadn't sensed the massive amount of mana inside the water they've kept out—it simply clicked what it entailed.
It was strange from the very start. Why would a water mage only drop that mass of water on them instead of continuing to use it? Why did it contain that much mana? It certainly didn't look like Alum was afraid other water mages would overwrite the water's control with their own.
The serpent must've been a charade. A performance to buy time and lower their guards, as they only looked at him. Bait them away from barrier mages who'd instinctively erect a barrier around themselves first…
"—Everyone, wait!" Noel cried out, his gloves shone a dim silver light, and instantly covered him in heavy armor.
Alum finally spoke, "Operation Scorched Earth: Complete."
"!?"
The water between the main facility and theirs flashed a bright blue light—KABOOOM! The barrier between them and the water collapsed. Immense pressure, physical in nature, crushed weaker barriers as everyone was practically pushed into the center from the pressure difference.
Water filled with icy shrapnels rushed rapidly and collapsed into the cavity, crashing into itself as it shot up into the sky, while carrying the recruits and bashing them against the facility barrier.
The aftermath was damning; more than 20 people glowed red, and the only remaining ones were inside sturdy barriers. The shadow mages had managed deliver some into safety. Some were already in a good position, while others, like Noel and Ottah, resisted on their own or, in Noel's case, the glove's armor.
Alum was glowing red as he slowly sank alongside the others. This way, neither he nor the others had a reason to continue the fight using "Final Breath".
[Mock battle complete.] The Phoenix system announced after 10 seconds. It cleared the water and dried the area.
..
Completely spent, Alum got up on his feet, wobbling a little before someone caught him. His whole body tingled and ached; he could barely feel anything else. His ears rang, and his vision was still out. Then, a warm feeling enveloped him, slowly healing him.
He opened his eyes; it was blurry at first, then his vision gradually came back. His arm was wrapped around a blue haired red eyed youth for support. He was holding a healing core.
"Thanks…" Alum said.
"No worries… you're the only one who's actually injured."
It was true, all the damage was blocked by the facility; however, self-inflicted damage from mana strain and bodily exhaustion was not.
"…Mm. I suppose," Alum shrugged.
Ottah paused, then added, "Also, you're one hell of an asshole, you know that?"
"…Pfts," Alum chuckled softly. "Thanks for the compliment."
"You're welcome." Ottah smiled softly. Carried away with how unusually friendly Alum was, he unconsciously said, "Spar with me sometimes."
Alum didn't have a reason to decline and said, "Sure," without much thought.
"…" It was too late to take it back now. "Also…"
"?" Alum tilted his head.
Ottah averted his eyes a little—almost bashfully. "I misjudged you. Allow me to do you a favor and… let's be friends after that."
He didn't really want to admit it, but he took a liking to Alum the moment he arrived at the base. But from their early interactions, he thought they might've appeared to be similar but were fundamentally different. However, seeing how Alum was now…
"There's no need for that." Alum shook his head.
A little dishearten Ottah sighed. "Yeah, thought so—"
"Therefore. Let's just be friends."
"…" Ottah sighed again, but for another reason. "Man… structure! Structure your sentences properly!" he retorted.
Alum feigned ignorance, then admitted, "I was messing with you," with a chuckle.
After their brief exchange, Noel and Emely rushed towards them. Noel frowned—seemed mildly annoyed for whatever reason when he saw Alum and Ottah get along.
"Aw, what the hell, you were cheating on me with Luna and now this guy!?" Noel exclaimed in mock-exasperation.
"Cheating…?" Alum tilted his head. "Cheating?" he reiterated, looking more confused by the second.
Everyone who heard burst into laughter. Emely, meanwhile, softened as a relieved smile naturally formed.