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Her soft pink lips fluttered.

“…F*ck.”

But the words that came out of her mouth were coarse and full of anger.

The ‘Rock Hill’ where a passerby had become rare.

Emilia’s eyes, looking into the distance, did not see the figure of the black-haired person she was looking for.

More than 70% of the students who started from the west had passed this path.

Ian Blackangers was not weak enough to fall outside the top 70%.

As Emilia recalled this conclusion, she stomped her feet on the ground in irritation.

— Crack!

Emilia sighed deeply.

“Haah.”

Ian Blackangers.

That cunning b*stard had undoubtedly realized and escaped her strategy.

Emilia pressed her thumb hard against her forehead.

It was her habit to do so whenever a difficult situation arose.

‘I guess I underestimated you.’

– A man who can’t keep his wits around women. A pathetic person so obsessed with women that he doesn’t even recognize his own talents.

That was her first impression of Ian Blackangers.

The Ian she actually met didn’t deviate from that first impression.

With just a few tail wags, she could easily use his special talents.

And if she thought she no longer needed him, she could have decisively cut him off.

‘I didn’t expect that to be an illusion.’

After seeing his return to the Academy, Emilia had a gut feeling.

That all her judgments about Ian were wrong.

And therefore, he was a dangerous person who must be removed.

‘… He still doesn’t seem to understand what he’s done.’

Emilia wasn’t the type to allow even a slim chance of possibility.

“Let’s go.”

She spoke coldly.

Her team members behind her flinched.

“Are we going just like this? There’s a student that needs to be dealt with.”

“The fact that he hasn’t shown up by now means he probably took another route. He’s not a man without skills. No, rather, should I say he was hiding? Anyway.”

“Then where will we go?”

A rough, unenthusiastic voice.

Emilia was about to lose her temper but swallowed her anger.

The voice belonged to Victor Jan, a descendant of the Barbarians. He was one of Emilia’s pawns in the promotion battle.

“We’ll head straight to the bridge connecting the central island. We’ll be in charge of the eastern bridge. Let’s go.”

A cold and straightforward explanation.

Pat!

Emilia quickly took her leave. Watching her disappear in an instant, Victor Jan smiled and followed.

The speed at which Emilia’s party moved was almost unbelievable for humans.

It was possible because everyone in the party was in peak condition.

Since entering Volta Island, they had only earned coins through tolls.

Without having to hunt a single monster, they had risen to the top ranks in no time.

Viktor, who followed Emilia’s new form, asked her.

“The remaining students should be resting at the supply base by now.”

“Do you want to rest?”

At Emilia’s words, Victor Jan shrugged his massive shoulders.

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Then follow me. We’ve already agreed to control the bridges to the central island with the other Aether students.”

At her words, Victor Jan scratched his head with his pot-lid-sized hand.

“You Aether people are more cunning than I thought.”

“It’s not cunning. It’s strategic. From the start, this exam is just a demotion battle for us.”

An exam where there’s only loss to be faced.

The Aether students had no choice but to stick together.

The moment they checked the island’s structure, the discussion among the Aether students was over.

The key to this promotion match is the ‘Central Island’ in the middle of Volta Island. By controlling the four bridges leading to this area, they could effectively gain an advantage.

The bridges in other directions had probably already been controlled.

Emilia had only managed to acquire coins more efficiently through ‘tolls’ along the way.

Her party had been advancing forward for a while.

— Whoosh!

The strong sound of flowing water echoed from afar.

It meant they had arrived at the river dividing the ‘Central Island.’

The bridge leading to the Central Island came into their view.

This specially crafted bridge was nearly impervious to any physical attacks or magical damage.

Controlling these bridges in all four directions was the strategy of the Aether students.

— Whoosh!

Due to the significant width and strength of the river, this was a feasible strategy.

The bridge was the only means to cross to the Central Island.

“Now, let’s completely block this area according to the strategy we discussed… huh?”

Just as Emilia was about to start a brief briefing after crossing the bridge, an unusual sound came from afar.

Emilia turned her head toward the source of the noise.

From the upstream side of the river, voices could be heard.

“How did you make the raft, Elena!”

Emilia frowned and focused on the voice.

“… Ian Blackangers?”

How had he already made it here?

That question didn’t linger long.

Soon, the answer to the question became visible.

— Whoosh!

From the upstream direction of the river, students on a raft were drifting down.

“What on earth is that…”

It was rare for Emilia to be flustered.

But this sight was indeed ‘rare’.

The scene was so unimaginable that Emilia stood there, momentarily stunned.

In the meantime.

“Arghhhh!”

“Stop spinning around, damn it!”

“Deus, oh God!”

The raft, spinning wildly, was carried downstream by the river’s current.

Realizing the situation late, Emilia shouted.

“D-Don’t let them pass! Stop them!”

◆

Spinning wildly.

The raft spun like a top.

Magic and physical attacks rained down on it.

Ian, seeing the attacks, shouted.

“Elena, shield!!”

In the chaotic situation with sights constantly shifting, Elena followed Ian’s command even with her eyes spinning.

“Eueeeeek—!”

With an incantation or a scream that was hard to distinguish, a translucent barrier enveloped the raft.

— Clang, clang, clang!

Elena’s shield excellently blocked the initial barrage of attacks.

Clang!

Although it was shattered by the aftermath.

“Ugh…”

With a short murmur, Elena collapsed from exhaustion.

She had done well to hold out for this long.

She had blocked Aether students’ attacks on a wide scale.

“Everyone, stay close to me as much as possible!”

From then on, it was Ian’s one-man show.

In one hand, he wielded the Berserker’s Shield, and in the other, a shield forged from Lunar.

Using both, he deflected or parried the incoming attacks.

He lightly ignored the occasional wounds on his body.

Ian’s performance on the raft, spinning and drifting, resembled a dance.

‘Alright. Just a little more and we’ll drift far enough.’

There was a point downstream where the current changed direction.

It was close enough to the Central Island that they could potentially jump off.

Since they had to guard the bridge, they wouldn’t be able to follow any further.

The magic attacks began to miss more frequently.

The distance from the bridge that Emilia’s group was guarding was now sufficiently far.

‘Did we get them?’

Just as he was about to relax.

— Whoooosh!

A tremendous whooshing sound sliced through the air.

A straight-line object coming from the bridge.

‘An axe?’

Ian quickly combined the Lunar shield around his Berserker’s Shield, forming a standard-sized shield in an instant.

— Kwaaaaang!

The object collided with the axe, producing a thunderous noise.

[ 78 ] -> [ 51 ]

Despite successfully blocking it, his health was rapidly drained.

The impact even caused the raft to accelerate.

Ian, wincing from the numbness in his shoulders, muttered.

‘What kind of monstrous strength is this…’

The figure briefly seen on the bridge.

He couldn’t see clearly, but was it Victor Jan?

As expected of a descendant of the Barbarians…

“Throwing again!”

Danya’s shout.

‘I can’t keep blocking like this.’

Ian quickly assessed the situation.

It seemed the distance from the raft to the Central Island’s land was about 30 meters.

“Hold on tight!”

Ian spread his arms and pulled his party members close.

Then, he leaped into the air.

— Whaaam!

The raft shattered into pieces with a tremendous impact.

It was as if a cannonball had hit the river, sending a column of water soaring into the sky.

Simultaneously.

From the column of water, Ian’s new form emerged.

No, saying he emerged doesn’t quite capture it.

With a speed comparable to teleportation, Ian, carrying his party members, rolled onto the land.

— Rumble!

Rolling on the damp riverbank, Ian thought.

‘Controlling the full-power Leap is still difficult.’

Anyway, rolling on land was better than in the river.

He rolled contentedly for a moment.

“Ugh!”

He only stopped when he hit a rock.

The pain was considerable, but he was used to it.

Ian tilted his head slightly and looked around.

Fortunately, Lina and Elena, whom he had been carrying, seemed to be safely placed.

Danya, whom he had pulled and rolled with… where did she go?

The moment Ian tried to stand up by putting his hands on the floor, holding his dazed head.

— Squish!

He caught something small, like pudding, in his hand.

He also felt a soft, warm sensation on his knee.

It was as if he had been hugging Danya from above.

“Mmm… ♡”

Danya’s sweet moan filled the riverbank.