Episode 65. Blood gushed out of Hosan’s body
.
Nickel’s indolence came to an end with him.
“Cheuk.”
Nickel lost strength and collapsed in front of Hosan, who was coughing up blood.
‘It’s not over until it’s over.’
I moved my body, which was still steaming from the heat, to finish the Hosan.
He had a creaking body, but he wasn’t so weak that he couldn’t even cut a knife at a fully prepared table.
“Khehehe. Big up.”
“What is so funny? Can’t you believe that you didn’t even think you were going to die?”
When I said it sarcastically, a third of his body split in half, and Hosan nodded as if he would die even if I didn’t touch him.
“It really is. But I will die someday.
Looking at Hosan, who could no longer forget his words, stabbed his heart.
Hosan met his death with a smile on his face and his eyes wide open.
“There’s no point in killing someone with that expression.”
I don’t even know anymore
When I thought it was over, the tension was released and I couldn’t give my body strength.
“This mess was caused by something insignificant.”
Seeing Hosan die laughing, I felt embarrassed for what the hell I was fighting for.
Still, did you confirm that your skills have improved?
Well, if you check your skills one more time, your body won’t be left behind.
I couldn’t support my body with the strength of falling and lay down on the ground.
It was a damn pretty sky.
“You guys suffered too.”
As I reverse summoned the undead, I was conscious of my slowly closing eyes.
Even though I knew that I would pass out if I closed my eyes like this, I couldn’t bear it.
“I suffered too.”
My eyes closed and darkness greeted me.
* * *
Puff! pop!
Loud firecrackers exploded.
Today is the day of the spring tournament finals.
For the academy students, it could be seen as a more meaningful event than the year-end festival.
“Who will be the winner this time?”
“It must be one of the graduating class of the Bonamana Knights Faculty. Who was Toddlon? I heard that that person and a senior named Dajam are influential.”
“hey. Didn’t you see the preliminaries?”
“huh. however?”
“I thought maybe there could be a winner from the Faculty of Magic again in this tournament after 12 years.”
“what? ah! Could it be Diene Alven?”
Serena, who was chatting and watching passers-by, tilted her head as she listened to them.
In the meantime, she had been training under the pretext of adapting to the academy, but she hadn’t seen the tournament qualifiers.
‘It’s Diene Alven… ….’
The Duke of Alven, one of the pillars of the Empire.
As befits a family with a high reputation for magic, the Duke’s second daughter, Diene Alven, had a name that even Serena had often heard of.
‘Still, I think it’s going to be hard to beat Toddlon senior.’
As for the firepower itself, of course, the mage had no choice but to be strong.
However, the wizard’s magic only shows its true value when protected by someone.
In a one-on-one match like a tournament, the knights were inevitably at a disadvantage.
As she recalled the many seniors she learned from training over the past few days, she couldn’t imagine a scene where a wizard could win.
‘Honestly, I think I can win. Of course I’ve never seen it.’
Aura Runner, Aura User, Aura Expert, and Aura Master.
In fact, except for Aura Master, which was officially recognized by the Empire, all of them were unofficial, but it was a distinction established between knights for simple distinction.
Her level is the current Auror user.
Of course, even within the same realm, the skills were vastly different.
The amount of mana possessed by each person is different, and the utilization is also different.
In addition, there were too many abilities to consider, such as physical abilities and other combative senses, such as a sense of swordsmanship.
In fact, the most intuitive thing is to compete and determine the ranking.
However, in reality, not everyone can fight once, so it was only a rough distinction.
Among freshmen, only Louis Art is recognized as an expert… ….
“sorry. Did you wait long?”
The tiger came as soon as I thought it would come if I said it.
Not only Serena, but also Luis missed all the qualifying matches because he was in training every day.
Thanks to that, they said they had to watch the finals and decided to do it together.
“I’m here too.”
“Let’s go see something like this together!”
I thought it was only Louis, but he came with other guys piled next to him.
This was half expected, but Serena was in a bad mood because she felt like she had missed the chance to watch the tournament alone.
“I wish I knew. let’s hurry.”
Still can’t help it
The moment anyone sees the light of Lewis, the blinding is blinded.
He is either fascinated by the light, or hates it for dazzling it, or is divided into one of the two.
‘Most are like that and enchanted like me, but….’
Sometimes, a guy like Chris, united by hatred, shows up.
While I was thinking, I entered the grandstand of the stadium and saw a large number of spectators.
I wondered if there were usually so many people in that huge crowd.
“hey! look over there! It’s Wilbert, the leader of Cloche’s Red Lion Knights!”
“Did you see that first? Next to me is Royal Knights vice-captain Mitra Dode.”
“That person is the vice-captain!”
“hey. Still, is the leader of a single knight corps and the vice-captain of the imperial knights the same?”
“It’s just one knight! Do you know what rank the Knights of the Red Lion are in the nation?”
In the seat made for VIP seats, there were truly eminent figures gathered.
Aside from the people mentioned by the party, famous wizards, heads of high-ranking aristocratic families, or heads of various organizations seeking talented people were talking to each other.
Seeing that scene, Lewis and the others felt as if a fire was being lit in their hearts.
Everyone had a desire for sympathy and recognition built up on the other side of their minds.
In the meantime, being given the opportunity to show off my skills in front of those celebrities gave me an adrenaline rush.
“it’s a shame. Even freshmen can participate.”
Someone’s murmur expressed the feelings of the party.
Soon after, the conversation stopped for a while and they found a place to sit, and they managed to sit down.
“Serena.”
“huh?”
“Who do you think will win this tournament?”
“Okay. To be honest, I can’t give a definite answer because I haven’t seen the preliminaries, but won’t Toddlon win? Oh, come to think of it, other people passed by and said Diene Alven too. It seems to be quite powerful, right?”
“Diane Alven. Certainly not.”
“know?”
“Of course you know. Is there anyone who doesn’t know? And I’ve been on a magic field trip once before. I saw it then, and it was amazing.”
Lewis’ gaze turned to the inside of the arena.
Then he pointed to one side.
“Also, this match is Diane senior’s match, so it went well. Are you sure you want to test your skills?”
“Who is the opponent?”
“Looks like you haven’t arrived yet. It’s time to start soon.”
“Do you know anyone?”
One of the students who came with Serene said.
“I remember being the same wizard. Was it Adria Cromwell?”
“Adrias Cromwell.”
Louis muttered his name with a sudden stiff face.
Serena joked about Lewis’ reaction.
“Good. Being able to actually see Adrias-senpai’s skills, which our world chief said was so strong.”
“what? Did Louis say that?”
At that time, colorful magic firecrackers exploded again, announcing the start of the tournament.
“Start!”
The finals of the tournament, where everyone’s attention was focused, was about to reveal itself.
* * *
In the VIP seat, people who were said to be the best on the continent were gathered.
What was even more surprising was that on the day of the finals, even more people visited.
Bahat, who was sitting in a high-ranking seat among the VIP seats, looked at his daughter while roughly accepting the greetings being handed to him.
‘I must have grown up that way before I knew it, time goes by so fast.’
At that time, Azik Nathan, the owner of the Mage Tower of Gshain, who was sitting in the front seat, spoke to me.
“I am really envious. As a magician, I know that even reaching the finals is great, but since your daughter is such a strong candidate for the championship, I hope my son will follow at least half of the daughter of Tower Lord Rodlen. haha.”
“Definitely my daughter, but great. Diene will become a great wizard who surpasses me.”
“yes? That’s right. However, the tower lord is also a famous wizard, and it will take a lot of time to catch up. Of course, there is no father who beats his child. ha ha ha.”
“no. Diane will catch up to me in ten years or so. Maybe we can catch up sooner than that.”
“Yes….”
Azik wondered if Bahat had this kind of personality in the first place because of his enormous arms, but he smiled and nodded.
Then, he raised questions about the opponent on the other side of Diene.
“It seems that the time is almost up, but the opponent is not showing up. Let’s see… …Adrias Cromwell? That’s a name I’ve never heard of. oh? Wizard? It seems that the wizards are quite advanced this year.”
“hmm….”
Bahat did not bother to answer and cast his gaze at the arena with a nonchalant expression.
But deep down he wondered why Adrias hadn’t shown up yet.
‘Did I give up?’
If he had seen him recently, he would fight and lose, but he didn’t seem to give up.
So, is it too late to prepare?
Well, there will be a lot of tension against Diene.
“I think he withdrew because he was afraid of the tower lord’s daughter…. Honestly, if you’re a wizard like me, can you properly show off your skills against the tower lord’s daughter?”
Another man next to me interrupted the conversation.
It was Hoyard, the royal magician of Bertrand Kingdom, which is attached to the Rodelian Empire.
He was also a wizard who had a reputation as a graduate of Rodlen Academy.
“Maybe! Since the opponent is the opponent, it seems highly likely.”
“Having already made it to the finals is a great thing for a Magic Faculty student. If there is one regret, it would be better to come out and forfeit the game instead of refusing to participate. Everyone here is busy, but it’s such a waste of time.”
Bahat listened to Azik and Hoyard’s conversation with one ear and looked at Diene, who was waiting with a dismayed look.
Diene’s appearance gave off a strong atmosphere of an elite mage, ready for any opponent.
‘But Adrias was also strange.’
A strange mana storage that has lost the boundary between heart and dantian.
In addition, if you think of him even choosing a sword from his warehouse, there must be a hidden number.
Of course, he didn’t even think that his daughter would lose, but it didn’t make sense for Adrias to abstain.
‘No. Rather, he could abstain to hide his abilities.’
If that’s right, it couldn’t be anything other than a modest guy.
The fact that he dared to keep himself waiting here and, above all, for Diene, was an act worthy of punishment.
“You waited a long time, everyone! From now on, the 58th Spring Tournament Finals will begin!”
pop! Puff!
Soon after, the moderator announced the start of the tournament.
Adrias Cromwell was still absent.
“Before we begin, there will be a speech by Deos Canyon, principal of Rodlen Academy and a renowned scholar.”
Now, after that speech, I really ran out of time.
And, of course, Deos was a principal famous for his very short speeches.
“Hmm, what should I say? I hope you will show off the skills you have honed over the year. That is all.”
The principal, who had a benevolent appearance with a long combed white beard, ended his speech with a big smile.
After an unexpectedly short speech, the moderator finally called the participants of the first match.
“This is Cheong Corner. A genius wizard who inherited the talents of the great Alven duke and the great Lord of the Rodelene Mage! This is Diene Alven!”
“Wow!”
The response was so great that the numerous shouts covered the voice of the host.
It was a reaction that made you realize Diene Alven’s popularity.
The public’s reaction to Diene, who had been famous for her looks and talent since she was a child, was a natural step.
“Enemy corner! A wizard who recently created the Everlast Potion and emerged as a god in the potion production world! Adrias Cromwell!”
The moderator shouted as hard as he could, but there was no one in the enemy corner.
Even in the audience, he was puzzled, and when a little commotion broke out, the moderator tried to calm it down.
“Adrias Cromwell! Aren’t you? If we do not show up within 3 minutes, we will be disqualified and the winner will be Diene Alven.”
As the host finished his speech, booing erupted from the crowd.
For those who came to watch the game, losing by giving up was a boring story.
Diene also frowned at the thought of Adrias not showing up.
‘Did he get scared and run away?’
If it was really like that, I had no choice but to lower his rating, which I had seen well recently.
No matter how losing a game was, Diene was infinitely ruthless to those who did not do their best.
‘It didn’t look like that during the final evaluation… ….’
Time passed.
And the host, unable to slow down the proceedings any longer, opened his mouth again.
“Now three minutes have passed. Apparently Adrias is not participating. Then the winner… ….”
“Wait!”
The moderator was interrupted by Diene’s sudden voice.
Diene raised her fingertips as she watched the moderator.
As I followed her fingertips and followed her gaze, Adrias, who was out of breath as if she had come running, appeared there.
“I’m sorry. I’m late.”
All the spectators who saw Adrias, the host, and Diene were at a loss for words.
His clothes were torn here and there, as if he had been to a battlefield, and his whole body was so full of wounds that no part was intact.
In particular, the severe cut on his cheek made his face rough, but Adrias took a light breath and said as if he didn’t mind at all.
“Shall we begin?”
