LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 67
“Begin the duel!”
Egir opened the subspace and pulled out three skeletons as soon as the match began.
Camibarez held her right hand like a gun and aimed at Egir. It was the stance for Blood Bullet.
“I’m sorry!”
She was apologizing to her opponent, even while attacking.
A blood-red magic circle spread out at the tip of Camibarez’ index finger, and Blood Bullets shot out, flinging her hand back.
“Right. There’s an important characteristic of Egir.”
Said Rick. Just before Camibarez’ exploding Blood Bullet struck Egir, his skeletons blocked the way.
Booooooooom!
A red explosion engulfed the surroundings. Camibarez hunched over and looked into the smoke.
[Camibarez: 100%]
[Egir: 100%]
There was no damage at all.
Soon, the smoke cleared up, and three skeletons with large golden shields appeared.
“Egir is extremely rich.”
Said Rick while sweeping his bangs back.
“He let his skeletons bring in shields worth several hundred gold, and his summons aren’t just typical skeletons, but Snowfield Gnolls from Vanilla.”
“Hey! That's a super important characteristic!”
“I obviously told Cami too.”
After guarding against the ranged attack with an expensive skeleton and shield, Egir floated jet-black arrows in the air and let them loose.
“Uwah! Aah!”
Camibarez jumped around and dodged the attack.
At this moment, men and women of all ages watching the match had the same thought.
‘……So cute.’
‘Why is she cute?’
She didn’t get hit, but Camibarez fell to the floor looking like she was about to cry as she dodged the last jet-black arrow.
The opponent, Egir, changed his mind.
‘She can move better than she looks. I don’t think I can hit her with jet-black arrows.’
Egir retrieved the arrows and drew a new magic circle on the palm of his hand.
Rick’s eyes widened when he saw that.
“He’s preparing a curse! Cami! Do something!”
Camibarez clenched her teeth and shot Blood Bullets from a kneeling position.
However, even if they were exploding Blood Bullets, it was just a simple, linear attack, getting blocked by the skeletons with golden shields.
At this rate, the curse would be completed.
In the end, she also stopped her attack and began to spread out a new magic circle.
Amidst the strained atmosphere, Camibarez and Egir were preparing magic circles, and it naturally flowed into a battle of spells.
<Blood Silk>
It was Cami who completed their spell first. A carpet of blood fluttered from her fingertips.
“Uwah, that’s a mistake! What is she gonna do with a spell with no attack power?”
Scoffed Meilyn before Rick muttered while scratching his head,
“If you don’t know how to observe a fight, just watch, dumbass.”
Cami took out three bottles of potions she made herself from her subspace before wrapping Blood Silk around potion bottles and sending it toward Egir.
‘Something’s coming.’
Egir immediately sent the skeletons and made them swing their swords
Swing!
Swiiiiing!
However, his control as someone who wasn’t a Summoning aspirant was unsophisticated.
It was impossible to stop Cami’s slippery spell with a floundering movement.
‘A little bit more!’
The moment Blood Silk approached right in front of Egir, he also managed to complete the curse.
<Bahil Remake – Paralyze>
A curse in the shape of black lightning shot out from the magic circle.
Cami was directly hit by the curse, unable to dodge it while controlling the Blood Silk.
But she also controlled Blood Silk until the end.
The carpet of blood unfolded, and the potion bottles shattered upon hitting Egir’s body.
Shatter!
It happened almost simultaneously.
Egir, drenched in the potion, tried to move his arm, but he couldn’t feel his body.
‘Don’t tell me, did Camibarez also prepare a paralyze potion?!’
Egir frowned as if in a tricky situation, and Camibarez was also panting, legs shaking.
Both of them were paralyzed.
‘Curses and potions. The one that ends first is, of course, the potion. And above all…”
While sensing victory, Egir flexed his right arm.
‘I still have skeletons left!’
Egir accessed the skeletons’ thoughts and gave an attack order. At the same time, he prepared the next Remade Paralyze spell with his left hand.
Camibarez’ response to this was…
‘……1 stack is still manageable. I can move.’
It was a rush. She dragged her paralyzed body and started running.
Egir’s skeletons swung their swords to stop her, but Cami dodged the attacks by getting down low, receiving the attacks that she couldn't dodge and continuing to run.
‘No way, close combat?’
Egir hurriedly stopped casting the curse and floated jet-black arrows in the air.
Cami covered her head with both her arms and rushed forward recklessly. Jet-black arrows grazed and scratched her all over.
[Camibarez: 58%]
[Egir: 100%]
‘She’s rushing in while taking all those?’
After feeling the seriousness of the situation, Egir hurriedly gathered jet-black into his fist.
He was as good as others in Combat Magic, and he had the confidence not to lose against a small girl in strength.
Moreover, both of them were paralyzed.
“Ahhh!”
But the moment Camibarez got right under his nose, Egir realized something was wrong.
Her two pupils were split vertically like the eyes of a beast.
Clasp!
Cami jumped in, arms wide open, and clung to Egir’s body. Egir staggered and fell to the floor.
“Wh-What’s going on?!”
Egir blushed out of confusion, and Cami opened her mouth. Fangs twinkled and exuded a sharp spirit.
Bite!
Then, she bit Egir’s neck. Of course, the protective suit’s barrier stopped it from hurting.
‘I was wondering what she was gonna do, but just a bite?’
Egir tried to push Camibarez’s head away with a dumbfounded face, but she didn’t come off easily, sticking to him like a leech.
“Ugh, hey! What are you doing in this honorable Duel Evalua—! Huh?”
* * *
* * *
[Camibarez: 58%]
[Egir: 84%]
The gauge went down from just a bite!
After belatedly grasping the situation, Egir wrapped jet-black around his fist and violently started hitting her head. However, the bluish barrier was also applied to her, making her gauge drop, but her body was completely unharmed.
[Camibarez: 51%]
[Egir: 64%]
‘……No way!’
The numbers on the gauge decreased at a tremendous speed. Her biting power was no joke.
Panicked, Egir tried to hit at Camibarez and somehow pull her off, but she never gave up.
[Camibarez: 43%]
[Egir: 21%]
“This is crazy! What is this?! Get off me!”
In addition to the effect of the paralyze, it was difficult to focus strength in his fists due to his broken stance.
The gauge decreased faster and faster, and in the end…
“The match is over!”
Shouted the referee. The final result was out.
[Camibarez: 37%]
[Egir. 0%]
“The winner is Camibarez!”
Everyone opened their mouths wide at the unexpected development.
‘……I-I lost.’
Egir had a vacant face.
He was confident of his victory the moment they were both paralyzed, but he didn’t expect his guard to be pierced so easily with a single charge.
‘It’s all because of my negligence in the end. I took her too lightly.’
While Egir was sighing inwardly, Camibarez, who was biting his neck, carefully fell off.
‘Now that I think about it. I almost got bitten by a vampire just now, right?’
He looked at Camibarez, goosebumps forming for some reason. Before he knew it, she was about to cry and her entire face had gone crimson.
“I’m sorry!”
She bowed her head and shouted,
“I’m really sorry! The desire to win was too strong, so I ended up doing this……! Are you hurt?”
“N-Not at all.”
“Uwaaah! I’m really sorry!”
“No, everything was fair and square. What are you apologizing for? You made really good decisions.”
Suddenly, the one who lost, Egir, seemed to appease the winner, Camibarez. Looking at this scene, a small bit of laughter burst out from the audience seat.
Seeing Camibarez looking at his wounds with tears in her eyes, Egir felt a sudden flutter in his heart.
‘……Woah. Was there a cute girl like her in Kizen?’
Camibarez calmed down after some time, and the two stood up, letting the staff mop the floor for the next match.
‘Sh-Should I try to talk to her a little?’
Egir furtively approached Camibarez, wanting to get to know her.
“Cami! Are you alright?”
At that moment, a male student’s voice was heard from the audience. Camibarez, who had been burying her face in her palms out of embarrassment, turned her head towards the direction of the voice and waved her hand quickly.
“Yes! Simon! I won~!”
She was jumping and smiling like sunshine. Then, she belatedly turned to Egir, got startled, and bowed her head with an apologetic look.
“Ah! I’m sorry! I didn’t know you were next to me! I’m sorry!”
Egir nodded his head softly while telling her it’s fine. At the same time, he wept inwardly.
‘Huhu…… It was for a short while, but I liked you.’
Meanwhile, the three were also talking about Camibarez in the audience seat.
“Bwahahaha! Awesome! Cami’s probably the only one in Kizen who can win like that!”
Said Rick with a burst of laughter.
Simon added,
“The decision to rush forward while receiving the attacks with her whole body when she was paralyzed was amazing.”
“Mhm. That’s true! Come to think of it, the paralysis potion was also a setup move for that.”
“Our Cami gets her things done when it’s necessary, you know!”
Just then, Cami came up to the audience seat. She looked very free and easy.
“Everyonnne~!”
Everyone stood up and greeted her when they saw her running towards them.
“Good job, Cami!”
Meilyn brought Cami into a tight hug.
“Oooh, how small and precious~!”
“M-Meilyn! I can’t breathe!”
Simon and Rick also smiled and came over to stroke Camibarez’s head and congratulated her.
And just like that, all members of Group 7 won the important first match in the Duel Evaluation.
All four of them would be starting the Duel Evaluation in the middle squad.
* * *
Now, a happy weekend awaited Simon tomorrow.
Since he had been working without a break in the meantime, Simon was thinking about taking a break this weekend. Leisurely doing some eye shopping in the Necromancer shop in Rochest and such……
“Mhm. There’s no time to rest.”
Meilyn lay it all out.
“You do know that the midterm exam is the week after next, right?”
“Huh…?”
The midterm exam was only about a week away when he realized it.
Concerned with the Duel Evaluation alone, he felt like he had been hit in the head. Moreover, he confidently told her that he’d surpass Meilyn’s score in Summoning studies this midterm.
‘There’s no time for this.’
Simon realized that he was pressed by an urgent business. As soon as he returned to the dorm, he headed to the study hall with the textbook on his side.
‘……Woah.’
They say that everyone is on the same playing field.
Even though tomorrow was the weekend and the Duel Evaluation had just ended, the spacious study hall of the dorm was full of students. The surroundings were so quiet you could feel chills like people were studying without even breathing.
Simon, who felt a sense of crisis along with them, quickly took the last empty seat left and sat down.
‘Since I’m somewhat confident in Summoning, let’s try to make up for the subjects that I’m weak at.’
He opened his Mechanics of Jet-Black textbook and started studying.
And after about 10 minutes…
‘I-I’m sure I learned this in class…… Why can’t I understand a single thing?’
It was different from the Summoning training he’d been doing the whole time. The limitations of studying by himself were too clear.
He needed to take some measures.
* * *
The next morning.
Yawn…
Meilyn, dressed in pajamas with a toothbrush in her mouth, was walking down the hallway with a sleepy face.
“……Why is my roommate taking an hour to finish a shower?”
It was obvious. She was probably going to Rochest to meet a guy, not caring about the midterm exam.
At that moment, when Meilyn was heading to the public bath while grumbling repeatedly,
“Meilyn!”
The dormitory manager, whom she was close with, ran up to her.
Meilyn stopped walking and turned to look at her.
“A male student is looking for you at the entrance of the dorm!”
“Wh-What? Who is it at this hour in the morning?”
“I didn’t hear his name, but he was a cute looking, handsome boy. He said that he’ll wait in front of the entrance until you come out.”
The dormitory manager winked and passed by a confused Meilyn.
‘……I mean, I only have two boys that I know and hang out with, though.’
It was too far to go to the public bathroom.
Meilyn quickly ran back the way she came and returned to her dorm room. The bathroom was still closed tight. Meilyn kicked the door hard and shouted,
“Stop it already and get out of there, you bitch!! I need to shit!”
“Kyaaaah!”
After driving out her roommate by force, Meilyn quickly finished her cool, effortless makeup. Then she ran out with only the outerwear of the Kizen school uniform on her shoulder.
After a while,
“……”
Meilyn let out a dumbfounded smile.
“So you’re that cute, handsome boy?”
Simon scratched the side of his head.
“Who said that?”
——