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Whoosh.
A cold wind blew from somewhere.
Leonel's sword, aimed at Davian's neck, stopped in mid-air.
Leonel's sword and arm froze in place.
A chilly voice.
"I was just going to watch since it was supposed to be a sparring match."
Clack, clack.
Glasia's glass shoes, appearing in human form, made a sharp sound as they met the stone floor of the training ground.
Leonel's eyes widened in panic.
"You were really trying to kill Davian?"
Thwack.
"Cough!"
Glasia's cold hand gripped Leonel's neck.
With his arms and legs frozen, Leonel could do nothing.
Glasia turned her head to look at Davian.
Her voice was still cold, but slightly kinder.
"How much should I kill him, Davian?"
"How much?"
"Yeah. I know some of your academy friends over there... Shall I kill all the humans here except for them?"
"There's no need for that."
"Really? Then shall I kill all the people in the family related to this guy?"
"No."
"Then his family?"
"No."
"Then I just need to kill him."
Glasia turned her head to look at Leonel.
Leonel's face had turned white.
Glasia's coldness penetrated his neck, and his breathing gradually slowed.
"Just let him go."
Glasia looked back at Davian.
"Don't kill him?"
"Yeah. If anyone's going to kill him, it'll be me."
"You'll lose to him."
"I won't."
Whoosh.
A small flame appeared on Davian's palm.
Glasia's eyes widened slightly as she looked at the flame.
"That's quite a flame, isn't it?"
"Yeah. It's enough that you bought me this much time, Glasia."
Glasia, who had been looking at Davian's flame, slowly nodded.
"I guess so. Then I'll go over there with your friends."
"Okay."
Glasia scanned the entire audience of the arena and slowly walked down the training ground.
Now that his body had thawed a little, Leonel shouted.
"Foul! That's a foul! Guards! Arrest that woman who invaded the arena right now!"
Davian slowly shook his head.
"Then your whole family will really die. And it's not a foul. You said yourself that I could use anything I learned or gained at the academy. I'm just using something I gained during the academy's spirit magic class."
Davian turned his body toward the center of the audience.
Where Lord Moldin Specula was sitting.
"Lord! Leonel told me to use any skill I had to face him in the duel. You heard it, right?"
Moldin nodded.
"The woman Leonel claims invaded the arena is an ice spirit. Spirit magic is also something learned at the academy, so it can't be considered a foul, can it?"
Moldin looked back and forth between Glasia and Davian, who were already standing in the Grey Bear Exploration Team's camp.
After a moment.
Moldin Specula nodded again.
"Then we will continue the duel."
Davian turned around.
Meanwhile, Leonel channeled his inner energy into his body, which had grown cold.
The color had returned to Leonel's face.
"Now, shall we continue the duel?"
Leonel turned his head to confirm that Glasia was far away and raised his sword toward Davian.
"I'll kill you."
"I wasted a precious 10 minutes for you to recover your body. There are only 27 minutes left."
"What nonsense are you talking about now!"
27 minutes.
That's the duration of the advanced skill Festival of Fire.
"But the remaining 17 minutes are more than enough."
Tatt.
Leonel moved first.
Davian threw the small fireball that was on his palm.
"Not a chance!"
Leonel easily swung his sword, cutting down Davian's fireball.
Whoosh!
The fireball that was cut in half didn't explode but turned into a curtain of fire as it was.
The flames containing 8-star magic power surrounded Leonel.
Even though the flames didn't touch his body, he could feel the heat that made it feel like his skin would melt at any moment.
Leonel immediately jumped high, trying to escape the curtain of fire.
However.
Whoosh!
The curtain of fire had already covered the top of Leonel's head.
He tried to cut through the curtain of fire with his sword filled with 7-star inner energy, but it was useless.
"I can kill you right now. But it's a bit much to kill the eldest son of the family in the Specula territory. If you shout surrender, I'll take back the magic right away. Let's see how many minutes you can last?"
Leonel's angry voice burst out from inside the curtain of fire.
"Shut up! Something like this!"
"Let's see how long you'll keep saying that."
Davian simply crossed his arms and began to wait.
Whether Leonel was struggling inside, the surface of the curtain of fire was wriggling here and there.
But it was useless.
'A 7-star beginner swordsman can't escape a curtain of fire containing 8-star magic power.'
The curtain of fire slowly reduced in size.
From the outside, reducing in size meant.
That the space inside was getting smaller and smaller.
Finally.
"Surrender! I surrender!"
Whoosh!
The semi-spherical flame that had been constricting Leonel disappeared into the air in an instant.
Leonel, whose whole body was charred black, was revealed crouching on the floor.
In fact, he could have used the Festival of Fire skill from the beginning.
Because it requires a little more time to channel magic power, it couldn't be cast during a fight with a 7-star swordsman, but there was enough time to prepare when they first exchanged words.
But the reason he didn't was.
'A 1-on-1 duel with a 7-star swordsman. It was a good experience.'
Because this sparring itself was a valuable practical exercise that he couldn't get anywhere else.
'I need to grow faster. My movements need to be faster, and my magic power is still lacking.'
Advanced skill 'Festival of Fire' that can only be used once a day.
He learned that he couldn't win a 1-on-1 duel with a 7-star swordsman without this.
Of course, he had Glasia's life insurance, but.
And of course, he also learned how to deal with swordsmen more efficiently.
Practice is the best training.
―The Grey Bear Exploration Team wins the third duel with Leonel's surrender!
After a long time, an announcement was broadcasted.
They must have been embarrassed by the unexpected result.
Davian slowly passed by Leonel's side.
"Go get treatment. Geez, your skin is all melted. It must be hot."
"......"
Leonel could only tremble and glare at Davian without saying a word.
"Practice your swordsmanship more. To think a 7-star swordsman can't even cut through fire elemental magic created by a first-year student at the academy."
With those words, Davian completely passed Leonel and went down the training ground.
Ding.
=====
[Step-by-step Quest Completed]
―Achieved victory in the third match
―Reward: 5,000 Mana Points (x2)
=====
Ding.
=====
[Achievement Quest 'Final Victory in Best-of-Three Duel' Completed]
―Reward: Leadership +5
―Reward: Dignity +2
=====
Ding.
=====
[Achievement 'Glasia's Existence Imprint' Achieved]
―Reward: Charm +2
―Reward: Dignity +5
=====
'Glasia's Existence Imprint? Can something like this become an achievement?'
Ding.
=====
[Achievement Stats]
―Charm: (86→)88
―Leadership: (52→)57
―Dignity: (26→)33
―Luck: 51
=====
This is a place where hundreds of nobles from each region are invited.
Now the rumors will spread quickly.
Davian Naoen, a first-year student at Elton Academy, who is with Glasia, the highest-ranking ice spirit and meritorious subject of the founding of the Arcancia Kingdom.
The eyes of the nobles sitting in the audience are all directed at the Gray Bear Exploration Team's camp.
Glasia is laughing and chatting as if she met her peers.
She is even playfully nudging Davian on the shoulder.
Just a moment ago, that was the ice spirit who was trying to kill everyone in the arena because her contractor was almost killed.
"The sixth trace is easier than the last one."
"Wow, we've already collected six!"
The sixth trace appeared when he struck the rock with the Claw of Mad Dragon Inseness.
It was the last trace that Davian had collected in his third playthrough.
From the seventh trace onwards, he only knows the order and location, but he does not know what traps or threats there are on the way to obtain the trace.
"Leonel has been taught a lesson, so he won't come forward for the time being. Maybe he'll give up on this altogether. Anyway, we're leaving to find the next trace right away from tomorrow."
"Yeah. There's only two weeks left until vacation."
"Let's find all six remaining traces before vacation!"
"Let's go! Gray Bear Exploration Team!"
During the remaining vacation period, the Gray Bear Exploration Team devoted themselves to finding the twelve traces of the great mage.
Some were relatively easy to obtain, but sometimes the difficulty was so high that the entire exploration team almost died.
Right now, that's the case.
Ten days after the duel with Leonel.
Mount Ebetere.
Kugugugu.
"W-What is that!"
"What is it! It's an avalanche! Run away!"
"Why is the avalanche coming up from below!"
"Has anything normal ever existed in this Ebetere mountain range? Just run away!"
The Gray Bear Exploration Team began to run upwards.
They were running upwards, but they were actually going down the mountain.
A place that completely overturned the common sense of up and down.
That was Mount Ebetere.
It's not that the mountain is hanging upside down in the air.
Until you enter the mountain, it is no different from ordinary, normal terrain.
But once you enter, humans feel as if they are under a magic illusion or possessed by a ghost.
If you put a ball on the floor, the ball rolls upwards.
But that doesn't mean gravity is reversed.
Because their feet are firmly attached to the ground.
As soon as you enter the mountain, it's like you're at the top of the mountain, and when you climb the mountain, you're going down the mountain.
And now.
They had only just managed to find a rock that perfectly matched the ninth trace and insert the ninth trace.
Then suddenly, with a loud noise, the mountain shook.
And a huge avalanche was pouring upwards from below.
Bonita, Nubes, and Bellum, who had practiced inner energy, picked up the three magic students and ran.
But the speed of the avalanche pouring up was faster.
Davian, who was running, turned around and shouted inwardly.
'Festival of Fire!'
The advanced skill Festival of Fire was activated.
Whoosh!
Davian waved both hands wide.
A wall of blazing fire was erected.
No matter how huge the scale of the avalanche was.
Ice created by nature can never surpass a wall of fire containing 8-star magic power.
Cheeeee.
The avalanche that touched the wall of fire turned into steam as it was and lay low.
Even the steam did not rise upwards and laid on the floor in this strange place.
The area quickly became blurry as if it were in a cloud.
Nubes, who was running ahead, looked back.
"Davian, did you stop the avalanche just now?"
"No. I just bought some time! Just run! Go up to the top, no. We're going down!"
Bellum shouted.
"Which is the top anyway?"
"I don't know! Just run!"
"Are we going up or down?"
"I don't know! Just don't stop and run!"
After running upwards for a long time, Davian and his party arrived at the top of the mountain, no, the bottom of the mountain.
It was the bottom of the mountain, but where they were standing was clearly the top of a peak.
"Huff, huff. The avalanche, huff, huff. It doesn't seem to be coming up to here, right?"
"Yeah....... Huff, huff. I think we survived."
"It's thanks to Davian for buying us time with that ridiculous magic in the middle."
"Anyway, he's a ridiculous guy. Blocking an avalanche with fire elemental magic?"
Liber, who was looking around, said.
"By the way, how do we find the tenth trace now?"
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