Volume 3 Chapter 4.3
Ripples of Impending Danger Part 3
Translator : PolterGlast
When Deck and Hamuria
had rejoined with Nozomu and resumed the battle, Mars and the others were
waiting for them to arrive at the rendezvous point. A seal of approval for
having completed the task was shining on Mars' pendant.
After Mars wiped out
the other party that had come to retrieve the Regina flowers, they delivered
the flowers to the headquarters. There they learned that their other team was
attacked because the [Twin Stones of Misfortune] that Mars had with him was
shattered, and they decided to go to the rendezvous point as agreed.
"......That guy
is late."
A voice of concern for
Nozomu and the others leaked out of Mars' mouth.
It had been some time
since they arrived at the rendezvous point, but there was no sign of the other
team waiting there.
Sitting on a rock,
Mars quietly waited for Nozomu and the others, while Tommy and Cami looked
restless, their expressions full of anxiety as they moved their bodies and
walked around for no reason.
'They are late. Maybe
they've all been defeated......"
"It's possible.
That guy has ability suppression in the first place, and if a group of higher
ranks raided the base by surprise, then-......."
Cami agreed with
Tommy's words, who couldn't contain his uneasiness. As for Mars, he did not
think that Nozomu would be easily defeated by a surprise attack, but he did not
dare to speak out about it.
While Tommy and the
others were getting more and more anxious and falling into negative thoughts in
the meantime, they suddenly heard the sound of someone running from behind the
bushes.
Mars and the others,
thinking it was an enemy, readied their weapons, and then Jin, who was supposed
to be with Nozomu and the others, jumped out from behind the bushes.
"Haa, haa,
haa...... thank goodness everyone is here."
"What happened?
Where's Deck? Where's Hamuria?"
Tommy caught Jin who
was still breathing roughly, and Cami, knowing that he was the only one who
made it to this place, asked what happened to the rest of the team.
"Haa, haa .......
A-, Anri-sensei ...... is a special target ...... and she attacked our base......."
The story told by
Jin's mouth struck both of them into a whirlpool of astonishment.
"......All right.
Let's go join up with Nozomu and the others for now."
"W-wait! Are you
sure they haven't been disqualified yet? The other party is a school teacher,
you know? There is no way they can survive!"
Tommy stopped Mars
from trying to join up with Nozomu.
Cami next to him
nodded her head in agreement with Tommy.
It had been quite some
time since Nozomu and the others had made contact with Anri. It was not
unreasonable to assume that they had dropped out.
"Then, what are
you gonna do? Staying here? I'm going though. I don't think he'll be defeated
that easily. And I don't mind if you choose to stay. I don't expect anything
from you who just all talks after all."
Mars smiled at Tommy
and Cami as if to provoke them, and they both frowned at his attitude.
As the atmosphere
turned sour, Jin, who was still breathing heavily, suddenly rose his head and
started heading back the way he had come.
"......Jin?"
"O-oi......."
"......Are you
okay?"
"Haa, haa .......
I'm fine. More importantly, we should go. If we don't join up with them soon,
we'll put a burden on Nozomu-kun and the others......"
Aside from the two who
were puzzled, Mars called out to Jin, who was still not breathing properly, but
he said it was no problem and stood alongside Mars.
"As I said, they
might have already been disqualified!"
"It's all right.
I think Nozomu-kun and the others haven't been disqualified yet......."
Tommy, seeing Jin like
that, yelled impatiently, but Jin, while gasping for air in pain, did not doubt
that Nozomu and the others were still alive.
"What makes you
so sure?......"
"We've seen him fighting
evenly against Mars many times in class, haven't we?"
"But now, his
opponent is a teacher, you know? There's no way we can handle fighting a
teacher......"
"If we're not
careful, we'll be wiped out too. If that were to happen......"
"In any case, our
party's strength will plummet if we lose Nozomu-kun and the other two. Do you
think we can survive this exercise under such conditions?"
Cami hesitated, and
Tommy was concerned about being wiped out along with them, but Jin shrugged
both of their concerns off.
"Besides, he's
got a good eye for tactics. You know that, don't you? Since Nozomu-kun is the
leader of this party, if we were to lose our leader, I don't think this party
will be able to fight properly, you know? This party will be torn apart, and
eventually, each of us will be defeated."
"Ugh......."
Their party is
inevitably inferior to other parties in terms of individual capabilities. To
overturn the situation, they would need to have the numbers to work together in
a coordinated manner.
And if Nozomu and the
others were to be defeated, nearly half of their team members would be gone. If
this were to happen, it would be impossible for them to survive the exercise.
"......It's
decided then, let's go."
Mars ran off, followed
by Jin. Tommy and Cami looked lost for a moment, but eventually tightened their
expressions as if they had made up their minds and began to follow them.
◆
Once she became
serious, Anri had the upper hand in the battle against Nozomu throughout the
fight.
The fact that Nozomu
was able to single-handedly keep Anri at bay by just a hair's breadth also
served as a catalyst for her to give it her all.
Anri's whip had grown
even sharper as she spread her Qi not only over her entire body but also over
her weapons.
Combined with the
sheer power that could crack rocks and her superior skill, she went on the
offensive with ferocity.
However, Nozomu and
his team were not going to be silently beaten.
Nozomu and Deck,
taking advantage of their numbers, dodged the whips and tried to get close to
Anri.
Hamuria was also using
magic to launch a long-range attack.
However, even if she
were to disregard the possibility of being wounded and tried to get close to
Anri, she would be stopped by the black baton, whilst her long-range magic
would either be deflected by the Qi-infused whip or be evaded.
With Deck and Hamuria
joining the fight, they were able to hold out for quite a long time, but they
had already been reduced to the point where they could not hold out any longer.
"Haa, haa...... we're
utterly inferior after all."
"Fuu, fuu. You're
right. Anri-sensei is really strong. It's hard to imagine from her usual
behavior......"
Deck sighed as he
remembered the always smiling and relaxed figure of Anri.
"Hm,
hmhm~~~m......"
On the other hand,
Anri was humming with her cheeks more relaxed than usual, but there was no
opening in her stance at all.
"U-umm. Sensei,
you are A rank, right?"
"Hmm~. My rank~?
That's right~~"
"H-hey, is A rank
truly this strong?"
"I'm certain that
Anri-sensei's rank is A-rank. And a fairly high one at that ......"
Hamuria timidly
confirmed this to Anri, and Deck's shoulders slumped at the difference in
ability between him and someone of A-rank.
Even within the same
rank, there is a difference in ability.
In particular, it is
easy to understand that there is a clear difference in experience and other
hidden factors between students who are ranked based on their grades at the
school and teachers who have achieved A rank based on their achievements.
Even Irisdina and
Tima, two of the leading A-rankers known to Nozomu, would no doubt have a hard
time if they had to deal with Anri.
(Come to think of it,
Mena-san was also a formidable fighter. Perhaps she too is an A rank ......)
Nozomu pondered so as
he recalled the maid of the Francilt family.
(Anyway, that whip is
kinda troublesome. If we don't do something about it, we're going to be
overwhelmed at this rate......)
"What's wrong,
Nozomu-kun~~? If you won't come, I'll come instead~~"
It is better to think
that any conventional coordination or tactic would be predictable. Then the
only way is to deviate from that pattern.
Nozomu recalled the
time he had just fought Anri in a one-on-one fight.
Even though she wasn't
serious, he was able to get close to her at one point.
The point is to exceed
Anri's expectations and surprise her. In that case.......
"Nozomu. You have
a plan, don't you?"
"Eh?"
"Cause you've got
that look on your face. At our current pace, it is difficult for me and Hamuria
to keep fighting, and I can't think of a way out of this. Then, we have no
choice but to bet on your plan."
Deck was asking Nozomu
to execute the plan without even asking him what the plan was. Nozomu was
momentarily overwhelmed by the lack of hesitation in his words.
"......Are you
sure? If we mess up, we'll be wiped out for sure."
"Yeah, no
problem. All we need is ...... determination."
Hamria nodded in
agreement with Deck's words as she gripped her staff tightly and her mouth
turned up with determination in her eyes.
"We were always
at the bottom of the barrel at school. We were always ridiculed by the other
classes. We were always losing, always lowering our heads down......"
These words were
uttered through clenched teeth. This is definitely a feeling that everyone in the
tenth class has had.
Nozomu was
particularly despised because of the rumors that had been circulated and
because of his ability suppression, but other students of the tenth class had
experienced the same thing.
In the corridors, on
the training grounds, and in the streets, there were times when the higher
classes looked at them with contempt and hurled insulting words at them in a
volume that could be heard.
"But you,
Nozomu-kun, proved it. That there is no such thing as an absolute-lose
situation."
Every time they see
Nozomu fighting on equal terms against Mars in every practical class, they
think.
If only we could be
like him .......
So they took action to
try again. They bowed their heads and threw away the pride they had kept in the
form of ignorance.
"That's why we
want to win. We want to prove to the other classes and Anri-sensei that we can
be victorious."
Without hesitation,
the two of them looked straight at Anri, who was a far more powerful person
than they were. Nozomu was amazed at the strong will in their eyes.
Unlike himself, who
was still troubled by his own situation, they were moving forward without
hesitation.
He could see Irisdina
and Shina's figures overlapping with them as they struggled to move forward.
"......Alright."
Encouraged by their
determination, Nozomu opened his mouth. To show a way for those who want to
win, to prove to them that they are not defeated, to show them a way to be
victorious.
"......Eh?"
"......Seriously?"
Hamuria and Deck were
both surprised at the outrageous strategy.
However, their
agitation was only momentary. They immediately tightened their expressions and
let their fighting spirit overflow.
"Are you
done~?"
"Yeah, we are
going to win this, Sensei."
Nozomu and the others
responded to Anri's provocative smile with an early declaration of victory.
"...... I see.
Then~, show it to me~~. Show me how you guys have grown!"
The whip swung at high
speed. The whip, reinforced with Qi, sliced through the air and came toward
Nozomu and the others.
Nozomu stepped
forward, exposing himself to the storm of whip strikes, and raised his voice.
"Deck!"
"Yeah, let's
go!"
Deck stood behind
Nozomu and focused his Qi on the tip of his spear.
Eventually, he created
a mass of Qi the size of a clenched fist, and thrust the spear deep into the
ground.
The burst of Qi
billowed up a large amount of dirt and soil, concealing Nozomu and the others.
Anri's whip sliced through the cloud of dust.
(There's no response.
I missed, huh~~)
At the same time as
she retracted her whip, several air bullets shot out of the cloud of dust and
attacked her.
She immediately swung
the whip to knock down the projectiles, however, in that same moment, Deck
charged out of the cloud of dust.
"Oooo!"
"That's
predictable~~!"
Anri immediately
responded to Deck, who lunged at her with his [Flash Step]. She fired two
speed-oriented strikes at his legs to slow his charging momentum, and then
followed up with a powerful strike to the side of his head.
Deck quickly raised
his spear to protect himself, but he was unable to defend against it
completely.
When the whip hit
Deck's spear, it spun around and struck him hard in the shoulder.
At the same time, the
Qi contained within the whip exploded. His body was blown away and he fell to
the ground.
(Is Nozomu-kun next~?
Or maybe it's Hamuria-san's magic~? But that alone won't be enough to reach
me~.)
When Anri looked
toward the cloud of dust again, a sudden burst of sound could be heard, and
someone came charging through the cloud of dust. Anri readied her whip again to
intercept.
"So the next one
is Nozomu-kun, huh~~. But this is not enough to- ...... eh?"
"E―――ii!"
It was not Nozomu who
charged toward her, but to her surprise, it was Hamuria.
With a speed that was
unbelievable for a mage, she rushed toward Anri as if she was flying.
"Eh~,
ehh~~~!"
Anri did not expect
that Hamuria, who was supposed to be a rearguard, would rush in.
She quickly swung her
whip to intercept her, but for some reason her whip bounced in the air.
What was going on?
While Anri was shocked, Hamuria rushed at her and hugged her waist, then
slammed her body against the trunk of a tree behind her.
"Wait, wait a
sec~~! Let go of me~!
Anri swung her baton
and tried to pull Hamuria off of her, but her baton bounced off in mid-air
again. Upon closer inspection, a thin layer of light enveloped Hamuria's body,
protecting it.
A magic barrier. It is
an all-purpose shield that protects against both physical and magic.
Furthermore, Hamuria
invoked the magic she had been chanting beforehand. An earth-colored chain
wrapped around their bodies and restrained them.
The chains also
entwined around Anri's whip, binding it to the tree so that she could not
manipulate it with her Qi.
"This is our
victory."
While Anri was
perplexed, Nozomu, who had somehow managed to close the gap between them, drew
the sheathed katana and unleashed it.
The slash cut Anri's
pendant in half.
The token of life in
this exercise was sliced in two, and fell silently to the ground.
".......A~a~. You
got me~. It's frustrating~, but... I'm pleased to see everyone's growth."
Confronted with
defeat, Anri's eyes widened as she saw her pendant fall to the ground, followed
by a satisfied smile as she saw the growth of her students.
The crucial point of
this strategy was to exploit the weakness of Anri's whip, which made it
difficult to incapacitate her opponent with a single blow, and to exploit the
gap in her mind that a mage would never charge at her. For this reason,
Hamuria, who had fortified her defense with a magic barrier, was blown away by
Nozomu's [Qi-jutsu・Shock Cannon] and blew
her away toward Anri.
Although taking
advantage of the fact that it was just an exercise, the strategy itself was
quite a walk on a tightrope, and now Nozomu and the others were relieved at the
success of their plan.
"Oi, Nozomu, are
you all right?"
"No way ......
they win ......."
"......Seriously?"
At that moment, Mars
and his team came from behind the bushes. While Tommy and Cami were astonished
at their friends' victory over Anri, Jin rushed over to Deck, who was lying on
the ground.
"Deck, are you
okay?"
"Yeah, I can move
somehow. But I got disqualified......"
His pendant glowed
red, indicating that he had been disqualified after taking Anri's serious whip
strike earlier.
Nozomu's face
contorted as he realized this.
He felt bad that
despite the fact that Deck had come to his rescue, he had been disqualified.
"Don't worry
about it, Nozomu. I'm rather grateful. We were able to defeat that Anri-sensei,
after all......"
Deck, however, did not
look depressed at all, and his face was beaming with a smile.
For him, it was enough
that they, who wanted to win but couldn't, were able to go all out against
someone stronger than any of the students and win.
The smile on Deck's
face, which looked satisfied, loosened Nozomu's hardened expression.
".......Yeah."
"Congratulations,
everyone~. You all have done well~. Since you defeated me, a special target,
let me give this to you~."
Anri happily handed
over the pendants she had obtained so far from her pocket to Nozomu and the
others.
"......W, with
this, what rank do you think we're in now?"
"I can't say for
sure that we're at the top with just this, but I think we're getting
there."
Considering the points
for defeating a special target and the points that Mars had earned, it would be
enough to put them in competition for the top spot.
"Anyway, we need
to move. We've had a big fight with Anri-sensei, so we need to get out of here
first ......"
In response to
Nozomu's words, Jin and the others nodded their heads. The exercise is not over
yet.
The level of the
parties fighting from here on out will go up drastically. This is because a
certain amount of time has passed since the exercise began, and it is expected
that the less skilled parties have been weeded out.
"I'll retire
here, so I'm going back to headquarters. Thank you, Nozomu."
Deck held out his hand
to Nozomu. Nozomu was a little surprised, but he responded by gripping Deck's
hand firmly.
A new bond of trust.
His heart gradually warmed up.
"By the way,
Nozomu-kun. That...... um~~"
"Hmm? What's the
matter, Anri-sensei?"
When Nozomu and the
others were about to depart, Anri suddenly stopped them. Her face seemed to be
blushing. On top of that, for some reason, she was holding her skirt while
fidgeting.
"About what
happened earlier....... did you see?"
"See what?
....... ah."
A vivid scene returned
to Nozomu's mind.
Her silky white skin
was visible behind her skirt, which fluttered softly in the air. Her slender,
slim legs. And the cute pink fabric. Nozomu's face turned red at once upon
remembering the sight that flashed through his mind.
"Y-you did see
it, didn't you~!? You saw my, my!"
Anri must have sensed
it from Nozomu's change of expression and her face turned even redder than
Nozomu's and she began to get flustered.
She was so embarrassed
that she was swinging her hands around like a child, and steam was rising from her
head.
"W-w-what should
I do~!? I haven't shown it to anyone yet~! I've decided to show it only to my
prospective husband~~!"
"...... Nozomu,
what the hell were you doing to stall for time?"
"What's with that
look? Don't get me wrong, I was stalling for time by fighting properly!"
Taking seriously the
outrageous words coming out of Anri's mouth, Mars suddenly glared at Nozomu.
For Nozomu himself, it
was an accident during the battle, but the stares from those around him, which
were becoming sharper and sharper at an unbelievable speed, made him raise his
voice unintentionally.
"W-what should I
do~~!? Since it comes to this, I'll just have to ask Nozomu-kun to take
responsibility~~!"
"Wha, sensei!
What are you saying!?"
"Nozomu-kun
......"
"How envio-
...... n-no, you shameless bastard ...... what color was it?"
"Meanwhile, I can
only dream of it ......"
However, this only
deepened the misunderstanding among those around him. Finally, Anri even said
the disconcerting word "responsibility" to Nozomu, and that made Jin
and the others gave him an icy stare. Some of them even expressed their own
desires and envy, which should not be leaked.
"The worst
......"
"Just as I
thought you were actually an amazing person......"
On the other hand, the
girls, Cami and Hamuria, were staring at Nozomu with freezing eyes. The
evaluation of Nozomu, which had just exploded among the girls, now plummeted at
a frightening rate.
"You've got it
all wrong――――!"
Nozomu's screams
echoed through the forest. He desperately tried to explain to his companions
that it was an accident, but he ended up spending a considerable amount of time
trying to clear up the misunderstanding.
◆
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