Chapter 16 (1/2)

Mightiest Melee Magician

Chapter 16

It would be held at Arenahall, the largest battlefield of the Ignit Magic Academy.

Professor Hydel, our Battle Magic Professor, would also accompany us, along with the knights of the Poldren Territory, which was located in the vicinity of the academy.

There were two main reasons we were receiving the support of the knights.

The first reason was for the safety of the students.

The second reason was to test the student’s ability to fight in tandem with the knights.

Right about now,

“Bahl Kali! That’s a disqualification! Who the hell are you attacking!”

“Ack! I─I apologize!”

Normally, the magicians attacked the enemies from the rear.

Because of this, they required higher accuracy than normal.

If not, situations may arise where, while the knights and monsters were in a chaotic close combat scenario, friendly fire could occur.

This test’s purpose was to reduce the risk of these incidents happening and to assess the magician’s ability to deal with emergencies on the battlefield.

In this sense, this test could be considered the most complicated and important test out of all the tests currently taken.

The occurred over a period of 10 days.

On the first day, all the ‘low scoring students’, those who received less than 10 points from the Ancient Ogre Kingram, were deployed.

The monster that appeared before this group on the first day was none other than…

“It’s a slime!”

“It’ll be at least a bit easier than I thought.”

Slimes.

Usually inhabiting deep inside forests, they lived in groups.

Due to their special way of reproduction, there were very many of them.

Due to excessive suppression operations of the past, they weren’t usually seen in big cities, but they still appeared in the rural territories and mountain villages.

That’s why it was one of the monsters that you were required to know how to handle properly.

Its speed was slow and if you hit its inner core directly, it instantly died.

However, if you were unable to kill it in one strike, it spewed a deadly poison from its body, so it could be dangerous if you were not on guard.

Maybe they were too lax.

Some of the students were too caught off guard, looking unsightly for one of the ‘graduating class.’

“Jason! What are you doing!”

“I─I’m sorr- Ack! Go away!”

“Kweeek!”

In the midst of that, my roommate, Jason, showed an ugly scene of being chased down by the slime.

“Jason Damon, you’re disqualified.”

“Aack! Disqualified?! Please give me another chance, Professor!”

“You have no right to complain.”

“Noooooo!”

He had to squarely receive a disqualification.

Sigh.

That’s why I told him to practice in advance.

Eventually, Professor Hydel had to go by himself to suppress all the slimes.

He shook his head while talking to them.

“To not even be able to dispose of one little slime… I don’t know what you lot have been learning the last 6 years. You can go back.”

“……”

“I’m not here to babysit you lot.”

‘Not here to babysit you.’

This was Professor Hydel’s specialty shock treatment, but since most of the students grew used to it, it wasn’t effective.

“Wasn’t the slime abnormally large?”

“Wow… So it wasn’t just me. The test was just too difficult.”

“Look at that bulky frame… It’s like they brought in an Emperor Slime or something.”

The students were too busy denying their reality.

I wanted to grab them by their collars and shout at them until spit covered their face.

Hey! That’s not it! You guys were just too weak!

“…Those guys.”

As the test officially started, the students’ miserable skill levels were revealed, and Straang snickered while observing this.

“Kekekeke… Do those things want to be magicians? Looks like they won’t even be enough as assistants. I really can’t understand these times. Back in my day…”

Straang once again went to talk of his times when dragons used to smoke.

It was a story about how magicians were weaker these days, and I nodded in agreement with him.

My thoughts were the same as yours, Straang.

“Is it a Kobold Miner next?”

“Yeah.”

The monsters that appeared after the slimes were Kobold Miners, Silverfur Wolves, Low-Rank Fire Elementals and a Rank 9 Devil Hellkin.

Monsters and magical creatures differentiated by the students’ grades were released for the test.

But the test results weren’t any different than against the slime, and most students failed disgracefully.

And then, finally…

The last day of the .

The day of my test.

There were only 13 ‘high-scoring’ students who were taking the test on the last day.

And one thought that went through every one of them was,

“What monster would it be today?”

On this day.

What would be the monster they face?

As the monsters that appeared in the tests were higher level than usual, we had increased expectations of what the monster on the last day of tests would be.

Sure enough, as today was the last day of tests, an insanely difficult monster popped out for the test.

“O-Orc?”

Orcs.

A humanoid monster that still inhabited multiple areas of the continent, living in groups.

Even being 1.5 times bigger than humans, they had retained a similar level of intelligence.

They had retained their tribal family structure and were always on the lookout for opportunities to plunder human cities.

As they were a hostile species, they were constantly at war with humans in most areas of the continent.

The orc walked into the testing area, tied with chains on its arms and legs, but still maintained its ferocious imagery.

The students started muttering amongst themselves, being pressured by its presence.

“If it’s an orc… This is an actual battle…”

“Th-that’s right.”

“Woah… This is my first time seeing it in real life.”

“I-I have seen one before. Orcs have invaded my territory multiple times before.”

We were taught from a young age that orcs were one of humanity’s main enemies.

We learned of the wars with orcs, our victories against them.

And how some of us were still dying to them somewhere in the world.

Being 16 to 19 years old, for the young students here, an orc was an enemy they must fight in real combat after graduating from the academy.

Maybe that’s why the eyes of the 13 students that were taking the test were filled with renewed resolve.

No, it was an emotion greater than mere resolve.

* * *

* * *

“Orcs are enemies I wanted to kill one day… For that day to be today.”