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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Yuziro
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“What…?”
Disbelief flickered across Valerie’s face.
“That can’t be!”
She immediately lunged at Charlotte, detonating a blast of wind element right in front of her.
Fwoooom!
It was an explosion so powerful that even Valerie herself was caught in the backwash, yet it was only she who had been pushed back.
Charlotte continued to run forward, as if Valerie’s attack had been nothing.
Even Charlotte looked bewildered, as if she didn’t understand what was happening – which only drove Valerie further to the brink.
She repeated the attack twice more, but the result was the same.
Valerie unconsciously asked “What… what is it? That’s not human power. But you’re human… how are you wielding such power?”
“Not human power?”
“It can’t be human magic! It’s obvious! What is it? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. Tell me!”
Thud!
Thud! Thud!
Thud! Thud!
She unleashed a barrage of attacks, but it only served to increase Charlotte’s mastery of this unknown power.
Frustrated, Valerie gritted her teeth.
‘This is…’
Even at a glance, it was clear that this was not a power that someone like Charlotte could wield.
This was a power that could only be obtained by sacrificing something to a curse.
But if she was cursed, there was no way a girl like her could endure it.
Whoosh!
Charlotte was already mastering Lepista’s flames.
She used the flames, which now had a slight violet hue, to propel herself off the ground.
‘…Is this also elemental application?’
She had never shown flames of this color during practice.
Had elemental application somehow become more powerful at this crucial moment?
Regardless, this was not the time to ponder such things.
The most important thing in this race was to cross the finish line first, and Charlotte knew this better than anyone.
If she had magic she could use, she would use it.
If she didn’t use it now… perhaps all her magic would become useless forever.
“You, you, you, what curse did you receive? Did you sell your soul?”
She cleanly ignored Valerie’s question.
Even if she tried to answer, she couldn’t understand it herself.
‘This is driving me crazy.’
If Charlotte had gained her power by receiving a top-tier curse, then Valerie had no chance of defeating her.
Why didn’t all demons choose this option, even though it was a radical choice to gain power in exchange for a curse?
Because not just anyone could do it.
It wasn’t just that demons could choose curses.
Curses also chose their targets.
It was a kind of agreement.
‘This isn’t good. This isn’t good. This is really bad…’
It was becoming too difficult to face Charlotte at full power.
The two were still running side by side.
But with each step, Charlotte was adapting to her new power, and soon, the gap would widen.
No matter how skilled Valerie was, she couldn’t overcome the power of a top-tier curse.
‘Bianca-nim.’
Valerie bit her lip.
If she failed her mission, only death awaited her.
A way to succeed.
A way to succeed.
A way to succeed…
Valerie’s mind raced as she continued to run.
And then, at that moment.
“Ugh!”
Valerie heard the screams of other students.
Looking back, it seemed one of the students behind Charlotte and Valerie had fallen.
It just looked like they had fallen by mistake.
But what Valerie noticed was Charlotte’s head turning sharply.
The girl’s single red eye had wavered for a moment, but she regained her composure after realizing the student had fallen by their own mistake.
It was a fleeting moment, so fleeting that no one but Valerie could have observed it.
But the important thing was that Valerie had noticed it.
“Could it be.”
Bang!
She fired several wind element arrows behind her.
When the mana arrows struck the ground in front of them, a student who had been trying to stop suddenly fell to the side with a thud.
“Va, Valerie!”
Charlotte cried Valeries.
But Valerie had already knocked down another student, using her magic in a very subtle way.
It was as if she had aimed at Charlotte but missed, and the trajectory of the missed shot had unfortunately caused another student to fall.
“Stop it! You’re already running in first place, why are you doing this?!”
Seeing Charlotte rush towards her, Valerie finally regained her composure.
“Ah…”
Now the situation had changed.
Charlotte was now the one rushing towards her, and Valerie was the one dodging.
“You’re worried, aren’t you? About the other students getting hurt.”
“……”
Valerie sneered.
“Didn’t you say you had to win no matter what? Then you shouldn’t care what happens behind you. Maybe you’re not as desperate as you think?”
“……”
Instead of answering, Charlotte gritted her teeth and began running, trying to keep Valerie from attacking the students behind her.
She seemed to be agreeing with Valerie’s words about ignoring what was behind her.
But it was more like she was ‘pretending’ to be calm.
Every time Valerie’s gaze turned to the students behind them, she could clearly feel Charlotte’s uncontrollable flinching.
This was why humans were called weak.
Even if they had great power, their lack of real-world experience would cause them to fail.
No matter how much they pretended, it was all visible.
“Oh, you’re so kind, so kind.”
Valerie taunted her, pretending to complete her attack spells.
“Are the students being attacked behind you your friends? Probably not. Were they friendly to you? Probably not. You need to understand that.”
Valerie lowered her stance, shifting her weight downwards.
“…And the reason I’m saying this?”
The spell was completed, and it began to glow.
A wind element, unlike the mana arrows before, cut through the air like a phantom, aiming directly for Charlotte’s heart.
“Even if I tell you this a hundred times, people like you will never stop caring.”
“…Ugh.”
Charlotte focused all her strength on her feet.
If she jumped high enough, she could avoid the arrow flying straight at her…
“…Huh?”
But then, Charlotte realized she couldn’t.
Valerie had fired the arrow in a trajectory that would perfectly pierce both Charlotte and the mid-class student behind her.
If Charlotte dodged, the student behind her would be hit.
She had already prepared to jump, so if she canceled the action, she would be caught in a counter-movement and risk a mana backlash, but Charlotte willingly did so.
Bang!
The moment her body collided with the arrow, the violet flames thankfully protected Charlotte.
But in that moment, Valerie took the opportunity to detonate the wind element at Charlotte’s feet with a speed that was impossible to follow with the naked eye.
“Ah!”
Her body, which had been running at high speed, lost its balance, and she twisted her ankle.
Thump thump thump!
Charlotte rolled on the ground several times, looking at Valerie with a bewildered expression.
“You… this…”
If Charlotte hadn’t defended, those attacks would have taken the lives of the students behind her.
It was better if Charlotte was hit, but if she wasn’t, she would just kill the other students.
Charlotte was speechless.
Valerie, slowing her pace, whispered to Charlotte, just loud enough for her to hear.
“Hurry up and get up and follow me. Or shall I kill the others?”
Staggering, Charlotte got up.
Her ankle wasn’t swollen yet, so she could still run.
“Why…”
“How much more time do you need? A minute?”
“Why are you doing this…”
“If I gave you a good reason, would you just quietly die? That’s not going to happen~ Just accept it~”
Then, Charlotte began to unleash her flame magic circles.
Now, she had to defeat Valerie to prevent any more damage.
Thanks to the unknown power, her body was in perfect condition.
Her mana flow was also perfect.
But…
Bang!
Once again, Charlotte blocked Valerie’s indiscriminate attacks aimed at the students behind her.
She was so focused on protecting the other students that she couldn’t attack.
“Stop it already!”
“It’s not easy dealing with humans. It’s so inefficient.”
Valerie began to draw a massive magic circle again.
Each footprint she left behind became another magic circle.
Charlotte immediately shouted with all her might.
“Everyone, stop running! Stop!”
Some students listened to Charlotte, but most didn’t.
KWA-AAANG!
Finally, with a deafening roar, several students who Charlotte couldn’t protect were knocked out.
Charlotte’s eye was bloodshot.
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[Charlotte is about to go sicko mode lmao]
