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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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“Where’s Bran?”
Max Sigmund muttered, looking at Ed’s team.
The spy he had planted was missing.
The guy with the slicked-back red hair, the one he had placed to incite internal conflict.
Where was he?
“Well, whatever.”
The question didn’t linger.
They had a numerical advantage now.
There was no way his team could lose.
The arrogant commoner’s team was composed of children from insignificant families, a force he could wipe out single-handedly.
*’Edgar Fix, I’ll break you and make you my slave.’*
Max smirked and placed his hand on the teleportation orb.
His figure dispersed, and he was transported to the arena.
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A 10,000 square meter artificial forest.
That was the location of his test.
As he touched the teleportation orb, his entire team was transported there instantly.
“Huu…”
Arriving at the arena, everyone took a deep breath, their faces tense.
Their team was clearly at a disadvantage.
Their opponent was Max of the Sigmund family, the son of an influential count.
While he had been humiliatingly defeated by Enya in a duel, that was because Enya was a monster, not because Max was weak.
Max was talented enough to earn at least an A-rank in this competition.
*’And he’s someone I need to eliminate.’*
Max was one of the main villains in “El Pandor Runterra.”
His endless spite and jealousy would eventually reach Enya and ruin her.
He would sell his soul to the devil to possess Enya, and if not stopped in time, he would resort to any underhanded method to ruin her, causing her to abandon her pursuit of romantic quickdraw and embrace only the killing blade.
That path would ultimately corrupt Enya, turning a powerful ally into a formidable enemy.
He couldn’t let Enya be ruined.
“Let’s move according to plan. They’ll approach us first.”
He decided to crush Max in this match, even if it meant revealing some of his hidden cards.
However, it was best to keep his cards hidden as much as possible for future matches, so he devised a plan to defeat Max using the terrain and Charlotte’s abilities, setting up traps.
“W-will my power be of any u-use…? Can we really stop M-Max with this…?”
“Just slowing them down is enough. The more variables, the better. This is the most important part.”
He encouraged Charlotte as she set vine traps on the ground.
He had learned from their conversation that she could manipulate the natural environment.
She mainly used this ability to tend her family’s garden.
Most of her formulas were specialized for gardening.
“Huu! Alright! What’s there to be afraid of! I just have to go back and hide, right?”
“Yes. Come out when I give the signal.”
“Okay.”
The enthusiastic one heading off to hide was Tyler, who primarily used fire magic.
Though his talent was meager and his firepower weak, he could be a great help if he combined his powers with Charlotte.
“Fio, you just need to stay inside the cave.”
The last remaining member was Fio.
He had looked down on him for being a commoner, but after Red Hair was gone, he seemed obedient.
They prepared for the enemy according to their roles.
Fio and Charlotte waited inside the cave, and Tyler hid in the bushes near the cave entrance.
He stood some distance away from the cave, ready to face the enemy.
Finally, Max and his team appeared.
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Max Sigmund was overconfident for his skill level.
His humiliating defeat against Enya two years ago stemmed from this overconfidence.
But this time was different.
He had planted a spy in Ed’s team and ensured that only children from failing families were assigned to it.
Charlotte Verdian, who only knew how to tend a garden.
Tyler Martin, whose meager fire magic talent earned him the nickname “Campfire.”
Fio Bailey, a fallen noble whose family was bankrupt and who supposedly wandered the back alleys.
They were all trash.
And he had arranged for them to be on Ed’s team.
He had meticulously planned even for a single commoner.
‘This is different from before.’
Two years ago, Max had rashly challenged Enya to a duel and suffered the greatest humiliation of his life.
But he had changed now.
He now created winnable situations and only fought opponents he could defeat.
Just like this moment!
“Go get him!”
At Max’s command, his teammates charged towards Ed, who stood alone, some distance from the cave entrance.
Whatever he had prepared, the outcome was already decided.
‘Let’s see what you’ve got, commoner.’
The only unknown was Ed’s strength.
He wasn’t too worried about a commoner who had just awakened to mana, but one could never be too sure.
“Ugh!”
As expected, Ed put up a brief resistance before turning tail and running.
His retreating figure was comical.
“Khahahaha! That’s your true form!”
Max smiled triumphantly.
He had exposed Ed’s true nature.
A pretty boy with nothing but flowery words!
Enya was probably watching this too.
She would see how pathetic the one who had stolen her heart truly was.
*Crack!*
Just as he was reveling in his victory, vines suddenly wrapped around his ankles.
The vines also entangled his four teammates.
At the same time, Ed launched a counterattack.
*Wham!*
But it was useless.
One of his teammates easily broke free from the vines and blocked Ed’s attack.
Such vines were a low-level trap that could be easily broken by circulating mana through their legs.
Ed, his counterattack thwarted, turned and ran again.
“Pfft… Kik… Puhahahaha! That idiot, did he really think that would work?”
Max’s teammates burst into laughter.
Such a pathetic vine trap.
It was beyond laughable; it was almost cute.
This was the best a commoner could come up with.
*Dash!*
Max’s team charged towards Ed again.
Reaching the cave entrance, Ed and Fio assumed boxing stances. Charlotte, standing behind them, prepared to support them.
‘It seems he has something else prepared.’
Max narrowed his eyes, observing Ed.
What was his next move?
He soon realized how insignificant it was.
“Disappointing, Edgar Fix.”
Ed’s next move was just another terrain-based tactic.
As his team reached Ed, he made bushes sprout from the ground, momentarily blocking their vision.
Ed and Fio used this opportunity to attack.
The tactic was somewhat effective.
His momentarily blinded teammates suffered some damage from Ed and Fio’s punches.
But their punches were weak, and his teammates quickly recovered and counterattacked.
Ed’s trump card was easily neutralized.
“Step aside.”
Having confirmed everything, Max called his teammates back.
He had sent them in first as a precaution, but that was all Ed had.
“I’ll show you the difference in power.”
Max gathered mana in his fist and punched the winded Ed.
*Bam—!*
With a tremendous roar, Ed’s body flew backward, crashing deep into the cave.
Fio, pale with fear, backed away and fled into the cave.
Charlotte, terrified, followed him.
“Puhahahaha! Idiots. Where are you running? Failing families always show why they failed. They’re so stupid.”
Max’s teammates mocked Edgar Fix’s ragtag team.
To think they would flee into a dead end.
How stupid.
“Let’s finish this. Before that, you know what to do with the video transmission orb, right?”
Max and his team conversed discreetly.
They planned to destroy the orb before torturing Ed.
The dark, narrow cave was the perfect place to “accidentally” break it.
“Disappointing, truly disappointing.”
Max Sigmund’s voice echoed through the cave.
*Step—Step—*
The sound of his and his teammates’ approaching footsteps pressed in on Ed and his team.
Reaching Ed, Max said,
“This is as far as you go. Lowly blood can only take you so far.”
“…”
Max glanced at the approaching video transmission orb, his hand on the hilt of his sword, contemplating how to “accidentally” destroy it.
“Thank you.”
Suddenly, Edgar Fix muttered something nonsensical and got up.
‘Thank you?’
Ed smiled brightly and said,
“Thank you for taking the bait.”
“…?”
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Intoxicated by their victory, Max and his team crawled into what they didn’t realize was a trap.
His plan to lure them into the cave had worked.
Everyone had played their roles perfectly.
Fio and Charlotte’s panicked screams and their frantic retreat after he was sent flying by Max’s attack were Oscar-worthy.
“Charlotte!”
“Yes!”
It was time for the counterattack.
He signaled Charlotte, then shouted for Tyler, who was waiting outside.
“Tyler!”
*Whoosh!*
The instant he shouted, fireballs shot from the cave entrance.
Tyler, lying in wait, launched several basketball-sized fireballs.
However, as their size suggested, the fireballs were weak.
Against academy cadets who could reinforce their bodies with mana, Tyler’s fireballs were little more than a nuisance.
As his nickname, “Campfire Tyler,” suggested, his fireballs weren’t suited for combat.
They were just paltry fire-starting magic.
*Whoosh!*
But he had gotten a hint from Tyler’s nickname.
He wouldn’t use the fireballs to attack people directly, but to start a fire – to ignite the numerous bushes Charlotte had summoned.
“W-what, what is it?”
“F-fire!”
It went exactly as planned.
The moment Tyler’s fireballs meet the countless bushes sprouted from the formulas Charlotte that instantly turned the area into a blazing inferno.
The entire cave was engulfed in flames, smoke filling the air and obscuring vision.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!*
But his team had already escaped the cave.
Wearing the goggles he had provided and covering their noses and mouths with water-soaked cloths, they fled through the cave entrance, which was also their exit.
Having coordinated beforehand, they escaped quickly.
“Block them.”
He instructed Charlotte to summon a large boulder to seal the cave entrance.
“Gaaaaah!! I-I can’t see!”
“Shiiiit!!! I-it’s blocked!!”
“Move!”
Screams echoed from behind the boulder.
They were panicking, trapped inside.
They started hitting the boulder, trying to escape.
*Thump!*
*Thump!*
*Thump!*
The boulder vibrated intensely and began to crack.
*KABOOM!*
The boulder shattered.
A single rock couldn’t stop academy cadets.
But at that moment…
*Wham—!*
He channeled mana into his leg and kicked the one who had broken the boulder.
Blinded by the smoke and unable to open his eyes properly, the guy was completely defenseless against his kick.
“Ugh!”
The same went for the others who tried to escape.
Coughing and choking, they were weak and easily pushed back by a single kick.
They had inhaled the acrid smoke in the intense heat.
“Block them.”
He summoned another boulder.
But this one, too, was quickly destroyed.
Max, the team’s ace, had stepped forward.
“You commoner bas—!”
*Wham!*
But even Max wasn’t at his best.
He was kicked back several meters the moment he emerged.
He repeated the same command impassively,
“Block them.”
The battle was simple: they tried to escape, and he blocked them.
This repeated once more.
Max, mustering his remaining strength, broke the boulder and charged at him.
*Wham!*
But Max was choking on smoke, unable to exert even 20% of his strength.
Even with mana reinforcement, he couldn’t block the smoke from entering his eyes and lungs.
“Block them.”
Another boulder was summoned.
Screams echoed from within the cave.
“Ugh…! Gah… Cough! Cough!”
“H-help… We… forfeit…”
‘I hope they don’t die.’
Just in case, he gathered mana in his fist and broke the boulder to check on their condition.
“Block them.”
‘They are not dying yet.’
Seeing them desperately trying to crawl out, he decided to leave them for a bit longer.
As another boulder began to form, they screamed.
“Noooo!! Cough! Cough! Gah…”
The boulder sealed the entrance.
‘Just three more minutes of smoking should do it.’
*Rumble!!!*
A heavy thud echoed through the cave.
It reverberated a few more times, then *Crash!* the thick cave wall crumbled.
They had broken through the side.
“Gah—! Ugh! Hack! Hack! Cough! Ugh! Cough! Cough!”
Max stumbled out, gasping for fresh air and coughing incessantly.
The smoking time was over.
Smoke billowed from the hole in the cave wall like a pressure cooker releasing steam.
“Gah—! Cough! Cough! C-commoner…! Now! Cough! Cough! I’ll… kill… you! Cough! Cough!”
Max staggered to his feet, the Sigmund family’s treasured sword, the Black Obsidian Blade, in his hand.
Even in this state, he was still thinking about fighting, truly a fitting decision for him.
“I’ll finish this.”
But he wouldn’t let his guard down.
The sword Max wielded was the Sigmund family’s treasured blade, an artifact crafted by a ‘Master’ Craftsman dwarf.
“Inventory.”
He would counter an overpowered item with an overpowered item.
He took out the “Plasma Beam Titanium Alloy Gauntlets” from his inventory.
*Crackle!*
A rift appeared in the air, and a bracelet materialized.
He snatched it and strapped it onto his right wrist.
*Ziiiiiiing…*
The mana stone in the bracelet activated, and the bracelet began to transform.
Numerous mechanical parts extended from the bracelet, forming a gauntlet that encased his wrist and hand.
His right hand was now covered by a jet-black gauntlet with silver accents.
It was finally time to use the “Plasma Beam Titanium Alloy Gauntlets” for the first time.
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Damn that’s brutal