Chapter 147
We all exchanged glances—the three who had been protecting Diana and I alike.
With this magic, I could do it.
I could stop the soul soldiers pouring in.
I used “End of Fire” to destroy every soul soldier approaching us.
In terms of simple destructive power, Fire Ball was superior.
But when it came to effectively destroying moving enemies—soul soldiers charging straight at us—End was far more effective than Fire Ball.
Because I could keep attacking without pause.
The fire energy concentrated at my fingertip was a mass of energy created through the combined use of “Fire Ball,” “Fire Enchant,” and even “Magic Compression.”
As it became a single skill… a spell, it turned into a terrifying magic that destroyed its target with even greater precision and efficiency.
There was no limit to the number of soul soldiers “End of Fire” could stop.
At the very least, I could destroy every enemy in the direction I was looking.
My level wouldn’t stop rising.
The wave ended.
The destructive power of “End” must have exceeded even Neris’s expectations, because she was watching me with great interest.
“Ugh…!”
Diana staggered.
It seemed the backlash from overusing her magic hit her the moment she realized the wave was over.
“Diana!”
Stia and Karen, who were nearby, supported her.
“I’m fine. This much is nothing.”
I handed Diana a water bottle.
“Want some?”
“…Fine.”
Diana and I decided to replenish our mana while waiting for the next wave.
Stia and Karen were discussing how to stop the soul soldiers next time.
“At this point, we’d actually just get in Dekal’s way if we stayed near him. I think it’d be better to protect Diana.”
“Yeah. Besides, it’s not as dangerous as I thought. I got hit a few times, but it’s bearable.”
Karen said it spiritedly.
“In my opinion, it’s plenty dangerous…”
Ava’s face was pale, as though he had no confidence he could endure the next wave.
But Stia and Karen were completely at ease.
The two of them had been fighting dangerous battles even before becoming candidates.
I, too, had experience fighting monsters, though not enough to compare with them.
The “Exam Room” made us fight more enemies than we had ever faced before, but it was different from real combat in that we could quit at any time when driven into a corner.
And yet, absurdly enough, the growth we achieved in this room in such a short time overwhelmed the experience points we had built up in real battles.
“Mr. Ava, do you want to stop?”
Karen asked with an innocent face.
“Uh, um… Not exactly.”
As Ava looked awkward, Stia said to him,
“I understand how you feel, but if you want to become stronger, you can’t avoid danger.”
“I suppose so. Of course.
…Still, I can’t even imagine catching up to Dekal.”
“Me?”
Stia gave a bitter smile.
“I wouldn’t recommend Dekal as a role model.
His magic skill is undeniable, but he’s spoiled…”
“Didn’t I look pretty cool just now?”
“You were cool. I don’t think there are many candidates who could keep up with you in magic, Oppa.”
Diana, who had been listening, crossed her arms.
“Oh, Diana. Are you mad?”
“…I’m not someone who gets angry at the drop of a hat.
I acknowledge Dekal’s skill. But I won’t lose either.”
“Mm. Your magic was amazing, Diana.”
I praised her honestly.
Diana seemed secretly pleased to be acknowledged; her eyes were still angry, but the corners of her mouth were rising.
That’s what I like about how easy she is to handle.
“I’ve got the hang of it now. In the next wave, I’ll make sure Dekal won’t even need to step in.”
“Really? Then can I rest?”
“…”
Diana glared at me with a sulky expression.
“I’m kidding.”
“…Hmph. Make sure you take care of the others so they don’t get themselves killed.”
Now then, shall we scrape up the rest of the rewards too?
Just then, Ava quietly raised his hand.
“Um, I have a suggestion…”
We all looked at Ava.
“What suggestion?”
Ava hesitated, fumbling for words.
Unable to bear the frustration, Diana spoke as if she might bite his head off.
“Ah, this is so frustrating!
Hurry up and say it. We don’t know when the wave will start!”
“Ah, yes…! How about we go to a corner?”
“To a corner?”
“Ah…”
Stia let out an exclamation.
“…Why didn’t I think of that? Most of our firepower depends on Dekal and Diana.
If we go to a corner and guide the soul soldiers to come from one direction, we should be able to deal with them effectively.”
“…”
Ava nodded.
“Ms. Stia said everything for me.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to steal your idea. If you hadn’t pointed it out, Mr. Ava, we wouldn’t have noticed until this was over.”
True.
We only came to the center because Neris told us to. It wasn’t as if we absolutely had to stay there, was it?
If all we had to do was protect ourselves and fight the enemies swarming us, it would be better to take position in a corner.
Simple, but effective.
Ava had pointed out something the rest of us hadn’t noticed because we were all absorbed in other matters.
“Good idea. Let’s go to the corner, like Ava said.”
Diana and I stood with our backs to the wall, and the sword team protected us.
Wave 4 began.
“I’ll attack first.”
I stepped forward, waited until enough soul soldiers had gathered, then cast my magic.
“End of Fire.”
Whoooosh…!
The condensed flame became a ray of heat, cutting through the swarm of soul soldiers.
(Your level has increased.)
(Your level has…)
Nice. This is much better than before.
“Dekal. Switch!”
Before the bulky soul soldiers that had jumped down from the second floor could close in on me, Stia and Karen leapt in and attacked.
When the soul soldiers were scattered individually, there was no need to go out of my way to attack with End.
Ava fought while protecting Diana, and Diana used Lightning Square to strike down the soul soldiers through the gaps between our allies.
I watched the situation from behind, then stepped out when the soul soldiers piled up beyond what our sword team could handle.
“Back!”
Karen and Stia received my signal and retreated.
“End of Fire.”
Whoooosh!
I drew a horizontal line through space with my finger, slaughtering the soul soldiers.
What would it have been like if those things had been people or monsters? Just imagining it made me shudder.
“Oppa! Want to switch?”
“Catch your breath.”
I had cleared them out once, but other soul soldiers quickly filled the empty space.
I poured all my remaining mana into overcharging Fire Ball.
“It might be hot. Close your eyes!”
I fired the overcharged Fire Ball at the swarm of soul soldiers.
I suppressed it with a curtain of wind, but the moment it exploded, the aftershock pounded against the walls hard enough to shake the building.
The shockwave and flash were tremendous. It felt as though my whole body had been struck by an invisible fist.
(Your level has increased.)
(Your level has…)
(Strength has risen by one stage.)
(Mana has risen by one stage.)
(Stamina has risen by one stage.)
(Agility has risen by one stage.)
Huh, seriously? It went up again?
Amazing. Even though I had just wrung out my mana, I didn’t feel tired at all.
My body felt incredibly light.
The soul soldiers, whose numbers had clearly decreased compared to before, came rushing in scattered groups.
It wouldn’t have mattered if I used my abilities to take them all for myself, but I stepped back.
If I compared the current situation to a meal, it was as if I were eating eighty percent of all the food by myself.
As if they had been waiting, Stia and Karen rushed forward and fought.
Their movements had improved greatly compared to the beginning.
Compared to when they stopped the first wave, they were almost unrecognizable.
It wasn’t just me. Everyone was growing. Their levels, and their combat skills too.
If we made it all the way to Wave 10 like this… wouldn’t our skills work even at Dragon class?
“Let’s clean out every soul soldier Melbrit prepared!”
“Yeah!”
I lifted the mood with Karen and encouraged the party.
Wave 6.
The limit came suddenly.
I was still full of energy, but my wind spirit had given out.
“Damn…!”
If that was the case, I couldn’t use “End of Fire.”
It was a painfully costly mistake.
How could I fail to pay attention to the spirit’s condition? What would Isti have said if she saw this?
It must have been struggling enough already because we were indoors, yet I hadn’t noticed the spirit was suffering.
“Fire Ball!”
I destroyed every densely packed soul soldier.
There was no problem with the power of the magic. In fact, with my stats having risen by stages, it had become even stronger than before.
That was the problem.
“Ugh…!”
Karen and Stia covered their faces with their arms in pain and stepped back.
It must have been because of the intense heat pricking at their skin.
This heat, which was nothing more than a gentle warmth to me, was rendering even my allies unable to act.
Without the wind spirit, I couldn’t suppress the heat.
It only took an instant for the heat to spread throughout the entire Exam Room.
With Karen’s spirit and mine both exhausted, it seemed we could no longer handle the waves.
“I can’t use fire magic anymore…!”
“Thunder Storm!”
Diana cleared out the soul soldiers once.
She, too, seemed exhausted, unable to support herself as she leaned back against the wall.
“Haa… Haa…”
Swordsman Jodo looked visibly exhausted.
Especially Aba, who was on the verge of collapsing.
I had tried to buy time fighting the remaining soul diseases, but this seemed to be the limit.
"Brother, I can't...!"
"My sword hand has reached its limit too."
"I-I'm going to throw up. Dekal..."
Karen, Stia, and Aba forfeited in turn.
Diana seemed to lack even the strength to speak.
"Neris. Help us! We'll stop here!"
The very moment I called for help.
A black horse engulfed in black flames appeared out of nowhere and swept past before our eyes.
Neris placed her foot on the stirrup—the footrest attached to the saddle—and lightly mounted the black horse.
The black horse, carrying its master, rampaged with even more ferocious momentum.
Incredible.
It was amazing enough that she sat glued to such a violent horse using only her lower body and core, but her expression was utterly serene, as if she were out for a stroll.
Without weapons, without armor, merely flicking the reins to steer, she annihilated the horde of soul diseases we had struggled with.
When the wave ended, all the open doors closed.
The black horse vanished into its own shadow the moment Neris dismounted.
"I acknowledge your forfeit."
So this was the ability of an active Dragon-rank.
Indeed, she was more than worthy of being called this nation's treasure.
If a woman like that got pregnant, it would be quite the problem, wouldn't it?
"Good work. Such sights are rare these days. Please continue to work this hard in the future."
Though it didn't show on her face, Neris seemed quite pleased.
We could tell that we had shattered her expectations in a good way.
"Thank you."
Neris looked at me.
"Especially, you……"
Neris tried to say something, then closed her mouth.
"It's nothing. Complimenting you would only make you cocky."
...She was looking at me like I was 'talented but rotten to the core.'
She saw right. To be precise, I didn't particularly have any talent either.
If being born with a 23-centimeter cock at full erection counted as talent, then I suppose I was talented.
"But if you were to fix your shortcomings……"
Neris trailed off.
"I have work to attend to, so I will take my leave."
After Neris left, I checked my status for the first time in a while.
Name: Dekal
Lv: 488
Strength 3 Magic Power 3 Stamina 3 Agility 3
Goddess's Blessing [Fire Immunity, Fire Magic Power UP, All Skill Proficiency UP]
Goddess's Agent [Skill Acquisition Rate UP, EXP UP, Stat Application Rate UP]
Wind Spirit Arts [Lv 4]
Skills
Fire Arrow [MAX] Fire Ball [MAX] Fire's End [Lv 1]
Search [Lv 4] Magic Condensation [Lv 2] Spatial Leap [Lv 2] Barrier [Lv 2]
Fire's Whisper [Lv 1]
Veil of Concealment [Lv 0] — Ring of the Innocent
I could tell at a glance that my level had risen tremendously.
'Fire Enchant' had changed to 'Fire's Whisper.' What was the difference?
The biggest change was definitely my stats.
Now that I had obtained a body that could have sex without getting tired, I wanted to test it out immediately.
"Dekal, want to go get food?"
Aba called out to me.
Inside Melbritte, I probably couldn't go eat comfortably with women.
Hmm, what to do...
Right now, women over food.
I wanted to have sex until my body, heated from battle, cooled down.
There were many choices, but my decision was firm.
In times like these, a new woman was best.
"You all go ahead.
I have something else to attend to."
I hurried out of the room.
I quickened my pace to catch up with Neris, who had left first.
This was Neris's fault.
If she kept flaunting breasts and an ass like that, there was no way I could hold back until I reached Dragon-rank.
I drew closer to her retreating figure.
Before reaching the student council room, Neris seemed to sense a presence and turned around.
She looked at the approaching me with wary eyes.
"Please tell me what my shortcomings are."
"You followed me because you wanted to hear that?"
"Yes."
Neris blinked, staring at me as if greatly surprised.
"Hmm... It is work hours, but it was time meant for you all anyway. I shall accompany you a bit longer."
"Thank you."
"Then, for a moment, I need permission from Lady Sia……"
Snap.
I snapped my fingers.