Episode 36

“Rustila, Rustila,” Zelnya chuckled, repeating the name under her breath.

Whoever this Rustila was, their eagerness to remain in Aidel’s proximity seemed overly ambitious, likely indicative of a lack of skill.

But, in the grand scheme of things, it was of little consequence.

Zelnya pressed on. Merely keeping pace wasn’t enough. She needed to exert more effort, to widen the gap between herself and Aidel’s team.

She moved swiftly.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The loud noises echoed from the open space to her side.

The unmistakable sound of a golem’s footsteps.

Zelnya crouched and hastened towards the source.

There, indeed, was a golem.

But she wasn’t the first to arrive.

“Huh.”

The golem charged fiercely towards the boy. However, he simply adjusted his sunglasses with a relaxed smile.

A luxurious-looking sword hung at the boy’s waist, reminiscent of a sword from the eastern lands. Its scabbard sleekly extended.

Zelnya, who was about to rush into the battlefield, halted her steps.

“…That guy.”

Someone she had seen before.

Yes, where had she met him?

“…”

She remembered.

The bastard who had pretended to be a teacher on the first day of the entrance ceremony, making her a laughingstock in the class.

Gritting her teeth, she seethed.

Clearly, he was a guy who acted recklessly without measuring the consequences, ignorant of his place. Surely, he would be defeated by the golem.

Zelnya waited quietly. She wanted to witness this boy’s defeat by the golem. After all, since many golems had been released, it wouldn’t hurt to spare one or two.

“Come at me, you rock!”

The boy, Welton Yuseford exclaimed, his voice echoing with determination.

“I will show you some awesome swordsmanship.”

With a graceful bend at the waist and a twist of his body, Welton lowered his stance by bending his knees, his hand gently caressing the sword’s handle.

His posture was upright and resolute, leaving no openings.

That preparatory movement, she remembered seeing it before.

Even the footwork.

“Are you messing with me right now?”

She blurted out, unable to hold back any longer, her composure shattered.

Although Welton’s stance was executed with a high level of perfection, the technique itself was flawed. It seemed unlikely to deliver significant destructive power. Except for surprise attacks, its usefulness appeared limited.

But in the next moment, she was taken aback.

“Huh?”

The sword blade, seemingly stretching out like a stick of taffy, pierced through the golem.

However, the blade hadn’t actually stretched. It was an illusion created by the delayed appearance of ionized Ether.

The frictional heat generated when drawing the sword, combined with the power of Ether, had resulted in a successful explosive ionization.

Zelnya, having pieced together the mechanics behind the phenomenon, couldn’t help but smirk.

Indeed, employing this method might allow for a more efficient use of Ether in terms of energy transfer.

Welton had swiftly earned 300 points, escalating from an initial 180, and vaulted into 3rd place almost instantaneously.

Zelnya bit her lip.

“Presumptuous,” she thought.

Now, it was more critical than ever to be wary of him, even more so than Aidel. In terms of the score ratio, he was perilously close to 2nd place.

However, his swordsmanship was far inferior to Zelnya’s.

Swordsmanship is insufficient against A-grade monsters or higher. If that is all he knows, then she can win.

“…”

Let’s stop this.

According to the test rules, fighting with others will result in lost points.

Sighing, Zelnya continued to watch the scoreboard.

The situation was turning out to be more interesting than expected.

Soon, the team in 4th place started catching up.

And then, they were overtaken by another student.

Students who are gradually increasing by 300 points are starting to appear. They all must have caught a golem each.

It’s only natural that if there are students who win against the golems, there will also be those who lose.

The number of students eliminated by the golems started to appear.

Though they likely weren’t seriously injured since they all received Ether Barriers, the moment their shields broke, it was essentially game over.

The number of eliminated students rose rapidly. The rate at which it increased was alarming.

In the time it took to hunt one more, the number of eliminated students approached a hundred.

“The mediocre ones are all done for, aren’t they?”

In other words, from now on, the exam would focus on selecting the top-ranked students in terms of combat ability.

And as if to confirm Zernia’s speculation, the scoreboard began to fluctuate wildly.

Behind Rustila, a scorpion-shaped golem sprang out, aiming for her.

A B-grade beast of the Darwin lineage, the Scorpion. A golem modeled after it swung its pincer down at her.

“Dodge!”

Ceti shouted. Before she could speak, Rustila had already twisted her body.

But, unfortunately, Aidel was right in her path.

“Ah!”

Rustila groaned briefly. She avoided the attack of the golem but ended up rolling on the ground with him.

“A-are you okay?”

“Uh…”

“What are you two doing? Get up now!”

Ceti hurriedly pushed Rustila, who had collapsed heavily on top of Aidel, away. She drew her sword and took aim.

“Stop showing off and both of you get ready for combat…! Huh?”

Ceti’s gaze swept around.

“Where did it go?”

“It ran off.”

Aidel brushed off the dirt from his body as he spoke.

“It ran off?”

“B-grade monster scorpion, affiliated with Darwin. Ambush and surprise attacks are its specialty,” Aidel explained.

Simply put, it’s a monster designed for hit-and-run tactics.

It seems the golem has adopted that very nature too.

“Let’s chase after it.”

“Does this mean we can also start scoring big points now?”

“The younger ones should just pick up the Ether Fragments.”

“Want to die? We can fight a bit, you know?”

Thus, the bickering Reinhardt siblings shifted their gaze to Rustila.

“Rustila, let’s move.”

“…”

“Rustila?”

Rustila nodded her head slightly, her gaze fixed on the ground.

In her mind, the events from moments ago replayed over and over.

They had touched.

Their entire bodies had come into contact.

It was an unfamiliar sensation.

Holding hands, being grabbed by the wrist—these were experiences she had had before, and they weren’t particularly new to her.

But this full-body contact was something she had never experienced, and it was an embarrassing sight.

Even more so, the fact that she had been the one to initiate it made her face grow red.

Her pride was reaching its limit.

“…Rustila?”

Was it because she was thinking too much?

Snap. Snap. Aidel tried to snap his fingers a few times, but Rustila didn’t respond.

Aidel wondered, Could she have died standing up?

Aidel bowed his head and met her eyes.

“Ack!”

Rustila let out this shrill scream, her deep thoughts vanishing instantly.

She suddenly jumped up, her yellow bangs flipping to the side in a mess, while her ponytail bounced up and down.

“Why? Are you hurt somewhere?”

The girl’s lips trembled, and her cheeks flushed like blossoms. Her emerald green eyes shook as if she were on the verge of tears.

Rustila barely regained her composure.

“Ah, no. It’s nothing. So, what did you say…?”

“Let’s hurry. We need to hunt golems.”

“Uh, yes… right…”

Unlike Rustila, Aidel was unfazed. Could it be that Rustila was taking this too sensitively? Despite having lived a life of protection, she had learned not to read too much into everything.

Right, just think about it normally. Normally.

Rustila sprinted after Aidel and Ceti. Beyond the shore, a stream shimmered in the sunlight. Near the bushes, they caught glimpses of the Scorpion’s tracks.

“There!” Ceti shouted.

With a swift motion, Rustila drew her sword, its blade heating up in anticipation.

“Here it comes!” she announced.

As the bushes rustled, a Scorpion emerged, attacking in a clumsy manner indicative of its B-grade status. Rustila, confident in her skills—which were nearing those of an A-grade inspector—prepared herself.

“Sis!” Ceti called out in warning.

“I know…!” Rustila responded, her focus unwavering.

She infused her plasma sword with Ether, causing flames to rise along the blade. A burst of energy erupted as Rustila swung her arm, the blade making a whooshing sound through the air.

The fully charged blade of light enveloped the Scorpion. With precision, she sliced off its pincers and crushed its body.

As expected of Rustila, the Scorpion was sliced with a single strike, earning her 300 points.

The Scorpion emitted mechanical squeaks as it disintegrated. Its tail crumbled into powder, and where Rustila’s sword had passed, melted iron and dense fog drifted away.

“Sis, that was amazing!” Ceti exclaimed, hugging Rustila.

But their celebration was short-lived.

Rustila gently pushed Ceti away and turned. Another one was coming.

“…Stay back.”

It was the same B-grade golem. This time, however, it resembled a giant.

“…Ugh.”

She was overwhelmed by its size.

But after all, isn’t it just a B-grade? Having information reduces fear by half.

“Little sister, you stay back,” Aidel said. He adjusted his grip on the Calipers and stood beside Rustila.

“Aidel?”

“I want to try it once.”

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“We need to try, even if it is dangerous. Didn’t our homeroom teacher say so?”

Even those who will become researchers should have sufficient sword practice.

“That is exactly what I am trying to put into practice.”

“…”

Rustila’s mind drifted back to the events of the practical test. She vividly remembered the sensation of blocking the cluster, while Aidel finished it off with the Calipers. Surprisingly, the two had worked well together.

Assigning dangerous tasks to Aidel was out of the question. That was a responsibility Rustila, who possessed a constellation, had to shoulder. With determination, Rustila tightly gripped her sword and channeled Ether into the blade.

Crackle.

The blade emitted a sound, as if crying out.

Rumble!

It wasn’t just the giant golem in front of them causing unrest. Behind it, dozens more were swarming.

“Woah,” Ceti shivered.

“Why are there so many?”

“…This has to be an abnormal reaction,” Rustila conjectured.

It’s not the presence of the golem. That much was certain.

But now was the time to focus on the enemy ahead.

“Phew,” Rustila inhaled.

And then she exhaled.