318 Formidable Enemy

I’d thought it was just a massive rock, but up close, the thing was a literal mountain.

I could have used Flight Magic, but I really didn’t want to burn through my Mana this early.

Sorry, Cecil, but I’m borrowing your move.

I surged adhesive Mana into the soles of my feet and started sprinting straight up the vertical surface. I kept a steady pace—not too fast, not too slow—matching my speed with Cynthia and the others.

Right beside me, Luna was scrambling up the same way, her face twisted in a mask of pure desperation as she tried to keep her Mana under control. To be honest, while she’d always been a top-tier student in the rankings, her actual combat Gift had been... well, lacking. But in this short span of time, she’d undergone a terrifying amount of growth.

“If I can’t pull this off... please hit me. Preferably on my bottom.”

“Wait, what?”

...Yeah, a lot of weird stuff had happened, but now those were good? Well, let's call them "memorable" memories.

“Luna, don’t expect any special treatment from me,” I warned her. “You’re responsible for your own skin out here.”

“Of course!”

Ha. Now that was a good look on her.

I hadn’t received any Telepathy from Cecil yet. Maybe the distance was too great, or she was just being stingy with her Mana consumption. Either way, I had a job to do.

Near the ceiling, right at a fissure in the rock, I spotted a Defense Barrier. It was deployed like a rat guard—a real testament to the creator’s nasty personality. Honestly, it was almost impressive.

But to me, a trick like that was completely meaningless. I shredded the barrier to pieces with Time Lapse and launched myself into the open air.

Cynthia and Lilith burst out just a second later. They’d probably been busy widening the hole I’d ripped in the Magic Formula. They were definitely getting better, too.

Teacher Milk was standing right there in front of the Shrine. She didn’t look the least bit rattled. In fact, she wasn’t even bothering to surge her Mana. Was it pure composure or a trap? I had no way of knowing yet.

Whatever it was, I was about to find out the hard way!

“—One-Hit Kill!”

I led with a preemptive strike: an unblockable gale of wind and Darkness. I didn’t care how powerful Teacher Milk was; her anti-magic countermeasures should have been the same as ours. Now, let's see how she handles this—

“I figured you lot would show up,” Teacher Milk said calmly.

She readied her sword. Just a fraction of a second before my blades hit, she swung. Magic collided with magic, and the impact resonated with the crystalline screech of shattering glass.

I see... she’d infused the tip of her blade with magic at the very last microsecond, using the sheer pressure of her swing to double its power. She hadn’t even bothered to chant a defense; she’d just blocked me with the absolute minimum amount of Mana required. If she’d been off by even 0.0001 seconds, she would’ve been toasted. And yet, she did it as if it were nothing more than a casual practice swing.

Ha... as expected of my master. She’s a monster.

But I wasn't alone this time.