"!"
Right before my eyes stood Elena, covered in mud, swinging her staff straight down at me. Purely on instinct, I brought up my Phantom Staff and parried the blow away.
"Elena?!"
"Tch, I missed...!"
Elena quickly stepped back to reset her stance. Don't tell me... did she sneak all the way here without using a shred of magic just to evade my detection...?! Elena, the girl renowned as the Witch of Ulm... casting aside every ounce of her pride...!
"Haaah!!"
"Guh!!"
She brought her staff swinging down again, and I met it with mine in kind. She realized I was weak in close-quarters combat and deliberately chose to take me on like this...!
"Number 1, what are your orders?!"
"Elena ambushed me! We're currently engaged!"
"No way, Miss Elena was nowhere to be found—!"
"Change of plans! Everyone, rally at the center!"
Casting communication magic in rapid bursts, I desperately held out against her onslaught. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she overpowered me. Magic was my only way to break the deadlock!
"Hah!"
"Guh...!"
Catching Elena off guard, I scored a direct hit with fire magic. Because we were using training magic stones, it didn't actually wound her... but the impact was real enough. Seeing her stumble, I instantly put distance between us.
"Are you running away?!"
"Mages aren't soldiers! Besides, Elena, why come all the way here—"
"I can see right through your little schemes...!"
"!"
This time, Elena unleashed wind magic. While I deflected the blast with defense magic, she closed the gap once more. What immense mana. Trudging through the mud in stealth hadn't just been to hide—it was to conserve her mana pool, too.
From Elena's perspective, I was nothing but a nuisance directing the squad from the shadows with detection magic. She had taken on the literal dirty work herself, coming all this way for the sole purpose of eliminating me.
"Hah...!"
"Guh...!"
Without missing a beat, Elena hurled volley after volley of fire magic. Treating this as the decisive clash, she poured in her mana without holding back. Deflecting it all with defense magic was reaching its limit... My only option was to go on the offensive.
"Squad One, what's your status?!"
"Numbers 19 and 31 have reached the center! Numbers 56 and 9 confirmed as well!"
"Good!"
They should have finished scattering plenty of seeds by now. Time to set off some grand fireworks.
"Hah!"
"Wha...?!"
Timing it for the exact moment her barrage paused, I fired a green beam of light straight up into the sky. Capitalizing on the split second she was distracted, I surged forward.
"What are you—?!"
"See ya!"
"!"
In that instant, I unleashed a powerful burst of wind magic at point-blank range. While Elena was blown backward, the recoil launched me straight into the air.
"You're flying...?! W-Wait right there—kyaah?!"
As Elena stood dumbfounded, the homing magic I had fired straight up earlier struck home. The beam of light had snapped a full one hundred and eighty degrees midair, plunging straight back down on her. Watching the hit connect, I sailed through the air above the forest canopy.
"Squad One, look alive from above!"
Spotting the rest of my squad gathered below, I cast wind magic once more. Softening the impact of the fall, I glided gently down to the ground.
"Oh, Bauer! You're in one piece...!"
"Ran into quite the warrior. What's the situation?"
"There are six of us here right now. Number 43 was taken out."
"So Numbers 5 and 13 are still stranded on the west side. It'll probably be tough for them to link up with us."
"More importantly, Squad Two is closing in. At this rate, we're gonna get swarmed."
It would take Elena some time to make her way back... but their other three teams had already fanned out to encircle us completely. We had already lost two members, and two more were cut off. If things continued like this, it would be six against nine.
"So, what's the play, Bauer?"
"Our win condition is strictly finding the flag. It's not wiping them out."
"Except the flag isn't anywhere to be found—incoming fire magic!"
Hermann snapped up a barrier of defense magic, batting away the incoming blast. The rest of the squad raised their staves as one, bracing for the assault. True, we'd just be whittled down if we stayed on the defensive... but we still had an ace up our sleeve.
"Everyone, it's a little earlier than planned, but I'm triggering the seeds. Don't let yourselves get distracted."
With that warning, the squad formed a tight perimeter around me. In the meantime, I flared my detection magic once more... and checked the dispersion of the seeds. Perfect. They were scattered evenly across the entire testing grounds. This will work.
"Gwah!"
Unable to hold out under the barrage, Number 19 lost his balance. Even so, he righted himself instantly and returned fire toward Squad Two. Everyone was putting their necks on the line for my sake. I had to deliver on their trust...!
"Activate!"
I channeled my mana through my right hand, sending a pulse across the entire testing grounds. That left only a sliver of charge in my magic stone. But if this turns the tide...!
"I found the flag—!"
Someone from the surrounding Squad Two yelled out. The attacks ground to a sudden halt as the members of Squad Two all bolted toward the voice. Alright, here's our opening!
"They took the bait! Hermann!"
"Leave it to me! Everyone, move out!"
At Hermann's signal, our squad took off after Squad Two. Catching my breath, I sprinted after them as hard as I could.
"Hell yeah, the flag's mine—!"
"Hey, I saw it first...!"
"Shut up and hand it over!"
Judging by the shouts echoing ahead, Squad Two was already squabbling over who got to claim it....Just as planned.
"Alright, it's mine—!"
"Hey, you bastard...!"
Of the two scrambling for it, a burly guy snatched up the flag. But in the very next instant—
"Whoa?!"
"What the?!"
The flag exploded in his grip, blasting them both off their feet. Hermann didn't let the opening slip by—
"Eat this!"
"Gwaaah?!"
"Gyaaah?!"
A single blast of fire magic took the two of them out in the blink of an eye. The rest of Squad Two, who had been certain of their victory, were thrown into complete disarray. In the meantime, Squad One closed the distance in a flash... plunging the area into a chaotic, free-for-all melee.
"Why?! What is with that flag?!"
"Wait... there's a flag over here too—gah?!"
Another Squad Two member must have grabbed a flag, only for it to detonate just like the first. Seizing on the confusion, we picked off our enemies one after another. Looking around, flags were sprouting up everywhere across the area—a truly bizarre spectacle.
It was simple, really. By applying the principles of the Phantom Staff, manufacturing illusionary flags was child's play. The whole reason I had everyone scatter those seeds—was to blanket the entire testing grounds in fake flags.
"Wh-Which one is the real flag... eek?!"
Another explosion tore through the woods. That was the trick: the victory condition of this exam was finding the flag. It was never about wiping out the enemy. And if that was the case, all we needed to do was make finding the real flag an absolute nightmare.
What had begun as a cautious war of scouting—had erupted into a thunderous, screaming brawl.