House-sized white fists rained down from the sky, but Simon, riding his golem board, weaved through them like an eel.
’Faster! Even faster!’
The board accelerated again, slipping between the legs of the giant ’Prima Materia’ monsters. The creatures stumbled into each other, getting tangled up as they tried to land a blow.
It was a perilous dance where a single misstep ant death, but Simon executed it with daring precision.
’A hill up ahead.’
A mound of earth rose a few ters in front of him. Simon grabbed the edge of the board and tilted his body.
’Vrooooom!’
The board launched off the hill, soaring through the air for a few heart-stopping seconds before landing smoothly back on the dirt.
The monsters roared and gave chase, but the difference in speed was imnse. Simon held down his wind-whipped hair and grinned. "See you later!"
Having safely crossed the monster-infested grassland in an instant, Simon reached a familiar place: Rochest, the student city.
’Long ti, no see.’ He used to sneak out to this place all the ti after class. It was a popular spot for dates and weekend etups. Seeing the once-vibrant city so deserted felt strange. Still, arriving here ant Kizen was just a little further.
He urged the golem board to go even faster, but then white arrows suddenly rained down from a nearby rooftop.
’Holy Arrows?’
Simon imdiately swerved, and the arrows embedded themselves in the ground.
’What? Why is a Priest’s White Magic here...?’
’Thud. Thud.’
The eerie sound of footsteps echoed nearby. Simon’s head, already on high alert, snapped in the opposite direction. Two n in white robes were approaching.
"Death to the enemies of the Goddess."
"Judgnt upon the profane."
Muttering like fanatics, they made the sign of the cross and began to cast. From their movents alone, Simon instantly identified the spell. After his ti in the Holy Federation, there was no way he wouldn’t recognize that technique.
’Exorcism’
A bolt of pure white divinity fell like lightning from a magic circle in the sky. Simon gunned the golem board, dodging it by a hair’s breadth.
"No way!" he shouted. "Why are you people here?!"
The Priests had no intention of talking. The fact that there were Priests on Roc Island was incredibly shocking. For a mont, the possibility that this was all a Kizen test blurred in his mind, replaced by the chilling thought that Efnel might have actually attacked.
"Death to the enemies of the Goddess."
Their casting speed increased. Multiple magic circles unfolded in the air, and pillars of light poured down with a roar.
’I can’t dodge all of these!’ Simon imdiately put his hand on the front of the board. "Up!"
Half of the board folded upward, rising high enough to shield his entire body. The Exorcism spells crashed against the makeshift barrier, shaking the board violently. But...
’It held!’
A triumphant smile flashed across Simon’s face. From his experience, Priests had two main styles of ranged combat against necromancers. The first was exorcism-type White Magic, like the spell they just used—a bombardnt of pure divinity that bypassed physical force to destroy a necromancer’s core in a single hit. The second was White Magic that added physical force to divinity, like the Holy Arrows from before. While Exorcism couldn’t easily break through a wall, a physical spell could, though it lacked the one-shot-kill potential.
’In the end, I just have to watch out for Exorcism.’
The Priests had fired their instant-kill move. Simon had countered by raising the golem as a physical obstacle, and it had worked. Realizing that spamming Exorcism wouldn’t be effective, his opponents changed their magic circles, conjuring holy spears in the air. This was the mont Simon had been waiting for. He lowered the golem’s guard and accelerated.
For divinity to have physical force, it needed a form, which usually ant projectiles. He would use the golem board’s overwhelming speed to simply outrun them.
He deftly dodged the flying spears as he raced through the streets of Rochest. He had to get out of this city and reach Kizen.
A chilling screech echoed from an alley, and a ’Prima Materia’ monster leaped out.
’As I thought, they’re here too!’ Other monsters loitering in the streets spotted him and began to give chase.
’My Jet-black reserves are getting a little tight!’ Simon broke into a cold sweat but pushed the board even faster. The closer he got to Kizen, the fewer small monsters there were, replaced by powerful dium and large ones. This was actually better. He poured his energy into the board, weaving through the white monsters’ attacks.
A holy spear glanced off the edge of his board. Startled, Simon looked up to see more spears cutting through the wind from the side.
’More Priests?’ It wasn’t the ones from behind. New Priests were running along the rooftops, firing a barrage of holy spears and Exorcisms. At the sa ti, a dium-sized monster charged at him, swinging a hook-like claw, while an Exorcism spell descended from the side.
’Focus.’
In the tense silence, ti seed to slow. The trajectories of the monster’s claw and the incoming spell appeared in slow motion. Simon stepped on a foothold of pure Jet-black and leaped into the air. His body soared as the claw and the Exorcism spell sliced through the empty space where he had just been. After hovering for a mont, he straightened his body, extending his legs. The board, still moving forward, slid perfectly beneath his feet.
The mont his feet touched the board, ti snapped back to normal. Having flawlessly evaded the pincer attack, Simon shot through the encirclent.
’Phew, I can handle the monsters, but these Priests are tricky.’ They were letting the monsters handle the physical attacks while they sniped safely from a distance. Simon decided to counterattack.
He ducked behind a building and stopped the board. Planting his left foot firmly, he prepared the Overlord. Then, he summoned three zombies from his Subspace. Tentacle blades erupted from the ground, wrapping around the zombies’ torsos and bending back like taut bowstrings. After calmly completing the magic circle, Simon’s eyes glead.
"Fire!"
The Overlord’s tentacles snapped forward like catapults, launching the zombies over the rooftops. Simon counted silently for a few seconds, then clenched his fist.
’Corpse Explosion!’
’BOOM! BOOM!’
Two explosions rocked the buildings beyond. It seed one zombie had been taken out mid-flight. But the incoming Exorcisms had stopped. Seizing the opportunity, Simon sped out of the street at full throttle.
---
"Oh, oh! He’s good!" Evangellos, watching everything on the mana screen, gripped his staff and shook it with excitent. "This is it! This is the kind of student I’ve been waiting for!"
The creativity to use a Mud Golem as a vehicle, the ingenuity to use a tentacle summon as a catapult for zombie bombs—compared to the Special Admission No. 1s from previous years, who had simply bulldozed their way through with overwhelming power, this year’s was more subtle. But his brilliant judgnt and wit were truly top-class. If anything, students like him had higher potential.
’Heh, I’d like to try raising one myself. Is this why everyone covets a Kizen professorship?’
"Director, Chatel Maer is approaching Rochest," a staff mber reported.
Evangellos waved his hand dismissively. "Forget that. Throw all available Priests at Simon Polentia."
The staff mber looked horrified. "A-Are you serious? Student Simon has already taken out several Priests..."
"Hurry up! We have distinguished guests here; we need to show them sothing entertaining! Leave the directing to ." Evangellos seed completely fixated on Simon, his gaze locked on the screen showing him riding his golem board. "What, no answer?"
The mood in the headquarters suddenly beca tense. All the staff mbers were sweating, glancing nervously behind them.
’Have these people lost their minds?’ Evangellos muttered, turning around. His pupils widened just like everyone else’s. "...Isn’t he a complete fucking psycho?"
A man in a white suit had suddenly barged into the exam execution headquarters. Everyone froze, staring at him.
Evangellos chuckled. "Are professors allowed to enter an exam run by Kizen Headquarters? Are you trying to start another lecture on fairness?"
The Cursology professor and mber of the Crows, Bahil, smiled brightly. "I’m not here as a professor, but as a Crow. And what you’re trying to do, senior, is hardly a shining example of fairness, is it?"
"Hey." Evangellos’s eyes flashed. "Are you fucking crazy?"
A thousand needles materialized from nowhere, stopping inches from Bahil’s face. The slightest twitch would have impaled him.
"Just because you’re a Kizen professor and Lady Nephthys dotes on you, you’ve gotten so real fucking nerve, haven’t you?"
"Hey," Bahil said calmly. "The students are watching. Put away these toys before you make a complete fool of yourself."
Evangellos spread his palm, and all one thousand needles turned a nacing pitch-black. "Wanna find out if they’re toys by getting stabbed?"
Bahil smirked. "Go ahead. Try it."
Evangellos, who had been seething with rage, suddenly froze.
A long, tense silence followed. Then, his shoulders began to shake as he burst out laughing. "Haha, you bastard!"
Evangellos covered his eyes and forehead with his palm. A few seconds later, he slowly lowered his hand. His needles were surrounding empty air. Bahil, as if he had teleported, was now leaning against the opposite wall with his arms crossed.
"...A curse. When did you cast it?" Evangellos’s curse resistance had been completely bypassed. Such clean, covert spellcasting... it was enough to give him goosebumps.
Bahil just shrugged nonchalantly, as if it were nothing.
"You really never get tired of this," Evangellos muttered. He flicked his hand, and the needles vanished. He leaned back in his chair and patted his shoulder. "Alright, damn it. Why would a bastard like you crawl in here? What do you want?"
"I knew you’d be an attention seeker," Bahil remarked, pointing a finger at the screen. His voice turned as cold as ice. "Don’t you dare touch what’s mine."
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