How to Survive at the Academy Chapter 131

Joint Combat Practice 2 (17) (modified)

The girl who was lying against the wall in the hallway of the Glockt Hall raised her mouth.

It is a student hall where joint combat practice is in full swing. The sounds of battle were heard everywhere.

While everyone was focused on the battle at the training ground, Adele sat quietly and looked back on her life.

It is a life that no one could follow if it was turbulent. I was so preoccupied with surviving right now that I didn’t have time to reflect on the meaning of life.

However, after frantically running around, I look back and there is nothing left. It’s because I’ve been surviving hard, but I haven’t given any meaning to that life.

As that man, Ed Rosteyler, said… if surviving was to struggle and twist one’s body with a clenched jaw… then the life gained by doing so had to be worthwhile. But if you ask what value my life had, Adele won’t say anything beyond his throat.

survived rather than survived. It was such a life.

They talk like it’s great, but life is mostly like that.

The world was full of human beings who lived far away to try to protect their bodies.

Everyone is struggling to survive for their own reasons, and Taldarek, who received Merilda’s blow with his teeth clenched together, is the same.

Receiving a blow from a high-ranking spirit with a human body is an amazing feat. After blocking Merilda’s paw with a spear, he even managed to compete with her trembling hands.

However, a couple of magic arrows pierced his shoulder, and the balance of power broke and he fell out. He quickly gets up and prepares for a counterattack, but the lioness Lacia digs in and bites his shoulder. She tried to pull it off and adjust her posture, but before that, Merilda, the high-ranking wind spirit, and even Tarkan, the high-ranking fire spirit, were showing their majesty.

──Verdio, who tries to find an escape route even when cornered, is the same.

The moment Lucy’s eyes met, he tried to run away with the suppressed saintess in a different direction, but fell to his right foot after being hit by a magic bullet that flew in an instant.

Clarisse is freed from its grasp, and Lucy rises from her seat. Verdio uses weak holy magic to spread defensive magic, but Lucy shatters the defensive formations with a single flick of his finger.

In the meantime, I quickly got up and tried to run away, but I fell down after being cut on my back by a wind blade, a basic wind magic. He tried to get himself up again, bleeding. But his arm gave out and he hit his face on the floor. Still, he grits his teeth in an attempt to somehow get himself up and gives his strength.

When he raises his head with difficulty, Lucy is looking down at him with nonchalant eyes.

Still, Verdio did not relax his arms. to survive.

──The life of Sword Saint Taily was also a series of trials.

He was the one who had learned the Sword Formation Ceremony through endless ordeals, and continued to work hard until today, when the practice of joint combat unfolded.

From the middle, it feels noisy outside the student hall, but I don’t care much in the practice room, which is completely separated from the outside. Right now is the time to face the challenger in front of you.

Even in the midst of countless freshman challengers, he never dropped his sword. Neither Wade, head of the combat department, nor Joseph, chief of the magic department, can defeat him. Even though Claude, the head of the pension department, tries to defeat him by mobilizing all kinds of cowardly measures, Taily is not defeated in the end.

Eventually, even when he sees the cornered Claude drinking the forbidden reagent, ‘evil god’s blood’, he does not avoid the fight and confronts him.

──The same goes for Jenika Failover, who can’t see right now.

Beyond the blurry vision, Ed exchanging agreements with Taldarek can only be felt as a silhouette. No matter how much you deal with high-ranking spirits, there is no guarantee that you will be able to defeat the Apostle of Telos one-on-one.

My body, which has already reached its limit, is screaming. However, when he sensed the movement of Ed Rosteyler, who was fighting for his life, he clench his teeth once more and draw out his magic power. In the end, Yenica unleashes all of her magic to her bottom end, finally manifesting the high-ranking fire spirit, Tarkan.

1 highest level spirit, 1 high level spirit, 8 middle level spirits, 117 low level spirits, 417 fluid spirits.

Let’s say, one-man corps.

Although it was manifested by drawing the magical power of the future, and it was the power that was expressed while shaving my body, even taking that into account, it was an absurd level of spirit sensitivity.

Fire and wind split the clearing in the forest area, and standing between the two high spirits, Ed drew out his dagger and bow.

The sound of the two men shouting and clashing came to Yenika’s ears.

──I wonder if it’s different because it’s Adele’s close friend, Clarisse.

After escaping from Verdio’s grasp, Clarisse gets up again. Originally, his body was full of scars, and he was severely damaged by Verdio’s attack. I somehow managed to lead my creaking body toward the cathedral.

There is a thriving Eldain that can put an end to all these situations. If the situation had gone this far, no matter how religious he was, he would not be able to stay still.

The moment they reach the door of the cathedral, the door opens by itself before Clarisse even tries to open it.

Holy Eldein and his escorts come out of it. Although they were slightly damaged by Verdio’s surprise attack, no one was fatally injured.

The knights of the cathedral paid their respects to the saintess and passed on both sides of her, heading toward Verdio. In the meantime, Saint El Dane, who quietly walked out, bowed politely to her saintess and greeted her. He was a human who was considered to hold the most divine power except for Telos, who was given to this earth.

After bowing his head and bowing politely to Clarisse, he passes her and proceeds toward Verdio.

The cathedral knights surrounded the fallen Verdio, and Saint Eldain, who came out between them, looked down at him.

Verdio clenches his teeth and struggles to manifest holy magic, but before the knights can respond, Lucy tramples on his arm.

She screams and grabs Lucy’s feet, but she can’t exert any influence on the surface of her body imprinted with the defense law. Looking down at her struggling Verdio, Lucy’s face is expressionless.

──And, more than anyone else, Ed Roth Taylor must have lived the most intense life.

Ed Roth Taylor’s body is already full of scars as he pulls the bowstring.

Tal’darek somehow managed to withstand Merilda’s wind magic and Tarkan’s fire magic. He wielded his spear to deflect magic, avoiding Ed’s arrows, Tarkan’s tail and Merilda’s paws, leading the battle.

However, it is difficult to deal with the two high-ranking spirits and the body of Ed Roth Taylor, who is wearing all sorts of blessings.

Therefore, it is necessary to cut the opponent’s power first. Ed Roth Taylor, the subject who summoned Merilda, resists in her own way even in close combat, but it is different with Jenika Failover, who is in a state of disrepair.

If you stop her, you can incapacitate not only the fire lizard in front of you, but even the flying whale blocking the support of your colleagues.

Tal’darek’s attack direction quickly turned towards Yenika Failover, who was out of breath and suffering from high fever.

Judgment is bold. If you hesitate halfway in a battle situation where you walk on the edge of a sword, you will be defeated. Taldarek is well aware of that fact.

The direction of the fixed spear is Ed Roth Taylor. He braces himself and prepares to evade. However, the direction the spear was thrown was in the direction of Yenika Failover.

Even so, Tal’darek’s strength exceeded that of a human. The spear flew towards Yenika at an unbelievable speed.

However, Ed Rosteyler doesn’t even look at Yenika. It’s strange considering her attitude, which was quite special towards her.

– Caang!

Only then does Taldarek realize that his thoughts are being read.

The sub-spirit mug that was tucked under Jenika’s shawl pops out and deflects the spear by implementing explosive magic.

Having already assumed that Jenika would be attacked, he took out one of his key powers, the lower fire spirit mug, toward Jenica.

If you attack, there is a gap. The center of gravity of the movement is forward, and the spear is not held.

Tarkan’s tail flies off, Taldarek raises his guard, braces his lower stomach and withstands the tail’s blow. His legs are buried in the dirt floor, and he is pushed out for a while. Bones as hard as steel cannot be broken, but the gaps created there cannot be helped.

Merilda’s teeth snap at him. Tal’darek tried to shift his body’s center of gravity towards it, but two more bolts of magic were lodged in his shoulder. A moan escaped his mouth, and Merilda’s huge teeth pierced his right arm.

Blood spurts and his complexion turns pale, but Ed is not vigilant and digs into his bosom and stabs him with a dagger. Eventually, another explosion occurs due to the following Elemental Ceremony – Explosion, and Taldarek falls out.

Just like that, Tal’darek of the Third Seat’s Swiftness lost his mind.

A completely exhausted Ed slumps down on the dirt floor.

Tarkan’s gigantic body disappears, and Merilda quickly gets rid of her magical power burden and lands on the ground in the form of a girl.

Merylda, who ran towards Ed with the hem of her white dress flying, helped him up.

Merilda knows his goal too. In her arms, she quickly picks up the necklace of Bell Broke’s molar teeth.

Merilda still supports Ed and continues walking into the forest.

There is no end in sight of the forest area where trees spread out. Reaching the end of this forest is not the goal anyway.

Even while being supported by Merilda, Ed continued to be conscious of Valveroke’s molars. Little by little, the magical energy flowing along the surface weakens, and then completely disappears.

I raise my head with difficulty.

There… is a huge lake that occupies the center of this forest area. It’s so beautiful that Ed sighs heavily. and look at the sky

An optical illusion occurs as if a giant dragon’s head is visible in the open sky.

How many times did you end up dying? What is certain, however, is that while each death was painful, it was not meaningless.

It wasn’t pointless. That alone made me feel as if I had been saved, and the open sky seemed higher.

Ed receives Valveroke’s fangs from Merilda. Even the weak magic has completely disappeared. Ed catches his breath and throws his molar into the lake.

Velbroke’s molars float in the air, eventually sinking to the bottom of the lake.

Adele opened her eyes.

I slowly put my hand on the wall and got up. The dripping blood dripped onto the floor.

Ed Rosteyler walks through trees.

Leading her completely exhausted body, she managed to come back to the place where Jenika was leaning against. In the meantime, her magic power ran out, and even Merilda’s summons were canceled. All that remains now is a disfigured body.

I came back to Yenika and sat down. The state of the body between the two cars does not make sense.

In a light tone, Ed opens his mouth.

“It’s over now.”

Time for the joint combat practice to come to an end.

The Star Changryong, Valvelock, did not appear after all.

“Let’s go back. Yenika.”

*

Gathering mana all the way to the bottom, she manifested Lacia, and returned to the vicinity of Aken Island riding on her back.

By the time I crossed the Maxes Bridge, I didn’t even have the magic power to sustain Lacia, so I had to cross it with Jenika on my back.

When the two battered students crossed the bridge, the academic staff guarding the entrance were startled and protected us, and we were helped to the medical facility near the student center.

The bachelor was peaceful. at least compared to before.

The highest-ranking spirit appeared out of nowhere in the skies above the school, and the apostles of Telos fought against him.

And on the side of the Baccalaureate Church, the terrorism caused by holy magic and the excommunication of Archbishop Verdio.

At the Glockt Hall, there was even an incident where a freshman who drank the blood of an evil god went on a rampage.

It is said that they cannot provide us with a lot of manpower support because they are all in the middle of an uproar.

It wasn’t particularly fatal, it was just exhaustion, so it didn’t matter too much.

However, I had to make Jenika take a break as soon as possible… I asked the bachelor staff to go as soon as possible.

As we were moving towards the student center… a majestic carriage stopped in front of our eyes.

I think they were heading towards Maxeth Bridge, but as soon as they met us, they made a sudden stop. Looking at the carriage’s appearance, I was used to it.

The door of the wagon opens, and the escort knight comes out first. She slowly tried to escort the owner of the wagon, but she didn’t care and spurred her seat and into her arms.

“Senior Ed!”

Saint Clarice of the Church of Telos. In terms of her nobility, she was comparable to the third princess, Fenia, but she dug into my arms without being conscious of the gazes around her or protecting her body.

“It’s over…! It’s over…!”

“…yes…”

“Really…really…”

I was about to tell him to be conscious of his surroundings, but I stopped.

It was really just getting out of the hellish time. Clarisse… It must have been hard to control the rising emotions.

“Really… everything… is over… Verdio has been officially excommunicated, and Seonghwang-nim will send an official letter of apology for the disturbance he caused within the school. Sung Chang-ryong will also… appear. I didn’t…”

“is it so.”

“We made it… we… really… made it… if Ed hadn’t been there… what would have really happened… me… Adele…”

After endless tears, Clarisse quickly raised her head.

“Adele…”

The situation was so urgent. In order to save this last chance, every minute and every second was precious.

Now… I had to come up with a name.

“Adele… where is…?”

*

It’s a life I’ve been running away from all my life.

You talked about freedom, but what you longed for was survival.

However, what is the reason why he finally returned to the circle of sacrifice and died?

Was it simply because he felt sorry for Clarisse? Is it because she felt sorry for her who had to face the fate of her death instead of her own?

Pity and pity, guilt. Had such things squeezed Adele’s heart, and she had no choice but to give up her own life.

That’s true to some extent, but if you ask if it’s a complete answer, it’s not.

Passing through the commercial city of Oldek, to the Saint Carpea, and as a bard, he roamed around the world, and eventually to the Sylvania Academy.

At the end of that life, what always remained in Adele’s heart was the memory of playing the lute while sitting at the window of the Seonghwangdo.

It is a life without purpose. At least, that was the case until the success came out.

The reason I decided to take in many landscapes while strolling around the world was because I didn’t want the song I sang to Clarice to remain a lie.

Because of Clarisse, who listened to Adele’s lute by the window and brightened her eyes, the girl decided to become a bard.

I wanted to become a true minstrel, so that what I said to her would have the same meaning.

So, Clarisse was the meaning of Adele’s life.

It was an existence that gave its own value to a life that was meaningless.

A life without family and friends. Such a gloomy life usually has a sad ending.

There were people who took their own lives, and I saw many people who found the meaning of their lives in taking away the lives of others. That’s why Adele smiled warmly at my ending.

In the end, there was only one thing Adele had to say to Clarice and Ed.

It wasn’t even a long story.

– Bang!

After kicking the door of the Glockt coffin, Ed and Clarisse rush in.

Among the many corridors leading to the practice room, I run to the deepest and darkest place.

And as soon as you turn the corner, you can see it at a glance.

The expression is comfortable. As always, a happy looking face.

The pool of blood that spreads little by little is like a cradle that embraces her.

It is not difficult to remember the image of a girl sitting on a bench and rubbing her eyes.

– ‘scary.’

– ‘I don’t want to die.’

However, the face leaning against the wall looks so comfortable. How could that be?

If you think about what was so scary, it actually wasn’t that difficult.

What Adele feared so much was meaningless death. When he thought of Clarisse, who would remain alone under the cold wall of prosperity until the end, even his own death seemed meaningless to him.

Either end up being swayed by the will of the church, or turning the world into an enemy after losing all faith and becoming a saint of disbelief. Clarisse’s future… she was just sad.

However, that was groundless.

Only after confirming that Ed remained by Clarisse’s side did she finally get rid of that fear.

Feeling saved by itself, she finally laughed.

It was a life lived like the wind, but in the end, there was a reason for that life and death.

Clarisse was held in Ed’s arms and cried for a long time.

Fortunately, Ed was there to hug her.

So Ed hugged Clarice for a while.

So that she who lost a precious friend can lean on her emotionally right now.

*

So, be strong.

I dedicate the last sentence of this book to you, who became the end of my life.

Lucy.

The girl sitting on the roof of the Glockt building sighed and closed the book. This building was also built with the support of the old man.

Glockt’s last book officially revealed to the world, ‘The Southern Expeditions’.

It is said that the original was sold to a prestigious magical aristocratic family at a high price, but the real original was in Lucy’s hands. The book that was sold was nothing more than a high-quality copy… but no one knows about it right now.

Lucy didn’t really care. If everyone thinks it’s real, then the book is real.

“…”

For Lucy, the last verse of this book is especially unforgettable.

Even the moment the Archmage Glockt died, he was searching for meaning in his life.

After all, is life like a journey to find the reason? Lucy was still young and hadn’t drawn a picture of that grand journey… but somehow she felt empty.

The joint combat practice, which has been boring, comes to an end. Although the 1st year alchemist caused a commotion, it was said that Sword Saint Taily quickly subdued it and caused no major damage.

The holy magic disturbance that occurred in the cathedral will be dealt with by the academic staff by talking to the Holy Emperor. Adele’s work is also likely to be shouldered by Verdio. Because the saintess knows all the truth.

The highest rank spirit that appeared out of nowhere surprised people, but it didn’t cause any loss of life or property, so it would end in a happening. It’ll take a bit of scolding, though.

“I want to eat beef jerky.”

Looking up at the sky, the sun was setting.

Lucy closed her eyes and let herself be in the warm breeze of late spring. Eventually, the memories of his past come up and make Lucy’s ear lobe hot, but… he blows away the strange shame with a sigh.

Summer is coming soon

When vacation starts, camp work will be busy again. And again fall will come, and winter will come.

Time will pass like that. As always.