“I’ll fire a signal flare into the sky, so we’ll start then.”
Shuuuuu.
As Chris prepared to fire the signal, the children each took a ready stance.
Watching this, Anakin quietly closed her eyes and touched the ground.
Her vision was submerged in darkness as she spread her sensory perception as thin and wide as a spiderweb.
This was also an ability of the spirits.
Though it wasn’t perfect because her Ether was still weak, it was enough to discern the surrounding structures.
After detecting a suspicious installation on the right, Anakin opened her eyes and stood up.
“Lucien.”
Lucien stared at her blankly.
“I think there’s a trap on the right once we go in.”
“……Really? How do you know that?”
Lucien looked at her dubiously, but Anakin spoke as if it were nothing.
“Just think of it as a special ability of mine.”
Spreading one’s sensory perception this wide was a feat only possible for a high-level mage of the 6th Circle or a swordsman at the level of a Sword Expert.
The fact that Anakin, who was merely a 3rd Circle mage, could spread such a wide sensory net was certainly enough to cause suspicion.
‘All that hard work practicing Ether was worth it.’
“Then, let’s begin.”
Since these grades would be reflected in their scores to become regular disciples, they had to give it their all.
Flash!
As Chris’s orange mana shot high into the sky like a pillar, the children dashed into the forest simultaneously, as if they had been waiting for the moment.
Anakin leaped toward the rightward path she had scouted earlier.
“Lucien. This way.”
After passing through some dense trees, Anakin turned right.
Lucien followed her without a word.
Since they were still near the entrance, there didn’t seem to be any monsters yet.
After running for a while, Anakin stopped.
There was a patch of flat ground that looked incredibly suspicious.
“You’re right. That’s impressive.”
At Lucien’s rare compliment, the corners of Anakin’s mouth lifted slightly.
Anakin and Lucien began to investigate the ground.
The unnaturally flat earth looked like a trap to anyone’s eyes.
“It looks like a magic device. We’ll have to step carefully.”
The artifact was nowhere to be seen, but it was immediately obvious that this was a trap prepared by a mage.
She could feel a faint trace of mana coming from it.
‘This must have been designed by the high-ranking disciples too, right?’
“I’ll go first.”
Lucien stepped forward with a confident voice.
“Will you be okay?”
Anakin asked worriedly. Lucien raised his hand as if telling her not to worry.
“I’m pretty tough.”
Anakin burst into laughter at the sight of his reliable-looking back.
“……Pfft. Okay. I’ll trust you.”
Is this why he wanted to be partners? To show off a cool side?
The moment Lucien stepped onto the flat ground suspected to be a trap, an ice spear manifested from mana flew from the air as if it had been waiting.
“……!”
The spear was aimed precisely at Lucien’s thigh.
Lucien looked at the ice spear calmly. And then…….
Thwack!
The spear plunged straight into Lucien’s thigh.
Simultaneously, Anakin’s eyes filled with horror.
“Why didn’t you deploy a shield?”
She had clearly seen him witness the incoming spear, and he must have predicted it, so why didn’t he block it?
Blood was already dripping from Lucien’s pierced thigh, soaking the hem of his trousers.
“I wanted to see how much power it had.”
At Lucien’s nonchalant words, Anakin frowned and said:
“Move. I’ll just do it.”
“Wait. Now I know the level of it.”
Looking down at his wound, Lucien grinned and began to stride forward boldly.
The traps triggered, and a barrage of attacks began to fire at him.
Blades, spears, and even curse magic that slowed time for a certain period.
Lucien, with an amused expression, deployed shields in both directions and continued walking.
Spells continued to bounce off Lucien’s shields. Anakin could only watch him quietly.
As he walked deeper, the incoming attacks increased in number and speed.
She desperately wanted to step in, but she couldn’t ignore Lucien’s request to wait.
‘Is this what it feels like to have a comrade?’
For some reason, an anxious feeling preceded her thoughts.
Lucien raised the corners of his mouth as if he had realized something and muttered:
“Ehehe. It’s exactly the same.”
“……?”
Now he was practically sprinting.
As Lucien ran like an unbridled horse, the attacks poured down on him all at once.
Crackle!
Under the savage onslaught, even Lucien’s shield began to crack.
“Lucien! There’s a crack in your shield!”
Whether or not he heard Anakin’s shout, Lucien was focused solely on stepping on the traps.
‘It looks like it’s about to break; what is he planning? It looks like he’s almost out of mana too.’
Anakin watched Lucien with anxious eyes, her heart racing behind him.
Crr-ack!
It was just as Lucien’s shield was about to shatter completely.
Suddenly, a bell-shaped rune appeared, floating in the air.
Swoooosh!
The dangerous-looking condensed mana contained within the rune aimed for Lucien.
“This is insane!”
Surviving a hit from that would be a miracle.
Moreover, hadn’t he already exhausted his mana getting this far?
‘Isn’t this designed to kill?’
It was the moment Anakin tried to step in, realizing too late.
The merciless, savage mana poured toward Lucien.
Before there was even time to react, an explosion that shook the ground filled the forest.
KABOOM!
“Cough!”
Anakin coughed, covering her mouth and nose with her arm.
She cleared the dust blocking her vision with wind magic.
“Lucien!”
Once she saw that rune, it was too late to react.
Anakin thought Lucien wouldn’t be okay.
As the dust cleared, she saw a battered Lucien.
His clothes were partially torn from the aftermath of the explosion, and his body was covered in deep gashes.
Anakin immediately ran to Lucien.
But the moment she got close, she faltered.
Right in front of Lucien, an artifact sat well-preserved inside a container made of transparent crystal.
“This…… it’s an artifact?”
“I told you to trust me, didn’t I?”
“How did you find it……? No, more importantly, Lucien, are you okay?”
“I told you. This is my specialty.”
Seeing Lucien speak so nonchalantly while looking like a complete mess, Anakin felt like she might cry for some reason.
He looked like a total wreck, yet he said he was fine…… for some reason, her heart ached.
“Come here.”
At Anakin’s words, Lucien approached her with wide eyes.
He was so large that it felt like a giant dog was following her.
“Can you give me your hand?”
Anakin’s serious face and bold request for his hand made the tips of Lucien’s ears turn red in an instant.
“…….”
After hesitating slightly, Lucien reached out his hand.
Anakin closed her eyes and focused on her Ether.
She poured Ether into his body with the thought of infusing it with healing and vitality.
Then, starting from the point where they touched, a bright light began to glow, and the energy slowly seeped into Lucien’s wounds.
It was her first time, so it was a bit clumsy, but just like when she spread her sensory perception earlier, it worked when she imagined it and infused the Ether.
“Is this the limit?”
Anakin frowned and pulled her hand away from Lucien.
Unfortunately, the wounds had only closed slightly; it was hard to call it proper healing.
“What? Anakin. You aren’t a healing mage, so what on earth did you do?”
Healing mages cannot fight.
This is because combat-type mana and healing-type mana cannot coexist within the body.
Lucien, unaware that she had healed him with Ether, was busy examining his body in surprise.
“Do you feel a bit better?”
When Anakin looked up at Lucien with a disappointed face, he nodded vigorously and said:
“Totally. My body feels lighter than when a healing mage heals me.”
“What? Pfft.”
Even though it was obvious the healing hadn’t gone well because of her lack of Ether, she was grateful to Lucien for saying such things.
Anakin laughed, then soon turned her gaze to the artifact and said:
“More importantly, how did you find the artifact?”
‘Was that giant explosion at the end a hint?’
When Anakin asked curiously, Lucien replied:
“The artifact appears if you trigger all the traps within the time limit. So I felt them out at first and then triggered them quickly.”
“……Really? How did you know that?”
“It’s a method Grandpa used to use often when he trained me. If you step on the traps slowly, you hear a sinking sound from below, and the faster you step on them, the more you hear a rising sound.”
“…….”
Was it a trap installed by Elder Lafitier Filo? Or was it made by a disciple influenced by him……?
In any case, it was a truly malicious trap.
Ultimately, it was designed so that it could only be brought out if one endured all the traps at once.
If one had stepped on them slowly without knowing anything at first, it was a section perfectly designed to waste time.
