While invisible and looking for Ellen. I mentally took note of every important individual so far.
I could see Thomas Incane, who despite being in a three versus one he didn't seem to be in a disadvantage at all.
His calm expression as he wielded his long sword. Made for a horrifying sight.
Gleaming with a bright light, his sword snaked it's way past the two warriors ganging up on him.
Making it's way into the neck of one and the chest of the other.
Eliminating both of them in one swift motion, he turned to face the third. A mage who looked like they were about to pee themselves.
Turning my attention away, I noted down several other notable individuals who I remembered being in class A.
These guys posed the biggest threat to him and Ellen's goal of getting into the special class.
After jogging for a bit and reaching the other side of the mountain, I finally saw Ellen in the midst of an intense fight.
In her hands was a short one handed sword. Probably couldn't find a bow to use.
Moving closer, I could see she was fighting against someone he remembered being from class A.
Her short sword continuously clashed against her opponents sword and shield.
Seriously? I struggled so hard just to get this wand how did this guy managed to get an entire sword and shield!
I circled around them until I was behind her opponent. Dispelling my invisibility, I raised my wand and pointed at the two of them.
Ellen's eyes widened as she saw me and my wand raised at them.
With a wild kick, she wrung her short sword out of their clash and dashed backwards.
"Whats wrong? Choose to run away after realizing you can't beat me?"
Her opponent taunted her, completely unaware of my presence right behind him.
Drawing upon my mana, I channeled it though the wand.
'Frost blast. '
The same spell which I had used to eliminate Zachary, now launched itself out of my wand once more.
A wave of frost blitzed through the grass, reaching them in the back in no time.
The moment it hit them however, they instantly disappeared. Having been teleported away.
It seemed he was already pretty weakened since you were only eliminated when it was determined an attack would kill you and while my frost blast was strong, it would have knocked him out at best.
I would have offered my hand to Ellen who was panting hard if my hands weren't fully occupied by the sword and wand.
"Thanks,haah haah but you couldn't haah haah have come earlier?"
Waving my wand, I cast a low level ice spell to lower the temperature.
Feeling the cold wind hit the both of them, she smiled gratefully.
This was basically why I had chosen ice magic. Fighting was tiring, and most importantly it always made me all hot and sweaty.
The fix? A simple spell Raymond created that he called, the air conditioner. Named of course after the great invention.
All it did was produce some slight chilly winds. But it was honestly more important then many things in his life.
"I was busy dealing with Zachary just now. "
She raised an eyebrow at that.
"You didnt eliminate him too early did you?"
"I almost did actually, but then Thomas saved him."
It was a pretty short story so explaining didn't take long.
She seemed most interested at the part where I fought Zachary though.
"Thats strange. Zachary didn't have that ability to launch aura blades so early."
That was new knowledge to me. Maybe encountering Raymond had caused him to make a few decisions with the system?
"That aside for now, are we going to climb up the mountain first?"
She shook her head, "I need a bow to use my full strength, and you should get yourself a better wand or staff as well. "
I nodded my head, before offering the longsword I had in my hand.
"You know how to use it? " She asked.
"A little bit. "
"Keep it then, I prefer a short sword anyways. "
I bowed as extravagantly as I could. Which was quite hard to do while holding a long sword and a wand.
"Well then, shall we go see whether anyone is willing to voluntarily give you a bow for you master?"
She giggled a bit, before replying.
"Why of course my dear Shadow."
...
The two of them held hands tightly, right now I had casted my invisibility on the both of us and to prevent us from losing each other. Held hands.
"What about that guy with long blue hair fighting the mage?"
Whispering slightly to avoid being overheard by anyone, I pointed my hand which was interlocked with hers towards him.
Although the chance of them being heard was slim due to all the loud noises of fighting. It didn't hurt to be a bit cautious.
The blue haired guy held a recurve bow on the smaller side. Along with a small quiver of arrows.
A quiver of arrows which was rapidly running out.
"Wow his aim is trash. "
The mage he was fighting didn't even move that much!
"Yeah, lets get him. I can't stand seeing him waste more arrows which I could be using. "
Having gotten her approval, I let go of her hand and moved alone for the next part.
Raising his wand, I relied on my body to aim since I was currently invisible.
Maintaining his invisibility spell on the two of them was a bit strenuous but I could manage.
Waiting for a good moment, I soon got the opportunity I was looking for when the blue haired guy stumbled on a rock while trying to dodge a spell.
Instantly, I steadied my aim and immediately fired off a freeze ray!
My aim was a bit off from where I intended, hitting him in the shoulder but it was enough.
A layer of frost covered his left shoulder.
"Who's there!"
He yelled out in panic turning around to where I was, unfortunately I had already started moving after my first ray.
The mage he was fighting unsure if what happened, took the chance to send a bolt of mana at him while his back was turned
Now I understood how Ellen felt seeing his archery. This guys magic was also trash!
How did these two even last for so long?
Being knocked out by the mana bolt, his body disappeared. Leaving only the bow and quiver of arrows on the ground.
The mage, then turned and ran as fast he could.
Honestly a smart decision on his part. Except when he was casting the mana bolt, I noticed he was using a wand as well.
Dispelling my invisibility, I aimed my wand at the back of the mage who was running.
Since he was running in a straight line, he was an easy target.
'Freeze ray. '
Man, was there anything freeze ray wasn't useful for? I had several different types of ice magic in his arsenal but freeze ray was quickly becoming my favorite.
Hitting the running mage square in the back, his arms flailed for a bit before he eventually disappeared. Teleported away to wherever the eliminated students went.
Jogging over to where he had disappeared, I picked up the wand he had dropped and
'They're the same wand. '
It was the exact same as the wand I was using right now. Down to every last minute detail.
Throwing it away, I sighed in disappointment. Before turning to meet up with Ellen again.
Seeing her pick up the bow and examine it a little. I asked her
"Is it to your liking? Otherwise I would feel, kinda bad if I just eliminated two people for nothing. "
Drawing the bowstring back, she released it with a twang.
"It's... usable."
Attaching the quiver of arrows to her waist, and after securing it tightly. Turned to Raymond and extended her hand.
"I'm ready. "
Nodding, I grabbed her hand and pointed the wand at us.
'Teleport. '
With a pop, me and Ellen both found ourselves standing at the top of the mountain.
Looking around, it was perfectly flat and circular at the top. With absolutely zero cover anywhere.
Looking over the edge of the arena, I could see several dozen people each trying to climb the mountain to reach where Me and Ellen were.
Thanking the past me for deciding to study magic, I picked up my wand and aimed at the person closest to reaching the top.
As much as I wanted to use freeze ray again, using it too much just to knock out these people had a low return on investment.
It was better to save his mana for more important targets like Thomas, because right now he was still down there fighting against several candidates with just his sword.
Not to mention Noelle Asteria, Arthur Findsor and Audrina Cruentus. All soon to be members of the Zachary gang.
While Arthur Findsor was a relatively low threat and had probably already been eliminated since I hadn't seen him. The others were dangerous.
Noelle, Thomas and Audrina were my and Ellen's main hurdles to reaching first and second place.
Thomas seemed to be relatively tired so his threat level could be lowered but the problem was the other two.
'Where the hell are they?!'
Circling around the mountain several times, I hadn't seen either Noelle or Audrina.
Now standing at the top of the mountain, I could see clearly.
They weren't down there.
The border had already shrunk until it was only the plains around the mountain.
Meaning it was impossible to hide in the forest now.
And you could only stay outside the border for two and a half minutes.
Turning around, he saw Ellen drawing an arrow and loosing it at a few people. Hitting three people with only one arrow.
"Hey Ellen? Have you seen Noelle and Audrina yet?"
If he couldn't see then maybe she with her eyes could see them?
She paused while nocking another arrow. Turning her head left and right. After a while she pointed at two different areas.
"Noelle is that girl wearing the robe trying to disguise herself as a mage. Audrina is in some sort of disguise magic fighting in a group with three others. But don't target them yet. Let them get tired while we just rest up here and get a few easy pickings."
To hear that the great Noelle and Audrina were hiding in disguise was something that surprised him. Although they weren't exactly brats, they were still very prideful.
So the fact that they were now disguising themselves made me quite surprised to say the least.
Her eyes really were such cheats. While I could probably make something similar with magic, it just wouldn't be the same.
Her eyes were a passive thing. Not taking up any mana to activate or deactivate. That alone made it leagues better then whatever I could make.
Seeing her hit another triple collateral with one arrow, I turned back to my side of the mountain.
The guy I had originally planned on hitting was getting dangerously close now. Standing at the edge of the flat mountaintop, I looked down and made eye contact with him.
His eyes widened as he saw me standing there, holding a wand in my wand.
Aiming the wand at him, I drew upon my mana. Seeing Ellen had given him an idea of what magic to use.
'Ice spear.'
Forming itself out of thin air. A large spear, taller then even me slowly came into existence. Floating in front of my face, its spear tip looked wicked sharp as it gleamed in the sun
Carefully turning it around so the spear tip wasn't facing me any longer, I locked eyes with the guy climbing the mountain again.
The whole time he had witnessed me creating the spear and moving it around.
His mouth opened, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. It looked like he was mouthing out KEEP DOUGH though.
Too bad for him, I couldn't read lips very well.
Sending the ice spear hurtling straight at him, I watched as he frantically tried to avoid it by moving sideways.
A strategy like that might have worked if it was a regular spear. But I'm a mage. Controlling the direction of my spells was basically as easy as moving my arm.
The only hard part about it was having to modify the spell to be able to control its movement.
But modifying a second circle spell like ice spear was easy work for me, the Archmage.
Stopping the ice spear right before it was about to fly past him, I controlled it to turn 90 degrees until it was face to face with him.
He turned to look up at me, shaking his head side to side.
Controlling the ice spear, I moved it from left to right.
Having played with him long enough now, Raymond maneuvered the spear and made it poke him in the back.
With that poke, he disappeared. Teleported away by the academy as he was now considered eliminated.
Although I only meant to just joke around with him a little bit, seeing how he had been considered eliminated when I poked him in the back with the spear.
The academy staff were probably determining who was eliminated by just watching everyone who was fighting.
A crude but efficient method.
Seeing this, he looked up at the 'sky' and waved at a random direction.