Chapter 30 - 29 : benefit

Chapter 30: Chapter 29 : benefit

Chapter 29 : benefit

On the other side of the circle, another ogre had managed to close in on one of the escorts who were trying to seal a gap that had opened in the defense. The man had spent a large part of his strength using the reinforcement, and if he fell now, the distance would open for several other ogres to break through.

As for Raphael...

He was of almost no value to him.

Noah remembered the offer Raphael had made him before leaving Charchal. Looking at his terrified face, that wasn’t the real reason.

If he had provided a benefit, Noah would have saved him without doubt. But since nothing was worth wasting a shot from a Magic Crystal-powered weapon or drawing more attention to his abilities for the sake of someone who was neither an ally nor someone he needed.

Noah waited the wind blew, and he felt the free mana drift with it, then settle for a short moment after the current struck the surrounding rocks.

He adjusted the muzzle slightly.

He pushed a small amount of mana toward the Magic Crystal.

The crystal lit up.

He pressed the trigger.

The projectile burst from the muzzle at a speed that made the air before it give off a sharp whistle. The recoil was stronger than he had expected, and his arm jerked back, but he held the weapon’s direction until the projectile had left.

It passed wide of Raphael.

The young man’s eyes widened.

The projectile pierced the eye of the ogre on the other side of the circle, and part of the magical energy exploded inside its head. The beast shuddered before it collapsed in front of the escort it had been about to reach.

Charles looked at the fallen ogre, then at the weapon in Noah’s hand.

"On the first shot..."

He did not hide his admiration.

As for Raphael, his mind went blank for a moment.

He looked to the ogre Noah had killed, then turned back to look at him.

Noah had seen him.

He had heard him.

And the weapon was in his hand.

Yet he had chosen to fire in the other direction.

"You... you bastard."

Raphael’s foot caught on a small rock.

He fell to the ground.

He tried to get up quickly, but the ogre chasing him reached him before he could rise.

His screaming did not last long.

Noah turned his eyes away.

He felt no particular pleasure, and no need to take revenge on him. Raphael had simply picked the wrong person when he assumed that a mere cry for help would be enough to make Noah act.

after seeing the precision of the shot he had fired,Some of the nobles tried to rush toward Noah .

He used the weapon when the fall of one of them would affect the stability of the defense, and he ignored anyone whose rescue he saw no benefit in.

The battle wore on, and the Titan Ogres crept closer and closer to the rear carriages.

Noah noticed something strange.

The ordinary ogres charged at the escorts without hesitation, while the candidates slowed down as they neared the area where the supervising noble mages stood.

Even one of the Titan Ogres paused for a moment and looked toward them before changing its course.

"Even the beasts know..."

His estimate had been right.

From the start, the supervisors had not been unable to end the battle.

They simply had not wanted to.

The fighting moved further toward the rear, and Noah came close enough to hear their voices between the intervals of gunfire and roaring.

One of the sorceresses said coldly:

"What’s the count now?"

The man sitting near the carriage answered:

"Nine."

"Only nine?"

"Ten if the one on the eastern side dies."

The sorceress watched the fighting for a few moments.

"We’re close to the limit."

"We’re still under it."

The man said this as though he were speaking of crates lost from the cargo, not people who had died minutes earlier.

The third Mage said:

"If we go over the allowed number, the mission rating drops. I don’t want to lose part of the reward because of these arrogant nobles. On top of that, there’s someone from a Golden House among them, and the son of a second-rank noble mage from the Charlemagne Main House."

Another candidate fell.

The seated man looked toward the corpse, then rose to his feet.

"That’s enough."

The moment he moved, a great change surged through the air around him.

The surrounding mana began to gather.

He did not need to widen his mana sense to notice it this time. The amount was so large that its presence became as clear to him as the shift in air pressure before a storm.

Noah reckoned that even if he gathered all of his own mana, he might not reach seventy or eighty percent of the aura the mage was giving off. He could feel plainly that he was weaker than the man. He would have to pin down the exact reason the moment he reached the Academy.

His perception drew back on instinct.

What the man had gathered in moments far exceeded all the spells the candidates had used throughout the entire battle.

The mage raised his hand toward the heights the deep roar had come from.

A small ball of fire appeared before his palm.

At first, its size was nothing impressive.

Then it began to compress.

The color of its center grew brighter, and the air around it warped from the heat.

Some of the ogres stopped.

Even before the spell was cast, several of the beasts began to retreat.

The mage smiled.

"You learned fear too late."

He fired.

The projectile left a trail of light behind it before it struck the slope.

Boom!

The ground shook.

Author Note :

Okay guys, I hope you’re enjoying the Chapter so far, but what really bothers me is that no one is telling me about my mistakes or where I can improve. Is there something wrong with the story? Is it bad?