Magical Academy: Rise of the Supreme Magic Craftsman

A few more minutes passed and Ambush perished under the assault of the three Automatons. The former didn't even managed to deal any significant damage to a single Helios before being succumbed by the relentless attacks of the three. 

Khamir was seen very disappointed because for some reason, his automaton's self-destruction didn't activate.

'That Arcane Link Spell is very troublesome.' Khamir thought as he realized the reason it didn't worked.

Meanwhile, the Vital Thorn had also stopped functioning as it was defeated by Fabled Atom after a gruesome battle.

Sheryl could only accept the fact and tried to note all the weakness of her automaton. She comforted herself that it wasn't her specialization anyway. The creation of Automaton isn't her focus so she easily grasped her disheartened feeling. She'll surely excel in the next event, is what she's thinking.

At the very least, the Fabled Atom was no longer in a condition to fight due to heavy damages it received from her Vital Thorn.

Only 11 minutes had passed since the start or the competition but it seems that it was already about to end. The 30 minutes timeframe might be too long and the organizers themselves hadn't thought that it would be like this. After all, once there were only three automatons left from the twelve, then it's the end of the competition.

Everyone checked the status of the remaining automatons. There were three undamaged Helioses, the recuperating Ratman, the unarmed Sword Slave, the heavily damaged Fabled Atom, and the stucked Red-Eyed War Beast. 

"Now, everyone seems to have ended their initial battles. It's time to move to the other fields and hunt for the remaining automatons!" Schneizel excitedly said as he noticed that the three Helios went in the direction where the Red-Eyed War Beast was staying at.

"Hmm... I wonder if their sensors were capable of detecting the Ratman at the bottom of the lake..." Nina commented as he noticed that the Sword Slave passed by near the lake. No one knows if it detected the Ratman but decided not to take action or it just really failed to sense the automaton at the bottom of the lake.

"Look, it seems that the three was planning to help the Red-Eyed War Beast out of the swamp." Nina joked as they observed the three Helioses surround the standing still half human and half horse automaton at the middle of the swamp.

"Now, how would they deal with the situation?" 

"Remember that this automaton has a powerful beam of light. We still do not know whether the three could take on that firepower."

"That's true. The three Helioses doesn't have that information, I wonder--"

 "What?!" Schneizel stopped his words as both him and Nina exclaimed upon seeing four more barrels came out from the back of the centaur-like automaton.

A total of 6 barrels of cannon now turned to the three automatons having 2 barrels aimed at each of them.

"Hey, do you think that each of those barrels were capable of releasing that same beam of light before?"

"Er.. that's a good question. But we'll surely see that any moments by now." Schneizel said unsure of it's capability. If just in case, that 6 barrels of cannon could truly send the same intensity of magic beforehand, then they might have to reevaluate the power of this automaton. 

Soon, the three Helioses made some strange movements probably to avoid being locked on by the enemy. They are only at the edge of the area and not stepping on that dark and muddy swamp.

The three were still connected by the red thread of light or Mana Link Chain and soon activated their Mana Suppression. This Arcane Link spell aims to control the surrounding Mana to be more 'solid' or in other words, difficult to move.

This was why the flight spell being used by the Winged Shadow Serpent a while ago failed activate.

'That Mana Suppression again... I'm not sure about it's full function but my magic structure should not be fully restricted. But this means that it would still affect my Laser Focus and it's power will go down by at least 30-40%' Wallace thought as he analyzed the level of Mana Suppression that the three was releasing. The situation was still way better compared to Chalice's Mana Suppression when he was still in Araceli Island.

This level of Magic that was supposedly a spell only for an Adept or Artificer was something even Wallace's automaton could not fully contend with and he was already glad that it would only weaken his automaton by an acceptable margin.

Since the War Beast wasn't attacking yet, the three Helioses sent some attacks to probe the former.

Earth's Tremor!

Flame Kiss!

Fire Lance!

The War Beast didn't dodge nor cast a defensive spells but instead sent a counterattack to the three enemies. This attack stupefied the audience and even the smug face of Renzo, the leader of Montego's Team, was now frowning at the sight. The counterattack happened so fast that their Helioses were hit accurately.

Earlier while the three automatons were positioning themselves and waiting for the War Beast to make a move, on the other side of the battlefield, the Sword Slave met with the Fabled Atom. 

It's sensors had also detected its teammate but it's already defeated by the automaton in front of it.

This Fabled Atom was so damaged that it could no longer escape but as it was programmed to, it still took a fighting stance against the Sword Slave.

Although this Sword Slave doesn't possess a single Mana Blade by now, it could still cast and throw some spell or even kick it's enemy with it's enhanced armor plates.

Jun watched his automaton cast multiple enhancement spells and approached the Fabled Atom with swift movements. It cast a basic Fire Ball to probe but the automation didn't dodge. 

The Sword Slave moved in different direction as it tried to move in circle and get behind the Atom. 

But it didn't expected that the Fire Ball would hit the enemy and dealt some damage.

'Eh? There's no more Mana remaining? No... that was not the case. These students from Maja placed self-destruction in their automatons. That Atom was only bidding its time and waiting for an opportunity to self-destructive together with my Sword Slave.'

Jun was correct on his speculation as Saida clenched her fist and waited for her automaton to do it's purpose. 

"Sigh~ Even though this would destroy the Sword Slave. It will only let the Montego to get the top three places." Saida said as she observed the battle.

Sure enough, after enduring some magic spells, the Atom charged ahead and tried to explode itself and damage it's opponent. It was easily dodged because the very patient Sword Slave wasn't going near the Fabled Atom and was only sending those Grade 1 magic spells.

The Sword Slave learned it's lesson with the previous automaton that self-destructed, the Fabled Midas. 

At the same time of it's explosion, the counterattack of the Red-Eyed War Beast hit the three targets. 

"It really did!"

"Those were six beams of light! Such a beautiful magic spell!"

"Indeed, it surely dealt considerable damage to the three!" 

"What a spectacular sight!"

"Those steam and dust should be cleared in any moment now." 

The announcers and viewers were waiting for the result of the War Beast's desperate attack. They were thinking that it already exhausted all it's power with that inconceivable Magic Spell. After all, none of them thought that an automaton could cast those destructive spells multiple times.

Everyone believed that this automaton would now turn to a target practice if the three still somehow survived that attack.

As the dust and steam were cleared, the three gorilla-like automaton were seen damaged but still functioning. 

"Wow! They really survived! It's the end for this magnificent War Beast. Too bad that it was facing three at the same time. It has to exhaust all it's power in an attempt to surprise the three but resulted like this..." 

"Sigh... It was a great match..."

Renzo's team were already about to celebrate as they survived the attack but the War Beast cast another beams of light!

Whoosh!! Same power, same speed, same targets. It was truly magnificent sight.

"What? Again?!"

"That's impossible!"

"How did he do it? Is it cheating?"

"Who can explain it to me? How many more?"

"Wait! Hold on! The Helioses can still miraculously defend... Is that armor made of Ancient Abyssal Alloy?" 

As everyone was surprised seeing the War Beast cast multiple killer moves. They were also shocked seeing the Helioses enduring the might of the spell.

"I see, so that was why... That alloy was said to be the toughest one ever existed even without the enhancement of Mana."

"That was amazing. So it was included on the stuffs that was given to them?"

"It surely is. Probably, only these three participants found it on the piles of materials a while ago." Schneizel said.

"That makes sense and even if the others found it, it doesn't mean that they could use it anyway." Nina said in which Wallace decided to recall all the list of materials given to him beforehand. He could only wryly smile and shake his head.