Chapter 131: Chapter 131: Grace Under Fire

Shaking off his disappointment, Jash went inside the empty cave to rest for some time and take down any monster or examinee straying into it.

Due to the cave being shallow, it allowed him to see what was right outside, but a person approaching from a distance wouldn't be able to.

"This will work," he muttered while setting up a bow and a quiver full of arrows he found atop a tree when he climbed it to rest. Searᴄh the NôᴠeFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

It was most likely left by an examinee who got swept by some flying monster or got forced to fight a melee battle and lost.

'There's no way it's unused,' Jash noted, spotting small tear marks on the string, a clear sign of usage, albeit minimal.

'I'd much rather camp somewhere near the final location, but it doesn't exist yet,' he sighed at the shrewdness of the Academy.

Though he approved of their trickery and wits, being the recipient didn't feel good anyway.

Meanwhile, the audience was captivated by Jash swiftly dispatching three F-Rank examinees.

"Woah! That's not what I or anyone expected, right?" Rui said with a toothy grin, replaying it once again before sighing.

"Haa... looks like it'll be some while before anything happens in this one. On that note, let's take a look at the other half!"

Rui could see the location of other examinees and thus knew that it would take time and luck to have any encounters with others.

That's why he switched to the female part of the tournament, livening up the mood due to their beauty and sophistication.

No matter the world, certain stereotypes existed such as women being more elegant than any normal man.

Naturally, the crowd was excited to look at the girls, some fulfilling their sadistic desire while for some, the dominating ones did the thing.

Besides the strange people that even Rui ignored were the young girls idolizing the teens they witnessed doing impossible feats.

'Hmm, it's time,' Rui thought and singalled for the screen to switch after an overall view of the male's test.

The first figure to appear was Sylvie, moving effortlessly through the forest as if the leaves were her personal pathway.

Every time a participant came in her radius of 5 meters, the buried would light up as they would be instantly disqualified by her plant magic.

Being of royal elven blood, she was talented and even had the talent to manifest her element, a rare element at that.

Since elves were usually close to nature, the plant element wasn't very rare for them, but her talent made up for it.

Her versatility and ease of using it stunned the audience as Rui commented, "Woah~ That's the pride of elves for ya!"

The elves in the stands cheered the loudest, followed by the girls admiring her figure and technique before the men enamored by her looks woke up by the loud ruckus.

"Looks like she won't be fighting any major battle for now," Rui said, "So, why not check out the pride of humans?"

The screen shifted to the figure of Ava, wielding a katana and fighting a bear-like monster that was twice her height.

Despite facing a towering bear, Ava stood resolute and unafraid, striking with precision.

Of course, that was just the perception of the unaware audience; those with a critical eye could notice her amateur stance and form.

Still, none of them frowned; in fact, they wore smiles, recognizing that this year's newcomers were far more talented.

Oblivious to all of it, Ava had only one focus in mind: the monster opposite her.

It had some light gashes around its paws while a few cuts marred its yellow fur around its stomach and back.

The audience gaped at the sight as Ava remained unharmed, using her light legs to reach speeds impossible for the monster to attack her.

Unfortunately, she had a limited mana pool and stamina, so no matter how much she could dodge, she still needed to deal damage.

Hence, she was lagging behind others while fighting the bear slowly but efficiently, taking almost 13 minutes to deal the final blow.

However, the audience were composed by her calm breathing after such an exhausting battle and how she didn't get as much a scratch on her.

"Well, who would have guessed that someone could take an Ursidael like that?" Rui remarked, wiping an imaginary sweat from his forehead.

Though he didn't rest and changed to another place where a girl was wielding a rapier and fighting against a mage.

It was Levi, daughter of Count Killion, who was wielding the rapier and using its light weight to swing it fastly to shake off the damage from the spells being fired at her.

While her enemy seemed quite experienced, firing spells after spells, not letting Levi close in on her at any cost.

—Boom!

It wasn't until an explosion shook both of them off balance that Levi got hit by a fireball, though it didn't do any damage.

She was wearing a special fabric useful against mages, but it still hurt her pride as her expression twisted.

"Why's there a freaking explosion!?" she complained before cursing, "Damn it! Where's that wen–?"

Just as she was about to curse, a stray arrow passed by her ear, startling her yet it served to only enrage her.

Not only had she lost one of her targets, someone dared to target her!

"You're done for, whoever you are bit–!"

Before she could say it, Rui had shifted the screen to the source of the explosion while sighing inwardly.

'Thankfully, the audience can't hear their voices or else,' he thought with a sigh of relief as cold sweat was already forming on the back of his neck.

Still, he had to maintain his image, "I really didn't expect an explosion to go out at such an important juncture of a fight,"

"Let's look at what caused it, yeah?" He seemingly asked the audience which played along.

"YEAH!!"

Rui smirked and replayed the scene before the blast occurred.

It was none other than Caera who appeared, holding a magic staff in one hand and a dagger in another.

She was standing and chanting a spell while a group of four girls were cautiously approaching her, unaware of the danger.

"E-Rank Spell: Fire Blaze!"

She muttered the spell name and the entire area within a two-meter radius was set ablaze at the same time.

Yet that wasn't the end of her spell as the fire spread and instantly reached a three-meter radius, surprising the group of girls.

Before they could react, they were already eliminated as the burn damage was a bit too much, activating the barrier immediately.

Meanwhile, Caera didn't stop chanting, summoning a fireball and increasing its power by making it spin on its axis.

Before the audience could make sense of her actions, she threw the E-Rank Fireball in a seemingly random direction.

Yet it triggered a mine beneath the ground, causing an explosion.

—Boom!

Unaware of the approaching Levi, Caera left the area after canceling the spell and extinguishing the fire.

She went in the direction the mine was located, which just so happened to be even farther from Levi, making it extremely hard to catch up.

In fact, it would turn out to be a stupid action as the explosion attracted not just one or two examinees but even some monsters.

"Poor girl, may she be satisfied by her result," Rui said with a praying gesture as he shifted the view to the air.