Chapter 162: Chapter 162: Clash of Ambitions

"Oops! Looks like I was late to the party..."

The girl appeared with a bow in her left hand, arrow in right, with ashen-black hair and oceanic-blue eyes.

Her hair was tied higher than the others and ended at her shoulders, shorter than theirs. No one there could deny she wasn't beautiful.

With a piece of black fabric strapped on her left hand, aiding her grip on the bow, she seemed ready to fight.

"I just heard an annoying voice, and had the urge to get rid of it... so, what now?"

As if her words were what they waited for, all the girls distanced themselves, in groups or alone.

However, when the battle was about to begin, a loud rumbling sound shocked all of them.

The ground shook as a small stone platform, marked with the Solarnelle Academy insignia, emerged.

Everyone's attention was turned to it except for the newcomer who had used that moment to wield her bow and at least eliminate one examinee.

'Not her—she already deflected it,' she thought, shifting her aim from the girl with the strange whipsword.

She aimed at the rapier-wielding girl, Levi, and shot her arrow despite the shaking ground.

Even when her own balance was a mess, the arrow she shot accurately landed on Levi's hand, making her drop her weapon.

"Aaaaah!" she yelped in pain, attracting others' attention before another arrow whooshed by, aiming for her unprotected abdomen.

Sensing the approaching arrow, Levi's eyes widened before the barrier activated, blocking the arrow and teleporting her out.

"What!?" Caera blurted out, struggling to believe someone could have such good aim despite the unstable footing.

'She must be around my age, so how?'

She couldn't make sense of it even though her family, the Ramilles, were known for their archery skills.

Nearby, Sylvie, from a lineage of the best elven archers and mages, watched with a similar state to Caera.

She had seen all kinds of talents in her elven family yet they could barely compare to this newcomer.

Meanwhile, seeing the surprising change and appearance of the newcomer, a SSS-Rank Hunter himself narrowed his eyes.

"So you were alive all along, huh?" he mumbled under his breath, inaudible to anyone but him.

To anyone's surprise the man was Cornelius Ramille, intrigued by the archery style, who chose to observe more closely.

Despite his eyes flickering with intense emotions, he chose to not act.

Instead, he restrained himself and decided to keep an eye on the girl to confirm his doubts.

Unaware of attracting a SSS-Rank Hunter's attention, the girl targeted Rura next, finding the weak links quite easily.

"Argh," Rura reacted to the pain a second too late as the arrow still grazed her even after Caera pulled her over.

"What's your name?"

A sudden question stalled everyone in their tracks as they turned to Ziva, the one who asked the question without a change in her expression.

"...Elara," the girl answered after a bit of thought and felt that it wouldn't matter if she told them her name or not.

'Not like anyone would know me,' she thought while nocking two arrows at the same time and firing them.

Just like her, no one wanted to lose, channeling mana throughout their body or casting a spell.

Seeing the scene, the audience wanted to know why no one cared about that loud rumble and the platform?

Sadly, their question wasn't answered as the girls continued their fight with Freirae deflecting the arrows coming her way.

Obviously, the fight wasn't one vs all, but a free fight, anyone could choose to fight and eliminate they wanted to.

Unable to bear the excessively long fight, Ziva tried closing the distance to Elara, who skillfully created space after each shot.

She seemed more like a wild hunter than a disciplined, trained fighter like the others.

After all, the difference between someone who trained systematically and fought methodically would show on its own.

Just clearing a few dungeons was different from living in the wild and growing up there, it wasn't something that could be matched just via talent.

It was a difference of mindset itself, not something one could bridge without ample experience in dungeons and hunting.

Still, they all had common thoughts about losing to Elara as they could not accept their loss by a girl who they didn't know minutes before.

The sole exception being Ziva, who didn't waste time chasing after her but chose to protect Caera and Rura.

'They would be vulnerable to others,' she noted the difference and decided on her move.

Meanwhile, Vivia was targeted by Lyra, both being mages.

Only Ava and Sylvie were focused on taking down Elara while Freirae was starting to struggle.

It wasn't a sense of camaraderie motivating anyone, though, but a shared sense of victory and defeat. Sёarᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

No matter who it was, winning this was something they all held in high regards, regardless of their share of reason.

Lyra wanted to prove to the world and herself that she was ready to bear the weight of the Archduke title.

Sylvie, Ava and Freirae wanted to make their race proud while Vivia wanted to make the Church proud and prove that she wasn't hopeless.

On the other side, Rura was content with reaching this spot, but still wanted the high rank to raise the status of her clan and prevent any sorts of forced marriage.

Caera just wanted to show to Jash that hard work was necessary and how his idiotic choice to delay awakening was entirely stupid.

Last but not least, Elara wanted to gain a stable footing to investigate the circumstances regarding her family.

The only one who wasn't bothered about it was Ziva.

She had no interest in any ranking, nor did she wish to prove to anyone her strength or her standing.

Ever since the banquet, she was contemplating her decision regarding Jash and what to think of him.

Now that he could best her in a spar or even defeat her, she wasn't so sure about being with him.

With the lack of romantic feelings, she really didn't understand her feelings, and there was no way she would talk to her mom about it.

She was similar to Sera, and would end up making Ziva do something embarrassing, just to tease her later.

Not wanting such a situation, Ziva ended up putting all her focus and time into training to divert her focus.

However, it ended up making her grow a bit isolated from others and a bit detached as she grew tremendously.

Being on the verge of reaching Late E-Rank, she was stronger than any girl nearby, allowing her to swiftly eliminate them.

However, during the battle, she became distracted and made mistakes that got Rura injured and ultimately eliminated.

By that time, even Freirae was eliminated with Vivia and Lyra on their last steps and Elara huffing and puffing with her low stamina.

Coming back to the battle, Ziva took a look around and realized, 'I can get Rank 1 while he should at least struggle, right?'

In the end, the thought of getting Rank 1 while Jash failed to, she ended up focusing on the ongoing battle.

—Schick!

She twisted her sword, separating it into a bladed whip, thinking, 'Let's end this.'