IRM Chapter 131

Dominic found Evan’s arrangements somewhat strange, but upon noticing that no one else said much about it, he couldn’t be bothered to speak up either.

In any case, ever since he had joined this team, he had been spared a lot of trouble, so even if they really did get an airborne teammate leeching points to advance, it didn’t matter.

The combat hall appeared to be built underground, with no natural light penetrating the surroundings, only a circle of faintly glowing purple magic arrays providing illumination.

Between the two teams stood an erected barrier of light. Through the barrier, one could clearly see the opposing lineup, allowing for corresponding preparations to be made.

Before long, the barrier in the middle shattered, transforming into a room full of light particles that illuminated the hall even more brightly.

The shattering barrier was like an attack horn. In the blink of an eye, the Church’s dragon knights crossed through the light particles and charged toward them from the front. Fire-breathing dragons roared, their bodies ablaze with scorching flames.

Their target was very clear—it was Ji Chi, positioned at the very back.

“Puppet beast, go.” The magic ring on Linton’s right index finger lit up, and a metallic giant beast rushed out from the ring. Like a solid, thick gray metal wall, it blocked the path of the fire-breathing dragon.

Linton had been inspired by the mechanical puppets at the equipment competition. After three years of dedicated research, he combined their control suit and puppet manipulation techniques to create puppet giant beasts that he could control himself or that could attack autonomously.

The steel puppet raised its heavy iron claws and fiercely swatted at the fire-breathing dragon. When the fire-breathing dragon faced it, it no longer possessed its original size advantage and could only dodge and evade sideways with the warrior on its back.

However, the steel puppet wasn’t completely perfect either. Its flexibility was still limited. Even though Linton’s reactions were fast enough, they still couldn’t match the dragons who had learned to fight from birth, nor the warriors who had grown up amidst flashing blades and swords.

The steel giant beast ultimately only intercepted one fire-breathing dragon. A protruding steel spike on the tip of its claw happened to sweep across the fire dragon’s right wing, carving out a long gash. The fire-breathing dragon temporarily lost its ability to fly and could only face the puppet giant beast head-on along with its warrior.

The other two fire-breathing dragons bypassed the steel giant beast’s defensive line, only to unexpectedly collide into another steel embrace.

The holy knight on the fire dragon’s back couldn’t help but curse. “Engineers can be used like this?! If they’re not forging equipment, what are they doing on the battlefield?!”

They commanded the fire dragons to retreat some distance and looked up at the mechanical device blocking their way.

“Good heavens…” The holy knight was stunned. “Why is it so ugly…”

Chloe, transformed into her original form, was very unhappy. Her mechanical eyes flashing with red light stared directly at these people who had offended her, and her emotionless voice stated flatly, “Chloe is not ugly. You simply don’t know how to appreciate beauty.”

Chloe generally didn’t get angry easily, but when she did get angry, the consequences were severe.

Both of her mechanical arms transformed into ballista arrows. The massive, sharp metal arrowheads aimed at the fire-breathing dragons beneath the two holy knights.

“Bang!” The ballista arrows connected to iron chains shot toward them at high speed. When the arrowheads tore through the air, the whistling sound waves could almost shatter eardrums. The holy knights hastily yanked their fire-breathing dragons to the side, narrowly avoiding the arrowheads.

However, before they could breathe a sigh of relief, the arrowheads suddenly made a sharp turn when less than a meter from the ground and continued tracking toward them.

“How is this possible?!” One of the holy knights stared in horror, his eyes wide. In that split second, he decisively abandoned the fire-breathing dragon and threw himself forward!

“Boom——” A massive impact sound rang out from behind him, and in the blink of an eye, the fire-breathing dragon was crushed into a pool of blood.

Meanwhile, the other holy knight hesitated for just an instant, wanting to evade together with his fire dragon. When he looked up, he discovered the arrowhead was already right before his eyes!

The fear of imminent death gripped his body. He could only watch helplessly as the arrowhead pierced through the fire-breathing dragon’s skull and was about to pierce through his own body——

“Whoosh!” The magic array surrounding the hall detected the attack that could cause a fatal injury and, before the holy knight could be killed by the ballista arrow, teleported him out of the combat hall.

The holy knight was transported to the original circular field. Kneeling on the sun-scorched marble floor, he gasped for breath heavily. The afterimage of the arrowhead even remained before his eyes, causing his entire body to tremble involuntarily as cold sweat flowed down from his forehead like a waterfall.

Seeing his sorry state, the surrounding students whispered and snickered amongst themselves. “How long has it even been? He was just knocked out right after meeting them? I bet it was Chief Evan who did it!”

Another experienced mage calculated the time and shook his head. “No… Chief Evan would only set up a magic array throughout the entire hall, then instantly teleport everyone out at once…”

“…Ah, you’re right. I was being naive.”

Inside the combat hall.

The summoner from the Church team had lost two summoned beasts in succession. Her face paled for a moment, but she gritted her teeth, drank down a potion, and once again summoned a powerful magical beast renowned across the continent.

This magical beast could be considered a medium-sized boss. Although its level was still far below Chloe’s, it could still manage to buy some time.

The dragon knights who had charged ahead first suffered heavy losses, but they had successfully managed to tie down the two most durable steel mechanical devices.

At the same time, the mages protected at the rear of the Church team finally finished their incantations. Chaotic magical radiance manifested around them.

“Dark magical beast.” Seeing this, Saintess Coralie closed her eyes and raised both hands from her sides. A blood-colored summoning array glowed from beneath her feet, and a magical beast entirely composed of swirling dark mist materialized within the summoning array.

Light magic power would deal double damage to dark creatures, but dark creatures could also corrupt light, making a light mage’s magic power impure. Both their magic power value and magical effects would be greatly diminished.

Light and darkness could never harmoniously merge.

Like a shadow, the dark magical beast slipped through the gaps to reach the mages and opened its mouth wide to spit out a corrosive dark mist.

The light mages couldn’t react in time and got the dark mist splashed in their faces. The magic power values within their bodies were instantly corrupted by half, and the magical halos surrounding them dimmed considerably.

“This is bad. We can’t continue like this… I’ll deal with the magical beast! You continue attacking! We must force him to make a move!” One of the monks seemed to perceive Ji Chi’s intention not to act. His expression changed, and he commanded in a steady voice.

The other two monks nodded. They raised their wands with both hands, aimed at the chaotic battlefield, and shouted simultaneously——

“Blessing of Light!”

“Heavenly Light Baptism!”

Dazzling light elements spread like a tide throughout the entire hall. Ji Chi stamped his feet on the glowing floor and discovered that the dense light elements instantly climbed up from his toes, making his movements somewhat sluggish.

For monks who wielded light magic, however, this environment was more like a blessing. The power of their spells had increased considerably.

After the blessing, the next magic followed. Light elements gathered at the dome’s ceiling, condensing into glowing water droplets, seemingly wanting to bring a baptism of both mind and body to the “heretics” below.

Evan looked up at the light droplets about to fall on his face. A trace of annoyance and boredom flashed across his brow. He lowered his gaze and said to Dominic, “Domi, no need to drag this out any longer. You finish this.”

Dominic slowly blinked and nodded. “Alright…”

He raised his hand to sweep aside a strand of hair in front of his eyes, then continued reaching to the back of his head and untied a small, curved twig from his braid.

When he brought his hand back to the front, the twig rapidly grew, forming a resilient bow. This bow was entirely translucent green, its body flickering with tiny specks of light. Strangely, however, it had no bowstring, and there was no quiver on Dominic’s back like ordinary rangers carried.

Evan took the opportunity to introduce him to Ji Chi. “Dominic is an elf born at the center of the Elven Mother Tree. He can use the power of ten elemental spirits through branches from the Elven Mother Tree… From another perspective, he could also be considered an all-element genius.”

Dominic glanced at the light rain in the air. His left hand gripped the bow while his right hand hooked onto the invisible bowstring.

His drowsy voice said softly, “Water spirit—Water Barrier.”

A trickle of water coiled around his fingertips, extending into a crystal-blue string line while simultaneously forming an arrow rippling with waves throughout its body.

He slowly drew the bow.

Whoosh—— The water arrow flew up to meet the light rain, and just as the two met, the water arrow suddenly blossomed, surrounding them overhead in a transparent water-blue barrier. The light rain fell drop by drop onto the water barrier, splashing ripples in circles before quickly dispersing and vanishing.

When the last drop of light rain finished falling, the water barrier also shattered like foam, revealing Dominic’s calm eyes and the frost arrow condensing once more at his fingertips.

His serene emerald eyes gazed toward the exasperated mages across from him, and he slowly spoke, “Ice spirit—Crystal Snow Dance.”

The ice arrow released from the bowstring and, just as it was about to reach the mages, burst apart, scattering into scattered fragments of snowflakes that danced within the hall without wind.

The beautiful, translucent six-sided snowflakes were pure and spotless, fluttering and swirling around the monks as they danced. But at the moment they landed on their bodies, they became sharp icicles, cutting into exposed skin.

The monks hurriedly chanted light shields to defend, but it was useless. These snowflakes were like mischievous little spirits, forming a layer of frost on the light shields that shattered at the slightest touch.

Dominic’s offensive still hadn’t stopped. He seemed to want to end all this as soon as possible so he could return to rest peacefully. This time, two arrows of different colors condensed on the drawn bow.

“Fire spirit—Incineration”

“Wind spirit—Dispersion”

The cyan and fiery red arrows shot out simultaneously, intertwining and coiling as they flew toward the opposite side. Fire borrowed from wind, wind nurtured fire. The single arrow grew longer and larger, and by the time it burned its way to the monks, it was like a massive, vigorous fireball.

“Boom——” The fireball landed on the ground and rapidly spread. Half the entire hall became a surging sea of flames.

Several monks didn’t even have time to chant before being teleported out of the hall. They stood on the sunlit field, looking at each other in dismay, flames still licking at the hems of their robes.

“Wow—— Such dense fire elements, did the young master do that?”

“The young master hasn’t returned yet. It should be Lord Dominic’s fire spirit. When we were training in the Elven Forest back then, I was nearly burned to death…”

A few seconds later, the remaining members of the Church team were also teleported out of the hall, collapsing together in a sorry state, eagerly pouring bottle after bottle of potions into their mouths.

In contrast, the group that teleported out afterward had tidy clothing and calm expressions. The aura belonging to victors immediately overwhelmed everyone present, and no one dared meet their eyes.

Having been carried through a match, Ji Chi was in quite a good mood. He noticed the others’ looks of awe and envy and asked Evan, “What’s the use of this first place? Will it be used to evaluate outstanding graduates later?”

Evan hadn’t heard these strange terms in a long time. Hearing them again, he actually felt a sense of intimacy. He smiled and shook his head. “Of course it has a use. After combat training, we’ll start taking on missions. Those with higher rankings have priority in choosing missions and can obtain the best rewards from them.”

Beside them, Dominic nodded repeatedly. He became very happy when discussing this. “We can also choose the easiest missions…”

What a slacker. I even suspect you grew up in the Weiss Sea… Ji Chi sighed.

“Let’s go. They’ve used up their challenge attempts. I think no one should bother us again.” Evan noticed the number lights on the badges at their chests had extinguished and told them, “The missions will be available today. We can go select them now.”

The mission hall was not far from the training grounds. It was somewhat like the mercenary halls in every city-state, with people coming and going, and dedicated staff to introduce missions.

The Combat Academy was like a condensed city. Learning, training, survival… it encompassed all activity elements.

The Combat Academy’s mission hall was far more impressive than the mission board during the Magic Academy’s midterm training. Missions were divided into many levels—some categorized by danger level, others by mission location. Everything appeared orderly and well-organized.

“We can take on all the missions here.” Evan said, “Not everyone needs to complete each mission. A team can go to many different places to complete missions separately.”

“However, I still suggest the team complete them together.” Evan looked up at the Combat Academy’s emblem in the center of the hall and said, “Barring any accidents, teams formed at the Combat Academy will be the most compatible teams for the rest of one’s life and won’t change easily.”

“So…” Evan looked at them with a smile. “I hope to traverse the continent with you all and cross through hardships together.”

Saintess Coralie smiled, her expression unusually soft. “It’s fortunate Brandon isn’t here, or he’d be sneaking off to wipe away tears again.”

Ji Chi’s eyes widened. “Huh? Him? I thought by now he…”

“You thought he’d have quite the presence now, right?” Saintess Coralie couldn’t help but laugh. “He’s really good at putting on airs now. Don’t be fooled by how he looks—actually, whenever he’s happy or sad, he always hides away to let it out, thinking we don’t know. Hahaha!”

That’s definitely the young master, alright. Ji Chi smiled helplessly.

They soon came to a mission board in the very center. Chloe scanned it once and immediately calculated the missions with the highest cost-performance ratio.

“Southern Swamp, Fren Desert, and Elven Forest.” Chloe said, “Missions at all these locations are viable. The compensation and timing are most suitable.”

Seeing they were still thinking, Ji Chi took the initiative to ask, “Can we choose the Elven Forest?”

He said, “I happen to have something I want to resolve there.”

Evan looked at him and asked softly, “Is it the same matter as in the Northland?”

Ji Chi didn’t say much, only nodded.

At this moment, Dominic’s eyes opened completely. His emerald eyes carried a hint of inquiry. He looked deeply at Ji Chi and said, “I have no objections.”