Chapter 50: The End of the Test

A scorching heat swept through everything, spreading out in all directions. The air was filled with that pungent smell of sulfur, along with sparks of fire that scattered and danced around…

The Fireball Spell was almost the symbol of a mage’s power in the minds of ordinary people. Though only a third-tier spell, its attack power could even surpass some fourth or fifth-tier spells, making it one of the most cost-effective spells. The effect of three spells stacked together instantly unleashed an overwhelmingly powerful force. Centered on the detonation point, a wall of fire nearly six feet high splashed outward. Even that fierce-looking monster let out a tearing howl in that instant… In some ways, this test was still unfair… Because there were no restrictions on items here. As long as they had some ability, noble children could use magic items, scrolls, and the like to deal with danger, naturally lowering the difficulty of the fight. Commoner apprentices didn’t have such benefits and could only rely on their own spell slots.

“Are they crazy?” The corner of the boy’s mouth, visible below his hood, twitched—this was not only a lament at the extravagance of the four Fireball Spell scrolls being used at once, but also because the unlucky fellow caught by the giant snake’s tentacle was also within the flames’ range. When the stacked spells exploded, he had already become a human-shaped torch! The howl of a human was undoubtedly more heart-stopping than the roar of a monster. Even though this roar lasted only a moment before vanishing in a sudden burst of blue light, it still sent a chill down Constantine’s spine.

Fortunately, within that sea of fire, a point of green from the Bequli Gem was particularly conspicuous, allowing Constantine to relax slightly.

Then he also noticed why these guys were so tense—the blazing flames illuminated a bit of the scenery between the two doors. Constantine noticed there were at least seven or eight more waving tentacles inside. If not for the burning flames, they would probably have rushed out from the doors simultaneously.

“That’s a Cave Lurker… Those monsters are best at hiding and ambushing. They were probably imprisoned here to guard the treasure,” Dilia seemed rather accustomed to the howls. She comfortingly patted her younger sister who was clinging tightly to her and calmly explained to Constantine. “But generally, as long as they aren’t given special provocation, they won’t actively attack people too far from their nest. Those guys probably didn’t know that and were still attacking! Idiots more foolish than Goblins!”

“As for that poor fellow…” She pulled a scroll from her waist and tore it open. Two black ravens flew out of thin air. The young lady’s mocking tone carried a hint of regret. “He can only blame himself for not being clever enough. After all, in this test… no, among the apprentices of the Mage Tower, aside from true fools, there aren’t any truly trustworthy friends.”

This logic wasn’t hard to understand.

How much time did those high-ranking mages, buried in their research, have to guide their apprentices? Probably not much. Every mage was busy with their own research work. How much energy would they have to manage a bunch of kids the Mage Tower shoved at them? Moreover, even if they could teach with care, Hayton sent several dozen suitable candidates each year, plus those noble children they had to deal with… Now almost every mid-rank mage already had over a dozen apprentices. Could they possibly attend to both the good and the bad?

So, to increase their own chances of becoming high mages, the competition among apprentices naturally grew more brutal… Since only those apprentices who survived until the appointed time could advance, then those who performed well, whose strength wasn’t particularly great, who seemed clever but weren’t clever enough, naturally became thorns in everyone’s side… So perhaps the annual advancement test was the best opportunity for apprentices to spare no effort in eliminating rivals.

Seizing the chance while the flames burned, several apprentices who had just escaped disaster immediately began running toward the door on the opposite side of the hall… The Fireball Spell wasn’t a Wall of Fire spell; its explosive burning wouldn’t last long… Just as they fled, the fire weakened slightly, and one monster took the opportunity to charge out! This monster moved extremely fast. Its snake-like body coiled a few times and already crossed several dozen feet!

So the mage apprentice running at the back screamed and tore open a scroll, hurling another fireball!

But clearly, reptilian life force was extremely tenacious, or perhaps the intense pain spurred its life potential. This several-hundred-pound snake-like body actually leaped out like a spring! As its octopus-like tentacles swung, its prey could only watch helplessly as the suction-cup-covered tentacle coiled around his chest. Then, with a twist, this unlucky fellow was hurled high into the air! He flew up like a ball, rising very high! When he fell, fate had it that he slammed into a trap on the ground! Gray frost almost instantly covered half his body. If the light hadn’t teleported him out in time, they probably would have had to remove him along with the stones on the ground.

But now the boy had no mood to consider these things. He noticed that several monsters behind the door had crawled out by now. They waved their ugly, suction-cup-covered tentacles, scanning the surroundings with the small eyes amidst their limbs… It seemed the intelligence had been slightly off, or perhaps these creatures had been left here too long and wanted to soothe their rumbling stomachs with rare prey?

Then, they scattered, swooshing as they charged toward their respective targets!

“Oh no!” Dilia cried out in alarm. She grabbed her sister and turned around immediately, ready to rush toward the small door they came from!

According to her original plan, she was going to wait until that unlucky monster finished off the equally unlucky two mage apprentices, then easily reap the benefits—that monster had already been half-killed by the recent Fireball Spell. Even if it could kill the two panicked fleeing apprentices, it wouldn’t be able to withstand many more attacks. Even if the two apprentices could defeat the monster using items, she would take the chance to cause trouble, striving to ensure both sides suffered.

But now, with all the monsters charging, clearly only escape was the best course.

However, obviously, the mage apprentices weren’t fools. Just as the two girls began to move, the guy running at the front pulled out another scroll. Then a purple light leaped from his hand. This purple light shot into the air, instantly transforming into a huge yellow-green spider web. The sticky web scattered down from the sky, covering a large area—but the direction of his spell wasn’t toward the snake-like monsters behind him, but at Constantine and the Dilia sisters!

“Georgea Crossland! You damned scoundrel!”

A thinking being with normal logic probably wouldn’t think about killing another person while fleeing for their life. Dilia’s thinking was normal, so she hadn’t expected the other party to suddenly attack her. The girl let out a stream of curses, completely disregarding her image, but she was powerless to change her situation—that sticky web covered over a dozen feet. Using it to ensnare just three people was more than sufficient. Not only was the material of this spell exceptionally tough, but its excessive stickiness was annoying. Those caught couldn’t leave, and the slightly elastic, contracting material made it hard for those inside to even perform spellcasting gestures!

“When you meet a bear, you don’t need to run faster than the bear, just faster than your companion… huh?” Constantine sighed softly…

By now, that huge snake-like monster had reached the vicinity… Clearly, it possessed more intelligence than its appearance suggested—almost immediately, it slowed its movement, then turned its octopus-like head toward the three trapped in the web, and began crawling toward this immobile meal. Though the web spread around also caused it some trouble, the monster, with its monstrous strength and slick body surface, clearly didn’t care at all. It just gave a strong tug, and some of the web stuck to its body snapped. Then, its suction-cup-covered tentacles began reaching toward the three in the web.

Alina was already screaming repeatedly, terrified by the monster, while Dilia gritted her teeth, made a gesture, and a mass of greenish stuff appeared out of thin air, shooting toward the Cave Lurker! The Lesser Acid Orb burst with a pop on the monster’s head, immediately raising wisps of white smoke indicating corrosion. The monster instantly twitched and backed away a step! But this attack clearly wasn’t heavy enough; instead, it provoked its ferocity! With a hissing screech, the monster reared up, trying to pounce forward!

…

“A single Web spell naturally couldn’t deal with three monsters coming one after another, but if those three monsters had another target, it became much easier…” The curses behind him sounded like a hymn, pleasing to the ears—Georgea Crossland, who was running, felt exceptionally proud in his heart. “Even the mentors’ wisdom in adapting to enemies is only so-so. No, given time, I’ll definitely surpass most mentors. After all, I ended my advancement exam with top marks…”

Proud thoughts whirled in the magic apprentice’s mind, making the sliver of sunlight at the doorway seem even more lovely. This guy even felt somewhat elated. He couldn’t help but let out a burst of mad laughter—Cave Lurkers were creatures that liked darkness. Though they could move in the bright Temple, they would never expose themselves to sunlight. That meant as long as he escaped through the Temple’s door, victory in this test was assured!

But just as he was almost embracing that free sunlight, he suddenly noticed the light around him seemed to welcome him, becoming unusually bright!

CRACKLE!

A disgusting, huge grinding sound rang out around him, but Georgea Crossland could no longer hear it—a bolt of Lightning as thick as an arm embraced him warmly before he could react. The tremendous force of the lightning flung him backward, across several dozen feet, then slammed him hard against a smooth marble pillar. The dull clang made the dizziness from the impact even surpass the numbness caused by the electric shock! And before the poor apprentice could hit the ground, a fire serpent swooped down from the ceiling, merging with the light he vanished into, forming a bright purple glow! Only his Wand, the proof of first place in the exam, struck the ground with a crisp clink!

“This can’t be… The traps on the main path of the hall were all disarmed when we came in… I specifically verified with detection magic! And I didn’t feel like I triggered a trap…” Before his vision turned completely dark, the magic apprentice, utterly unable to comprehend the situation, had only this shout echoing repeatedly in his mind… Of course, George, who was immediately forcibly teleported outside the Labyrinth, naturally didn’t get to see that his companion behind him met a similar fate. That unlucky guy was hit by a sudden fireball, and instantly a certain roasted meat fragrance filled the surrounding air…

In truth, they really should thank the Labyrinth’s rescue mechanism. If that blue light had lit up just a tiny bit later, they probably would have needed to borrow the power of the Deities to make the cooked duck take flight again.

The delicate and somewhat alluring faces of the Dilia sisters now wore nearly identical expressions of stunned stupor… They still stood within the area covered by the Web spell, but by now the girls had forgotten to struggle. They just gaped, dumbfounded, at the boy not far from them. He deftly made a gesture, and then light surged from the ground in the distance. A triggered trap condensed a mass of yellow-green mist in the air!

The mist swirled, condensing at a visible speed, then droplets of rain with a strong, corrosive smell poured down on the two Cave Lurkers! The acid rain, like arrows, plunged into the monsters’ bodies, immediately emitting white smoke. Large areas of corrosion appeared on their thick, rubber-like hides. Those small, honeycomb-like black dots caused the monsters immense pain. They let out high-frequency hissing shrieks, writhing their bodies constantly, but within just a few breaths, large, ragged gaps appeared on their heads and bodies.

“You… how did you…?” Only when the two monsters’ bodies were corroded enough to reveal bone did Dilia finally snap herself out of her shock. She uttered an incredulous question, but the sound cut off abruptly as her gaze met Constantine’s face. The girl noticed that within the shadow of the hood, Constantine’s pupils were now shimmering, showing an unusual purple hue. That somewhat eerie luster added a touch of strange and mysterious feeling to his originally ordinary appearance…

…

“How is this possible? Although there were indeed magical traps there… but how could he know the types of surrounding spells so clearly?” Outside the Labyrinth, surprised questions rose one after another. The mage originally operating the crystal spoke especially loudly. He lifted his hood, habitually tugging at his already half-bald scalp, as if that could give his brain the right answer. “And using Mage Hand to trigger traps isn’t difficult, but he actually managed to control the direction of all the traps so precisely… How on earth did he do it?”

“Look at his eyes… You’ll find what you want to know…” A voice spoke up coldly behind him, reminding him.

“Eyes? Arcane Sight! That shouldn’t be something a warlock apprentice could master… But he didn’t use a scroll. Could someone have made it permanent for him?” Long experience in spellcasting was enough for a qualified mage to judge the effects of some body-enhancing spells from external manifestations. Naturally, they could see the type of spell enveloping that boy in the crystal’s image…

But the next moment, the mage almost jumped! Only then did he notice the significance of the voice behind him—he turned his head, and a length of snow-white beard filled his vision. Beneath that beard, which almost covered half the face, a rugged profile and that sharply prominent nose exuded a peculiar aura. Beneath the pure white brows, the eyes, showing no sign of age, held a piercing gaze that seemed to have already penetrated his body!

For a moment, you could hear a pin drop in the room… All eyes were fixed on the figure who had just appeared.

“Remaining participants: seven. Have all the rewards been obtained?” Archmage Nikolai’s gaze seemed to have pierced through the model’s translucent top cover, taking in everything. His beard quivered slightly, then he nodded, raising his volume slightly as if making an announcement. “Having reached this point, there isn’t much meaning in continuing. I think this test ends here…”