Academy’s PTSD Chaplain

64 – 64. Grade-Based Training (13)

Laura von Adelheid opened her closed eyes.

“This is….”

Here, too, was earth. Over there, also earth. The entire interior of the maze erected in the training ground was made up of earth walls and floors.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that the place she was standing in was the inside of the maze in the training ground. Laura slowly looked around.

Due to the solid earth walls surrounding the area, the paths in the maze were narrow enough for only two people to pass through.

Looking up at the sky of the maze, as Professor Andreas mentioned, a dark curtain was drawn, preventing the view of the outside from within the maze.

Laura reached out her hand to the earth wall. The tightly packed earth wall stood so firm that not a single grain of dirt would fall just by running her hand over it.

It also meant that breaking through the maze walls and forging a path would be difficult. Laura thought about using magic to break down the earth wall but quickly abandoned the idea.

“I need to conserve my magical power.”

The view of the maze from the spectator seats was distinctly enormous, and Laura’s magical power was not infinite enough to collapse all those earth walls with magic. Laura absentmindedly clicked her tongue and began to walk slowly.

‘The victory condition for this training is to capture the flag.’

Yes. Occupying a flag would allow one to advance to the next training. It was a straightforward and unmatched rule.

‘There are 64 flags in the maze.’

In other words, only one-fifth of the students would advance to the next training. Laura herself had to be among them.

In the constantly changing maze, trying to understand its structure in real-time was pointless.

Therefore, the first thing to do was to explore this maze.

The moment her first goal was set, Laura took out her magic wand from her pouch.

Like a conductor waving a baton in an orchestra, the elegant dance of the wand produced a white magical power lingering in the air, forming a magic circle.

“Output, transformation, repulsion.”

The circular magic circle drawn at the center outputs the magical power emitted by Laura.

The intricate trajectory of the surrounding spell formation is a conversion system that transforms external shocks into spells.

Finally, the small magic circle is seamlessly surrounded by a twelve-sided spell. While other students would not be able to draw a twelve-sided figure in such a short time, Laura could.

“Magical Defense (υπερασπίζω).”

It wasn’t just defense; it was protection (防護). It was not merely defending against a specific attack; it was a complex spell formation, a transparent barrier unfolding in the form of a twelve-sided figure around Laura, protecting her from all attacks.

Laura looked at the transparent barrier swirling around her with satisfaction, a content smile playing on her lips.

Now, all she had to do was find the flags hidden throughout the maze.

Laura’s steps began to move. Of course, the direction was forward.

* * * * *

– Student Conwell! Too bad! You left the flag right in front of your nose!

Another student, defeated in a duel with another student, was expelled from the maze. I stared at the monitor broadcasting the scene in real-time, my lips tightly sealed.

The first-year students in Class A were still holding up well. A few unlucky ones had been eliminated, but there were still about thirty students from Class A remaining in the maze.

Among them, Chloe, Laura, and Elin had not been eliminated yet. However, these three had not found the flags yet.

The time limit for flag capture was one hour. Forty minutes had already passed, and now, there were only twenty unclaimed flags left.

The remaining number of students was just over a hundred. It meant that 220 students had been eliminated in the last 40 minutes.

Among them, 56 students were without flags. These 56 students had to find the flags within the remaining 20 minutes.

“Student Adelaide still hasn’t found the flag… a bit surprising, isn’t it? Don’t you think so?”

Professor Esther asked with a worried expression. Since Laura also attended Esther’s class, it wasn’t unreasonable for Esther to pay attention to Laura.

“…Yes. That’s correct.”

I clenched my fist and stared at Laura’s figure being broadcast on the monitor.

No, I glared.

‘You are from the Adelheid lineage. Laura von Adelheid.’

Yes, Laura von Adelheid. That child undoubtedly inherited the blood of Maximilian von Adelheid most intensely.

Evaluated as the genius who embodied the elegance of the Adelheid magical lineage. A cherished scion of a distinguished family, inheriting the beauty of Maximilian von Adelheid. The magical daughter. The prodigy who grasps anything.

But…

‘What are you doing, anyway…’

I clenched my fist. A silent scream seemed to emanate from the tightly closed gap.

‘If it’s you, if you’re at that level…! Shouldn’t capturing a flag be a trivial matter for you…!’

With an anxious expression, I continued to silently glare at Laura, who continued to navigate the constantly changing maze. And then, at that moment.

“Ah! Student Chloe! Finally, she has captured the flag! Now all she needs to do is escape to the center of the maze!”

The monitor, which had been broadcasting the situation, captured Chloe’s surprised expression as she stood holding the flag in her right hand. In front of her, the dirt walls slowly gave way, creating a path for her to sprint straight to the center of the maze by dynamically restructuring it in real-time.

The reason the maze’s structure kept changing was precisely because of this. As students discovered flags, the maze became more complex, with dead ends multiplying.

As the path that had just been open was blocked, Laura, visibly frustrated, altered her course, chewing on her lips, the image transmitted to the monitor.

Watching that, it was hard to contain the tightness in my chest.

“Laura von Adelheid…”

The remaining flags dwindled, now down to just twelve.

The probability of Laura capturing a flag had plummeted, signifying a tougher challenge.

* * * * *

Time grew tense, the number of flags decreasing in real-time, and the maze narrowing.

Laura was not pleased with the situation she found herself in. She thought she could handle flag thefts like this confidently, but reality proved less forgiving.

Luck was not on her side. While Laura could easily deal with others who tried to confront her or rush blindly towards her, flags were nowhere to be found.

“At this rate, really…”

Could she end up being eliminated on the first day of the inter-grade competition? Absurdly?

“No.”

At least, Laura had no intention of giving up like this. Shaking her head to dispel negative thoughts, Laura, with a determined expression, turned a corner around a dirt wall.

“Huh…?”

Unlike before, a fairly wide open space appeared. Laura looked at the open area with a slightly bewildered expression.

And soon, as Laura turned a corner around a dirt wall, her eyes began to shake noticeably.

The open space had a well-leveled dirt floor. In the center, standing tall and lonely, was a single flag, fluttering in the wind.

“A f-flag…!”

A flag. After about 50 minutes of navigating through this irritating maze, she had finally found a flag. Laura felt as if tears were about to gush out.

Her hands covered in dirt and her clothes, similarly dusted all over, vividly showed how hard she had struggled to find the flag. Laura wiped away tears with her dirty hands.

So, just as Laura was about to take a triumphant step toward the flag, overwhelmed with joy.

– Tap, tap, tap!

Suddenly, a dull and heavy percussion, tearing through the surrounding air, reached Laura’s heightened ears. She immediately halted her steps.

– Thud!

Three bullets embedded in the solid dirt floor. Laura’s eyes, upon seeing them, instantly transformed into sharp blades as she calculated the trajectory of the bullets.

Calculation, exploration, and deduction.

“Tsk. This doesn’t fit.”

A male student holding a revolver in his hand slowly walked out from behind the corner of a dirt wall. Laura recognized that student.

He was a student from the same class, Class A of the first year, whom she had glimpsed during Professor Antinelli’s theology class.

Both of them seemed surprised upon recognizing each other, as the male student looked at Laura with slightly widened eyes.

However, that only lasted for a moment. Laura quickly assumed a combat position as she observed the transformation of the male student’s eyes from surprised to sharp, like those of a hunter.

“Are you Adelheid’s heiress? Laura von Adelheid.”

“And you are…?”

“…weren’t we in the same Class A? Don’t you know my name?”

“I don’t remember people I’m not familiar with.”

Perhaps taking that as a provocation, the male student whose name she didn’t know reloaded his revolver while glaring at her.

“My name is Nils. Nils Chamber, from the Combat Department of the first year, Class A.”

“Nils Chamber from the Combat Department… I’ll remember that.”

“Laura von Adelheid. Can’t you just surrender the flag to me without fighting?”

“Do you think I’ll allow that?”

“Do I really need your permission?”

“Then, do you expect me to just watch while you take the flag? I also underestimated you.”

With Laura’s words, a suffocating silence descended upon the field.

Having never encountered each other before as students from Class A, they looked at each other with tense eyes. And the same was true for Nils, standing on the opposite side.

Being the pinnacle among the students of the same year at the Chaldea Imperial Academy, students from Class A held an exceptional level of tension towards each other, whatever the field may be.

A spinning top that appeared out of nowhere rolled between them, heading towards the flag stuck firmly into the ground.

“….”

“….”

And then, the moment the spinning top touched the flag, it stopped.

“Shatter (συντριβή)!”

– Tata Tang! Kwang!

Without anyone giving the signal, they both launched attacks towards each other. The three bullets heading towards Laura were shattered by her magical barrier, and the formless attack aimed at Nils forcefully weighed him down.

“Ugh…! G-G, gravity manipulation magic…!”

“Huff…!”

Having prearranged the magic circle in advance was a move of divine proportions. However, Nils was still standing, refusing to be defeated.

“You’re resilient…!”

“Th-this is nothing…!”

Laura quickly began to weave an incantation. Her sharp mind swiftly completed the calculations, and soon, a magic circle began to take shape in the air following the movements of her wand.

“Liquid, transformation, amplification, absolute zero….”

A frosty chill began to settle as the magic circle frosted over. Her magic circle was rapidly approaching completion.

However, Nils had no intention of standing idly by. Almost completely unaffected by the magic, he quickly emptied the bullets from the revolver, replaced them with glowing red ones, and loaded them in with speed.

“Eat this!”

“Freeze like this! Snowstorm (χιονοθύελλα)!!”

– Kwagwang! –

The remaining sparring time was only five minutes. And these two students had no intention of backing down.

It was a moment of intense battle unfolding for the sake of claiming the first victory.