Chapter 84: Hallway Duels
Unedited*
Lucius walked through the academy’s hallways, lost in thought.
Although it had been announced that he had accepted the challenge against the Dragon’s Eye, the fight was scheduled to take place a week later.
Since everything had been moved up, so too had one of the events most eagerly anticipated by the students.
The Hallway Duels.
They usually take place throughout the month leading up to the Ranking Battle, and it’s the time when the rankings even out and the gaps begin to close.
Many students head out into the hallways to engage in their respective duels, seeking to beat their personal bests.
Lucius hadn’t planned on doing so, but since Clara wanted to move up in rank and was excited about it, he decided to accompany her.
They gathered in the east hallway of the General Academy. It’s usually a quiet corridor made of reinforced white marble. Today, it was a battlefield of intense skirmishes.
Mana shimmered throughout the hallway as students of Rank F, E, and even Rank D battled all around them.
As Lucius and Clara walked down the hallway looking for an opponent for Clara, they spotted a fight taking place a few meters away.
Kaelen, "The Swift," ranked 12,150, was facing off against Mina Vane, ranked 12,400.
Kaelen unleashed bursts of cutting wind, managing to corner Mina with extraordinary skill.
However, Mina, with a fluid movement of her fire-imbued daggers, deftly parried every thrust.
The clash of elements sent tiny sparks flying that set the hallway carpets ablaze, but the students paid it little mind.
With a sharp turn, Mina closed the distance, delivering a mana-charged kick that sent Kaelen crashing into the wall.
Immediately, Mina’s ranking was updated, rising significantly.
"Are you interested in her?" Lucius asked Clara.
Clara shook her head. "I’m a support. It doesn’t benefit me to fight someone like her. I only have one attack spell and one defense spell. Even though I want to close the gap as much as possible, I’ll have to be cautious at first."
Lucius nodded. "I think you’re stronger than her," he said.
Clara nodded. "I think I am. But I’m a support player."
Lucius laughed. "You need to have more confidence in your abilities and in what I’ve taught you. You’ll be surprised when you put it into practice."
Rankings are usually updated not by force, but because you’ve faced someone who is—or appears to be, based on their ranking—stronger than you and you’ve beaten them. It’s very rare for a ranking to update based solely on a user’s strength—though it has happened.
Later on, Jarek "The Titan" (Rank 10,500) blocked a crowd’s path while fighting someone who chose to remain anonymous but who was exactly 500 spots above him.
The Rank 10,000 fighter was fast—beyond belief. Jarek, on the other hand, was as heavy as a tank.
He wasn’t particularly agile, but he wielded his heavy metal mace with ease, demonstrating superior strength—something the faster fighter couldn’t match.
Jarek struck the ground when he saw his opponent trying to attack him from the flanks, taking advantage of his speed. A tremor destabilized the fast attacker who was using wind, forcing him to retreat.
Jarek lunged at him and struck with a perfect horizontal attack... Everyone thought he was going to win.
But just then, the No. 10,000-ranked fighter leaped over the metal mace and stomped on it hard. He seized the moment to strike Jarek several times before pinning him to the ground.
The No. 10,000-ranked fighter had reclaimed his position.
However, that opponent wasn’t right for Clara either. A support fighter going up against an assassin-type mage who used wind attacks was a death sentence.
Amid the frenzy, they finally found an opponent Clara felt comfortable facing.
"Gain some confidence against him. But don’t take him down so brutally," Lucius said, choosing to watch from the sidelines.
Clara’s current ranking was around #30,000.
Her first opponent was a guy who used earth projectile magic. His rank was 25,000.
The boy fired a series of earth projectiles that Clara... didn’t even have to dodge. She could tell right away that they were far too weak.
She simply activated her [Shattered Ice Armor], and the translucent, shimmering layer that covered her skin was enough to absorb the impact of the rocks.
She didn’t even take a step back. And before her opponent could react, she lunged forward, and her pillars of ice ambushed the poor student with astonishing ease.
Three ice stakes, sharp as war spears, shot up from the ground and sent her opponent crashing into the wall.
He didn’t see it coming. No one around—except for Lucius—saw it coming.
The fight was over.
[Clara Thorne has risen to Rank 25,000.]
Clara turned and looked at Lucius...
"Well..." She smiled, slightly embarrassed.
"How’s it going? I told you. Your current strength is above Rank E. It’s at least E+, but if you try hard, it could be D," Lucius encouraged her. "Why don’t you try challenging someone who’s 10,000 ranks ahead of you? They’ll film you on The Wall."
Clara’s face lit up immediately. Suddenly, she felt a strong surge of inspiration. "I’ll do it!" she exclaimed.
The next duel she sought out was against a guy ranked 14,200th—almost 11,000 spots ahead of her.
This guy used earth as his element, too.
According to Lucius, it would be much easier for her to fight earth-users under these circumstances, because their attacks could be easily neutralized with Ice Armor, and if they got too close, a breath that froze their skin was enough, given their limited ability to defend against cold attacks.
Even more importantly, the ice spikes she creates exist not only in ice but also in earth. And he had already taught her how to anticipate those attacks.
Thanks to that, Clara fought extraordinarily well.
She used her Shattered Ice Armor to ignore damage. She used her Frost Breath to freeze her opponents and make them much more vulnerable, and she finished them off with her famous ice pillars.
In several matches, she used them not only to attack, but also to defend herself and to control the situation.
Because they were so useful, she forced her opponents to make mistakes. That’s what decided the matches...
After fighting for a long time, Clara ran toward Lucius with a happy expression.
"Ranking 9,350!" she exclaimed happily.
"See? I told you. You could make it into the D Rank," Lucius congratulated her. "And you should still be able to climb higher."
"Of course I will! I’ll climb even higher this week so I’m ready for the Tournament!"
Seeing her enthusiasm, Lucius encouraged her.
"I know you will."
She nodded, but for now she was too exhausted, so she stopped challenging others. "Aren’t you going to look for matches?" she asked.
He scanned the hallway from top to bottom. "There’s no one ranked higher than me here, though I think I’m going to be challenged very soon."
He’d been watching everything from behind a column for a while, his hands in his pockets. He gathered all the information he needed.
Many had revealed their cards too soon; if he had to fight them, they wouldn’t stand a chance because of that.
Others were watching just like him.
But, at least in this hallway, Lucius had the highest rank, although some D-Rankers had arrived while Clara was fighting.
Among them, one had been watching him for a while.
His rank was the second highest in the hallway: 1,850. His upright posture indicated that he was a swordsman and that his magic was fire-based.
He walked slowly toward Lucius.
When Clara noticed him, she frowned.
"That’s Daniel, the Crossfire Swordsman," she whispered.
"Is he famous?"
"In the last corridor battle, he managed to reach rank 7,000, and he’s been climbing ever since. It’s believed he’ll reach rank 1,000 this year. He’ll have been at the academy for three years by the end of this year."
"Rank C in three years—not bad," Lucius praised him, but in a way that only Clara could hear.
Clara smiled. "I don’t know why that sounds bad coming from you. It only took you one battle to go from Rank F to Rank D+."
"Not everyone walks the same path." Lucius shrugged.
The guy came up in front of Lucius shortly afterward.
"Lucius Asturias, right?"
"That’s me."
"I’m Daniel; they call me the Crossfire Swordsman."
"I’ve heard about you." Lucius nodded. "I don’t think I have a nickname."
Daniel laughed. "Are you kidding? The Rising Star, Lucius. There’s no nickname quite like that."
Lucius simply smiled.
"I won’t lie to you. I looked down on you, and even after you earned that rank, I still did. However, I’ve come to see that you’re a guy worthy of the rank you hold and the title you bear. That’s why I came to challenge you." The swordsman raised his hand toward him. "Do you accept the challenge? If you want, I can place a bet, since you won’t win anything if you defeat me."
After encountering so many guys who only knew how to shout nonsense and spout rubbish to belittle him, Lucius was surprised by this guy’s attitude.
In a way, he approved of it.
Lucius stood up and walked to the middle of the hallway. "You’re a good guy, so I’ll accept your challenge without any bets. I’m eager to find out why they call you the Crossfire Swordsman."