Mightiest Melee Magician

“……”

What was so funny?

“Fufu. So, what you’re saying is… you want to be in a team with me?”

“Yes.”

“Can you wait here for a second?”

Irene Prius was beaming like something was extremely funny about this situation and Seta and I awkwardly entered Seiki’s lodging.

As I had seen from outside, through the window, the 1st-floor restaurant was filled with people who wanted to recruit Irene Prius, and their eyes went wide as they noticed our entrance.

Some even said,

“Ruin Ardell? No way. Is he also here for Irene?”

“Is Ruin trying to recruit her too? He’s super strong. Should we try to join him instead?”

And showed some interest in me.

“Hmhm… Yo Ruin. Are you making a team right now?”

“How about joining us? We already have 4 people in our group, so if you join too, we’ll be pretty strong.”

Some of the outgoing individuals came up to me to suggest joining forces in tomorrow’s ‘Battle Survival’.

“Sorry.”

But I declined all of them.

For now, rather than a lot of untrustworthy allies, I just needed one trustworthy card.

And this ‘trustworthy card’ was looking at me with a gaze full of mischief.

She said to all the students gathered there,

“I’m sorry. I’m not thinking of teaming up with anyone here.”

“……Ah.”

Irene’s rejection.

The discouraged students left the inn with regret in mind, and I too was just getting up to leave.

However, Irene said this unexpectedly.

“Where are you going?”

“Hm?”

“We need to do our strategy meeting.”

“……”

Aha.

The team had formed.

* * *

“Should we have a team name?”

“Should we even have such a gaudy thing like a team name when we only have 3 people?”

“But a team’s still a team!”

“Well I don’t know about that. I’m working with you since Ruin says you’re trustworthy, but I don’t know ‘Mr’ Seta Malkiri that well yet.”

“…Hey, we’ve just made our team and you’re being like this already?”

So like this, Seta Malkiri, Irene Prius, and me.

These three representatives gathered together to form a team.

The team name was…

“For team name, how’s ‘Seta and Kids’?”

“What’s with that self-centered team name?”

“Then Phoenix!”

“Your naming sense is quite extraordinary.”

“……”

…left to decide later.

Sitting here with our conflicting opinions that didn’t seem to converge no matter how hard we tried, we just ended up staying sitting while drinking the cocovanilla that was popular among kids and talking about trivial things.

The appearance of a group with three unexpected people.

“Those guys. There’s no way they’ll appear as a team tomorrow, right?”

“Damn. That’s a combination that I hadn’t even thought of.”

“……”

We seemed like quite a rare sight since people talked about us when they walked by.

I couldn’t take it any longer and grabbed the two’s attention with a clap.

“Ok, ok! Rather than the team name, let’s start our actual discussion.”

“Discussion?”

“Since us three will be a team tomorrow, we’ll survive to be the last three people left. But, after it’s just us three left, we need to decide what we’ll do.”

Seta responded to my statement as if I had said something too obvious.

“Naturally, we’ll have to have a match between the three of us, don’t you think so?”

“I agree with him. It’s quite rare that Seta and I have aligning opinions.”

“I didn’t have a satisfactory ending against Ruin last time, so I wanted a rematch.”

“Satisfactory ending? Do you mean when you were sent flying with the flick to the forehead? From what I saw, it was quite the satisfactory ending.”

“Hmhm… In any case, let’s do that.”

Sure.

We decided we would do just that.

“Next, we need to decide on a leader. Since we only have three people, our opinions may vary in the field, so we definitely need a leader.”

This suggestion also ended with a unanimous decision.

“Leader? Well, wasn’t it decided it’ll be Ruin? This team was made around you.”

“I agree with him. I’m ready to follow most orders unless they are ridiculous. Ruin’s discernment and strategies were definitely highlighted through this competition.”

So this ended like that too.

As the team leader, I had gained pretty reliable helpers through Seta and Irene.

And I needed to perform well with these two tomorrow.

That was why analyzing our enemies was necessary.

There were two worrying parts.

“Did you say that the biggest group was about 14 people?”

“Yes. Centered around Dylan Marken from Frelia Holy Magic School, a total of 14 other students came together to form a group.”

“…that’s a problem.”

Dylan Marken.

A magician versed in both Light and Holy magic.

He was a genius that was always picked in the top five most likely to win.

With a dangerously friendly personality that could befriend anyone, he approached me before as well.

Using that personality as his weapon, he had succeeded in forming a huge 15 person team.

From a numbers point of view, there was no one else that could oppose him.

Rashly attempting to fight them would most likely end with us getting eliminated first.

The next problem was,

“How about Doom Prime? Have you heard anything about him?”

“There’s nothing. But I can make a guess. From his personality, it’s very likely he’ll move by himself.”

Doom Prime.

The winning candidate with the biggest possibility to change the game.

Since he had many followers that would attach to him, if he wanted, Doom could always create a strong team.

Other than these two groups, most were mid-sized groups with 5-7 people.

They might have seemed weak, but no one could be underestimated since everyone was a school representative.

“Looking at it like this, it seems our group is the smallest.”

“That’s true. That’s why we’re the best target to shut down as well. They will definitely try to eliminate us first.”

“Are they looking down on this Seta Malkiri? They can come at me all they want.”

“……”

What should we do?

A group competition in the guise of a free-for-all.

We finally got the card called Irene Prius, but we couldn’t move too rashly.

The fewer members you had, the bigger the target you became.

The others would definitely aim for us.

“So Ruin, what’s our strategy for tomorrow?”

I answered Seta’s question in a cautious tone.

“Let me think for a bit.”

* * *

* * *

On the man-made island that was the pride of the Altein Stadium, all things could be self-provided.

Food and water was expected and even facilities prepared with cooking wares and dwellings were also prepared.

Here, the student representatives survived for 72 hours using their own strength.

72 hours.

The winners and losers would be defined in this time, no matter what.

This was because, when the time reached a certain point, the island’s barriers would be formed.

And as time passed, the area in the barrier would become smaller.

If you did not enter the designated area within the time, you would instantly be eliminated.

Other types of eliminations were through ‘Death Judgment’.

Obviously, you did not really kill others with magic.

All the participants would be handed a specially crafted Defensive Item, and when damaged by magic, the item’s durability decreased.

If this item’s durability hit 0, their mana would be sealed and they would be eliminated.

“So that’s Battle Island.”

The 32 representatives that were participating in this game all gathered at the dock with a resolute will to ‘survive’.

In the water past the docks was a singular island.

‘Battle Island’

The area we would spend our next 72 hours in.

As Seta Malkiri got on the boat, he muttered nervously while looking at the man-made island.

“We didn’t even start yet and I’m already nervous.”

I said to that Seta,

“No, it already started.”

“Eh?”

“Look over there.”

“…You’re right. It has already started.”

Right.

The game had already begun.

The students who had got on the boat to Battle Island had already gathered themselves in their teams.

And these guys were too busy analyzing the other team’s fighting forces.

“That guy, looks like he’s alone?”

“First person eliminated, 100%. Keke.”

“……”

Thanks to that, the very few who couldn’t find a team beforehand were labeled as easy pickings.

We weren’t that well off either.

“……What are you looking at? You bastards. Is there honey on my face? Do I look that tasty?”

Seta growled at the attention we had attracted, but it was no use.

It only had the effect of bringing more attention to us.

Irene asked me after having quietly observed the situation,

“So, what’s our strategy for today?”

Strategy……

I held up the Battle Island map that was given to all participants.

“Here. Central Village. It’s the only place on the island where a huge number of 10 people can stay in one place. Meaning…”

“Dylan Marken’s 15 people group will head there.”

“Yes. That’s correct. Next is Doom Prime……”

My gaze shifted towards Doom.

Doom was alone, not leading any group.

The funny thing was that no one considered Doom as a target. 

He was that strong.

And, he was a target of fear for the other students.

“I can’t really tell where Doom will go. The only thing I can do is guess.”

“Is there a place you’re expecting him to go?”

“Yes.”

I pointed at the center of the map.

“If my prediction is correct, Doom will go near the vicinity of the Central Village.”

“……What?”

‘Central Village’.

It was easy to procure food and water in its proximity and it also had large-scale cooking and sleeping facilities.

That was why it was the most likely place for Dylan Marken’s team to head.

Meaning, this was a dangerous place to approach alone.

Irene seemed to not get what I was saying and asked while narrowing her eyes,

“Even though he knows 15 people formed a group together, Doom will go there alone? I feel like that’s a reckless decision.”

“No. He’ll definitely appear there. This is the best way if he wants to win alone.”

“How come?’

“Doom Prime will definitely aim for the kill points.”

“……Ah.”

The Kill Point.

A point gained after eliminating another person where, even if your survival rank was low, if you eliminated a lot of other people with your own strength…

You could gain enough kill points to overtake others.

Naturally, this method was very dangerous.

But the results were certain.

“Dylan’s group has 15 people in it. That’s why, in the first few stages of the game, they’ll relax, thinking that their group is safe. Doom will aim for that moment.”

“He’ll attack 15 people at once?”

“No. For the group to provide food and water for 15 people, they’ll need to send people out and around the village to search for it. Doom will go in and take out these scattered individuals one by one.”

“……”

Irene nodded after having understood what I said.

In her eyes were signs of certainty that she believed that this would happen.

“……This is quite the plausible story.”

“Yes.”

Right.

Doom will definitely do this.

Why?

Because if I couldn’t form the team with Seta and Irene,

I would’ve done the same thing.

“Of course, it’s not a strategy you can maintain for a long period of time. If the 15 notice that some of them are being eliminated, they would strengthen their defenses. It’s a strategy one can use in the early game before the village finds stability. Doom will try to fight in this early stage.”

“Ok. I understand. So if Doom and the 15 person group are going to the Central Village… where do we go?”

“Since we know the storm is going, we don’t need to jump into it ourselves.”

I pointed to the street corner on the western part of the map.

“We’ll stake out here.”

Operation Name,

Win-dure.

“If we wait a bit, some careless individuals carrying food will appear.”

Because, when it comes down to it, in this game…

The one who survives until the end, is the one who wins.

——