Mightiest Melee Magician

Doom Prime.

The most dangerous enemy who had aimed at the participants’ backs the entire event had been eliminated.

Now, only five students remained.

As predicted, they had hidden themselves, leaving no traces in order to ‘survive until the end’.

They only revealed themselves on the last day when forced to by the boundary that had nearly closed in on itself.

“R-Ruin Ardell?”

Dylan Marken, the leader of the 15-person group, widened his eyes in shock after having seen my face.

“Wh-what the hell? You’re still alive?”

“What do you mean I’m ‘still alive’?”

“I thought that a huge battle happened yesterday. If all of you are alive, then does that mean that Doom Prime was eliminated……?”

He was surprised that we had eliminated Doom and survived with our whole team intact.

But on the other hand…

“Ha…… If things were going to go this way anyways, I would’ve hoped that Doom would win…”

He was worried.

Facing three people after one was eliminated.

It was harder than facing one person after three were eliminated.

He would’ve also known.

“……Ugh.”

That his team wasn’t a match for mine.

I smiled brightly toward Irene and Seta, who were standing next to me.

“Well then. Should we start finishing up?”

* * *

“Phiota! I’ll support the flank, so you mark Ruin!”

“What? Why should I? You go do that.”

“Stop acting on your own and follow my orders!”

2 : 3 : 3

In this terrible situation, rather than the five vs three we expected, it became just a pure free-for-all.

The reason was simple.

“Keep Ruin in check? Don’t make me laugh. Do you think I don’t know your scheme, putting me in a dangerous situation so you can get a higher rank?”

“What did you say?!”

“You think we can win after teaming up with those guys? What’s the point of teams now? We’ll all be contestants fighting each other in the end. It’s time to take care of myself. So, marking Ruin, or getting eliminated while fighting. You can go do that!”

“……”

There were only 8 people left.

Their chances of winning were slim.

The game would soon end.

They had decided that, in this moment, it was better to take care of themselves rather than fight as a team.

Right.

Let’s get eliminated after this guy next to me gets eliminated.

With the goal of ‘getting a better rank than others’, they had abandoned comradery and the feelings of fellowship that they had before.

Their teamwork couldn’t be maintained until the end of the event.

In the end, they couldn’t trust each other.

However, for my team,

“Ruin! Go finish them off so that we can have our match!”

Rather than simply a better rank, we had pulled our focus into being the ‘last 3 alive’, to have our final deathmatch against each other.

Every journey begins with a step.

And this small difference in our steps made an enormous change to our destination.

Five people.

We went around destroying those who had separated from the others.

When one was eliminated, two would run away.

And when those two were eliminated, the others couldn’t stay hidden anymore.

It was hard to even find a spot since the boundary had encroached quite close.

And I did not allow them the time to catch their breaths.

With Dylan Marken as the final one, all five had been forcibly teleported,

All that was left was us three.

Seta slumped onto the ground.

“Fuah… For us to actually reach this point.”

The final three.

Like Seta, I too was speechless about our situation.

This situation where all the team members were alive and standing till the end.

I had looked forward to it, but I couldn’t have been sure.

However, with our complete trust in each other as the basis, we worked together to survive till the end.

“This… Us three actually ended up fighting each other.”

“I know, right?”

And now, the only thing left to do was to decide the ‘winner’.

I had a joking expression on my face as I asked my team members that I was proud of,

“Since there’s not much time left till the end of the event… Should we start soon?”

“Alright. If possible, I’ll be the one to take off your suspicious mask today.”

Irene jokingly taunted me.

And Seta…

“Ruin. You might be the team leader, but I won’t go easy on you. Even though I went easy on you that time, I won’t be this—”

“Then, I’m going.”

“Hey, hey! Wait! I’m still talking!”

Look at this. He went easy on me before?

I narrowed the gap between us in an instant and charged at Seta.

* * *

* * *

“Cheers!”

“……”

How did I end up here again?

Even though I resolved to myself to not even look in the direction of a bar after fainting from drinking that time…

That resolution crumbled in just a week.

After the Battle Survival had ended, the thing that was waiting for me when I landed safely back on the Altein dock…

It was none other than Jason and my academy peers.

And also,

“Hey! Everyone, grab Ruin! Get him!”

“What are you guys doing?”

“Jason! I got him!”

“Nice! Now drag him away!”

“Uaaack! What the hell are you guys doing?!”

……you kidnappers.

These guys had lifted me up and carried me to the bar.

After I composed myself, there was already a huge beer mug in front of me,

“For the one who represented our academy, defeated those evil goons, and returned alive! Cheers for our proud Ruin!”

“……”

Sir Jason, King of Drinkers, had created an uncontainable mood.

Ah… My head.

Everyone’s eyes were on me,

“……Ok, ok. I got it.”

“Woo! Let’s drink!”

“Here! Cheers!”

“……”

I lifted the beer mug.

The nightmare that ensued when I banged my head on the table after getting drunk last time…

But thankfully, there wasn’t any of that toxic “Damon’s Dragon Kiss” anywhere to be seen.

Hm. Just beer should be fine, right?

“Gulp. Gulp……”

Wait…

Now that I think about it, this was my first time drinking beer.

But what was this?

Huh… This thing. Isn’t it pretty good?

A feeling of refreshment,

A light but rich taste.

A suitable air of drunkenness that was infused in the aftertaste and combined with the rowdy and cheerful atmosphere.

It caressed and massaged all the fatigue that had built up in my body.

It made the world look beautiful as it pulled everything together into one.

It wasn’t bad.

No. It was pretty good.

As I was indulging myself in the taste of beer…

A dark shadow approached our table.

“Seeing you weren’t at your inn, I knew you would be here.”

“Seta, are you ok?”

“Aya, my hips… You should’ve hit me a bit lighter. I thought my bones were going to break.”

Seta Malkiri.

He limped while clutching his hips, which I had hit, and walked up to our table.

“Irene will be here soon.”

“Irene’s coming too?”

“I called her. Also, I’m disappointed in you guys. No matter if Ruin ‘won’ the Battle Survival, you guys are celebrating and drinking by yourselves? You should’ve called me and Irene too before drinking. Don’t you guys agree? We even spent a whole 76 hours together like that!”

“Of course! Good! Good! Here! Another cheer for Seta Malkiri, a reliable teammate for Ruin!”

Yeah.

I won the Surivival.

When it was us three left on the Battle Island…

I aimed for Seta first and hit his hips while avoiding his spells.

Of course, it was relatively soft.

“……Uck.”

“Hey.  You alright?”

“……”

However, Seta ended up fainting from the impact.

It naturally became a one vs one situation between me and Irene.

However, because of the previous fight with Doom, Irene wasn’t in her normal condition and forfeited while saying that she wanted to fight me properly next time.

The result was my victory.

But the funny thing here was that Irene didn’t get 2nd place in the test.

“I’m that Seta Malkiri who came 2nd place in Battle survival. Ehehehe.”

“……”

After Irene eliminated herself, Seta woke up from the shock of getting hit in the hips and was confirmed to be 2nd place.

How could this even happen?

Then, another person approached our table.

“Seta-ssi. Looks like you’re enjoying yourself. I feel as though I’ve been robbed of 2nd place.”

“……Irene.”

It was Irene Prius.

“Oh ho! Are you going to call me Seta-‘ssi’ now that the event is over? Are you going to keep drawing the line?”

“That’s for me to decide.”

“Huuu…… You’re too much. Really.”

Compared to her words about 2nd place getting stolen, she seemed to be enjoying herself. This was the first time I’d seen her in casual clothing.

“Can I sit here?”

“Ah, sure.”

She sat next to me and lifted the empty mug.

“Please give me a drink too.”

“Hm? You know how to drink?”

“Of course. I’m old enough.”

“……”

We’re still students.

Looks like I’m the only one not caught up to my age.

Anyhow, Irene cleanly cleared the mug of beer filled to the brim,

“Aha……! To be able to drink on the same table with Irene Prius! I can die happy!”

The self-proclaimed Irene fan, Jason, made a ruckus of this situation while looking entranced.

Thanks to him, everyone had a good laugh.

It was fun.

In the 76 hours during the Battle Survival,I may have missed this light mood where I didn’t have to think about anything.

But there was another thing that lightened my heart.

“Ruin, you’re the only one in 1st place, right?”

“Yeah. That’s right. Kugh…… For my friend to be 1st in the Grand Festival! Sir! Please give us another keg of beer!”

After that event, there was a great change in the rankings.

I wasn’t a joint 1st but now the ‘only 1st’.

Doom had gathered a lot of kill points because of his ambushes, but his rank had fallen due to his survival rank.

As for the other winning candidates, Dylan Marken and Irene Prius, their ranks had also fallen below me.

On the other hand, by coming 2nd place, Seta had broken through to the upper ranks.

It was only natural that my heart was light.

“It’s now the end game for this festival, so you just need to maintain the rank.”

Yeah.

Since ‘Battle Survival’, the event that could bring the greatest change within the individual rankings, had ended…

After today, the festival had already reached its final stages.

If I didn’t make any mistakes.

If I could just maintain 1st place.

‘Victory won’t be just a dream.’

I smiled brightly and lifted my mug.

“Here! Cheers!”

——