WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Surviving in the Magic Academy

Chapter 160

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160.

It did not take long for everyone who had scattered in every direction to return underground. They went back to their rooms and began repairing their puppets.

The commotion over finding the traitor had died down quickly. Biogan returned with us as well. Gunda watched him enter his room, then stroked his chin.

“Hmm. I don’t know if we can trust that man.”

Gunda clicked his tongue lightly. His eyes were full of displeasure. Seeing that, I shrugged.

“Please don’t worry. Now that we’re cooperating, Biogan won’t deceive us anymore.”

“I’ll believe it since you’re the one saying so. You even arranged something this strange, so you must have something in mind. It’s a bit hard for me to keep up with. Then I’ll be heading in too.”

Gunda glanced at me, smacked his lips, then turned and headed to his room. I quietly scratched my head as I watched him go.

Apparently, he was a little hurt that I had treated him as a suspect. Even though I had done it all to keep this group safe. Of course, Gunda knew that too, which was probably why he only showed a little of his feelings in words.

I glanced at the room Biogan had entered. The reason Biogan had returned so easily was that we had also told the others he had cooperated with Miorang.

If we maintained our cooperation with Miorang to the end, our chances of survival would clearly rise as well. Even if not all of them made it, some of them would be able to move on to the next competition.

Everyone had joined this group to place higher in the competition in the first place. Because of that, there was no need to punish Biogan. It was better to use his strength.

After finishing their own calculations, they naturally accepted Biogan. As if the fact that he had betrayed us had never existed. It was a truly mage-like way of thinking.

In that sense, every one of them probably had their own scheme. Some would be searching for a way to survive, while others were probably already thinking about betraying us again. Biogan had simply been exposed a little earlier than the rest.

So I did not care at all that he was a traitor. The others could not be trusted either, after all. What mattered to me was whether I could make full use of his strength.

The others were surely thinking something similar. In the end, what mattered most was oneself. Perhaps that was why they repaired their puppets as thoroughly as possible during the break. And the time for us to leave quickly approached as well.

“Now, then, we’ll depart.”

With that, we set out and moved quickly. I checked the map in my hand and advanced without hesitation. The map contained the entire layout of this competition arena. Not only the terrain, but even places where people were likely to be.

This was one of the things I had obtained when I promised to cooperate with Miorang. Until now, we had spent a great deal of effort figuring out the paths. But if someone had already gone ahead of us, there was no need for that.

In that sense, few people knew the central area as well as Miorang. He had stayed in the center from the moment this competition began.

And Miorang had readily handed this over. To cooperate with him, we needed to move quickly. Remembering that promise, I quietly nodded. We needed to reach our destination fast.

So we moved based on the map. As a result, we were able to break through the paths at a speed that could not compare to before. Of course, quite a few people attacked us along the way.

But all of them became our prey. Just like now.

I lightly nudged the puppets sprawled at my feet with the tip of my foot. The puppets that had lost their owners and collapsed were simply stiff, like blocks of wood.

I glanced at the Cassian puppet. Its body was split halfway open. It was a wound it had received while being chased by these puppets.

Now that the situation was over, there was no need to keep acting. When I gave it a small jerk of my chin, its wounded body regenerated in an instant. Once it was whole again, it dusted itself off and approached my side.

This was the same method I had used before. My puppet went ahead first, and then I waited for those baited by it to come out. It was a very efficient method.

This time, we had baited out three people in total. Of course, they had been somewhat wary too. It was strange for a puppeteer to be wandering around alone at this point.

So I pretended to be a kind of dropout. I made it look as if my group had collapsed and I had fled alone with my puppet. And no one would simply leave prey wandering around alone like that.

The people in our group were the same. The search magic they spread did not detect our group. That was because everyone had become even more thorough about hiding their presence while continuing this hunt.

Everyone already had the memory of falling into Ugo’s prepared trap engraved into both body and mind. Because of that, there was no more carelessness.

Under that more polished plan, the prey fell into the trap. Then they left this competition arena in clusters of light. Leaving their puppets behind as spoils, just like this.

On the way here, we had hunted many people in this manner. And through those fights, all of us had been able to fill our pockets well. We had collected enough “materials” to use in the next competition.

But they did not leave without a fight. I glanced around. I could see several people controlling their magical power with pale faces. Some had puppets that were half broken too.

We had defeated them, but we had not won perfectly either. I let out a faint bitter smile. The closer we moved toward the center, the stronger the people occupying it became.

They had spent more time than us in this association, and beyond that, in the space called university. Because of that, each of their puppets was stronger than ours. So of course, facing them was bound to be difficult.

Of course, even so, we were the ones who won. No matter how strong they were, they were still only mages of the fourth floor or lower. Because of that, the puppets they controlled had limits too.

They were not enough to overcome the power created by this perfectly constructed environment and the violence of numbers. And through this experience, a kind of certainty that our plan would succeed began to form as well.

I scattered magical power from my fingertips and looked around. Judging by everyone’s condition, we would need to rest here for a moment. Along the rippling threads of magical power, several puppets began slipping out from my arms.

They were a kind of chunk puppet, simply made using the trees growing all over this competition arena as materials. They took in magical power and flew up. Then they slowly formed a huge circle around the place where this battle had taken place.

I delicately adjusted their movements and poured in more magical power. Then the puppets gave off bright light and began spitting out the spells contained inside them.

After checking the magic circle, I lightly clenched my hand. At the same time, the chunk puppets blew up their own bodies. In those explosions, I felt the magical power inside them amplify further.

The spell activated within that magical power slowly spread in every direction. The earth overturned by the aftermath of the fight slowly filled back in, and the rough magical power became more refined. Then a small building rose up as well.

Should I call it a kind of temporary lounge? The others naturally gathered their puppets and headed inside. Since I made that every time there was a battle, everyone seemed used to it now.

Seeing that, I nodded in satisfaction. Even if it was only a short rest, it was better to rest properly. It did not cost me that much magical power to make it either.

This chunk puppet was the result of further refining the mass production system of the giant ape puppet I had obtained before. I lightly flicked the final puppet meant to finish the spell. It exploded as it was and amplified the magical power once again.

Feeling it become a kind of barrier that surrounded the area, I lightly stroked my chin. Making puppets explode was a method I had liked using before.

Even if it was based on magical power, an explosion was ultimately no different from a kind of physical force. It was the most effective attack method I could use, since I had no talent for attack magic.

Because of that, I had researched explosion magic quite a lot. Of course, I did so less often after coming to university, but I still continued to tinker with explosion magic as a kind of hobby.

In that sense, the giant ape puppet was truly a puppet with a lot to learn from. It contained a great deal of information about explosion magic. I had also been able to steal the method of using the force produced by explosions as an ignition source for other spells like this.

Of course, no matter how hard I tried, I could not dig into its core. I could not imitate that mass production system, no matter what I did. It was definitely related to the innate magic of its owner, Jugang.

This was nothing more than copying part of that puppet’s structure. Yet it showed this much efficiency. I could once again realize just how unusual a puppeteer Jugang was.

This structure could be called very innovative. Once I got outside, maybe I should talk with Jugang a little. That thought came to mind. In that sense, I could fully understand why Miorang had been wary of Jugang.

If producing puppets like this had begun in earnest, even our group would not have been able to defeat them easily. Of course, Jugang had ended up being caught by me before that could happen.

Perhaps that was why Miorang had accepted my cooperation. I had defeated Jugang, and on top of that, I had survived against Ugo.

I glanced to the side. I had felt someone sending magical power toward me. Biogan was there.

He gestured to me, then turned and headed toward a corner of the barrier. I lightly nodded and followed him. The reason we were resting here was also because this place was the halfway point on the way to our destination.

So we needed to have a brief conversation. Biogan looked around, then took a mirror out of his clothes. The magic circle around its edges shone and brought up a screen. Facing it, I smiled softly.

“Miorang, we meet again.”

[Yes, should I say it has been a while? It really is good to see you.]

Miorang beyond the screen also laughed lightly. He looked around me, then nodded.

[Judging by the situation, you will arrive soon.]

I also looked behind him. I could see puppets moving busily. Perhaps Miorang felt my gaze, because he gave a light smile with his eyes.

[Don’t worry. Everything will be ready before Evron arrives. No one will be able to leave this place.]

“Yes, then I’ll be relying on you, Miorang.”

After that, I spoke with him about the plan for quite some time. Until the screen began to blur. Soon, it lost its light and broke apart. At the same time, I felt the magic circle composing the mirror loosen a little.

Its remaining uses had decreased, so the magical power forming the mirror was clearly scattering. I quietly tapped it and looked at Biogan.

“There’s only one use left now?”

He nodded. I quietly stroked my chin and handed him the mirror. There was no need to use it anymore anyway. We only had to keep moving straight to our destination now.

The rest lasted only a very short while. The others eased their fatigue for a moment in the rest area I had prepared, then dusted themselves off and stood again.

I was checking the path on the map when Gunda approached me. He lightly tapped my shoulder, then glanced at the murmuring people.

“Everyone’s ready. Now we just have to depart. But I am a little worried. For me, cooperating with those people feels a bit uncomfortable. No matter how much I think about it, they just don’t seem trustworthy.”

Gunda scratched his chin slightly. I could see displeasure lingering on his face. He had shown that kind of attitude since the moment I first revealed the cooperation. I shook the map and smiled.

“As long as they help us for now, like this, shouldn’t that be enough?”

“Hmm... What are you going to do if they betray us?”

Gunda clicked his tongue. I quietly nodded toward him. Gunda belonged to the same association as Miorang. So he surely knew more about Miorang than I did.

In that sense, I could fully understand why he was worried like that. I did not trust Miorang all that much either. How could I trust a person, and a mage at that, after only talking a few times?

“Please don’t worry. There won’t be any major problems. At least until one magical beast is dealt with.”

I shrugged slightly. The reason I was cooperating like this despite being unable to trust Miorang was because I clearly knew his objective. He was aiming for the same thing as Ugo.

I looked at Biogan, who was standing slightly away from the group. The coin fragment I had given him was currently in his possession. Miorang seemed to value that fragment. Just like Ugo.

I gently stroked my chin. Just what was that fragment for them to treasure it so much? I did wonder about that.

I quietly recalled what Mauro had said when he gave it to me. He had clearly only said that it was a token of the wager between association heads.

What he had asked of me had not been to win that wager either. He had merely asked me to defeat the representatives of the other two association heads, Gaon and Aronia. From Mauro’s perspective, that wager had not been so important.

But Ugo, Gaon’s representative, killed a fellow association member to obtain this. Miorang, Aronia’s representative, was also paying enough attention to it to cooperate with me like this, even if he had not gone that far.

They had clearly heard something from their association heads. I had no way of knowing what. Mauro had not told me anything.

Amid all that, there was only one thing I knew. They considered that fragment important. Maybe even more than winning this competition.

Rather, because I did not know the reason, I could avoid caring about the fragment that much. That was why I could use it as a tool like now. Perhaps Mauro had also said nothing because he wanted me to do that.

In any case, that was why I maintained this cooperative relationship. To Miorang, the biggest obstacle was not us. The one he cared about most was surely Ugo.

Miorang had made Biogan into a traitor. Then he had tried to use Ugo to deal with us. That method of luring one enemy into dealing with another was so smooth that I had to admire it.

That slyness really was impressive. And someone like that had no reason to betray us and join Ugo. To him, Ugo was ultimately just another target to bring down.

Through this cooperation, he would eliminate the most troublesome person, and we would settle our grudge. Things would move in a direction that benefited both sides.

Yes, in that sense, I was trusting the fact that Miorang could not be trusted. That was also trust toward mages. Trust in the selfishness and rationality inherent to beings called mages.

I smiled slightly at Gunda. Gunda lightly smacked his lips and nodded. My firm denial seemed to have restored a little of his trust.

“Well, the two of you have a similar feel, so you must know better. Do as you see fit. I’ll trust you until the end. We’ve come this far largely thanks to you.”

Gunda looked at me and laughed broadly. Then, while looking around, he briefly raised his head and looked at the sky. Following his gaze, I looked at the sky as well. A single circle was there.

“More importantly, that doesn’t have much left now either. The end of this first round of the competition is right in front of us. It’s been quite long.”

Gunda murmured. Just as he said, the size of that circle was less than one third of what it had been when we started. The outer area where we had stayed would all have been erased by now.

“It really has.”

I quietly nodded. As that area had shrunk, the number of people had also greatly decreased. Had we not hunted many people on the way here too?

The same thing would be happening elsewhere. And everyone would have been eliminated. Only a small number of people would surely remain now.

So now, there was only one bastard left to deal with. Ugo. Thinking of him, I quietly smiled. He had taken my life. So I needed to pay that debt back to him tenfold.

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