Chapter CXXX - Battle Royale Event (part 1)

"W-Wait, annual?"

Alden looked around us with great confusion.

"Say, Alden… Where did you get the information again?"

"A friend of mine from class C, and he got it from his friend."

"And do you think his friend is trustworthy?"

"That's..."

I let out a sigh and studied our surroundings.

The ground may be concrete, but right in front us is a god damn forest. Someone grew a damn forest inside the arena as the battle arena, and it looks so damn real.

The carriage is also still here, but the driver is nowhere to be seen. Aside from the spectators above the walls behind us, we couldn't really see anyone else from behind the dense green trees.

So… the theme is nature, huh?

Somehow, I feel like I'm adventuring again...

"Okay, everyone! Then we shall announce the list of contestants!"

The commentator spoke again and listed the name of the contestants. Our class got announced last, and right after our names were said, a lot of boos came from the spectators.

I studied the spectators above us who were booing at us, and most of them were students from the academy. How the hell did they get here earlier than us?

"Looks like our carriage was taking a longer trip."

I said to the two, and they all nodded. While we were going to the arena using the furthest path there is, the students from the academy must have gone on a more instant path where they can immediately pick their own spots.

And from how big this stadium is, there must be hundreds-no, thousands of seats here. There's not only students, but also outsiders such as nobles or important commoners that were invited, and there's a lot of them.

"How the hell did we miss so much information?"

I said while being a little pissed. The council didn't say anything about the battle royale event to the class E students, and it's quite weird how they did that.

Milly... Are you even a friend of mine...?

"Okay, then! Let's just get things started! But first, let me mention the rules.

First of all, no outside weapons allowed! You have to either make your own weapons with magic, or fight with your hands!

Second, no killing. This is an obvious rule, but you can beat up your opponents because we have quite plenty of talented healing magicians with us!!

And finally, you are free to use any kind of attacks with your magic! Just make sure those aren't permanently damaging your opponents, and simply fight fairly.

If you eliminate an opponent, your team will get ten points! 

If your team manages to win until the end, your team will receive even more points!

First place will get 150 points, second place will get 120, and third will get 90.

Okay, those are all the rules. Now, let's begin the show!!"

A loud bang came from our two o'clock, from the large green room at the walls. The bang was then followed by a countdown from the commentator.

"Three! 

Two! 

One! 

Begin!!"

The game has begun.

Everyone has already started moving, hastily looking for opponents to eliminate.

Except… for us.

"W-Wait, begin?? Begin what??"

Alden and Lemillia looked to be quite panicking, but I know exactly what the word 'begin' meant.

I have seen a lot of battle royale things back in my day. Battle royale themed movies, games, and others, and all of them had only one simple objective.

Survive, until the very last.

"... Let's go."

"Huh? Go where?"

"This is a battle royale game, the point is either survive until the end or to eliminate opponents as much as you can.

My guess is, class E will be targeted the most since we are the weakest. To them, we are easy eliminations that can rack their scores. Which means we will be fighting the most opponents."

"Huh?? How the hell are they going to know where we are?"

I glared at him and pointed at the back wall behind us. I lifted my finger and pointed above the spectators seat, and right above the spectators seat was a giant sign saying 'E-1'.

Alden looked away to the other sides of the stadium, and he was able to find other giant signs that said the other classes.

Those signs are very easily noticed. Knowing this, Alden immediately turned hopeless.

"Oh... We are screwed."

Alden muttered as he dropped his knees to the ground, but I simply grinned madly.

"What do you mean? It's the opposite."

I took out my shadow sword and enchanted my whole body. I purposely kept my pressure hidden, that way the opponents will be fooled by my weak front. 

My senses had picked up three teams coming for us at the same time as of right now, and they are quite strong.

"Listen. In this event, the point is to survive and to get as many eliminations as we can. In normal situations, we would have to be the one looking for prey to eliminate.

But, what if the prey… comes to us?"

I said as a wide mad grin formed in my mouth. 

Lemillia and Alden became very confused as to why I suddenly formed a stance, but they immediately got frightened when the first water bullet made their way towards us.

SRINGG!!

I quickly moved into the way and sliced the water bullet in half. Alden and Lemillia were already on edge, but that bullet was still too fast for them to dodge or deflect.

Me moving to save them was the right call. But, it also alerted the enemies.

Seeing me defeating that attack very easily, the enemies slowly came out from the trees.

Three teams. One from the left, two from the right.

"Yo! Looks like we got ourselves a class E! What do you say, split them into three?"

"Sure! We can beat up everyone else later on!"

All three teams that came seemed to be quite on good terms, despite being rivals. Just from a glance, I know that they will be working together. 

They all seemed to be chatting with each other very calmly and completely ignoring us. From their armbands, it looks like they are seniors.

"B-2… C-3… and D-3. Wow, you guys are really bullying us, you know?"

I said to the seniors in front of me jokingly, and they laughed at my sentence.

"Sorry, girl! But, we'll be grabbing your points. We are also racking up scores, you see?"

The seniors then quickly prepared their magic attacks, and when it's ready, they fired it at high speed.

"Really? Then we seemed to be having the same objective~."

BOOOOOM!!!!

A gigantic explosion came from the area belonging to class E-1, and everyone else in the arena became quite confused as to what happened.

The game had just started, and yet such an explosion was already occurring...

The seniors who fired those magic attacks felt quite happy with their attacks, but I didn't wait for the smoke to clear out.

VWOOSH!!!

Two green firebombs the size of a baseball quickly flew out of the smoke and made their way towards the cocky seniors. 

The seniors were so taken aback by the sudden counter attack, that two of them were too late to move and got blasted by the sudden giant explosion.

BAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That explosion was massive, completely beating their previous explosion. But, as expected from senior students of the academy…

As long as they don't get caught dead center of the explosion, they can still survive it with whatever wound.

"W-What!!?"

The senior from the third year that was still standing immediately shouted while still being deep hidden under the smoke. His gaze turned to his friend and one other senior from the second year, and his eyes turned wide immediately.

The two who got caught in the explosion are now unconscious on the ground, almost charred to coal.

"Meghan Krux from B-2 and Alphenlie Bason from D-3 is out!"

The commentator announced. It seems that she knows everything that is going on inside the arena, and she will announce everything that happens.

From that announcement, it seems like we had the first elimination in the game.

"Look at that, we just got twenty points for free."

The dust finally clears, and it shows exactly what is behind it. The ground was destroyed, but I stood calmly at the center with no dirt on me.

Both Lemillia and Alden are already being cladded in blue lightning, plus me with my ten floating firebombs the size of a baseball.

Our pose must be very cool right now, because all of them are extremely scared.

"Sorry for being so rude… but can you please just get eliminated already?"

With a mad grin, I dashed forward, followed by the two behind me. The fun began right after.

BAARRR!!!

BLAAAAAARRR!!!!!!!!