Chapter 99: Lion
[Edited by: ArchmageNaoki, Bunny, deathbricks, and Arthur300000]
“The most efficient magic is the one that moves things around. You see, if you attack with only pure magic, you will waste some of the energy on material creation. That’s why it’s common practice for the military nowadays to use physical bullets. It not only saves the caster’s energy, but it also helps the spell to penetrate the interference field. The only downside is that in an intense battle, you can only attack as much as the amount of bullets that you physically carry around.” Kael seemed to have fun lecturing me about combat magic theory as I sat in the stadium, watching students playing ‘wolf hockey’.
It turned out that Kael was more like my brother, Aunos, than I thought. It might be the common characteristic of guys in this world to like talking about magic instead of games and cars.
Anyways, the lecture started because I had begun to get bored of the game down there. Well, that big breasted girl riding a wolf was nice to look at. However, the game was just riding a wolf around the snowfield and hitting a black ball with a wooden mallet which I felt was too slow for my taste. So, I tried to start a conversation with Kael.
The guy was quite taciturn at first, but as I talked about the idea of having a close combat device that could shoot spells from it at the same time, he energetically pitched in.
I learned from the last battle that my previous thinking was all wrong. Well, cutting things apart was convenient and a sure-fire technique to kill, but when my reach wasn’t enough, it meant nothing. Getting close enough to kill was… as Aunos said, an outdated battle tactic. Just like the last battle, anyone with a good gun could just keep running away and shooting at me while I could do almost nothing to retaliate.
A gun in this world also had a glaring weakness. It was too fragile. Kael also suggested to me about attaching a bayonet, which was practically a knife, on the sniper rifle barrel. But if I did that, I might break one or two sniper rifles in each battle which could easily bankrupt me even if I include ‘selling my ass’ in the calculation.
Then I told him about my idea of a staff that could transform into a polearm. He reminded me of the geometric restriction of a casting device which I think I read about somewhere in a Beastkin museum. It talked about if I wanted to cast area of effect spells, I would need a device with a perfect geometric shape or something.
Still, I argued with him that I didn’t need my close combat device to cast any area of effect spells. I just wanted to point and shoot it like a normal gun after all. To my surprise, he said that it was probable, but he raised a new problem which I forgot to think about, how do I aim the spell without a casting device shaped like a gun.
He also listed other problems such as losing the effect of an interference field when I shoot, and if I wanted the best spell efficiency, how do I load a bullet?
Well, I didn’t care much about the interference field problem, I had my magic bouncing jacket and Skynet’s protective field. Also, with my magicka pool, spell efficiency was the last thing I needed to worry about. The only problem that I didn’t know how to solve was, how exactly do I aim?
While I was thinking about shooting spells like a shotgun or a homing missile, the referee down there blew her whistle two times. It signaled that the first half of the game had ended. I glanced at the scoreboard and saw the result.
Bluebell’s Academy 3 - 7 Rosen High
Aren’t we losing really badly? No wonder none of the teachers wanted to come. I didn’t know what trickery they did to have the final match played at their home stadium, but even with all that effort, it just made them look even more stupid in the end.
I brushed snowflakes off my skirt and followed the girls inside. On closer inspection of the snow wolf, they seemed to be bigger than the thunder wolves that I usually killed. It was as big as a horse. However, with its fluffy fur, it seemed wider. I wanted to ask the girls whether or not I can try to ride one of them, but seeing their long faces, it seemed inappropriate at the moment.
I followed the girls to the waiting room, and I realized that the atmosphere here was as sour as it actually smelled.
“Hah...” Most of them were sighing and a blonde haired girl began to sob with one of her friends rubbing her back. “You already did your best.” Her friend tried to console her.
Are they really serious about this school match? It felt a bit awkward as I felt that I didn’t take this match seriously enough.
“Teacher, please teach us a new strategy.” Liliana, a cute sky blue haired girl who kept staring at me on the bus pulled my sleeve and asked. Well, I wasn’t actually a teacher, teacher assistant would be the correct term. Yet, seeing a girl with eyes clear like a lake looking at me with such a sad look, it felt like someone was squeezing my heart.
Hmm, a new strategy? There is no way that I could think of any. I didn’t even know how to play the game in the first place… Still, I didn’t need to know any of that to make my team win.
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How? I knew a perfect spell for this situation. That’s the combination of 'Courage', 'Rally', and 'Call to arms' that I tested a while ago in Beastkin Kingdom adventure. Let’s call it the super-buff spell.
Is that a cheat? If so then justice is meaningless since it made a little girl cry.
As a wise man once said: A lion never cares about rules, it uses all its strength to catch its prey, no matter if it was a zebra or a rabbit!
Even if the whole world and heaven condemn me, today, I will found a new religion, the religion of the sacred panties!
Well, I talked all that, but I actually don’t want to feel like I’m the only one who played around while other people were serious.
I looked left and right, to check whether or not the bus driver was here. Alright, the coast is clear. No matter what, a crazed driver is too scary. However, my vision just landed on Kael...
“Ahem, could you please get out of the room for a minute? I have to do an important pep talk thing.” I tried to get rid of the witness.
“But Ms.Bluebell said-”
“It’s a girl thing you know. A girl thing!” I lied and pushed him out of the room.
“Hey!-” Wham, I shut the door on his face and locked it. To be meticulous, I order Skynet to cast a force field and soundproof spell around the room.
“Alright, everyone gathers around. I got a way to win, but first, please turn off your combat devices and look at my finger.”
.
.
.
“Ohhh! I can’t remember what you just said, but I feel the power coursing through my veins!” The fiery red haired girl who was the captain of the team proclaimed after I cast the spell.
I noted an ‘intelligence reduction’ as a side effect of the spell...
“3-7? Even if it's 0-20, we can still win!” Her teammates shouted and laughed.
Maybe being reckless was another side effect of the spell.
“Why did I worry for nothing?” One of them grinned evilly as I opened the door for them to leave.
Ok, recklessness, I noted it into the Skynote application.
“Alright! Let’s run those plebeians into the ground!” The captain yelled and they ran to their wolves like a group of maniacs.
Excessive aggressiveness, noted.
The two-meter-tall snow wolves who acted somewhat arrogant a moment ago seemed to notice the change in their riders. They began to act very submissive to their new found leader which made them look like a whole different team from the first half.
“... what did you do to them?” Kael seemed to be surprised as he asked.
“Well… I just did a very good pep talk. Yep, if you put your mind into your speech, it can turn any situation around.” I gave him a cliche answer and looked away while hoping this would turn out alright.
As I went back to the coaching box, everyone seemed to already be at their position.
The tension looked high in the field, just before the whistle blew, they did something like a staring contest. I had to commend the opposite team for not flinching.
“The game starts with the ball in Rosen High's possession. They passed the ball beautifully.” The commentator began to describe the scene as usual. “Ingrid, Solada, are passing the ball back and forth, but it was cut off by Maggie. Look at her control of the ball. She quickly went past the defense, and it’s GOAL!!!” Alright, the spell worked well, and the game seemed to be more fun.
Another kick-off, or rather hit-off was the same. Rosen High tried to zig zag the ball through my team's defense, but they were cut off expertly by my team, then the score was easily earned by a one man- I mean one girl and wolf show.
The score was at 5-7 when the situation began to change. As the ball was taken away by my team captain, Josephine, the Rosen High captain made a strange hand gesture, and the two defenders sped their wolves up and tried to ram into Josephine.
“Oi! Isn’t that against the rules!?” I stood up and yelled trying to imitate a short-tempered football coach. It was an effort of trying to distract the referee because I knew what would happen next.
WHAM! The sound of collision happened. However, it wasn’t what everyone in the stadium would expect. The sound came from Josephine swinging the mallet around her to welcome the unlucky wolves and two girls who charged at her. All of them were sent flying away like ragdolls.
The referee had no choice but to blow his whistle to stop the game. Two girls and wolves needed emergency medical attention and Josephine’s mallet was broken beyond repair.
“They attacked her first!” I tried to act consistently with my previous action, as the referee gave Josephine the red card. This way no one would suspect me of doing any foul play.
“Yeah! Booo! The lady is right, they tried to ram her!” The crowd of Bluebell academy’s fan began to boo and jeer. However, the referee opted to ignore them and resume the game.
Surprisingly, the Rosen High captain tried to do the same trick again. Maybe she thought that only my team captain was a tough nut to crack. This time, they employed three people to charge at our smallest forwarder, Liliana who was dribbling the ball.
If this unfolded according to common sense, Liliana would be sent flying. But under the influence of the super buff spell, she literally ran them into the ground. What a diligent girl she is... The whistle was blown, and the field medic began to get busy again.
At this point, the previously snow white field was littered with red blotches of Rosen High’s athletes and wolves. Still, the referee decided to resume the game as she gave Liliana a red card.
“F*ck you!” I gave the referee the middle finger, and the fans began to imitate. It was the first time in my life that I had some fun at a sport event. Maybe this is what they call sportsmanship. Right, according to what famous coaches did on TV, this might actually be a good field side manner.
The Rosen High captain seemed to be reluctant after that, but as the score quickly came back to 7-7 she resorted to her futile violence again. And as expected, the field was littered with their team injured to the point that their reserve players weren’t enough to substitute the injured ones.
This time their coach began to yell something at me about excessive violence. Of course, I politely replied with a smirk and two middle fingers up. The crowd behind me was also cheering and jeered as a few of my players got a red card again. Luckily, this time, some of their side also earned red cards even though they were the ones that suffered severe injuries.
As the score went to 10-7, with several more injuries on their side, the referee called off the match. For some reason, both of the teams were disqualified and this year junior wolf-hockey championship seemed to have no winner...
Seeing the hockey field turned scarlet and the medical team collapsed nearby because of the exhaustion, I began to wonder whether or not I had gone too far.
Anyways, since the coach of my team was still registered in the name of that Ray guy, I believe that the outcome of this match shouldn’t be my problem after all...