Unpassable Bridge (2)

The usually composed teachers were left speechless, unable to respond to Alpheas's uncharacteristically cold demeanor.

Among them, the only one who could even begin to fathom the Alpheas of his younger years was not present—Sade.

His gaze turned back to the battlefield.

'I understand your resolve.'

Alpheas had already heard the full story of Shirone—his past, his origins, and the challenges he had faced just to gain admission to the academy.

'Every moment must feel like your last. I will respect that. But if you cannot take responsibility for the outcome...'

Alpheas set his terms in stone.

'Then this will be the last step of your journey as a mage.'

Shirone felt a wave of dizziness crash over him.

"Urgh!"

The traps moved with such blinding speed that dodging one left no time to think about the next.

'I have to read the entire field at once.'

If this were a maze, the only way to escape would be to memorize the entire map and sprint straight to the exit.

'There's no end to it.'

After all his maneuvering, he had barely advanced two meters.

'If this keeps up, I'll exhaust my mental strength before I even make progress. I have to push forward no matter what.'

Mark was thinking the same thing.

'We might both fail. The one who advances the farthest will have the advantage later.'

Like a circus lion leaping through a ring of fire, Mark charged ahead, breaking through obstacles.

"Here I go!"

He sharply changed angles, weaving through the barriers. Even the teachers couldn't help but let out exclamations of admiration.

"Shifting directions mid-teleportation isn't a basic skill. Mark came prepared."

Mark let out a triumphant grin.

'I did it! I can do this!'

In that fleeting moment, he glanced behind him and saw Shirone still standing in place.

'Heh, he's frozen with fear.'

The delicate balance of power was beginning to tip in his favor, and feeling the momentum shift, Mark pushed forward with renewed vigor.

But Shirone shook his head.

"No... that won't work."

Dodging a few obstacles and moving forward wasn't difficult for him either.

But when he analyzed the entire combination of incoming traps, he saw only one viable escape route.

'Mark's path is blocked.'

As expected, as time passed, Mark began to feel the increased difficulty of the traps.

"Damn it!"

A horizontal bar whipped at him like a steel whip, striking down from above. Before he could react, a crisscrossing wave of metal bars surged toward him.

"Hrrgh…!"

His face twisted in horror.

The endlessly firing rods tangled in midair, forming a net-like structure.

'I can't dodge that.'

Taking the easy route from the start had been a mistake.

Panicking, he tried to change his trajectory, but it was too late—the net was already upon him.

The students turned pale.

"He's going to crash!"

As the deafening sound of colliding metal filled the air, many of the spectators reflexively squeezed their eyes shut.

But those with sharper instincts kept watching, their eyes widening in shock.

"Shirone!"

At the perfect moment, Shirone grabbed Mark and teleported them both out of the trap.

Throwing himself into danger to save someone else was certainly courageous, but to the students, it seemed recklessly foolish.

"Did he really risk his life just to save Mark? Being kind is one thing, but this is just stupid."

"How can you say that? If someone's about to die, isn't it natural to try and save them?"

"Natural? Would you have done the same?"

"You bastard! Why are you dragging me into this?!"

While the students bickered, Iruki watched with an amused smirk.

'You idiots… that's not what's happening here.'

Meanwhile, Shirone found himself in an even worse predicament.

Although he had chosen the best possible route to rescue Mark, they were now trapped in an even more difficult section of the course.

"Ahhh! Save me!"

Mark, who had lost all sense of composure, thrashed wildly, tears streaming down his face.

"Stop moving!"

Even as he shouted, Shirone's eyes were fixed on the incoming obstacles.

'No way out.'

Though he had pulled Mark from the jaws of death, a second escape route was nowhere in sight.

'No, that can't be. If this trap were truly inescapable, it wouldn't have been designed in the first place.'

In that moment, he realized the flaw in his thinking.

'How foolish of me…'

There was another option—moving backward.

"Ahhh! We're going to die!"

Leaving Mark's scream behind, Shirone teleported straight backward with all his might.

Iruki shot to his feet in excitement.

"That's it!"

Retreating was a strategy too.

Fixating on crossing the bridge had been a trap in itself. The key was to stay calm and assess all possible movements in every direction.

"I'm going for it!"

Gaining distance, Shirone leaped over an enormous incoming obstacle.

'I made it!'

While he had managed to escape immediate danger, Level 10 was not about to let him off so easily.

As he ascended, the bars arced toward him, tracking his movement like guided arrows.

'So even changing altitude doesn't allow me to escape the course's structure?'

As long as he didn't fall to the ground, the bridge's traps would continue to chase him.

"Urgh!"

The increasing slope made analyzing the traps even harder, and the burden of carrying Mark only made it worse.

Seriel frowned in frustration.

"Why is he doing something so reckless? If Mark gets eliminated, Shirone could advance. Teleporting with someone else is an emergency rescue technique—it's incredibly dangerous."

Amy spoke calmly.

"That's just who he is. Other people only think about it. He actually does it."

"I know Shirone is kind… but Mark literally hired people to sabotage him."

'Maybe that's exactly why…'

Seriel found herself struggling to process the thought, but it was the truth.

"He never cared about rankings from the start."

Just like when she had chosen to advance to the graduation class, leaving behind many other options.

"Shirone isn't competing against anyone. He's running to become a mage. When someone has a fundamental goal, they don't get caught up in small victories and losses. Whether he finishes first or last, in the end, everything we do is just—"

—A step toward mastering magic.

As Seriel pondered, Amy watched Shirone fight on.

'I would have wanted to try too… but this time, luck wasn't on his side.'

Level 10 had never been cleared by any senior class student. This trial should have been stopped by now.

But all she could do was pray that Shirone made it out alive.