The Academy’s Weapon Replicator - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Weapon Duplicator at the Academy — Chapter 75
Part 22: Final Exam (4)
“Binkis…”
Malia de Roach pressed her hand to her head as she watched the screen.
The peaceful and gentle negotiation that had unfolded between Frontdier and Binkis had, unfortunately, been broadcast across every screen.
An instructor revealing the location of another instructor—an error that absolutely should not have occurred in this exam.
‘To be fair, if Frontdier weren’t our son, I might have confessed at that moment too.’
Malia understood Frontdier’s character, and she also knew the limits of that technique called “Fireworks” at Constellation Academy. After all, it was a technique she had pulled off only with the help of her bloodline magic, Sense Sharing.
‘But still, if this helps correct Anper’s image of Frontdier even a little…’
Malia knew Frontdier’s intention: to give this exam everything he had and force Anper to see him anew.
She glanced sideways at Anper beside her.
But Anper’s expression was blank—or rather, he looked even more displeased than before.
Whether he simply distrusted Frontdier that much, or whether there was another reason entirely.
From his deeply furrowed lips came his gravelly voice.
“Wasted effort, Frontdier.”
“…Anper. Still that?”
“My decision hasn’t changed.”
“If you were going to say that, you shouldn’t have given Frontdier the task in the first place. Unchanged decision?”
Malia looked Anper straight in the eye. He met her gaze with cool indifference.
“Of course I’ll keep my promise. Top ten in the comprehensive rankings. Should he achieve that, there will be no excommunication.”
“Then that’s all there is to it. Frontdier will do it.”
Malia closed the matter with a firm voice. Anper watched her in silence for a moment, then spoke.
“How strange. Didn’t you also agree to Frontdier’s excommunication back then? You’re like a different person now.”
“Back then, Frontdier was pathetic. I thought the excommunication would actually help my son.”
“…I see.”
After that, Anper said nothing more.
Instead, his eyes held a certain melancholy as he turned his gaze to the screen.
…The excommunication will actually help Frontdier.
Turning over Malia’s words in his mind, Anper spoke in a voice no one could hear.
I think so too, Malia.
* * *
Aster braced himself as he faced Artzie.
Artzie held a hostage, which meant Elodi’s power was halved.
“Well, what’ll you do, Aster?”
Artzie held a dagger in his hand, its tip pressed against the throat of his hostage, Theo. His primary weapon, a spear, was nowhere to be seen.
Whether it was a deliberate handicap or merely a bluff remained unclear.
“Sorry, Aster. I got caught.”
Theo spoke with a shamefaced expression. Aster smiled.
“Well, you should have handled it better.”
“Right. I was planning to just observe from the back since I’m a third-year.”
Aster and Theo exchanged words with an composure that belied the crisis—likely because this was a mock exam and not a real situation, though something still felt off.
“Looks like observation is off the table now.”
In that instant, Theo moved.
Artzie’s eyes twitched. In a brief moment, Theo bent his legs and lowered his entire body. For someone with a blade at his throat, it was a reckless maneuver.
The blade sliced toward Theo’s neck, and
a grinding, metallic screech rang out—far too wrong for a throat being cut.
‘Petrification?’
Artzie immediately checked Theo’s neck. That throat, now grey-tinted, was far from ordinary. It had turned to stone.
Petrification was typically a curse cast on an opponent. Using its hardness to reinforce one’s own defense—that was no ordinary strategy.
Freed from Artzie’s grasp, Theo swung his left leg low at Artzie’s feet. Dust kicked up with a whoosh, and Artzie slipped aside from the strike.
Artzie wielded a dagger. Theo, meanwhile, had only his bare hands. To overcome that disadvantage, Theo pressed deeper, moving inside.
Then came several exchanges of combat. Though Artzie showed no killing intent, Theo’s unarmed technique was expert-level.
That Theo was holding his own against Artzie in proper close combat—when Aster couldn’t even lay a hand on him—spoke volumes about his skill.
To drive him back, Artzie swung his dagger horizontally, and Theo evaded while creating distance. That was exactly what Theo wanted.
‘He never intended to fight seriously. He only needed to keep from becoming a hostage.’
Had Theo merely been trying to escape being held captive, Artzie should have been able to read those movements.
But Theo attacked Artzie, expanding his options. Skill and courage acting in concert.
Because of that, Artzie lost his hostage. And in the exchange of blows that followed, an opening was born.
Artzie’s eyes shifted. To his right—the direction where he had been facing off against Aster until moments before.
And there, as expected, was Aster.
Right before Artzie’s eyes.
In the gymnasium, Aster had fallen to Artzie countless times. His ability and talent were outstanding, but his experience remained immature. That experience wouldn’t be resolved in merely a few days until the final exam.
Yet there was one thing different from back then.
Aster’s Divine Power was already awakened.
Aster announced it.
“Here I come!”
Artzie accepted the challenge.
“Unnecessarily courteous.”
Clang! A sharp metallic ring split the air as Aster’s sword and Artzie’s dagger clashed.
‘The blade’s chipped,’ Artzie thought.
Artzie had originally intended to let the blow slide through. The reason it didn’t go as planned was that the blade was already damaged. It had lost its edge when he’d scraped Theo’s throat.
Evans House Weapon Arts
Basic Swordsmanship
Horizontal Slash
Aster hadn’t yet reached the higher levels of swordsmanship. He had no unique technique like Ellin’s, and the fact that he couldn’t break stone without using Aura spoke to that same limitation.
Yet Divine Power wrapped around his form changed even a simple slash’s meaning entirely.
Artzie saw it. The air trembling along the blade racing toward him. The trajectory shimmering like a mirage, distorted by wind pressure and heat.
Indeed. With power like this, it made sense that mastering Aura would come slower.
Artzie dodged, and Aster unleashed a flurry of slashes. Aster was faster, but Artzie closed the gap with minimal movement, each step economical.
And then.
“Ugh!”
Aster jerked his head back as something suddenly shot up from beneath him. Once he’d put distance between them, he saw Artzie standing there, gripping it.
A spear. Artzie had been hiding it in the ground.
Which meant Artzie had been drawing Aster toward that exact location while he dodged.
“……Caught again.”
“No. I wasn’t planning to use it. I wanted you to think well of yourself.”
Artzie’s words bordered on arrogance.
But Aster couldn’t help but agree. He had desperately hoped Artzie wouldn’t pick up the spear.
The moment Artzie grasped it, the air around them grew heavy and settled. The dust and stone particles scattered across the floor trembled. His Aura was already flowing through the space without him even activating it.
Aster glanced around warily.
Theo had apparently escaped to a safe position, and Elodi was keeping Jane in check. Or was it the other way around? Either way, the situation had reached a stalemate.
But truthfully, they were at a disadvantage. The best move would be to suppress Artzie before he could do anything—at least while he was unarmed.
‘Well. Now what.’
Yet Aster hadn’t lost his fighting spirit. He wanted to see Artzie’s true power. Of course, now that he held the spear, he wouldn’t give his full strength, but it would be better than before.
Aster turned one hand behind his back and signaled Theo. To support Elodi.
If those two could quickly suppress Jane and rejoin him, then Aster could manage Artzie somehow.
……The problem was whether he could hold out until then.
“──Oh my. I underestimated you.”
In an instant, Artzie felt a chill and rolled to the side.
A sudden bloom of flames erupted where he’d been standing. Had he stayed there, he would have been engulfed.
He wouldn’t have suffered serious injury, but Artzie wouldn’t overlook such an opening. Fortunately, he hadn’t let his guard down.
“I handed all three of you over to Artzie. I can manage the lot of you alone, you know.”
It was Jane who spoke. Her left index finger was glowing.
So she’d cast that magic with just a single finger?
“Swish!”
Then Elodi scattered ice shards through the air at Jane. Jane countered every single one with matching ice.
She was mirroring the magic cast first and blocking it—a display of the skill gap between them.
Elodi’s lips tightened. Yet the corners of her mouth were curved upward. Displaying composure was one thing, but she had no particularly good options.
“Senior, can you get close to Jane?”
Elodi asked Theo, but he shook his head.
“It’s difficult. From what I know, Jane is meticulous with fundamentals. When a mage is meticulous with fundamentals, that means she’s laid dozens of traps around herself.”
Elodi excelled at magical perception. Even with her sensitivity, the area around Jane was extraordinarily dangerous.
What now. Elodi felt cold sweat trickling down. She had no confidence she could suppress Jane quickly.
Elodi touched the metal armband on her wrist. An artifact forged from Bipagang, which she’d purchased at an auction and refined herself.
Using it could cap her magical output at a certain level, but there was no opening to cast it now.
Jane was a mage exceptionally skilled at restriction magic, and beyond that, she knew Elodi well. She’d been reading Elodi’s intentions from the start.
What now, what now.
A similar thought flickered through both Elodi and Aster’s minds.
At this rate, defeat would arrive before long. Unless something new appeared……?
Aster and Elodi’s gazes slowly turned toward somewhere. Theo’s did as well.
It was reckless—dangerously so, given that he was locked in combat with Jane and Artzie—but he couldn’t stop his gaze from shifting.
The strange sight drew Jane and Artzie’s attention as well. Far to the left of where they stood facing off, someone was there in the distance.
Someone was carrying another person on his back, walking forward.
“……Ah.”
The person carrying someone noticed he was being watched. His eyes flickered once, showing little reaction to being spotted.
Then he raised one hand,
“Ah, don’t mind me. Keep at it. Well then, I’ll be going.”
And he walked on.
The one carrying someone had black hair and peaceful eyes, walking at a leisurely pace as if he’d simply stepped out for a stroll alone.
‘That’s… surely that can’t be.’
“Hey, you—you! Frontdier!!”
Elodi cried out.
What are you doing here? And who’s that person you’re carrying?
Before Elodi could voice these questions, Jane answered them for her—surprisingly.
“……That’s our ‘victim role’!!”
“What?!”
Elodi gasped without thinking.
In that instant, Jane, Elodi, Aster, Artzie, and Theo moved in unison. Toward Frontdier.
Caught up in combat, both sides had momentarily forgotten: the primary objective of this exercise was to rescue the victim. Dealing with the monster role—the instructors—came second.
Which meant Frontdier was now a new adversary in the teachers’ eyes, and a rival competitor for Aster’s team, stealing their points.
There was no way they’d let him slip away.
Seeing them rushing toward him like arrows, Frontdier spoke.
“Ah, of course it goes this way?”
It was only inevitable.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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