Volume 7 Chapter 449: The Silent Contest in the Magic Towers And True Ident.i.ty of the Attackers
Translator: The Light
Edits by Kenny
At the Aldridge Empire’s seaside resort spot, Oldrango City’s coastal region, the Twilight Forest Arena of Phoenix Island, the magic towers where ten of the academies were stationed were plunged into an unprecedented crisis due to a sudden attack by a Mutant Humanoid Slime Army. Bella’s Olsylvia Academy’s magic tower was fortunately spared from the first round of attacks due to the presence of many special existences.
Bella took the “Arctic Blade” conjured up by Sea Demonic Dragon Amy Beth’s power and began counterattacking the army of Mutant Slimes. Puppet Master Elaine’s suggestion was right. These Mutant Humanoid Slimes feared the cold, and they wouldn’t be able to recover once they encountered low temperatures. Moreover, they seemed to be designed to deal against magic professions. Even though they were two-meter-tall humanoids in shape, they didn’t have any physical combat skills at all.
When met with an opponent like Bella, who was just pretending to be a mage, their disadvantage was immediately exposed. Bella brandished her “Arctic Blade” all the way from her own magic tower to Listabel Academy’s magic tower more than a hundred meters away. Not a single Mutant Humanoid Slime on the way was able to impede Bella’s advance and was turned into ice fragments under Bella’s blade.
Just as she was about to approach Listabel Academy’s magic tower, Bella found other transparent Demonic Beings. They were Mutant Slimes in the shape of Ogres. Bella had only seen slimes that could transform into humanoid shapes before. These ogre-shaped ones looked like they would be strong. These big guys standing more than three meters tall should be much stronger than the Mutant Humanoid Slimes.
When they saw Bella approaching, a Mutant Ogre Slime went forward and rammed directly towards Bella, who leaped up high over its head. She was only wearing a bikini battlesuit right now. If it were to get dissolved by the slimes, then she had no other suitable pairs to wear. No matter how big its body became, it couldn’t change the fact that it was just a Slime. After leaping over its body, Bella turned around for a horizontal slash, cutting off the fake Ogre’s legs.
“Hmph. You think I’ll be in trouble just cause you’re tall? No matter what you look like, you still can’t become a true Ogre.”
Bella climbed up the wall of the magic tower. Bella didn’t want to inform the Manasvir Empire and the Aldridge Empire before finding out the opponent’s goals. If the human empires intervened, then the “Night of the Witches” tournament might be canceled. This was one of the few events the Olsylvia Academy could gain points from. If it were to get canceled, they would lose a lot of points in this year’s rankings.
The magic tower had long been occupied by Mutant Humanoid Slimes. Girls from the Listabel Academy could be seen being caught by the Mutant Slimes. These strong mages had really been careless this time. They underestimated these Demonic Beings. They had never thought that these slimes would come for a sneak attack at night. The students partic.i.p.ating in the “Night of the Witches” tournament barely brought any battle-type magical tools with them since this wasn’t a fighting compet.i.tion, and that was their mistake.
Faced with these special Mutant Slimes, the mages who did not prepare in advance suffered huge losses. The girls caught by the Slimes were unable to move as they were wrapped up in some transparent glob. They had fearful expressions on their faces, but fortunately, they could breathe through the goo. Otherwise, some of them might have smothered to death. The uniforms of the girls who were caught had all melted off. When Bella came in, she quickly judged that these Mutant Slimes were all inferior goods. It meant that they were half-finished products.
Completed Slimes couldn’t dissolve a person’s clothing, but they could absorb their prey’s magical power and inject strange liquids into them. Other than dissolving clothes, this batch of slimes attacking the magic towers had no ability to absorb mana or inject toxins, so they could only be described as defective products, and it wasn’t difficult to deal with them.
Bella didn’t use the “Arctic Blade” in her rescue mission. If the Slime had already swallowed someone up, and if she were to attack them using the coldness of the Arctic Blade, she might end up hurting the captured girls. Bella borrowed Fire Dragon Princess Sulliman’s power to warm up the “Tears of the G.o.ddess” for a moment before sprinkling it onto the Slimes.
When the warmed “Tears of the G.o.ddess” touched the Slimes, they quickly melted away like dissolved jelly, and the girls locked in their bodies were liberated. The girls who came out were all s.h.i.+vering and were clutching their chests with their hands. Their bodies were all very cold as they needed to catch their breaths for a moment before they could speak, so they could only thank Bella with their eyes for helping them and could not speak for now. After all, they were completely s.h.i.+vering with cold.
Bella couldn’t really take advantage of them either after just saving them. There were more than a hundred students in Listabel Academy’s magic tower. No matter how much of a “gentleman” Bella was, she still couldn’t control so many girls at once without any helping hands. Right now, just the “eye candy” reward alone was good enough.
After Bella entered the magic tower, the Mutant Slimes who were attacking it seemed to have received some sort of order as they stopped sending more members to attack the tower. Instead, the mastermind behind the scenes was still intelligent enough to “lure the tiger out of the mountains” by attacking the magic tower of Bella’s Olsylvia Academy instead.
However, the Olsylvia Academy’s magic tower was a “tiger mountain” in itself, so it wasn’t only a single “tiger” they had to deal with. From the beginning, the Olsylvia Academy’s magic tower was destined not to be broken. Bella didn’t even care if they were wasting their energy. She was focused on heading to the top of this magic tower.
At the top of the tower, Bella found the person she wanted to offer her support to, the Listabel Academy’s Student Union President, President “Quasi-Mage Oracle” Alephia. When this beauty with long pink hair saw that it was Bella who entered, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Listabel Academy’s elite beautiful maiden mages, nicknamed the “Fifteen Elementalists,” had all been arranged by President Alephia to partic.i.p.ate in the “Magic Pillar Contest,” an individual event for the joint magic professions.
In the preliminary and quarter-finals of the “Night of the Witches,” President Alephia figured it was fine not to let their elite players come out on the scene. Instead, she figured she could have them wait until it was the time for the advancement rounds and finals. Her original intention was to get more points, but who would have known that she would hit the jackpot in the preliminaries and the quarter-finals. If not for Bella’s timely appearance, their entire magic tower would have probably fallen under the hands of the Slimes.
“Bella, it’s you… I really have to thank you for this time.”
“President Alephia, you guys are…”
“We were bullied by the Slimes, but it was my oversight. I figured since this was just the preliminaries and the quarter-finals, I could just send our elites to the Magic Pillar Contest. Bella, why did you bring weapons to the Night of the Witches?”
“Well, there’s no rules saying mages couldn’t bring weapons with them!”
President Alephia was doing no better. All her clothes had already been dissolved away, as the girls around her were all kneeling on the ground in the same state. If Bella hadn’t come to help, then she and the other girls in the tower would have probably continued to be wrapped up together in the “transparent jelly.” The only one who could stand was President Alephia, but if Bella came any later, she would’ve fallen as well.
President Alephia, who could finally breathe a sigh of relief, didn’t care anymore either and fell very naturally into Bella’s arms. Bella was currently only wearing a black bikini battlesuit, so when the two of them held each other, Bella could feel President Alephia’s somewhat wet skin. Alephia really felt quite tired. She was forced to wake up from her meditation in the end to face the Slimes.
“Not afraid of me anymore? President Alephia, you never threw yourself into my arms like this in the past!”
“Bella, you’re much more reliable than those Slimes. Moreover, even if I were afraid of you, you would still bully me. I’ve already been bullied by you, so I would be fine if you were a bit gentler with me.”
“Oh, Bella. I almost forgot. Could I trouble you to go help out the Augustus Academy? They’re all alchemists there, and I figured that they won’t be able to hold up much longer either.”
“What about you guys, then? Well, let me summon a girl to help you guard this tower. Just don’t tell outsiders about this.”
After President Alephia promised to keep the secret, Bella drew out a Collapsing Magic Array to summon Collapsing Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita over. Lolita was part of the Dragon Race, so having her partic.i.p.ate in the “Night of the Witches” would itself be a violation of the rules. The only foreign races invited to join the Twelve Academies Exchange Tournament were the students of the Alessandra Academy for the Foreign Races. No other academy was allowed.
President Alephia saw the expressionless twin-tails loli, Collapsing Evil Dragon Emperor Lolita, wearing a black gothic lolita outfit and holding a black parasol, she quickly understood what Bella meant. She could sense that Lolita wasn’t a human, but she couldn’t tell that she was a dragon. This was already considered cheating, but so as not to be disqualified, the Listabel Academy would naturally keep this matter secret, as they owed a big favor to the Olsylvia Academy.
Looking in the direction of Bella, who had already left, President Alephia felt that this was a favor she would never be able to repay for the rest of her life, and she could only pay it back with her own body. After helping the Listabel Academy out of their crisis, Bella jumped out the window once more and rushed to the Augustus Academy’s magic tower in the other direction. Since all the Slimes were besieging the Olsylvia Academy’s magic tower, there was an unusually small number of slimes on her way there. Bella almost encountered no palpable resistance before she arrived at the Augustus Academy’s magic tower.
The Augustus Academy was an academy for alchemists, and these alchemists were not strong in terms of magic fighting abilities. It was already considered good if they could launch a fireball. The reason they were able to hold up for so long was all thanks to their magic potions. With the miracle of alchemy, the alchemists basically did not need to rely on meditation to restore their mana, unlike the mages. If they ever lacked mana, they just had to drink a potion. Even though alchemists were considered a magic profession, the compet.i.tion rules allowed them to carry the magic potions they created during the “Night of the Witches” and the other events.
When Bella arrived, this place had already been subdued by the Mutant Slimes since alchemists couldn’t hold up after all. Bella did not attack them by force but instead changed into her usual “tools of crime,” the invisibility cloak, and strut through the doorway of the magic tower. With her sensitivity to humans as a Demon King, she could smell something foreign amongst the girls.
The girls of the Augustus Academy were also caught, just like the girls from Listabel Academy. All of them were turned into special “human-shaped jellies” by the slimes. However, they fared better than the mages and were not completely naked. These alchemist beauties wore rare metallic underwear underneath their clothes that could not be dissolved. Their metal underwear had depictions of alchemical magic patterns on them that must have been enchanted by magic, so that was likely why the Slimes weren’t able to dissolve them.
The girls did not look quite panicked. Being an alchemist, they often had to capture slimes and other low-level Demonic Beings for experiments. After being “counterattacked” by the Slimes, their faces mainly consisted of surprise and disbelief. As the magic tower might be invaded by outsiders, Bella did not immediately try to save them like she did with the Listabel Academy. Instead, she went to the top of the tower first to confirm what state the Augustus Academy’s Student Union President was in. President Alephia mentioned to her before she left that the Augustus Academy’s Student Union President was also a girl.
The use of girls as student union presidents was a new habit only adapted in recent years. Before this, the student union presidents of the Human Race’s major academies were all male. After that, boys were often needed at the frontlines to partic.i.p.ate in the fights between Humans and Demons or Beastmen, and they did not have time to deal with student union matters. Several years ago, the Human Race’s academies popularized the new model of letting girls who were sitting in steady positions at the back to become the student union presidents instead. Even if they were sent to the frontlines, girls were often put at the back, so they were in a much safer and secure position than the boys.
Bella found the people who were controlling the Mutant Slimes in this tower. There were a dozen people dressed in black demonic priest robes. Bella had no idea whether they were human or not. However, looking at the strange demonic patterns on their clothes, they probably weren’t good people. Bella decided they were the ones controlling the Slimes for one very simple reason. She discovered the Magic Crystal b.a.l.l.s that were controlling the Slimes on the bodies of these black-clothed men.
Bella had also found the student union president of the Augustus Academy. Bella was quite surprised. She had seen at least half of the Twelve Academies’ student union president, and they were generally beautiful young girls. Only the Augustus Academy had a different taste. Their Student Union President was a rather blank-looking loli beauty. Sure enough, the taste of alchemists could not be compared to ordinary people to use a loli as a student union president.
The Augustus Academy’s Student Union President, Elsh.e.l.ly, had a standard loli figure with refined platinum short hair that reached her shoulders. She didn’t have hair to her waists like the other beautiful maidens. She wore her hair short because she wasn’t great at grooming her hair, unlike the other lolis who liked to groom their hair into twin-tails. Moreover, if her hair were too long, it wouldn’t be convenient for her to do her alchemical experiments. So, for the sake of her experimentation, she did not keep her hair long.
Elsh.e.l.ly was the first flat chested loli Bella had seen amongst the human academies’ student union presidents. Even though she was wearing a set of platinum underwear, based on her “old veteran” intuition, Bella could visually estimate that Elsh.e.l.ly’s chest was just an A, not even a B. The girls by Bella’s side, other than the few Mothers of Creations, basically had cup sizes starting at C cup.
Just as what President Alephia told her, Elsh.e.l.ly had a bit of that emotionless character. Even if she were being trapped, she didn’t have any hint of fear on her face at all. Compared to the other girls, Elsh.e.l.ly looked quite calm. At least, you couldn’t see her being panicked on the surface.
Such a precious resource moved Bella, of course. President Elsh.e.l.ly was now confined to the top of the tower along with the other top-ranking alchemists of the Augustus Academy. They were also wrapped up by the Slimes, leaving only their heads outside. They looked as if they had been shoved into a water tank with only their head popping out. The other girls had very restless looks in their eyes. Only President Elsh.e.l.ly’s golden eyes alone were completely unmoved.
“As expected of the strongest alchemist of the Human Race’s academies. If not for the Demonic Beings we received from those above, we might not have been able to capture you.”
“Boss, this isn’t good, right? The higher-ups are paying us to mess up the Olsylvia Academy’s magic tower so that they won’t be able to get any points in this event. They didn’t tell us to do anything to the other academies!”
“What do you know! This is called side business development. Don’t you know how many organizations there are that need alchemists? These alchemists are a little eccentric and a bit stubborn. But, with a little brainwash, and they’ll know what they have to do.”
Bella was standing right at the center of those black-clothed men. While peeking at the Augustus Academy’s girls, she listened to their chats. Even though the Augustus Academy girls who were caught were all wearing metal underwear, so you could not see their private parts. Being able to see their arms and legs was plenty for Bella as she had never been the picky type in terms of eye candy.
The mastermind behind the scenes of these black-clothed men turned out to be the same underground gambling organization that Bella had taken out when they were trying to rig the Olsylvia Academy’s inter-academy qualifying compet.i.tion’s bets in the Manasvir Empire. They had set their sights on the Human Twelve Academy Tournament this time. The favorite of this year was still the Olsylvia Academy. To rig the bets, they did not hesitate to interfere with the tournament directly.
They had originally bought off the judges and did not need to act, but who knew that the venue would suddenly be changed to Phoenix Island. The judges that belonged to the Aldridge Empire were suddenly replaced with new judges a.s.signed by the Manasvir Empire. As their plans had gone awry, they could only take the risk and intervene directly.
Bella looked at these black-clothed men and sighed helplessly. Wasn’t it just gambling? Why all this fuss? If they really wanted to start a gambling game, then all they had to do was look for the biggest black-handed player behind the scenes - that was her! The shadow at Bella’s feet began to spread around, gradually and silently moving under the feet of the men. She intended to silence them directly.
The originally “facially paralyzed” President Elsh.e.l.ly’s eyes had changed unexpectedly. Even though she could not see Bella under her invisibility state, she could clearly sense a strong killing intent from Bella’s position. That was an aura that only existed from a person who had killed countless beings, and the reason why the black-clothed men did not notice was that they too were killers like Bella.