[ 51 ] Airship

The shadow of the airship loomed ominously over the little leaf as Team Alpha descended upon them. Within seconds, three of their four members had abseiled down, surrounding Ellie, Arix, and the clone with their abseiling ropes still attached.

Casting a spell in his left hand, a boy with short, spiky hair swung a fist through the air at Ellie, and she reflexively raised her hands, casting Shield. Smarks of magical energy flashed, and a second later, chains wrapped around the boy.

“Seriously, Ed?” A girl with long, flowing blonde locks face-palmed. “What did we say about thinking first and attacking second?”

“Damn it,” Ed hissed, struggling against the grip of his own spell. Luckily for him, Ellie still cowered and hadn’t taken control of the spell’s focus, causing it to disintegrate seconds after being cast. Flexing his arms, he threw them outward and broke the last remaining threads of mana, holding it in place. “That’s better.”

“We’re not all as reckless as Ed here,” a taller boy sighed. “Just hand the pouch over,” he added, extending an open palm.

“This thing’s a spell,” the girl said, kicking Kal’s clone.

“It is too, isn’t it,” Ed said, inching closer to get a better look at the clone.

“Look, you’re not going anywhere. My dispel spell could sink this leaf in an instant. Just give me the pouch and keep yourselves dry.”

“Fine, take it,” Ellie said, feigning anger as she handed over the pouch.

“Let’s see here,” the boy muttered as he delved into the pouch. “Wait, what is this,” he gasped, pulling out a single botfly.

“What is it, Gamdac?” The girl exclaimed.

“One—single—objective. You bastards,” Gamdac hissed. “They’ve fooled us! Everyone, back on board the ship.”

“Huh?” Ed tilted his head up; he had still been inspecting the clone.”

“Get moving, now! We make for the island.”

“Oh, jeez,” the girl groaned and tugged on her rope, causing it to recoil and sending her flying back up to the ship.

***

“I still can’t believe you gave their pouch back,” Michel growled between gritted teeth.

“Didn’t you hear what she said?”

“I did, but who’s to say she isn’t lying? I wouldn’t trust a noble as far as I could throw them,” Michel crossed his arms.

“To what purpose?” Kal said. “If anything, she sounded like she was venting to me. It’s not even like she was trying to dissuade us from collecting points. It actually made me want points more. If I can’t even guarantee my team a spot at a top academy, I might as well try to win this thing. The way I see it, I either leave with 100 points or finish in the top three.”

“He’s got a point,” Daphne said.

“Great discussion, everyone. Hate to be a drag, but I don’t believe we have time to be standing around yapping. I have a sneaking suspicion Team Alpha is on their way back here. And the chances are, they won’t be satisfied with just our points,” Vae said.

“What? I thought you guys dealt with them,” Michel said.

“We did. In a sense,” Kal threw his hands up. 

“Sush up, Michel,” Bandy said. “Team Alpha is a top team. Nobody is dealing with them that easily.”

“From the looks of it,” Kal said, eyeing the leaderboard quickly. “They’ve already collected the objective we tricked them with. I’m guessing they won’t be far away.”

“Look, I don’t mean to be a doubter, but the leaf trick isn’t going to work against an airship,” Bandy said.

“This is what we get for throwing our lot in with these guys,” Michel groaned as if he could have done better.

“Right,” Kal nodded. “The same trick isn’t going to work. We can’t stay on the island. It’s just too exposed against the airship. Luckily, we don’t have to.”

“Right, on it,” Bandy said, summoning yet another leaf. They had lost one during the attack, but still had the other, however, Bandy’s mana was exhausted now, and she quickly transferred the focus of the leaves over to Daphne and Ike, since they had the least need for their spells.

Hurriedly, they climbed aboard and sailed to the shore. Luckily, the distance wasn’t far, and they made it across before spotting the airship in the distance, crashing through puffy, white clouds.

Watching from the forest, they spotted Team Alpha reach the island and make a pass over it, circling above.

That is one cool objective if you’re hunting teams in the open. Pity that most of the examination zone is forest.

“What now?” Bandy asked.

“Let’s go a little deeper,” Kal replied. “I have a feeling that airship is going to be a pain to deal with. Probably best we don’t meet them on their own terms.”

“Finally, we agree on something,” Michel said.

“And what about the others? Can’t imagine Moody is going to be too happy about being abandoned.”

“Don’t worry about them, Vae. Leave that to me.”

Kal didn’t need a plan, not when Arix was with Ellie. Thanks to the binding of his core, he could send Arix simple messages from remarkable distances. 

“Right, should we get moving then?” Ike said. “They might not be able to see us, but if they fly close enough, they will sense us.” Kal could tell the boy was still nervous. He fidgeted with his sleeves as he watched the circling airship.

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Kal said, and the six of them turned deeper into the forest.

They marched for over two hours through dense vegetation before doubling back to the Aeries, some distance north of where they had been.

Kal couldn’t speak or give written messages to Arix, but he could give him a sense of what he was feeling and allow Arix to sense his mana. 

Another hour passed as they sat under the coverage of the forest canopy, looking out across the expansive river, when they spotted a tiny silhouette bobbing along the water as the sun set at their backs and crimson reflected from the water’s calming surface.

Kal squinted to get a better look, but he already knew who it was. He could sense Arix’s mana from a mile away, but it still put a smile on his face to see them waving back unharmed.

About time, you guys.

“Miss us?” Arix waved with a stupid grin.

“What happened?” Kal asked as they neared the shore.

“Not much,” Ellie replied. “They caught up to us faster than expected. We tried defending ourselves for a bit, but one of them had a dispel spell, and they threatened to dispel the leaf if we didn’t give over our Astral Pouch.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Ellie said as they reached the shore leaf slid onto the pebbles. “Dunno if he actually would have gone through with it,” Ellie tilted her head. Anyway, that was it. We decided to just give them the botlfy.”

“You did good. Just lucky they didn’t decide to follow you.”

“They were pissed. I’m pretty sure they’ll be gunning for us. That said, there are still lots of teams around, and that airship makes them easy to spot. They’re probably getting distracted by others all the time.”

They sound like a nasty bunch, and that airship could be a problem. If I want to stay on top, remaining active is probably going to be necessary.

“You shoulda seen Ellie, though,” Arix said. “She reflected a spell right at a guy. It was pretty cool.”

‘It was just first circle stuff,” Ellie blushed and shrugged.

“It’s limited, but that Shield spell is pretty handy,” Kal agreed. 

“All these flowery words. You’re going to get to Moody’s ego,” Vae sighed.

“Like you’re one to talk!” Ellie snapped.

“Damn, you lot bicker,” Michel shook his head.

“Talk about glass houses,” Ike said. “Being stuck with you and Bandy on a team is something else.”

Michel turned to Ike and Bandy.

“Ahem,” Kal cleared his throat, drawing the eyes of his extended party. “Do I need to remind everybody that the airship is still out there? Besides, if we want to stay on top, we’ve got to keep moving.”

“On top?” Ellie raised a curious brow.

“You and Arix missed a bit. But suffice to say, there likely isn’t much point to clinging onto a couple hundred points. We either just pass this exam, or we aim higher. And since we’re already ranked number one, I figure we might as well try to hold onto it.”

“You mean the points won’t help us get into a top academy?” Ellie questioned.

“Wait, what?” Arix said. “Did I miss something?”

“The top academies have always taken in a large number of nobles,” Vae explained. “It’s no secret they prefer the wealthy and powerful. That being said, they also don’t want to take in total failures—it’s bad for their image. To be honest, it makes sense that they wouldn’t grant admission to young mages just because they got lucky by joining this exam with talented peers. If they do make exceptions, it will likely be for powerful nobles, as that Phoenix scion said.” 

“You already knew all this?” Arix said.

“I assumed it was the case. I don’t know any more than you do.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kal interjected. “We can’t do anything about that now, and since challenging yourselves is likely the only way to make a good impression, the misunderstanding is likely to do more good than bad.”

“Yeah, I supposed,” Arix said, grinding circles into the ground with his boot.

“Quit whining already,” Michel said. “There are only thirty hours left in this exam, and that likely means things are about to heat up. I can’t believe I’m trying to cheer up the team that’s coming first.”

“You’ve been whining ever since we met up with these guys.”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Michel shrugged.

“Ah, guys,” Ellie said. “Looks like they caught up with another team.”

Kal immediately brought up his leaderboard. “These guys are going to be a problem.”

“But we’re still winning,” Arix said.

“For now…”

• Team Ebenshire - 485

• Team Alpha - 420

• Team Dreamkeeper - 380

• Team Kingmaker - 225

• Team Allseeing - 210

• Team Shadowpact - 200

• Team Raptor - 195

• Team Hijinks - 190

• Team Nightstalker - 185

• Team Law - 185
  

Kal was pleasantly surprised to see Team Shadowpact reach the top 6. He had already met multiple top teams, so he was already getting a decent idea of the standard. But it was still nice to confirm they were high-tier young mages.

Then there was Team Allseeing. Kal wasn’t about to roll over for these pompous nobles, but he also didn’t want to make enemies with the prodigies of the next generation. Hopefully, recovering so many points meant whatever animosity they held for him had been dampened.

“And now our glorious leader is stuck daydreaming,” Michel said, stirring Kal from his thoughts.

“What do you think, Vae?” Kal said, turning to the short-statured boy.

“At this point in the game, I doubt we’re finding objectives in the wild. If we want to keep gaining points, we’re going to have to leave our morals behind.”

“I figured,” Kal sighed. “Well, it’s getting dark. Let’s find a spot to make camp and consider our next step tomorrow.”

That night dragged on despite how tired everyone was. Kal, like usual, was allowed to sleep, but he still didn’t completely trust Team Lunar, even if they had upheld their end of the bargain so far. 

Arix, Ellie, and Vae set their bedrolls around Kal’s, and one was awake during every night watch, but that didn’t entirely set Kal’s mind at ease. 

Groaning, Kal’s eyes fluttered open in the early hours of the morning. Arix, Elli,e and Team Lunar were already awake, scanning their surroundings. Sleeping in a bedroll a couple of feet away, Vae was still tucked in. Crawling over, Kal pushed his shoulder.

“Time to wake up.”

“Already?”

“Come up, get up. It’s the last twenty-four hours. Let’s finish this thing.”

The exam had been more taxing than Kal had expected. It wasn’t just finding and winning the objectives, but the stress of protecting what they had won was probably worse than anything else. It was likely the reason some of the top-scoring teams hadn’t changed much in a while. They were probably hiding away, hoarding their points.

Suddenly, Kal wished they had gone for the airship. It might have had a big target and probably a free-for-fall with multiple teams fighting over it, but the flexibility of being able to fly across the examination area and hunt down other objectives was unrivaled.

I have to admit, airships are pretty cool. I wonder how much they cost in this world?

“Gonna help, boss boy?” Michel said, rolling up camping equipment.

“Yeah, sorry,” Kal grinned and began rolling up his bedroll.

“So, how honest are you feeling today, Kal Jakari?”

“Eh, a little grayer than usual.”

“What are you two scheming about?” Ellie said.

“If you two are thinking of going all rogue, you better be planning to share. Don’t think I’m gonna work for free,” Michel interjected.

“Aren’t we getting a little greedy here, guys?” Ike said. “We got the points we needed. I really need to pass this thing.”
“We know,” Bandy groaned. “You don’t have to keep reminding us.”

“I think we can come to an agreement,” Kal said. “As long as you remember who makes the rules,” he added, pointing to his chest.

“What happened to teamwork?” Michel hissed.

“Teams still require a leader,” Vae reminded the argumentive teen. 

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