Chapter 58: Is it funny that some experts are pretending to be newbies?

Upon seeing the Magic-Armored Golem lose control, Charlotte instantly darted behind a pillar, narrowly avoiding the same fate as the other girls who were being shredded and stripped by the dense barrage of magic bullets.

Although she desperately wanted to charge forward and duel the Golem, Mashiro had explicitly forbidden her from using any magic other than shooting magic. Relying solely on the “scratch damage” of shooting magic would clearly be ineffective.

Moreover, she didn’t know if the current situation was an accident or a surprise test intentionally set up by the academy.

If it were the latter, and she used any other magic, she would be immediately disqualified with a red card.

‘I’ll just hide here and observe until things become clear.’

Charlotte thought this, and then her eyes met Elsa’s, who was hiding behind another pillar.

“Holy shit, why are you hiding too?” Charlotte looked surprised.

“Did you think I’d stand there like an idiot and get hammered by that thing? Don’t be ridiculous!”

“If both of us are hiding here, then who’s going to stop that thing?”

Noticing this problem, Charlotte and Elsa simultaneously peeked their heads out to look.

Upon realizing the Magic-Armored Golem had gone out of control, the supervising witches took action, quickly raising powerful barrier magic to protect the girls, who looked like severely damaged ship girls.

However, one unlucky person was caught in the Golem’s hand.

“H-help me!” Noelle screamed loudly, but no matter how much she struggled, she couldn’t break free from the Golem’s grasp.

Seeing this, the official witches were all shocked, but they continued to maintain the barrier magic, not daring to act without instructions.

After all, a Magic-Armored Golem suddenly going out of control had never happened before. If they acted rashly before figuring out why the Golem went out of control, it could lead to even more severe consequences.

However, the out-of-control Golem wouldn’t give them time to react. After grabbing a poor soul, the Golem aimed the gun barrel it used to fire magic bullets at the head of the captured Noelle.

If this thing fired another round of fierce, overwhelming shots like before, Noelle’s small head would surely be ripped apart like exploding popcorn.

“No! I don’t want to die!”

Seeing the gun barrel about to point at her head, Noelle immediately broke down in tears.

Just then, a few magic bullets suddenly shot out from the side, accurately hitting the fingers of the Golem’s left hand that was gripping Noelle.

The Golem’s grip on Noelle loosened. Noelle slipped out of its hand and was caught by Elsa, who rushed out from the side, carrying her and scrambling into the magic barrier set up by the witches.

Undoubtedly, the person who fired those magic bullets was Charlotte.

Seeing Noelle rescued by their teamwork, the witches and the girls behind them burst into cheers.

“I’m alive!” Noelle hadn’t fully recovered from the shock.

Although her body was safe, her soul was still tightly squeezed in the Golem’s hand.

Seeing that Noelle had been successfully rescued, Charlotte breathed a sigh of relief.

However, just as she was about to run towards the magic barrier, Elsa suddenly shrieked at Charlotte.

“Move, you idiot!”

“Huh?”

Charlotte didn’t understand why Elsa was shouting this. She instinctively turned her head and, as a result, took the full force of a hammer strike from the Magic-Armored Golem. She was sent flying like a ragdoll, crashing onto the floor twenty paces away, lying motionless. Blood slowly trickled from her head. She was clearly severely wounded and would be in mortal danger if not treated immediately.

Everyone’s eyes widened in shock.

“Hey!” Elsa was about to run to Charlotte to check on her condition.

However, Mashiro got to Charlotte first.

But Mashiro only stared coldly at Charlotte, who was lying motionless at her feet. She had no intention of treating her, only speaking softly.

“Alright, you can use all your magic now. But if you fail to deal with this out-of-control Golem, you know the consequences.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a magic broomstick emerged from nowhere and hovered beside Charlotte.

Charlotte stood up from the pool of blood as if nothing had happened, stepping onto the floating broomstick like a skateboarder.

“You should have said so earlier! I wouldn’t have had to lie here playing dead and enduring the pain.”

Charlotte raised her hand and gently wiped her forehead. The blood that had been flowing from her head instantly vanished.

This sight utterly astonished everyone present.

“W-what is going on?”

Before they could think further, Charlotte, riding the magic broomstick, swiftly flew toward the out-of-control Golem.

Seeing Charlotte fly towards it, the Golem raised its gun and unleashed all its firepower.

Instantly, countless magic bullets ricocheted around the hall, creating a dense barrage like a Touhou game.

Charlotte, however, skillfully weaved her way through the gaps in the barrage on her broomstick, quickly circling around to the Golem’s back.

Witnessing this, everyone, including Elsa, was dumbfounded. They all wondered, “Is Charlotte really just a ten-year-old girl?”

To so effortlessly evade all of the Golem’s attacks—that was something only an official witch could achieve!

Elsa, in her shock, clenched her fists.

“Damn it! How can I be left so far behind by you!”

With that, she charged out of the magic barrier and rushed toward the Golem.

The other witches shouted in alarm, “Danger! Come back!”

But Elsa showed no intention of retreating.

“I’m going to be the strongest witch! How can I retreat now?”

Noticing Elsa charging over, Charlotte, flying in the air on her broomstick, was slightly surprised.

“Eh?”

The Golem, however, reacted swiftly, immediately turning its gun barrel toward Elsa, who was running on the ground.

Instantly, countless magic bullets swarmed out, all shooting toward Elsa.

But in a flash, a sword light suddenly streaked past, and all the magic bullets were deflected by an unknown force.

Everyone looked closely and saw that Elsa was now wielding a massive ice sword.

The moment the ice sword appeared, everyone felt the temperature in the hall drop significantly. Some girls couldn’t help but shiver.

Elsa finally understood. Since she couldn’t surpass Charlotte in magic, she would use her specialty, swordsmanship, to compensate for her shortcomings.

She had learned many swordsmanship techniques from Sister Alice. It would be a waste not to use them now!

“Sword Skill—”

After deflecting all the magic bullets, Elsa charged up to the Golem, wielding the massive ice sword and bringing it down in an upward chop.

“—Heaven-Soaring Dragon Slash!”

“What? You know that move too?” Seeing this, Charlotte was stunned.

Mom Rhynes said she was the creator of that move! How did this Elsa know it too? Where did she secretly learn it?

Before Charlotte could think further, the sword energy from Elsa’s strike sliced the Magic-Armored Golem in half. The fierce sword energy continued to ripple outward, narrowly grazing past Charlotte in a single breath.

Charlotte’s skirt instantly froze stiff.

“What kind of sheer, barbaric power is that!” Charlotte exclaimed, but she quickly came to a realization. “Hey, you bastard! Were you trying to slice me in half too?!”

“Tsk, I missed? What a pity!” Elsa turned her head and complained in a low voice.

“I heard that loud and clear!”

Charlotte was about to continue bickering with Elsa when she suddenly noticed that at the center of the Golem’s severed body, a core-like object was extending black tendrils, seemingly trying to reassemble the two halves of the body.

“That’s the corrupted Magic Core!”

A witch, unknown who, suddenly shouted this. Hearing it, Charlotte realized that the corrupted core had to be utterly destroyed.

And so, she raised her right hand, aiming at the core that was trying to resurrect the out-of-control Golem.

“Special Grade Magic—Crimson Judgment Bullet!”

Instantly, a red light erupted and, in the blink of an eye, shattered the core.

But even after destroying the core, the red light did not vanish. Instead, it continued flying toward Elsa.

“Eh?” Elsa hadn’t expected to be targeted by a special-grade spell. She froze on the spot in surprise.

Just as the red light was about to hit Elsa’s face, a transparent magic barrier suddenly appeared in front of her, reflecting the Judgment Bullet back the way it came.

The Judgment Bullet grazed past Charlotte’s ear, slammed through the hall wall, traced a graceful arc in the sky, and landed on an empty field less than five kilometers from Tsumuguri City.

Instantly, a massive mushroom cloud formed, visible to everyone in Tsumuguri City.

After the massive mushroom cloud gradually dissipated, the still-shaken Elsa finally relaxed, collapsing onto the ground.

“Wow! That move actually has so much power!” Charlotte, who had almost been hit in the face by her own spell, was, in contrast, in high spirits.

“Hey, you bastard! You definitely tried to take me out with that shot!” Elsa roared at Charlotte, full of resentment.

“Sorry, I didn’t see you!” Charlotte resorted to the same trick Elsa had used on her. “By the way, who cast that barrier just now? It was so annoying!”

As Charlotte spoke, Mashiro, who had lowered the barrier with a wave of her wand, walked over with a dark look on her face.

“How long are you planning to fly around up there?”

Under Mashiro’s reprimand, Charlotte quickly flew down from the air, standing beside Mashiro with a sheepish smile.

Finally, the farce caused by the out-of-control Magic-Armored Golem came to an end.

Miss Miyo, who had finished repairing the crystal ball’s magic circuits, arrived at the hall. Seeing the core that had been utterly blasted into ashes, she frowned and complained to Mashiro.

“Wow, you guys were too rough! How am I supposed to check what went wrong now?”

****

After that, the Starsea Magic Academy’s entrance exam officially concluded. Charlotte and Elsa, as the two most outstanding new students, naturally earned the opportunity to meet the Academy Head directly.

“Alright, this is it. The Academy Head is waiting inside.” Leading them to the Academy Head’s office door, Mashiro opened the door, signaling for them to enter.

Charlotte and Elsa exchanged glances, pushed open the door, and walked in.

The moment the door closed, a figure suddenly lunged forward, tackling Charlotte, the easiest of the two to push over, to the ground.

“Why did you take so long to get here? I almost fell asleep waiting!”

“Eh?” Seeing the figure that suddenly lunged at them, Elsa was astonished.

“Ow!” Charlotte, tackled to the ground, looked up to see the face of the person sitting on top of her.

Then, she blinked, staring at Noelle before her, frozen for a long moment.

“WTF?”

The person who had appeared before them was indeed Noelle Regret, the girl they had worked together to save during the Golem rampage.

A petite girl with flat breasts and long, sky-blue hair, she looked quite mischievous.

But even so, she was still much better developed than Charlotte.

“Why are you here? Where’s the Academy Head? We’re here to see the Academy Head! Tell us, where did you hide the Academy Head?” Charlotte, who had gotten back up, asked in confusion.

“I’m the Academy Head!” Noelle said with an innocent look.

“What?!” Charlotte and Elsa simultaneously cried out in shock.

“Hehe! Let me introduce myself again. I am Noelle Sesia, the Head of the Starsea Magic Academy! I am also the Master of Rhynes Lopesi and Gracia Maine!”