Chapter 5 Part 5: Admission test.

…Huh.

I took a step back, feeling a sense of unease I couldn’t explain.

I mean, the Invisible Man should have been lying collapsed beyond that wall.

…But I couldn’t smell him.

No matter how much I flicked my tongue, trying to catch his scent.

The Invisible Man, true to his name, was nowhere to be seen, as if he had become a truly invisible man.

That’s when it dawned on me.

How he could be an A+ rank hero with only invisibility and enhanced physical abilities.

He could eliminate the trace of everything attached to his body if he wanted to.

The blood flowing from his body. The scent he emitted. Even the slightest sound of his breathing.

He had disappeared, as if he was nothing.

This was bad.

I couldn’t tell where he was in this state.

I laughed, feeling a cold sweat run down my back, something unbefitting of a snake person.

Calm down.

If I thought about it calmly, it was actually quite simple.

The Invisible Man would rush towards me to knock me out.

But he would also be cautious, judging that I had some kind of countermeasure.

So, I just had to predict the direction he would come from and prepare for it.

If I were the Invisible Man.

From which direction would I approach to knock me down?

It was simple. He’d probably be wary of the front, where I was flicking my tongue.

But it would also be difficult to attack from the side or above.

The Invisible Man only subdues villains with his physical abilities.

He couldn’t burst from the ground or strike from above.

“Then… behind!”

“Correct, my friend!”

“…?”

“I’m honestly surprised. You don’t have much real combat experience, but you managed to pinpoint my location.”

“I’ve been…!”

“I am Invincible! The invincible villain!”

The Invisible Man said, laughing as he choked me.

I desperately tried to remove his arm, but to no avail.

His strength was simply greater than mine.

Besides, I had never experienced this situation before.

Not knowing how to react put me at a significant disadvantage.

Perhaps aware of this, the Invisible Man continued to praise me.

It was good that I calmly observed his fighting style by using the other students as bait.

It was also good that I tried to fight him using all available means.

Various other compliments followed.

Whether he praised me or not, I struggled to hold on while manifesting.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remove the Invisible Man’s arm.

In the end, all I could do was hold on until he gave up.

“…Wait, student.”

“Yes?”

“How are you still holding on? It wouldn’t be strange if you had passed out by now!?”

“Teacher. Do you know what a glottis is?”

“…What’s that?”

“It’s a passage that leads to the trachea, in simple terms, it’s a passage for air.”

“…What?”

“And snakes can also push their glottis out of their mouths.”

“That means…”

I smirked and kicked off the ground.

The Invisible Man’s surprised reaction was so good that I almost forgot my plan for a moment.

And this was a dilemma.

Either he could continue choking me and keep hitting the wall.

Or he could give up choking me and switch to close combat.

It was obvious which option he would choose.

“Tch, it can’t be helped!”

The Invisible Man immediately let go of my neck and retreated far away.

Seeing that he wasn’t using his invisibility, he probably judged it to be meaningless.

It wasn’t a wrong judgment. I could roughly pinpoint his location.

But I couldn’t pinpoint it completely.

If we fought like before, I would eventually be defeated by him.

This could be considered his misjudgment.

“It seems like my invisibility doesn’t work on you, student, which is annoying.”

“Is it okay to use the expression ‘annoying’ to a student?”

“But isn’t it annoying when something is annoying? What other expression should I use?”

“That’s… true.”

“And judging by your expression, it seems like you want to defeat me, Invincible!”

He made an exaggerated gesture and pointed his index finger at me.

“Then we have no choice but to settle this here!”

“You’re talking too much.”

“Haha, aren’t I being considerate! Showmanship is a hero’s basic!”

“…You said you were a villain.”

“Ah, forget about that!”

The Invisible Man said that and started running.

As per his usual habit, he seemed to be running in a zigzag pattern.

The habit he had developed while running in his invisible state was now showing.

And now, the Invisible Man didn’t seem to notice that this was his habit.

Not that it mattered if he didn’t notice.

I gauged the Invisible Man’s speed and broke out in a cold sweat.

At that speed, it would be difficult to counter even if his habit was exposed.

But it wasn’t an impossible speed to face, so I steeled my resolve.

If I could somehow, just once, land a solid hit.

Then I could call it my victory.

“…I guess I have no choice.”

I said that and took out all the opioid painkillers from my skirt pocket.

And I put them in my mouth, chewed, swallowed, and waited.

My brain, exposed to an excessive amount of endorphins, was about to go haywire.

If I hadn’t manifested the moment I took the painkillers, I would have surely lost my mind.

For a while, I would have been pissing myself, addicted to pleasure.

But I was fine now.

I focused my manifestation on my right arm and grinned fiercely.

Something that shouldn’t exist. Something that shouldn’t be. Something that was a burden in itself.

Muscles.

Muscles.

More muscles.

Were filling my right arm.

Of course, this was akin to forcibly remodeling my body.

So, pain was inevitable.

It was so painful that I would have screamed if it weren’t for the painkillers.

But I managed to endure.

I managed to hold on, balancing pleasure and pain.

Then there was only one thing left.

“Eat this!”

“Good attitude, student!”

I swung my right hand with all my might.

Whether I clenched my fist or not wasn’t very important.

What was important was that right now, at this moment, I felt something hit my hand.

But I couldn’t escape unscathed either.

The moment I hit the Invisible Man, I felt a sharp pain in my side.

He probably trusted his physical abilities and decided to attack me even if it meant taking a hit.

And that choice was immediately effective.

“Kuh, ha…!”

I flew back at tremendous speed, crashed through several walls, and was thrown.

My body ached so much that it was difficult to regain my senses.

If I hadn’t taken the painkillers, I would have definitely passed out.

Really, Aunt Ailey is so capable.

I laughed because of the endorphins that were messing up my brain.

No, I couldn’t bear it without laughing.

“Invisible Man… you…!”

“Haha, I am… Invincible…! The… best…!”

The Invisible Man stood upright.

But I could tell that his condition was not normal.

Showmanship.

A narrow defeat.

He wanted to create that, so he was standing up by force.

I could tell by the way he fell with a full smile and his thumb up.

I watched the Invisible Man being surrounded by a protective barrier for a moment, then burst into laughter again.

But the laughter soon turned into a groan.

The pain that rushed in the moment the painkiller’s effect wore off was no joke.

I quickly released my manifestation, but that didn’t make the pain go away.

In the end, I also collapsed to the ground.

I reflexively tried to open my mouth.

I had learned during my time as a test subject that clenching my mouth in pain could cause my teeth to crack.

Fortunately, the pain didn’t last long.

After a few hellish minutes, I was able to move, albeit with difficulty.

I got up and watched as my surroundings changed.

The maze was gradually disappearing.

And I began to see fields and trees.

How proficient in magic did one have to be to create something like this?

I was admiring the marvelous sight when I collapsed to the ground again.

…Of course, it was strange to be able to move properly after forcing my manifestation like that.

It was like tearing my muscle fibers thinly and sticking them together roughly.

My right arm hurt so much that tears were welling up in my eyes.

“Oh my, is something wrong?”

“Ah!?”

“You don’t have to be so surprised. The teacher is here to congratulate the winner after the entrance exam is over.”

I stared blankly at the female teacher.

…That female teacher was the one who announced the start of the entrance exam in the auditorium earlier.

And judging by what she said, she seemed to have a very playful personality.

“…You’re not trying to play a prank, are you?”

So, I said that right away.

To prevent any possible pranks.

“Hmm, hmm. No, I’m not. I’m the vice-principal of this academy. There’s no way I would play a prank, right?”

“…Is that so?”

“I’m Rosena. Nice to meet you, student. And…”

“…?”

A green light flashed from Rosena-sensei’s hand, and the pain in my right arm disappeared as if it had been washed away.

I stared blankly at my right arm, and only then did I realize that my uniform was ruined.

…It seemed that my arm had swollen up due to the severe manifestation, and as a result, the right arm part was torn to pieces.

“Don’t worry about that either, student.”

“…?”

I stared blankly as my uniform became whole again.

So, this is… magic…

An unknown phenomenon that cannot be explained by science.

And not just ordinary magic, but incredible magic.

Meanwhile, Rosena-sensei smiled as if this was nothing and said.

“The teacher is an archmage. So, this kind of thing is easy.”

“Th-Thank you.”

“And you can move, right?”

“Yes? Yes.”

“The top student who defeated the villain during the entrance exam… also has to give a speech in the auditorium.”

“…Ah.”

For a moment, I regretted defeating the Invisible Man.

Of course, I had no expertise in public speaking.