How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game

Chapter 515: Evaluation For Freshmen and Seniors 9

Flutter!!!

WHOOSHHHH!!!

The arrow shot out like a falling comet, a dark green needle of mana piercing through the thick fog—its speed shrieking through the air before it struck.

CRACKLE!!!

VOOODOOOOSHHHH!!!!

The moment it hit, a massive eruption followed—a blast of green mana bursting into a thousand thorny shards.

It landed cleanly, directly striking Riley’s figure.

By the time Vanessa’s spell reached him, Stacia had already leapt a few steps back, shielding herself with a thin layer of flame-imbued mana.

Her narrowed eyes stayed locked on the smoke.

She didn’t let her guard down.

The spell had landed, that much was true.

But she knew better—just because it hit didn’t mean it worked.

Riley was the type of monster that shrugged off direct hits like they were raindrops.

The battlefield was once again covered in thick fog, this time laced with residual sparks of mana and arcs of crackling static.

Amidst the haze, a faint silhouette stood upright.

From within that mist, two blue lights flickered—Riley’s eyes, cold and focused.

”Tsk... No effect, huh...”

Vanessa muttered under her breath.

She expected as much.

The spell she used, [Ygg’s Arrow], was meant to pierce through magical defenses, no matter how dense.

But against someone like Riley—who relied more on raw physical prowess than magic—that barely meant anything.

Still... that wasn’t the real point of the spell.

As the mist continued to swirl, the field suddenly shifted again.

The thorny shards scattered across the area twitched—then bloomed.

Dozens of six-petaled flowers blossomed from the broken mana vines, each one releasing a faint green mist into the air.

This was the true effect of Vanessa’s spell.

A paralytic field.

A single breath of the toxic mist would freeze the muscles of most living creatures in seconds.

”Stacia!” Vanessa shouted. ”I’ll focus on pinning him down—he’s fast, but I just need a few more seconds!”

”Got it!” Stacia answered, her voice firm as her flames reignited.

The visibility was almost zero now.

The fog from Vanessa’s explosion combined with the flowers’ toxic mist made it impossible to rely on sight.

Sound was equally useless.

Riley didn’t make any noise when he moved—his steps were lighter than a whisper, and his attacks came faster than a blink.

That left only one option.

Instinct.

Stacia took a breath, lowered her stance, and tuned everything else out.

She couldn’t see.

She couldn’t hear.

But she could feel it—that faint tremor in the air, that unnatural pressure moving toward her.

Her fingers gripped the handle of her flaming sword tighter as the temperature around her began to rise.

Riley was still somewhere inside the fog, hidden.

But she knew...

He was already coming.

Crackling sparks of lightning surged across Riley’s direction.

Before—

[Hidden Blade Technique]

[First Form: Blue Moon]

A horizontal crescent slash, as fast as lightning, tore through the dense mist.

SHHHHIIINNGG!!!

If Stacia had ducked her head even a few centimeters too late, her neck would’ve been severed cleanly.

Her pupils dilated in shock as her senses screamed danger—an overwhelming surge of heat coursing through her body in warning.

”—!!?”

She barely had time to exhale.

Without pause, another slash followed—a second crescent of mana-infused energy flew at her like a falling blade from the heavens.

VOOOMMM!!!

Stacia dove to her right, barely evading it by instinct alone.

There was no use trying to track Riley with her eyes anymore.

The fog distorted all visuals.

Even her sharp perception couldn’t locate him in this storm of mana and smoke.

Listening for his steps?

Useless.

Riley moved like a cat—silent, unpredictable—and struck like a bolt of lightning.

All she could do was trust her instincts.

Her body moved on its own, dodging and ducking with all the precision her years of training could afford her.

The relentless barrage of invisible slashes eventually stopped, leaving a chilling silence in their wake.

But that silence was the warning.

[Second Form: New Moon]

Her instincts flared again—this time, too late.

FLASH!

”—?!”

Riley’s figure suddenly materialized behind her, as if carved into reality by a streak of pure lightning.

She turned her head just in time to catch a glimpse of his cold eyes and the gleam of his blade descending.

CLIIIINKKK!!!

Their blades clashed.

Stacia was thrown backward, her feet skidding across the cracked and scorched ground.

The impact was heavy, enough to shake her stance and nearly push her off balance completely.

But she quickly recovered, heat flaring around her feet to stabilize herself.

Mana burst from her soles like thrusters, reigniting her balance mid-air before she could fall.

”Hah...!”

She exhaled sharply, surprised.

That strike was weaker than the earlier ones—less forceful than what she’d experienced when they first clashed.

And then, she saw it.

Riley’s figure stood motionless ahead, his chest rising and falling heavily.

His body shivered slightly, veins glowing faintly green beneath his pale skin—his form trembling as though forcing itself to keep moving forward despite something weighing him down.

Stacia blinked.

The realization clicked.

”...So that’s how I managed to dodge those slashes...”

It wasn’t just instinct or her flame reactions.

Riley’s strikes had slowed—ever so subtly—but enough for someone like her to react in time.

She glanced to the side.

Vanessa was still at a distance, unharmed and preparing her next spell.

Her wand had shifted forms, now stretched and curved into a beautiful green longbow glowing with natural energy.

The arrow already nocked glimmered with sacred elven light.

She was aiming directly at Riley. Again.

’Why... isn’t he going after her?’

Stacia’s brows furrowed.

She was clearly the support—and the one whose attacks were inflicting subtle damage.

The paralyzing fog, the thorn bursts, the flowers—Vanessa’s magic was layered and deadly in its lingering effects.

Was he underestimating her?

No... that didn’t seem like Riley.

But there was no time to think further.

Riley’s body shifted again.

The flicker in his eyes hadn’t faded.

Even weakened, even strained, he was still pushing forward

RUMBLE!!!

[Second Form: New Moon]

BZZZT!!!

Riley’s body flickered like a streak of lightning—unstable, wild, impossible to follow—and before Stacia could even blink, his face was already inches from hers.

”You’re thinking again, junior...” he whispered right into her ear.

PHUAAACKK!!!

A right hook slammed straight into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs and sending her flying like a ragdoll.

Her body skidded across the dirt, leaving a burning trail as her protective mana barely softened the impact.

”Arghh!!”

Stacia let out a pained scream, clutching her midsection as the sting echoed through her body.

Even with dense mana shielding her, a gut punch like that—delivered with such brutal speed and weight—still hurt like hell.

She rolled to a stop, coughing and spitting blood as her vision blurred.

Her eyes, half-lidded and unfocused, looked up to see Riley approaching again. Calm. Controlled. Cold.

And that was what pissed her off most.

That calmness... like she wasn’t even worth getting serious over.

She had never felt this humiliated in her life.

Never been looked down on like this, not as a princess, not as a fighter.

The sheer one-sidedness of it all was maddening.

VOOOSHH!

VOOOSHH!

Vines exploded from the ground between them, twisted and glowing green—Vanessa’s interference again.

They surged up like a wall, forcing Riley to stop just a meter away from Stacia, his eyes glancing at the new obstruction with quiet annoyance.

”I told you, didn’t I?” Riley said, voice steady, as if he weren’t even tired. ”Let go of thinking... when you use those flames.”

Her breath caught. Let go... of thinking?

What the hell was he talking about?

Hadn’t she done exactly what he wanted?

She had let go.

She wasn’t thinking anymore.

She’d fought using only instinct, opened her mana core fully, let her fire rage freely.

She wasn’t trying to strategize or predict.

She trusted her body, trusted her power, trusted everything he told her to.

Her flames were hotter than ever.

Her mana was overflowing.

She could feel it—the sun burning inside her.

And yet...

Yet I’m still losing...?

Her fingers clenched the earth beneath her, frustration and confusion boiling together inside her chest.

What more do I need to let go of...?

”Cough....! Cough....! W-what do you mean Senior?”

She said standing up weakly her sword planted on the ground.

”Let your flames burn. Let them burst, junior... Containing it is just the beginning,” Riley spoke calmly, almost too calmly for someone with lightning crawling around his body like it had a mind of its own. ”Do you think the sun holds itself back for the sake of those beneath it?”

Stacia blinked.

What was he even saying?

She thought she was burning everything.

Her fire was already out.

Her instincts were in control.

She wasn’t thinking—she was acting.

What more could she let go of?

”Stacia!! Hurry up and move!!” Vanessa’s voice echoed from the distance.

Another volley of [Ygg’s Arrow] flew through the air, the glowing green bolts whistling as they rained down.

But even with her best efforts, it wasn’t enough.

The magic that was supposed to slow him—paralyze him—was already starting to fade.

The green veins running through Riley’s skin began to dim, one by one.

With every passing moment, the hold Vanessa had on him slipped further away.

Crackle—!

Lightning surged through Riley’s body again.

It sparked violently as it tore away the last of the remaining vines and mana clamps holding him down.

”Burn everything, junior...” Riley said, his voice lower now—colder, even. ”Now.”

Stacia’s arms trembled as she tried to stand.

She still couldn’t move properly.

The pain in her stomach from earlier screamed with every breath she took. But even in this state, she understood something very clearly:

If she hesitated any longer, she would lose.

And this—this was her moment.

Her one chance to prove herself to the one who stood ahead of everyone else.

To stand beside him—not as a junior, not as a student, not as someone chasing his shadow—but as someone who could walk beside him one day.

She needed to show him the result of her effort, her pain, her growth.

She needed him to see it.

”...Then I’ll just force it through.”

[High Grade Flame Magic]

[Fleur Del Solis]

A giant magic circle bloomed in the air above Riley, shining with radiant golden-orange light. It spun like a sunflower facing the sun.

Flames erupted downward.

It wasn’t raw instinct this time, nor was it the calm calculation he demanded she let go of.

It was something in between.

If this was her only way to reach him—

BOOOOOOM—!!!

The spell detonated like a massive field of flowers bursting into bloom all at once, engulfing the space around Riley in a cascade of exploding fire and light.

Even if she didn’t fully understand what he meant...

Even if she was still figuring it out...

She’d make him acknowledge it.

She had to.

Her flame magic was bright—radiant even.

But as the smoke thinned and she watched it burn, she realized something was wrong.

It wasn’t hot.

Not like before.

Not like her flames.

Her mana wasn’t roaring—it was flickering, controlled, neat.

And Riley in front of her was rather unharmed... his aura coating him from the magic’s effects.

SHUACCKKKK!!!

”S-STACIA!!!”

Vanessa’s voice cracked through the battlefield like a scream from another world.

But it was already too late.

Riley’s sword had pierced straight through Stacia’s chest.

”I told you, junior...” Riley’s voice rang cold and distant as his blade sank deeper. ”Burn everything.”

Stacia’s knees gave out as she dropped to the ground, her hands weakly clutching the blade still lodged in her.

Her crimson eyes stared up at him, wide and confused.

Why?

She had followed everything.

She listened.

She pushed herself.

She thought—

She thought she was doing the right thing.

He had left her to grow on her own, hadn’t he?

To walk her path freely, and she had.

She refined her mana, trained endlessly, carved her progress through sweat and pain.

She had fought to be worthy.

To be seen.

So why?

Why that look in his eyes?

Disappointment?

What else was there to burn...?

Then—

[Sacred Elven Art — Petalis]

A storm of glowing green leaves exploded from behind—no, from all directions.

Vanessa had arrived.

The petals danced through the air—each one a sharp edge of compressed mana aimed at Riley with pinpoint intent. She didn’t hold back.

”GET AWAY FROM HER!!!” she screamed.

But—

[Third Form: Full Moon]

SWIISSHH—!

The sound of steel rang out not once—but dozens of times.

In the span of a breath, Riley’s blade blurred.

He had already sheathed it.

He was already cutting.

In that instant, petals were sliced mid-air—one by one, two by two, cleanly, precisely, completely.

The entire barrage disappeared before a single one could land.

One of Vanessa’s strongest arts—

Erased.

”W-What?”

And as the silence returned, something inside Stacia finally crumbled.

It was pointless.

All of it.

That was what it felt like to fight Riley.

To stand against him was to stand in the face of inevitability.

”...Looks like now’s not the time,” she murmured to herself, a soft smile creeping onto her lips even as blood pooled in her mouth.

Now’s not the time to walk beside him.

Her eyes fluttered.

Darkness crept into her vision.

She could feel the enchantment on her emergency bracelet cracking—just barely holding on before triggering full retreat.

She was about to fade.

But just before everything went black, she saw it—

The cut petals.

They were burning.

Her flames had reached them.

Her fire—still burned.

Even now.

Even like this.

”Burn everything, junior...”

Riley’s words echoed again.

And then something inside her just—snapped.

She stopped thinking.

She stopped wondering.

She just let go.

Her thoughts.

Her hesitation.

Her pride.

Her logic.

Even her mana.

Even her core.

[Skill: Mana Burn — Activated]

SOVOOOOOSHHHHHHH!!!!

A blinding pillar of flame erupted around Stacia, swallowing everything in its wake.

The flames shot upward, roaring through the ceiling of the cave, shattering stone and ripping through the sky.

It didn’t stop.

It rose high above the treetops of the northern forest—bright enough for the world to see.

And in that moment, standing before that wild inferno—

Riley smiled.