91 – The Final Elimination Match

Thanks to his excellent reflexes, the mage could predict the trajectory of Teresa’s arrows. Although he couldn’t dodge them with complete certainty, at least he could avoid being hit in any vital area. But close combat was a different matter altogether.

At such a close distance, by the time he anticipated where the blade would strike, it had already landed.

The last remaining knight had been blown away. With no one left to protect him, the mage found himself face-to-face with an opponent—essentially a death sentence in this situation.

The little dagger in his hand was more of a psychological comfort than a real weapon. It stood no chance of blocking the wild slashes of two single-handed blades.

Teresa’s knife and sword skills were average at best, but they were more than enough to deal with a physically frail mage.

After a frenzied barrage of hacking and slashing, the Yellow Earth Blade struck the mage’s shoulder—but instead of sinking in, it bounced off as if it had hit a layer of scales.

Mage armor?

Looking at the shimmering, scale-like surface that emerged where she had just struck, Teresa recognized it. It resembled what the books described as mage armor.

Mage armor was a form of insurance that mages prepared before a battle—drawing an armor spell directly onto their robes, using alchemical potions as a medium.

However, such a technique was extremely difficult and consumed a great deal of mental energy. The armor spell was single-use, and few mages had the skill—or the willingness—to perform it.

Compared to traditional armor, mage armor offered lightness and flexibility. Even weak mages could move freely while gaining some measure of protection. But the drawbacks were glaring: it was complicated, expensive, single-use, and vulnerable to moisture.

[Forge Blade] produced different effects depending on the element used. Earth blades, unlike light blades, were known for their durability—but they lacked any Divine Authority effects and only offered pure physical cutting power.

Realizing her earth blade couldn’t break through the mage’s defenses, Teresa glanced upward.

Sunlight was blocked by the canyon. To forge a light blade, full sunlight was required—these scattered beams weren’t nearly enough.

The mage was steadily retreating, and Blake was on the verge of recovering. This meant Teresa was about to lose her window of opportunity.

Wait—moisture...

Right. Mage armor could only block physical attacks. It offered no resistance to the other three types of damage.

Teresa pulled out a deep-blue potion from her slim waist, its surface frosted with ice crystals. She removed the safety seal and poured it over the mage’s head before he could run far.

“Splat!” Glass shards burst across the mage’s scalp as the eerie blue liquid flowed down his forehead.

The mage froze. Where the alchemical fluid touched, clusters of icy spikes formed. The liquid seeped down his robes, freezing him entirely in place.

A biting chill pierced through his mage robe, stabbing into his very bones. He felt all his body heat being drained away by the encroaching frost. It was like falling into a frozen abyss.

Alchemy potion?!

The mage’s eyes widened.

That blonde girl had been carrying all those colorful vials at her waist from the very beginning. He’d assumed they were all healing potions. Who would’ve thought they were offensive alchemical weapons?

Freezing effect—was this “Frostbite’s Kiss”? No, not quite. Judging from the effect, it wasn’t as powerful as Frostbite’s Kiss. It must’ve been some cheap knockoff...

After tossing the frost potion, Teresa didn’t follow up with a light arrow. Light arrows were mostly physical, with only minor Divine Authority damage—and the level of the spell was too low.

To be safe, she decided to go for a double whammy: fire and ice.

So she took out a round alchemy bomb—the same kind she used to take out the orc. The Roaring Alchemy Flask.

Instead of hurling it straight at the mage, she calmly walked up to him. The mage, frozen and desperate, could only watch helplessly as she gently placed the flask into his hand.

“Mister Barclay seemed to have taken quite a blow earlier. I had no choice then. Could I trouble you to apologize to him on my behalf?” Teresa tilted her head, offering a polite smile. Then she casually flicked off the flask’s safety latch and stepped back.

“Boom boom boom!!” A deafening series of explosions followed. The only thing left in the air was charred scraps of what used to be a mage robe.

With two enemies eliminated, Teresa raised her longbow and aimed at the burly man trying to sneak away.

It seemed that, realizing his two teammates had been eliminated and he had no hope of winning, he decided to run and try to salvage a better ranking. But how could he outrun her?

He had only taken a few steps before Teresa shot him in the neck from behind.

Even that wasn’t enough to kill Blake. He continued running with all his might.

Teresa took out another alchemical potion and tossed it at him.

“Pop!” The potion exploded above Blake’s head in a flash of blinding light. His vision went completely white, and as he staggered, he crashed headfirst into a cliff.

Teresa fired one more arrow, striking Blake again in the back of the neck. A crack rang out—the token shattered.

‘Knight Divine Princess Blake Ironfang of Team 11 has been defeated by Ranger Divine Princess Teresa of Team 30.’

‘Team 11 has been fully eliminated.’

‘Team 11 finishes in ninth place. Nine teams remain.’

It was over.

Teresa slung both bows onto her back. At the same time, the broadcast sounded again.

‘Divine Child Dix of Team 3 has been eliminated by Knight Divine Princess Felicia Zorsha of Team 50.’

‘Team 3 has been fully eliminated. Eight teams remain.’

‘Divine Child Ferro of Team 56 has been defeated by Knight Divine Princess Astrid Oleniman of Team 45.’

‘Team 56 has been fully eliminated. Seven teams remain.’

‘Team 41 has been fully eliminated. Six teams remain.’

Only six teams left already? That meant while they were battling Team 11, the others had been fighting too.

Just six teams left...

Teresa glanced back at the slightly weary feline woman and began to ponder.

She and Wenfu made two teams. Princess Felicia was another. Astrid was one more. That meant two other teams had advanced to the finals.

“Miss Teresa.”

“Hmm?” Teresa turned around when she heard Wenfu calling her.

“Thank you… for earlier.” Wenfu lowered her head slightly and turned her gaze away. Her hands were nervously tangled together—it seemed like saying this had cost her some effort.

“It’s nothing. If I were in danger, I believe Miss Silesse would’ve done the same for me, wouldn’t you~?” Teresa smiled gently, her lips curving into a subtle arc.

“Yeah…” Wenfu replied softly, but with a guilty conscience.

After all, when she was being attacked earlier… she had briefly suspected Teresa might betray her...

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.