SAINTESS [Chapter 148: That’s not going to work] (Patreon)

A true expert does not act impulsively or simply focus on the immediate next move. Instead, they anticipate the possible outcomes of ten or more moves ahead, carefully evaluating each scenario before choosing the most effective course of action.

Developing this level of foresight requires extensive practical experience, as well as a deep understanding of how to anticipate, counter, and adapt to an opponent’s strategies.

Unluckily for Winnie, anyone qualified to be his opponent in this match was an expert.

And in every one of their calculations, the first person to be eliminated would definitely be Winnie.

Out of the six, Winnie was the only second-year, and he had drawn a position that was both dangerous and disadvantageous. If anyone wanted to attack anyone else, they had to deal with Winnie first, because although his position could be attacked by everyone, it could also attack everyone.

In other words, Winnie was effectively obstructing everyone’s path of attack. Even if the others had no intention of targeting him first, his position made him an unavoidable obstacle. Given the circumstances, it was obvious that Winnie would be the first one eliminated.

So, they were all already planning several moves ahead in their minds, considering how they would proceed with the rest of the match once the unfortunate second-year student was eliminated.

The blizzard eased slightly, letting Winnie see his surroundings more clearly.

Only then did he truly realize just how awful his situation was.

This was terrain shaped like a square. Four people occupied the four corners, three sides were putting it politely; in truth, they only needed to deal with enemies on two sides.

If Winnie really were an ordinary second-year, in a situation like this, he could already declare he was giving up. The result would be the same anyway.

But he wasn’t.

He was no stranger to clashes with the Demon God Pillars’ followers, having crossed swords with them on multiple occasions and survived several attacks connected to the Demon God Pillars.

This pressure was certainly challenging, but it was nothing compared to the grand scenes he’d faced before.

In this environment, Winnie’s mind spun at high speed. His long-accumulated combat experience let him make a decision in an instant.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a slanted ledge on the ice mountain where one could get footing. An idea immediately formed to break the deadlock.

A person’s attention can’t stay focused for long, especially under this kind of high pressure. Inevitably, there will be that brief instant of distraction.

Winnie’s keen perception seized that chance, catching the moment the nearest student’s attention drifted. He thrust his palm toward the slope, and an ice chain shot out from his hand.

Seeing Winnie be so bold, actually firing the first shot right under five pairs of eyes, everyone froze for an instant, then immediately took defensive stances. After all, even a second-year’s magic would still eliminate them if it landed. None of them wanted to capsize in a ditch.

But the spell wasn’t aimed at them.

By the time they realized, the ice chain had already wrapped around the mountain slope. With a push, Winnie pulled himself free of the battlefield and flew up into the air.

Only then did the other five understand his intention, to leave this dangerous four-way killing ground, no, to leave the battlefield entirely, and let the five of them fight it out themselves.

Idiotic.

One of the fourth-years sneered inwardly.

It looked clever, but it was actually incredibly stupid. Using an ice chain like a grappling hook to pull himself out of the fray, had he forgotten that in midair, he couldn’t maneuver? His trajectory would be fixed. No dodging.

A long-haired fourth-year woman raised the exquisite black hand crossbow with gold trim in her hands. A flame bolt was loaded with practiced speed, and she aimed at Winnie’s upcoming path.

Her soul armament was called [Magic Arrow]. Like [Magic Warrior], it was a three-star soul armament.

The difference was that [Magic Arrow] could learn a wider variety of spells, but the cost was that none of them could be cast directly. Instead, all the spell’s energy had to be compressed into a single bolt or arrow, then fired from a crossbow or bow.

The light crossbow she held was an enchanted weapon made specifically for [Magic Arrow] users. Its effect was to amplify the power of the arrow-spells it fired, matching her soul armament perfectly.

Loaded on her bow was a high level fire spell: [Explosive Flame Fireball].

Yet just as the girl tracked Winnie’s path and prepared to fire, she saw him in midair as if he’d already predicted she would shoot him the moment he threw the chain, he even smiled at her and mouthed words.

‘If I were you, I wouldn’t do that.’

"???" The girl was momentarily puzzled, but she quickly realized what Winnie was trying to do.

Without hesitation, she swung the crossbow around, shifting her aim away from Winnie and toward the fireball racing straight at her.

At the crucial moment, she released a bolt infused with fire magic. It struck the incoming fireball head-on, causing the two to collide and erupt in a burst of scorching heat.

The spells canceled, but her reaction had been a fraction too slow. The blast was close; the heat wave flipped her into the air, and the aftershock scraped her belt, leaving cracks in it.

Only then did she realize a problem, the others clearly didn’t think the way she did.

To them, how long it took Winnie to be eliminated, or how he was eliminated, didn’t matter. A second-year like him had no ability to contend with any of them for victory.

But she was different. As one of only two fourth-years, she was naturally the one everyone watched. The third-years feared her; the other fourth-year believed that once he dealt with her, he could rampage unchecked.

So even though her position wasn’t dangerous, if it was feasible, the person everyone wanted gone first was her.

Someone had noticed she intended to make a move on Winnie, and seized the moment, planning to eliminate her while her attention was on him.

The girl staggered back a few steps. She knew the war had already begun the moment the heat wave hit her.

The one attacking her was the other fourth-year. Seeing his ambush succeed, he immediately hefted his greatsword and charged, intent on ending it quickly and taking her out first.

If he could eliminate the other fourth-year, his odds of victory would skyrocket.

A single move shifted the entire course of the battle.

After Winnie moved, the other fourth-year found an opening. What had been a stalemate, like a key gear jammed and locking the whole mechanism, suddenly began turning.

The two fourth-years started fighting. The three third-years, too, took advantage of the distractions and began trading blows among themselves.

One third-year even tried to sit back and watch the tigers fight, planning to swoop in and reap the spoils after the two most threatening fourth-years wounded each other.

Good idea, but he got swept along anyway. Trying to wait for his moment, he focused too much on the fourth-years’ duel, and was ambushed by the other two third-years.

Just like that, the bizarrely balanced situation ignited. In the blizzard, all sides collided in a chaotic melee, hard to separate and hard to end.

Watching the people below brawling because of his action, Winnie couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed.

He’d expected his simple act of avoiding combat might light the fuse, but he hadn’t expected it to drag the entire battlefield into motion.

Judging by how heated they were, they’d probably forgotten about him, the outsider who hadn’t joined the fight.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t that they had forgotten about him. They simply didn’t consider him worth their attention. None of them believed a mere second-year could make much of an impact.

To each of them, the real threats were students from their own year or the fourth-years. Winnie, being only a second-year, was little more than an insignificant underclassman. Whether he was eliminated first or saved for last hardly mattered. Whoever survived until the end would have no trouble taking him down.

Catching an opportunity to eliminate Winnie, could that compare to an opportunity to eliminate a peer, or even a fourth-year? Anyone knew what to choose.

So even though he was waiting at ease on the side, not participating, no one paid him any mind.

Fine, then. Winnie hadn't expected his “second-year” label to be such a powerful BUFF that everyone instinctively ignored him.

But that was a good thing. Winnie couldn’t be bothered to fight anyway. If he had the chance to watch them fight, why not enjoy the show?

He anchored himself with the ice chain and settled onto the icy mountain. Remaining vigilant for any sudden spells aimed at him, he continued to observe the battle closely.

In the fourth-years’ duel, that senior sister had taken a hit, but the other fourth-year clearly underestimated her. He thought the ambush would finish her, only to find, once the fight began, that she was unbelievably hard to deal with.

On the other hand, the third-years’ brawl was much the same. The third-year who’d been ambushed stubbornly refused to go down, but the other two, like they’d reached some kind of tacit agreement, mercilessly beat the drowning dog.

Soon, the third-year injured by his moment of distraction fell under the siege, becoming the first person eliminated from this melee.

Once he was eliminated, the two remaining third-years immediately turned their attention to each other. It took only a single wrong word for their conflict to flare up again, and they resumed fighting.

Winnie was still watching from the ice mountain when a wave of high heat arrived, a fire spell shot straight at his face.

He leaped off the mountain, using the ice chain to lower himself before landing on the ground.

It was the fourth-year senior sister. Clearly, she still didn’t trust this unstable factor who’d been watching the whole time with full stamina, and while trading blows with the other fourth-year, she intended to spare a moment to instantly delete him.

Unfortunately for her, Winnie dodged it easily.

The blizzard severely hindered everyone’s movement, but it hindered everyone equally.

So she still had time to “greet” him.

Winnie looked at the fourth-year senior sister, already in a disadvantage.

The fourth-year who’d ambushed her wasn’t easy to fight. If he couldn’t take down the other fourth-year quickly, he risked being surrounded by the third-years.

But the three third-years had started fighting among themselves, giving him room to output. Naturally, he would prioritize eliminating the other fourth-year.

With a burning magic greatsword in hand, he drove her into a corner. It looked like victory was already his.

And on the third-years’ side, a winner had also emerged.

“Hah!” A muscled man wearing a pair of knuckle-dusters punched the other third-year’s scimitar out of his hand, then slammed a flame-wrapped fist toward his face.

“Boom, boom!!” With his weapon knocked away, the third-year froze, and was sent flying by the punch. Just before he could crash into the ice mountain, his belt shattered. Space twisted, and he was eliminated from the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the fourth-years’ brawl still didn’t seem ready to end.

The [Magic Arrow] senior sister had been closed on by the [Magic Warrior] senior brother. Normally, that would decide the match quickly, but once he got in close, Magic Warrior realized it wasn’t so simple. His opponent was extremely troublesome, with formidable hand-to-hand skill. She dodged his magic-infused slashes again and again, even finding the leeway to counter a few times and open distance.

The Magic Warrior grew anxious. He was the one who’d ambushed her, yet he still couldn’t win after fighting so long. And now the third-years’ brawl had ended, if he didn’t finish this soon, his advantage would vanish.

So his attacks became more frequent and more chaotic. His greatsword sprayed fire, lightning, and gale-like elements with each swing, losing all structure.

And it was right then that the senior sister’s back was turned to the third-year musclehead. The musclehead bared his teeth in a grin, as if he thought he’d seized his chance, and he swung his fists in.

This was going to be brutal.

A fist crackling with electricity slammed toward the fourth-year senior sister’s back.

At the same moment, the Magic Warrior swung his burning greatsword down.

She looked cornered.

But in the split second before impact, she shifted her body to the side.

The musclehead and the Magic Warrior both froze, then saw each other’s incoming attacks.

“Boom!!” The musclehead’s lightning punch smashed into the Magic Warrior’s face, while the Magic Warrior’s burning blade chopped into the musclehead’s shoulder.

Amid the explosions, both were knocked out.

Winnie, holding his long spear off to the side, watched the scene and clicked his tongue in amazement. He almost wanted to stand up and applaud.

In the end, he hadn’t been hurt at all, yet four people had already been eliminated. Aside from that senior sister, no one had ever taken him seriously.

“Little junior, if you’re trying to sneak into the finals with a method like that, it won’t work.” With only herself and Winnie left, the fourth-year senior sister turned around, brushed off the dust on her clothes, and raised her crossbow.

She was clearly mocking Winnie’s earlier avoidance.

“War is deception.” Winnie smiled. “If you can save strength, why not do it?”

“You advanced from the preliminaries with this trick too, didn’t you?” The senior sister lifted her crossbow.

“Unfortunately, the main event won’t have any patience for such a lackluster performance.”

With those words, she raised her bow and released an arrow, unleashing a streak of lightning.

The bolt was incredibly fast, leaving almost no room to evade. Clearly, she intended to finish Winnie as quickly as possible before anything unexpected could happen.

But Winnie had already anticipated her move. His eyes sharpened, and before the lightning could reach him, he swiftly lashed out with the ice chain.

“A stupid move,” the senior sister snorted.

She could tell the ice-chain spell wasn’t high-tier. Trying to intercept her thunderbolt, condensed from an advanced spell, was pure fantasy. The moment the bolt touched the chain, the ice would shatter.