The Hero King, Reincarnate to Master the Art of War - Chapter 470

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The gap between teams wasn’t that large, and one by one, the runners continued to swap out. Meanwhile, as they were switching, the mecha-dragons now formed a tight formation of three, grouping together and moving away toward the far side of Vault Lake.

When the leading second-year flygear approached them, one of the mecha-dragons spun around and emitted a flash of light.

With a loud noise, brilliant-colored lights burst forth and spread out. Fireworks. The mecha-dragon was firing fireworks to fend off its pursuers. Blinded by the dazzling display, the leading flygear slowed down, allowing Liselotte and the following teams to close the gap.

"It’s far too bright from the front! In that case, I’ll just circle around…!"

To avoid the fireworks launched by the mecha-dragon, Liselotte tilted the control stick of her flygear and maneuvered it to circle around from the side. The following teams’ flygears also took a wide trajectory to the left and right, just like Liselotte.

However, the remaining two mecha-dragons also turned around and launched fireworks, blinding the flygears trying to circle around from either side. It was a beautiful spectacle, but for now, it was nothing but a nuisance.

"In that case, I'll go above!"

Liselotte steered her flygear upward, aiming above the mecha-dragons. There, no fireworks obstructed her vision, and the view was clear. Her plan was to swoop down from above and snatch the flag—

"Fwahahahaha! There it issss!"

"Instructor Margus!?"

Instructor Margus, the second runner of the instructor team, overtook Liselotte.

While Liselotte had her flygear ascend in a smooth arc and was about to reduce speed to dive down, Instructor Margus inverted his flygear, performing a dramatic upside-down loop from above to below, attempting to seize the mecha-dragon’s flag as he passed through.

Liselotte’s trajectory involved deceleration, but Instructor Margus’ path relied solely on acceleration without losing speed. That’s why she was overtaken the moment her speed dropped.

As expected of the instructor in charge of piloting flygear.

Led by Instructor Margus, several flygears descended at once, closing in on the mecha-dragons. However, as if anticipating their move, the mecha-dragons scattered in all directions.

"! They predicted our movements…!?"

They had deliberately left the air above clear of fireworks, luring their opponents in and dodging at the last moment—a calculated maneuver.

"Whoa!? They moved all of a sudden…! I can’t stop!"

A scream came from one of the other team’s participants near Liselotte. Having suddenly lost their target, their flygear plunged into the water, sending up a massive spray.

"Nuoooh!? So, they lured us in!?"

Instructor Margus, who had been moving in a wide arc, narrowly avoided falling into the water, but Liselotte’s flygear was about to hit the surface. Even if she tried to pull up, her momentum was too strong, and she wouldn’t be able to change direction before crashing into the water.

"If that’s the case, then I’ll do this!"

Liselotte kicked off from her flygear, leaping into the air. Firmly gripped in her hand was her trusty halberd Artifact.

Then, she activated her Gift mid-air. With pure white wings, she caught up to the mecha-dragon trying to escape and snatched the flag.

“ “Ohh!? She flew!?” ”

“ “So, she can do that too, huh!” ”

“ “Those beautiful wings suit her perfectly!” ”

Cheers erupted from the audience. Even with sudden evasive maneuvers, the mecha-dragon couldn’t escape the power of the Gift of flight.

The first of the second runners to capture a flag was Liselotte. With this, their team could rise to first place. After returning to her flygear that had fallen into the water, Liselotte quickly lifted off and flew back to Inglis and the others.

"We did it! We’re in first place! As expected of you, Liselotte!"

"I’ll leave the rest to you, Rafinha!"

Liselotte and Rafinha clapped their hands together with a loud smack.

"Leave it to me!"

Rafinha boarded the flygear in Liselotte’s place.

"Do your best, Rani!"

"Yeah, Glis! I’ll be back soon!"

With a roaring sound, the flygear shot off toward Vault Lake.

"N-Next, it’s my turn…!"

Meltina was already looking nervous.

"It’s okay. Just do your best in your own way, and that’s enough." Leone spoke gently, trying to ease Meltina’s nerves.

"And besides, we’ve got Inglis waiting at the end. We’ll manage somehow, right?"

"That’s right. Competitions like this really make you want to win, after all."

Inglis responded with a graceful smile.

"Haha, my only concern is whether you might get too carried away and break the mecha-dragons."

Leone’s smile was a little strained as she spoke. As they were talking, the other teams in second place and below were also switching runners one after another.

"Alright…! Here I gooo~!"

It seemed like the third runner for the instructors' team was Principal Miliera.

"Well done! Leave the rest to me! Hahahahaha!"

On the other hand, the third runner for the Order of the Imperial Guards appeared to be Redas. With those two chasing after her, Rafinha approached the mecha-dragons.

After scattering once, the three mecha-dragons had regrouped, this time flying close to the surface of the water. Were they planning to all dive underwater at once this time?

"Then, before they can dive!"

Rafinha accelerated toward the mecha-dragons at full speed. However, before she could reach them—

Splashhhhhhhh!

All three simultaneously released massive amounts of water from their bodies.

Back when Illuminus fell, they used this same ability to spray water over the burning city, part of their urban defense functions. The force of the water was so powerful that it managed to stop Rafinha's flygear in its tracks.

Even if she tried to avoid it, the density of the water streams was too great, effectively shielding the mecha-dragons like a wall of water. Of course, the amount of water they released couldn’t possibly be stored within their bodies. They were likely drawing water directly from Vault Lake and spraying it out.

"Ugh…! I can’t get close…!"

Rafinha herself was soaked, her vision blurred from the water splashing all over her. At this rate, no one would be able to get close.

"Rani! You'll catch a cold, so here's something to dry off with—!"

Inglis quickly prepared a large cloth for Rafinha.

"Y-You're so quick," Meltina said, her eyes wide in surprise.

"At this rate, no one will be able to get close!"

"No, someone's coming from behind!"

Amidst the chaos, a machine was overtaking Rafinha.

"Excuse me, coming through~!"

It was Principal Miliera’s flygear. Though slightly slowed down, it continued advancing toward the mecha-dragons.

"Principal!?"

Miliera’s machine was wrapped in a glowing light that repelled the mecha-dragons' water spray. It was thanks to the Artifact staff she held.

"Ahh! That’s cheating!"

If only Rafinha had her own Artifact, she might’ve been able to do something. But her beloved Flowing Radiance had been destroyed during the battle at Illuminus, and she didn't have a replacement right now.

"At this rate, this is bad!"

"The Principal is going to leave us all behind!"

"Inglis, i-isn’t there something we can do…? Rafinha doesn't even have an Artifact with her—"

Meltina’s desperate question received no reply from Inglis. More precisely, Inglis was nowhere to be seen.

"H-Huh? Where’s Inglis…!?"

"She’s gone? Where did she go?"

"Ah! You two, over there!"

Liselotte pointed directly above Rafinha’s flygear, which was being pushed back by the water currents. Inglis had teleported to that spot in an instant.

"Rani!"

"Eh!? Glis!?"

"Just get right behind the Principal! You can use her as a shield to move forward!"

"Oh! Got it, thanks, Glis!"

Rafinha immediately positioned her flygear right behind Principal Miliera.

"M-, Miss Inglis!? An out-of-turn participant interfering is—"

"Yes, but giving advice is fine, isn’t it?"

Inglis responded with a gentle smile toward Principal Miliera. She hadn't physically assisted, only given guidance. She’d simply teleported closer using Divine Feat because her voice wouldn’t have reached otherwise.

Was it worth using the Divine Feat technique for something like this? If it were for Rafinha, then the answer would be obvious. While using the technique independently consumed the carefully gathered High Ether she'd accumulated over time, it was no problem at all.

"Now then, if you’ll excuse me."

Before falling into Vault Lake, Inglis’ figure vanished once more.