SWNOVELS Chapter 62 - Trying to Remain Alive
In an instant, the two ice monsters also showed up, just as the three of them entered the arena.
“They’re ... huge,” Elizabeth managed to say, looking up at the terrifying face of one of those walking mountains.
"Yes, they look bigger when you're in their way," Johnny added.
But the two golems didn’t want to talk. They prepared to attack the three competitors.
“Johnny, I'm taking the parchment! Give me your power!”
Johnny took his wand and shouted that magic so famous because of him:
“Imperium.”
And the spell was cast on Alexander. The young boy began to run towards the cave where the ice parchment was. But unfortunately he wasn’t alone.
It seems the two golems didn’t expect Johnny and Elizabeth would bother them, so they started chasing Alexander to get him out of the contest. Probably ... this thought was precisely ordered by Nakutsck.
Johnny and Elizabeth started running after Alexander and the golems, so the gallery laughed loud.
“Look, they chase the golems not the other way around ...”, some spectators made fun. They were that picky category of people, who didn’t know, nor understood how difficult it was to be a competitor in that arena.
But when they met the gaze of a frowning professor, who was also worried about the situation created for he knew the gravity of the situation, those ignorant quickly stopped laughing.
They had a reason to stop laughing. The situation wasn’t easy for the three competitors at the Elmbridge Magic School. The young wizard Alexander probably thought that everything would be simple, after he saw how easily Ehm'il managed to take the parchment. But unfortunately, he lacked the speed and the agility of the elf.
So in a few moments the golems were behind him. One of them tried to catch him, and young Alexander hardly managed at the last moment to avoid his blow.
“Constantiam!” he shouted, pointing his wand at that ice monster. And the golem remained immobilized.
But the second one avenged the immobilized one successfully. He managed to hit Alexander so hard that he flung him away as if he were a pebble thrown against a rock wall. The boy, even with Johnny's resistance to pain, screamed because of the blow. It couldn’t be worse, so at that moment a professor from the jury came near the boy, ready to protect him, sending him out of the arena. But this would mean not only Alexander's rescue but also his quitting the competition. So the young boy, considering the sacrifice too great, although he was hit hard by the monster, signalled he didn’t need help.
“Imperium, he smiled slightly forced at the careful professor.
The professor got that the blow wouldn’t be a problem for Alexander, so he went away, giving the young wizard another chance to win.
But it seemed Alexander had almost no chance against that monster. The golem hit him and threw him powerfully upwards. The boy felt pain when his frail body reached those sharp rocks. Alexander gave the impression that Johnny's magic either began to lose its effect more or more, or he couldn’t cope with such blows.
Still, it was also an advantage now ... only one, but quite important, namely that Alexander was much closer to the parchment.
However, the ice golem was close to the parchment too. So the giant was about to hit the young boy again. Yet, right at the moment when there seemed to be no escape, when that huge piece of ice, the golem’s hand, was about to crush Alexander, that professor was there again to protect him, to remove, eliminate him from the competition.
Holding his wand, the professor tried to say the spell needed to save the boy, to get Prince Soimesti out of the contest but someone beat him to it and cast a spell at the golem:
“Nunc Educandi”, Elizabeth saved the young boy.
And the golem began to move extremely slowly, like a snail. It was visible on his face that he didn’t understand what happened to him and he didn’t agree with that, but it was in vain. Until he managed to take a step, the young wizard managed to get up, cross a few meters and climb a little higher, closer to that parchment.
Alexander was astonished, perhaps slightly offended deep in his heart when he saw that Elizabeth saved him. Even so, he kept trying to climb up the rock to take the parchment, with the awkwardness of an elephant who managed to climb a ladder.
“Run away! Take the parchment!” the girl encouraged him.
The boy began to climb the last two meters that separated him from the parchment, with great difficulty. He managed to climb a little, then slipped, unfortunately more than he had managed to climb.
“Come on Alexander!” Professor Knudlac’s students shouted. “Come on, take the parchment!”
“Come on Alexander!” Elizabeth shouted again. “Even I could get to the parchment faster!”
The magic the young wizard cast on the other golem lost its effect. Johnny was rescued by a professor at the very last moment from the hands of that ice beast, which meant, of course, end of competition for him.
The same golem who eliminated Johnny from the contest ran toward the girl trying to catch her. Eventually, Elizabeth managed to hide in a small opening in the rock. The golem tried for a few moments to reach her, but as the girl was well sheltered, he gave up this idea. Elizabeth stayed there for a few moments, like a little mouse, listening if she was still being chased, and then, sure the golem was no longer around, she went out.
She looked after the golems, but she could only see a golem’s head, melting and disappearing completely.
“This means…”
She looked at Alexander. Yes, this meant that Alexander finally managed to take the parchment. Finally ... The boy now put out the fire on the cape, holding the parchment.
One by one, the professors came to Alexander and congratulated him. Knudlac was there too.
“Well done, Alexander! We did it,” Elizabeth shouted down there as if she succeeded. She was so happy! When Johnny came next to her, a bit sad, he shouted too:
“Good job, Alexander!”
Nakutsck, who wasn’t as happy as the others, instead of congratulating him, he kind of discouraged him.
“If you found it so hard to win the first test, how would you pass the next tests?”
Then looking at Elizabeth:
“Lucky you with this girl, who acted above my expectations. She saved you ...”
Even though he gave the impression that he wasn’t affected by Nakutsck's words, Alexander hardly hid his deception. Even if he got the Ice Parchment, his pride was affected by that comment.
When he went with the parchment to the other professors’ group, with Elizabeth and Johnny, he didn’t smile.
“Congratulations Alexander, I knew you’d succeed!” one of his friends told the young boy, as if it were only his success.
“Thanks, Geoffrey. It wasn’t easy for me,” said the little wizard Soimesti, in agreement with that Geoffrey, as if only he worked to overcome that test.
Knudlac approached Elizabeth leaving the crowd surrounding Alexander to congratulate him and he smiled at her.
“You did very well. Bravo, my dear.”
“Thank you, Professor Knudlac. I didn't expect it to be that hard. And I didn't expect to have our lives endangered.”
“Our lives are in danger all the time, my dear. That’s why we must always be prepared to take care of ourselves and the ones we love.”
“As I could see today, we started to be good at that ...”
"That's right," Knudlac replied.
Nakutsck went to the arena entrance for the last time, to let the young warriors of Hikkaido win the long-awaited Ice Parchment too.
While Mr. Hikkaido's students did their best to finish the test and win the prize, Professor Knudlac's students were the happiest. Many of the people there congratulated the two who faced the test, Elizabeth and Alexander, but also Johnny who sacrificed himself for the success of his team.
And so the magic school Elmbridge through the three competitors managed to move on to the second stage of the Magic Contest of the Decade, to take part in the final battle to win the divine parchment.