Surviving the Magic Academy With Just Intelligence Stats-Chapter 36: Scratch That We Need a Whole New Cast

The world seemed to crystallize before Meihua’s eyes, a creeping frost spreading across her vision like delicate fractal patterns on a winter window. In just ninety devastating seconds, she had watched her entire party fall. Her gaze drifted to Marcus’s crumpled form on the ground, his condition deteriorating with each passing moment. "What is happening?" The thought echoed through her mind as she turned to the grotesque sight of Hualing and Ambrose, pinned together against a tree by crystalline webbing. While Hualing’s superhuman constitution might let her survive such wounds, Meihua couldn’t bring herself to contemplate Ambrose’s fate.

"When did everything spiral so far from the script?" Her thoughts raced as the air around her grew increasingly thick with frost and fog. She had read the original story countless times, memorized every possible outcome. The early changes - Ambrose’s premature awakening, Adelaide’s continued existence, Marcus’s psychological breakdown, their team’s early power-ups - all these had seemed manageable deviations. But now, facing a monster that had never existed in the original narrative, the full weight of her miscalculation crashed down upon her.

She had grown complacent, she realized, she got so used to the minor changes to the story she tottally forgot that major changes could happen too. Her field of vision continued to narrow as frost crept inward from the edges, the world before her slowly crystallizing into abstract patterns. "What’s the point of all this knowledge?" she wondered bitterly. "What good is knowing the story when reality refuses to follow the script?"

Even with every ability at her disposal, she couldn’t calculate a path to victory. It felt as if her very existence terminated at this precise moment, all the paths she could calculate with her skills could never get past this situation. It was what some might call…A DEAD END.

As acceptance of her fate settled in, the world in her vision fully crystallized into brilliant, frozen geometries.

GAME OVER

A/N - Am I cooking them too much guys?

…

A distant voice penetrated Meihua’s consciousness. "Hmm? Who’s shouting?" The thought drifted lazily through her mind. "Must be Mom. But why is she shouting so loudly? I don’t remember having school today." The comforting illusion of normalcy wrapped around her like a warm blanket. "Just one more minute," she thought drowsily. "I promise I’ll get up soon..."

A sharp crack of pain across her face shattered the peaceful delusion. "Will you snap out of it already?" Adelaide’s voice cut through the fog as another slap connected. Reality rushed back with shocking clarity. Meihua desperately gasped for air. She coughed violently, struggling to regulate her breathing as her vision cleared, the frost and fog melting away to reveal the brutal reality of their situation.

"Mana deviation?" The realization struck her. She had read about it in the story, It was a condition that caused heroes to lose control of their mana and was almost always fatal. To think that she had slipped into it without even realizing. If it wasn’t for Adelaide pulling her back…

Before she could process this brush with death, the spider queen loomed over them, its massive form blocking out the canopy above.

"Get down!" she screamed to Adelaide, her mind automatically calculating the monster’s attack trajectory. Both women threw themselves to the ground as the creature’s limb whistled through the air where they had stood. But the monster’s follow-up came too quickly - a casual sweep of its leg sent them flying like discarded toys.

Adelaide’s flight ended against a tree trunk with a sickening crack, her form crumpling unconsciously to the ground. Meihua, despite her inferior physical stats, managed to apply her calculations mid-flight. Her [Statistical Analysis] worked overtime, factoring in air resistance, momentum, and optimal landing positions. Even so, the impact sent shockwaves of pain through her body. Multiple fractures, her mind supplied clinically as she struggled to her feet.

The spider queen advanced methodically, its numerous eyes gleaming with predatory intelligence. Meihua forced herself upright, her body protesting every movement, to face what might be her final confrontation. But this time, he mind was perfectly clear, and best all, she could see it…

A/N - See what? Wrong answers only

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…

High above the ruined academy grounds, Friedrich Rothschild hovered with supernatural grace, his golden eyes glowing as he manipulated time itself to restore the devastated buildings. Fragments of stone and wood reversed their trajectories, flowing back into place like water running uphill. Shattered windows reformed, their broken pieces dancing through the air to reconstruct themselves perfectly.

The other heads of the great houses had already retreated, nursing both their wounds and wounded pride. Friedrich understood their hasty departure - few could stomach the shame of being so thoroughly defeated, even by someone of Victoria’s caliber. But he remained, his heart too heavy with concern for his son to consider leaving.

The surveillance crystals that normally monitored the dungeon’s interior had gone dark the moment the ace team entered, and all attempts at communication had failed. This enforced ignorance of his son’s fate gnawed at him, driving him to throw himself into the reconstruction work rather than dwelling on his helplessness. At least this way, he could feel like he was doing something. He didn’t want his son to miss school after staying home for so long just because his mother and father destroyed it while fighting.

Below, students and staff gathered in small clusters, their whispered conversations punctuated by furtive glances upward. The sight of Friedrich Rothschild, the head of the kingdom’s most powerful family, engaging in manual labor - even if through magic - was unprecedented. Some even dared to capture the moment with memory crystals, though they tried to be discreet about it.

A momentary lapse in concentration caused Friedrich to waver in the air, his usually perfect control slipping. Though he recovered instantly, the brief falter revealed more than he’d intended. While Victoria had largely spared him during their earlier confrontation, her final attack in that otherworldly spirit form had struck indiscriminately. Even he, with all his power, hadn’t emerged unscathed.

His hands trembled slightly as he continued his work, though not from physical strain. The weight of his failure pressed down on him - as a husband who couldn’t protect his wife from making such a sacrifice, as a father who couldn’t enter the dungeon to save his son. His heart yearned to chase after Victoria, to challenge even the Spirit King himself, but he knew that would only waste her sacrifice. The cruel irony of his position wasn’t lost on him - too powerful to enter the dungeon, too weak to defy the Spirit King.

Meanwhile, deep within the dungeon’s labyrinthine passages, Astera demonstrated why she led the academy’s ace team. Her movements flowed like liquid grace as she dispatched a dire wolf with her ice blade, the frozen weapon cleaving through the beast with surgical precision. Without missing a beat, she spun to face another wolf attempting to flank her, pressing a single finger to its muzzle. Ice crystals bloomed from the point of contact, rapidly encasing the creature in a pristine frozen shell before it shattered into countless glittering shards.

Nearby, Celeste focused on healing their injured teammates. Since they were low on time, they had abandoned all defenses and adopted a purely offensive strategy, prioritizing speed over safety - a risky approach, but necessary given the stakes. After completing her healing duties, she knelt beside the fallen monsters, hands clasped in prayer.

Astera watched this display with genuine puzzlement. "I thought monsters were considered beings of darkness," she ventured. "Shouldn’t the goddess of light hate darkness?"

The moment the words left her mouth, she regretted them. Celeste’s eyes lit up with religious fervor as she launched into an impassioned sermon:

"This is a common misconception," Celeste began, her voice taking on the rhythmic cadence of a practiced preacher. "The Goddess Aurora doesn’t hate darkness - she understands that darkness is merely the absence of light. Her divine mission isn’t to destroy darkness, but to illuminate all corners of creation. Just as the sun rises each day to share its warmth with all beings indiscriminately, the Goddess’s love extends to all creatures, be they human or monster. It’s our sacred duty to-"

"We should get moving," Astera interrupted, already striding away. Under her breath, she muttered, "Why did I even bother?"