The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy-Chapter 242: Aestrea Against The World (XIX)

[Aestrea’s POV]

"This should be the place..." I muttered to myself as I reached the lower part of the Snow Peak mountain.

According to what Zeva told me, this was where I’d meet the frost Elves, my ’escorts’ to their continent.

But as I glanced around, all I saw was snow.

Endless white, stretching across jagged rocks and frozen trees. Not a single figure in sight, and not even a trace of Elven mana in the air.

Dammit...

Was this some kind of test or whatever?

"Are you Aestrea Moon?"

Suddenly, a voice came from behind me, making me instantly spin around and swing my hand horizontally.

THUMP!

"...What the—?"

To my surprise, my strike didn’t land. Instead, it was caught mid-air, effortlessly. Fingers wrapped around my wrist like a steel trap, and standing in front of me was a young man with pale skin and pointed ears.

His silver hair shimmered slightly in the light, and his icy blue eyes stared into mine without the slightest hint of tension.

"Not bad," he murmured, casually pushing my arm aside like I was swatting at flies.

Like that attack wouldn’t have knocked down an S-rank beast.

"I suppose that answers my question." He gave a small nod.

"...You’re the Elf I’m supposed to meet?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.

"Yes. I’m the one sent to bring you to His Majesty." He returned the nod.

Without another word, he turned and began walking.

I frowned slightly as I followed behind.

His footsteps made no sound.

His mana was completely sealed off, or maybe hidden so well I couldn’t sense it at all. If it weren’t for my eyes, I wouldn’t even be able to tell he was real.

It was like walking behind a ghost.

Then, as if reading my thoughts, he spoke again.

"If you’re wondering why you can’t sense me, it’s because of our racial trait. We Frost Elves... in the snow, we become one with the land. To find us, you’d have to think of us as nothing more than a single flake of snow in a blizzard."

A racial trait like that, huh?

I glanced at his back.

If I had to fight more than one of them in this kind of terrain...

Damn... I’d be in serious trouble.

Especially with this guy.

He caught my blow like it was nothing.

My eyes narrowed.

He was strong, really strong, and that meant I’d need to stay on my guard... starting now.

Hell, I actually thought I’d have the upper hand in the snow. My control over ice, my instincts, everything should’ve given me the edge here.

But no... not even close.

I couldn’t feel his presence at all.

Not a hint of mana or even a flicker of his breath.

..."Think of him as a snowflake in a blizzard," huh?

Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind.

We walked for a while, maybe five, ten minutes, but it felt longer. He didn’t talk again, and his steps made no sound, not even a crunch against the snow.

It felt really strange...

Eventually, we reached a cave carved into the base of Snow Peak Mountain. The wind outside howled behind us, but inside, the air was strangely still.

And at the end of the cave...

There it was.

A dull gray stone, carved with glowing ancient patterns.

....From what I could tell, it was a teleportation gate.

The elf stopped and turned to me.

"This is the gate. It’s one-time use. The moment we step through, it’ll break apart," he explained, voice calm as ever.

I nodded once.

They’d probably send me back using another one-time gate when this whole thing was over.

If they even planned to send me back.

Still... no point hesitating now.

He stepped onto the stone, and I followed.

In the next instant, a soft light burst beneath our feet, white, cold, like starlight wrapped in snow.

My body felt weightless for a second, and then, suddenly, I was standing somewhere else.

The stone was gone.

The elf beside me... vanished.

I stood alone, right in the middle of a massive hall.

The marble beneath my feet was polished to a perfect shine, and glowing vines climbed delicately across the white walls like art. The air smelled like chilled flowers and pine.

Everything was quiet.

Except for the dozens of armored elves surrounding me, lining the room like statues.

All of them had eyes on me.

None of them moved.

Their armor shimmered, and their spears and blades were perfectly still.

But strangely, every single one of them radiated sharp, mana, danger, in its purest, silent form.

I slowly lifted my gaze.

At the far end of the hall, seated on a raised silver throne, was a man.

His presence was overwhelming.

Long pale hair, strong shoulders, and eyes like gold that glowed faintly under the light.

A silver crown rested on his brow, and despite his royal robes, there was a weight to him that felt lethal.

As if, at any moment, he could rise and silence the whole world.

Next to him stood a tall, graceful woman with long white hair and a thin crystal circlet across her forehead.

They were powerful... really powerful.

If the strongest person I had ever met was Eleonora, their strength was right next to hers.

"...You are the Vessel of the Moon?"

Suddenly, the person who was obviously the Elven Emperor spoke, his booming voice filling the whole hall.

And it wasn’t a joke; it actually reached the whole hall.

"That is true."

I replied casually, brushing the snow from my shoulders. I somehow forgot to wipe it up.

But strangely, as soon as the snow fell on the ground... it dissipated away. And then, I felt a strangely familiar aura...

The Emperor didn’t seem surprised by my demeanour.

He leaned his cheek lazily against his fist, his sharp golden eyes locked onto mine with the gaze of a man who’d seen too much to be impressed anymore.

Then, slowly, his lips parted.

"...You don’t seem as strong as I thought you’d be."

A low murmur moved through the hall like a wave.

His voice wasn’t mocking.

It wasn’t amused... just honestly.

But it was the honesty of a man so secure in his power that he couldn’t see you as anything but lesser.

And that was the kind of gaze I hated the most.

The kind that judged me before testing me.

But now... I’m not the type who simply holds a grudge.

So....

I’ll act directly.

『 Frost Explosion! (✦ 6th-Level Spell ✦)』

Before anyone could even react, a ball of condensed cyan energy formed at my fingertips.

I flicked it forward with a snap of my wrist, as if it were nothing more than a snowflake caught on the wind.

FSSSSHHHHH!

The spell raced across the vast stone hall in an instant, shrieking as it cut through the air, heading straight for the throne.

But just as it was about to make contact...

FLASH!

A figure moved.

It wasn’t the Emperor, of course, but someone else, who was fast enough to react to the speed of my spell.

In the blink of an eye, he stepped between the spell and the throne, raising his arm with a defensive spell forming just too late.

And then... 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The explosion ripped through the room like thunder cracking the sky.

A massive surge of ice shot outward in all directions, filling the room with a piercing howl as the temperature dropped violently.

Crystalized frost burst in every direction, and a wave of pressure slammed against the walls, shaking the floor beneath my feet.

The soldiers reeled back, shielding their faces.

The mist took a moment to clear, and when it did...

"What...?!"

"...How in the Elven Gods...?"

Gasps filled the air.

There, still standing, but barely, was the man who had intercepted the spell.

His knees buckled slightly, and ice covered nearly his entire body.

His left arm... was gone.

Completely missing from the shoulder down. In its place were jagged shards of deep-blue ice, like a shattered weapon stabbed into the empty space where his limb should’ve been.

His lips trembled as his breath came in rapid bursts, eyes wide in horror.

And despite the cold, blood had begun to drip down in slow, frozen drops, painting the ground beneath him with crimson cracks that steamed softly against the frost.

"...General Lathien..." a voice whispered in disbelief.

The name passed like a curse through the crowd.

It seems that he wasn’t just a guard. He was one of the four generals of the Elven military.

And he couldn’t even take a single spell from me.

Huh...

They were weaker than I thought then... or am I too strong now?

Nah... I’m not even using an output above five.

"PRESUMPTUOUS!!"

Someone roared, their voice slamming through the air like a hammer, interrupting my thoughts.

The floor trembled under the weight of another rising aura.

From the line of thrones on the left, another man stood, taller than the rest, his silver hair tied in a long braid, his armor thicker, lined with silver-etched fur and blackened elven steel.

His expression was pure fury, and his mana flared outward in a wave that made the weaker soldiers stumble back.

He stepped forward, and from his armor and the emblem on his shoulder, I could see that he was actually the Commander of the Elven Army.

...He doesn’t seem that strong, to be honest.

"...Commander Velthar," another voice whispered, barely audible through the thick silence.

The moment he took one step, all the soldiers moved in unison.

SHHHHHK!

Countless weapons unsheathed.

Spears leveled, bows were drawn... and every kind of weapon each soldier was using...

All of them were aimed at me.

I stood in the center of the hall, surrounded by several dozen of the Elven Kingdom’s most elite warriors, each one trained for who knows how much time, but each one ready to end my life without question.

And still, I didn’t flinch.

I didn’t raise a hand.

I just lifted my gaze toward the throne again, straight into the Emperor’s golden eyes, and with all the calm in the world, I asked quietly,

"...Was that strong enough for you?"

The silence stretched.

For a second, no one moved.

Even the breathing in the hall felt like it had stopped.

And then, the Emperor’s lips curled.

He leaned forward ever so slightly, his golden eyes sharpening.

And slowly, he smiled.

"Naturally."