Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! Chapter 161: 161-Instructor’s Rules

Read chapter 161 of Reader Mage-Stubbing August 10! by A_Random_Turtle on NovelPedia.

About thirty minutes before the conclusion of the first round. Merlin narrowed his eyes on Dr. Eleanor. He wanted to rush at her and quickly get this over with, but her words froze him in place. Going in blindly would be foolish after what she’d said, so he had to be extra careful. It didn’t matter if he could fight on for hours without getting exhausted; what mattered was retrieving the key and ensuring Prestige Academy went on to the second and final stage of the inter-academy tournament. If Nora failed, he couldn’t fail too. And now that Crown Academy had already taken hold of their castle, the situation was even more dire. “Well, are you going to make the first move, or is that up to me?” Dr. Eleanor asked, candid about the fight. Which was to be expected. It was more or less guaranteed that Crown Academy would be moving on to the next stage. And she had not been pushed to the limit here either. For her demeanor to change, something special had to be called upon. And as long as the three of them were not on the same wavelength, that wouldn’t happen. Merlin glanced at Choi Sangook. He was standing behind Dr. Eleanor, furious. Which was bad. The boy was already naturally hotheaded. Being angry would severely dampen his fighting prowess. In other words, even if Merlin wanted to adapt to the boy’s movements and tried to sneak in some punches while Dr. Eleanor focused on him, it wouldn’t work. He had to get the boy to listen to reason. “Then how about you give us the chance to come up with a plan to defeat you?” he asked. Dr. Eleanor tilted her head. “It’s the least you could do. You’re way above us; even if we three worked together, it would be hard to take you down. And, as you can see, our teamwork is a mess. Basically,” he glanced at Choi Sangook, “we’re definitely going to fail here and possibly not advance to the next stage.” Choi Sangook’s fury faltered. The boy’s crumpled expression loosened a bit. Dr. Eleanor hummed and nodded. “I guess I can allow that.” She raised a finger. “You have a minute. Clock’s ticking.” Merlin immediately retreated to Hakyun’s side, then took another glance at Choi Sangook again. The boy, however, did not hurry to them. Fucking prideful twat. “Still the adapt plan?” Hakyun asked. “We don’t have any other option,” Merlin replied. “But even that will not be enough. Fighting Dr. Eleanor with straightforward means will not yield any good result.” Hakyun lowered his voice into even something less than the whisper it was already in. “I don’t know if this is good to mention, considering the situation, but can’t the System help in any way?” Merlin snorted as though he had heard some joke. “If it could make matters even worse, it would. We’re on our own.” Hakyun clicked his tongue. “Then what do you have in mind?” Merlin narrated his plan to Hakyun and stepped forward. Choi Sangook straightened at that, and so did Dr. Eleanor. “Ready, kid?” she asked. Merlin didn’t reply. He immediately activated [Flash Step] and blurred forward, giving her barely a second to react. And yet, that was enough. Dr. Eleanor danced out of the way of Merlin’s mana-cloaked fists, a smile on her lips. “Little cheat,” she mocked. “That was disrespectful.” Merlin kept his words in his mouth. Instead, he took two steps backwards and two to his left side as a prickling feeling crawled up his neck. In that instant, a spear of ice flashed into view, aimed at Dr. Eleanor’s midsection. An attack that had almost led to a disaster about a minute ago. And just like before, Dr. Eleanor caught the ice, spun on her feet, and threw it back at the caster. However, Choi Sangook was a lot smarter this time. Long before Dr. Eleanor had thrown the ice spear, he had already begun moving out of the way, enabling him to avoid the attack. A decoy, Merlin realized. Choi Sangook immediately rose on his feet and aimed another ice spear at Dr. Eleanor. “Goodness, kid,” Dr. Eleanor groaned, sounding bored. “Don’t you have anything else in the tank?” “Ju