I Refused To Be Reincarnated-Chapter 856: Why Are You Choking, Teacher?

Maxwell’s eyes widened at the surreal scene of hulking earth hammers blooming into flower sculptures, of storms channelled into earth bridges, and of blighting fires healing the very walls they had tried to consume. More than that, he felt a sting across his cheek, as if Adam’s provocation had taken physical weight to slap him right after he called this battle over.

All around, students glanced at him with genuine puzzlement that felt like an insult. The urge to correct himself clenched his mind as tightly as his heart hammered in shame. He coughed in his fist, opening his mouth.

Before he could start with the first word, a cheerful voice interrupted him. "Teacher, teacher, wasn’t the challenge supposed to be over? Why are the walls intact? Why do your students look like someone who saw their favorite pastries stolen, then eaten before them, now that they lost their cannons? I thought teamwork, surprise attack, and... I forgot what were best. Do you think they’ll accept my big brother’s invitation now that your teaching failed them? Ah. Why are you choking, teacher?"

Wide-eyed, everyone turned to the eight-year-old girl sitting at the edge of the bleachers, to Quintella, who had snuck in after spotting Elliot’s stealthy departure from the dorms. On her shoulder, Bao swung on her back, paws holding her belly, and tears trickling down her curved eyes as she laughed.

Quintella, however, hid her twitching lips by mirroring the other students’ shocked glares while pretending to search for the culprit.

"Who dares!" Maxwell roared, locking gaze with Quintella’s innocent pink eyes. "You’re not from my class. Wait... You were with him at the House ceremony!"

"Tsk." Quintella clicked her tongue, her lips twisting with admonishing solemnity. "Calling him big brother betrayed me."

She scratched her left cheek before her eyes lit up as if she had found how to avoid trouble. She rushed to Maxwell, retrieving a neatly folded handkerchief from her pocket.

"Here, teacher. I think I did something bad, so... mhh." She unfolded five wrapped cookies and a half-gnawed piece of lemon tart. "I’m sure watching with snacks will help you!"

Maxwell gripped his forehead, fingers digging into his blonde hair. He glared at Adam’s bastion, at the girl’s sweet smile, then at the students. Punishing her would only make things worse.

Eventually, he exhaled heavily as he took the pastries and patted the seat beside him. "What a sweet child! Sit, but please remain silent for the rest of the lesson. You don’t want to lose points, right?"

"Nop." Quintella sat obediently, covering her mouth to show she understood.

"Back to the lesson." Maxwell gnawed on a cookie; the sweet chocolate nuts strangely relieved him. "I have to acknowledge Adam’s exquisite use of the elemental interconnectedness you’ve learned in your transmutation class. By putting theories into practice, he snatched the element of surprise from Tristan and Bismarck. Clever, clever, but insufficient."

He shook his head, looking at Desmond on the other side of the plain.

Desmond’s lightning boots flashed as he twirled around the tower, dodging volleys of spells. His bolts struck the transmuted plates, but the raging wind barrier tore them apart on contact. He couldn’t overpower any of his three pursuers or reach their crystal.

"They’ll catch Adam’s strike force, if it can be called that, in a few minutes. Adam will have no choice but to leave his bastion, and when he does, he’ll expose himself to Bismarck and Tristan’s team. All they’ll have to do is keep him busy, while one of them destroys the crystal from within." He snorted, feeling his confidence flood back in as he pointed at the bastion’s open doors. "Adam knows it. That’s why he’s luring them inside. Unfortunately, they won’t take the bait."

Quintella raised her hand the moment he finished, and he sighed. "Yes?"

"I think they will enter, teacher," she said through her fingers.

"They absolutely won’t. No one would fall for that trap—"

Adam interrupted him with a dramatic laugh so exaggerated that it reverberated like an insult in itself. "Hahaha! Is that all you amount to? I feel like Astride’s students are much more courageous. You should have seen them almost jump at my throat when I called them cowards. But look at you, the brave strategists of Brineheart’s tomorrow, frozen in front of my doors like dogs waiting for their master’s command. Do you wag your tail when he praises you?"

The seven students besieging the bastion clenched their trembling fists.

"Let’s see if you’ll dare leave your room after I’m done with you!" A first exploded, then a second.

"I’ll make you wag your tail in a pool of your own blood, bastard!"

Before they knew it, they were already rushing through the doors.

"Don’t, you fools!" Maxwell slammed the bleachers’ railing, his eyes bloodshot. "Remember. Discipline. Teamwork. Bismarck, Tristan, manage your teams!"

"Teacher... they were the first to rush in," Quintella murmured, her fingers now pressed hard against her grin to muffle her laugh. Bao didn’t share her concern. She laughed and slapped amused paws on her shoulder. "Ah! Are you choking again, teacher?"

Unaware of their desperate teacher, Bismarck and Tristan rushed down the hall of the bastion, their forceful steps silenced by the thick red carpet. Yet, no trace of Adam.

"Where are you, coward—"

Adam cut Bismarck’s roar with a chuckle so mischievous that it would make an evil ghost weep. "Welcome to my bastion, brave students. The rules are simple."

The walls peeled from the hall, revealing a sprawling maze of chaotic stairs leading to suspended rooms. Some had their doors upside down. Others hovered without clear access beneath a ceiling that seemed to hang dozens of meters above them.

"I’m hiding somewhere with the crystal. Find me to win, but be careful of traps."

"Damn you and your stupid games!" Tristan snorted. "I’m blasting you along with this place!"

He slammed his staff on the ground, the yellow gem crowning its curved top humming to life. Building-sized fists spread outward, crashing against walls and rooms.

Yet, his eyes widened when magic symbols let out a lazy glow on their surfaces. They shattered the force behind the impact, then drank the mana composing the spell like fine wine before falling silent again. His companions lashed out with their own spells—same result.

From his throne, Adam smirked as the absorbed mana travelled through a luminous channel, surging to the combined gems of the seven cannons.

"Oh, you can lash out as much as you want. Sometimes, venting is the right answer."

---

AN: Quintella inspired me... Give her some points on the app for the bonus Chapter XD.