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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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Honestly, putting Yuseora and Elsie together was quite a gamble.
Since the two fought at every opportunity, there was no guarantee that they wouldn’t fight during the mock battle.
However, simply looking at their combat abilities, I thought they would have good synergy.
‘Because they can complement each other’s shortcomings.’
Elsie had excellent stamina and mental fortitude, giving her good combat endurance.
She had also mastered the Lodraim family’s swordsmanship to a high level, and her stats weren’t bad, so she could beat most ordinary swordsmen.
However, now that she didn’t have the royal family’s sword, her power was still lacking.
And Yuseora could make up for Elsie’s lack of power.
Unlike Elsie, Yuseora had a stronger single blow than anyone else, but her durability was that of a glass cannon.
And Elsie could do a good job of carrying that glass cannon to its destination.
Finally, the support mage completed that combination.
Originally, this role should have been attached to the attack mage, who was responsible for artillery, but with Yuseora being a mobile, instant-fire artillery, there was no need to stick to the attack mage.
He supported Elsie, made the combination stronger, and created opportunities for Yuseora to attack.
I nicknamed those three the ‘Tank.’
Of course, I was a little doubtful whether it would work, but the first test run seemed to be a success.
But the problem was…
‘There’s effectively only one shell.’
Still, she played the important role of annihilating the enemy’s mage party.
Then we could take care of the rest.
‘It would be nice if the three stooges could hold down one or two…’
I didn’t expect that.
It would be better to somehow deal with it with just me and this Fireball-only mage.
That was why I brought this mage from the 2-A team in the first place.
‘I think our combat synergy will be quite good.’
Then I saw enemies approaching us.
The guys who were near the three stooges also seemed to be heading straight for us.
Well, it was natural since the archer and mage were isolated and defenseless.
Strictly speaking, our location hadn’t been revealed yet.
But at this rate, it was only a matter of time before we were discovered.
It was impossible to escape with a mage who didn’t have high physical stats.
‘Not that I was planning on escaping in the first place.’
That’s why I chose a position from the beginning that was advantageous for a siege.
High ground with some cover.
From the beginning, I was planning to deal with the enemy’s front line from here with the mage.
“Don’t worry too much and just focus on casting.”
I would handle the basic response.
I nocked an arrow.
‘Overload.’
A black aura began to envelop the arrow.
It was weaker than Yuseora’s, but it was enough for pinpoint killing.
‘Power of the Wind.’
The power of the wind added acceleration to projectiles like arrows and increased accuracy.
The arrow, imbued with those two powers, flew.
It was an undeniable hit.
The enemy swordsman hit by the arrow fell and disappeared.
Of course, this would reveal our position to the enemies, but it didn’t matter.
‘If we’re going to be discovered anyway, it’s better to take one down first.’
Now the real battle began.
“Belle, whenever your casting is complete, use Fireball on the heavily armored or shield-bearing enemies.”
I didn’t need a mage capable of mass destruction.
That role was practically being carried out by Yuseora, who was almost an upgrade.
Instead, I needed a mage who could flexibly deal with enemies whose defenses were too strong for my arrows.
Whoosh.
And Fireball was quite suitable for that purpose.
The enemy tank hit by the Fireball began to burn.
I could just deal with the rest with my arrows.
“This is actually…”
It seemed that Belle, the Fireball-only mage, had also fully understood my strategy.
It was the moment she was about to say ‘working.’
Whoosh.
An arrow grazed her.
“Kyaak!”
The enemy’s archer was still alive.
But it wasn’t like I had no countermeasures.
I just hadn’t explained it to her enough.
“Stay as close to me as possible!”
I had deflected the arrow just now.
For Belle to be protected, she needed to be within the range of my wind power.
But if that happened, there would be a problem…
‘I can’t use the power of the wind for sniping.’
Accuracy and penetration would decrease, making it difficult to hit distant enemies.
But…
‘It doesn’t really matter if I’m close.’
While a few of my arrows missed, the remaining two enemies had already closed in to close range.
One spearman and one swordsman.
The two weren’t wearing heavy armor, so they could easily dodge the slow Fireball.
So I had to be the one to take those two down.
‘The spearman first.’
There was a way to deal with a swordsman even in close combat.
But that wasn’t the case with a spearman.
Therefore, the priority was the spearman.
‘Overload.’
The arrow, which had been missing for several shots, finally hit the guy’s chest.
The spearman was taken care of.
Now all that was left was one swordsman.
“It’s over!”
The guy had already closed in right in front of me.
With the dexterity I had honed over the past few months, I quickly nocked an arrow.
And drew the string.
Now was my real specialty as an archer.
The opponent quickly stepped to prevent me from aiming properly.
He probably planned to swing his sword with the next step.
But it was useless against me.
‘I can see all his movements.’
It wasn’t that I had good dynamic vision from the beginning.
But there’s a saying about relative deprivation.
Since I was able to imitate Libero’s swordsmanship using the power of the wind, I could see the movements of swordsmanship to some extent.
So even if the enemy was very close…
“Argh!”
I could shoot him.
An arrow shot at point-blank range.
The power was sufficient.
The enemy swordsman disappeared after being killed.
At the same time, Belle, who had been looking for the archer, shouted,
“I’ve found the archer’s location!”
Belle pointed somewhere far away with her finger.
But it wasn’t my role to take down the remaining archer.
It was when I was about to inform the scattered team members of the archer’s location.
A signal of surrender came from the opposing archer.
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“Point-blank shooting?”
The temporary instructor of the archery class, Lyudmila, who had been watching, widened her eyes.
Then the archery class instructor, Kyle, who was next to her, asked,
“That was certainly impressive, but is it enough to surprise you?”
Lyudmila was a high-ranking hero who had been active until recently.
Therefore, she was rarely surprised by the archery skills of the cadets.
Until now, the only exception had been Wilhelm, who had monstrous accuracy.
That was why she was surprised.
She nodded and said,
“That guy just now accurately read the opponent’s swordsman’s movements. It would have been difficult to read even if he were a swordsman himself.”
Archers usually fight at a distance from their opponents.
A one-sided situation where the opponent can’t attack, but they can.
There was no reason to give that up.
Of course, that was the standard and correct tactic.
That’s why it didn’t make sense for an archer to protect a mage alone.
It was impossible to maintain distance from enemies while protecting a mage.
But that didn’t apply to cadet Seo Yoo Rang.
He was different from typical archers who were accustomed to fighting at a distance and had difficulty hitting fast-moving enemies at close range.
He calmly read the opponent’s movements and shot an arrow even at close range.
“This is…”
Then Sigrit, the instructor of swordsmanship class 1, who was also observing the mock battle between the two teams, spoke.
“It was a planned tactic from start to finish. Impressive.”
That was what Lyudmila was about to say.
An unorthodox combination of two swordsmen, one archer, and one mage led to a complete victory, like clockwork.
It was an unorthodox, but flawless tactic.
“Did you set up the tactic? Freya.”
Freya shook her head.
“You know the answer, so why ask? I have no talent for tactics, you know?”
“Then there’s a cadet among them who came up with this tactic.”
Sigrit stared at the cadets of the 4-B team, all of whom had survived.
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“No, what the hell did you do in the rear?”
The support mage, Lian, asked Seo Yoo Rang and Belle.
The three stooges, who had been in a state of resignation throughout the mock battle, could only watch the situation blankly.
From their perspective, both the front and the rear had done something unbelievable.
“I only managed to take down one who was wearing armor. The rest…”
She looked at Seo Yoo Rang.
Then Seo Yoo Rang scratched his head with an awkward expression.
Seeing that, Yuseora said,
“You finally…”
At that moment, Seo Yoo Rang’s eyes changed.
Yuseora instantly became quiet.
Silencing Yuseora and quickly returning to his usual gentle gaze, Seo Yoo Rang calmly said,
“Thanks to Belle taking down the enemy my arrows couldn’t penetrate, I was able to take down the rest easily.”
The mock battle wasn’t over yet.
There were still a few more matches left.
And through those matches, the individual rankings of the cadets would be calculated.
“Now that we know we can do it through this match…”
It wasn’t impossible to overturn the rankings determined in the first semester in the second semester, but there was no reason to choose the hard way.
Especially for Elsie, who would be lacking in power until she obtained the royal family’s sword, and Yuseora, whose power would come from Sacred Relics, it was important to achieve good results.
“Let’s keep up the good work.”
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