—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
‘The battlefield is…’
The scenery before my eyes changed. A cityscape unfolded.
‘That’s a relief.’
I had anticipated the worst-case scenario, a terrain with almost no cover, like a desert or tundra.
If that were the case, we would have had no chance of winning. We had cleared the first hurdle.
“Then please move according to plan.”
We only had one plan. Our team’s resources were limited, after all.
But that plan had worked well so far.
‘It won’t be any different even if the opponent is 1-A.’
We decided to use our best strategy again. With that, everyone except Belle and I set off to carry out their roles.
The barrier dividing the center of the battlefield was lifted, and the match began.
The match wasn’t going so well.
(Seo Yoo-rang, I still don’t see any trace of the opponent’s mage.)
There were two reasons why mages were used as strategic weapons in mock battles.
First, the destructive power and mass annihilation capability of magic. And second, forcing the opponent to be wary of the mage, thus causing a loss of power.
Therefore, the basic tactic was to allocate some power to the mage’s side to create a standoff.
But Sigrit didn’t create a standoff; he completely hid the mage. Then he probably wouldn’t allocate much power there.
I could be sure of this because I was confirming it with my own eyes.
‘Did he put all his power into this side?’
The enemy forces were closing in from all directions. As expected, their target was Belle and I.
‘Is this the strategy?’
I had anticipated this strategy to some extent. I was the easiest target in our team’s tactics.
Even without Sigrit, the opponent in the previous battle against 2-B had also used this strategy.
‘The problem is that the quality is completely different.’
The opponent was 1-A. There was a clear difference in quality compared to the candidates of 2-B.
That could be seen just from the form of the encirclement.
‘It’s very systematic.’
Unlike 2-B, who had closed in one by one in an irregular encirclement, they were using a properly trained encirclement tactic.
It would be impossible to escape this encirclement with Belle. But I had no intention of changing the strategy.
“Please continue searching for the mage.”
Leaving the mage unattended was too risky. We had to eliminate the mage somehow.
But we couldn’t send the Three Stooges, who had no resistance to magic, to eliminate the mage. They had another role to play.
“Where are you now, Trio?”
I couldn’t call them the Three Stooges outright, so I gave them the nickname Trio.
They liked the nickname, thinking it sounded cool.
(I found the archer’s position. But there’s an enemy between us.)
Unlike the ‘tank’ group, who had safely escaped the encirclement, they seemed to still be inside.
But there was no problem. We had trained them for this situation.
“Don’t be afraid and break through. No matter how strong the opponent is, they won’t be able to withstand you if the three of you work together.”
The phrase “won’t be able to withstand you” was an exaggeration to boost their confidence. There were plenty of guys in 1-A who could easily handle a 1 vs 3.
But there was still one chance…
‘They’ll underestimate them.’
The three hadn’t shown anything in the mock battles so far. They were our secret weapons.
And just as I had planned, a message arrived.
(We won! That Swordsmanship Class 1 guy was nothing!)
They were celebrating after three of them defeated one. But I didn’t have time for such trivial nitpicking.
Their mission wasn’t just to break through the encirclement.
“Then please keep the archer in check according to plan.”
This was the end of their direct combat. If even two enemies grouped together, their chances of winning would drastically decrease.
So from now on, their mission was to keep the opponent’s archer in check.
‘It’s okay if you can’t catch the archer directly.’
Just keeping them in check was enough. That alone would eliminate the need for me to use the Power of Wind for defense.
Then everything else depended on Belle and me.
‘At most, there are four of them.’
Of course, they were much stronger than the opponents we had fought so far.
But that was only in terms of swordsmanship. The basic counter between sword and bow remained the same.
“Belle, it’s not much different. We just need to take them all down before they reach us.”
I nocked an arrow.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
‘Using the same tactic…’
Sigrit scanned the battlefield through the eyes of an archery candidate.
Although there was a difference in that the Three Stooges, who had been powerless in previous mock battles, managed to catch a swordsman from 1-A after a struggle and break through the encirclement, it didn’t have a significant impact on the overall situation.
‘And even if they break through the encirclement, there’s nothing they can do.’
All of his forces were already forming the encirclement.
‘The match is practically decided.’
He checked on the three swordsmen and one spearman who were closing in. He hadn’t equipped them with heavy armor because it was impossible to block Fireball anyway.
Unless they were caught off guard, they could just quickly dodge the Fireball, which wasn’t that fast.
‘Then all that’s left is Seo Yoo-rang.’
His archery was certainly threatening.
He might be able to overcome the counter even if four close-range fighters attacked him at once. But he decided to completely block that possibility.
He added one last trump card to the encirclement.
‘It’s a shame to end it like this, but…’
He had his expectations.
He was a type of candidate he had never seen before, even after being a professor at the Hero Academy for so long.
Even the professors in charge of tactical training were curious about who had devised the tactics.
‘Was he just a candidate after all?’
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Whoosh. The arrow left my hand.
The arrow flew towards the guy who hadn’t discovered me yet. Just like last time, I planned to eliminate one before they found me.
Power of Wind and Overload. The arrow was aimed precisely at his neck.
But it was at that moment. The guy swung his sword with an abnormal reaction speed.
My arrow was helplessly deflected by his sword. At the same time, he turned his head in the direction the arrow came from, and our eyes met.
“…Prepare for battle!”
I informed Belle, who was casting Fireball, that our position had been exposed.
We probably wouldn’t have as much leeway as in previous battles.
As if to prove that, the moment my position was identified, they started closing in quickly in a straight line. I hurriedly nocked another arrow.
‘The spearman first.’
I had been too greedy just now. I had planned to eliminate the seemingly skilled guy through a surprise attack, but I had underestimated him.
I couldn’t make the same mistake. I had to prioritize eliminating the spearman, who was difficult for me to deal with, without being greedy.
Twang The arrow left my hand. The arrow imbued with the Power of Wind flew quickly towards the spearman.
And…
‘Huh?’
The arrow hit an invisible barrier in front of him and fell. It was Magic Shield. The meaning was clear.
‘This is crazy.’
It seemed that Sigrit had decided to invest everything in catching Belle and me.
He had even secretly included a support mage in the encirclement team. I hadn’t anticipated this.
“Belle, can’t you make the casting of Fireball any faster?”
But she shook her head. Her Fireballs weren’t hitting at all because of the opponents’ quick movements.
Of course, it wasn’t her fault. She was originally in charge of heavy armor; I was supposed to be dealing with these guys.
‘What should I do?’
Such excessive investment in catching Belle and me. It wasn’t a situation I had anticipated, but I was past the point of panicking.
What I had to do right now was clear.
(Tank, come back to me quickly!)
There was still no news of the mage being caught. But since I had confirmed that there was really no one near the mage, we didn’t need forces like Yuseora or Elsie.
The Three Stooges were enough.
(Trio, you have to find the mage!)
With this, I briefly revised the tactics. And from now on, I only had one thing to do.
Understanding this, Belle said,
“Hurry up and go!”
The moment the enemies didn’t wear any armor, her role was practically over.
But she didn’t stop casting Fireball until the last moment. It was to provide covering fire for my escape.
“I’ll leave it to you, Belle.”
If their goal was to catch me, then I just had to avoid being caught. If I ran towards Yuseora and Elsie and joined them, we might have a chance.
It was the moment I was about to escape.
‘This is?’
Something unexpected caught my ankle.
‘A barrier?’
A barrier had formed around me. It seemed to be a fairly skilled support mage.
But I didn’t have time to admire their skill. I couldn’t escape. That meant one thing.
I had to somehow endure here until Yuseora and the others arrived.
Could I do it? Honestly, it was difficult. I might have been able to if I could use my sword.
Still, if I had to answer…
“Seo Yoo-rang?”
“It’s a barrier. I can’t escape.”
“Then…”
“Please don’t stop casting. It’s not over yet.”
Since when did I assess the situation before even starting?
Now, it was a much better situation since there was no penalty for dying. Whether it would work or not, I had to try.
“We won’t know unless we try.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
