The Cyclops Hunting Plan
Jane's words left the Class A students looking ashen.
"I'll explain the rules. Together with your teammates, you will enter the underground dungeon within Kizen and work as one to bring down a cyclops."
A collective sigh of relief rippled through the room at the news that they would at least be going in with their groups.
"However, only one student will face the cyclops directly. The other three will take set positions from which they can support their teammate or weaken the monster. Direct attacks with dark magic are forbidden."
Jane continued without pause.
"Disruptive techniques such as Exhaust, Bind, and Blind are of course permitted, and any incidental wounds those inflict on the monster are allowed. Bleeding from Hemomancy and poisoning from Toxinology are likewise permitted. Attacks from summons are fine as well."
"What you cannot use are direct-cast attacks like Martial Arts' Smite or Hemomancy's Blood Arrow. The precise criteria will be clear once you receive the handouts the teaching assistants will distribute after class today."
The students nodded with serious faces.
"The student who enters the fight will do so under the supervision of Kizen safety personnel and will be clad in powerful defensive dark magic. Scoring will be based on whether the cyclops is successfully hunted, the speed of the hunt, stability, teamwork and creativity among the group members, and the completeness of the dark magic employed."
She swept her gaze over the now-silent students before continuing.
"To stand a chance against a cyclops, you will need to push your abilities to the absolute limit over the coming week. Do not coast through a single class. Make every lesson your own so you can put it to use in the performance evaluation. That is all. Any questions?"
Hands shot up all over the room. Jane pointed to the student in front.
"Jamie Victoria! A-are we really going to face an actual cyclops? I heard Kizen has a virtual combat simulation magic system—couldn't we use that instead…?"
Jane shut the idea down without hesitation.
"It is a living, breathing cyclops freshly captured from the western continent. Before you take the evaluation, you will be required to sign a life-waiver."
Jamie's face went dark in an instant.
"That said, residual effects from the binding curses and drugs used to restrain it mean it will be weaker than a wild cyclops. Next question."
"Scott Snyder! You said success or failure of the hunt is part of the scoring. What happens if we fail to take it down?"
"A failed hunt is an automatic bottom score, independent of the other criteria. If multiple groups fail, you will compete among yourselves on the remaining scoring elements to determine ranking."
A heavy silence settled over the lecture hall.
"There are three situations that result in a failed-hunt ruling. First, the combatant is rendered unable to fight. Second, a professor or safety officer determines that further combat is impossible. Third, any single group member raises a hand and declares they are forfeiting the exam. Next question."
Students kept raising their hands in rapid succession, and Jane answered every one without faltering.
The questions were largely similar, so after five more the hands finally all went down.
"I understand Class A has two more beginner dark magic sessions remaining this week. In the first, each group will present its cyclops-hunting strategy. In the second, as Jamie mentioned earlier, you will refine your combat sense through a virtual battle against a cyclops. The third session next week will be the real thing."
The word "real" sent a taut tension through the room. Jane checked her wristwatch.
"For the remaining time, discuss cyclops-hunting strategies among your groups. First decide who will be the combatant, then prepare in a way that draws one hundred percent of the supporting members' strength. I will be right here if you have questions."
With that, Jane sat down. The teaching assistants stepped forward and clapped their hands.
"All right, students! Begin!"
As if they had been waiting for the signal, murmuring erupted from every direction. Group 7 began their discussion as well.
"We should put a plan together fast. Anyone want to go in as the combatant?"
Meilin shot her hand straight up. Dick, sitting beside her, took an elbow to the arm and yelped, but she ignored him.
"Me! I'll do it! I'm the strongest one here!"
Dick rubbed his cheek and glared at her.
"Hey! This isn't something you decide that simply. We need a strategic approach! From where I'm standing, this evaluation is practically a free pass for Martial Arts majors—any team that has one is at a huge advantage."
A cyclops's attacks were heavy enough that a first-year's defensive dark magic would struggle to block them. Evasion was the only real option.
Other groups seemed to share the same thought; Martial Arts aspirants who had struggled to find teams earlier were now confidently voicing their opinions.
"No, I think the opposite."
Meilin's expression settled back into calm as she folded her arms.
"Did you forget? The only person who can attack the cyclops directly is the combatant. What attack methods do Martial Arts majors even have right now? Just flailing around with fists reinforced by pitch-black energy? How are you supposed to take down a thick-skinned cyclops with that?"
"Ah…!"
Dick nodded as if the blind spot had only just hit him.
"Yeah, that's a real problem. So Meilin, do you have a way to kill a cyclops?"
"Of course."
Meilin grinned with confidence and opened her palm. A magic circle formed above it, and black flames rose, flickering and roaring. Dick let out an admiring sound.
"Dark Flare from Pitch-Black Element Magic. That should do it, right?"
Dick found her smug look a little irritating, but he still nodded in acknowledgment of Dark Flare.
Group 7 began hashing out their plan and arrived at the best one they could.
First, Meilin would face the cyclops directly. While she focused on dodging its attacks, Simon would summon skeletons to split the monster's attention.
Dick would use his specialty, Pitch-Black Enchant, to supply enchanted gear to Simon's skeletons and keep them equipped.
Whenever they had the leeway, Simon and Dick would cast Exhaust curses to wear the cyclops down.
Kamivarez would use blood-flow magic such as Blood Silk to keep harassing the cyclops, and if Meilin's Dark Flare failed to finish it in one blow, she would open the wounds with bleeding magic for the decisive strike.
The plan was perfect. Yet the words Ainz always repeated rose unbidden in Meilin's mind.
Things never go according to plan. You have to prepare several plans.
So Group 7 began drafting a sub-plan in case Meilin could not serve as combatant.
Simon said that in that case he could go in himself, and Meilin noted that her original specialty was Pitch-Black Freezing Magic.
The sub-plan took shape as well.
Simon would enter and press the cyclops alongside his skeletons, steadily accumulating wounds. Dick would supply enchanted equipment for Simon and the skeletons via Pitch-Black Enchant, and cast Exhaust whenever he had room so the cyclops would slow. Meilin would use Pitch-Black Freezing Magic judiciously—creating ice sheets on the floor or raising ice walls—to hinder the cyclops. Once enough wounds had piled up, Kamivarez would open them with bleeding magic for the finishing blow.
With the sub-plan in place, Group 7 moved on to discussing the finer details.
At the same moment, Group 8 was also working out their cyclops-hunting plan.
"We need to decide the combatant."
Ainz looked around at the three of them and then turned to Claudia.
"Claudia, do you have a way to attack a cyclops?"
"If we're talking about what I can do, there's the Venom Whip, and Gorgones. But it would take far too long."
Gorgones was a Toxinology-line dark magic unique to the Menzies family that transformed the caster's hair into snakes for attack.
Ainz next looked at Cindy.
"Cindy, you?"
"I can use Spiritification, so I'm confident I can dodge the cyclops's attacks! Um… but I don't really have any direct attack methods."
Cindy's evasion was excellent, yet she lacked a solid means of dealing damage herself.
"Eshu, you?"
"I can enchant my dolls' weapons and have them attack, but I can do that from a set position too."
Ainz thought for a moment, then made his decision.
"Claudia, you'll be the combatant."
"Me…? Wouldn't it be better if you went, Ainz…?"
"Of course I could go. To exaggerate a little, I could tear a cyclops apart with my bare hands. My personal score would be perfect. But then the rest of you would have nothing to do, and both the group score and your individual scores would hit rock bottom. Are you fine with that?"
None of the three could say a word. Everything Ainz had said was true.
In the end Claudia agreed to go in as the combatant.
With the combatant decided, it was time to craft the strategy.
"As for strategy… I have something in mind. Claudia, you focus on attacking the cyclops. Hit it one-sidedly from range with the Venom Whip, and when it closes in, keep it in check with Gorgones. And…"
Ainz pulled a flask of potion from his inventory. Inside was a concoction he had mixed from various liquors.
Kizen, which prided itself on a free campus culture, allowed students to drink. Taking advantage of that, Ainz had bought several kinds of alcohol over the weekend and blended them into an experimental brew designed to maximize the alcoholic stench.
"When I give the signal, throw this at the cyclops's nose."
Claudia nodded. She had not opened the flask, but the instruction to hurl it at a cyclops's keen nose made it clear the contents reeked badly enough to paralyze its sense of smell.
The attack plan Ainz proposed was slower, yet a stable method of grinding the monster down.
He turned to Cindy and Eshu.
"I also need to know what you two are capable of. Cindy, can you summon ghosts? If so, how many can you control?"
Ghost-type summons fell under Necromancy.
"Around five or six? Three is the max for stable control."
"Eshu, how many curse dolls can you control?"
"It depends on the size, but the smallest ones—I can handle more than ten!"
"Then Eshu should work with Cindy to draw the cyclops's attention. Since Cindy's stable ghost control tops out at three, Eshu can make up the numbers with dolls."
When Claudia added the clarifying explanation, Eshu nodded in understanding.
"Eshu, summon about two human-sized dolls. And…"
Ainz continued while pulling something else from his inventory.
"Have your summons bang these while circling the cyclops."
What he produced was a gong and a hand-sized drum.
Ainz struck the gong once so they could hear the sound, then kept explaining the plan.
"I'll support with curses. I have ones that block vision too."
The three of them grasped Ainz's strategy.
If Ainz blinded the cyclops with a curse and paralyzed its sense of smell with the special concoction, the monster would have to rely on hearing to find Claudia.
But if Eshu's curse dolls and Cindy's ghosts made a racket all around it, the cyclops would only go after the summons.
Everyone agreed to Ainz's plan, and he then laid out two sub-plans in case Cindy or Eshu had to serve as combatant instead.
After that, every student began discussing the concrete details, until the bell signaling the end of class rang. Jane stood and spoke.
"By the next class, prepare a ten-minute presentation on how you intend to take down the cyclops. Each member's role and the dark magic to be used must be clearly stated in the materials."
"Thank you for your hard work!"
Class ended. Dick grabbed his bag and said to Simon,
"Run, Simon! The cafeteria in Building 3 has limited hamburger steak today!"
Simon rose with a grin.
"Can't miss a limited special."
Simon took off after Dick.