Joint Practice (6)
“Haa! It’s finally over!”
“Everyone worked hard!”
“Kids, go ahead and rest for a bit.”
The long, grueling gate raid had finally come to an end. But we still hadn’t left the gate. We were waiting for Class A, who still hadn’t arrived.
Libra officially declared the end of the gate and told us to rest until Class A showed up. Then she immediately started contacting Garein.
“Yeah. We’re all here. How about you guys?”
I caught snippets of the conversation. It sounded like Class A was almost here too. And from what I heard, Karne had been putting on quite the show.
“How far has Class A gotten?”
I approached Libra, who had secretly set up a protective barrier around the students just in case of any surprise threats after we cleared the gate. Of course, I already knew from eavesdropping on her call that they were nearby, but this was the most natural way to strike up a conversation with her.
“They say they’re almost here. Why don’t you go rest a little too? We’ll have to move out as soon as they arrive.”
“What did I even do? Other than a short fight in the middle, I’ve basically just been walking the whole time.”
After summoning Halpas, I’d stayed in the back and only given orders. My stamina was probably the highest out of everyone here.
“I really learned a lot thanks to you.”
“From me, Professor?”
“Of course. As thanks, I’ll make sure to help you build some solid connections when we go looking for the Sword God’s legacy next time.”
Right. That was still on the agenda.
“Has the date been set?”
“After some adjustments, it looks like it’ll be right at the end of summer break.”
End of summer break, huh. Since I was also planning to visit the Alchemist and the Imperial Palace in between, this summer was going to be busier than I thought.
“Ah, there they are now.”
In the direction Libra pointed, Class A was indeed walking toward us. I watched them closely, checking their condition.
‘Did they even fight at all?’
They looked way too clean. A few were grimacing with their heads down, Kena was clicking her tongue in clear annoyance, and Leglia was walking beside Karne, chatting with her about something. Meanwhile, Mir was staring at Karne from behind with a meaningful, almost ominous look in her eyes.
-The atmosphere over there is completely different from ours.
-You can say that again.
Just like they said. The mood was incredibly heavy. It felt razor-sharp, like one wrong move and someone would get sliced apart. And the fact that Karne was at the center of it all was honestly shocking.
“Did the plan work?”
“Judging by the atmosphere, I’d say yes?”
“Plan? What plan did you guys come up with?”
“Ah, well…”
Number Six looked around at the others with an expression that said should we really tell him? Then, as their representative, Ivyll stepped forward, adjusting her glasses.
“We each came up with our own strategies. They were all meant to land a blow on you and the rest of Class A.”
“Oh?”
“The plan targeting you was to ignore you completely and undermine the leader’s authority. It fell apart the moment you fought back… but it looks like the other plan succeeded.”
“What was the other plan?”
“To eliminate every single enemy in sight.”
That was it? That was their grand strategy?
“You look confused. Simply put, the plan was for Karne to wipe out every single monster so that Class A wouldn’t even get a chance to fight. If there’s a leader like you who uses their teammates to create diverse combat situations, then the opposite is to have the leader step forward as the ultimate shield and weapon that slaughters every monster themselves. That was Karne’s strategy.”
So that’s why the others looked so unscathed. Even if it was a plan, it couldn’t have been easy for one person to take down every single monster on the way. It was only possible because it was Karne, the representative of Class C who carried the blood of Arbaana.
“Looks like we got hit pretty hard.”
“Hehe. Even though we failed, Karne succeeded, so I’d call it one-to-one.”
Did she really have to count it like that? That girl Ivyll… she really does hate Class A, doesn’t she?
“Looks like you guys had a lot of fun.”
I stepped forward to greet Karne and the rest of Class A. Karne’s eyes widened as she looked around at our group. She seemed quite surprised by our condition.
-This is exhausting. So tiring.
-What are you tired about, grandma? Karne did all the fighting.
-Hey! I still worked hard to make sure my power didn’t leak out!
-That only happened because you tried to fight everything by yourself like an idiot.
-It’s not like I wanted to! Karne had no choice either!
I figured as much. It was probably the students who had especially strong negative feelings toward Ivyll and a few others from Class A who had pushed things this far.
Smack.
“Kgh?!”
“Using such a sweet kid like that. You should reflect on your actions.”
I lightly bonked Ivyll on the top of her head and then walked straight over to Karne.
“Wow, Karne, you’re seriously strong.”
“I worked really hard, that’s all.”
“Huh? You’re actually answering me now?”
“Hehe. Since it’s all over now… it should be fine… right…?”
Why do you sound so unsure even while saying it?
-By the way, what’s up with them?
-Well, we kind of worked them too hard.
-Utilizing the weapons you have is only natural.
-Looks like that flawed plan of theirs failed after all.
-One stomp of the foot and they all just collapsed.
I walked past the group that was still eagerly chatting away and gave Karne a light handshake as she returned to Class C. Then I slowly made my way toward the familiar faces whose expressions had all gone stiff.
“So. How was the Class C representative?”
“You were right. To be honest, her skills are easily in the top tier of our class.”
“See? That’s why you shouldn’t look down on them just because their class rank is lower. We only got placed based on our entrance exam results, after all.”
“Yes… I learned that the hard way this time. Both me and the rest of my classmates.”
At Leglia’s words, several students lowered their already bowed heads even further. They were going to get neck cramps at this rate.
“It’s good that you realized it now, at least.”
“Did you already know about this, sir?”
Of course I did. I also knew that if things continued like this, they’d end up suffering greatly because of Class C later on. Still, even if they realized it now, I doubted the outcome would change much. Even if our class changed their mindset and stopped looking down on them, Class C would only grow even stronger than before. After all, while I’d been testing various methods on them, they had powered up quite a bit too.
“Professor. Can we leave now?”
“Yes. The practical is over. If there are no dropouts, let’s head out immediately.”
At Garein’s words, we all gathered in one spot. Compared to all the preparation we’d done, it was an incredibly anticlimactic ending. But because it was so anticlimactic, we’d managed to finish without any major incidents. It felt like a genuinely peaceful moment in a long time. Considering the events that were coming up, it wouldn’t be wrong to call this a real break.
‘I guess now I just need to focus on the Hwangyeon.’
The athletic competition scenario where every grade in the academy participates. Depending on how I handle the branching points that exist within it, the distance to a happy ending might shrink considerably.
“Everyone worked hard. Since the next class also has to use the facility, let’s move quickly.”
This practical wasn’t just for us; the entire first-year cohort was using it, so it was only polite to clear out quickly for the next group.
“Professor Garein. Professor Libra.”
“Oh my, you’re already out?”
But just as we were about to leave, we ran into the other first-year classes—Class B and Class D—along with their instructors. All the professors looked at us with surprised faces and let out gasps of admiration. It seemed we had finished the raid much faster than they had expected.
“How long did it take you?”
“Our class took two hours and twenty minutes.”
“We took two hours and three minutes.”
“Whoa, you finished in under three hours?”
Yeah. Normally people would expect around three hours. But unfortunately, the ones leading the gate this time were me and Karne, who had worked incredibly hard to become the representative of Class C. Honestly, I was a little disappointed we couldn’t break into the one-hour range.
‘So those are Class B and Class D.’
In the game, there weren’t any particularly important characters in those classes, so they were all unfamiliar faces. While Class C used their inferiority complex toward Class A to shine brightly during the Hwangyeon, those two classes just finished things in a perfectly average way without any dramatic storylines.
“Then we’ll be on our way.”
“Good luck!”
Since we had been waiting behind them, the two groups exchanged brief greetings and went their separate ways.
Slide.
“Hm?”
-Hmm?
At that moment, as we passed by Class B, I felt a strangely familiar sensation. It seemed Cheonma felt the same thing.
“Master. That feeling just now…”
-Mmm. It’s not something we can just brush off as a hallucination if both of us sensed it.
-What? What is it?
-Hey, don’t just talk between yourselves. Tell me too!
It was something only Cheonma and I could feel.
‘Could it be related to the Heavenly Demon Cult?’
The one thing Cheonma and I had in common was that we both practiced the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. That meant it was highly likely to be connected to the organization researching that power—the Heavenly Demon Cult.
‘Is there someone in Class B connected to the Heavenly Demon Cult?’
I hadn’t gotten any information from Libra about any classmates related to Cheonma, so it was probably not a successor but just a regular member of the cult.
‘I thought it wasn’t worth paying attention to.’
But if there really was someone from the Heavenly Demon Cult in Class B, then things were different. I watched the backs of Class B as they disappeared into the gate and slowly began forming a plan. A plan to draw them out for sure.
-Zeon. Let’s get going.
-Tell me too!
Tssst.
To do that, I’d first need to narrow down the candidates. I created a small spark of Heavenly Demon Divine Art at my fingertip and turned away without hesitation.
‘I’m counting on you.’
With the caw of a crow echoing from somewhere, the joint practical training for Class B and Class D began.