A Calculated Gamble
Whish. The sound of rushing wind cut through the air.
The moment Yoo Seora turned her head, an arrow grazed past her and thudded into the ground.
An archer?
She quickly scanned her surroundings, but the archer was nowhere to be seen. They seemed to be concealed quite a distance away. Though she wanted to go and suppress them immediately, she had a more pressing duty.
I need to crush these guys first.
Right in front of her stood a spearman and two mages. She didn't know what kind of spells the mages used, but anyone admitted into the Combat Magic department of the Hero Academy was not to be underestimated. The competition in the Magic Faculty's combat division was just as fierce as that of the Martial Arts Faculty.
I have to end this as quickly as possible.
In magic, there was a process commonly known as "casting." Casting was the act of manifesting a contract with a god, which was bound to one's very lifeblood—mana. The method varied depending on the contracted deity or the Magic Tower, but it universally demanded immense concentration and time.
That's a weakness even Stella, the Rank 4 Hero, cannot escape.
Unless they could channel divine power directly, the standard strategy against mages was to eliminate them before they could finish casting. To do that, she had to break through the spearman guarding them.
Of course, there was one more obstacle besides the spearman...
Ping!
A second arrow missed her as well, embedding itself in a tree on the opposite side. This confirmed it. She didn't know exactly how far away the archer was, but they were definitely at a distance where accuracy couldn't be guaranteed.
Overload.
There was no reason to hesitate. A dark energy began to swirl around her sword. Since she didn't know how long the battle would last, she adjusted the intensity of the Overload so the blade wouldn't shatter all at once.
At that moment, a third arrow flew toward her. The trajectory of this shot was fairly accurate, but she was already gone from the spot where she had been standing.
If the archer couldn't hit her when she was stationary, hitting a moving target would be next to impossible. There was no need to worry about them.
"Ugh!" The spearman groaned as he deflected her sword with his spear.
Her blade, wrapped in dark energy, carried a weight that was on an entirely different level. Not that it came without a penalty, of course.
About nine clashes left.
In nine clashes, the sword would fail to withstand the Overload and shatter. She had to settle the fight before then.
She swung her sword with deliberate care. Her strikes were powerful, but that also meant each one was precious. She couldn't afford to waste them.
Fortunately, perhaps due to the sheer difference in strength, she held the initiative.
Two clashes, three, four... five.
Finally, the exact opening she had been waiting for presented itself. She raised her sword, ready to deliver the decisive blow.
"Damn it."
I had channeled all of my Wind Authority into defense, attempting to snipe purely with my raw skill. But my proficiency was still too low for that.
Besides, the moment my first two shots missed, the outcome was practically decided. No matter how close they were, I didn't have the skill to accurately snipe one person out of two tangled in close combat.
Yet, if I withdrew my Wind Authority, Wilhelm's suppression would immediately overwhelm me. I didn't have a talent for rapid-fire archery, so if I let down the Wind Authority even for a moment to draw my bow, an arrow would end up buried in my throat. I couldn't just keep drawing my bow; I needed to find another way.
Suddenly pulling out a sword here would be insane.
I had to resolve this with something other than swordsmanship. As I was pondering my options, an arrow thudded into the tree beside me.
Huh?
That last one wasn't deflected by my Wind Authority. Which meant it had missed me from the start.
So he isn't completely infallible?
Then again, no matter how much Wilhelm's Stigma boosted his shooting precision to the absolute limit, he was still human. He was bound to make mistakes.
Maybe...
The next shot might miss too. It was a gamble, a decision bordering on reckless. But at the same time, it was the only option I had left.
There was no time to waste. I didn't know when the next arrow would fly, and Yoo Seora was already overwhelming the spearman. If I hesitated any longer, the opportunity would be gone forever.
Overload.
I applied Overload to the arrow notched on my fully drawn bowstring. A dark energy began to swirl around the shaft.
I had to assume I only had one shot. I carefully aimed at Yoo Seora.
Wind Authority.
Wind wrapped around the arrow. At this moment, I wasn't using any of my Wind Authority for defense. I poured every ounce of it into the arrow solely to strike Yoo Seora.
Please hit.
It was at that exact moment.
"Urgh!"
His arrow didn't miss this time. Flying along a flawless trajectory, the arrow pierced my neck.
Fortunately, as a safety feature of the mock battle, I felt no pain. But the result was the same. Instant death. The moment the arrow pierced my throat, I was ruled dead.
As my consciousness faded, I felt myself being teleported somewhere else. But it was fine. Although it was a bit of a shame, I had accomplished my goal.
I had finished evaluating most of the members of Team A and Team B. And I had already pulled my weight.
Before Wilhelm's arrow pierced my neck, I had already released the bowstring. The arrow was already flying toward Yoo Seora.
The rest is up to them.
Now.
The perfect opening created by their recent exchange. If she thrust her sword now, she would undoubtedly eliminate the spearman.
Yet, an unsettling feeling lingered in the back of her mind.
What is this?
She couldn't put her finger on the source of her unease.
But she couldn't afford to hesitate any longer. If she missed this chance, there was no telling if another would present itself within the remaining four clashes.
Overload.
The dark energy on her sword deepened. But just as she was about to swing her blade—
She heard the sound of rushing wind. It was an arrow shot by the archer whose presence she had acknowledged but dismissed as non-threatening.
Only, this time was different.
It's fast?!
Earlier, she would hear the sound of the arrow flying and it would land a moment later. This time, there was no delay. By the time she realized it, it was already too late.
"Gah...!"
The lightning-fast arrow pierced her neck. Wind swirled around the shaft, and dark energy drifted around it like black feathers. It was a power she recognized.
This is...?
In an instant, her consciousness faded into darkness.
I was hoping they'd handle it well on their own.
The first mock battle ultimately ended in defeat for my team, Team B. The swordsmanship cadets had bunched up and ended up wiped out by a single mage.
Of course, the victory or defeat didn't carry much weight. This was just a mock battle that didn't even count toward our evaluations, and a simple team deathmatch format didn't mean much anyway.
Still, watching the swordsmanship cadets on my team was a bit frustrating.
Thank goodness I have Sung Yu-rang's memories.
If I didn't have memories of playing team-based competitive games, I probably would have started playing politics and blaming them right away. But knowing that toxicity only tears a team apart, I managed to hold back. Besides, there was no guarantee we would keep this exact team composition.
The disparity in power was quite significant.
In particular, having both Yoo Seora and Wilhelm on the same team made Team A excessively strong. Fortunately, the instructors of the tactics class seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
"We will swap Candidate Wilhelm Rosemond of Team A and Candidate Sung Yu-rang of Team B."
Wilhelm accepted the decision without a word. Though, for some reason, he looked like he had something he wanted to say to me.
If he has something to say, he'll say it eventually.
A few other team members were swapped as well, and thus, the official Class 2-A team—no longer temporary—was formed.
While further roster changes weren't entirely impossible as evaluations progressed, we could safely assume this lineup would remain for the first semester. For the next semester, I would have to compete against seven other teams alongside these guys.
Now is when it really starts.
Of course, I didn't intend to risk my life over grades. Since the moment I entered the academy through archery, evaluations were merely secondary.
But even if my goal was simply to obtain the Hero title as quickly and easily as possible, I didn't want to spend a whole year slacking off.
Growth through real combat.
There was no other place in the world where one could freely use the virtual reality of "The Trial" like this. The Hero Academy was the only place where one could build strength through experiences that were extremely close to real combat.
I had no intention of half-heartedly breezing through the practical training we would undergo over the next year.
Let's try out various things.
It wasn't like I was particularly attached to my grades anyway.
After a few more mock battles, the evaluation league finally began. Through those mock battles, I managed to get a general grasp of my teammates in Class 2-A.
Yoo Seora, with her Overload trait, didn't need any explanation.
The other three in the swordsmanship class consisted of Dalton, a sword-and-shield tank; Rick, a textbook swordsman; and Jake, a trickster-type swordsman who uniquely specialized in throwing daggers.
The single member of the spear class wasn't exceptionally outstanding, but they synergized well with Dalton's shield-and-sword style. All of them could be considered far better off than I had been before I underwent my second Trial.
As for the two from the Magic Faculty...
To be honest, there was very little I knew about them. While there were playable Heroes from mage backgrounds, the game had never provided detailed information regarding magic.
Besides, my own mana pool was so abysmally small that I had never even considered learning magic. Because of that, the only magic I possessed as a skill, Optical Modification, was limited to altering my appearance from the neck up.
Still, since mages were a vital part of our combat power, it was important to understand their capabilities.
"So the only offensive spell you can use is Fireball? You don't have any others?"
The combat mage got quite angry at me when I asked that. Apparently, Fireball was a much harder spell to manifest than I thought. Mages weren't exactly common, and since I had rarely encountered them before, there was no way for me to know.
I mean, the high-ranking mages in the game were always dropping meteors from the sky, so I thought that was just standard for mages.
But after experiencing a few mock battles, I realized that Fireball was indeed a powerful spell—even if it required a rather lengthy casting time.
I also got a general grasp of our support mage. Their support magic consisted of Magic Guard and Heal as basics, with the ability to cast various debuffs depending on the situation. They seemed quite versatile.
...And so, the tactical meeting for our first official evaluation tomorrow came to an end.
"Sung Yu-rang."
As I was about to leave the multi-purpose meeting room, known as the community room, someone called out to me.
It was Yoo Seora.
What is it?