Team Play (Part 2)
To be completely honest, putting Yoo Seora and Elsie together was a massive gamble. The two of them bickered constantly on a normal day, so there was absolutely no guarantee they wouldn't tear each other's throats out during a mock battle. But looking strictly at their combat capabilities, I knew their synergy would be incredible. They can cover for each other's weaknesses.
Elsie possessed outstanding stamina and mental fortitude, giving her exceptional combat endurance. She had mastered the Lidval family's swordsmanship to a high level, and her stats were solid enough that she could easily defeat most ordinary swordsmen. However, because she had not yet obtained the Royal Sword, her raw destructive power was still severely lacking.
Yoo Seora was the perfect piece to make up for Elsie's lack of power. In stark contrast to Elsie, Seora possessed a single-strike capability stronger than anyone else, but her durability made her a literal glass cannon. Elsie was uniquely suited to safely escorting that glass cannon to her destination.
The final piece that completed this puzzle was the support mage. Normally, a support mage's job was to stick close to the offensive mage who acted as the team's artillery. But with Yoo Seora acting as a highly mobile, instant-cast artillery piece, there was no reason to baby the offensive mage. Instead, the support mage's role was to back Elsie up, making their frontline sturdier, and to set up the perfect angle for Seora to unleash her devastating strikes.
I dubbed this three-man combination the "Tank." I had my doubts about whether it would actually function, but the first test run seemed to be a resounding success.
But if there was one problem... We only have one actual shell.
Still, they had successfully carried out their crucial mission of wiping out the enemy's backline mages. That meant we just had to handle the remaining enemies on our end.
It would be nice if the Three Idiots could hold down at least one or two of them... but I wasn't holding my breath. It was better to assume that this one-trick fireball mage and I would have to handle the rest ourselves.
In fact, that was exactly why I had brought this mage over from Team 2-A in the first place. I figured her combat style would synergize quite well with mine.
Right on cue, I saw the enemies closing in on our position. Even the ones who had been near the Three Idiots were pivoting directly toward us. It made sense; an archer and a mage left completely exposed in the backline was too juicy a target to pass up.
Strictly speaking, they hadn't spotted our exact location yet. But staying put meant it was only a matter of time. Running away was out of the question, especially when escorting a mage with abysmal physical stats.
Not that I had any intention of running away in the first place. That was why I had secured high ground with decent cover from the very beginning—a perfect defensive position. My plan all along was to hold this line with the mage and face the enemy vanguard head-on.
"Save your worries for later and just focus on casting your spell," I said. I would handle the initial defense. I notched an arrow to my bowstring.
Overload. A dark, volatile energy began to swirl around the arrowhead. It was weak compared to Yoo Seora's, but it was more than enough for a pinpoint lethal strike.
Wind Authority. The authority accelerated the projectile while simultaneously correcting its trajectory to ensure maximum accuracy. Imbued with both powers, the arrow flew.
It was a clean, undeniable hit. The enemy swordsman struck by the arrow collapsed and dissolved into light. They would undoubtedly know our location now, but it didn't matter.
If we're going to get caught anyway, taking one down first is a net positive. Now, the real battle began.
"Belle, every time you finish casting, fire your Fireball at the heavily armored ones or the ones holding shields."
I didn't need a mage capable of mass destruction. Yoo Seora was already performing that role, acting as a vastly superior alternative. Instead, I needed a mage who could flexibly suppress targets with defenses too high for my arrows to pierce.
*Whoosh!* A blazing sphere of fire erupted. Fireball was perfectly suited for this task. The enemy tank, directly impacted by the spell, began to burn. The rest of them, I could easily keep at bay with my arrows.
"This is actually working better than..." Belle, the one-trick fireball mage, seemed to have fully grasped my strategy. But just as she was about to say it was going well—
*Swoosh!* An arrow grazed past her cheek.
"Kyaah!"
The enemy archer was still active. I wasn't unprepared, though. I just hadn't had the time to explain the details to her.
"Stay as close to me as possible!"
I had deflected that last arrow myself. To protect Belle, she needed to remain within the radius of my Wind Authority. But doing so created a new problem...
I can't focus the Wind Authority on sniping. Without it, my accuracy and piercing power at long range would drop, making it impossible to hit distant enemies reliably. Even so... It doesn't really matter if they get close.
While a few of my arrows missed, the remaining two enemies managed to close the distance significantly. A spearman and a swordsman. Neither wore heavy armor, meaning they could easily dodge Belle's slow-moving Fireballs. Taking them down was entirely up to me.
The spearman first. Even if the swordsman got into close quarters, I had ways to deal with him. But a spearman at close range was a nightmare for an archer. The spearman had to be my priority.
Overload. After several misses, an arrow finally found its mark, burying itself deep into the spearman's chest. One down. Now, only the swordsman remained.
"It's over!"
The swordsman was already right in front of me. With movements honed over months of rigorous practice, I swiftly notched another arrow and drew the bowstring. From here on, my true specialty as an archer would shine.
The opponent darted forward, weaving in a jagged zigzag to throw off my aim. He was likely planning to swing his sword on his very next step. But it was useless against me. I can see every single movement.
My dynamic visual acuity hadn't always been this exceptional. But there was a phenomenon known as "relative perception." Ever since I learned to mimic Libero's Swordsmanship using Wind Authority, my eyes had grown accustomed to tracking high-speed sword movements. No matter how close the enemy got...
"Aaargh!"
I could still shoot them down. An arrow fired at point-blank range carried devastating force. The enemy swordsman collapsed, registered as dead, and dissolved into light. At that moment, Belle, who had been scanning the area for the enemy archer, cried out.
"I found the archer's location!"
Belle pointed toward a distant spot. But taking out the remaining archer wasn't my job. Just as I was about to relay the coordinates to our scattered teammates, a white flag of surrender went up from the enemy archer's position.
"Point-blank archery?"
Lyudmila, the temporary archery instructor watching the match, widened her eyes. Kyle, the head archery instructor standing beside her, asked,
"It was certainly impressive, but is it really enough to shock you?"
Lyudmila was a high-grade Hero who had been active on the front lines until very recently. It was incredibly rare for her to be surprised by a mere cadet's archery skills. Until now, Wilhelm, with his monstrous accuracy, had been the sole exception. Yet, she was visibly shaken.
She nodded slowly. "That boy just read the enemy swordsman's movements perfectly. Even another swordsman would have struggled to read that trajectory."
Most archers fought while maintaining their distance—an asymmetric engagement where they could strike the enemy without being touched. There was no reason to abandon such an advantage. It was the textbook tactic, and the correct one. That was why an archer acting as a sole escort for a mage was considered absurd; it was impossible to maintain distance and flee from enemies while dragging a slow mage along.
But Cadet Sung Yu-rang was an exception to the rule. Unlike typical archers who grew so accustomed to long-range combat that they panicked and missed fast-moving targets up close, he remained perfectly calm. He read his opponent's movements at point-blank range and drove his arrow home.
"This is..."
Sigrid, the instructor of Swordsmanship Class 1 who was also spectating the mock battle, chimed in. "This tactic was meticulously planned from start to finish. Impressive."
His thoughts mirrored Lyudmila's. Two unconventional swordsmen, an archer, and a mage had meshed together like the gears of a clock to secure a flawless victory. It was highly unorthodox, yet absolutely flawless.
"Did you draw up this strategy, Freyla?"
Freyla shook her head with a soft chuckle. "You know me better than that. I've never had a talent for tactics."
"Then one of the cadets must have devised this plan."
Sigrid narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the members of Team 4-B, who had survived the battle without a single casualty.
"Seriously, what on earth did you two do back there?" asked Rian, the support mage, staring at Sung Yu-rang and Belle in disbelief.
The Three Idiots, who had spent the entire mock battle in a state of utter despair, could only gape in silence. To them, the absurd feats performed in both the vanguard and the rear were equally incomprehensible.
"I only managed to take down one armored opponent. The rest..." Belle trailed off, turning her gaze toward Sung Yu-rang.
Yu-rang scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
Watching him, Yoo Seora began to speak. "Did you finally—"
In that split second, Yu-rang's eyes shifted. Seora instantly shut her mouth.
Having silenced Seora, Yu-rang immediately reverted to his usual gentle expression and spoke nonchalantly. "It was only possible because Belle took care of the enemies my arrows couldn't pierce. The rest were easy pickings after that."
This wasn't the end of the mock battles. There were still several matches left, and those matches would determine the individual rankings of the cadets.
"Now that we know we can do this..."
While it wasn't impossible to overturn the rankings established in the first semester during the second, there was no reason to take the hard road. Securing high marks was crucial—especially for Elsie, who would lack raw power until she obtained the Royal Sword, and for Yoo Seora, whose strength depended heavily on securing high-tier Holy Relics.
"So, let's keep up the good work."