Mock Battle (4)

The boarding defense force had managed to stop the AI four times by the day of the mock battle. If you looked at the success rate, it was utterly abysmal, but the fact that they had stopped it at all was something. And finally, the day of the mock battle arrived. The boarding defense force moved to their respective positions aboard the virtual light cruiser, establishing their defensive positions while conducting one final tactical check.

The personnel gathered on the bridge to observe the mock battle were engaged in a heated debate over whether the knight candidate would win or the boarding defense force would prevail. The general consensus leaned heavily toward the knight candidate's victory. It made sense—cases where a knight candidate failed to break through the boarding defense force during the mock battle and got eliminated were extremely rare, occurring maybe once every few years.

"What do you think, Master Chief? Do you see any chance?"

At Freesia's question, Fredrick shook his head with a bitter smile. No matter how much of a candidate they were, a knight was still a knight. A single company trying to hold one back was simply too overwhelming an opponent.

"They say they succeeded in stopping it a few times toward the end of training, but it relied heavily on luck, and even then the probability was quite low. I wouldn't say there's no possibility, but I think it's going to be difficult."

Of course, if luck was on their side, success was possible. But if luck wasn't, failure was inevitable. The element of luck included not only whether strategies and tactics worked well, but also the skill level of the knight candidate.

If they faced a candidate with relatively weaker skills, the odds would improve. Conversely, facing an outstanding candidate would raise the probability of failure by the same margin.

"Ah! There he is!"

At someone's shout, both Freesia and Fredrick's gazes turned to the main panel. A knight candidate, his entire body wrapped tightly in a blue nanosuit, had appeared in the storage area in front of the virtual light cruiser's fighter hangar.

Twenty minutes before the mock battle began. The candidate who had appeared in some remote corner of the cruiser's outermost section briefly looked around, then began stretching and circulating his mana to check if the connection had been properly established.

Occasionally, poor connection quality could cause delays in movement or prevent mana from flowing properly, so he spent a long time meticulously inspecting his entire body's condition. Fortunately, the connection seemed to have been made properly—his physical state was fine, his mana flowed smoothly, and his equipment showed no abnormalities. He had no idea where exactly on the ship he was, but he would find out soon enough once he headed out.

At the calm voice, both the candidate and every member of the boarding defense force stationed throughout the ship raised their right hands. The calm voice rang out across the entire virtual space once more.

Cael's explanation was not much different from what had been written in the cooperation document. The candidate must not damage the Mana Engine. They must not intentionally destroy the ship excessively. Receiving an irreparable wound or losing any body parts would result in disqualification. The boarding defense force must not damage the Mana Engine. They must not destroy more than fifteen percent of the ship. The use of Gravity Distortion Fields was also prohibited. There were various other minor rules, but the key points each side needed to pay attention to were as listed above.

As soon as Cael finished speaking, a timer appeared before the eyes of everyone in the virtual space. There were about five minutes remaining. Once that timer reached zero, the mock battle would begin.

In an unknown room somewhere, Candidate Mary had projected a map of the Carnelian-class light cruiser through her terminal and was racking her brain without pause. Where exactly was her current location? Where might the boarding defense force have established their defensive positions?

The first test, where two candidates defended the ship against a single regular knight, had already been passed. This was the second test, and at the same time, the final one. She had to break through the massive ship alone, with no trustworthy comrades and nothing but enemies all around.

At the calm voice that rang out once again, Mary worked hard to calm her pounding heart.

The long, long years of candidate life. The moment to take the final step toward becoming a regular knight was now right before her. Mary performed one last equipment check. The terminal was functioning normally, the shield was operating properly, and her various emergency tools were all in good condition.

Unlike artificial intelligences created through scientific technology, this was an auxiliary system created based on a magical familiar. It had fused with the knight's soul, allowing them to instantly share each other's thoughts.

That's right. If she passed this, she would finally complete her long apprenticeship and become a regular knight. If Mary failed this test and had to return to candidate life, Seatree would have to sleep until it found a new master. After all, the system core she was currently using had only been temporarily loaned for the purpose of this exam.

Finally, the timer reached zero, and an alarm announcing the start of the mock battle echoed throughout the entire cruiser. Mary carefully placed her hand against the door and boldly released her mana. Just by seeing how knights could replicate Precision Scanning—which ship captains normally used through the massive Mana Engine circuit—without any external assistance, one could understand why they were considered the Federation's finest elite.

'No one nearby.'

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The space beyond the door was incredibly vast. And scattered throughout were massive structures.

Mary let out a small groan. Of all places, the fighter hangar. She'd ended up taking the longest possible route. But there was no time to complain. Even at this very moment, precious seconds were ticking away.

Should she head upward first? Mary swung her main weapon, her spear, cleanly slicing through the door, then launched herself forward while staying ready to counterattack at any moment.

"A spear... huh? But it's a bit short."

"Whoa. He's seriously fast. I can barely see him."

The people gathered on the bridge were first astonished by the cold weapon the candidate was holding—something rarely seen these days—and then astonished again by the incredible speed that the cameras could hardly even capture. They tried to imagine how they would respond to an attack at that speed, but no clear countermeasures came to mind. If an unacknowledged candidate could display this level of ability, just how monstrous must the skills of properly recognized regular knights—especially the top-tier ones—be?

"He's just cutting through everything in his path."

Various defensive turrets, bulkheads, laser cutters, flamethrowers, and all kinds of defensive installations stood in the candidate's way to stop him, but his steps did not falter for even a single moment.

The mana rounds fired by the defensive turrets were sliced apart along with the turrets themselves. The laser cutters had their firing ports completely destroyed by sharp masses of mana hurled from the candidate's spear. It took the candidate less than two minutes to break out of the lowest level, which contained the fighter hangar and various supply warehouses.

"He'll be encountering the 2nd Platoon soon."

'There's no one here?'

It had only been about two minutes, but during the time Mary had broken through the lowest level, she hadn't seen so much as a shadow ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of a person, let alone an actual human being. The only things she'd encountered were various defensive installations, including the turrets.

As Seatree said, since the enemy didn't know where she would come from, there was no reason to establish a defensive line in some remote corner. There were several locations on the ship that one absolutely had to pass through to reach the bridge for an efficient defense, and the boarding defense force from the reconnaissance battalion had built their defensive lines centered around those very chokepoints.

'Then we'll be meeting soon.'

Mary didn't panic even when a mana round was suddenly fired from behind. She slightly turned her head to dodge it, then fired a sharp mana blade toward the defensive turret that had activated belatedly.

'Definitely different from the AI, huh?'

Unlike the AI, which had responded in a very textbook manner, this opponent was full of all sorts of tricks. Take that defensive turret from earlier. While most of the other defensive installations were being destroyed, it had stayed quiet before activating a beat late to aim for her back.

Mary, who had been racing forward while relentlessly neutralizing defensive facilities, finally came to a stop after arriving at the cruiser's parade ground. The time taken so far was three minutes and twenty seconds. And to capture the bridge, she absolutely had to pass through the passage beyond this point. It was a sort of intersection.

At Seatree's nagging, Mary gripped her spear shaft tightly as if to hide her tension. Her body had warmed up nicely while breaking through the defensive line, and her nervousness had eased somewhat. Her senses were as sharp as when she had been beaten by Cael or her seniors, and the mana within her body still overflowed with plenty to spare.

'Let's go. Support me well.'

Mary hurled the turret wreckage she held in her hand beyond the corner. The moment the debris flew forward, countless mana rounds poured down. From their trajectories, it seemed they weren't aiming precisely but rather creating a wide-area fire net. Good response time.

The instant the barrage that had been pouring down without pause momentarily ceased—likely because the turret wreckage had been instantly shredded and a cease-fire order had been given—Mary kicked off the ground.

'Nineteen riflemen, one designated marksman, three communicators.'

While running along the wall, Mary glanced at the floor and thought, as expected, before firing a mana blade toward the most annoying communicator.

"Fire!"

As Seatree said, the passage floor was so densely packed with all kinds of mines and makeshift barricades that there was barely room to step. If she had charged in innocently, she would have been in serious trouble.

While slicing through the ceaselessly pouring mana rounds and blocking some with her shield, Mary frowned slightly.

'Their reaction is good.'

In truth, the boarding defense force would already know her location through the destruction of defensive facilities and various surveillance equipment, but there were some things one could only know through direct experience. For example, that she wouldn't charge in so naively, or that she could run along walls. That was why she had targeted the communicators along with the surveillance cameras. She had eliminated two, but failed to get the third.

Even though they probably couldn't see her properly, one rifleman had thrown his body over the communicator to protect him. From the way he had moved before she could even swing her spear, it seemed they hadn't blocked her out of knowledge but had made a prior agreement to protect at least one communicator with their bodies just in case.

And the fire net didn't let up. This meant they weren't firing wildly out of panic, but were shooting according to a thorough plan. Of course, mana rounds of this level posed no problem, but mixed in among them were some that couldn't be ignored.

Mixed among the pouring mana rounds were plasma grenades. If even one of them detonated, she would take immediate damage, but if she got caught in the explosion and fell to the ground, she could suffer even greater harm from the various mines.

Of course, an ordinary person wouldn't even realize that grenades were mixed in among the pouring mana rounds and would be turned into a honeycomb by the fire net and collapse. But no matter how much of a candidate she was, Mary was still a knight.

Not a single one of the cold, metallic plasma grenades mixed among the blue mana rounds was missed. She burned them all away with mana-infused spear blades, leaving not even debris behind.

The boarding defense force's 2nd Platoon had used every means available and fought desperately, but under Mary's spear blades, they all turned into cold corpses. The total time taken to reach this point was five minutes and fourteen seconds.

'That leaves two platoons and the headquarters company?'

The pace wasn't bad. Calculating the time needed to break through the remaining passage's defensive installations and to defeat each platoon, it seemed she could break through everything in roughly under twenty minutes.

Even now, the biggest card the enemy had learned from the recently annihilated platoon's desperate struggle was probably that Mary could run along walls.

They might be frantically installing something on the passage walls right about now. And since the defensive installations grew stronger and denser the closer she got to the bridge, it might take a little longer, just as Seatree said.

'Then I need to move faster before the enemy can pull any more tricks.'

"Wait, what?"

It hadn't been long since the 2nd Platoon had been wiped out, yet the sight of the candidate instantly breaking through all sorts of bulkheads and defensive installations before annihilating even the 3rd Platoon left the reconnaissance battalion personnel with expressions that seemed to ask if that was really the same species as them.

Only Fredrick, who had encountered even more monstrous special forces in real combat, maintained a relatively calm expression. Even he, however, was quite shocked.

"The opponent's abilities are unusually high for a mere candidate."

The capabilities of the AI candidate that he and Lucas had analyzed in the mock battle footage the previous evening absolutely could not compare to the candidate they were watching now. Putting aside the difference in response capability, even by simple metrics, this candidate was faster, had a stronger shield, and fired mana with greater power. If the AI had displayed the average capabilities of candidates, the abilities of the candidate they were watching now far surpassed that average by a wide margin.

"This is going to be difficult."

The boarding defense force had barely, truly barely managed to hold out for thirty minutes against an AI that was inferior to the candidate currently on screen in every way, and only when luck was on their side.

In truth, calling it "holding out" was a stretch. Looking at the situation right after they had endured for thirty minutes, there had only been one or two soldiers barely surviving in front of the final bulkhead before the bridge.

Just from the current situation, the outlook was bleak. Only seventeen minutes had passed, yet the knight candidate was already moving toward the final defensive line where the headquarters company and 1st Platoon were stationed.

'Not much left now.'

Two out of the three platoons along with the headquarters company had been annihilated. Now only the headquarters company and one platoon remained. Based on the remaining sections, it was highly likely that the headquarters company and the remaining platoon would make their last stand in the final passage leading to the bridge.

Her physical condition was still fine, and she had a reasonable amount of mana to spare. In contrast, the enemy's remaining forces were about half. Since they had gathered all their remaining troops in the most heavily guarded area, it wouldn't be an easy fight, but with about ten minutes left, it seemed she could break through without major issues.

Was the title of regular knight finally coming into view?

Right. As Seatree said, one final hurdle remained. Once she overcame this, everything would be over. So she needed to focus...?

Gripping her spear tightly, Mary launched herself toward the passage where she expected the final defensive line to be, only to suddenly freeze at the sight of a massive bulkhead that appeared before her. Wasn't the bulkhead supposed to be further back than this?

It wasn't mana rounds, grenades, or any kind of weapon, but a massive hunk of metal charging at her—an unbelievable situation. Mary's reaction was a beat too slow.

"Kyaa!"

Struck by a seven-ton mass of metal, a heavy impact penetrated her nanosuit. If she hadn't reflexively raised her shield, something would definitely have broken.

'What the hell is this!'

She didn't know what method they had used, but the enemy had succeeded in moving this massive metal bulkhead. Even amid the impact that felt like her entire body had been struck by a giant hammer, Mary coldly executed the best possible move to overcome this situation.

She discarded her spear, which was difficult to swing in such close quarters, drew the short dagger prepared for emergencies, poured every ounce of mana she had into it, and swung with all her might. It was a brutish mana manipulation that completely disregarded efficiency. The mana within her body drained away like an ebbing tide, but she succeeded in bisecting the bulkhead before being crushed by the massive metal mass.

If she had hesitated for even one or two seconds, she would have suffered a disgraceful disqualification. No matter how much of a nanosuit she wore, she wouldn't have been able to withstand that level of physical impact unscathed.

'What is this?'

While catching her breath, which had grown rough from the excessive mana manipulation, Mary lifted her head and unconsciously frowned. What flew through the gap in the bisected bulkhead was not a barrage of mana rounds, but a thick, armored arm.

She had taken a heavy blow and had just consumed a large amount of mana in an instant, so she wasn't at her best. Still, there was no way she would lose in close combat to a regular infantryman. Simply by circulating mana throughout her body to strengthen it, she could exert twice the strength of an average soldier in powered armor.

'Are they underestimating me?'

With a hint of anger, Mary grabbed the arm of the opponent who had dared to look down on her.

'Huh?'

But contrary to her plan to pull the opponent toward her, it was Mary who couldn't overcome the opponent's strength and was instead dragged forward.

"Uwooooooo!!"

The one who dragged Mary away was Morgan, an elephant beastman whose pure physical strength was so great that even most regular knights would have to concede a step. Mary was thrown to the floor and rolled several times.

At Seatree's warning, Mary checked behind her and her face filled with dismay. In the direction she was rolling, the floor was packed with all kinds of clearly dangerous anti-personnel mines. Forcing her trembling body to move, Mary kicked off the ground and gritted her teeth at the mana rounds being fired at her in concentrated bursts.

If she had her spear, she could have cut through most of them, but a dagger was insufficient.

In the end, Mary once again poured a massive amount of mana into her dagger and swung it with great force. With enough power to slice through every mana round flying toward her and even cut down the riflemen beyond them.

Even without Seatree's urgent warning, Mary knew better than anyone that this was the critical moment. She had been thrown with tremendous force and had desperately leaped immediately afterward. Whether she wanted to or not, her landing point was a dense minefield. From now on, a single misstep could truly be fatal.

Mary barely, truly barely managed to land on the tiny gaps between the mines with her toes. Before she could even let out a sigh of relief, a heavy, thudding sound accompanied Morgan charging straight toward her.

'Huh?'

Despite that tremendous weight stepping on the mines, not a single one of the densely packed mines on the floor detonated. The moment Mary avoided the mines and Morgan charged in, Lucas had remotely deactivated all of them.

Of course, there had been times during practice when the timing was off and Morgan had been caught in the explosions, but fortunately, they had succeeded in matching the timing this time.

Mary also realized the identity of the massive soldier. Anyone who didn't recognize that size—which was rare to see among humans or elves—and that strength that didn't lose out to knights would be a fool. However, realizing the opponent's identity didn't bring any dramatic change to the situation. She hadn't been able to plant her feet properly while standing on her toes, and so she had once again been dragged by Morgan's brute strength and slammed into the floor.

Grabbing Mary by the throat as if determined not to miss this time and raising a fist, Morgan's action made Mary grit her teeth.

CRACK!

The moment Morgan's punch sent Mary's head snapping to the side, Mary's arm pierced straight through the center of Morgan's powered armor.

Considering the powered armor's life support system and the fact that there was no pain in virtual space, even if the heart had been pierced, he would have been able to move ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for another minute. But the chilling cold that flowed along Mary's arm spread through Morgan's body, freezing both the powered armor's circuits and his body solid.

The boarding defense force, who had never expected Morgan to die so easily, couldn't react properly. Until now, whenever they had dragged things out this far, the AI had taken quite some time to escape.

While the boarding defense force was in disarray, Mary used ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Morgan's corpse as a shield, quickly retreated, and picked up her fallen spear.

'So that was their trump card. Time to end this.'

To be honest, she had been truly surprised. To think they would cut that massive bulkhead and use it like a mass weapon. And to use the beastmen's powerful physical abilities for a surprise attack, even using the mines as a feint.

Her entire body throbbed as if she had caught a fever, her neck was so stiff it was hard to turn her head, and there wasn't much mana left in her body. Nevertheless, Mary burned with fighting spirit once more.

Her physical condition wasn't good, and only about eight minutes remained. But the enemy's will to fight had been broken. The expressions faintly visible through the powered armor helmets were filled with dismay.

Just as Mary had been caught off guard by the boarding defense force's appearance, which was completely different from the AI, the boarding defense force had also been overwhelmed by the demonic fighting spirit that couldn't be seen from an AI.

The moment Mary leaped forward again, the boarding defense force launched a desperate last stand, but in the end, they could not stop her.

In the devastated corridor, Mary let out a long sigh.

Unexpected traps, and at the very last moment, the enemy commander had tried to take her down with him by detonating all the mines, nearly dragging her down with them. She really hadn't expected to struggle this much.

'Yeah. I've passed now.'

The moment Mary's fierce blue spear blade pierced the target on the bridge, a voice announcing her success rang out.