Combat Training Practice (3)
Combat Training Practice (3)
Dusk Wolves.
Threat level: Grade 8. A single specimen poses a lethal danger to multiple humans.
In a pack, however, their threat rating exceeds that of Grade 7 hazard-class monsters.
They are roughly 1.3 times the size of a common wolf. At a glance, they resemble gray tigers slinking through the shadows. Their tough hide is difficult to cleave with a blade, and their ash-colored fur resists magic.
"We'll want to use blunt weapons as much as possible. Is that doable, Yulan?"
As Everidge of the Reconnaissance Department had just noted, bludgeoning weapons were the recommended approach against Dusk Wolves. Neither swords nor magic bit easily, making them deeply troublesome opponents.
'So that's why the previous lectures kept hammering tank and melee DPS roles.'
Given the context, it was highly likely the Dusk Wolves were the main objective of this combat exercise.
"That's a problem. I'm not consecrated for blunt arms, I'm afraid."
Yulan shook his head.
"What do we do? Our fighting power might not be enough. Ian is holding the tank role, yes, but he's a mage at the end of the day."
Everidge's expression clouded.
The moment Ian opened his mouth to speak, Danya stepped in.
"Don't worry. Ian caught that crazy rabbit the other day, too! He's way more impressive than he looks!"
He appreciated the vote of confidence, but why did she sound so smug? Ian let out a soft laugh at Danya, chin tilted proudly up, then composed himself and spoke.
"Danya's right. I can handle them to an extent. But if they swarm me, it's over. We have to fight while tying them down with as much ranged pressure as possible. I'm leaving that part to Danya."
"Yeah! —I mean, got it!"
Danya darted into position with a crisp nod and conjured her magic bow.
Ian returned the nod and continued.
"That said, I can't deal with every individual. Everidge, take out a few with the highest-tension arbalest you've got."
Reconnaissance cadets doubled as ranged physical damage dealers in combat. Everidge normally used a crossbow, but surely carried an arbalest with more physical punch.
"But the reload time makes it hard to land a hit..."
"I'll lock them down whenever the opening comes."
"Understood."
And finally, the priest still wearing that greasy grin.
"Yulan."
"Yes, Ian."
"Dusk Wolves are Evil-aligned. Meaning they abhor divine power. Disrupt their pincer paths as much as you can."
Unlike the rest of the party, who accepted it at once, the man answered with a smirk.
"Ahaha. What I'm curious about, Ian, is how you happen to know those wolves so intimately."
"What, you haven't read Introductory Monster Studies? It's required reading for the Reconnaissance Department."
Ian knew Yulan was watching him. Pongpongi was clearly one of the Blood Rock Sect's objectives. He'd already prepared this much of a cover.
Yulan gave an abashed little curl of the lip.
"Ah. So it is."
Besides, calling it a cover wasn't quite true. It happened to be the truth.
He'd always known the basic strategy for Dusk Wolves, but the concrete details had indeed come from books. The weird one here, really, was Ian, who spent every spare moment in the library pawing through other departments' required texts.
Confronted with real madness, Yulan lowered his head as if chastened.
"I'll give it my very best."
"Good. All right, Danya opens. Before they form up."
Danya lifted one leg. The same long leg drew the bowstring as it extended forward. A soft nyah! of an exhale—and a grass-green arrow shot out.
— Grrrr!
Red eyes gathered in an instant.
Ian steadied his breathing.
Breath is the process of communing with everything outside the body.
The mana of the earth. Soil. Stone. And the Lounard strapped to his back was no exception.
Resonating with minerals, extracting and sheathing his body—the whole sequence felt more natural than anything.
The product of ceaseless training.
Once you've tasted that flowing, pristine clarity, you can't give up the training.
But he didn't stop there.
'Envision it.'
In the case of [Transformation], the closer the metal was to the body, the easier it was to manipulate. Conversely, the farther it was from the body, the more exponentially the difficulty spiked.
'I go with the feeling that my fist is extending.'
The Lounard wrapped around his fist transformed.
Where it had simply sheathed his body before, now it was different.
Several protrusions jutted out neatly from the fist like a gauntlet.
Sharpness was still difficult to realize, but—
— Grrrrrr! Kyeng!
—a wolf that came charging at him without knowing its place was still more than manageable with a single punch.
— Fwhack!
— Kyaeng! Grrrr!
... Or not. A single punch wasn't quite enough.
Step-in. Left jab. Right straight—avoid the teeth. Uppercut to finish.
He felt the protrusions wedge cleanly into the jaw muscle.
— Kyaaaaanng!
The Dusk Wolf slumped with an uncanny yelp.
"... Wh-what kind of mage does that."
A murmur of awe rose from behind him.
It was Everidge, who'd been angling for an arbalest shot.
The most normal person in this party, relatively speaking. A mage pulling tank duty was already rare enough—and now this one threw punches, too. Must be a novel sight.
"Earth-attribute mana has physical characteristics, you see."
Among the primary elements, earth did indeed lean the most physical. It had been a handy trick in the game, too.
"... Truly impressive. In more ways than one."
"That's enough of that. Get ready. I'm about to start tying them up."
There was a physical limit to how many Dusk Wolf jaws he could clock with his fists. Yulan and Danya's suppressive fire was biting to some degree, so at most he'd be dealing with two wolves at a time. That meant binding their legs wouldn't be difficult.
And so, the operation began in earnest.
◆
The battle raged fiercely.
In this moment, with everyone focused on combat,
Yulan dropped his usual mask.
The corners of his mouth descended into a grave line.
His eyes sharpened to a honed edge.
The image that matched the silence almost radiated authority.
Of course it did.
He was a man who commanded a branch of the Blood Rock Sect.
Ability and presence alike.
His gravity was enough to make academy cadets look utterly ordinary.
From the rear, Yulan observed Ian's every move.
You couldn't call him experienced.
No—he was practically a novice in that regard. So much so that the combat prowess on display was hard to believe.
Instead.
'It is as though he fights while overseeing everything from above.'
He reads the flow of battle. Even when his movements contain mistakes, he never loses. He immediately patches the gaps with creative, adaptive improvisation.
From a mage standing on the front line, to a bizarre weapon he insisted was a staff.
Everything about him was uncanny.
'... Hmmmn.'
He wanted to observe a little longer.
He wanted to see the man thrown into confusion.
Conveniently, the wolves had now clustered for their final assault.
Yulan slackened a portion of the holy veil he'd been maintaining at an adequate level.
"Ah, oh dear. That was a mistake."
He quietly let one wolf slip through.
He wanted to confirm just how far Ian could manage.
"Yulan!"
Danya's sharp cry.
She tried to cover it in a flash, but it was no use. He'd calculated exactly that much.
"One got away. Watch yourself, Ian. My apologies......"
Glance.
Ian looked back over his shoulder.
He clearly had an eye on Yulan, as if suspicious. Whether it was ordinary human mistrust or suspicion that he was with the Blood Rock Sect, though, was unclear.
Yulan's gut said the latter, but rationally, the former was correct.
'There is no way anyone could be that perceptive.'
Ian Blackangus.
Eldest son of the fallen noble house of Blackangus.
In early childhood, a celebrated prodigy. But his conduct since entering the academy has been nothing short of a disaster.
He has shown a changed side recently, yet even when people change, there are limits.
It was simply.
'I fail to grasp why Lady Bloodwitch takes an interest in him.'
— Fwhack!
A Dusk Wolf with its jawbone crushed,
— Kyaaaang!
and a wolf pinned motionless by mud surging from the earth, then pierced by an arbalest bolt,
— Crack!
and a wolf staggered into a groggy state by a headbutt from Ian, his face wreathed in strange metal, before an arrow reinforced by earth-attribute mana punched through its eye.
Watching this, a thought came to him.
'What blood, I wonder, runs in this man?'
Gulp.
Yulan swallowed unconsciously.
He could not steal the Bloodwitch's prey.
She had commanded him to bring the man in intact.
But she had not raised the mission's urgency above its original level.
Ian was, at most, a secondary objective.
'I admit I had hopes for today.'
The original plan had been to let two of the party members die here, then brainwash a guilt-ridden Ian.
'That approach won't prove effective.'
Tch.
Yulan clicked his tongue in secret.
A pity, but he would set aside the supplementary objective for today.
His primary objective had already been achieved, more or less.
He had confirmed a hole in the academy's security system.
And besides—the highlight had yet to arrive, hadn't it?
The battle had ended before he knew it.
Yulan fitted his mask back in place.
"Good work, everyone~. You're all incredible, really! Ahahaha!"
Imagining the spectacle to come, his mood was hardly bad.
The question, then, was whom to let live.
"Haah... haaaah."
Ian, catching his breath—he lives. He'd have to be delivered up eventually.
"Yulan! That was dangerous before!"
"Ahaha, my apologies... my divine power tripped up for a moment."
"Well, if it couldn't be helped. Let's be more careful from now on. Ian almost got hurt."
As for the scolding cat, she appeared to trust and follow Ian quite strongly. He might find a use for her someday.
"... I truly can't believe it. That we defeated those Dusk Wolves."
As for Everidge... hmm. If this one died, the team might disband. Better to keep him alive for the status quo.
"Ahahah!"
With an artificial laugh, Yulan's lips curled up greasily once again.
"Everyone, could you gather over here for a moment?"
"What for?"
"Come here, quickly."
Do listen, you two.
He was being merciful to them right now.
By the time even Ian had half-crawled his way in front of Yulan—
— KABOOOOM!
A titanic impact blasted the dungeon passageway apart.
The spot where they'd been resting just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
The ceiling had been blown open, revealing the sky.
A sight you'd certainly never expect inside a dungeon.
"Oh, my."
Yulan lifted his head.
"You're all quite lucky, aren't you~. Hahahah!"
Caught in the sunset glow, his teeth gleamed red.