Week 6 Mentoring, Conquest Battle (2)

The monsters roaming the upper floors of the Dungeon Hall were mostly F-Rank and E-Rank, and the lower their level, the thinner their intelligence tended to run.

Without a special named-class individual to command them, a horde's cohesion was weak—no matter how many gathered, they were little more than a disorderly rabble.

But if Dang Gyu-young took direct command, the story changed. Whatever intelligence they lacked was patched over by her direction, and monsters that had been a chaotic mob began moving as a single body. The more numerous they were, the greater the threat.

And that senior of mine doesn't know the meaning of taking it easy.

Going by the performance she'd put on last week, there would be no mercy this time either. The moment she spotted a gap in our defense, she'd drive straight into it and tear it wide open without a shred of hesitation.

This one's going to be plenty hard too.

I might manage, but the chicks in front of me were in for a world of suffering.

And even that wasn't the end of it.

"Ah, one last thing. This week, pair up with someone different. You two—and you two."

With the first "you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠two," Dang Gyu-young pointed out Hong Yeon-hwa and Gwak Ji-cheol; with the second, me and Song Cheon-hye.

Song Cheon-hye raised her hand.

"I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Would it be all right to ask why you're changing the pairs? We got used to working together last week, so I think it would be better to keep the same combinations."

Dang Gyu-young seemed to mull it over for a few seconds, then nodded.

"Well, you're not wrong."

"Then why—"

"Because I feel like it."

...

Song Cheon-hye was struck dumb, able to do nothing but blink. Whatever the reason, the mentor's word was final, and those being taught had to do as they were told. Besides, switching partners wasn't exactly an unreasonable order, so while she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't quite accept it, Song Cheon-hye seemed to swallow it and let the matter drop.

Hong Yeon-hwa, meanwhile, looked oddly disappointed. She shook like a leaf at the mere sight of me, so shouldn't a change of partner have been welcome news? Then again, maybe she dreaded pairing with Gwak Ji-cheol even more than she feared me—the two of them were trading openly repulsed glares even now.

The bad blood between Ruby and Emerald, between fire mages and earth-wood mages, ran at least that deep.

Having stirred up this fresh bout of discord, Dang Gyu-young said, perfectly unbothered:

"One team at a time, come on in. Kim Ho and Song Cheon-hye first."

And she stepped into the teleport portal ahead of us. I followed, and the view before my eyes flipped in an instant.

A temple reduced to ruins, its past glory all lost. Red evening light poured in through the half-collapsed ceiling, laying the wreckage bare in merciless detail, and only the goddess statue, standing alone amid the debris, kept its lonely vigil in place.

The Goddess of War—a sword in one hand, a set of scales in the other. Weathered by the years, cracked and broken here and there, it had lost none of its beauty or its strength.

Perhaps struck by some strange feeling, Song Cheon-hye stood staring up at the statue for a long while.

"Tell me when you're ready."

—until Dang Gyu-young's voice shook her out of it. Having given the order, she leapt lightly from where she stood and vanished like smoke.

My guess was that she'd masked her presence and taken up a position with a clear view over us—that made commanding easier. If I set my mind to it I could probably flush her out, but it would be a wasted effort; for the purposes of the conquest battle, Dang Gyu-young counted as an outside presence anyway. Better to tune her out and focus on the defense itself.

Song Cheon-hye and I took a slow look around.

"A bit early to be drafting a strategy, no?"

"Yes, it does seem that way."

Apart from the goddess statue, nothing in particular stood out. The temple itself wasn't very spacious, and obstacles were sparse. The only plausible attack route for the monsters was the single main gate—seal that off properly, and the defense was as good as won.

—or so she seemed to think, for Song Cheon-hye's expression eased noticeably.

"Shall we try one run first?"

"Let's."

We could attempt it as many times as we liked in practice mode, so we decided to start by diving in and getting a read on the overall picture.

The instant the conquest battle began, countless presences made themselves felt. Turning my gaze toward the main gate, I found its door had fallen away, leaving the scene beyond laid bare: a goblin legion advancing from the distance.

"Kerek, kek."

"Kekek!"

Goblins were ordinarily so hopelessly dim that they came charging in a tangled clump, tripping over and trampling one another in utter chaos. These, however, advanced in perfect order, ranks and files neatly aligned—because they were moving under Dang Gyu-young's command.

Checking over the composition of the ones marching in step: most wielded short-range weapons like daggers or hand axes, while a portion carried crudely whittled wooden spears or stones well suited for throwing. A mix of melee and ranged in a well-balanced ratio.

Song Cheon-hye, too, seemed to be gathering those fine details as she studied the goblins. With battle imminent, she drew a pair of black-tinged gauntlets from her coat and pulled them on. The tiny topazes set into them trickled with a faint ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠current.

"How do you want to play it?"

"I'll take the main dealer role. You handle support."

"Very well."

She was volunteering for the harder job; I had no reason to refuse.

Crackle—

The topazes began radiating a fiercer and fiercer current as Song Cheon-hye assembled her spell at speed. Judging by its complexity, it was some fairly potent area spell, but with the [Close Range] restriction biting in at this distance, I doubted it would manage even half its usual force.

Still, better to do something than nothing.

Her math, presumably, was that softening them up in advance—even at a quarter of the power rather than half—beat standing by and watching until the enemies were on top of us.

Spell complete, Song Cheon-hye pointed at the lead goblin, and a single slender bolt of lightning shot forth.

Crack!

The lightning lashed around its target like a chain, and it didn't stop there—hopping from one goblin to the next, and the next, it spread through the entire pack in the blink of an eye.

BZZZZZT!

Had this Chain Lightning been cast free of the [Close Range] restriction, roughly half the goblins before us would have been deleted on the spot, and the other half would have lost their nerve and scattered. As it was, the drained power dropped only a handful in the front rank, and the rest merely sank into a mild paralysis that slowed their pace.

"Kerek,"

"Kek."

Slowed as they were, the goblins never stopped, pressing steadily onward. Eventually, apparently judging themselves close enough, a few of them hurled their wooden spears and stones.

...

Song Cheon-hye quietly extended one hand, and the incoming projectiles halted just short of her, spitting sparks—the mana barrier she had also unveiled in her duel against ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Seo Ye-in. In her other hand, a thunderbolt swelled steadily larger. The moment the vanguard reached the main gate, she released the barrier, charged out to meet them, and slammed the finished thunderbolt down.

KRAKOOM!

Even watching their kin flash to ash before their eyes, the goblins showed not a hint of faltering. They filled the empty spaces at once and pushed on in. Song Cheon-hye gave them only a fleeting look of surprise before calmly casting her next spell, and lightning poured down once more, blanketing the front.

BZZT!

Meanwhile, I stood leisurely at the back, spectating as Song Cheon-hye unloaded spell after spell without reserve.

Yeah, she's a natural.

She'd struck me as a mana monster even at the placement exam; seeing her now only made it certain. Her [Core] alone was B-Rank—probably unique among the first-years—and in raw mana she could hold her own even against second- and third-years.

At least three traits, too.

At least three element-boosting traits like the [Blessing of the West Wind] I'd learned. That was just what stood out at a glance in a short span of time; counting the ones that didn't show, I'd put it at five or six. Calling her a walking cannon was no exaggeration.

This cannon did have one glaring flaw, though.

Her control leaves something to be desired.

For all the varied spells she dumped out, she couldn't finish everything off cleanly, letting one or two slip through each volley. I'd thought the same watching her handle Hummingbird on the train and at the placement exam—she still had a long road ahead of her.

I understood, in theory, that the more mana and traits one possessed, the harder precise control became—but that senior of mine acknowledged no such thing. Dang Gyu-young offered no leniency. If anything, she seemed to have spotted her opening in exactly that flaw and changed her plan accordingly.

Krerek.

The goblins' glints shifted abruptly—some kept training their eyes on Song Cheon-hye while others pushed toward the goddess statue. Catching the change, Song Cheon-hye desperately poured out lightning magic.

KRAKOOM!

Another heap burned to ash, but once again a couple of survivors sprinted past Song Cheon-hye.

"Block them!"

"Yes ma'am, blocking them~"

I ambled over and planted myself in their path, and the goblins, as if irritated by the obstruction, jabbed their daggers at me. I dodged lightly, grabbed them, and unceremoniously flung them toward the main gate. One goblin traced a parabola through the air and landed right at her feet, and Song Cheon-hye startled and jumped back.

"Eek! What are you doing!"

"You told me to block them."

This was how I blocked. Not that I'd thrown them there on purpose.

Disapproval was written all over Song Cheon-hye's face, but even in that moment the goblins kept swarming in. She refocused and held the main gate.

The pattern repeated itself—Song Cheon-hye raining down lightning, me scooping up the one or two that leaked through and tossing them back her way—and about a third of the remaining time drained away. So far, not a single one had reached the goddess statue. All we had to do was keep holding out like this until the clock ran dry.

Huh, this is easier than I expected.

—or so Song Cheon-hye was probably thinking.

But the world is never that accommodating.

If this were all there was, the Academy would never have chosen it as a conquest battle in the first place. And Dang Gyu-young was hardly the type to let things end so blandly.

—!

—!

Right on cue, the presence of numerous monsters stirred from somewhere other than the main gate we were defending—the temple's flank, beyond a sealed-off wall.

Thud, thud—

The collisions rang out one after another, heavy and dense. Ramming it with their bodies, by the sound of it. Each impact nudged the bricks a little further out of line, stone dust and grit sifting down in wisps.

Having grasped the goblins' intent—or rather, Dang Gyu-young's—Song Cheon-hye's face hardened.

"No way."

KRUMBLE—

And the aged temple wall—the very thing she'd hoped wouldn't—came crashing down. Through the gaping hole, a fresh horde of goblins appeared.

"Kerrek."

"...What kind of nonsense is this."

Song Cheon-hye asked, half to herself, utterly dumbfounded. And in my ear, I could almost hear Dang Gyu-young's reply: