Chapter 95

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Chapter 96: Underdog (1)

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‘What on earth could the identity of the third trial be?’

The trials of the Hero Academy, which had never been revealed even in Hundred Braves.

And suddenly, it appeared before me.

In the days that followed that event, I pondered quite a bit to figure out the identity of the trial.

‘There are probably two clues.’

First, I had already achieved some level of success.

That meant there should be a clue among my recent accomplishments.

If it’s something recent…

‘Could it be the achievement in archery?’

However, that didn’t match the second clue.

The second clue being that the trial was conducted in relation to the Hero Academy.

If that were the case, it wouldn’t be a trial limited to the narrow concept of ‘archery.’

‘Then…’

Based on my past experiences, I might have a rather vague concept in mind.

After all, the gods I had met so far had concepts such as regret or some whimsical reality.

In that case, it would be possible that my accomplishments lay not in something as niche as archery, but in the more mundane aspects I had taken for granted.

‘Perhaps I’ll figure it out if I keep living school life.’

But right now, there was something I had to focus on.

It was the preparation for the final mock battle against Team 1-A.

It was absolutely not something to be taken lightly.

Even while I contemplated the identity of the trial, I didn’t slack off in that preparation.

I continued to hone my archery skills and checked the achievements of the other team members.

Fortunately, everyone seemed to be working hard to prepare for the next mock battle.

‘I’ve gained confidence recently.’

They had been quite lacking in confidence when we first met, but that was no longer the case.

Through each of them performing their roles effectively in tactics, we had turned the impossible into possible.

Of course, it didn’t guarantee that we could defeat the currently undefeated Team 1-A, but at least, seeing some possibility was a significant improvement.

I was taking one last round to check on my teammates.

First up was the ‘Tank’ combo made up of Yusera, Elsie, and Rian.

This was the combo I had worried about the most initially.

‘But I think they seem alright now.’

For some reason, the two of them had been bickering less often lately.

It started the moment Elsie changed her usual aggressive nature.

These days, Elsie… for reasons unknown, had become more relaxed.

She was even smiling when Yusera would initiate a fight.

Yusera was puzzled by Elsie’s changed demeanor, but at least she seemed satisfied with how things were.

‘I guess things have improved with that.’

As I was happily watching those two, support mage Rian suddenly approached me.

For some reason, his complexion had noticeably deteriorated over the past few weeks.

‘Is something going on?’

I hadn’t been too worried, as he hadn’t had any issues, but his face made me slightly concerned.

“Is something bothering you?”

“Can those two ever be okay?”

He turned his head and quietly glanced in the direction of Elsie and Yusera.

Those two were diligently sparring even now.

Despite the training being with wooden swords, their genuine intensity was heartening to see.

“They seem a lot quieter compared to before. What’s the issue?”

He might know something I wasn’t aware of.

“Do you think they look quiet?”

“Yeah?”

I checked on Elsie and Yusera again.

The two were sparring intensely, but I couldn’t feel any emotional turbulence within it.

“They seem quiet to me.”

“Sure, they’re quiet. But that calm feels like the quiet before a storm to me…!”

The calm before a storm, you say?

I couldn’t quite see it with my own eyes.

Could it be that as a magician, he sensed something with magic power?

In that case, I could sort of understand.

I had a devastatingly low magic power anyway.

“So please…”

“If you sense anything amiss between them, just tell me right away.”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you!”

For some reason, his pale complexion had turned quite red.

That should be good enough.

Leaving him in a better state, I moved on.

*

Attack mage Bell seemed to be focused on shortening the casting time of her Fire Ball.

But with my complete lack of knowledge about magic, there was no way for me to understand how it was going.

In the end, I just glanced at her face before heading to another spot.

“Hello.”

“Oh, isn’t that our team leader?”

Originally, the leader should be someone like you, a professor.

I gazed at Professor Freira sitting at the church’s podium.

While she certainly had many unsuitable traits as a teacher, there were some aspects that I could trust her with.

‘She’s trained a second-tier hero, after all.’

While she may not possess the high-level swordsmanship of Libero, her ability to ‘teach’ swordsmanship tailored to individuals was exceptional.

Although the process could be rather harsh.

“Please… save me…”

“That’s enough now…”

“Someone stop this mad professor!”

In front of her were three fools rolling on the floor.

It looked like training was going well.

“It appears to be going alright.”

“They’re limited in what they can achieve, but I think we can make something out of them now.”

I took them, those who wanted to train but didn’t know how, to Professor Freira.

The main focus of the practice was refining the basic swordsmanship of the three and syncing their movements.

Freira commanded the trio who were sprawled on the ground.

“Show me. Let’s see if it’s enough.”

At those words, the three fools sprang to their feet.

Just how much did they have to roll around to get that response speed?

Well, if you want to achieve results in a limited time, they had to be that fast.

As they performed their combined moves according to Freira’s command, they puffed up proudly and asked.

“How is it? Have we improved a lot?”

They had indeed made some improvement after their efforts.

It wasn’t even half of what Elsi and I had put in, but still.

“Seems so. You can achieve it if you try.”

Nonetheless, their growth was noteworthy, so I decided to compliment them.

“I think this will suffice?”

That was the important thing.

Ultimately, we had to face Team 1-A in battle.

And judging that fell to me, who unexpectedly became the leader.

“I can see you’ve improved, but…”

I looked around at the excited faces trained on me.

They had eyes pleading for salvation from hell.

However…

“I’m sorry, but it seems still a bit lacking.”

In the duel against Team 1-A, “sufficient” wouldn’t cut it.

That’s why not just these three, but other team members should continue to work hard too.

So we couldn’t stop here.

“Thank you for your hard work, Professor Freira.”

At that, the trio’s gaze instantly turned to one of resentment.

It couldn’t be helped.

I savored that look of theirs with satisfaction and turned away.

*

“Hmmm…”

The swordsmanship class instructor, Sigritt, surveyed the tactical board.

His focus was not on the team he led but on Team 4-B.

This was a team that had recently made a comeback and emerged as an unexpectedly strong candidate, set to compete against his Team 1-A soon.

“They are indeed peculiar.”

The combo of Team 4-B was like nothing he had ever seen.

Typically, in mock battles, a magician would be protected as a king to flip the battlefield in one blow, although lacking mobility.

But this team was different.

‘Uniquely, candidate Yusera from the swordsmanship class is taking on the role of the usual magician.’

In fact, she was an upgraded version of the typical magician.

Her physical stats were exceptional, providing excellent mobility, and she had none of the casting time weaknesses that plagued traditional magicians.

By utilizing her as a magician, the other magicians on the team could employ special magic users.

‘Wasn’t she a specialist in Fire Ball?’

It seemed she was regarded as a heretic over at the magic tower.

A magician who could only use Fire Ball struggled to fulfill their role completely.

However, she fell perfectly into this team.

‘The crucial players in Team 4-B appear to be these two…’

He looked at the king on the tactical board.

It wasn’t Yusera or Bell.

It was the one irreplaceable member of Team 4-B.

‘Sung Yoo-rang.’

There were no other candidates that could replace him.

Of course, if you simply looked at shooting ability, he was still developing and was far behind candidate Wilhelm.

But he had two differentiating skills that other archery class candidates lacked.

‘Defensive capability against long-range attacks, and close-range shooting ability.’

When he had been in team 2-A, those two skills had never been appreciated.

He had had no special role, and when enemies approached, he simply created distance.

But upon moving to Team 4-B, his role changed dramatically.

He didn’t run away as an archer.

Rather, leveraging his advantageous range, he kept enemies at bay from afar, using arrows and Fire Balls while also utilizing close-range shooting to eliminate those who did manage to get close.

His ability to fend off long-distance sniping was also defended by him.

Once Yusera smashed through the magical side, no team would have a method to counter that archer and magician combo.

‘Perhaps for other teams.’

But not for his.

Of course, there was no candidate who could withstand Yusera’s onslaught.

There wasn’t a single candidate who could endure a Fire Ball with their bare bodies.

Yet, Sung Yoo-rang had a fair shot at facing her.

‘Being irreplaceable means that losing just one could spell disaster.’

What his team had to target was already set.

He placed a finger on the opponent’s king.

‘If we can take out just their king, it’s game over.’

*

Several days passed, and finally, the day of the mock battle arrived.

The candidates of Team 1-A and Team 4-B gathered for the trial in preparation for the mock battle.

There was an unusually large number of candidates who came to watch.

‘They’re the two teams with the highest win rates recently.’

Especially for Team 1-A, they had yet to lose a single match.

There might even be some candidates hoping that Team 4-B could break Team 1-A’s streak.

‘Can we win?’

That was something I couldn’t even be sure about.

However, one thing I was sure of was that we had prepared with all our might till now.

Regardless of the outcome, I wouldn’t have any regrets.

‘Of course, it’d be even better if we won.’

If we could win, it would greatly assist Yusera and Elsie in establishing their school rankings.

“Then, let’s go.”

I stepped forward into the trial with my team members.

*