Chapter 61: Practical Training (4)

The base camp’s setup was complete.

What followed, naturally, was the beginning of the subjugation.

To rack up as much merit as possible within the limited time, they needed to make efficient use of it.

The cadets’ group began by mapping the terrain around the stronghold while quickly pressing deeper into the forest.

The task of scouting the demonic beast colonies fell to the party’s mages.

Saaahhh─

Detection magic swept through the gaps between trees, combing the forest.

Yuria borrowed the eyes of her familiar, which flitted quickly through the air, to track the traces of the beasts.

To exaggerate a little, in Erendal, demonic beasts were abundant enough to trip over.

Even now, movement was detected up ahead where they were headed.

But small groups were not worth consideration.

The party’s goal was colonies or packs numbering at least in the dozens.

To earn points efficiently, they needed to target places where many enemies gathered.

–Keep battles as concise and quick as possible. Dragging things out will only attract the attention of other beasts. Everyone, wait for our signal before moving.

At last, they found a beast colony.

From the top of a hill, Darius looked down at the enemy and gave instructions while drawing his greatsword.

–Orcs.

–Black Orcs. Don’t think the beasts in Erendal are on the same level as outside monsters. You should assume they’re at least twice as strong by default.

At Luna’s words, Carl and Laysis nodded.

The first strike was assigned to Team 1, led by Darius.

Their plan was for them to strike the enemy camp first, while Teams 2 and 3, waiting below the hill, would cut off the retreat and shrink the enemy’s range of movement.

It was an annihilation battle fought from an overwhelming position of strength.

Luna gripped her sword tightly as she looked toward the hilltop.

–They’re coming.

A shadow fell over the hilltop.

They had decided to leave it up to that side to decide what signal to give.

Carl was holding his breath behind a tree when the sight before him made him smirk.

“…Quite the flashy signal.”

Darius, gripping his greatsword, leapt from the hill and landed right in the heart of the Black Orc colony.

Thud─!

The Black Orcs, who had been wandering peacefully, froze in place.

It took them a moment to process the sudden intrusion of this uninvited guest.

“Be good and let yourselves become points for my juniors.”

With a vicious smile, Darius swung the greatsword in his hands with full force.

Craash─!

Three or four Black Orcs were swept away in a single stroke.

It was the simplest, most straightforward signal to begin the attack—

drawing the attention of every beast in the colony while also creating an opening for the other cadets to charge in.

Slaaash!

Only when the upper bodies of nearby Black Orcs flew off and dark red blood sprayed into the air did the beasts finally grasp the situation.

…To be honest, Darius rampaging among the Black Orcs looked more like a beast himself.

–Senior Darius is as fiery as ever. Let’s go.

–Yes.

–Understood.

At Luna’s words, Laysis and Carl moved.

Yuria, positioned safely, also lent support through magic, and soon the battle began in earnest.

Clang!

Carl kicked off the ground, deflecting a Black Orc’s axe before slicing its wrist and knee joints.

The number of Black Orcs inside the colony was about fifty.

Considering Erendal’s scale, that wasn’t particularly many.

Clang! Clang!

Even after its joints were cut and it collapsed, the Black Orc drew a small hand axe from its belt and hurled it.

Carl deflected them all, then thrust his sword into the orc’s helmet.

Puk.

Dark red blood burst out along the sword’s edge.

It was a far surer method of finishing an opponent than slashing at the neck or stabbing the heart carelessly.

‘Tough, I’ll give them that.’

Feeling the resistance at the sword tip, Carl looked at the Black Orc with interest.

Beasts in Erendal were said to become variants because they absorbed naturally occurring demonic energy in this place.

As Luna had said, they grew at least twice as strong as ordinary monsters. If harnessed, this could potentially lead to some very interesting inventions.

–Don’t think about cleaving them in a single stroke—think about crushing or chopping them apart.

–Understood!

Luna was giving advice to Laysis, who was fighting right beside her.

Her fundamentals were solid, her instincts sharp, and she was quickly adapting.

The only thing she lacked was real combat experience.

But that was only a matter of time—once she hit the threshold, her growth would be explosive.

‘No wonder NOX has their eye on her as a main cadet.’

Watching Laysis’s attacks grow steadily more precise, Luna clicked her tongue inwardly.

Along with Nerian and Yuria, she was ranked as one of the top three talents among first-year cadets.

A princess, but with an independent nature, making her the most likely to be swayed to their side.

Of course, realistically speaking, recruiting someone like Laysis into NOX would be extremely difficult.

–A subjugation battle is a long fight. Managing your strength is the most important part, so keep that in mind above all else.

Ivan, too, offered his advice as a senior.

Amy, nodding and engraving those words in her mind, pointed forward with a slightly awkward expression.

–I’m not so sure about over there, though.

–Over there? …Ah.

Seeing the fierce struggle ahead, Ivan gave a wry smile.

Led by Darius, Maximilian and Gale—both of whom had undergone his harsh training—were performing brilliantly.

With unstoppable momentum, they crushed Black Orcs, swinging their swords with all their might to take down as many enemies as possible.

‘They’re fighting in total oblivion.’

Carl, shaking blood and grease from his sword, laughed at the sight.

They looked even more like brothers than he did with his actual sibling.

The rapport between them was so high, it wouldn’t have been surprising if they asked to be sworn brothers.

It took less than twenty minutes to completely clear out the Black Orc colony.

“…Phew.”

“Is anyone hurt?”

“None in Team 2.”

“Team 3, none either.”

At Darius’s words, the leaders of each team checked their members’ conditions and responded.

Everyone already possessed skills above the basic level, and since they had undergone special training from Darius in preparation for this subjugation battle, there was no way anyone would get injured in a mere fight with Black Orcs.

“Good. I would have been far more disappointed if anyone had been hurt in a battle like this.”

“No way. After all that we went through, there’s no chance of anyone getting injured.”

Maximilian, drinking water, burst out in hearty laughter.

Just a few days ago, they had been blocking and dodging Darius’s head-on charges, rolling on the ground—how could they possibly struggle against something like Black Orcs?

“…True enough.”

“That’s right.”

“That’s correct.”

The other cadets nodded in agreement and added a word or two.

That was how grueling the special training with Darius had been.

“Ah, looks like the results have been tallied. Everyone, check your bracelets.”

At that moment, Luna waved her wrist and addressed the cadets.

One by one, they tapped their bracelets to check their performance in the subjugation battle.

Name: Cadet Carl Leipzig

Subjugation Points: 16.6 points

Subjugation List

「Black Orcs – 52」

“Looks like points are calculated collectively for the same party.”

“There’s a point allocation table… ah, here it is. Black Orcs seem to give 0.3 points each. With 52, that’s a base of 15.6 points.”

“And then extra points are added according to individual contributions. I got 1 point.”

“Same here, 1 point.”

“Me too.”

“I’ve got 3 points.”

“Same here, 3.”

The cadets who had earned 3 points were Maximilian and Gale, who had shown the most outstanding performance.

It seemed that in addition to party points, extra points were awarded based on personal achievements.

“So that’s how it works.”

Carl nodded as if he had roughly grasped the system.

Even though they worked together as a party, individual contribution points also mattered, which made things more complicated.

The small gap in scores seemed to be designed to prevent any one person from hogging all the points.

“With extra points being given in small increments, the top ranks could be decided by decimal differences.”

“It’s going to be fierce.”

“No room to relax.”

The cadets exchanged looks, their motivation burning.

Already the top class, they were obsessed with even slightly increasing their scores in this competition.

Naturally, their determination was heightened.

“Everyone should have a general grasp of how things work by now.”

Darius smiled broadly at them.

“Black Orcs are about average among the beasts you’ll find at the outskirts of Erendal. In these outskirts, you likely won’t face anything too difficult for you. So…”

The smile on his lips deepened.

“If you understand, then go kill them all. Leave none behind.”

Using Invisible magic, Yuria concealed herself as she floated between the trees.

She soon landed on a suitably thick branch, weaving hand signs to create a current of wind that flowed inward.

Saaahhh─

The dry wind encircled the Blue Crab’s nest.

All that remained was to add a spark.

Fwoooosh!

In an instant, bright red flames surged up, surrounding the Blue Crab’s nest in a ring of fire.

In Erendal, the flow of mana was twisted, so large-scale magic usually lost power compared to outside.

But this was a chemical reaction created by linking multiple spells together—

relatively free from Erendal’s restrictions, it achieved exactly what she wanted.

Clatter, clatter-clatter.

As the flames spread, the Blue Crabs—crustacean-type beasts—gathered together.

These land-dwelling crustacean monsters had the habit of clustering together to protect their eggs when a fire broke out.

Moreover, their shells would soften and release moisture, granting them strong resistance to flames.

Of course, this also made their shells weaker and easier to break—something well known to those familiar with the strategy.

Crack!

Before the flames could die down, Carl, Laysis, and Luna entered the nest, smashing the Blue Crabs that were huddled over their eggs.

In normal conditions, they could easily deflect even iron, and killing them would have been troublesome.

But with their shells weakened by fire, the Blue Crabs were nothing more than point dispensers.

“That’s it.”

Pulling her sword out of a Blue Crab’s carapace, Laysis wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked up.

“Yuria, it’s over.”

Fsshh.

The flames that had covered the area died down.

Yuria descended lightly to the ground, licking her lips as she looked at the Blue Crabs scattered around.

“They say green crabs are delicious.”

“You eat beasts?”

Laysis asked with wide eyes.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. Beasts are fundamentally infused with demonic energy, so they’re not good as ingredients.”

“…Well, somewhere out there they steam Blue Crabs and eat them. But yeah, the ones here would be hard to eat.”

Yuria reluctantly turned her gaze away.

Seeing her like that, Carl tilted his head.

He had never heard of eating Blue Crabs before.

Do mages eat things like this?

Name: Cadet Carl Leipzig

Subjugation Points: 30.8 points

Subjugation List

「Black Orcs – 52」

「Blue Crabs – 132」

“So Blue Crabs are 0.1 points each. Definitely stingy for such weak beasts.”

“Still, since there are many, it’s a good return for the time and effort.”

“If you know the strategy, they’re easy to hunt. Do this in a few more spots and we could easily make the top ranks.”

“Yeah. The key is to move steadily like this. There’s plenty of time anyway.”

At her juniors’ words, Luna nodded.

It was only the first day—there was no need to rush.

They just had to steadily build their points.

“No one needs a break, right? Let’s move right away.”

“Yes.”

“No problem.”

“I’m fine too.”

They set off toward their next target immediately.

At present, each team was hunting the weaker beasts scattered in the surroundings separately.

Since the enemies weren’t particularly strong, it was judged more efficient to move in smaller groups.

“….”

While crossing the forest, Carl’s gaze pierced deep into the distance.

The others didn’t seem to notice, but Carl clearly sensed it—

A filthy, oppressive presence lurking deep inside, so unpleasant it made his skin crawl.

It was on an entirely different level of strength from the beasts wandering around here.

‘It’s not moving, so the chance of running into it is low… but…’

You never knew what could happen.

Narrowing his eyes toward the forest’s depths, Carl soon followed after his party.

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