Book 1 Chapter 308
308
At the mention of a mock battle, the second-year students murmured.
“Large-scale mock battle for the dorm championship?”
“So, the entire dorm participates in the mock battle?”
Literally, a massive-scale battle with all second-year students participating.
“Quiet.”
With a single short word, all the second-year students fell silent and focused on Halind.
“This practical exam is to evaluate your capabilities in a large-scale person-to-person battle.”
Halind’s cool gaze swept over the students.
“During your first year, you studied and trained for 1:1 duels, or battles against multiple monsters, magical beasts, and demonkin.”
The students nodded at his words.
“From second year onwards, you need to learn about combat against multiple humans or other races.”
Most students looked puzzled at Halind’s words.
Chelsea raised her hand.
“What is it, Chelsea Llewellyn.”
“Is there a reason to differentiate between similar combat types?”
At that, Halind looked around at the students with an unexpressive face.
Most students seemed to agree with Chelsea’s opinion.
“Is there a student who can answer Chelsea’s question?”
At his question, several students raised their hands.
“Emio Lucian, answer.”
Halind gave the right to speak to Emio, who had raised his hand first.
“Large-scale person-to-person battles have different strategies and tactics. Unlike monsters and magical beasts, which tend to move very simply, or demonkin, who are inherently threatening, large-scale person-to-person battles often involve highly trained unit-based combat. If you carelessly think of it like fighting monsters or magical beasts, you could fall into a trap by the opponent’s strategy.”
Halind nodded at Emio’s words.
“Excellent. I’ll give you 5 presentation points.”
“Thank you.”
Emio bowed his head and looked at Chelsea with a ‘Hmph-’ sound.
Seeing Emio like that, Chelsea stuck out her tongue as if annoyed.
Emio, coming from a military family, had received military training since childhood.
That’s why he knew how fundamentally different fighting humans was from dealing with monsters, magical beasts, and demonkin.
“Is there anyone else who wants to present on the differences?”
At Halind’s question, students looked at each other.
Amidst them, Chen Sia raised his hand.
“Chen Sia, answer.”
“No matter the reason, the difference would be that in real combat, you would have to take many people’s lives.”
Unlike usual, Chen Sia’s face was utterly expressionless.
Seeing Chen Sia like that, the surrounding students flinched.
No matter if they were hero candidates, they were still boys and girls in their mid-teens.
They were too young to truly grasp the weight of killing people.
Everyone swallowed dryly.
“5 presentation points.”
Chen Sia did not answer and lowered his hand.
“The greatest enemy of heroes is Tartarus. That’s an unchangeable, immutable truth.”
Halind looked at the students.
“But one day, due to individual circumstances, a day might come when you point weapons at each other and meet on the battlefield.”
They gathered under the name of Lumern Hero Academy and studied together.
However, most hero candidates had their own affiliations and intertwined interests.
It was a place where talented individuals from all over the world gathered.
As such, many students here had countries that were in hostile relations with each other.
The atmosphere among the students grew heavy.
“But know this one thing. The large-scale person-to-person battle exam is not designed to simulate such wars.”
Halind took a deep breath.
“These are preparations for the battles you will face someday against the Hero Hunters. Never forget that fact.”
“Yes!”
Halind nodded at his students’ spirited answer and said.
“Then I will explain the rules of this exam.”
Halind snapped his fingers.
Then, a magical screen appeared in the air.
“The battlefield for this exam is Lake Lumeria.”
Students’ eyes shone as they looked at the scenery of Lake Lumeria.
“And each dormitory will be given a base.”
*Snap!* As he snapped his fingers, three islands appeared.
“Ohh! This is serious!”
“They called it a mock battle, but to even give us bases.”
Exclamations burst forth.
Other students also showed excited and joyful reactions.
“This looks fun!”
Karl exclaimed.
Halind’s cool gaze turned towards Karl.
“Karl Thomas.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Chelsea Llewellyn.”
“Yes?”
“Come forward.”
Karl, who thought he was going to be scolded for saying the exam ‘looked fun’, felt relieved inside when he was called forward with Chelsea.
Halind handed a bracelet to Karl.
“This is a magical artifact that protects your body. Wear it.”
At Halind’s words, Karl put on the bracelet without suspicion.
Then the bracelet glowed green.
“Ohh?”
While Karl was marveling.
“Chelsea Llewellyn.”
“Yes.”
“Attack Karl Thomas with magic.”
“Wind Storm.”
*Kwagagagagagak!*
“Gaaahhh?!”
Chelsea, without hesitation, used her specialty, high-speed chanting, to blow Karl away.
Karl, who had been miserably flung and embedded in the ground, twitched and trembled.
Everyone sent sympathetic glances towards Karl.
A moment later.
“Wait! Wait! Even so, who just suddenly blows someone away?!”
“It was Professor Halind’s order.”
“There are weaker spells like Magic Arrow!”
“Since it’s an experiment, I thought a strong spell would be necessary. From the looks of it, you don’t seem hurt?”
“I was hurt! It hurt a lot! I just wasn’t injured!”
At Karl’s protest, Chelsea gave a fresh and cute smile.
Halind pointed at Karl’s wrist.
“Everyone, look at Karl Thomas’s wrist. It’s glowing red, isn’t it?”
Not only that, but the light of the bracelet, which had glowed entirely green before, was now off except for the top part.
“The red light signifies a near-death state. This bracelet is a defensive artifact that protects you and also displays your life. When the bracelet’s light disappears, you are considered ‘dead’. Of course, you won’t be injured, but it doesn’t completely block the pain.”
All the students nodded.
“Is it over when all life points are exhausted?”
When Chloe raised her hand and asked, Halind shook his head.
“No. If all life points are exhausted, you will revive at your base after 5 minutes, and the revived student can rejoin the battle.”
“Ohh…!”
“However. The opposing team will be given 5 suppression points.”
“Ohhh.”
“In addition, to rejoin the battlefield quickly, you can establish an advanced base and install a base and warp gate. If this advanced base is destroyed, the team that destroyed it receives 20 points.”
“Is it possible to capture an opponent’s base?”
Halind nodded at Celia’s question.
“Yes. If you capture and take over a base, you get 300 points. And the team whose base is captured can no longer revive. If you are annihilated, it’s over. Of course, you can also recapture a lost base.”
At that, everyone wore tense expressions.
“So, ultimately, the team with the most points wins?”
“That’s right, Abard Llewellyn.”
A commotion arose among the students at Halind’s answer.
“Awesome! Awesome!”
“This exam sounds fun!”
“We can come up with various strategies!”
Seeing the students, Halind said.
“Besides accumulating points, there are also victory conditions.”
At Halind’s words, the students quickly focused.
“If the King of each dormitory is captured, that dormitory is immediately eliminated.”
Everyone’s eyes widened.
“Naturally, the King cannot revive.”
***
Glory Dormitory lounge.
“Everyone, gather quickly!”
“No one missing, right?”
All the dormitory students gathered in the lounge.
As all the Glory students were assembled, Chloe was reading a thick book in one corner.
“What are you reading?”
Rettam, a male student from Glory’s Summoning Department, asked with a puzzled look, and Chloe smiled and replied.
“Tactical theory book.”
Meanwhile, Leo spoke.
“Now, let’s start the strategy meeting.”
At Leo’s words, Chloe closed her book.
“Before that, I’m thinking of choosing a strategist to plan the operation.”
At that, Illiana raised her hand.
“Me! Me! Class rep! I want to do it!”
Seeing Illiana like that, protests erupted from all over.
“Hey! If you make the plan, it’ll only be a charge-forward plan!”
“How can someone who’s a charge-forward idiot even in 1:1 combat be a strategist?!”
At the dormitory students’ protests, Illiana crossed her arms and lifted her chin.
“Hmph! You seem to have forgotten that I’m from the Raden family! Our family is a family of war heroes! We even have a family motto related to war!”
“What’s the motto?”
At Rettam’s question, Illiana laughed with a ‘Hmph-’.
“Annihilate the enemy in the first engagement with overwhelming force.”
“She’s talking about annihilating our own forces in the first engagement.”
The reactions of her dormitory classmates were cold.
“I think Chloe would be good as a strategist.”
“Right! Chloe is good at planning strategies and tactics!”
“She’s also a chess master!”
Chloe nodded.
“Then. I’ll do it.”
“Then I’ll be co-strategist!”
“Rejected.”
“Class reeep! The kids are ignoring me!”
Illiana complained to Leo with a tearful face.
Chloe, who had thus become the strategist, spoke.
“First, before planning the strategy, I think we need to decide on the King.”
At that, all the students wore tense expressions.
“Who would be good as King? Anyone want to volunteer?”
At Chloe’s question, everyone looked at each other.
Even Illiana, who loved to step forward, was seriously contemplating this time.
King.
This was the biggest variable in this fight.
Even if they captured the opponent’s base or accumulated suppression points with overwhelming combat, they would lose if the King died.
Therefore, it was best for the King to be a strong person.
But conversely, making the strongest force in the dorm the ‘King’ was also a problem.
Large-scale battles have many variables.
No matter how strong someone was, they could lose all their life points and be eliminated the moment they let their guard down.
Therefore, it was best for the King not to leave the safe base.
“This is more bothersome than I thought.”
The Glory dormitory students shook their heads.
“Since it’s such an important position where one absolutely cannot die, a strong person should do it, but then our combat power decreases.”
“But if we assign it to someone who can only defend the base, that’s also unsettling.”
“It’s even hard to participate in base defense carelessly. You have to be ready to run if necessary.”
It was when everyone was contemplating.
“If there are no volunteers, I have someone I’d like to recommend.”
Everyone looked at Chloe.
Looking at her dormitory classmates, Chloe said.
“I think Leo is suitable as King.”
At that, everyone’s eyes widened.
“Isn’t it too wasteful to make Leo the King? He’s our strongest force.”
Students nodded at Rettam’s words.
Seeing the students, Chloe said.
“Anyway, the kids from other dorms won’t know Leo is the King.”
That was true.
The King was kept ‘secret’ from students of other dormitories.
Chloe curled the corners of her mouth.
“We’re going to use that.”
“What?”
“Leo is our most powerful force. As such, the kids from other dorms will think there’s a low probability of him being King.”
“Definitely.”
Leo stroked his chin.
“So, I become the King and intercept the enemies.”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Chloe nodded.
“Rather, most kids will avoid fighting Leo. To avoid giving Leo suppression points.”
“So, by making Sir Leo the King and sending him to the front lines, the enemies will be more cautious, making him safer, is that what you mean?”
Chen Sia exclaimed in admiration.
“Of course, there are variables here too. Warreden, Duran, and Eliza will be targeting Leo.”
Chloe’s eyes gleamed.
“But with Leo’s abilities, he can sufficiently fend off those three. They won’t team up.”
The reason Warreden, Duran, and Eliza would target Leo was that Leo was their target.
Therefore, their pride would not allow them to team up.
“As for Celia, Abard, and Chelsea, they will weigh the pros and cons and avoid fighting Leo.”
Ultimately, it meant hiding the most important person in the most dangerous place.
“Still, wouldn’t it be too risky?”
Illiana asked worriedly, and Chloe nodded.
“It’s certainly risky. But.”
Looking at Leo, Chloe smiled.
“The moment the opponents think we wouldn’t use our strongest card that way, this mock battle becomes tremendously advantageous for us.”
The Glory students looked at Chloe.
Her giggling appearance reminded them of a dangerous witch from a fairy tale.
“So? What will you do?”