Chapter 74

It was three days later, in the afternoon.

Mikhail left the outer wing where his quarters were located and headed toward the inner dormitory buildings.

He passed rows of trees, benches, and a handful of buildings. Before long, he stopped in front of Edwin's dormitory door.

He raised his hand and knocked. Edwin's answer came almost immediately.

Clunk.

The door swung open and Edwin poked his head out.

His expression was slightly sulky, but he'd dressed properly in training gear all the same. It seemed he'd followed Julien's message to the letter.

Mikhail let the corner of his mouth rise.

"Rest well?"

"Yeah… more or less."

"Then let's go. To the training grounds."

Mikhail turned and started walking. Edwin shuffled after him, his shoes dragging against the floor.

Mikhail retraced the corridor and hallway he'd just come through, leaving the dormitory building behind.

Then he glanced back over his shoulder.

"Edwin, anything you want to ask me?"

"Hmm, huh?"

Edwin let out a half-formed grunt and scratched his head furiously before blurting out his question.

"Why are you dragging me to your training sessions?"

"What do you mean?"

"You and Julien are both mages. I'm a swordsman. Isn't training supposed to be done with your own kind?"

Mikhail stopped and turned around.

He watched Edwin flinch at the sudden halt, then spoke in a clear, deliberate tone.

"No. Today it's you and me."

Before long, all three of them stood gathered inside the training hall.

This time, Mikhail had configured the space to seat six or seven comfortably—a wide, circular arena.

"……."

Mikhail studied the enchantment platform at his feet and the large disc-shaped apparatus beyond it, then turned to Julien on his left.

"Julien, head to the spectator area and watch the training from there. As long as you stay outside the arena, you won't be in any danger."

"Huh?"

Julien's eyes went wide. He met Mikhail's gaze and blinked.

Mikhail tilted his head slightly and explained.

"We're on the same team. You should know how much firepower Edwin's really packing. It's a good idea from a combat-readiness standpoint, too."

Julien hesitated for a beat but seemed to grasp the reasoning quickly enough.

He nodded without objection.

"Sure. Let's do it your way."

Julien turned toward the edge of the arena.

Mikhail watched him take a single step, then quietly lowered his gaze.

His voice came out soft but weighted with intent.

"And what happens today… don't forget it, either. No matter what."

Julien stopped mid-stride and slowly turned around. He stared back with wide, questioning eyes.

But the confusion lasted only a moment.

His face brightened into something warm and willing, and he answered in a spirited voice.

"Yeah. Of course!"

Julien resumed walking toward the arena's edge and settled onto the steps.

Mikhail pulled his gaze away and fixed it on Edwin, standing to his right.

"Whoa."

Everything around him looked unfamiliar. Edwin was too busy gawking at his surroundings to focus, letting out an aimless sound of wonder, before he finally crept his head around to meet Mikhail's eyes.

Mikhail looked back at him and spoke.

"I'm about to summon a wide-area bombardment device."

"A wide-area… bombardment device?"

Mikhail nodded slowly. He stole a glance at the disc stationed ahead and continued.

"It's a training apparatus that saturates a wide zone with mana spheres. While the barrage is coming down, we have to work together to take it out. That's the goal of this training program."

"Work together? You and me?"

Edwin's voice jumped a register. Mikhail met his eyes again and spoke.

"Yeah. I focus purely on offense, and you focus purely on defense. Together, we destroy the bombardment device. If I can't take the target down within the time limit, or you can't protect me—we lose."

Mikhail stepped forward onto the platform.

KEEEEEN—

A resonant hum shook the ground.

The platform blazed with light as the disc in front of them slowly rose upright and began to hover.

Safety devices floated up toward them both. Edwin leaned toward Mikhail with an urgent look on his face.

"W-wait. Why are we doing this out of nowhere!"

"To build the team's combat potential."

"Why does it have to be this weird thing!"

"Because we might face something like this on a mission."

"O-okay then… what am I supposed to do!"

Flash!

【[Sub] Complete Non-Class Partner Training】

• Quest Reward: Shop Currency +2

Mikhail stared at the system message that had appeared without warning, then turned to Edwin.

He blinked a couple of times and spoke.

"How about you figure that out by crashing into it."

"……."

Mikhail was watching the disc that had just launched its volley when he shifted his eyes to Edwin, standing two or three paces ahead.

Edwin had his greatsword in a death grip and was hacking at the mana spheres closing in on them.

GRRRRIND!

The sphere screeched against the blade and split halfway open. But the damage stopped there. The mass began shoving back against the steel wedged inside it.

"…!"

Edwin's arm flexed with effort. Blue light shimmered along the blade's surface as a layer of hard crystal formed over the edge.

The reinforced steel drove deeper into the sphere.

SCRRRAPE.

But that was as far as it went.

"WHAAAA!"

The mana sphere erupted in a blinding flash.

The blast tore outward like a gale and flung Edwin backward through the air.

Clink.

The device hanging from Mikhail's neck shattered.

Mikhail lowered his outstretched hand and glanced down at the floor.

A thick carpet of broken device fragments lay scattered across the ground.

"Owwww… that hurts."

Mikhail turned toward the sound.

Edwin was rubbing his back and dragging his crumpled body upright, limb by agonizing limb.

Mikhail blinked slowly and asked.

"You okay?"

"No. Ugh… getting blown off my feet has every bone in my body screaming."

Edwin grumbled his way over to Mikhail's side and planted himself there.

Then he glared at the disc, which had already shifted to standby mode and lay docile on the ground.

"Tch… you sure the difficulty settings aren't bugged?"

He scratched the back of his head furiously, then snapped toward Mikhail.

A long, drawn-out hum followed as his olive-green eyes rolled in thought.

"Hey. What if I just run far away right before the sphere explodes?"

Mikhail tilted his head and answered.

"Then the timing for my follow-up attack won't line up."

"Okay, what about cranking up the firepower? Finish in three hits instead of four."

"No, it has to be four hits. There's a cap on the maximum impact per strike."

A short silence passed.

Edwin's head drooped lower and lower until he let out a sigh deep enough to sink the floor, and collapsed where he stood.

Thud.

"Ugh… then what do we do? I tried everything too, you know. Saving up all my mana and dumping it into the sword for one big burst at the end. Bracing into the stance with the most rotational force I could manage. But… none of it worked. I'm out of ideas…"

Edwin's shoulders sagged like a kicked puppy and he heaved another sigh.

Mikhail studied the dejected profile beside him, then turned his eyes forward and spoke offhandedly.

"Edwin, there's one more option we haven't considered."

He shifted his gaze straight ahead. He raised his hand and pointed at the disc.

"That training apparatus. Remember how it moved?"

"Uh, yeah. Its movement…?"

Edwin paused to think, then answered.

"Yeah."

"Walk me through it."

Mikhail folded his arms and turned his head to the side. Edwin was scratching his cheek, piecing things together.

"Okay, so… when the training starts, the disc floats up into the air, and mana spheres scatter everywhere. So I was cutting down whatever came at you."

"Be more specific. The attack pattern."

Edwin's eyebrows twitched as he looked at Mikhail, but his expression turned serious and he started counting on his fingers.

"The first wave was a single sphere. Second time, about three clumped together. Third was five or six bunched up… and the last one was ten all fused into one!"

Mikhail jerked his thumb toward the disc.

"What's that thing called again?"

"Uh… a wide-area bombardment device?"

"Right. Notice anything strange about that?"

Edwin let out a long, contemplative hum and narrowed his eyes. Then he scratched the back of his head and muttered.

"Wide-area bombardment device. Wide-area bombardment… hm? Wait, if it's wide-area, why did the projectiles keep bunching together?"

"Exactly."

Mikhail watched Edwin's eyes slowly rise to meet his.

The moment their gazes locked, he gave a subtle nod toward the disc and spoke.

"This time, don't just block the spheres coming at me. From the very start, try deflecting as many as you can."

"…Oh. Oh! Right! Because it's a training device!"

Edwin clapped his hands together, eyes sparking. Mikhail grinned back at him.

Confidence flooded Edwin's face in an instant.

He bent down, snatched the greatsword off the floor, and shouted.

"All right! Let's do this!"

Mikhail reactivated the training apparatus.

The disc in front of them shuddered once, then drifted upward and locked into position.

Whiiiirrr.

A green mana crystal sat at its center.

The moment the disc registered Mikhail and Edwin standing before it, the enchantment scripts etched along its rim flared with a brilliant blue pulse.

Pzzt!

The device generated over a dozen mana spheres and launched them all forward at once.

Edwin swung his greatsword in a sweeping arc. A mist-like trail of blue mana rippled outward along the blade's path.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Seventy percent of the incoming spheres shattered into fragments and vanished.

In the same instant, Mikhail fired at the green crystal at the disc's center.

CRACK!

The impact sent fractures spider-webbing across the crystal's surface.

HUMMMMM….

The moment the first strike landed, the disc shifted into its second phase.

Protective enchantments carved themselves across the crystal's surface as it prepared to launch a second volley.

Tszzzt!

Edwin seized his greatsword again. He carved through the wide spread of incoming spheres in broad, sweeping slashes.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

…And so it went.

Exchange after exchange, the cycle repeated—until at last.

"—Yes! One more!"

The fourth round.

The instant Edwin's greatsword split the air—

Pzzt.

Mikhail fired. The deep blue sphere shot forward and shattered the disc's green crystal into pieces.