[387] One-Man Team (3)
As the monsters in the sky, on the surface, and underground were almost simultaneously wiped out, an announcement came over No. 2000.
"Phew."
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Shirone glanced at the scoreboard.
"Wow! That turned out great."
Team 5 was sitting all the way up in second place. First belonged to Team 2—the group with Ferme.
Team 2's clear time was 3 minutes 15 seconds.
They'd lost by only thirteen seconds, so it stung a little, but considering Team 2 was entirely Ferme's party, it was a respectable result.
'Well, we're an instant party, after all.'
Closer looked annoyed.
"Tch, Ferme again this time? How do those guys always climb the ranks together like that?"
Dante said, "Give them credit—they know how to manage scores. Still, second in the bracket isn't bad. It's effectively a top-ten overall. If you land in the top ten on every evaluation, you'll graduate."
Dante was pleased that three groups who'd never practiced together had managed second place. By party contribution metrics, they'd all essentially earned one point each.
Iruki thought similarly, but he was a bit more precise in his mental tally.
'If this were the graduation exam: Dante 1.01, Closer 0.99, Shirone 1, Canis 1.02, me 0.98, maybe.'
Team 5's best player, by the slimmest margin, was Canis. Her solo cleanup of the underground monsters had made the difference.
'If you want to raise party contribution, picking enemies that match your strengths is crucial. The gaps will be much wider on the graduation exam.'
Meanwhile Team 1 was listed third. Their time had a bigger gap—4 minutes 18 seconds.
"Anyway, let's head down. I want to check out the other teams too."
Dante led his members down from No. 2000 and immediately disbanded the party.
"Good work, Shirone. Iruki, Canis too."
Shirone answered cheerfully.
"Yeah, you did well. If we get a chance, let's team up again."
Fourth place was decided, then fifth completed their annihilation run—4:24 and 4:28, respectively.
"Wow, these margins are insanely tight this week too."
Although Shirone's group had taken second, the monster tiers weren't very high this time, so some of their success came down to lucky spawns.
Given that, the other teams weren't to be underestimated.
Iruki said, "This pattern'll probably hold up to Tier 8. You can't do it alone, but mages grouped together are terrifying. Of course, that's something you can pull off at an academy."
Everyone in the magic school was a mage, but after graduation the thirty students in the class would scatter across the world and rarely see each other again. Mages make up less than 0.0001 percent of the population, so only units like the Royal Guard, Capital Defense, or Border Defense can field mages en masse.
Even third-rate mages hopping between guilds can produce frightening firepower if twenty gather. If each fired a fireball every ten seconds, you're looking at 1,200 shots in ten minutes.
Because even those mages command high prices, it's rare for a contract to make sense to hire twenty of them—if one exists, the payout usually goes to the higher-ranked mages. Terrorists are an exception, but before the Red Line's authority they're like mice before a cat.
The combat power of an official Red Line unit—a state-recognized mage force—runs on a different scale. When non-tier monsters like demons appear, the Mage Association, with the king's approval, assembles an elite formation of officially sanctioned mages around ranks four to six called a "Cage."
It's literally to lock them up and beat them. Gather about twenty mages judged the best in their fields and they're practically a walking legion.
There are so few third-rank archmages continent-wide that experts agree the strongest party, short of a world-ending calamity, is the Cage.
'Once I'm out in the world, I probably won't get to form parties with such a mix of people again. I should learn as much as I can while I have the chance.'
No. 2000's operation stopped.
"Team 4 evaluation complete. The last team to finish, Team 4, receives zero points."
Shirone looked at Team 4 with regret. Of all things, Amy's team had come in last.
'Balance really matters. Even with an amazing DPS like Amy, it still failed.'
Team 4 couldn't hide their bitter expressions.
There wasn't a single person to point at and blame. Led by Screamer, they'd shredded the enemies with flashy, varied attacks. Their only problem was poor balance, which made their annihilation time longer than other teams'.
'I should've been the one to get the buff, honestly.'
Amy felt a sour disappointment.
The mage's killer tactic concentrates overwhelming power on one person, but the week-six mission was annihilation. A task that required the team to act as one and cleanly remove enemies exposed that weakness.
'Oh well. Aim for next week.'
Amy accepted the zero points coolly. After all, the leader was the stubborn Screamer, and she had to follow his call.
If she didn't like it, she could raise her rank and become leader herself. No excuses—that was a rule in the graduation class.
'Ugh, I'm so pissed off I could die.'
Screamer, on the other hand, couldn't accept the result.
How could they come in last? Even in last year's graduation class he had never scored zero in strategy and tactics.
'It's all your fault.'
Unable to hold back his boiling rage, Screamer shouted at Maya.
"You idiot!!!"
The shout—rare in the graduation class—made heads turn toward Screamer.
If a team lost, individual skill didn't need to be picked apart. But how many weeks had the strategy-and-tactics evaluation been ruined because of her?
As Screamer strode up, Maya's brows went up and her expression hardened.
"You made the monsters more violent!"
The Rondo of Upheaval induced anxiety. Strategically useful as sound magic, it had the side effect in annihilation of making enemies go berserk and lengthening the mission.
"No, they didn't get more violent. It was more like—"
"Shut up! Who are you to be making sounds like you're gutting a pig? You call that sound magic? What are you going to do now?"
Maya wore an aggrieved look and then lowered her head.
"Sorry…"
No one tried to stop Screamer.
Maya had no knack for sound magic, and Screamer was one of the top two in the graduation class. Picking a fight with him now would likely have unpleasant repercussions for future schedules.
"What are you doing? You've been in the graduation class longer than me—don't you have any experience? Do you just do things because someone tells you to? What if a werewolf had appeared? Would you know what to do then?"
"Sorry. I'm sorry…"
Maya could only repeat apologies. She had nothing else to say.
"Anyway, commoners don't cut it. If you have no talent, drop out. You're clinging on hoping to make something as a mage, but all you're doing is being a nuisance to others."
Maya's shoulders trembled. Tears fell from under the hair that hid her face.
'She's a commoner, huh, Maya…'
Shirone glared at Screamer.
He'd never known Maya was a commoner, but that didn't matter. To belittle someone's specialty by calling it "pig-gutting sounds" was an insult.
Maya's voice was actually clearer, which made it less effective for combat sound magic, but the attack was personal. Had she not been chubby, she would never have been spat on like that.
"Sorry… sob! I'm sorry…"
Screamer grew even more irritated.
A mage who cried after getting insulted—especially one in the graduation class—was infuriating. Everyone's future was on the line in these evaluations. And now they were trying to pin everything on him and cast him as the villain?
"Enough. Get lost! And do me a favor—if you're that untalented, step down voluntarily. You got lucky and bumped your rank up; don't keep clinging and become a burden to others."
Screamer turned away coldly and strode off. Shirone followed and called after him.
"Hey."
Screamer stopped and turned back, chin high.
"What?"
"Apologize to Maya."
Screamer's face turned incredulous.
He had no reason to apologize, and meddling like this wasn't the sort of wisdom expected of a graduating student.
'What's this guy playing at? Is he trying to curry favor because Ferme noticed him?'
When Shirone had declared his do-or-die stance, Screamer had scoffed. Magic or not, they'd all crack if someone from outside pressed them. Yet here they were, acting tough inside the school.
'Maybe this is for the best?'
Screamer wasn't stupid. If he crushed Shirone—who'd cleared stage seven of the survival evaluation—his own standing would rise.
'Should I prod him a bit?'
Screamer decided to needle Shirone deliberately.
"Come to think of it, you're a commoner too, right? Or were you nobility? Oh, I thought you were noble, then you got downgraded to commoner. Hahaha!"
It had been months since the Kazrae trip, so students had accepted Shirone's status as a commoner.
"Whether I'm a commoner or not doesn't matter. Retract what you said to Maya and apologize sincerely."
"No way. Why should I? I did my part. Coming in last is Maya's fault."
"It's a shared responsibility. And if anyone has to take it, it's the leader."
"What nonsense? Do you even know about party contribution? Do you know how many monsters I wiped out?"
Nade cut in.
"It's embarrassing to brag when you're a main damage dealer who ignored utility."
Heat crawled across Screamer's face. Not only Shirone, but even flies were buzzing around him now.
Iruki added, "You claim to be the main dealer, but you're no different from a sub-dealer. Do you seriously think the mage's one-man-kill tactic fits an annihilation mission? The zero proves it was the leader's bad call."
Screamer scowled.
"A third party has a lot to say. My judgment was right. We just had a hole in the team. Since we had Maya, we had no choice but to press on. Who does evaluations just to chase one or two points? Besides, I pushed my contribution up to 1.4."
"That's your ceiling. Worrying about contribution before the result shows you don't trust your teammates. Maya is an official member of the graduation class too. Including her, there were plenty of ways to score."
"Hahaha! Oh yeah? Would you still say that if you'd been in Team 4 instead of me?"
"Of course. If I'd been leader, we'd have been at least top three."
"Hah."
Screamer sighed.
This was why he hated rookies—people who spouted off without experience.
Maya was hopeless. Regardless of skill, her personality didn't suit becoming a mage.
"Do you really think you could've gotten high scores with Maya on your team?" Amy asked.
"At least higher than with a leader like you," Iruki added.
Screamer turned. Amy had her arms crossed, tapping a foot.
"You talking to me?"
In the graduation class, you avoided conflict with rivals you might collide with later. There was no point in wasting effort on fights that would hand others the advantage.
Amy knew that—last year's failure had seared the lesson into her. But this year would be different. Unlike Seriel, who'd feared dragging allies down, Amy now had comrades she could trust with everything.
She strode forward. Iruki and Nade stepped back with solemn faces to make way. Support from comrades—not just strategic allies—gave her confidence.