Chapter 422 (Patreon)

Boris had never underestimated the lone Suri's team’s archer.

Very few people in the academy had noticed it, but Suri and Isabelle had developed an unusually strong connection during their matches. They rarely needed words. Suri would identify an opening, create the right illusion as a signal, and Isabelle would already be preparing her bow before most opponents even realized they had been exposed. Together, the two had become the center of Team Gorgeous’s offense, striking from a distance whenever someone was not paying attention and forcing the opposing team to constantly worry about where the next arrow would come from.

Boris suspected they were following the same strategy now.

Just as they had in their previous matches, their first priority would probably be the supports. Darren and Rich were especially important because their skills could slow an opponent while giving their own teammates a slight boost in speed. Against a team as physically strong as the Muscle Team, even a small difference in speed could decide an entire exchange.

That was why Boris had given the order at the last possible moment. To find their archer and hunt her with their scout, Freddy.

Boris barely had time to turn back toward the battlefield before the crowd erupted.

“Another one!”

He clicked his tongue.

His eyes snapped toward the source of the noise, and his expression hardened when he saw Hen De Grey stumble backward. The frontliner had been caught completely off guard by Aya, a [Spearman], who had emerged from her camouflage at precisely the right moment. Hen tried to recover, but the damage had already been done.

Another roar swept across the arena before Boris could even process what had happened.

This time, the sound came from the opposite side.

“What now?”

Boris turned sharply. For a moment, he couldn't see anything unusual through the remaining dust, but then he spotted Freddy.

Their scout was standing in a shallow pool of water.

It was probably nothing more than melted ice left behind by the barriers earlier in the match, a small puddle that had gone unnoticed beneath the dust and debris. Unfortunately for Freddy, his camouflage did nothing to hide the disturbance in the water.

A ripple spread across the surface.

That was all Isabelle needed.

An arrow flashed across the battlefield.

Freddy's pendant shattered almost instantly.

Boris stared for a moment before clicking his tongue again. Their archer had exposed her position by firing, but that didn't matter. The exchange between their teams had become too tangled for him to simply abandon the frontline and chase her.

He could take her down.

He knew that.

But if he left the frontline now, their supports would be exposed, and Suri's team would immediately exploit the opening.

Boris clenched his jaw. She's forcing me to choose.

The crowd erupted again only a few moments later.

Darren, their [Bard] flinched at the sound, his face tightening as the pressure mounted. “What is it this time?!”

Boris turned toward him. For an instant, he expected to see another member of their team fall.

Instead, he saw something that made him stop.

Toby.

The usually unlucky Exorcist was standing near the edge of the battlefield, covered in dust and dirt, with the unmistakable look of someone who had just crawled out from underneath a collapsed section of rubble.

And in front of him was Isabelle. Her pendant was already broken.

Boris's eyes widened slightly. He looked from Toby to the rubble behind him, then back toward Isabelle.

He found her?

Judging from the dirt covering Toby's clothes and face, he had probably been hiding among the debris ever since the Tavis Titan's impact. When Isabelle had moved behind their formation, she must have passed close enough for Toby to notice her.

Boris squinted his eyes, full of doubt. Surely he didn't plan that.

If Toby had actually thought that far ahead and purposely hidden himself there, Boris would have been genuinely impressed.

But knowing Toby, coincidence was far more likely.

Toby suddenly jumped into the air. “I FOUND HER!”

He raised both arms in celebration.

A moment later, something dropped from above. A sword-shaped illusion plunged toward Toby. His celebration stopped.

A bright green flash followed.

Toby's competition pendant shattered.

The arena exploded with laughter and cheers.

Boris slowly shook his head. “Of course.”

Boris sighed. Definitely a coincidence.

Toby had somehow found the most dangerous member of Team Gorgeous’s backline, defeated her, and immediately lost his own pendant in the process.

Despite the ridiculous timing, Boris couldn't ignore what had just happened.

The battlefield had changed.

Isabelle was gone. Their archer, the person who had been working so closely with Suri and constantly threatening their members, was no longer part of the fight.

Team Gorgeous had finally lost someone.

For the first time in the entire tournament, their formation was no longer perfect.

Boris could almost feel the difference.

Until now, he had been forced to remain near the backline because he couldn't afford to let Suri's team reach their supports. Every movement had been a calculation. Every attempt to advance came with the risk of leaving Darren and Rich exposed to an arrow or illusion-assisted attack.

But that threat had just disappeared.

Boris looked toward his supports. Darren and Rich were still holding their positions, though the pressure on them was obvious.

Boris tightened his grip on his weapon.

“Everyone,” he called, his voice cutting through the noise of the arena, “push forward.”

Darren looked at him. Boris stepped toward the frontline.

For the first time since the battle had begun, he no longer needed to stay behind and protect the support line.

He could finally fight. They had given Boris room to move.

…

Isabelle being taken down by Toby was one of the most impossible scenarios Suri could have imagined.

Yet somehow, it had happened.

Their archer was far more important than most people realized. Isabelle was not merely the person responsible for their ranged offense. Her presence was one of the reasons Team Gorgeous could maintain such a strong defensive formation in the first place. Every opponent who knew what she was capable of had to keep their movements cautious, constantly aware that an arrow could come flying from somewhere they weren't watching. That hesitation gave the rest of the team room to move, reposition, and defend without exposing themselves.

Now that threat was gone. And Boris understood exactly what it meant.

The moment Isabelle's pendant shattered, Boris immediately pushed himself toward the frontline.

Suri watched him move and couldn't help but feel impressed. He knows.

Boris had recognized that Isabelle was the center of their offensive and defensive formation without needing to stop and analyze it. Perhaps it was something he had learned from their countless dungeon raids. Fighting inside dungeons was nothing like a simple academy match. Against a powerful dungeon boss monster, brute strength alone could only carry a party so far. Someone had to recognize the dangerous patterns, identify weaknesses, protect the vulnerable members, and know which enemy had to be dealt with first.

Boris might not have consciously thought through every part of it, but somewhere along the way, he had learned to see battles that way.

Suri gritted her teeth. So he's finally going all out.

“Forget everyone else for now!” she shouted. “Misty, Dana! Use whatever skills you have. Just keep Boris busy and separate him from the others. Don't let him reconnect with his team. Go all out!”

The two girls nodded immediately.

Dana raised her staff, while Misty moved closer to the battlefield. Her abilities were much more effective at close range, which meant she needed to get near Boris without allowing him an opportunity to break through.

Dana struck the ground with her staff.

A thick wooden trunk suddenly erupted from the earth beside Boris.

It curved around him, forcing him several steps away from the rest of his team.

Another trunk followed.

And another.

Misty immediately took advantage of the opening, jumping onto one of the wooden structures and skating across its surface on a layer of ice. She planted several ice formations around Boris, each one designed to slow his movement, restrict his path, and push him farther from his teammates.

They had practiced this combination countless times.

Against an ordinary Boris, it should have worked. At least, that was the plan.

As long as he didn't become that scaly version of himself.

Suri's eyes squinted as Boris disappeared behind the wooden barriers.

The crowd roared.

Suri's first thought was that Boris's team had suffered another casualty.

She was wrong. It was Joan Clarke who was about to break her pendant. “What?”

Suri's attention snapped toward her teammate.

It had only been a few seconds since she had looked away, yet somehow Adam, Andel, and Leo had completely ignored Rin and redirected themselves toward Joan.

The three frontliners had recognized the same weakness Suri had been trying to exploit. Joan was their strongest remaining close-range attacker. Without Isabelle covering her, she had become a much easier target.

A flash of green suddenly erupted on the battlefield. And it was Joan.

Joan was overpowered by three guys attacking her.

Yuri on the other hand was having far less success.

She stood farther back, repeatedly firing her [Ice Spike] toward the enemy frontline. One after another, the icy projectiles struck their opponents, forcing them to defend and slowing their advance, but they weren't powerful enough to inflict meaningful damage.

Yuri fired again.

Another spike shattered against a shield.

She lowered her hand for a moment, breathing harder than before.

“Suri,” she called, “you might end up being the only one left instead of Boris at this rate.”

Suri glanced toward her. “We need you in the frontline.”

Suri knew that. She had been conserving her mana, waiting for the right moment to unleash it, but the battlefield had changed too quickly. With Isabelle gone and Joan gone, Team Gorgeous had almost no offensive pressure left.

They could defend. They could delay. But they were slowly being pushed backward.

Suri took a slow breath. Fine.

She raised one hand toward the sky. Mana surged through her.

A single blade appeared. Then another. Then dozens.

The sky above the battlefield began filling with swords.

One after another, countless blades materialized high above the arena until the sunlight itself seemed to disappear behind them.

The audience slowly fell silent.

A few murmurs spread through the stands. Most of them had never seen Suri summon this many flying weapons at once. Even the people who had watched her first match against Valdis's team hadn't seen anything like this.

There were easily five times as many blades now.

Suri had been hiding this. She intended to make the Muscle Team pay for forcing her hand.

But Boris's team reacted before she could give the order.

They backed away but not in panic.

Adam moved toward the center while the others shifted into position around him, their movements strangely coordinated as they formed a defensive formation beneath the approaching storm of blades.

Suri's eyes widened. They knew.

Adam finally reached behind his back and pulled out the enormous shield he had been carrying throughout the match. The massive piece of equipment opened above him like the roof of a fortress, while the rest of the team positioned themselves beneath and around it.

They weren't improvising. They had prepared for this at the very start of the match.

Suri stared at them for a moment, unable to believe what she was seeing.

Those idiots had apparently prepared for everything. She clenched her teeth. “The team with no strategy, my ass.”

Post note:

No. Boris didn’t think all of that 😂

Fourth chap of the week.

Hope you enjoy the chap! 🙂

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