Days of Training

"You have an application from B-Class rank 198 Hyuck-shi."

"Ah, then make it All-Out Battle. Tomorrow."

Challenges from B-Class Masters had been increasing.

Win, and you not only earned the standing of A-Class rank 34, you also walked away with one of his companions: his finest, most beautiful, most outstanding UR-Class Garumon. And yet, all he asked in return was a mere ten million. Despite running a small party, he was the one challenging you to All-Out Battles. On top of that, he came at it carelessly, fielding a Lesser Hero, so there was a chance.

That reputation had spread, and more B-Class Masters were turning up to challenge us, thinking maybe…

For me, getting to fight all sorts of B-Class Masters made for good practice.

Levels went up too. Nothing to complain about.

"First party, the usual: Colette, Luna, Suzanne.

"Second party: Patty, Sawako, Yumi."

"Y-yes…"

"Let's give it our all, Colette. Next time too, let's wipe out around six knights all by ourselves!"

"Well, since we cancel out the stat-halving demerit with our Angel Halo and Divine Art Michaela, that's only natural."

"As for Sub-Master and Master, we'll wipe them all out ourselve～s!"

"Yes, exactly! As Kanan-sama's attendants, we cannot show ourselves engaging in any disgraceful battle!"

"… Please don't drag us down."

The six were plenty fired up.

"Well, since the All-Out Battle's resolution rule is that it doesn't end with just defeating the Master but only when everyone, Sub-Master and knights included, is wiped out, it's a complete cheat though."

The sub-party led by Haru was a hardcore lineup of Maika, Setsuna, Lyuka/Yuria, Haru, Leone.

And then at the very end, Griera's party stood by. There was no way a mere B-Class Master could beat them.

"But, obviously, if our six plus the reserve force of Adelia and Kanan, eight in total, don't wipe out the opponent, it's effectively a loss.

"We're going to win for sure."

"Yeah!"

B-Class knights were generally on the level of typical C-Class Masters with one or two SSRs.

If their lineup included a Top-Tier class, that was on the strong side.

As opponents at this stage, they were clearly beneath us. But our restrictions were also in effect, so it was by no means easy.

"Guard!"

"Angel Halo!"

"Divine Art Michaela!"

… Our standard Lesser Hero countermeasure, but it could only be used for up to five battles.

Five battles this would carry us, and after that we could brute-force things with Divine Arts.

The issue was the sixth battle.

Things had been inflating lately, so the somewhat nostalgic value tier softened me up a bit.

That said, fighting at full half-stats made them a fairly tricky opponent.

Our skill loadouts were as follows. Stats halved meant about 2/3 of normal stats.

"Suzanne, Overcharge. Luna, Saint Mist on Suzanne.

"Colette, Hero's Sword on Suzanne."

"Twin blades!"

"Great Serpent's Whip!"

Clang clang clang!

Suzanne knocked them aside easily and took only minor damage.

… Were stats really at 2/3? It was starting to look suspicious. Saint Mist healed it right back.

"Light Protes!"

So they did have a defensive skill. But Light Protes could only be used once every two turns.

Burning it here meant… we'd won.

"Suzanne, with St. Elmo's Fire."

"Yes… I think it'll just barely be enough. St. Elmo's Fire!"

Bom bom bom! Bom bom bom! Bom bom! With 75% UP and then attack doubled, that was 3.5x! Even with a base attack power of 10 for the small damage x 8,

with Suzanne's accurate aim it was nearly all crits, doubled to 2x. 70 damage x 8 hits, three hits each was enough to chew through almost any enemy.

"Wh-what kind of destructive force…! A-at this rate it's no good!"

The members switched out.

Oh, Power, famous as the weakest of the Ultimate-Job tier.

"S-Seraph…"

She was overawed by Suzanne's class.

"Orim, why are you flinching?! She's the same Angel as you, isn't she?!"

"S-she's not the same… we're five rungs apart in the hierarchy…!"

"… E-even so, the other one is just a regular Archangel! At least one, on the pride of an Angel, defeat them and show me!"

"Ngh… v-very well!

"Yes, I am a Power, however lowly the bottom rung of the Ultimate-Job tier may be… I will not lose to an Archangel!"

"… From the looks of it, Orim is the dedicated attacker."

"In that case, let's have her duel one-on-one with Luna. Colette and Suzanne, hold off Idri and Sidi.

"Luna, take down Orim alone."

"… Got it! If I can't even do that… I'll never become a Seraph like Suzanne!"

"… Don't underestimate me! Angel Halo!"

Even with stats already at 2/3, the gap widened to 1/3.

"Saint Light Aura!" "Hero's Sword!"

That closed the gap a little.

"Haaah! Sword of Light!"

The slash she unleashed. Dodging… was impossible. It was a guaranteed-hit attack.

Sssh… thock.

But Luna received it with almost no sound.

With her movement halved to 1/2, against an attack thrown at 2x speed, this was magnificent.

In sword skill, Luna in places even rivaled Suzanne.

… Yet despite blocking it that perfectly, she still took 1/2 damage. Frustrating.

It couldn't be helped within the system. About 30 damage. Three more hits and she was out.

"Slow!"

But the other side struck again…! Luna received it perfectly, but it was 60 damage. Rough.

Next turn.

"Ahahahaha! You're weak! In the end, I, a Power, cannot lose to a mere Archangel!

"Sword of Light!"

She blocked it cold, but it was 90 damage. Her remaining HP was just a sliver. But…

"Divine Art Balmung!"

In that instant, Luna moved. Just before Orim could unleash her second strike.

ZBAAAAN!

In response, Luna's blade splendidly severed Orim's head.

"… Eh? … Huh?"

Orim's HP gauge, in no time at all… hit zero.

"Wh-whaaaat…?!"

… Splendid. Orim went down.

Orim was Light-element, not God-element.

So God-element was 2x super-effective; with a crit, 4x. With 95% UP on top of 4x, it was about 8x. With a base attack of 400, even reduced to 1/3…

well, it could put out enough damage to chew right through an SR-Class Garumon.

"I-impossible…!"

"All right, Sub-Master next, huh."

For a B-Class, on top of an SSR base, a UR could show up too. Not something to take lightly.

"Still, since we won, no helping it. Colette, Luna, Suzanne. One more battle."

"Y-yes!"

"… Yeah!"

"Fufu, stats halved… it's good training. Colette, you can stay a Lesser Hero for the time being."

"I-I want to stop dragging everyone down as soon as possible!"

"You're just fine the way you are…"

Next.

"D-don't fool around with me! I won't suffer another humiliation!"

Oho, all-Ninja, huh. Another extreme lineup.

"Colette, Hero's Sword on Suzanne. Suzanne, Overcharge.

"Luna, Saint Mist on Suzanne."

"Everyone, Wild Shuriken Dance! Take them down!"

"Suzanne, knock everything out of the air.

"Colette, Greatshield! Protect Luna, and Luna, defend yourself too!"

Clang clang clang clang clang clang!

Wild Shuriken Dance was about a 6-hit attack, was it. The damage per hit wasn't much, but at 18 attacks total, even Suzanne couldn't knock all of them down. With stats halved, that is.

But she knocked down 12, which was amazing.

Colette caught and blocked 5. Luna blocked 1… and that was just barely enough.

"Saint Mist!"

Suzanne's HP recovered. Not fully, of course.

Next turn… against fast Ninjas they'd take the initiative, and there was no way Luna would survive it.

"… I'll cover Suzanne."

"Aah, to be useful to the end, that's the right call.

"Colette, cover Suzanne too."

"Yes!"

"Ultimate Art - Conqueror's Shield!"

Clang clang clang clang clang…!

Ten times, Colette blocked. Amazing.

"Suzanne!"

Zaku zaku zaku!

Luna somehow blocked three attacks before she fell at last.

The remaining five hit Suzanne. Even Saint Mist couldn't fully heal her.

"… Thank you, Luna. With this… it's over. Divine Art Testament!"

DOGOO!

The doubled, guaranteed-hit all-target attack, even with stats halved, was a one-shot.

Ninjas were dodge tanks. Pegging them as lacking full damage-blocking defensive skills, my prediction was right on.

The next battle too, with the other side weak in defensive skills, ended with Suzanne enduring via Overcharge and then Testament.

"… Good work, everyone. Thank you, Luna. Suzanne too, since you've used up Testament, let's pull you back."

"I can still fight since I have Tempest left, but… well, understood."

"… Then let's swap Kanan and Adelia in for Luna and Suzanne. B-Class Master with stats halved.

"Nice handicap match. Do your best."

"Mm, leave it to me."

"I-I won't lose-nya!"

"Ngh, gh, gh… impossible, just because he's an A-Class Master, t-the gap is this wide…?! Th-this guy, he's already not just A-Class but has the strength of S-Class…?!"

The rest we could cut, I guess. With our stats halved by Colette's power, Kanan, in perfect condition, teleported to dodge the enemy's attacks; Adelia built up power with Boost Power, and after that it was just a matter of grinding them down.

We won easily.

"Phew, good work, Colette."

"N-no, I…

"… Naoto-sama, you really are amazing. Originally, a Lesser Hero is a restriction class… if you field one you should hardly ever win, and yet,

"from start to finish, you fielded me and won every single battle…"

"Nah, against B-Class Masters you've got to be able to pull off at least that much.

"Hyuck-san, thank you very much. If you'd be so kind, please come challenge us again."

"… Ngh, gh, gh… haah…"

Hyuck withdrew amid his crushing disappointment.

"Right then, time for the post-mortem.

"First, Suzanne. What were your assumptions this time?"

"I assumed an opponent a bit faster and stronger."

"… OK. If the opponent is fast and strong, slipping the blade into their trajectory is about all you can do.

"This time the opponent had nearly 1.5x the stats, so it's perfectly correct.

"… However, having taken it, the opponent really wasn't all that fast, was she."

"… That is so."

"In which case, waiting and bracing as initially assumed looked like cutting corners.

"To keep the opponent from using a feint, the ideal is to not show your blade until the last moment, then parry just before impact.

"Even against a low-level opponent, you should be able to put in proper training on that kind of timing.

"You can't slack off. Every single battle is precious training."

"My apologies, Onii-sama."

"Mm, also… this is a point of reflection for both of us, but Testament's crits, you still can't quite grasp them, can you."

"That is so… The timing, the center point of the technique.

"I thought I had it perfectly. But somehow the crits won't come."

"It's not that they won't come. In a mock battle one came out, just once. That time was…"

"Adelia-san leapt in to attack, and you got her in one shot."

"Right. Let's try testing along that line. If it's too low, there's also the risk of her jumping over and dodging, but…"

"I won't make it that low. I'll try releasing it from about 20m up."

That sort of thing was what I went over with Suzanne.

"Next, Luna. You've really gotten better. But it still feels like a momentary flash and lacks consistency.

"You need practice. Both blocking and attacking, you have to put in the training. When we get back, 100 swings of each. After that, sparring with Suzanne."

"Yes."

Luna threw herself into practice with great seriousness.

"But the duel victory was splendid. You've truly grown strong. At LV50 you'll definitely become a Seraph."

"Mm, I'll do my best."

"Colette, you're improving by leaps and bounds too. There's no doubt about that. But, letting that one through there…

"You know it yourself, right?"

"… Yes."

"It might be better to draw them in a bit more before raising your shield. That way you'll be able to move compactly without being thrown around by it.

"After that, more swings. Practice swinging the shield to a stop, 100 reps, 3 sets. Do your best."

"Yes!"

Colette too was working her hardest.

"Patty… sorry I couldn't really make spots for you to come out."

"No, it's a good thing the second party doesn't get spo～ts.

"Patty's stats won't be doubled, so it can't be hel～ped…"

"With opponents around today's level, it might've been okay to try Patty, Luna, Colette."

"That's because Patty messed up in the first round… I'll do my best so Naoto-san can trust m～e!"

"Fufu, I trust Patty enormously. Let's keep at it."

"Kanan and Adelia, no complaints either. Or rather, opponents at this rank just don't satisfy you, do they.

"Later, in our team's internal mock battles, let me really put you through the wringer.

"Everyone's frustrated since they didn't get spots…"

For combat training, our team's internal mock battles were on a far higher level.

But on the game system, fighting different opponents earned experience, so it couldn't be helped.

B-Class Masters being moderately weak also meant everyone could build confidence, which was nice.

In particular, Colette, Luna, and Patty, being low-level, kept losing within the team, so racking up the experience of winning like this was welcome.

Pulling in 10,000,000G as well was tasty, and I wanted them to keep coming to challenge us going forward.

In that fashion, with training against B-Class Masters, Colette, Luna, and Patty's levels were rising nicely.

… Within this month Luna might reach LV50. Patty next month. But Colette would be tough… I wanted to make it by April.

I wanted to put them through somewhat harder training.

That said, doing actual-combat training with low skill-use counts wasn't a good idea. For today we'd have to put in training that didn't use skills for the rest of it.

"Since we didn't get spots either, we're going to go earn a bit in the monster territory."

"Aah, Yuria. In that case I'll come too…"

"Naoto. You take a rest too. Issuing battle commands wears your head out endlessly, you know? You're tired, aren't you?"

"Leave it to us. We'll be careful."

"… Haru, mm, please do. Pay attention to your skill counts. Don't go too deep, no matter what.

"Sawako, Yumi, go with them."

"I know."

The eight, leaving behind the six who had fought to some extent in the B-Class battles, headed to the monster territory.

Being fourteen and able to form 8-6 parties was nice. It made acting on two fronts easier.

Staying behind, I trained with Colette, Luna, Patty, Suzanne, Kanan, and Adelia.

Skill-less combat training, flight training, sword swings, and so on, working up a sweat.

"We're back～. Phew… I'm tired. Here, today's spoils."

Yuria and Haru returned safely.

A day's exploration of the monster territory could earn about 10,000G to 100,000G.

A higher-level dungeon could earn more, but I couldn't exactly send them to such places without me along.

"Everyone, good work."

Working up a sweat in training by day, working up an erotic sweat by night.

… In this fashion, we were piling up our discipline.