XXXIV

The day passes by smoothly. Another goal to provide me with motivation to grow stronger, I practice even harder than I ever have before. My skills level up left and right as I take full advantage of my reincarnation perks. New sword techniques are mastered during my duels with Reinhart, my strength and speed take minor increases, and I become even more adept at multicasting. During my nighttime practice with Lector, I even begin to practice with all my new tier two elements. Though there is a good chance that he has guessed my ability to manipulate wrath from my prior comments, I don't mention it and so we don't work with it in practice. Not that I would need or want to; during this time I continuously 'practice' with it by compacting it into an ever hotter ball of scarlet flames, and I wouldn't want to waste my reserves of a rather rare element.

Speaking of reserves, I learn from Lector that it is common for very high level elementalists to keep some amount of each rare element on them at all times and to constantly gather more wherever they go. For example, apparently most elementalists in warmer clients keep some ice elemental particles stored on them and collect them wherever they go, as their natural distribution in warm climates is too low to be usable under normal circumstances.

Upon learning this, I ask if he has any extra that I could keep in reserve; at this, he just laughs and tells me that I'll have to gather my own.

Despite the drastic change in motivation and outlook that I had undergone this morning, I am careful to continue acting as I had previously; I figure that it would be better if the monstrous people of this world did not know my intentions for them and their homelands.

The next morning comes around, and with it the often hinted at group training event that many soldiers seem to be oddly excited about.

As usual, Lion gets our attention through his threatening aura, before beginning. "Now for today's announcements. I would actually like to begin by saying that we thankfully do not have punishments to announce, which is a welcome relief after the last couple days, eh?"

I can only assume that this is meant as a joke, but as someone who had lost a friend to the last couple days, it hardly feels funny.

"So, onto what I do have to announce. As I have mentioned several times over the past week, our once-monthly large group training exercise will be held today. For those of you who are new here since the last one of these that we held, please allow me to explain the general idea of the large group training exercise before I go into detail on what it will be today.

"The large group training exercises pit two or more large groups of soldiers against each other in battle-like scenarios, with each group made up of soldiers of various focuses - mages, spearmen, archers, and the like.

"This month, there will be two groups, in a siege like scenario. While we have been eating, a fort has been built out of stone by some of our most capable earth elementalists. One side will be tasked with defending the fort; the other side, with conquering it."

To me, this sounds like a perfectly reasonable training exercise; however, I quickly deduce from the excited murmurings around me that this is something that the soldier's here expect to be 'fun.' I must admit, with how they waited until this morning to announce what we would be doing for training, while building it up in near-daily announcements, perhaps it is something that we are expected to be excited for. I guess I can see how it could be fun to simulate conquering a fortress, like a game or something. And, assuming this game isn't being run by the master lunatic Reinhart, it probably has a reasonable assurance of safety involved.

"Now, the teams for today will be chosen based on your third daily training instructor. For team A…"

He then goes on to read a list of instructors names' of which I only recognize the name of my strength class commander.

"If I have not read your third class' commander's name, you'll be on team B. For those of you on team A, follow Commander Belfrost. He will lead you to the fort; you will be on defense. As for team B, you will wait for one hour to give them time to set up; then, you will follow commander Reinhart, who will lead this assault. As usual, be sure to follow your commanders' orders; while we hope that this exercise will provide some level of entertainment, let's not forget that it is primarily intended to be practice for large-scale operations, in the event that we need to enact one. And in large scale operations, it is imperative that soldiers follow the command of their leaders. Lastly, do not severely injure anyone. Now, I'm sure Commander Reinhart would like to establish a plan of attack with you all. Remember, wait one hour before exiting this building."

He departs then, alongside the other commanders, leaving just us and Reinhart to plan out our attack on their fortress that we don't know anything about.

An hour later, we depart from the dining hall. There are over a thousand of us, so it does feel a bit like an army on the march as we make the relatively short trip over to where the makeshift fort is.

I am near Reinhart when he raises his fist into the air, the predetermined signal to halt. This message is relayed in short order throughout our force.

For a makeshift fort built while everyone was eating breakfast, it sure does look impressive. Towering fifty feet into the air, its four crenelated walls each stretch about a hundred yards in length. Positioned on an otherwise empty field, the archers and casters lined along the walls have a clear line of sight for all angles of approach.

I am initially surprised by how far we have stopped from the walls; the defenders on the walls are still too small to make out in detail. However, Reinhart explains to us all that, despite the seemingly large difference, should we go any further we will be in range of some of their most capable archers and mages.

[That is a rather impressive range. I wouldn't think that any bow could fire that far, but I suppose I know next to nothing about magic archery. As for mages, Reinhart is right that only the most powerful could reach this far… hmm… That is rather interesting to consider. The first enemy that we will be in range of is the one with the greatest ability; getting closer just increases the quantity, with a guarantee that the new participants of quantity are comparatively devoid of quality when compared to the initial enemy. No wonder Reinhart insisted that it is best to approach rapidly; at higher ranges, the most powerful threats still exist, while we are unable to return attacks or even pick off their weakest warriors.]

Reinhart interrupts my thoughts through the initiation of the assault. As planned in advance, he calls out "Earth elementalists and related spellcasters, go!"

From our side a number of spells erupt, raising tall earthen walls some distance in front of us, securing our advance. Another batch of spells is then shot out, as the walls are covered with lingering 'dispel magic' castings by our mages capable of straight magic. These spells, which cover the earthen walls in a subtly shimmering veil, are particularly valuable when used on fortifications. As one may infer from the spell's name, they have the lingering effect of weakening and even destroying our opponents spells that come into contact with them. When coating fortifications, they prevent a single powerful mage from blowing holes straight through them.

In fact, most large cities in this world have a team of mages as part of their defense force that stand ready to cast lingering dispel magic spells along their walls at a moments notice, as a primary method of defense.

In our case, too, these spells quickly come in handy. While the walls cover most of my view of the enemy side, thus keeping me from actually [seeing] what hits the walls, I can certainly [hear] the attacks. Massive impact noises ring out from the wall where the enemy's various attacks come into contact with it. Still, either the dispel spells or the walls must be strong, as they show no signs of cracking.

While the attacks rain down on our walls, we charge forward by Reinhart's command, making use of them to drastically decrease the distance between the fort and ourselves. When we reach our side of the walls, those earthen and dispel magic mages modify their spells to create small holes in the wall that we can fire through but are still difficult to hit us through.

Though my specialties lie in melee magic conduction, which is to say, actually being a magic swordsman, my time practicing with Lector has left me competent with fully ranged techniques as well. Joining the other casters, I lob spells at the walls. I only concentrate the wind spells enough to ensure that they actually contact the wall; I want to minimize magical exhaustion, after all.

For some time, both sides lob spells at one another. Our goal in this stage of the battle is, as provided by Reinhart, to exhaust their mages while minimizing our own exhaustion - to focus primarily on maintaining our defenses while sending constant probing attacks that they have to put more effort into defending against than we have to in casting them.

Our plan does seem to be working; either that, or they have wisened up to it. Their attacks decrease greatly in strength as the wall continues to hold without incident. [Either they are getting exhausted or they have realized our plan and are now doing something similar. Whatever the case, it is time to move onto the next step.]

As though reading my mind, Reinhart urges us on towards step three. Utilizing the holes in the wall to observe the field, the earth elementalists and dispel magic specialists attempt to raise another set of walls further down the field, right in front of the enemy fortifications; however, perhaps expecting this, the enemy casts dispel magic across the ground, making manipulating the earth elemental particles in the area much more difficult.

While it may be possible to override the dispel magic defense, our aim is to reach the enemy in as good a condition as possible. That goal in mind, Reinhart calmly calls off the attempt and orders us to proceed with plan D.

[I must admit that Reinhart maintains his cool exceptionally well. The enemy saw right through our initial plan, and without missing a beat he motions to continue on with the best option considering the circumstance.]

Our next plan is not too different in principle from the first. Instead of relying on walls of earth to provide our defense, we will instead raise up a large sheet of rock, and, with the support of our small number of gravity elementalists, use it as a shield above our head while we approach the wall. The biggest weakness with this method was earth elementalists attacking our feet; however, now that our opponents have covered the ground between us with dispel magic spells, we don't need to worry about that. After all, dispel magic does not differentiate between friend and foe.

Once our earth elementalist have provided a sheet of hardened stone that our gravity specialists lighten enough to be carried, it is settled down on top of our army. The natural downside of this method is rather obvious: those in the middle of the crowd are left in pitch blackness. However, as discussed in advance, their only job is to carefully walk forward without trampling anyone.

Thankfully - or perhaps unfortunately, as it is the most dangerous spot - I am in the front of our approaching horde, standing right beside Reinhart. This is not by any means preferential treatment, however; our magic swordsmen have all been gathered to the front in order to pierce through the enemy's defenses with our strongest melee forces. Our metal elementalists are also with us - of the remaining soldiers, Reinhart figured that they'd be of the most help.

We reach the fortress gates without much difficulty, our opponent's spells bouncing harmlessly off of our ridiculously large shield. Through the portcullis, endless spells are fired. However, our metal elementalists form thick sheets of iron that protect us from the worse.

Once we reach the gate, we magic swordsmen reinforce our blades and begin to cut into the metal. Of course, the portcullis has dispel magic cast over it; if it didn't, our metal elementalists could just tear them down. Furthermore, the metal itself seems to have been reinforced in some way.

Whatever the case, we struggle to cut through it. Or, at least we do as a group anyway. Through my preferred method of compacting fireball attacks along the edge of my sword, I am able to make much more acceptable progress, cutting through iron bars one after another as I make a hole in the portcullis.

Realizing that I am making rather quick work of their defenses, the mages in charge of defense focus their attacks on me. As the metal elementalist shielders backed away to give us access to the portcullis once we got to the gate, I am quickly forced to halt my progress on cutting through, instead focusing on defending myself from their attacks.

Against the weak mages, it is simple enough to just hijack their attacks. However, against the strong ones, I am simply not their match. I am forced to do everything I can to keep myself protected, from blocking with my sword, to casting a countering element, to forming shields. My preferred method of moving to avoid attacks is nearly impossible due to the large number of my allies surrounding me, so I am forced to resort to methods that I can use while holding in place.

While I am just barely able to defend myself from their attacks, the unfortunate truth is that I am overexerting myself far faster than they are. Though I know that I have to get this situation turned around, to initiate an offense of my own, it is all I can do to just resist their attacks. In fact, I can't even fully do that; various attacks slip through my defenses, leaving me peppered with small injuries.

[What do I do in this situation? While the stakes are not particularly high, and, according to Reinhart, I can give in and leave the match at any time, it would be quite disappointing to do so, not to mention a sure sign of my weakness.

[Grr… despite giving myself multiple warnings not to, I have somehow subconsciously slipped into complacency. It is as though my hatred for this world overrode my fear of it - which may be the case, to some degree. However, even if it is the case, it is not something that should be.

[I was so focused on my plans to ruin this world that I forgot how powerful it is. I got caught up in my overpowered leveling bonus and my skill leveling bonus that most likely has to do with me being an otherworlder, to the extent where I genuinely forgot for a moment the unfair power in this world that would make even General Lion appear weak by comparison. And to this extent as well, being beaten by mere cadets!

[Well, perhaps not all of them are cadets; there are plenty of experienced soldiers as well. But still, I am currently losing to mere soldiers in a world where I have been given some of the most powerful bonuses imaginable. I must do better! I have been working hard every day to increase my power; I must work harder! Only then will I be safe from death - only then will I be able to punish this wretched world!

Still, what may I do to turn this current situation around?] I think for a moment, all the while defending against a barrage of attacks. The metal elementalist shielders are trying to get to me, but their own defensive predicament forces them to hold still as well. After a while, an idea comes to mind.

I wonder… I think, trying to manipulate the water particles inside my opponents' bodies. The idea is to manipulate their blood itself; if their blood was compressed within their bodies, the effect would surely be devastating. However, sadly (or perhaps fortunately, for all the non-elementalists out there) my attempt is an absolute failure.

[It's a shame that that doesn't work, though not really a surprise. If such an ability did exist, any non-elementalist, which is to say, any person who cannot oppose the elemental attack, would stand no chance against even the lowest level water manipulator. However, I refuse to accept that there isn't a way that I can utilize my modern knowledge of the human body to come up with a unique spell that can give me an advantage…]

I only need to think for a few more moments before it comes to mind: the electricity the brain uses to send impulses to the body. [If I could use some of my lightning elemental ability to enhance these signals somehow, would I be able to think, make decisions, and initiate movement faster? I actually read something nearly identical to this once in a fantasy book, but just because it worked in the story does not mean that it will actually work in this world. Still, if I can get it to work it would be a very useful ability.

[However, what about the risk? If I overload my neurons with too much electricity, could I cause permanent damage? I would assume so… though, unlike a certain hero, I am no master of biology. I only know the basics…]

Eventually, I decide against it in this situation. Such a potentially dangerous ability isn't fit to be tested in such a strenuous condition. Still, I by no means give up on it entirely - I merely push it aside for a better time.

[So, then, am I unable to come up with anything? Or will I be forced to surrender? My injuries are growing quite severe, and I am certainly not too proud to surrender. However, as previously decided, I'd rather not. Something tells me all respect from Reinhart that I may have acquired will go down the drain, and with it my access to the best swordsman around.]

I think, and think, and am rather ashamed to come up with nothing of any actual use. Sure, I come up with a handful of additional long shot ideas, but nothing worthwhile. [I had been growing so confident in my skills, and yet on the first day that they are truly tested, I am utterly defeated. I must do better in the future! My swordsmanship, magical ability, critical thinking skills… all are inferior to those necessary to achieve any of my goals! I desire to tear this world down, yet I can not even tear down a gate in a mock battle! Gah!!!]

My loss is truly upon me now. Most of the other magic swordsmen have dropped out of the fight, and they had not even a tenth of the negative attention that I am facing. [Ahh… Oh well, I guess. It certainly can't be said that I didn't 'try my best,' though this instance just illustrates the lack of participation trophies in the world. In this world, where my best isn't enough, I must do even better in the future!]

I am about to drop out, to use the last of my energy to leap away from the fighting, when Reinhart finally steps forward. For the whole of the fight thus far, he had been just behind the front lines, content to watch without participating. I had figured that that was for the best; assuming we wanted any fairness in the battle, having Reinhart on our side isn't a good idea. Yet, here he is, drawing his rarely used legendary blade.

Seeing him approach, the tsunami of spells bombarding me ceases as their attentions are turned to the greater threat. However, their attacks are battered away as Reinhart demonstrates true mastery of the sword, a mastery above what he has shown in most of our battles. Though it does probably help that he has a legendary sword that dispels any magic it contacts.

Every attack thrown at him, elemental or otherwise, is cut out of the air as his sword moves in a blur. And due to its ability, he doesn't need to hit every attack; just swinging the sword through a clump of spells is enough to fully destroy them.

He reaches the portcullis, stopping to make a flurry of slashes that make a gap large enough for a wagon to pass through before continuing on past the gates. I feel a momentary worry for the inexperienced soldiers on the other side, which I quickly suppress. These soldiers can just drop out of the fight if they feel that they are in mortal danger, and even if they don't, why should I mourn the death of the monsters who celebrated the mass executions of their forcefully conscripted cowardly comrades?

He makes short work of those few soldiers too foolish to drop their weapons in surrender, leaving me to wonder if he might just single-handedly conquer the fortress himself; however, the commander leading the defense, a man that I have already forgotten the name of, appears to fight Reinhart. He is a mage, so I am rather intrigued when he uses magic to form blades of iron which he attaches to the end of his arms. [Oh? Surely it would be more effective to use ranged attacks… but of course! While, as commanders, they could be expected to be on a similar level when it comes to combat strength, Reinhart's sword completely ruins that logic as any ranged spell can be dealt with with ease. However, is attaching large iron spikes to your arms really the best move? Reinhart's sword can cut through the shell of an elder scorpion monster, I'm sure that metal will be no trouble.]

With that thought in mind, I am rather surprised to see the other commander's blades holding their form to near perfection.

"I see that you managed to acquire adamantite dust since last we fought. What percentage of your blades are formed of it?" Reinhart asks the commander.

"About ten percent. And you don't need to refer to our last altercation as anything so lofty as a fight - you honor me too much by doing so, considering the fact that you won in one blow."

"Ten percent? My, oh my, that must have been expensive. Still, it seems that it has paid off - you can now form blades on a whim that can counter my own legendary sword, truly impressive. And there is no need to be so humble about our previous fight, the results were purely a matter of weapon quality."

"Ha ha! If that is the case, I thank you for this opportunity!"

"Well, we best make the most of it," Reinhart replies, a rare smile adorning his face.

I do not wait for this conversation to play out as I charge through the gate, over a thousand soldiers behind me, only listening to it as I crash into the army of soldiers on the other side of the wall.

I do not fight very aggressively, allowing my allies to overtake me and do most of the fighting. The extended defense outside the gates from the constant attacks passing through the bars of the portcullis have left me physically wounded and mentally exhausted, and the courtyard where their force is lined up in the fort is not much better. The surrounding walls give the archers and mages an ideal platform from which to unleash their attacks, while the melee combatants in the field, an army of spearmen with interspersed metal and earth elementalists for defense, keep us occupied. In other words, a true deathtrap.

There is no keep or anything worth protecting at the center - just four walls and a courtyard, all teeming with enemy soldiers. Our goal is simple: now that we have gotten in, force the opponent to surrender. This can be done in one of two ways: either we force two thirds of their force out of the match, through dropping out, being knocked out, or, if necessary, killed, at which point we will automatically be declared victorious, or have the enemy commander surrender.

Our troops slowly pour forth into the enemy fortress, forcing those melee combatants who occupied the courtyard out of the fight before climbing the stairs along the walls to get to the ranged attackers. Though our opponent puts up a valiant effort in their defense, our much larger force, nearly entirely undiminished by our approach, crushes them with sheer numbers. Eventually a voice is projected out: "I, commander Belfrost, surrender. Reinhart's forces are the victors of today's battle."

Those enemy soldiers not yet out of the fight immediately put down their weapons, accepting their defeat with many a sigh of disappointment. As for our side's soldiers, well, you'd think that they had just won an actual battle. Their cheers erupt out across the conquered fortress as they celebrate our overwhelming victory.