With a flick of his will, Ruvian sent a spiral of wind crashing into the Crawler’s leap, enough to shift its path by a single breath. Yerin adjusted in the same moment, her blade cutting through the exposed nape in one motion. The beast didn’t scream. It didn’t have time to.
Another gust, this time sharper, curved into Arlok’s flank. The Crawler had crept behind him, claws glowing with ambient mana. Ruvian’s interruption unbalanced it mid-strike, and the poleaxe followed through—cleaving bone, then dissolving it into light.
Then, the Drakeburr reared back, its breath igniting, mana flaring red. Horren’s wind arrow twisted as it formed. The wind arrow compressed, then sliced across the creature’s snout before it could release the flame.
Shima struck an instant later. A clean thrust of purple lightning, and the creature vanished in shards of fading blue.
Silence returned, broken only by the soft thrum of the retreating array. The dome flickered and dropped. They had won. Quickly and cleanly. But Ruvian remained still, eyes tracing the echo of the fight.
‘There were too many openings where there shouldn’t have been.'
Arlok’s footwork had clipped Shima’s advance once. Horren’s last arrow came dangerously close to Yerin’s shoulder. And more than once, a kill had been made not by coordination, but by the narrow margin of luck or Ruvian's intervention.
Arlok was the first to break the silence, the head of his poleaxe resting against his shoulder as though the fight hadn’t even warmed him up. “Hah! That was way too easy,” he said with a grin, his voice echoing slightly within the hollow of the training dome.
Shima, by contrast, let out a breathless sigh, a hand on her hip as sparks of lingering lightning fizzled around her fingers. “Easy because it's just a mana-copy summoned creature, not the real one." she muttered, though it lacked any bite. Her breaths were shallow, disappointment evident.
Yerin remained silent as she sheathed her sword. Her soft hazel eyes shifted from one teammate to the next as if she had a lot to say but held it on first. Then, Horren spoke up, a little softer than usual, his bow already disassembled on his back. “I think… we shouldn’t raise the level just yet.”
Arlok scoffed, glancing over. “What? Why not? That was barely a warm-up. We won in under two minutes.”
“T-that’s not what I meant,” Horren began, but faltered as Arlok’s gaze bore into him. It wasn’t hostile, but for Horren, it was a heavy one that demanded conviction or silence. And Horren, hesitant by nature, chose the latter.
Yerin’s gaze slid back to Horren, then to Arlok. “Hold on. I think Horren has a reason. He sees more from the rear; his position gives him a better view than any of us. Let’s hear it.”
Horren opened his mouth again… but the words dissolved before they formed. His eyes flicked to Arlok, then down. That was when Ruvian stepped forward. “I can also speak in his stead,” he offered.
"Ah, yes. Thanks, Ruvian." Horren said.
Yerin met Ruvian's eyes and gave a nod. “Go on.”
“We won, but that’s not the same as doing well.” He began. The way Ruvian delivered it had earned Arlok’s attention; he was curious now rather than combative. Ruvian continued. “You’re all strong. Individually. But strength alone isn’t enough. Not when we move like strangers playing the same tune but in different rhythms.” His gaze shifted from one member to the next.
“Shima, your agility is a weapon, but twice you had to break your momentum because Arlok shifted too far left into your space. You adapted it well, but it cost you positioning.” (+100PP)
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Arlok raised an eyebrow, but didn’t argue. “Horren, your arrows are sharp and timed well, but the first shot nearly grazed Yerin’s shoulder. A few degrees off, and we’d have been treating a wound mid-combat.” (+100PP)
Horren winced.
“Arlok, your poleaxe makes you the heaviest hitter here. But it also makes you the least mobile. You tend to commit before checking who’s around you. You almost tripped Shima’s feint because your rear arc was exposed.” (+100PP)
The broad-shoulder boy scratched the back of his neck, frowning.
“And Yerin…” Ruvian turned to her. “I have nothing to say as I don't find any flaw that I can point out.” (+100PP)
Yerin said nothing, but her eyes narrowed slightly, reflective. Ruvian folded his arms. “We don’t need stronger enemies now. Raising the difficulty won’t improve anything if we can’t even act as one unit. We’ll just carry our individual flaws into a harder fight.” (+100PP)
He let the words settle in the air. “What we need isn’t a bigger challenge. It’s a tighter formation. Trust. Coordination. The basics must be executed flawlessly. Only then do we raise the stakes.”
He looked at each of them again, his expression thoughtful.
“Otherwise, we’re not a squad. Just five people in the same room, hoping our strengths happen to align.”
****
Nine hours.
That was how long they’d been with the nonstop drills, coordinated formation changes and combat simulations. Nine relentless hours broken only by five brief intervals of rest, each no longer than twenty minutes. It wasn’t enough. It never was. But they pushed forward anyway, driven by discipline.
Now, at the edge of collapse, the squad lay scattered across the training ground.
Shima was the first to surrender fully to the floor, limbs sprawled as if gravity had finally won the war. Horren followed shortly after, lying flat on his back, his bow tossed aside. He stared up at the high stone ceiling, chest rising and falling.
Yerin was on one knee, shoulders rising with slow, even breaths. Her blade was grounded beside her. Her neatly high ponytail, brown-ash hair damp with sweat, but her face was still composed despite the exhaustion.
Ruvian knelt nearby. One knee down, both palms pressed to the stone floor, spine curved forward like a bridge refusing to break. He hadn’t allowed himself to lie down. Not out of pride, but out of principle. If his thoughts were still clear, if his body could still move, then there was still work to reflect on.
Only Arlok remained standing… if just barely. His poleaxe was planted like a cane beneath him, his back slightly hunched, legs trembling under his weight. He either didn’t notice or simply refused to acknowledge it.
“We made a bit of progress,” Yerin murmured finally, her voice steady but low. Arlok raised his head, serious for once. “I can do this all day,” he said.
His words were bold.
His legs, however, were not.
Shima let out a wheezing chuckle. “Yeah, yeah. Just… make sure your legs don’t decide for retirement tomorrow morning.” Arlok looked down and held his legs. They were indeed shaking like fighting against the rest of his will.
Ruvian remained where he was, his mind drifting far beyond the dull ache of exhaustion. His breath was ragged, but his thoughts were still sharp. They’d run the same simulation eight times. And in just those few hours, something had changed. The formation that had once moved out of sync had started aligning. Intervals were being shaved. Movements started to overlap in the way they were meant to.
What surprised him most wasn’t the improvement, it was the speed of it.
‘Amazing… They all improved speedily within a few practices.’
Yerin, in particular, was a revelation. ‘By the fourth round, she’d already begun adjusting formations mid-way without needing to say a word. She has… leadership qualities in her too.’
Then, there was Arlok. Loud and impulsive, but when he moved, it was instinctively correct. His combat intuition wasn’t refined, but it was raw and honed by nature. He could read shifts in enemy tempo without needing to see them. ‘As if his body simply knew.’
‘Shima, too… her movements had grown more precise.’ Once she understood her window in the formation, she flowed like water filling a container. She learned quickly, even under fatigue.
And Horren… he was a bit hesitant, not because he couldn't pull it off, but because he was worrying a lot that his arrows might hit his teammates. Ruvian had noticed: his arrows now flew with subtle awareness. He was tracking teammates’ positions, adjusting flight arcs. ‘All Horren needs is just confidence.’
‘They’re better than I thought, even though not as strong as the named characters.’
He rose slowly and looked up. ‘They're all very good assets for the future. I should help them get stronger.’ Ruvian needed as much manpower as he could get for the calamity.
For now, he will just continue to observe them.
[You have received +500 Plot Points for improving your Squad Battle Power!]
[Your narrative relevance has influenced a lot of unnamed characters!]
PP= 5700
ME= 325