"Someday, by all means, please save Janica."
I suddenly remembered the high-ranking wind spirit Marilda's message.
I couldn't help but want to ask follow-up questions at such a request.
How did it know what was going to happen to Janica? It probably didn't have information on how the story would progress like I did.
And what did it want me to do by asking me to save her?
Did it expect me to just run to the Student Center and defeat Velosfer? To go sacrifice myself and throw away my insider information about the future? How did it even think I could defeat Velosfer?
Or did it want me to read Janica's thoughts so I could prevent her from doing this? Like some mad god obsessed with controlling the variables to make it possible for Janica to live a happy life? There were certain degrees to how unreasonable demands could be.
But Marilda wasn't an idiot.
The one who delivered the message was Lucy Mayreel. Marilda kept track of every single move I made in the forest. This meant she took that into consideration before giving me the message. There must have been a reason for it.
Trying to figure out her intention wasn't easy, nor was it important right now.
I already had so many things I needed to take care of. I didn't have the headspace to even think about some side problem.
The world was already filled with difficult challenges, so I found no reason why I should even challenge the impossible.
The reason people had a hard time challenging the impossible was that they didn't even know it was impossible in the first place.
From the point of view of someone who had already cleared 'Sylvania's Failed Swordmaster' countless times, who had measured all the skills of both characters and enemies, who had played through the game in various playstyles—trying to beat Takan right now would be challenging the impossible.
'Sylvania's Failed Swordmaster' Act 1 Finale. The 3rd named boss. The high-ranking fire spirit Takan.
Takan was already a high-ranking spirit with overwhelming specs, but with Velosfer's Berserk buff, it now had an infinite advantage against magic. The hard scales that wrapped around its entire body nullified the power of any magic attack. The fact that a sword could even penetrate it already didn't make any sense.
Anyone who had ever played a game would figure it out at this point. Takan wasn't a boss made to be defeated through skills and strategies.
He was an event boss. A boss added by the story to have Taylor use his newly acquired Elemental Slash from the last chapter.
Whenever a new skill, function, element, or anything else was introduced in a game such as this, the natural progression would be to make players learn how to use it. It would be ridiculous if they just kept adding skills but never introduced the players to how to properly wield them.
As a result, this became a situation wherein I had to open a locked door without the key.
That was impossible, obviously.
"What's inside?"
"It's nothing special. It's not necessary, but it's good to have, just in case."
"Is… that so?"
Ziggs asked me about the leather bag I brought out from the reading room. But there was no time to explain, so I held the bag in my arms as I crossed the hallway.
Since I needed to make the impossible possible, my methods didn't have to be normal. If I couldn't open a locked door, then I just had to go through the back door.
The story that was progressing smoothly somehow got derailed. I needed to put my stance of safely watching from the sidelines on hold. I had to flip it back to its original state. I needed to quickly adapt to the unfolding situation.
I would have been able to solve this in a simpler way had I had enough time. Since I knew every single factor within the game, I would've been able to plan more accordingly to my benefit.
But I could only afford to deal with what I already had. And my method boiled down to my insider information, a privilege I alone enjoyed.
Luckily, I came up with a good idea.
Though the idea was ridiculous, it was the surest idea that would work out.
"I'm sorry for being late. I will pay for the crime I had committed."
"Never mind that. Even if you were here, we would have lost anyway."
The time to face the subjugation force came earlier than I had expected.
Ziggs dropped Elka off at the Student Square since he couldn't enter the Student Center with her on his back. We ran all the way here with all our strength since it was an urgent situation. But surprisingly, the subjugation team had already returned to the Square.
And their condition was ridiculous.
"We were lucky enough to retreat, but…"
Princess Pheonia looked up at the vast night sky. Glaskan's summoning circle had almost completely turned dark red. It wouldn't even be strange if it were to be completed right now.
The barrier covering the academic district was still intact, so it seemed moot to expect help from outside.
"Having come all the way here, this is a situation where I have to enter headfirst and either sink or swim."
Time wasn't on our side. Nobody would suggest waiting for outside help at this point, given how the summoning circle had filled the sky with red. But even if they were running out of time, the subjugation team already lost once and had wasted precious time from retreating.
I looked around. How far did they enter? Where did they get stuck? And how much damage did they take?
I was awe-struck by all the students gathered around me. All of these main characters who had individual roles were gathered together in one place like some sort of glorious event.
The Failed Swordmaster Taylor, Companion Ayla, The Benevolent Princess Pheonia, The Golden Daughter Lortelle, The Spear from Nature Ziggs, Head Escort Claire, Gloomy Klebias, Nosy Alvira…
They all had injuries of varying severity, big and small. Head Escort Claire, particularly, had one of her legs completely burned. She was now useless in terms of fighting power.
Not only that, but Klebias was also wearing a splint on one of his arms. It looked like a fracture. That meant he too had lost a great deal of value as part of the team's fighting power.
But the most important thing was that Taylor looked okay. Considering that fact, I started to decide what steps we needed to take to keep the story progressing.
Claire voiced her opinion, barely managing to keep her balance.
"If you're planning on re-entering, I think it would be a good idea to gather volunteers from the regular students and then re-enter. Once the pain goes away, I will also hurry up and…"
"That's enough, Claire. You will rest here."
Claire shook her head.
"Princess Pheonia, if you are really being considerate towards me, then please withdraw your command."
"You can't even walk properly, Claire. I too… have a heart."
You could infer from the princess's tone that the reason such a talented royal knight such as Claire was even seriously injured was that she had protected Princess Pheonia.
The princess spoke in a firm voice, keeping her resolve, but she must be a wreck inside.
It was definitely like her to not show any weakness. However, just being strong-minded didn't mean the current crisis at hand would be solved. It wasn't a strong heart that would solve this crisis, but one's abilities.
I looked around our surroundings.
Surrounding the Square were Neres Hall, Obell Hall, and the Student Center.
Of the buildings, Glockt Hall was completely destroyed, a result of entering the building to fight a mid-ranking spirit during Phase 2. The entrance to Training Hall was also open, probably from when they defeated the spiritual beast Altair who was blocking it.
Just as I expected. They got through Phase 2 but lost to Takan during Phase 3.
Thankfully, they were able to retreat successfully. Although they ended up wasting too much precious time and even lost Claire, who was an important part of the team in terms of fighting power. The top first-year student of the Combat Department, Klebias, had also lost more than half of his fighting power.
We didn't have much time and we were out of fighting power. It also seemed like the summoning circle would be completed anytime now before any sort of outside help could come. I couldn't just stay still, but I also was not sure if we would be able to win if we were to re-enter right away.
Princess Pheonia tightly clenched her teeth. She was in the position to lead the camp. She had to come up with some type of plan.
"Let's divide the subjugation team into two."
I spoke the minute I was able to properly assess the situation.
An outsider had intervened all of a sudden. The gloomy atmosphere due to the first-year aces getting hurt became even worse at my intrusion.
"Looking at the summoning circle, it seems like it's going to be completed soon. There's not enough time to defeat Takan."
"What the—Ed Rothstaylor?"
Gloomy Klebias said as he winced in pain from his fracture.
"Listen here, does this situation seem like a joke to yo—"
"Let's hear him out first, Klebias."
Ziggs stopped Klebias before he could finish what he was saying.
Everyone's eyes widened at the sight. They looked baffled. Something told me Ziggs's attitude before he left and his attitude towards me now were vastly different. They must be thinking something happened at the library.
But no matter what may have happened, I didn't have time to pay attention to such things right now.
"Takan relies on its hearing more than its sight when grasping the surrounding terrain and the enemy's location. So making a loud noise should be enough to lure him away. It will be better if we have one team distract Takan while the other enters the Combat Practice Field."
"Ed, you can only say that because you've never fought Takan."
It was Lortelle who responded. She had fought Takan one-on-one during the Joint Combat Practice class a while ago.
"It's not the same as when I fought it in class."
"I know. Velosfer must have cast Berserk. Fighting low-ranking spirits was enough for me to realize that."
"Attract his attention and earn time. That plan doesn't sit well with me. It was already a relief not to fall down or lose your life with each of its attacks. The only reason we were able to retreat was because we got lucky."
Lortelle calmly explained.
"Did you escape when the pillar fell down?"
"..."
How did you know that?
They all looked at me with the same question in their eyes. But there wasn't enough time to explain.
I wasn't comfortable intervening in the first place. I wouldn't have needed to explain anything if only there hadn't been an unexpected variable.
I had decided not to do anything that would ruin the flow of the original story so as not to risk the knowledge I had.
But I needed to put that aside for now.
※ There are three cutscenes mid-battle where the pillars around the corridor will collapse. You will instantly die if a pillar falls on you, so be sure to watch out for it!
It wouldn't have been this hard if we had Elemental Slash. But that was something you'd only know if you had enough experience playing the game.
If you led Takan under the large stone pillars found at three corners of the corridor, you would be able to time it and have them fall on him, giving the players a bit of time.
"You were lucky."
They were lucky enough to have one of the pillars fall on Takan, giving them enough time to escape. It was like the heavens had truly helped them.
Although that would only happen the first time, because Takan would cut the pillar with its tail after, meaning you couldn't rely on such luck twice.
"I won't press you for the details, but what you're suggesting is completely unrealistic, Ed. Takan was an opponent we couldn't do anything against, even when we all rushed him. So why would we split our fighting power into two? We may be able to buy a little bit of time, yes. But I don't think that small amount of time would mean anything in the long run."
What Lortelle said was realistic and reasonable. Her impressive level-headed reasoning was the biggest reason she got to where she is today.
"The half who would be in charge of Takan would most likely get wiped out before they could even buy us some time. And if Takan joins Velosfer at the field, that would just be the worst possible situation for us—taking care of both of them at the same time."
To summarize the entire reason for her objection, it was:
"The risk is too high."
But that was not something I could say, knowing what I know.
"The risk posed by an action can only be determined if there is another alternative path, Lortelle."
Lortelle momentarily shut her mouth, unable to refute my words. She rolled her eyes, thinking of what else she could argue with, but she couldn't come up with an alternative path to deal with this situation.
"Princess Pheonia, we shouldn't forget the most important goal we have right now. And that's to stop Janica, who is currently possessed by Velosfer."
Everyone fell silent. Nobody wanted to agree with me even though everything I said was true.
"There's no reason to defeat Takan. We can just run past him and find a way to stop Janica in the practice field. With this group of people here, we should be able to defeat Velosfer. No… not should. We have to defeat Velosfer."
With all these main characters gathered here today, if we still couldn't beat Velosfer, then it could only be attributed to a lack of synergy.
This subjugation team could definitely beat Velosfer and Janica during the final phase, even if they were lacking in fighting power. The key was Taylor's Swordmaster skill. Things would work out if enough people supported him during the battle.
"Ed Rothstaylor."
Princess Pheonia was staring right at me, looking worse for wear.