Chapter 207: Midterm Exam (2)

The difficulty of the dungeon was as expected. It was definitely not ordinary.

Although it wasn’t an actual magical beast dungeon, it was an artificial dungeon personally supervised by the meticulous Instructor Darren.

My group and I were busy withstanding the attacks of swarms of monsters that were rushing in.

“The left side is weak!”
“Yes, Count!”

Eric answered my shout. Eric looked very tense.

‘But they’re not that strong compared to their numbers.’

The monster horde that surrounded the group of only three was about thirty.

High-ranking orcs, lizardmen, and even ogres. They were quite imposing mid-level or higher monsters.

Moreover, they were even more ferocious due to the influence of demonic power, but they didn’t feel that threatening to me.

I lightly swung my sword at the ogre that was frozen in front of me. In an instant, all of its limbs were severed.

‘I can see all of its movements.’

An ogre was a high-ranking monster that could only be dealt with by at least a rank 3 or higher mana user. But it was boring.

The present-day demonic realm where not only monsters but also top-tier magical beasts swarmed. The Werniger Plains. I had spent two weeks rolling around in the Roya’s trial there.

Compared to the magical beasts and monsters there, this monster horde surrounding our group felt as cute as puppies.

“Eric! Change positions! I’ll go to the left and stand in the front line.”
“Y-yes!!”

Thanks to that, all the monsters in front of me avoided me. Eric was struggling with the continuous attacks.

‘Maria is still fighting well.’

Maria. I didn’t know her last name, but she was a red-brown bobbed swordswoman who wore glasses, which was unusual.

She wasn’t a very noticeable student in the Combat Order, but judging by her calm and elegant atmosphere, she seemed to be a noble, not a commoner. And she was unexpectedly skilled.

‘She was hiding her skills.’

She was lightly blocking the attacks of the monsters that rushed in first. And then, she was using a defensive swordsmanship style, counterattacking after that.

A subtle control of speed that a normal student wouldn’t notice. But I could tell.

‘Well, she’s cooperative for now. I’ll find out why she’s hiding her skills later.’

I cut off the neck of the dark orc that rushed at me again. When I held the front line, Eric helped me with the Imperial Swordsmanship.

“Count! I will help too!”

He was calling me Young Lord in front of Maria, which was a bit burdensome, so I pointed out his title. Eric, as expected of someone from Essenmunt, near Harsen, followed my words faithfully.

In addition, Eric was also humble towards his peer, Maria. It was just as Hans had told me.

‘He’s skilled enough. But he’s very intimidated.’

In Essenmunt, all the outstanding talents were prioritized for the White Night Knights.

Eric, who wasn’t able to join the White Night right away and came to the Pantheon, was inevitably behind them for now.

‘But his basics are good.’

He was properly using the basic forms of the Imperial Swordsmanship.

He didn’t have the flashing senses like Lucia, but he created extremely textbook-like sword paths and attacks.

Probably. It was a sword created at the end of countless efforts of swinging the sword.

‘But to go beyond the forms and reach the essence, he’ll need enlightenment.’

While I was briefly admiring Eric’s swordsmanship, I unconsciously cut off the heads of the leader-class monsters in the front line.

About ten of them. I easily cleaned them up as if I were slicing fruit. The monsters screamed in shock at the sight of their dead comrades.

“Gwaaaah!!”

And their encirclement was broken.

“…They’re running away.”

Maria said quietly.

As she said, the monsters, who were tired of my sword strike a moment ago, gave up the encirclement and ran away.

“If we were surrounded like this, we would have had to fight for a long time. We were able to get out of the encirclement easily thanks to you, Count.”

Eric and Maria’s expressions were filled with bewilderment.

‘Hmm. Did I do too much by myself?’

I thought again about the hidden intention of this evaluation.

“Still, if this many monsters keep appearing every time, it won’t be easy to reach the boss area in the center. There is a limit to stamina. To survive as long as we aim for, we need to move as efficiently as possible…”

Maria was right. This evaluation method was a dungeon survival.

The longer you survive in the dungeon and the more you reach the boss area, the higher the evaluation score you can receive.

‘But the number of magical beasts and monsters are dozens of times more than in a normal dungeon.’

As many students had entered, Instructor Darren had also expanded the size of the dungeon ridiculously.

If so, as Maria said, we should move as carefully as possible, but that wasn’t the only answer.

There were always guys who would just try to see how things go and try to get a free ride.

There would be many students who would hope that the leading squad would draw the aggro of the monsters or magical beasts and slowly enter the center.

‘No. That’s probably what they’ll do. If you retire early, you get the lowest score.’

But that was the worst option. If you stay on the outskirts without moving quickly to the center of the dungeon and just kill time.

Instructor Darren and his assistants, who entered the dungeon with the students, would ambush the students.

‘The magical beasts are much easier than Instructor Darren.’

Instructor Darren never goes easy on the students. So, moving slowly was suicide.

But that didn’t mean that it was a plus in this evaluation to just charge through with only the skilled students.

‘It also means that I shouldn’t solve everything by myself like a moment ago.’

Instructor Darren already knew the skills of all the students.

So, he knew that students like me, Lucia, Leif, and Fabian would have a much higher contribution to the party than other students.

So, Darren had different evaluation criteria for each level of student.

For students who were at the top of their skills. He would separately score how much they could raise the level of the party, and whether they also had the skills as commanders.

‘Individual actions that ignore the party are penalized more the higher the student’s tier is. And vice versa.’

In other words, in order to aim for the top spot in this evaluation. It meant that I had to maximize the potential of my party members, Eric and Maria.

‘Especially Leif, who is on good terms with the students of the Combat Order. I have to focus more to beat him.’

Leif was good at swordsmanship, but he was also a decent leader. But I was confident. I already knew all the evaluation criteria through Demon Survival.

And this evaluation was also a new challenge for me, who would lead the heroines’ party in the future.

“Then let’s move.”

The terrain of the dungeon was a dense forest. It was hard to distinguish the surrounding terrain because it was covered by tall trees and leaves.

But I moved my feet without any hesitation. The two followed me.

---

Maria was hiding with her two companions behind a large rock nearby.

A dense forest where she couldn’t get a sense of where to move. Moreover, the demonic power of the dungeon confused even the human sense of time and direction.

But she and her companions were relatively calm. They were taking a short rest while hiding next to this rock. They had encountered monster hordes about three times.

But there was no great danger. It was partly thanks to Julian’s excellent swordsmanship as the party leader.

But more than that, it was because of Julian’s insight and judgment as the temporary commander that was surprising.

‘It’s more than I thought. Everything is going as he directs. Even Eric’s and my actions.’

Julian von Reinhardt. Last year, when he was a first-year student. The scoundrel Count who showed a lot of disgrace in the Combat Order and never returned.

But he had changed in his second year. True to the reputation of the name Reinhardt. He instantly took away the name of the best student in the Combat Order that Leif had.

‘Then… I have no choice but to acknowledge his skills. I guess Lady Lillia was right.’

And Maria. She thought of her master, whom she had served for a long time. The Third Princess of the Empire. Lillia Lamir Asterisk.

That’s right. Maria was pretending to be an ordinary student in the Combat Order, but she was actually Lillia’s maid and her loyal bodyguard, a Royal Guard.

When Lillia entered the Pantheon to attend the academy with her fiancé. Maria also entered here with her for Lillia.

Of course, as a Royal Guard who protected the noblest lineage in the Empire, Maria’s swordsmanship was good enough to become a member of the Imperial Guard or a famous knight order, not just a student.

‘But I had no complaints. It’s my mission to protect Lady Lillia by her side.’

However, it was strange for her to enter the Roya Order instead of Medica, which was Lillia’s Order.

But Lillia said that everything had a reason and kept Maria in the Combat Order.

‘I know the reason now.’

The scoundrel Count had returned to the Combat Order in his second year.

She had heard that he could participate in lectures and training in other Orders, but the main place where he was was the Combat Order.

So, she was able to report all the things that Julian had done in the Roya Hall this semester to Lillia very vividly.

‘Lady Lillia was very happy every time.’

And Maria guarded her every night in the West Palace of the Imperial Palace. The place where Lillia stayed.

The fact that Lillia, who was famous for being virtuous like a kind and pure lily, had been masturbating intensely every night while calling Count Julian’s name.

It was a secret that only Maria knew. Lady Lillia had a thorough personality, but she was still lenient with Maria, who had been with her since childhood.

Especially on the days when Julian’s activities were reported. The masturbation continued all night, to the point where she had to worry about the soundproofing of the West Palace…

And to protect the reputation of Lillia, who might become the next Saint. Maria had always secretly cleaned up the soaked bedsheets.

‘Lady Lillia likes the Count like that. But I wonder if the Count knows…’

And recently, she was following him under Lady Lillia’s orders. Last year, he was a disheveled beggar, but.

Count Julian, who had become a surprisingly handsome man now. There were always beautiful women by his side. And they also seemed to have special feelings for Count Julian.

‘Just looking at Lucia of our Order. She already seems to be completely in love with him.’

Lucia May. She seemed to have great potential for swordsmanship. But she was a female student who couldn’t show her skills properly as if she had a shackle on her heart.

Lucia, who was talked about for her appearance rather than her skills in the Combat Order. She had changed after hanging out with that Count.

‘I couldn’t figure out the details of what happened. But I think I know to some extent.’

And while Maria was lost in thought. Eric, who was using a divine spell, opened his eyes.

“C-Count! I have grasped all the terrain in the vicinity as you said!”

Eric, a student who always walked around with his shoulders slumped without confidence. That student’s talent was now blossoming under Julian’s command.

‘Another thing has happened that Lady Lillia will be happy about.’

He was just a student in the end.

But Julian knew why the students of the Combat Order received the Holy Priest ordination. And what advantages that difference had compared to the swordsmen of the general knight orders.

He understood it perfectly.

Julian, who heard Eric’s words, answered calmly.

“Then let’s move again. And after passing this area, we might meet rival students. Will you continue to follow my instructions?”
“Yes! Young Lord!!”

Eric nodded his head sharply. He had changed his title again in the meantime. It felt like Eric trusted Julian.

‘He’s fast. And rational. And he only gives instructions that he can handle. I didn’t know he had such excellent qualities as a commander.’

And in fact, even Maria, whose real identity was a Royal Guard, felt like following Julian’s words willingly.

She also answered Julian.

“Yes. I understand.”

---

The evaluation was coming to an end. I didn’t rush, but I never dawdled to avoid being ambushed by Instructor Darren’s group.

And I placed Eric in the front of the party. Me in the middle. Maria in the rear. I gave instructions from the middle, and the two calmly broke through the monster encirclement.

Maria was only maintaining her own role as instructed. So, Eric’s performance stood out in this evaluation.

‘He followed my instructions quite well.’

Clearly, in terms of pure swordsmanship talent, he was inferior to the top students of the Combat Order.

But I already knew from Hans that Eric was a hard worker. And I, who entered the dungeon with him, had also seen it with my own eyes.

He had probably already felt a wall himself. But he still held his sword. He stepped on the familiar sword paths and forms again and again.

It was an endless act of proving his faith in the sword and the martial arts. He might have been frustrated that no one would recognize his efforts.

But as long as Eric had sworn to be loyal to the god of combat, Roya, under her name. Roya would not abandon her priest.

He might not be able to stand side by side with those geniuses. But still, Roya would give her priest grace as a god, taking the last step to catch up to them.

‘That is the Holy Knight of Roya.’

That’s right. Eric could develop into a Holy Knight of Roya, not an ordinary knight.

And as the son of Saint Agnes and a priest who had passed Roya’s trial.

I taught him a unique sword form, no, a combat form that only a Holy Priest and a Holy Knight could use.

‘Swordsmanship is just a weapon. What brings victory is the eye that penetrates tactics. That’s why the Combat Order exists.’

And the eye that penetrates beyond tactics, a battlefield. I also taught Eric a part of that vision that I had gained from countless beheadings in the Werniger Plains.

I had already felt Roya’s will once there. So, I quickly realized that Eric was qualified to receive Roya’s blessing.

‘Eric said that he had been diligently attending not only swordsmanship training but also the Combat Order’s theoretical combat lectures.’

I led Eric, and I created moments where his efforts could truly shine in the right places.

At first, Eric was just following the Young Lord’s instructions. But he gained confidence after seeing that all of my instructions were perfectly correct.

He felt the joy that his efforts were not in vain. And soldiers who met a trustworthy commander were surprisingly motivated.

As a result, Eric created the Firebird of Roya. It was that divine spell that he had quickly grasped the terrain nearby a moment ago.

The firebird, which contained the will of the god, revealed the location of the enemy. It was difficult to even see an inch ahead because of the demonic power and the dense trees. But Eric found it.

“Young Lord! It’s Leif’s group!”

I finally found him. The enemy I had to defeat to take first place in this evaluation.

I quickly gave instructions to Eric and Maria.