Blade Over Magic

Easy

After the latest round of killing, Falael asked Xander via telepathy.

’By the way, what happened to those three?’ Their voice was calm, like they hadn’t just unleashed an attack that killed hundreds of monsters in one go. And by ”those three”, they naturally were referring to Mia, Mary, and Keir.

Xander also didn’t stop his movements as he continued killing any creatures that tried to close the distance using the ravine walls, but he still replied.

’I’m not entirely sure. But Mia said that there’s something she needed to do with Keir. My current theory is that she wants to train him.’ Xander explained.

’Train a dragon?’ Curtis sounded confused.

’I feel like that’s the least confusing thing here.’ Aubrey sighed.

’Hey, if it works, it works.’ Xander gave a mental shrug while beheading the last creature on the on the walls and retreating back to the group.

’Anyway, regarding your plan...’ The mood suddenly turned serious. Well, more serious than it had already been.

’So you want to get rid of the two latent issues, being this Ravine and the Azure Tree before the time Mary presented for the ants, so that the burden on Landor will lessen. And you also want us to smoke out a traitor, if that conjecture of ours was correct.’ Falael recalled, and Xander made an affirming noise.

’I have a semblance of a plan for the possible traitor, I’ll run it by you guys when we start heading back. As for the Azure Tree, that depends entirely on what happens after Keir and the other two return. The issue now is this ravine. We’re on a timer, and I’d rather not leave it be till after the traitor—if there is one—is caught. That could take the whole week. Moreover, the person or persons could hinder our attempts. So I personally think it’s better to deal with it sooner rather than later. Preferably before they realize that’s our intention.’ At this, the group fell silent for a few seconds besides the occasional Aubrey call out.

That’s when Curtis spoke.

He first blocked another salvo of projectiles before giving Falael an opening to destroy the culprits, then he suggested.

’Sparrow said that the demonic beasts here don’t just charge out because the more powerful ones who hold different territories in the ravine aren’t really friends. So no one wants to go first. But that also means that—at least at some level—the beasts here are controlled by those bosses. So what if we killed them?’ That gave everyone a pause, telepathically, anyway.

Aubrey released an arrow that accurately went through the heads of three feline-type demonic beasts and spoke.

’You mean killing the leaders to throw the rest into disarray.’ She hummed.

’Yeah. With no one to keep them in check, they will start fighting each other until a new leader appears. Landor’s military could capitalize on that and settle everything in one fell swoop, rather than waiting for a new leader to appear.’ Curtis explained.

’That doesn’t sound like a terrible plan, actually. In fact, that might help our traitor case. Our conjecture was that there should be no reason for these three threats to have solidified their foundations. So perhaps, if the leaders of the demonic beasts are killed, we can single out our targets by those who suggest that Landor doesn’t finish the remaining creatures off.’ Xander intentionally didn’t offer his opinion as he was curious to see what idea the trio could come up with, and he had to say, the plan wasn’t terrible.

’It doesn’t sound too bad. I’m for it.’ He agreed.

’Yup.’

’So am I.’ Aubrey and Falael gave their concessions, and Curtis looked like he’d just received a great gift.

Falael couldn’t stop themselves from teasing.

’Wow. I guess you’re pretty smart too, puppy.’ The nickname instantly made Curtis sputter.

’Wh-Wha...!?’ The group just chuckled at that.

’Anyway, that aside, we still need to learn what those beast leaders actually are and what they do, as well as their locations in the Ravine. Charging blindly in won’t be very wise.’ Aubrey chose to be the voice of reason and warned.

’Yeah, we’ll ask Sparrow on the way.’ Xander agreed before adding inwardly.

’And if we pull this off and Falael’s prediction comes true, my plan might actually help in singling out the traitor further. Not bad.’ He smiled to himself as Aubrey pointed out the next group of potentially problematic creatures for him to deal with, and he once more went out with the help of Curtis.

In just half an our, the bottom of the slope looked like a complete nightmare. Incomplete monster corpses filled the gap, slowly becoming an artificial hill, and Aubrey noted that it could actually become problematic since it would allow the demonic beasts to climb higher and higher.

... So in response, Falael just blew it up.

Yeah, as it turned out, having an artificial star for a mana pool raised their killing proficiency to an obscene level. Xander suspected that if not for the fact that Falael ran the risk of Mana burnout from spamming too much, they would have just directly nuked the place.

Eventually, though, no more beasts went up. Instead, the ones that remained stopped their mindless charge, took the remains of the beasts that had died, and retreated further into the ravine, leaving the area in relative peace.

”Well, that was fun.” Falael smirked as they stored away their wand, and the rest nodded, except for Aubrey who was looking into the distance with narrowed eyes.

’... What is it?’ Xander subconsciously tensed up, but Aubrey just shook her head.

’It seems we cause a bit of a ruckus. Some things were looking this way, but it doesn’t look like they will do anything. Unless we continue our killing.’

’So that’s what Sparrow meant by they will unite in the face of a substantial threat...’ After a few seconds, Sparrow’s voice sounded behind them.

”Alright y’all. That’s enough. Any more and you risk drawing the attention of those things. That’s enough.” She looked down at them from further up the slope as she said this, but Xander noticed that her expression seemed... a little odd.

’Did we do good or bad? Time to see.’ He mused as they all went back up.

Sparrow and co observed the group and noticed that none of them seemed even remotely tired.

’I can give the ice kid a pass since his role was pretty simple. Xander also acted a lot less than I imagined, though once more the way he used that sword was strange, and it was clearly different from the sword he used before. But the rest don’t even seem mildly winded. That half-elf kept pumping out those spells, while the girl consistently drew that bow with her whole body for half an hour, but she’s not even out of breath. Just who are these kids.’ And naturally, there was also their killing efficiency.

”So, how did we do?” Xander tilted his head, clearly expectant. Sparrow was silent, so Nash was the one to speak. The harsh lines of his face clearly surprised.

”... Typically, the most agreed upon tactic is to hit and run. Kill the outermost demonic beasts and retreat before they can converge. This typically takes a while and is dangerous since one small mistake can screw over the entire squad.” He rubbed his chin. ”I’d never even considered using the terrain like that...” The rest shared his sentiment, but Xander just shrugged.

”The ravine is a natural chokepoint. The fact that it slopes made it even better. It was just a matter of exploiting it.” That caused the faces of the veterans to turn even stranger. This kid had just effectively told them that their way of doing things was too inefficient so he made a new method on the spot.

They couldn’t argue with the results, though.

Sparrow sighed and scratched between her braids.

”... Usually, it takes hours just to get the results you did. That’s why rotations here take half a day or more. Who’d have thought... Sigh. It doesn’t matter. We’ll return and tally up your kills so your merit points can be calculated.” Hearing this, Xander pumped his fist inwardly. The military merit points they earned while here could be directly exchanged for credits back in Avoma.

”Hey, I ain’t complaining, means I get to chill back in the tent.” Zeke picked at his ear, and Ragna scoffed.

”Chances are that the captain will just assign us another assignment.” Zeke deflated at that.

Bodhi took that moment to approach Xander, his eyes gleaming.

”Is that what you were referring to by using rotation to increase my damage against larger beasts?” As soon as he asked the question, Xander’s expression changed as he smiled and launched into a detailed explanation about centripedal forces and how it was particularly effective against larger creatures especially with a large weapon.

At this point, both groups had already accepted that the two of them were sword maniacs and just left them to it.

It was only about halfway back to Landor that Xander remembered to ask Sparrow about the Ravine.