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The day after some of Nord Glacier’s members arrived at Nebel, they headed out to the forest together with Lua Cheia to continue training together, getting more comfortable with cooperating.

Then their third day there was actually the final day for ranked guild matches.

The second place guild Lua Cheia, third place Lan Canglong, fifth place Salted Salmon, and seventh place Lily Garden had all decided to stay in their places and did not challenge those in higher places.

The Black Wolf Pack had challenged Lily Garden, which did not show up to the match and lost by default, rescinding the seventh place to the Black Wolf Pack. The sixth place guild, the Tokai Corporation, also challenged Salted Salmon, had an overwhelming victory, and so they also switched places.

Now, the final ranked match was a challenge from the fourth place guild, Hexen Schuss, against the second place Lua Cheia.

◇◇◇

The team would teleport to the battle arena from the Transport Plaza in the town. So Crim and the rest accompanied the team there to see them off before the fight.

“Sorry that it’s just the two of you this time.”
“It’s okay, we’ve gotten stronger too after all. You can count on us!”
“Y-Yes..!”

Freya replied with excitement, but Lycoris was still nervous, as she was still not really used to being together with a largely new team. Usually she would turn into a completely different person the moment her finger rested on top of her gun’s trigger, but Crim was still a bit worried seeing her now.

“Cheval, take good care of them.”
“I’ve already told them what to expect, but you’ll still have to see what happens in the actual fight.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of that.”

Sorleon and Frey had some final words for Cheval too, who would be giving orders to the team, and then they were ready to teleport away. Meanwhile…

“Hey, you should at least say something to Lycoris before she leaves too.”
“…Huh?” Frey was a bit startled that Ernesta spoke to him so suddenly. “Why should I… Oh.”

Before he could finish his sentence, he noticed that the young girl was looking at him, her eyes full of expectation, so he changed course.

“You should keep something in mind. They probably have found some way to counter your sniping, since they wouldn’t have challenged us otherwise. Be careful.”
“…I see.”
“Also… Do your best.”
“…I will!”

This time Lycoris broke into a bright smile, and then vanished in the light of the teleporter.

“Well Crim, I’ll be going too then.”
“Mhm, good luck. I’ll be cheering for you.”

Freya exchanged a quick hug with Crim and then left too. All the remaining members could do now was to watch the empty teleporter.

“…They’ll be alright. Trusting your members is also part of your job as Guild Master, right?”
“…Right. We should go back to the guild house and get ready to receive them back while we watch.”
“That sounds good.”

And so, after watching the team of five leave to fight the ranked match, Crim and the remaining ones returned to their guild house.

Once back in the guild house, Crim summoned a window to watch the broadcast, made it bigger, and placed it in front of a wall in the living room, so everyone could watch.

The arena for their match was a city in ruins, and the action was just about to begin when they tuned into the broadcast.

“Wait, but why are they there!”
“I don’t know, did they hire them as mercenaries?!”

The Magius Orb capturing the scene also picked up the cries of Hexen Schuss’ members, who were a decent distance away, showing just how loud their voices had been.

Hearing that, Sorleon could not help but grimace a little.

“I guess it’s a bit unexpected to see members from the number one guild when challenging the one in second place, so it makes sense that they’re shocked. It might be a bit weird coming from me, but I feel a bit bad for them.”

He still seemed to be in a good mood as he watched the broadcast.

Still, from the point of view of Hexen Schuss, they probably thought they had dodged the hardest team, but then they ended up being face to face with the same players that nearly traumatized them during the tournament the other day, so it was hard not to feel bad for them.

“Ahahah…still, I did end up switching out the majority of my members with mercenaries.”
“And we’re getting a really good paycheck from this, so I don’t think anyone would blame me for accepting either.”
“…Hiring mercenaries from the number one guild did cost a lot…”

Mercenaries could be hired with either popularity points or the in-game currency, and the price would depend on the mercenaries’ guild.

That cost was eye watering for mercenaries from a guild that participated in ranked tournaments, and held one of the top 3 positions. A regular player would feel like selling off a kidney to hire someone like that.

If Crim kept relying on them she would also be bankrupt soon enough, so regaining the strength of her members was a priority.

“Well, it looks like they’re finally engaging in combat.” When Frey pointed that out, Crim and Sorleon stopped talking to each other and focused on the broadcast again.

There their opponents had just produced a thick cloud of white smoke, as if trying to conceal the ruins they were hiding in. It was clear that was the countermeasures they had come up with, a smokescreen.

“I knew they would think of that.”
“Well, it’s the most obvious choice after all. There’s two snipers in our team after all.”

Hexen Schuss also had one archer, but he was equipped with a shortbow which did not have much range, while Cheval’s main weapon was a longbow, which sacrificed reloading speed but granted much more range.

So overall the smokescreen was a bigger detriment for Lua Cheia than it was for Hexen Schuss, or at least that was what they believed.

“But we also thought of that much…and we prepared for it.” Sorleon said, crossing his legs and grinning as he continued to watch.

His eyes were filled with confidence, everything was falling into place and it was a checkmate for the enemy.

“…You’re really getting into the role of Demon Lord, huh?”
“You think so? Though I have to admit getting into this was surprisingly fun.”

Sorleon was watching the fight in such a good mood it would not be surprising if he started humming all of a sudden.

And surely enough, while the enemy moved within their smoke screen to get closer to Lycoris, Lueger charged right into them and captured one of them within the smoke, bringing him out at which point Lycoris’ light bullet pierced through him. Lueger and Lycoris were working in perfect unison to deal with their situation.

“Heheh, I can approve of your decision to use a smokescreen so readily, Hexen Schuss, but do you have the necessary ability to fight within it?”
“We’ve been training in places with low visibility in anticipation of this after all.”

Sorleon’s smile contorted slightly, like that of a tactician whose plan was working out perfectly. Reinhard also supported his opinion. All the time they spent training deep in the forest had been in preparation for this very situation.

The green leaves of trees growing thickly blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the ground, while their trunks made it hard to look very far.

They had trained under those conditions to be ready against smokescreens, and now that Hexen Schuss had deployed one as they were afraid of Lycoris’ sniping, they had actually ended up creating a terrain that gave Lua Cheia an even bigger advantage.

While it did make sniping harder, it also made things disorienting for those inside, so it was easy to deal with it with close range combat.

On top of that, Lua Cheia’s current lineup let them have two pairs, one with Lueger and Lycoris, and the other with Freya and Cheval, which could work independently to pick off enemies. Ernesta was also there to offer support if either pair had trouble.

While it felt a bit mean, Sorleon was right. Their training had been one step ahead the entire time.

“A guild full of battle maniacs is actually terrifying…”
“Now, don’t be mean to them. Our skills also improved thanks to them.”

Frey was right. Nord Glacier was the top guild, and thanks to their joint training, Lua Cheia’s combat strategies had improved greatly.

“Nuu…I wish I was there too…”
“Aww don’t worry, it’ll be your turn soon enough.”

Hinagiku was also watching the screen, sitting next to Crim, and she grumbled full of jealousy, feeling like she was missing out on the fun. It was clear she also wanted to demonstrate the results of her own training.

Crim gently patted her head and comforted her as they continued to watch their friends score kill after kill.

Freya and Lycoris had become far more perceptive than before, letting them be aware of both enemies and allies even when surrounded by a lot of action, so if someone needed help they could offer assistance instantly.

“Our team was put together rather hastily, but they’re performing quite nicely, if I say so myself.”
“Yes, they’re certainly getting along nicely. The two days of training are also paying off.”

Crim turned to her side to talk to Sorleon again, who replied with a satisfied look.

Meanwhile the screen showed how the last member of Hexen Schuss, their leader, was hit by both a light bullet from Lycoris and an arrow from Cheval, and vanished from the battlefield.

And so the match came to an end as Lua Cheia x Nord Glacier’s team emerged victorious.

As the broadcast ended, they began to get things ready to welcome back the fighters, but then…

“Ideally I’d like to fight some really powerful enemy before we really call our training complete.” Sorleon muttered that out of the blue.

“A powerful enemy…” Shortly after hearing that, an idea popped right into Crim’s mind.

I know which one.

There was one enemy that would be perfect for that. It was an enemy she had already defeated before, but at the time her senses were far from lucid so she did not really feel like she had actually won, and it was more like she had gotten lucky.

Now she had allies with her, and she herself had improved greatly. She was curious to see how well she would perform against that enemy now. It had been two months since that fight too, and Crim was nearly chuckling to herself picturing that enemy bored to death in its den now.

“Oh, it looks like you’ve thought of something then?”
“Yes…I know who the strongest is around here…”

Crim was in a really good mood knowing she would soon be able to get the revenge she had been dreaming about.