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Violet was in a crisis. The opponent was a High-Level Monster, and in the blink of an eye, our squad had a member devoured!

“Ugh! If I get swallowed, it’s instant death!”

“I’m so scared! Kyaa!”

The Violets, who returned to the Network after death, screamed.

The Violets swallowed inside the black, slimy body melted away without leaving a single bone.

Fortunately, after learning the ability to hibernate, ejecting consciousness when the pain became unbearable was a valid strategy.

It took some time during battle, though.

“Fire! Fire!”

As the Violet Squad 3 dashed through the writhing tentacles to buy time, the Violets behind them fired their rifles.

It was like throwing a stone into a deep swamp—nothing happened. The creature’s squishy body regenerated in an instant.

“Heavy Weapon team, forward!”

“Fire!”

The Heavy Weapons team armed with rocket launchers and grenade launchers advanced.

The most powerful weapons available to infantry flew through the air and struck the monster’s body.

A brief flash and a thunderous explosion!

Some parts of the monster’s body shattered and scattered in all directions.

“Haha! We’re winning!”

“They said it was physically immune; was that a lie?”

Confident in our victory, we launched another heavy attack. After the second explosion, smoke obscured our view for a moment.

“Huh?”

“It blocked it.”

Squad Leader Violet tilted her head. Noxterra was still intact. The pieces of its body that had fallen off were crawling back and being absorbed into the main body.

“It really doesn’t work.”

Answering our confusion was Irene, who had been watching from behind.

“It hardened, that’s why. Get your guns and crossbows!”

In an instant, it solidified its squishy body.

Sure enough, Noxterra was indeed a Powerful Monster.

Its appearance resembled a slime found in common fantasy games.

The problem was, unlike slimes treated as beginner’s training dummies, Noxterra was a High-Level Monster with unique powers.

There are various criteria when classifying monster grades—how high is the firepower, what is its intelligence level, is its defense high, and does it have any tricky characteristics?

And it had the trait of being nearly immune to all physical means.

It absorbs weak attacks and adapts to block strong ones.

“Levi! Hit it hard!”

As the Violet on the rooftop urged, a massive bolt flew down. A hole was blasted in the creature’s hardened body, but the wound was quickly sealed.

“Ugh, that doesn’t work either?”

“Are you an idiot! It doesn’t have a core or a heart. What are you going to do with a hole? Just shred it or burn it!”

Lucian shot me a scornful glance as he prepared a spell.

Burn it, huh? According to the research I reviewed, its weakness was fire magic. So fire was its Achilles’ heel?

“Ugh! It’s flying!”

“My leg is broken!”

“Injured persons this way!”

The Violets were flung into the air by the tentacles.

“Ah! So disgusting and there are so many. Violet, don’t you have anything good?”

Kalia shouted towards me, vigorously cutting the tentacles with her flame-imbued sword.

Each severed tentacle drooped with smoke. This was the moment Kalia’s unique ability was shining.

But that monster was too large.

“Yeah! Just wait a bit! I’m preparing an attack!”

While Irene, Kalia, and Granite were busy chopping away at the tentacles in the front, the Violets weren’t staying idle.

A series of Violets took out Molotov Cocktails.

“I’ll set it ablaze!”

“Purifying Flames!”

Lucian, while preparing the attack, grabbed the arm of the Violet next to him in shock.

“Hey, are you crazy? Do you want to get hit by a flaming tentacle?”

“But burning it will work, right? This is a special incendiary grenade made by Violets! It can reach a maximum temperature of 2000 degrees!”

“It’s useless if it’s not magic!”

I see. This was the problem of a world obsessed with magical prowess.

But no worries. Our Violets know how to use magic. I’ll show you the results of the magic I learned from Professor Albert!

“Flame Burst!”

The Violets stretched out their arms.

The most basic of the basics, a flame burst surged from the palms. The tentacles twitched and pulled back.

“Uh?”

Oh dear, the tentacles pulling back was just for elasticity.

The Violets who had unleashed the flames were hit and fell.

“Ugh!”

“The monster isn’t stupid, and it won’t just let itself be roasted by a beginner’s magic. All of you in front, get out of the way! I’ll break it and then burn it!”

As the team members quickly retreated to the sides, Lucian snapped his fingers.

This was an often-used spell arrow attack, but this time, it flickered with dazzling blue flames.

Six arrows shot out in succession from the magic circle behind him, striking the monster. It was evident that the wounds wouldn’t be able to regenerate.

Not stopping there, Lucian unleashed an even more powerful attack of unimaginable strength.

A fire spear the size of a telephone pole embedded itself in Noxterra’s black body. Flames surged high.

“I got it!”

“No, it’s not enough!”

Barely celebrating our excitement, Noxterra revealed itself through the smoke.

Its size had shrunk, but only the outer surface had peeled off; we failed to shatter it entirely.

“Ugh! Is this the second phase?”

The monster, perhaps feeling threatened by Lucian blasting magic from the back, ignored the other team members and charged toward him.

“Hah, that was my maximum output? It’s still this strong? Truly a High-Level Monster.”

“Buy time! Fall back!”

Dozens of Violets rushed in to block the monster. It was like a swarm of mice attacking an elephant.

Despite knowing how to fight, the mice were gnawing and biting at the elephant, antagonizing it further.

The monster began to whip its tentacles around wildly, creating more.

“Ugh, ugh!”

Injuries ensued. Clumsy Granite was knocked over by a tentacle. Thanks to the shield, he avoided serious injury but rolled on the floor.

“Ahh! Irene, shall we just retreat?”

227, who was locked in a tug-of-war with three tentacles the size of logs, urgently suggested to Irene.

She was turning red from the monster’s bodily fluids dripping from the tentacles all over her skin. If it were me, I would have melted by now.

As a massive bolt sliced through the tentacles, she regained her composure and replied.

“Well, Noxterra is persistently tenacious. Whether you run or fight, you should prepare to die.”

“Ugh, it’s quite a lot of them. So, what’s the sure way to kill it…”

“Let’s chop it into bits and burn each piece!”

Ugh, there was no easy way out. I even thought of self-destructing but quickly dismissed it. Who knows if it might regenerate?

In the end, it seemed the Violets would have to do the heavy lifting.

A hundred Violets charged in unison, wielding weapons imbued with Sword Energy.

“Disassemble!”

“Cut it down!”

The Violets fervently clawed at the monster like ants sticking to jelly. They burned and stomped the monster with every tear.

As its body slowly began to shrink, the monster struggled.

“It’s resisting too fiercely!”

“The Command Center acknowledges it. Use Flame Blade!”

Our proud 5-star weapon, the Flame Blade, revealed itself. As we poured magical power into it, flames scattered, causing the monster’s tentacles to fall like leaves.

“I should have used this earlier!”

I had saved it so much as I totally forgot to use it. If I had taken it out sooner, we wouldn’t have had to go through this struggle.

Feeling a sense of crisis, the monster attempted to flee.

“Daphne, put up the shield!”

“I’ve set it up!”

As the monster tried to escape, I laid thin barriers around it like a barricade, sealing its movements.

The tentacles squeezed and swallowed the Violets, but even more Violets rushed in to tear it apart.

Slowly, gradually, Noxterra’s size began to shrink.

“Haha! Die!”

“Revenge for Squad One! The grudge of Squad Two! The wrath of Squad Three!”

After dozens of Violets fell, its size was reduced to a manageable level.

“Now!”

Lucian launched the flame spear once more. The monster shattered.

After setting fire to every single flaming fragment, we claimed victory.

“We won!”

I turned to my teammates to share the joy of victory.

“…Violet, are you okay?”

My teammates were looking at me with concerned expressions. What was wrong?

“It seems too many have died…”

“Huh? Don’t worry! It’s just how we are. We always end up dying.”

Lucian spoke with a look of exasperation.

“What a lunatic…”

Hmm, I guess my teammates weren’t used to death. They should get accustomed to it.

While everyone took a break, I gathered the injured Violets and some of our body parts to tidy up.

“Here’s a leg. I have an arm too, so please attach it!”

“Got it…”

Daphne quietly treated the severely injured Violets with a bitter expression.

It felt like mending broken dolls. The melted parts were filled with soft flesh once more, and the torn, broken arms connected smoothly as greenish magical energy flowed through them.

“Thanks!”

The Violets resumed running around as if they hadn’t been hurt at all. Daphne is so kind!

***

From this fight, I realized something. The importance of magic.

Thinking about it, our Violets were too fixated on swordsmanship and weapons and hadn’t really thought about specializing in magic.

While we had learned some magic from tutoring by Professor Albert, pulling the trigger was far easier than manipulating magic formulas. When would we have time to perform calculations while fighting?

“A foe that absorbs bullets, how troublesome.”

At least I had diligently trained in swordsmanship and close combat; otherwise, I would have had to run away for sure. It would be problematic if a situation arose where we couldn’t use guns or bombs.

Magic, huh? Perhaps I could apply the group calculation method I had used before.

As the Platoon Leader Violet sipped a drink while pondering, vehicles bearing the logo of Aegis Academy, which I had seen in the morning, passed in front of us and came to a stop.

“Wow, why are they here?”

The people disembarking from the armored bus looked wary as they spotted us.

“Could it be they came to capture us?”

“No! They’re students. I can see instructors as well.”

Why did they look suspiciously at us? We do look like a dubious bunch clad in dark combat uniforms with our faces obscured.

“Who are you?”

A familiar voice from the morning rang out again. Turning my head, I saw Adela!

“That look, could it be a Recognition Interference Device…”

Oh no, she even figured out about the Recognition Interference Device; we might raise suspicion like this. The Platoon Leader Violet quickly turned off the device and removed her mask.

“It’s me!”

“Violet!”

I felt a bit scared. I hoped Adela wouldn’t get angry again.

My expectations were misplaced.

“I can’t believe we’re seeing each other here again… I’m sorry about getting angry earlier…”

Adela smiled shyly.