8. Jayden’s Value (4)
Watching the trolls advance from afar, Jayden fired first, along with the whistle signaling the retreat.
When he fired mana bullets at the trolls some distance away from the knights and professors, the students likewise began attacking places away from the knights and professors, just as Jayden did.
“Don’t fire in bursts! Aim as precisely as you can!”
Jayden shouted, stopping the children who were about to fire repeatedly.
No matter how much the guns had been made to suit children, they were already weaker in destructive power than ordinary guns, and the moment a child tried to fire in succession with their arm strength, even their aim would go to pieces, making it impossible to deal any damage to the trolls.
Rather than that, it was better to aim carefully and fire single shots, even if it only inflicted the slightest damage on the trolls.
Then, despite having been fired from far away, the trolls that were lucky enough to be hit in vital spots let out monstrous screams.
Moreover, even if the bullets hit ordinary patches of hide, there was at least a momentary sting of pain. Of course, they recovered quickly, but just as with humans, even a slight sting would make one flinch if it continued.
When the trolls, who had been charging in with great momentum, momentarily flinched, the knights and teachers reacted to the sound of retreat and began to fall back little by little.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
-Gwooo!
The moment one troll roared along with the sound of drums, blue mana swept through the surroundings and began seeping into the trolls.
At that instant, the trolls’ eyes turned blue, and their bodies began to flush red.
Then, with blue flames, the trolls transformed like berserkers and began charging forward.
True to their cunning nature, the trolls instinctively sensed that if they let the knights and professors go now, an annoying situation could unfold.
“It’s berserk!”
“Be careful!”
The professors shouted toward the students as they ran for the academy’s main gate.
But contrary to the professors’ worries, the students did not panic and continued firing.
The regenerative power of the trolls that had gone berserk was doubled, and their muscles also temporarily swelled, so bullets had no effect at all.
Even so, though it did not hurt, if bullets kept lodging in their arms or bodies, they could not help but feel a tickling sensation, and the more that happened, the worse the trolls’ berserk state became.
“Have reinforcements arrived?”
“No.”
At the tactical studies professor’s question, Jayden shook his head.
“Then how…”
“Please go inside for now.”
Cutting off the professor, who was about to scold him, Jayden gave him a subtle glance.
When the professor saw the explosives embedded all over the academy’s main gate, he flinched, then went inside with a sigh.
The knights who followed also looked at the students with worried expressions before going inside, and then the trolls came running like mad.
“Close the gate!”
At Jayden’s shout, the students joined forces and shut the massive gate. Then, because the gate was closing, the trolls surged in while letting out monstrous cries.
“Let’s fall back.”
At Jayden’s words, all the children hurriedly began moving away from the gate.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before they knew it, the trolls had reached the gate and began pounding on it as if they would smash it down at any moment.
Jayden and the students, who had moved far away, watched the trolls force their bodies into the gaps that gradually appeared as the gate broke apart.
After confirming that dozens of trolls were pressed against the broken holes, Jayden gave a small nod, and the children began detonating the bombs.
Kwaaaaang!
With a tremendous explosion, the gate and walls collapsed all at once, and the trolls pounding on the gate as well as the trolls trying to climb over the walls were all caught in the blast.
It was an enormous explosion that shook the very ground, powerful enough to collapse the foundation where the gate had stood, but he judged that, with the trolls’ regenerative power, this alone would not kill them.
Some of the closest trolls might have met their deaths, but the ones nearby would have survived.
That was because their monstrous regenerative power, which could restore even severed arms, would keep them alive.
“Let’s go.”
At Jayden’s words, the students who had stayed behind for the explosion all fled toward the academy building.
When they circled around the outside of the parade ground and entered the building, the exhausted-looking professors were waiting for Jayden.
“What on earth were you thinking! The explosion was bigger than expected, but if they’re trolls, they won’t die from something like this!”
“That’s right. They’ll be wounded, but the regenerative power of berserk trolls will withstand it.”
At the general magical beast studies professor’s words, the large monster tactics professor spoke as if in agreement.
“It’s not over yet.”
“What?”
Bang!
At the same time as Jayden’s reply, a massive explosion rang out.
As if that was not the end, the sounds of explosions rang out one after another from multiple directions.
“For them to get here, they’ll have to break through a field of bombs. If that happens, even the mighty trolls will have no choice but to suffer a decline in regenerative ability.”
“That’s…”
Even if they endured the first one, if they suffered major injuries in succession, then no matter how strong a troll’s regenerative power was, recovery would inevitably take time.
Because even berserk had its limits.
“The weakness of berserk is its short duration and the helplessness that follows from the loss of strength afterward. Am I correct?”
“…Yes.”
At Jayden’s question, the general magical beast studies professor answered blankly.
“By the time they arrive here, their berserk state will have ended, or they’ll be covered in blood. Then I think even the injured professors and knights will be more than enough to finish them off.”
Jayden said that and smiled broadly.
“Of course, that’s only if they arrive here on time.”
At Jayden’s words, the students nearby also smiled.
What the other students had buried, aside from Jayden and the students who had covered the professors at the academy’s main gate, was not only bombs.
Though crude, they had buried traps and devices from the academy here and there.
It was to buy even a little more time. At the same time, the bombs buried all over the place kept obstructing the trolls’ advance.
Of course, since the distance from the main gate to the academy building was not very long, the trolls eventually did reach the place where the professors and students were gathered.
Tadadadadang!
-Gwoooo!
They showered the blood-soaked trolls running toward them with gunfire, and the ones that still broke through were finished off lightly by the knights, who cut off their heads.
Finishing off trolls that staggered after their berserk state had worn off was an easy task for the knights.
The professors likewise killed, one by one, the trolls that broke through the net of fire a few at a time.
The repulsive vitality of the trolls clung to their lives and dragged them all the way to where the students were, but their half-dead bodies could not respond to the knights’ attacks.
-Gwooooo!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The troll chieftain began to roar, holding a staff plastered with bone necklaces and bone ornaments that symbolized his status. Then the berserk trolls returned to their senses, stopped charging blindly, and began gathering around the place where the chieftain stood.
Seeing that, Jayden urgently spoke to a professor.
“Professor! I think we need to scatter!”
“A shaman?”
At Jayden’s urgent words, the professors, who had been fighting frantically, all looked at once toward the place where the chieftain was.
“Everyone, scatter!”
At the professor’s command, all the students and knights began dispersing at once.
Then, from the place where the trolls had gathered, blue fireballs formed and were fired all at once toward the academy building.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Those lunatics. They’re firing without caring that their comrades are there!”
“They’re judging that they won’t die because they have regenerative power.”
The knights cursed at the trolls’ attack, which showed no regard for their comrades, and struck the fireballs away with their swords or dodged them.
Meanwhile, the students evacuated into the building.
As befitted a building constructed in the middle of monster territory, even though it looked old, defensive magic circles were densely laid throughout it, and its interior was packed with thick steel, making it a structure that would not collapse easily.
“Hah… hah…”
“They’re insane!”
“Is the chieftain out of his mind?”
As soon as the students entered the building, they clicked their tongues at the sight of the trolls attacking even their own comrades.
But Jayden, who already knew well how cunning trolls were, spoke as he looked at the excited students.
“They know it too. If they drag this out any longer, reinforcements will pour in, and they’ll lose.”
“Trolls are smart enough for that?”
“Right. Unlike ogres, trolls are cunning. For monsters, their minds work fast. And if creatures like that have plenty of experience fighting humans? They could easily anticipate this much.”
Jayden hadn’t believed it in his previous life either, but despite their brutish appearance, trolls were quite intelligent.
In fact, during the Northern War in his previous life, there had been quite a few times when goblins and trolls had been more troublesome than several ogres. Cunning monsters were a problem.
“Aren’t they going to break through at this rate?”
“Even after all this, it’s still not enough?”
The students looked outside with tearful faces. The professors and knights were putting up a desperate fight, but they had no choice but to be pushed back against the trolls, who had stopped the bombardment and begun charging in.
To make matters worse, even the trolls that had survived the bombardment began getting back up, making the situation increasingly difficult.
“There’s only one thing we have to do from now on.”
Jayden spoke as he looked at the students on the verge of tears.
“Confirm the kills on the trolls brought down by the bombardment.”
“How?”
“Stab them in the anus.”
“The anus……”
At Jayden’s words, Number 2 muttered without realizing it.
“The ones who can put even a little mana into their attacks go up to about the thirties, right?”
At Jayden’s words, everyone nodded.
“Then let’s split into ten groups. From Number 1 to Number 20, assign one person to each group, and from Number 21 onward, assign two each. The rest of the students will provide cover.”
As soon as Jayden finished speaking, all the students quickly began choosing one elite student each and forming groups.
Jayden, too, confirmed that nine students had gathered behind him, then spoke one last time.
“Let’s all survive.”
At Jayden’s words, all the students nodded with determined expressions.
“Let’s go!”
With those words from Jayden, the students all rushed out of the building and began to move.
With the students’ skills, facing trolls head-on was impossible.
But finishing off trolls that were already on the verge of death was more than possible.
A large number of students supported them with guns, while the capable students thrust their swords into the trolls’ anuses.
They went beyond simply stabbing them, coating the blades with poison stolen from the Monster Studies professor’s office and making an utter mess of their anuses.
-Gwooooh! Gwooh!
The trolls writhed in agony, but the students were not relaxed enough to show mercy, so they tormented them even more cruelly.
In that way, they finished off the dying trolls one by one, while trying to hold back the trolls swarming in and slow their advance even a little.
But as the knights and professors began getting injured one after another, the front line that had barely been holding started to collapse little by little.
At that very moment, flames erupted in the sky.
“Wyverns?”
The moment Jayden saw the green flames and stared blankly up into the sky, knights riding wyverns began leaping down from above.
At the same time, lightning bolts fell toward the trolls from a massive magic circle drawn in the sky.
The trolls tried to respond with shamanic spells, but veteran knights leapt down toward the troll shamans and cut them down, causing the trolls’ defensive line to crumble in an instant.
Seeing that, the students seemed to lose the strength in their legs and began sinking to the ground one by one.
“We…… we’re saved!”
“We survived!”
“Waaah! We did it!”
The moment the students burst into cheers at the thought that they had survived and looked up at the sky, Jayden began to hear a mechanical sound.
-You have accomplished an unbelievable achievement at the Northeastern Academy. People will call you the “Rising Star of the Northeast.”
-The title “Rising Star of the Northeast” has been created. As the youngest person to accomplish an unbelievable achievement in the monster-infested Northeast, you will be praised by all. This title will double the achievements and title effects you obtain until you turn twenty.
-Title: Rising Star of the Northeast (title effects achieved before the age of twenty increase by 2x).
-Your extensive knowledge of monsters has combined with outstanding tactics. Scholars will praise your knowledge of monsters and call you a Monster Scholar.
-Title: Monster Scholar (upon acquiring knowledge about a given monster, attack effects against that monster are doubled.)
-When linked with “Experience Never Goes Away!” the effect increases.
Amid the dizzying series of mechanical sounds, the notification Jayden had been waiting for most rang out.
[Clue to the Second Divine Beast]
Please take good care of the sick owl! It may become a great help later~♥
“That’s it?”
Jayden stared blankly into the air with a dumbfounded expression. He had waited with a pounding heart for the reward after struggling so hard to clear it, but what actually appeared was nothing more than an absurdly short line of text.
While he was staring blankly into the air at the ridiculously short clue, the knights from headquarters had, before he knew it, begun slaughtering the trolls, and the academy’s crisis was coming to an end.