Chapter 282 Efficacy

A forest slightly removed from the Labyrinth.

The Ian Mercenary Group settled near an area containing a Gnoll habitat.

It was the same place they had visited before to test their positions with Lia.

This time, they returned to the same spot to re-test Rin’s skills.

Rin spotted a new pack of Gnolls approaching from a distance and raised her weapon.

"Rin. There are four of them this time. Can you handle it?"

"I’ll try!"

At Ian’s question, Rin nodded with a confident expression.

Through the battles they’d had so far, they had already confirmed she could easily defeat one or two at a time.

This time, it was a group of four monsters—one more than she had fought earlier.

Though she wasn’t entirely certain if it was possible, Rin nodded, trusting in her own skills which had improved to a surprising degree lately.

"Wait for now, then start when I give the signal. Mika, cast the spell."

"Got it!"

While waiting for the monsters to close the distance, Mika raised her staff and cast a barrier over Rin.

A transparent ripple enveloped Rin, creating a thin, invisible wall.

After a brief moment of Rin watching the monsters with a tense face while on standby—

"Now, go!"

Rin, who had been waiting for the monsters to approach, dashed forward upon receiving the signal to start the battle.

The Gnolls, belatedly discovering Rin rushing toward them, let out cries and raised their weapons, but Rin was already within arm’s reach.

Kiik—!

Weapons were swung frantically toward Rin.

Befitting monsters that used whatever human tools they could scavenge as weapons, the Gnolls carried a hodgepodge of armaments.

Rusted swords, crude wooden spears, and clubs flew toward Rin.

However, compared to the opponents who had handled her training, these attacks were far too obvious and slow.

Rin dove toward the openings between the weapons flying in simple trajectories without slowing her speed.

At a glance, it looked like a reckless leap into the path of the swinging weapons, but nothing managed to hit Rin as they sliced through empty air.

First... this one.

Easily dodging the first attack, Rin’s sword slashed through the torso of the one in the lead.

The struck Gnoll let out a scream-like screech and swung its weapon wildly, but she dodged it and struck once more.

As Rin’s attacks followed in rapid succession, a Gnoll with a deep wound collapsed to the ground.

With one fewer opponent, the number of incoming attacks decreased, giving Rin even more room to maneuver.

Moving amidst the monsters who couldn’t keep up with her movements at all, Rin took down the Gnolls one by one in an instant.

"Rin. Watch out."

"...!"

Simultaneously with Ian’s warning, Rin spotted the one at the very back aiming a crossbow.

"...Hah!"

Seeing the crossbow aimed at her, Rin hurriedly tilted her body.

The arrow, fired a moment too late, grazed past Rin’s side.

As the bolt brushed the magic barrier cast for protection, transparent ripples shimmered like waves.

"You little!"

While dodging the arrow, Rin threw a dagger at the Gnoll that had fired it.

The thrown dagger struck its arm, causing the Gnoll to drop its weapon with a screech.

Rin’s thrust flew toward that last remaining one, and the battle against the four monsters was concluded in an instant.

"I did it! I won!"

Rin, having defeated all four Gnolls, turned back and waved her hand toward Ian.

There was a slightly close call at the end, but this could be called an overwhelming victory.

"Hmm...."

Mika, who had been watching the scene from behind, wore a serious expression and whispered to Tanya next to her.

"Hey, about Rin. Didn’t she suddenly become way too strong?"

"Is it really because of what she did with the Captain...?"

Ever since that commotion, Rin had suddenly begun to grow at an incredible pace.

Of course, with Ian’s help, Rin had received various special training sessions.

...But even so, did it make sense for her to be flying around as if she were a different person?

Mika, Tanya, and even Lia glanced at Ian with peculiar looks.

"Is it really... that effective?"

"Told you. We didn’t just make it up."

"Looking at that, it certainly seems so...."

Even Lia muttered with a serious face while watching Rin fight.

Lia, who initially thought they were just engrossed in the typical superstitions of novice mercenaries, had no choice but to accept Ian’s "efficacy" after seeing this for herself.

Ian, who could clearly hear the whispering next to him, denied it.

"...It’s not because of that."

"Ah, right. Because it’s dangerous if it gets known."

"We’ll keep it a secret!"

"You probably don’t even need to worry. Who would actually believe something like this?"

However, they seemingly misunderstood the meaning of Ian’s denial.

The members answered Ian confidently, as if telling him not to worry because they would keep the secret.

Seeing the responses of the members who didn’t believe his denial at all, Ian let out a small sigh.

There was the special training and the influence of the trait, but the most decisive factor was thanks to Rin reaching Level 20 recently.

Since mercenaries grow significantly every 10 levels and promote to the next rank, Rin, having reached Level 20, was now categorized as a C-rank mercenary just like Lia.

Well, of course....

If asked whether Ian had no influence on her reaching Level 20 this quickly, he couldn’t deny that much.

Having finished the battle, Rin returned after confirming all the monsters were dead.

Coming back to Ian’s side, Rin finally caught her breath while thinking about what just happened.

"Phew, that was a surprise.... These things even fire arrows?"

"They must have scavenged a working crossbow from another mercenary."

Because they didn’t maintain their weapons at all, metal weapons were usually rusted and things like crossbows broke quickly, leading the monsters to just swing them as blunt instruments.

However, did they happen to scavenge a new one recently?

Rin, who had assumed it was broken as usual and almost got hit by an arrow because of it, belatedly shivered and breathed a sigh of relief.

Since most monsters they had fought until now were beasts, she only had to watch out for things charging right in front of her.

Even if she understood it intellectually, meeting an enemy that suddenly fired arrows like that made her spine tingle.

"You dodged it well, though."

"Yeah.... I did it without even realizing."

Rin hadn’t thought she’d be able to do something like that herself either.

It was a growth rate so fast that even she couldn’t fully grasp her own abilities.

However, Mika, who had taken great care to cast her trump-card protection magic for Rin’s sake, chimed in with a slightly dissatisfied face.

"Since my protection magic was there, you wouldn’t have been hurt even if you didn’t dodge."

"Yours is a bit unstable, so... I don’t have faith yet that it can stop an arrow."

"What! Shoot me again! I’m telling you it’ll block it!"

Calculating by the amount of mana invested, it was defensive power sufficient to easily block a non-magical crossbow bolt.

When Mika shouted so confidently, Rin asked in return:

"Then cast it on yourself and block one directly."

"...."

Mika, receiving Rin’s proposal, pondered for a moment with a serious face before—

"Sigh. Let’s stop this meaningless bickering."

"...."

She shook her head and let out a sigh.

...Until someone actually blocks one, I’ll just dodge no matter what without trusting it.

Rin inwardly lowered her trust level in Mika’s magic by one more notch.

Meanwhile, Tanya returned after gathering materials from the monsters they just caught.

"Captain, I’ve gathered everything."

"Then, since it’s getting late, let’s head back soon. We won’t be camping today."

Checking the time and calculating the time it would take to return, Ian decided to head back.

***

Since they hadn’t gone deep into Gnoll territory and only roamed the outskirts where packs appeared infrequently, they were soon able to reach the main road used by carriages.

Ian thought back to Rin’s battle earlier as he walked and made an assessment.

"At this rate, Rin could go ahead and take the C-rank evaluation."

"Huh? Really? I’m not quite at Lia’s level yet...."

"I told you, don’t compare yourself to Lia."

Ian asked Lia, the only one among them with experience in the C-rank promotion exam.

"Lia, you promoted through an exam too, right? What do you think?"

Lia, recalling Rin’s fighting earlier, also nodded.

Considering the difficulty of the exam Lia had taken... it wasn’t impossible.

"I think she’d pass after two or three tries."

Rin, who had been feeling bashful yet inwardly proud at the mention of C-rank, suddenly froze when she heard the word "exam."

"Eh.... Do I really have to take a separate exam?"

"You need a record of C-rank commissions, and if you don’t have that, you have to take an individual promotion exam."

Most mercenaries simply promoted along with their group’s commission records when the mercenary group promoted.

However, in cases like Lia or Rin where they had the skill to promote on their own, they sometimes took separate exams to raise their rank individually.

Since raising one’s rank meant being able to renegotiate pay with the mercenary group and offered various benefits for the mercenary.

But Rin’s motivation suddenly plummeted upon hearing the word "exam."

"...Then I’ll just wait and do it when the mercenary group promotes."

Rin, who had been full of confidence about being at the level of a C-rank mercenary, suddenly felt a wave of humility in the face of an exam.

As they walked along the road for a while while sharing such conversation, the silhouette of the Labyrinth gradually began to appear in the distance at the end of the road.

Not only the massive castle walls visible from afar, but even countless multi-colored tents stretching beyond the walls.

Usually, it was just an empty plain, but now it was teeming with crowds reaching beyond the walls due to the numerous merchants and visitors who had come for the Labyrinth.

It was time for the festival to begin.