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Chapter 86

“Galano, if possible, you must stop using your harpoon as a throwing weapon. No more throwing it unless absolutely necessary,” Leonard instructed.

Although it wasn’t pleasant to have his decades of martial arts training critiqued, Galano listened in silence. After all, Leonard was the one who had shattered the eight-year-long plateau in his spearmanship with just three thrusts and three sentences. There was no point in letting pride get in the way.

“Your spear art, Maelstrom, is excellent. If you have time to throw your harpoon or play with ropes, invest it all in Maelstrom.”

Mastering the inward and outward rotational force of the spear allowed for more versatile attacks, from close to long range. Compressing force with inward rotation would enable him to pierce distant enemies, while releasing force with outward rotation could blow away nearby foes.

By mastering both types of rotation, he could shoot out vortexes from his spear or compress his spear’s energy into augmented spear energy.

Galano reflected deeply on Leonard’s explanation. Though he considered his self-devised harpoon-throwing technique useful, it seemed he had taken a long detour.

“Also, you’re misunderstanding the role of a spearman. You’re not mounted, and you’re not using a small, lightweight spear, so why charge at the enemy? On a narrow path, a spearman can even hold off a hundred enemies alone. Draw them into your range, and let none get past you.”

Galano’s role was to guard his allies like a gatekeeper.

“Ninian, you need to be able to see the entire battlefield, not just individual enemies. See the whole forest while being able to hit a single specific leaf. You must anticipate and intercept enemies targeting Galano’s blind spots, those flanking us, or those aiming at Esther from afar.”

The family martial arts that Leonard taught Ninian, the Yeon Family Archery, wasn’t meant to make the archer the hero. The essence of archery has always been in hunting, not leading in the forefront like knights or generals. A single, precisely-aimed arrow could end the reign of even the mightiest king.

The task of an archer was to pierce through gaps in armor, bring down brave knights’ mounts, and neutralize the foe’s advantages by exploiting their weaknesses. That was the archer’s role on the battlefield.

“If you want to protect the vanguard, you must understand their movements well.”

Of course, covering warriors like Leonard, Marianne, and Galano, who could move faster than arrows, was no easy task. One mistake could result in friendly fire.

“If you don’t know where or how your ally is about to move, don’t shoot. An uncertain arrow is more dangerous to your allies than to your enemies.”

Indeed, keeping track of one’s allies was just as important as keeping track of the enemy. Ninian, who had been acting alone for too long, often had trouble synchronizing with the team. Thus, carefully observing her comrades’ movements would naturally solve this issue.

And lastly, Leonard’s advice for Esther was rather straightforward.

“Repeatedly using lower-class magic for efficient attacks is good, but conserving mana isn’t always the answer. You must also be careful about mental exhaustion.”

“You mean I should use wide-area or higher-class spells to finish the battle quickly?” Esther asked.

“Yes. Using thirty Lightning Bolts costs almost as much as using Chain Lightning once. However, the former requires separate calculations for each spell, so it ends up being more mentally taxing.”

“But what if Ninian and Galano get caught in it? We’re still not coordinating with each other well enough...” Esther voiced her concern.

“That doesn’t matter,” Leonard responded confidently. “Unlike Ninian’s arrows, we can prepare for your spells beforehand.”

“Huh? How?”

“You’ll understand once you follow my instructions.”

Esther was puzzled—Leonard had offered Galano and Ninian concrete advice, but he was being awfully vague with her. However, her confusion didn’t last long.

As they resumed their advance, they encountered sea orc patrols every five to fifteen minutes. Leonard fell back and relayed to the team precise tactical maneuvers through telepathic communication.

—Galano, establish a boundary line that you must absolutely protect. Focus on holding that line rather than defeating enemies.

Following Leonard\'s orders, Galano swung his harpoon, carving a deep, wide mark on the ground before him.

Roaaar!

Graaaagh!

Reeeeee!

Ignoring his actions, the sea orcs lunged at Galano with their hooked spears. With strength far surpassing that of trained humans, their webbed feet gripped the ground tightly.

Four hooked spears pierced through the air with an eerie sound.

“Huff...”

With a deep breath, Galano gradually rotated his body from his ankles up to his knees, waist, and shoulders. The rotational force gathered and accelerated through his shoulder, elbow, wrist, and finally to his fingertips.

The true strength of Maelstrom, the spear art passed down in his family, lay in this rotational force, amplifying power in an instant like a butterfly’s wings triggering a hurricane.

Whoosh!

With Galano’s thrust, the vortex around his spear shot forward, bending and breaking the incoming hooks and startling the sea orcs beyond. Normally, Galano would have charged in to crush the retreating enemies, but this time he held his ground.

—Ninian, shoot.

Instead, four arrows flew from behind, silencing the retreating targets. The arrows were shot half a beat earlier than Galano’s thrust, piercing the sea orcs right as they lost their weapons.

Still, more than thirty sea orcs remained, and undeterred by the loss of four of their kins from the previous exchange, they charged forward.

—Esther, prepare Chain Lightning. Maximize its power.

Though concerned about Galano getting caught in the spell, Esther followed the order. Magical formulas floated around her, blue sparks crackling as she prepared to unleash the Class 5 lightning spell, powerful enough to severely injure even External Force Tier warriors.

Meanwhile, Galano was under heavy attack from the thirty sea orcs. Ninian’s arrows kept targeting those trying to flank or approach from behind, but some managed to break through the vortex of Maelstrom and were attempting to cross the boundary.

—Galano

Just then, Leonard’s voice cut through.

—Push your energy shield to the maximum, and try to spread the amplified force from Maelstrom throughout your entire body.

It was a difficult command, but Galano managed to pull it off. The rotational force of Maelstrom, capable of both offense and defense, surged forth, whirring at tremendous speed. Instead of unleashing it with his harpoon, Galano harnessed the rotational force to create a temporary shield around him, a technique not even his brother Dentuso had ever shown.

At the same time, Leonard shouted to Esther.

—Now!

With that command, she finally unleashed the Class 5 spell, Chain Lightning, with Galano in its range. The spell’s lightning chains, looking like electrified nets, didn’t just strike once. They bounced off and scorched multiple targets, growing more powerful with each enemy hit. This wide-area spell was particularly deadly when targeting multiple enemies.

Greeeaaah!!

Screeeee!!

Graaahhh!!

Screams filled the air as the sea orcs were electrocuted, their bodies charred. In the midst of the chaos, Galano realized he was unharmed. The rotational force of his energy shield deflected the lightning, protecting him and redirecting the energy to the sea orcs.

Unlike a Lightning Spear, which concentrated all the magic into one point, the Chain Lightning expanded into several arcs of lightning, so it lacked the penetration power to pierce the vortex.

“...”

“...”

“...”

Esther’s spell eventually dissipated, leaving about forty charred sea orcs scattered around. The few who had survived were writhing on the ground, easy prey to finish off. It had taken the group three minutes to win this battle.

“Now you understand how inefficiently you were fighting?” Leonard addressed the team, who were so stunned by their results that they even forgot to collect the mana stones.

Everyone nodded in agreement. It was undeniable—Galano wasn’t even sweating, and he was breathing normally; Ninian had conserved arrows and energy, ang ultimately achieved greater results; and Esther’s growth was obvious, as just one of her spells had almost wiped out the enemy forces.

“Galano, keep practicing the technique I taught you. As you master it, you’ll be able to extend this force to your weapons and limbs, enabling you to repel even intangible attacks.”

“...I never thought about using it this way,” Galano admitted.

“Don\'t set limits on yourself. A warrior\'s growth halts the moment they believe they cannot grow any further,” Leonard gave a last piece of advice.

Next, he turned to Ninian. “Don’t always aim for a kill shot with your arrows. If you kill an enemy, they can just be replaced by another. Wounding an enemy can sometimes be more effective, as incapacitating one can disrupt an entire formation. Besides, without a healer, an injured fighter becomes a heavy burden to the others.”

Having been on the front lines, Galano could see how in a situation where he was surrounded, crippling an enemy could be more helpful than killing them. That entire side would almost stop being a threat, and in the case of a coordinated attack, the incapacitated enemy would completely disrupt the formation.

“Esther, discuss with the team and research more spells that can work well within a team, like Chain Lightning. Using Heat Shield for defense followed by an attack with Fire Wave, enhancing Galano\'s spear with wind magic, or enchanting Ninian\'s arrows with elemental properties.”

“...That’s a lot of work.”

“We’ll be moving as a team often, so you guys can’t afford to just focus on your personal training. You need to work on these combinations as well. Come up with signals and combinations that don’t require my constant direction.”

That day, Leonard’s precise guidance had ensured success, but he couldn’t always watch over them. They needed to learn to coordinate on their own, and they also needed to develop strategies for facing powerful individual foes, not just groups.

Going against this many enemies on a regular basis is quite beneficial. I wonder if some adventurers preserve these Rifts for training as well, not just for earning money?

Of course, it couldn’t be completely neglected due to the risk of Corrosion, but systematically clearing out the monsters could mitigate the danger. In fact, that was the rationale of the Atlantis Maritime Alliance when they decided to preserve the Rifts in the Fifth Sea District for profit.

However, Leonard was skeptical about this.

No matter how well a wound is treated, if it doesn’t heal, it will eventually fester.

According to the mages’ explanations, Rifts were fractures in the dimensional barrier protecting the world. Regardless of whether they leaked corruption due to their otherworldly laws, their mere existence threatened the world’s stability. The Rift Preservation Faction, which Councilman Pablo was part of, was ultimately putting the entire world in danger.

We need to seal the Sea Orc Den quickly and then consider our options.

Leonard also had to see about that mysterious hostility emanating from the Five Elements True Dragon Ring inside him. Following its pull, Leonard led the team in the direction where his mana mastery pointed.

The four Aquamarine members ventured into the heart of the Sea Orc Den.

* * *

Expedition teams active in the Fifth Sea District had to carry a specific type of precise watches with them. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to properly coordinate and help each other if something happened inside a Rift.

Leonard had been tracking their time since entering the Sea Orc Den. They had been here for exactly three hours and seventeen minutes.

“Stop.”

Leonard’s group arrived in front of a mysterious cave, believed to contain the core of the Sea Orc Den.