Nero turned around and saw Aster holding both her hands up. Her whole figure was constantly exuding mana.
It didn't take him long to deduce that she was the one who had cast that water shield spell.
"Thank you for saving me," Nero expressed his gratitude to Aster.
"Don't worry about it," Aster replied, withdrawing her magical energy and waving her hands. "I specialize in defensive spells and lack the talent for offensive magic so–"
"It's alright," Nero cut off Aster, placing a hand on her shoulder. The blue-haired elven girl blushed, gazing into his abyssal black eyes and admiring his chiseled features as he continued, "Join me on the battlefield. I'll fight upfront and you can cover my back."
"I–"
Bzzzt—!
But just as she was about to accept Nero's proposal, his smart bracelet started buzzing and vibrating.
Nero looked it up and found that it was a private channel radio transmission.
Only his Lieutenants, personal squadmates and strategic HQ had the authority or the means to contact him through the private channel so he wasted no time accepting the transmission.
Tick—!
[Lord Commander, this is QD1. The enemy forces are trying to break through from the back. I don't think our archers would be able to hold them off for long!]
QD1 was the battlefield code name given to Nero's first Lieutenant of choice: Anastasia Bigod.
She was also tasked to protect the rear guard along with a squadron of archers. The front was being fought by Nero, Quinn, and Grace; meanwhile the left and right flanks were given to William Sinoath and Ella Bright respectively.
Nero was sure that they both must also be facing the same situation as Anastasia.
It won't take a genius to figure out what class 1-C-8 was up to by now.
First, they let Nero and his troops enter the shopping district. Then they encircled them, trapping them there. And now, they were squeezing them from all sides.
"Tsk!" Nero clicked his tongue. To be honest, it wasn't like getting out of this situation was difficult.
In actuality, he possessed the ability to overpower every cadet in the virtual world with ease by simply summoning one of the Six Heavenly Swords using his Gift.
Although in the real world, using his Gift would deplete a minuscule portion of his life force, in the virtual world, he had no such concerns.
Once he unleashed his Gift, no one present could stand against him – he was that confident in himself.
However, there was a minor predicament here.
Prior to the commencement of the mock war, his master, Liz Snyder, had explicitly instructed him not to disclose his Gift during the event.
In spite of that fact, Nero could see no other viable option to get out of this situation right now.
"Fine, I'll deal with them myself!"
He had decided. He'll use his gift. He will summon the Heavenly Sword of Fire and use it to control lightning, unleashing a colossal thunderstorm that would bring an end to this war right where they stood.
"Aster, get behind me."
"...What?"
"Get behind me and create a barrier around us."
With an awkward nod, Aster did what she was told and swiftly got behind Nero before creating a water dome around them.
At that moment, the boy started reciting something in a low, almost inaudible tone.
The air grew thick with a palpable sense of foreboding as if the very atmosphere itself was holding its breath in anticipation.
Suddenly, tiny sparks erupted around Nero, crackling and flickering like fiery apparitions.
"O' Agni, hear my plea," he called out, his voice ringing out in the midst of the overwhelming tumult surrounding him. "Grant me the strength to vanquish my enemies, to burn away their evil and leave nothing but ash in their wake! Grant me–"
Bzzzt—!
Unfortunately, before Nero could complete the chant and summon the Heavenly Sword, his smart bracelet buzzed again, disturbing his focus.
The sparks crackling around him died down as a result of him losing his focus. Clicking his tongue again, he was about to reject the radio call until he saw that it was from HQ.
He frowned, wondering what Amelia might have to say at this moment. His curiosity got the better of him and he ended up accepting the transmission.
"What's it, Amelia?"
[Nero, I might have a way to get us out of this situation.]
"...Huh?" Nero widened his eyes at those words. "Are you sure? Tell me!"
[I can't tell you since it's a complex plan. Can you trust me and hand me over the command for now?]
Usually, here's how it works: The Lord Commander tells the troops what to do on the battlefield, and the Head Strategist(s) figures out how to actually win the war with clever tactics and battle formations.
But truth be told, both positions are pretty similar in terms of power and duties.
A Lord Commander can totally brainstorm strategies and improvise on battle plans as needed, while a Head Strategist can take over commanding the troops if the Lord Commander has permitted it.
The only real difference is that being a Lord Commander pays better in real life, probably because they have to brave the actual field, while Head Strategists can kick back in headquarters and just come up with ideas while looking at a live battle map.
Of course, Nero trusted Amelia to take command here. If she had suggested it, then she really must've come up with a strategy that could get them out of this situation.
"Okay, I give you the authority to lead the troops. Tell us what to do."
†
10 minutes earlier,
Back at Class 1-A-1 HQ,
As I told Amelia right before it happened, our troops were trapped by the enemy in the shopping district.
Well, to be more precise, instead of telling her, I let her come to that decision on her own.
Currently, she was staring at the holographic map in front of her with her mouth agape.
On the map, there were several small dots, some of them red and others green. The green dots had codes like 'QD1' or 'CN6' hovering above them.
From time to time, some dots would often disappear from view.
Yes, the green dots were our allies and the red ones were the enemy present in their line of sight.
We were using smart bracelets worn by our troops to track their live location. If they see an enemy, it will show up on the map as a red dot.
Thanks to this genius system, strategists could easily monitor the battlefield from headquarters.
"You!" suddenly Amelia spun around to face me and started yelling nonsense at me. "You knew this would happen! You knew they would trap our troops before it even happened!"
"What?" with a blank look plastered on my face, I arched my eyebrows. "I didn't know. If you remember correctly, I didn't say a word about them trapping our troops, you came to that conclusion yourself."
Slam—!
"Lucas Morningstar, don't fuck with me!" banging her hands on the round table, she roared a fierce warning. "You clearly knew what would happen! How?!"
"Fine, I deduced a possibility," I answered, raising my hands slightly and leaning back on the chair to calm her down.
I wasn't lying. I really did deduce the possibility of this happening.
In the novel, the soldiers of Class 1-C-8 did not surround and trap those of Class 1-A-1 in the shopping district as they had done now.
In the story, Grace had leaked the map that Amelia and I were currently seeing before us to Class 1-C-8, allowing them to know every minute movement that our soldiers made on the battlefield.
They had no need to set up a trap when they simply knew their enemy's live location on the battlefield all the time.
But since in this timeline, Grace wasn't able to leak the battle map to the enemy; they had to resort to a more aggressive strategy.
I don't know if it's for the better or not - how this story is progressing, I mean.
Anyway, I came up with 18 different possible scenarios that this battle could go down in. Class 1-C-8 encircling and trapping our troops was the 10th one.
That's how I told Amelia what would happen. I didn't 'know' it. I just guessed it.
"You deduced it? I'm supposed to believe that nonsense?!"
I pointed at myself and shrugged, "Hey, Intelligence Stat above 180, remember?"
"No matter how much of a genius you are, expecting something like this to happen before it even happened is virtually impossible!"
"Well, I did the impossible. So what? The point is, I can get us out of this situation."
Widening her eyes as she heard what I spoke, Amelia looked at me in disbelief.
"W-What?"
With a smirk, I repeated myself. "If you let me, I know a way to get us out of this situation."
"How?!" just as I had expected, Amelia immediately showed interest in my offer.
"First, give up your role as the Head Strategist… to me."
