Biện Pháp Chống Xâm Nhập: Tường Bảo Vệ - Chương 267: 267

Reflexly "Ah, thanks," I started to say, but Yoshinari let out a small, soft sigh.

"......Hmph, precisely because darkness covered the battlefield, my single blow became a fatal strike from the blind spot."

"I see. From the perspective of a denizen of the dark, the darkness is not something to be feared, but something to be utilized."

"......That's a bit different. To me, the darkness is an environment, just like waves or the wind. --You ride the waves, don't you?"

Belial murmured, "As expected," seemingly satisfied with the answer, before falling silent.

Fuwa-wa looked somewhat vacant, and Marmel was trembling lightly, but Yoshinari deliberately ignored them and switched the video.

An aerial battle against four Chimera-type units, including Tsugaru.

A grueling skirmish under overwhelmingly disadvantageous conditions, where the mechs were of equal rank, but the enemy outnumbered them four to one. He disrupted the enemy through various means, such as utilizing the presence of the large group to push other enemies into their line of fire.

Yoshinari threw the enemy units off by flying with ferocious maneuvers, shooting them down one by one.

"Whoa, incredible. Is that a single blow created by shoving the enemy into the line of fire to make an opening? Wait, how did you do that?"

"Ah, that player isn't very good at making turns from the left. Look, see how they swing wide? Their trajectory only becomes easy to read at that moment. That's when you strike."

The displayed window showed footage of a Chimera-type being shot down by Yoshinari's sniper fire.

"Four against one is a difference in force you can't possibly win against head-on, but running away actually works out surprisingly well. So, the idea is to observe the enemy carefully at first, figure out who's easiest to break, and crush them one by one."

The final opponent, Tsugaru, had been troublesome, but since they had fought many times as allies, Yoshinari knew his habits well. All that was left was to endure until the opponent unconsciously fell into familiar patterns and watch for an opening.

He felt a slight dissatisfaction because this victory was achieved through trickery rather than pure skill, meaning he couldn't honestly say he won on merit alone, but Yoshinari felt his own growth and thought that in the future he would be able to say he won under his own power.

"Well, that's enough for the preliminaries. The issue is the upcoming main tournament."

Based on past experience, the main tournament would demand coordination as a team.

"It's a battle completely divided into enemies and allies. The enemy will make full use of all ten slots. In contrast, since our slots are only half filled, we'll be forced into a disadvantage right from the start. But I think if our coordination, which we've built up so far, hits the mark, we can get decent results even if winning is difficult, so let's do our best!"

"Yeah! Let's do this!"

"I'll do my best too!"

Growmoth nodded silently and repeatedly in agreement.

"Hmph, with this King of Darkness here, victory is practically guaranteed."

"......Ah, with your shadow, minor disadvantages can easily be covered, huh."

Since the main tournament was the next day, Yoshinari wrapped things up by telling everyone to rest and build up their strength, bringing the day to a close.

Belial disappeared early, and Fuwa-wa logged out, saying she had errands.

Marmel seemed busy with school assignments and exam preparation, and she went home as well.

Only Yoshinari and Growmoth were left behind.

Yoshinari had thought about practicing a bit more, but since Growmoth remained, he couldn't just ignore her. Honestly, Yoshinari felt a bit awkward because there were parts of how to interact with Growmoth that he couldn't quite gauge.

"Ah, um, I was thinking of practicing a bit more from here on, but what will you do, Growmoth-san?"

"----n."

"Yes?"

"The '-san' is unnecessary."

"Ah, is that so? It might be difficult right away, but I'll gradually fix it."

Although he was unconscious of it, the people Yoshinari used polite language with were either those he recognized as superiors or those he wanted to keep at a distance. Because of that, he had a strong resistance to speaking in a casual tone, but deciding to accept that she was trying to reach out in her own way, he made an effort to be mindful of it.

"Y-Yoshinari, do you think... you can win?"

"As in the main tournament--the tournament?"

She nodded.

"Well, it depends on the matchup, but we might reach around the third round at best. Beyond that, unions with several A-rank members will probably be our opponents, so I think we'll lose eight or nine times out of ten."

"You're going even though you know you'll lose?"

Yoshinari turned his head, trying to grasp Growmoth's intent, and wondered how to answer.

"Certainly, nobody likes losing, and sometimes I get irritated when losses pile up. But if you don't fight, that's a problem before even getting to that point."

From Growmoth's style, he could vaguely tell that she had a timid personality.

Afraid of interacting with people, afraid of making a fool of herself, and afraid of losing.

Even so, the reason she stepped into this battlefield was likely because of a craving to win.

Nobody likes to lose. Being undefeated must feel exceptionally good.

Whenever he watched Ragasto, there were many times he felt envious. But other people are other people, and he is himself.

No matter how hard he tried, Yoshinari could not become Ragasto. That was why he headed toward what he wanted to become, what he wanted, and where he wanted to go at his own pace.

Even if countless defeats existed in that process, if he considered them part of the process, he could tolerate them for the time being.

--Well, he would firmly write them down on the list of people to crush someday.

"That's why I try to think of defeat as a necessary expense to win tomorrow. In tomorrow's main tournament, we might lose in the very first round. Even so, there's a small participation reward, and analyzing the cause of defeat might lead to a step up. So, just because we might lose isn't a reason not to do it."

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