Ch.154154. Monster Subjugation

After the banquet, Gilbert was able to recover most of his mana road by the next day, but he chose to remain in the rear.

He judged that participating in battle would be too risky since his mana road wasn’t completely restored yet.

While he could have forced himself to join the battle, with Brianna’s participation confirmed, there was no need for him to be on the front lines.

As long as there was someone capable of replacing Gilbert, an exceptional Godsent Knight, focusing on recovering his mana road was the correct decision for the future.

[Are you worried?]

“Inevitably.”

Remaining at the rear position with CT-777, he glanced at the mini-map as he answered.

Though it was the right decision, that didn’t make it any easier on his mind. He possessed overwhelming power to face magical beasts, and with that power, he might have been able to save comrades who could fall on the battlefield.

Of course, all of this could just be his arrogance.

He wasn’t an omnipotent god. Though assisted by the System ability, he was fundamentally human with defined limitations.

Even if he forced himself to join the subjugation, it was clear that with his unrecovered mana road, he wouldn’t be able to demonstrate the same level of control as before. Perhaps his subpar control might even put the subjugation team members in danger.

With this assumption in mind, he suppressed his desire to join the battle. No matter how he looked at it, staying at the rear position seemed like the most rational decision. The gap created by his absence would be admirably filled by Brianna.

[Gil. Trust the subjugation team members.]

“I know. Besides, Professor Brianna is participating.”

[Objectively speaking, the probability of problems arising if you participated exceeds 70%. Without your participation, it drops below 10%.]

“So my physical condition isn’t suitable for operating a Godsent, is that it?”

[I think you know that better than anyone.]

“If you put it that way…”

Gilbert looked down at CT-777’s artificial spirit core with renewed interest.

Unlike during its first activation when its mechanical aspects were prominent, now it was capable of everyday conversation and words of comfort.

This meant that as Gilbert grew, CT-777 was also developing through learning.

It was profoundly moving to witness in real-time why so many users highly evaluated CT-777’s potential.

The contact with Fresia during the battle with the magical beast ogre seemed to have triggered something in CT-777. It had developed something akin to emotions and its learning and development speed had accelerated.

Gilbert vaguely thought that with continued learning, CT-777 might eventually grow into a super artificial spirit like Fresia.

“Yes. Trusting and waiting is what I should do now.”

Gilbert listened to the gradually increasing sounds of artillery fire and the magical beasts’ roars, hoping for the safe return of the subjugation team.

***

“Ugh! These bastards!”

[Magical beast approaching from 50m to the right rear!]

Fresia briefed without missing a single position of the relentlessly charging magical beasts. Facing creatures that disregarded their own lives and surrendered to pure destructive instinct was no easy task.

This was why Ian, who ranked among the top students, was struggling.

Accustomed to duels, the pressure of life-or-death combat and the physical confrontation with beings that disregarded their own lives created a significant disconnect for him.

This was true even though he possessed a special skill specialized for handling Godsent.

Ian was certainly a talented student, but his limitations were clear. This battle starkly revealed his lack of practical experience compared to his skill level.

With his talent, given enough practical experience and time, he would become an outstanding Godsent Knight, but right now they were in the middle of a battlefield where life and death hung in the balance. Whether he had talent or lacked practical experience was secondary.

What mattered was the very simple choice of whether they could safely escape this battlefield or not.

As expected…

Even in this urgent situation, Fresia maintained her composure and analyzed Ian in comparison. The subject of comparison was Gilbert, with whom she had recently formed a sync through a special skill even she couldn’t understand.

She divided items according to her own judgment criteria and compared Ian and Gilbert. Having experienced sync with both, it wasn’t difficult to determine their relative strengths.

The analysis results were devastating.

Ian was completely outmatched except in magical power.

She was convinced that this gap couldn’t be reversed even with future efforts.

Talent wasn’t exclusive to Ian. Gilbert, once called a scoundrel, also possessed talent that reached the heavens.

It was undeniable that he was more outstanding than any individual Fresia had seen throughout her long existence.

Decision-making ability, control technique, swordsmanship, mana utilization methods—breaking it down into numerous categories, he was the best in all.

And that wasn’t all.

He had already perfectly mastered his special skill, surpassing Ian in almost every aspect.

Though she was reluctant to admit it, even with her guidance, it would be a distant goal for Ian to surpass Gilbert.

That was the extent of the gap between Ian and Gilbert.

“Get off!”

Ian pulled the control lever and drove his iron sword into the belly of a magical beast that had its teeth firmly clamped on his shoulder armor, then slashed it open. As entrails and blood poured out, his eyes were already fixed on the next magical beast.

He was truly deserving of being called a genius. He had already corrected the shortcomings from his first practical experience and was growing.

Even now, the struggle he had shown earlier when facing charging magical beasts was hard to find.

He had become a hunter who easily dispatched magical beasts that crawled toward him even with their bodies cut in half, and then moved on to find the next prey.

Though parts of his armor were dented and broken due to his still-developing control technique, the frequency of such incidents decreased as time passed.

He is definitely a genius.

In terms of pure talent, he was among the top handful of individuals Fresia had ever seen, surpassing any previous contractor she had formed a contract with.

If he continued to grow steadily and eventually mastered his special skill specialized in Godsent control, Ian might become the greatest Godsent Knight in history.

Yes, he might have.

If Gilbert Lion Heart didn’t exist.

After forming a sync with Gilbert, Fresia had completely discarded her previous standards for genius. The word “genius” existed solely for the man named Gilbert.

Growth rate?

He was already at a mature stage yet continued to grow stronger. At just over twenty years of age, he controlled a Godsent more skillfully than knights who had been piloting them for over a decade.

Gilbert was growing even as Ian was growing.

This meant only one thing:

Ian would never catch up to Gilbert, even over a lifetime.

Fresia finally accepted this fact that she had been avoiding until now.

“Fresia! I won! I performed better than that Gilbert in the magical beast subjugation!”

[…Good job, Ian.]

After embedding his iron sword into the body of the last magical beast, Ian shouted with a bright smile like a child. Despite seeing that smile, Fresia couldn’t share in his joy as she usually would.

As if she knew the future would be incredibly challenging.

But Ian, intoxicated by the fact that he had surpassed Gilbert for the first time, didn’t notice Fresia’s reaction at all.

***

“The operation has failed, sir.”

The Count bowed his head to the communication orb and reported. Although the goal had been to create chaos, it wounded his pride that they hadn’t inflicted any damage on the subjugation team.

He was particularly troubled by not meeting his lord’s expectations. Even though the plan had accounted for failure, achieving only half the objective of creating chaos was painful.

[Ho ho, I didn’t think you would make such a mistake. Was the subjugation team that formidable?]

“We were fortunate enough to create a magical beast ogre, but he intervened, sir.”

[He… You mean Student Gilbert, I presume.]

“Yes. They say he single-handedly cut down the magical beast ogre.”

[A magical beast ogre, you say? Ho ho.]

The elderly man on the other side of the communication orb stroked his long beard.

He had thought this person was extraordinary from the first time he saw him, but he hadn’t expected him to be such a consistent obstacle in his path.

As always, he had expected him to shine briefly and then fall, but instead, he began to shine even more brilliantly.

This was an unprecedented situation even for the old man who had lived for many years.

Because of this, the old man thought that he might be the one to fulfill his long-cherished wish. Come to think of it, the reason he had come to the forefront like this was also because of Gilbert.

The old man’s eyes were no longer looking at the Count. What he was seeing now was the image of the scoundrel who had boldly expressed his opinions directly to him.

[For now, I will continue to observe the situation.]

After long deliberation, the old man decided to maintain the status quo.

He wanted to see if Gilbert could truly be the one to fulfill his long-cherished wish.

The Count, who had been listening silently with his head bowed, slightly raised his head.

In the communication orb appeared an old man with long, snow-white hair flowing freely.

One who traverses the horizon of knowledge and pursues truth.

The Great Sage known to hold all the world’s knowledge in his mind.

“Understood, Lord Horizon.”

[I’ll contact you again later.]

Horizon, the history professor at Demeia Academy, ended the communication.