From observing the way his squad fought, one thing Ruvian could confidently say was that — none of them were truly ready yet to fight a Wretched-Rank Voidspawn individually.

Maybe Arlok and Yerin still had some chance to somehow solo one if they really push all their strength and luck together at same time, but even then, it still heavily depends on what kind of Wretched Voidspawn they are facing against.

Because not every Wretched was the same, some of them were monsters that could wipe an entire squad before people even realize what happened, while some were slower and more manageable, though still extremely dangerous enough to easily tear apart an unprepared scholar without much difficulty at all.

And maybe... just maybe... they can somehow stand their ground equally for some period of time against a Wretched creature, but actually winning against one by themselves?

That was a completely different matter altogether.

A single mistake against a Lesser Voidspawn could still be corrected somehow. But a single mistake against a Wretched-Rank would just mean instant death.

This conclusion was not something Ruvian reached from imagination alone either. No, he was judging purely from the way they currently fought against the Lesser Voidspawns just now.

Yerin lightly exhaled as she crossed her arms.

"Alright, firstly, for our next phase of training, we will start practicing under the assumption that we already know beforehand what kind of Wretched-Rank Voidspawn we are going to face.

Normally, during actual field missions, the type of Voidspawn you encounter will not always be properly identified before battle.

So eventually, we will also move toward combat drills where the enemy type remains unknown from the start because that is the more the realistic scenario for the Vazrun Island Test."

She paused for a moment while leaning one hand against the console beside her.

"But right now, none of us are ready for that stage yet. Our coordination still has too many flaws, and some of us are still too focused on fighting individually instead of as an actual squad. If we immediately jump into random Wretched simulations, we’ll probably just make a mess out of everything."

Arlok gave an awkward cough at those words.

Yerin continued as if she did not notice it.

"So before anything else, we’re going to build familiarity first. We will train repeatedly against a single Wretched target until everyone understands their role instinctively — positioning, timing, support rotation, engagement distance, all of that needs to become natural before we increase difficulty further."

Her expression slowly became more serious afterward.

"And just so everyone knows ahead of time, the Wretched Voidspawn we will be using for our first drill is the Bloodprayer Mantis."

’Oh...’

Ruvian slowly recalled the details of that creature.

The Bloodprayer Mantis was not some obscure creature nobody had heard about before. Even first year scholars, and any beginner adventurers knew how infamous those monsters were.

They were fast and deadly.

Extremely aggressive once they locked onto their prey.

Their bladed forelimbs were capable of slicing through reinforced mana barriers if enough momentum was built behind the strike, and unlike most Voidspawn that relied purely on brute force, the Bloodprayer Mantis hunted with frightening precision and patience.

Ruvian remained silent while listening.

’Honestly, choosing the Bloodprayer Mantis for coordination training isn’t a bad decision at all. Though, I didn’t expect her to actually come up with something this fitting.’

The reason why Ruvian thought that way was actually very simple.

The Bloodprayer Mantis was the kind of Voidspawn that punished mistakes almost immediately the moment even one person inside the squad failed to properly do their role.

Against slower Wretched creatures, sometimes people could still somehow brute force through the battle using raw power, panic attacks, or simply overwhelming the target with numbers.

However, such a thing won’t work against Bloodpraying Mantis.

That monster was famous for constantly targeting weak openings inside enemy formation during battle.

Furthermore, once somebody broke formation even for a single second, the creature would immediately rush toward that gap with terrifying speed.

And because of how absurdly fast the Bloodprayer Mantis was, there was almost no time at all for squad members to think calmly after making a mistake.

Everything needed to happen instinctively.

If the frontliner retreated too slowly, the support mage must instantly cover. If the support mage became targeted, somebody else must immediately intercept.

The Bloodprayer Mantis basically forced every squad member to constantly pay attention toward each other.

Not only that, the creature also possessed extremely explosive burst movement despite being physically huge, which meant everybody needed to properly maintain positioning during battle at all times.

Because once the Bloodprayer Mantis successfully bypassed the frontline and reached the backline scholars, the result would usually become horrifyingly ugly almost immediately.

Especially for mages and archers.

A single clean strike from those bladed forelimbs was more than enough to completely bisect most lower ranked scholars.

Yerin tapped several glowing runes on the console.

"So, for this drill, coordination is the priority. I do not care about who gets the final hit or who deals the most damage. So please, don’t try to play the lone hero role."

Her eyes briefly landed on Arlok.

"...I wonder who that reminder is specifically meant for."

Shima muttered under her breath.

"Oi."

Arlok replied with a scornful look.

Yerin ignored them both completely. "Anyway, let’s prepare ourselves. We will begin the drill in 3 minutes."

Then, once the three minutes preparation time finally passed, at the very center of the arena, the Bloodprayer Mantis finally materialized completely.

The creature stood nearly over three meters tall, its monstrous body covered in dark crimson exoskeleton that almost resembled dried blood under the chamber lights.

Sharp layered plates wrapped tightly around its body like natural armor. Its entire appearance looked unnaturally lean yet frightening as if every single part of its body looked perfectly built for killing.

Its two folded forelimbs were the most horrifying part.

The bladed arms resembled enormous crimson scythes coated with faint black corrosion marks near the edges.

The creature’s lower limbs slowly dug themselves against the white floor as if preparing to explode forward at any moment. Meanwhile, its triangular head tilted slightly. Several glowing yellow eyes stared directly toward the squad with vicious intensity.

Ruvian simply let out a small sigh before moving into his battle stance.

’Now, let’s see the chance and potential of how my squad will fare in the Vazrun Island Test.’

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[Chapter 191: Squad 69 Training Session (4)]