The Kicked Out S-Rank Appraiser Creates The Strongest Guild - Chapter 18.2

Chapter 18.2  Support Mage and Armor

“Uooooooo!”

Just as victory seemed within reach, Shaqma suddenly charged into the frontline.

The rational light that had dwelled in her eyes moments before was completely lost, and her gleaming eyes now seemed beast-like.

Joining the right wing’s frontlines, Shaqma struck one of the goblins with her staff, then continued forward without regard for the formation, pushing deeper and deeper into the enemy’s midst.

Soon, she found herself surrounded by armed hobgoblins and was struck unconscious by a ruthless blow to the head.

The melee combat unit nearby panicked.

At this rate, Shaqma would be overwhelmed.

They quickly formed a formation and launched an assault to rescue Shaqma, carrying her unconscious body to the rear.

The battle, which seemed like it would end smoothly, unexpectedly dragged on. Though they managed to repel the enemy, the unit had been more exhausted than anticipated.

(A bit troublesome indeed.)

Laurent chuckled as he looked down at the unconscious Shaqma, her eyes rolling in her head.

“Are you alright, Shaqma?”

“Ugh, I’m sorry…”

Shaqma, having recovered from her faint thanks to Euphene’s ‘Single Target Healing Magic,’ seemed to have lost her usual brightness, looking completely dejected.

“I’ve let my bad habit get the better of me again. Whenever I hear the sounds of battle, I can’t help but get excited… I know I need to fix this or I’ll be unfit as a support mage…”

“Don’t worry about it. There’s a good way to overcome it.”

“Really?”

Shaqma’s face brightened up instantly as she looked at Laurent.

It seems she was quick to recover after all.

“Yeah, there’s some good equipment for that.”

Laurent called out to one of the attack mages (who also had the skill ‘Item Possession’) and had them bring out the armor.

“What’s this?”

“It’s heavy knight armor.”

It was the same model of heavy knight armor worn by Jill.

“The next time a battle starts, equip this armor before using support magic.”

“I see. With this armor on, I can charge into enemy lines with confidence. But why wait until the battle starts? Don’t we equip it during regular marches?”

“Yeah, that’s why we always keep an item possessor nearby so you can equip it immediately when the battle starts.”

“I see. Understood.”

Though Shaqma looked somewhat unconvinced, she obediently followed Laurent’s instructions.

Once again, Laurent’s group returned to their exploration.

They formed a formation with the shield unit at the front, ready to deploy immediately in case of monster attacks.

And indeed, monsters appeared once more.

Similar to before, there were five large orcs and twenty-five armed hobgoblins.

The enemy’s strategy remained the same: a central breakthrough by the large orcs supported by flanking attacks from the armed hobgoblins.

The shield unit quickly moved to contain the large orcs, while the other melee combat units spread out to form the battle line.

Since the enemies on the left side were a bit farther away this time, the archers were shifted to the left wing.

And this time, the archers only managed to weaken the enemy forces slightly before falling back.

Shaqma donned the heavy knight armor.

“Alright. This time for sure. ‘Defense Enhancement!'”

Shaqma chanted the spell, and the shield unit was enveloped in a blue light.

(Alright. Next is ‘Attack Enhancement’ for the left wing…!?)

“Uh, ugh… Wh-what’s…?”

Shaqma noticed something was wrong and let out a groan.

She couldn’t move.

More precisely, her agility was severely compromised.

The heavy knight equipment was too heavy for her strength, causing her to move as slowly as a turtle.

“T-This is too heavy, Laurent-san. I can’t move.”

(W-Was this the solution? It certainly prevents me from charging into the frontline, but… this way…)

She glanced at the distance to the left wing.

She wanted to cast the ‘Attack Enhancement’ spell on the melee combat unit, but the distance was too far for the magic’s range.

Shaqma desperately tried to make her way to the left wing, but her speed was painfully slow.

Finally, the engagement with the monsters began, and the battle commenced.

The sound of swords clashing, shields colliding, axes hitting armor, and clubs striking echoed, accompanied by the cries of people.

Normally, at this moment, Shaqma would lose her composure and charge forward, but now she could only move slowly.

(Ugh… With this, I can’t adapt to the situation flexibly, Laurent-san.)

Laurent watched her sluggish movements with a wry smile.

(It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s better than the unit suffering unnecessary losses. The primary mission of a support mage is to prevent the unit from being depleted.)

Shuffling along, she finally reached her destination after nearly ten minutes of combat, and she cast ‘Attack Enhancement’ on the left wing.

As the melee combat unit on the left wing was enveloped in a red glow, they quickly gained the upper hand in what had been a closely matched battle, scattering the enemy and flanking the central large orc unit, causing the enemy’s front line to collapse.

As the enemy retreated, the attack mages and archers joined in the pursuit, hunting down every last one of them.

Continuing to fight in the same manner, with support from Shaqma’s magic, the unit reached the teleportation point of this level with minimal casualties.

By that time, Shaqma’s ‘Attack Enhancement’ and ‘Defense Enhancement’ had both reached level B.

Laurent’s group passed through the teleportation magic circle and arrived at the fifth layer.

It wasn’t a forest maze like before; instead, they found themselves inside some kind of building.

This layer served as a resting point, a save point, always present in the dungeon for some reason.

On one wall, there were hieroglyphs and murals.

It was a rectangular space with columns lined up like a temple, and at the back of the room, there was a water feature resembling an altar.

The water basin was full, with a teleportation magic circle installed on each side.

One was for teleporting to the next layer, and the other was for returning to the city.

At the back of the fountain, on a shelf-like altar, a ring was placed.

This ring served as an item to shortcut from the entrance to this spot on the next delve into the dungeon.

Up to thirty people could teleport to this spot using this item.

Laurent decided to check the condition of the unit.

Upon reporting the level of depletion for each squad, it was revealed that the melee combat unit had various equipment damages and few items left, including potions.

Therefore, Laurent decided to return temporarily using the ring.

The purpose of training the unit had been achieved to a certain extent, and they had reached the save point in the dungeon, so it seemed like a good time to do so.

Laurent put on the ring and passed through the teleportation magic circle for return.

Back in the city, upon checking the time, it had been seventy-two hours since they entered the dungeon.

Returning to the normal space with both day and night, the group was immediately overwhelmed by a strong drowsiness.

Laurent informed the team members of the scheduled date for the next dungeon exploration, instructed them to repair equipment and gather items by then, and disbanded the unit.

Afterwards, Laurent returned home and collapsed onto his bed, falling into a deep sleep akin to sinking into a bottomless swamp.