The Road to the Summit (5)

‘Bertov underestimated Class E.’

Gripping the railing of the spectator stands, Marcus Jackson—the leader of Class B and seventh in the year rankings—looked down over the field where triumph and despair clashed and thought.

‘Bertov is strong. Judging by pure strength alone, he’d rank around sixth at worst. He’s strong enough to surpass half the students in our class. But because of his shortsighted and hasty personality, he simply hasn’t received a high overall evaluation.’

-Tap, tap.

Marcus tapped the railing with his index finger as he pondered.

‘Class C is a one-man team revolving around Bertov Ludens. And Class E’s strategy, having identified that fact in advance, was simple yet certain: separate Bertov from the other students and cut Class C’s combat strength in half.’

Class C compensates for Bertov’s short, narrow perspective—the biggest flaw dragging down his evaluation—with support from the rest of the team. Allowing Bertov to rampage at 100 percent—no, 200 percent—of his strength is Class C’s most basic approach.

‘But Janis isn’t an idiot. There’s clearly a reason the student with the lowest year ranking in Class C became its leader.’

Marcus asked himself a question.

‘Even so, he failed to control Bertov. Why?’...