Investing In My Three Crippled Wives Get 10,000x Times Return

Chapter 304 | Training II

They moved into position as the lights changed, and sections of the floor rose, forming a broken street bordered by low walls and damaged building fronts. Three rescue markers appeared behind them.

"Ding!"

The exercise began.

A pale curtain of light swept across the arena, and the ceiling seemed to retreat. In its place appeared a vast, overcast sky above the ruins of an abandoned settlement.

Broken towers rose beyond the street, their upper floors disappearing into drifting mist. Vines covered the walls, and deep claw marks scored the stone beneath Dexter’s feet.

He glanced down. The floor had not truly become stone—when he looked closely, he could see faint threads of light running through it—but the roughness beneath his boots felt real. A gust of wind struck his face, and then a shadow passed overhead.

"Above!" Blitz called.

Dexter raised his head. Three enormous creatures circled between the broken towers. Wyverns.

Their bodies were covered in dark scales, their long necks ending in narrow heads crowned with swept-back horns.

Two powerful hind legs hung beneath their bodies, while hooked claws protruded from the joints of their wings. Each creature was large enough to swallow a man whole.

A translucent display appeared at the edge of the arena.

[COMBAT SIMULATION]

[Enemy Species: Blackscale Wyverns]

[Enemy Strength: Superhuman Realm]

[Objective: Eliminate the hostile creatures and secure the extraction route.]

[Additional Objective: Protect the three injured-party markers.]

Dexter’s gaze sharpened.

This was much closer to the dungeon he had experienced at the Hero Association.

But these wyverns were projections, formed from light and sustained by the arena’s formations, but their attacks would carry controlled force, and the monitoring bands would register injuries according to where and how heavily they were struck. Getting hit would still hurt—enough to discourage carelessness.

Cole lifted his right hand. "Bulwark, front. Gridlock, cover the injured markers. Blitz, watch the rooftops." The others moved. "Dexter, right flank. Spear, left. Keep the center open."

A sharp cry split the air, and one of the wyverns folded its wings and dropped. The creature fell between two ruined buildings like a dark spear, then spread its wings at the last moment. A violent gust swept down the street, scattering projected rubble across the ground.

Blitz disappeared from where he had been standing, and Gridlock thrust his palm forward, raising a translucent barrier before the three rescue markers. Bulwark stepped into the wyvern’s path.

"Come here."

The creature struck. Its claws slammed against his raised forearms, and the floor shook beneath his feet.

Bulwark slid backward nearly a meter, his boots leaving bright streaks across the simulated stone, but his body remained upright. He grinned.

"That’s better."

The wyvern opened its jaws, and orange light gathered deep inside its throat.

"Breath attack!" Dexter shouted.

Bulwark immediately turned his shoulder and shoved upward. The creature’s head jerked aside, and a stream of fire swept across the ruined wall beside them.

Heat washed over Dexter’s face, and even knowing it was artificial, his body reacted to the danger. He moved, lightning flickering around his legs, and in the next instant he was beside the wyvern. His practice saber struck beneath its wing, passing through scales that offered convincing resistance before breaking apart into fragments of light. A bright wound appeared along the creature’s side, and the wyvern screamed and thrashed. Dexter shifted to avoid its tail.

At the same moment, a second wyvern dived toward him.

"Dexter, hold!" Cole called.

Dexter saw the descending claws and pushed off the ground—too late to hear the rest of the instruction. A compressed ball of plasma shot through the space he had just entered. Cole jerked his arm sideways, and the attack veered away and exploded against a ruined tower. White light filled the street, and Dexter landed on a broken ledge.

Below him, Bullet Spear Man thrust his weapon toward the first wyvern’s exposed throat. The spear shot forward with a sharp crack and pierced the creature’s neck. The wyvern burst into scattering fragments of light.

"One down," Bullet Spear Man said.

"Left rear!" Blitz shouted.

The third wyvern had ignored the fighters entirely. It flew low along the street, heading straight toward the injured markers. Gridlock raised a second barrier, and the creature struck it with both feet.

Cracks spread across the translucent surface. Bulwark turned, Dexter dropped from the ledge, and Blitz flashed toward the creature’s head—all three moved at once, and none reached the marker before the barrier broke. A claw swept through the first artificial casualty. Red light flooded the arena.

"Ding!"

[OBJECTIVE FAILED]

The wyverns froze, their bodies dissolving into pale particles while the ruined street remained. For several seconds, the six men stood in silence. Then Blitz turned toward the others.

"Well. That went beautifully."

Gridlock lowered his hands. "I had two attack directions to cover."

"I saw the second one coming," Dexter said.

Cole looked at him. "So did I. That was why I told you to hold."

Dexter glanced at the scorched tower, then back at Cole. "You had a shot."

"Yes."

Dexter exhaled. "That was mine."

Bullet Spear Man rested his weapon against his shoulder. "We still killed one."

Gridlock looked at the extinguished rescue marker. "And lost someone behind us."

The spear fighter did not answer, and Cole walked toward the center of the group. "This is why we needed the session." He looked from one face to another. "We reacted as six individual fighters. Bulwark held the first target, Dexter attacked it, Spear finished it, and then three people rushed the same threat while Gridlock was left handling the consequences."

Blitz raised a finger. "In my defense, I was rushing very quickly."

Nobody laughed, and he lowered the finger. "Fine. Difficult audience."

Cole pointed toward the sky. "They can fly. We can’t treat them like monsters lining up in a corridor."

Dexter studied the ruined buildings, his eyes moving from the rooftops to the narrow passage between them. "Then we stop fighting them in the open."

Cole followed his gaze, and a moment later he smiled. "All right. Tell us."