“It’s a relief we have this many people here,” Jennifer said. “If it were just four or five of us, we’d already be surrounded.”

“R-Really?” Carolyn’s voice trembled as though frightened, but her hands moved with calm precision.

With one hand gripping her staff and the other drawing a magic circle midair, she began a silent incantation. Such control—casting without verbalizing and maintaining focus despite the surrounding chaos—was a skill only someone at the peak of their craft could perform.

Jennifer, though slightly impressed by Carolyn’s display, kept her surprise hidden. This was, after all, a teacher from the Empire’s finest academy. Anyone less skilled wouldn’t have earned that position in the first place.@@novelbin@@

The students were the ones primarily engaged on the front lines. The enemies weren’t just formidable—they were individually dangerous enough to pose serious threats.

But Jennifer wasn’t overly worried.

Not because she trusted the students’ abilities, but because she had spent countless hours in battlefields, learning to assess combat situations at a glance. The most critical role of a commander was to observe the battlefield, coordinate support from the rear, and minimize the losses of those at the front.

More importantly, there were far too many civilians flooding in behind them.

If it had only been a dozen or so, they might have dealt with them quickly, but these weren’t just numbers—they were non-combatants, people they couldn’t simply kill. What’s worse, it wasn’t just this entrance; people were pouring in from other directions too, impacting the students fighting ahead.

“Jake, Lottie,” Jennifer called out, “go support the students at the front.”

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