Anti-Angel Party

If you were to be polite about it, Gerard could be regarded as some kind of Super Genius. If you were to be honest though, you would call him a Monster.

The man was perfection incarnate. No matter what he set his mind to, he would quickly acquire mastery over it. In Breglin, Gerard was considered the hope of the country. The man who would lead their military to victory over Velin. Now, he has become the hope of Felance.

Mateo would be willing to bet that Gerard had only needed to practice three times for each divine power he had learned. The first was to get a feel for it. The second would be a success. With the third attempt he would have fully perfected the Divine Power.

The look in Ezra’s eyes only confirmed these thoughts. Mateo couldn’t help but wonder if the Saint had committed blasphemy with the look of worship in his eyes.

“We’ll give you the rest of the day to discuss with your new party. Tomorrow we will have you split up and enter the nearby forest to hunt down monsters as a party. It would be best for each of you to know what your teammates are capable of before the end of the day.”

The three instructors then stepped to the side to give the students the opportunity to form their parties. Mateo went ahead and pulled over Kyle and Alicia who were both part of the Knight group and headed over towards the other three.

Glenn and Helen had followed Arwyn earlier while Noah had been the only person in the group who had been favored by the Gods and taken under Ezra’s wing. Once everyone was gathered Mateo figured it was his place to speak first given his role as Party Leader.

“It’s good to see everyone again. Since we already know each other there's no need for introductions, we’ll just say what we specialize in. As for me I trained my archery skills during the past two weeks and I’ve become adept at wielding the bow. I was able to learn four different Arts during my training. Power Shot, Mirage Arrow, Burrowing Strike, and Tracker. Power Shot is just a mana empowered arrow, while mirage creates illusionary arrows around the real one. Burrowing Strike lets the arrow dig through the ground without losing much velocity. Tracker allows me to sense whatever I hit within a certain range, even if my attack does no damage.”

The next person to speak up was Alicia to my left. She was an inch or two shorter than me with long straight blonde hair, blue eyes, and a pretty face. The only real thing of note about her personality wise was that she never really showed any expression and was silent most of the time.

“I am trained in swordsmanship and my weapon of choice is a standard long sword. The Arts I learned are Power Slash, Chain Charge, Sword Energy Wave, and Retaliation. Power Slash is the same as his Power Shot but with a sword. Chain Charge allows me to charge forward and it can chain between enemies by creating a burst of energy upon impact, becoming stronger with each enemy I chain off of up to five enemies. I won’t bother with Sword Energy Wave, and Retaliation is a parrying Sword Art that makes the sword retain the full strength of the enemy’s attack that is parried and releases it in a follow up attack.”

Being quick and to the point was to be expected from Alicia. It appeared that some semblance of order was made as the person to the left of her decided to speak up next, Glenn. Glenn was the only person in their party to wear glasses and was always the studious type. He really fit the image of a Wizard.

“I’m an offensive type of Mage who learned Lightning Element Magic. The only thing you really need to know is that my magic is the fastest offensive magic amongst all of our classmates. I was able to learn two spells, and before you say anything, you can’t really compare spells to arts. Even Blair only learned three spells. So the spells I learned are Lightning Bolt and Web of Lightning. One is a single-target spell while the other is a multi-target spell.”

Lightning Magic? Of the different types of elements Mateo could think of, it definitely sounded like the strongest against flying type enemies. The Instructors had really put deep thought into the party formation. Even the close range fighter like Alicia had learned Sword Energy Wave, and there was no reason to mention a bow user like him.

To the left of Glenn was Helen, the other mage of the party. Of the group members she was definitely the shortest by at least a head’s height shorter than Glenn, who was a few inches shorter than Alicia. If Mateo didn’t see a few mages who towered over him in other parties he would have thought being short was the requirement to become one.

“Um, my magic isn’t meant for offense. My expertise is to weaken the targets through curses. Like Glenn, I’ve also learned two spells. Curse of Weakness and Curse of Sloth. The first one lowers the enemies strength and defense, while the other one makes them slow and in some cases drowsy. There is even the chance to directly put the target of the curse to sleep.”

Elemental magic wasn’t the only type of magic in this world? That was useful information to learn. Mateo both appreciated the addition of this member along with being curious how it would feel to be cursed.

The second to last person in the circle before it would reach him again was Noah, who based on his clothing and mannerisms, seemed to have gone down the path of priesthood rather than becoming a paladin.

“I am thankful to the Goddess for the opportunity to join a party as competent as this one.”

His first words already shocked the group. Has this classmate of theirs been brainwashed?

“I have been blessed with the Favor of the Goddess of Abundance and in turn received the gifts of healing and blessing. I have received the divine powers Cure, Quicken, and Fortification. Cure is my single Healing Divine Blessing, while Quicken and Fortification are both enhancement Blessings. Quicken increases agility while Fortification enhances defence.”

If you were to put aside his bizarre mannerisms then Noah was absolutely a much needed addition to the party. A full package of healing, along with offensive and defensive blessings sounded like the perfect priest for this party.

Finally the circle had mostly looped back and now it was the person to the right of him, Kyle’s turn to go. He was the only other member of the party that Mateo had seen during Knight Training besides Alicia. If Helen was the smallest person in the party, then Kyle was by far the largest.

Even before the summoning Kyle had been amongst the tallest in the class. Now after Knight Training, muscle had been built upon his large build, making him even more hulking in size. The bright smile on his face though eliminated any sort of intimidation that came from his imposing stature.

“It seems like my role in our party is to play the defensive role. I am a Heavy Knight that focuses on wearing heavy armor and Shield Arts. The Shield Arts I learned were Coverage, Taunt, and Protector. Coverage overlays the shield with a larger Mana Shield. Taunt is good for aggravating mindless enemies and making me the focal point of their anger. Protector enhances my armor and shield with mana, making them even more durable.”

Seeing how it had come full circle and had made its way back to him, Mateo decided to take charge once again.

“As you all heard we are the Anti-Angel Party. To make it easier to understand, we are the anti-air unit. The main attackers appear to be me and Glenn. Alicia, your role seems more to finish off the enemy once they are grounded by the two of us. As for you Helen, I believe the Curse of Sloth was the reason behind your placement. You just need to focus on making the enemies easier to hit. Noah, besides healing, again is to help us hit the target. Just focus on keeping Quicken active on Glenn and I, and Fortification on Kyle. Last but not least, Kyle, you just need to prevent the flying enemies from bombarding us.”

After talking a little bit more about party formations and strategies they saw how some of the other parties started to disperse and decided it was best to call it a night. Tomorrow would be their first real fight since arriving in this world. Sure there had been spars, but tomorrow would include real danger. The six bid their farewells and separated based on their Specialization back to their dormitories.