Top of the Class (Other POV)

I slide my gauntlets over my hands. Nothing impressive of course, I am still just an applicant after all. I strike the nearest practice dummy with the back of my hand. The dummy wobbles for a moment almost tipping over but stabilizes quickly again.

“Impressive.” Metra says from behind me.

“Not really. I can knock the thing over if I wanted to.” I respond turning back to face the dwarf. “Oh yeah! Do you know a Yamakuma Lydia?” I ask the mage.

“Yamakuma?” Metra repeats putting a hand to her chin. “Little kid?” She asks meeting my gaze.

“Yeah. Has affinity with all the elements.” I explain before cracking my neck.

“Ohhhhhhhh!” The dwarf exclaims lowering her hand. “Everyone, including our instructors, says she could be top of our division if she could properly use the implements.” She explains grabbing a red and white painted staff off her back. “I don’t know about that myself though.” She says before creating a small mini tornado of flames on the top of the implement. “We would have to go on a hunt together or duel for me to be sure.” She adds rather stoically. Observation rather than words is what matters to her, huh.

“Good to know.” I respond before entering a combative stance again.

“Marcus and Tuta are waiting for us.” Metra says. “We need to plan our strategy.” She adds.

“We can’t really plan anything though, right?” I reply “We don’t know what we’re even hunting.”

“That’s exactly why we need to plan.” She retorts.

-- -- --

I begin to stretch in my too tiny bed as I hear Lydia groan once more while she enters the room. Granny just cannot catch a break with those youngin’s can she?

“How bad was it?” I ask her stretching my arm across my chest. The young looking granny gives me that weird look I have noticed she has every once in awhile, mostly while I am stretching, before she finally answers.

“Terrible.” Lydia responds shuffling over to her bed. “I had to hold myself back from setting them all on fire.” She adds falling onto her bed. Not even an entire year here and she has grown a lot physically.

“Do you know a Gota Metra?” I ask her before she can begin to grumble about her terrible team.

“Yeah, we have practical magic together but we’ve never been paired up for mock duels.” The old kid answers sounding rather disinterested. “Sorry if I sound uninterested. I’m just really worn out from my group.” She apologizes to me with a sigh.

-- -- --

“Good to see you all.” The guild master greets our hunting party at the front gates. Impressive, I did not know the guild master would personally observe. “This is your target.” He says matter-of-factly pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to Tuta, our tracker.

“Holy Pit!” The orc exclaims. “This is gonna be exciting!” She adds.

“What is it?” I ask her before looking over my shoulder at the paper.

“A wyrm!” The tracker cheerily says while we all step out into the wilderness beyond the walls.

“A bit tricky to trap.” Marcus says letting his annoyance be known. “Slithering means any pressure trap is basically pointless. Nets are usually not made of a sturdy enough material to hold them either.” He explains. “Maybe a rope trap to hang it off a branch?” He muses aloud.

“That sounds pretty good.” I respond to his idea.

-- -- --

The midday sun shines brightly down upon us. Despite being spring it feels rather hot in my armored uniform. Before I can voice my discomfort however, Tuta raises an arm to stop us.

“Wyrm’s been here.” She says pointing at slightly padded down grass. She continues pointing northward. “Headed that way.” She adds before following the faint trail.

“I can see why you’re top of the division.” Metra says to the orc. “I didn’t even notice that.” She adds.

“Judging from the size I’m gonna need a lot of rope for the trap to lift it up.” Marcus mutters louder than he probably intended.

“If push comes to shove I can always lift it up to confuse it.” I jokingly respond.

“That might actually work.” Marcus replies seeming to take me seriously.

“You probably are strong enough.” Tuta jokes before I can speak.

-- -- --

The sun begins to crest behind the distant mountains. Dusk is fast approaching and still no sight of our target.

“We should stop.” Tuta says almost like an order before turning around to face us.

“Why?” I ask rather confused.

“Metra is looking pretty tired compared to the rest of us.” The tracker explains before heading to a near by spring. “Plus I’m pretty thirsty.” She adds taking a sip of the clear water.

“Okay. But we should get back to tracking soon.” I respond before sitting down at the bank of the spring.

“We won’t be long.” Metra replies sitting next to me and resting her staff on her lap.

We spend a very short time catching our breath and drinking some water before we begin our hunt once more.

-- -- --

The sun is no longer visible over the mountains but the sky still has some light.

“We should try to finish this before the night.” I vocalize my concern.

“No need to fret, it’s near.” Tuta replies taking deep sniffs of the air. Orcs really do have heightened senses it seems.

Tuta puts out an arm and lowers it towards the ground to signal us to begin to crouch. We proceed to stalk through the tall grass moving westward.

“It should be here.” Tuta says standing up and looking at the empty clearing. She begins to take deep sniffs of the area.

“Could it be-” Marcus begins before being cut off by Metra.

“Ahhhhhh!” Metra screams as a large reptile pounces towards her. I jump towards the creature and grab it by the jaws.

“Found it!” I yell through gritted teeth. I lift up the head of the wyrm and toss it downward to the ground. “Of course it goes for the smallest one.” I mutter while kicking its eye before it recovers.

“Gonna just lasso it!” Marcus yells at us. “Might need your help restraining it Tuta.” The trapper adds.

The creature slithers back into hiding in the tall grass out of sight.

“Searing blaze coat me in your warming heat!” Metra chants slamming her staff into the ground.

I barely catch sight of the wyrm as it pounces at Metra once again.

“Not this time you shit!” I yell grabbing hold of the reptile’s long neck torso, thing. The creature writhes in my arms. “My grip is slipping!” I exclaim to the others.

“Lasso’s ready!” Marcus replies while he begins to spin a looped rope over his head. I drag the wyrm towards the trapper and toss it to the ground once more. Marcus throws the rope around the creature’s head while cheering “Yes! Got it first try!”

“Birta!” Tuta’s voice yells to me right before I feel a heavy weight slam against my head knocking me down to the ground. The wyrm’s tail?

“Blazing winds I unleash thine fury!” Metra chants before a spiral of flames releases from her staff and engulfs the wyrm’s upper body.

“No you don’t!” I exclaim with fury almost consuming me as I grab the wyrm’s strong tail. I can feel the back of my head bleeding. “You ain’t goin’ anywhere!” I continue kicking the unburnt side of the creature before lifting it up in anger and slamming it into the ground.

BLAM! A deafening sound resounds near by right before the wyrm’s head rips apart. It happened so quickly the reptile is still spasming.

“Love this little baby.” Marcus says before blowing at a small smoking metal tube.

“Well it’s dead now.” The tracker says oddly calm while the mark finally stops moving. “What trophy you all want?” She asks pulling out her kukri.