Bonus Combat Test

I was impressed that we had pulled it off. Sharzin managed to snatch the test questions and answers without issue. We then worked together to slip them casually into the study session, which Rionriv failed to notice. And the best part of it all? Not only did everyone pass their tests, but I was also almost certain that I had successfully flirted and bribed my way into the hearts of my team.

Good job, me. I thought as I metaphorically patted myself on the back.

Now, this combat test is to see if we’ve learnt to really work as a team. If we can take down these monsters today, then I think we’ll be in a good position for a dungeon dive over the Solstice break.

“Pst—Hey.” Sharzin drew my attention from a nearby cart.

Giving my head a shake, I pulled myself back from the daydream and slipped into position beside the shadows.

“Okay,” She began to inform me. “It looks like the two trolls and massive suit of armour are about to enter the kill box from the south. Blue wristbands confirmed.”

With a bit of sleuthing on Sharzin’s part, we’d discovered that there were three levels of wristbands that determined the difficulty of an encounter. Red wristbands belonged to students from the Third Year pool, whereas blue wristbands belonged to Fourth Year students and were about three times tougher than reds.

Then came the gold wristbands. These were teachers, and unlike students, who could be malicious and vengeful, these monsters were always fair in their fights. Though it was also said that they were about ten times as hard as blue band monsters. So, currently, a bit outside our weight class.

Today, we were batting slightly out of our range, but to compensate for it, our combat training was getting tactical.

“Good, I’ll get into position.” I replied with a nod before we separated towards our predetermined spots.

With seconds to spare, I was in position just before the monsters rounded the corner. I knelt in the center of the road, pretending to have dropped my schoolbooks and notes. Equal parts helpless and clueless was the name of the game.

Even from a distance, I could hear the scraping of metal on cobblestone from the armour and weapons the beasts dragged against the road. Not wanting to alert them to the ploy, I remained looking down, focused on my newest career in acting, all the while tracking them from the corner of my eye.

Then came the second alarm. Rionriv channelled a warm gust of wind, alerting me that the threats were within a hundred feet.

It was the perfect effect!

Caught in her gentle breeze, the pages blew away from me and became stuck under the foot of the monsters. Leaves were carried from the nearby trees, raining gently down between us.

Cue doves. Lens flare. Dutch angle. Dutch angle. Tracking shot. Over-the-shoulder shot.

A loud crack of something in the distance broke the standoff, and the two trolls raced towards me furiously. I stepped forward into a defensive position, ready to act as the stalemate to their strikes. And strike they did.

Four heavy slashes from gruesome blades cut through the air. I deflected three, and the fourth sent a splash of my blood across the cobbled street.

It wasn’t a flawless performance, but being able to deflect attacks better wasn’t the only thing I had learned since coming to Al’Magi. With a trio of blows from my fists to the bulbous nose, the first troll that had charged was down to his knees. Punch drunk and barely hanging on to consciousness, it swayed as I pivoted. I swung to meet my second opponent, who stared at me with wide, bulging eyes.

“You’ll pay for that.” It growled deeply. “Rathnoth, get over—Rathnoth?!”

The troll then realized his heavily armoured ally wasn’t going to be joining him. Roughly six arrows were sticking through the vulnerable joints as electricity arced across the immobilized body.

The triop had done their half of the job flawlessly. Hiding until combat began and then attacking the most dangerous target with a well-coordinated strike, the unsuspecting bully had no idea what had hit him. And, within seconds, the juggernaut was down.

But I wasn’t out of danger yet. In a furious rage, the remaining troll released two heavy strikes across my chest as I was distracted.

“Ahg!—Not this way!” I yelled out, pleading as I fell to my knees, a pool of blood forming beneath me.

With a flourish of its sword, the beast hoisted the gruesome blade into the air, readying to strike a final blow.

But, as I prepared my hands to deflect, the attack never came. Instead, the troll began to cough blood before toppling over his barely functional ally.

Rolling away from me, a trio of arrows and a smouldering scorch mark became visible on the creature's back. Less than thirty seconds after starting, it was done.

“And scene!” I cried out, hopping to my feet.

With a hand to my chest, a radiant glow pulsed beneath my palm, and the wound healed.

“Great job, everyone, truly masterclass! That’s a wrap—”

I coughed up a splattering of blood and a chunk of metal that had been lodged in my chest.

“Don’t pretend you weren’t horribly wounded,” Rionriv spoke as she landed beside me and looked over the two trolls. “I could see that you were nervous there.”

Without hesitation, she pointed a finger gun at the barely conscious troll and fired a bolt of fire through his eye. The tense body instantly relaxed, and, with that, we were officially done.

“You couldn’t see crap, Ri.” I shot back as I looked at my torn shirt and then up at the sorceress.

“Because you were too busy being a total badass. It's only been, what, a week and change since you got the keys to the kingdom, and suddenly, you can silently cast any and all spells? That’s wild. You’re so awesome!”

Rionriv’s face scrunched up as she turned away from me. “Shut up! You complimenting me is weird.”

I smirked as Aesandoral and Sharzin stepped into view. Descending from the roof, Aesandoral pulled down the terracotta cloak draped over her head and shoulders, which she had used to improve her camouflage. Sharzin, on the other hand, had stuck to the alleys and was now blatantly apparent as her black cloak scurried along the midday street.

“Yay, we did it!” Aesandoral squealed with excitement. “I was really nervous at first, but then I remembered you were cheering me on.”

Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump! Thuh-thump!

I blushed, rubbing at the back of my neck before meeting the archer’s joy with my own excitement.

“Yeah, go us! See, I told you we’d be Three-Dee by Solstice.”

Sharzin approached my side and gave me a gentle punch to the hip.

“It appears you have once again proven yourself to be telling the truth.” She spoke up. “I shall continue to trust you.”

“Wow, thanks, Sharzin. Love the vote of confidence.”

After regrouping and having a quick discussion over the trap’s strengths and weaknesses, we moved on to continue our extracurricular training. This involved baiting and defeating a few more groups of upperclassmen with honeypot traps.

By the time we were done a few hours later, the number of active ‘monsters’ across the central campus had been severely diminished. But the group wasn’t done yet, and I still had one more rock to bleed of experience points.

Moving into the sewers under campus, we worked on our close-quarter combat strategies. We practiced tactical hand signals, using Rionriv’s magic to breach weaker doors and tested room-clearing tactics. Finally, after years of fantasizing about the West’s industrial military complex, it was coming into play.

That and the many shows about military and police special forces that I binged over the years.

By the time we had hit the fifth of a dozen dead ends and cleared out the vermin, we were already sliding into our new groove. The unfortunate dog-rats and corgsquitos had no chance against our formations. These creatures were meant to antagonize First Years after all, and, by my estimates, we currently ranked closer to Third Years in raw abilities.

“This is getting repetitive.” Sharzin groaned from a dark corner. “It’s too easy when everything is dark.”

“I know, I’m not even breaking a sweat, Zin.” Aesandoral nodded to the nearby shadow.

“I’m over here.”

Zin emerged from a different, obscured corner with a handful of arrows. Handing some to Aesandoral, she stuffed the rest into her quiver with a meaningful shove.

“I want to try hiding in harder places.”

“Okay, okay,” I said and looked at the bored and tired faces of the triop before me. “I think that’ll be enough for today, then. Why don’t we grab something to eat?”

“Mimic café!” Sharzin and Aesandoral cheered.

“Yeah? Mimic café again?” I sighed, beginning to grow tired of our regular haunt.

“You two sure you don’t want to try something different? There are plenty of other restaurants, cafes, bars, bistros, and niche, delicious things on this campus. You know?”

They shook their heads in tandem. It was a resounding no.

“Okay, fine, let’s go to the mimic café.”