4.0 Warrior Test and 2ed Mission

On the sixth nights

I arrived at Rynn, we went to the warrior arena as planned and approached Daichi the gold ranked adventure.

"Are you ready for your warrior challenge?"

"Yes," she replied with determination.

"This warrior challenge consists of three parts: defense, attack, and duels. As a warrior, you are the frontline of defense in a party. You should be able to hold your ground against an enemy assault and then break through their defense to defeat your foe,"

"For the first test, I will be your opponent. I will attack you, and your task is to block and defend yourself. When you find an opening, I want you to attack and push me back. The fight will last for about 1-2 minutes."

“Hey, Ryota? How strong is Mr. Daichi?”

“He’s a gold-plated adventure that specializes in axes. If he goes full out, Kendra won’t stand a chance.”

“He will go easy on her since she’s a girl. Well hopefully” Zero chimed in.

Daichi stepped forward. He was a big man, standing at about 6'2" and weighing more than twice Kendra's weight, maybe more. He wielded a sword and shield, just like Kendra. They stood 10 feet apart, Kendra with her sword and shield held in front of her. The crowd was fully attentive now, all eyes on Kendra, a 16-year-old girl about to face a man twice her weight and three times her experience as a veteran warrior. The pressure she faced was more intense than what I experienced during my magic test.

"Luke, will you do the countdown?" He asked.

" Sir!" walking towards the center with his characteristic confident stride. He raised his hand, looking at Daichi for approval before shifting his gaze to Kendra, who appeared overconfident and nodded back.

“Five. Four, Three, two, one, Begin!" Luke called out.

The big instructor charged at Kendra with powerful, gallant strides, kicking up dirt as he swung his sword with force. Kendra blocked the attack with her shield but was pushed back about 2 feet, leaving a trail of dust behind her. He was not holding back with that strike. Without pausing, he followed up with a downward strike from his towering position. Kendra now crouched down from the impact, absorbed the blow, and swiftly countered with a thrust, aiming for the center of his chest. Daichi skillfully blocked the blow with his shield, displaying impressive reflexes as he sidestepped to the right.

The crowd was amazed by Kendra's counter and the block. "I could have stopped that," Daiki whispered to Zero.

"No, you couldn't," he laughed in response. It seemed Kendra was popular among the boys and had impressive skills to boost. She stood upright, meeting eye-to-eye with the giant once again. He rushed at her, striking her shield with force and pushing her back. The fight continued for about 30 seconds, with Kendra mostly blocking and dodging his blows. However, with each blow, Kendra seemed less affected, growing more accustomed to his movements. They now stood 5 feet apart.

"Attack me!" he cried out. Without wasting a moment, Kendra rushed in, crouching down and swinging her sword upward. He easily blocked the attack with his superior body, using his shield to push her off and slide her back two feet. They exchanged twenty or so more swings, blocking and countering until they locked swords.

"Well done, it's over," he said."

The second test will be a one verse one against Luke, Ryota, Daiki, and Zero since we have so many trainees,"

Kendra then faced Ryota, who also wielded a sword and shield. The fight was evenly matched, with no clear winner. Ryota was not taking any risks and playing it safe.

“Come on Ryota, take her out” shouted Steef.

“Shut up ginger” he shouted back.

The fight ended soon after with no winner as Ryota didn’t attack much, mostly blocking and never finding an opening.

Next, she fought Daiki, the older twin brother who wielded a two-handed samurai sword, I think he thinks he's the guy from the anime that has an afro and a sword or something. The fight ended within 10 seconds as Kendra blocked the fist blow and the wooden sword hit the ground. Kendra easily countered, hitting him in the chest. “Nooooooo! I want a rematch” he whined.

Everyone was laughing. “Nice try,” Sora said to his brother. “Shut up”

She then faced Zero, who wielded two one-handed swords, resembling an assassin class. Zero, known for his agility and precision, seemed uneasy as he faced Kendra in a one-on-one duel. It was evident that he lacked confidence in such engagements, perhaps due to his reluctance to harm a fellow warrior, especially a girl. As the fight unfolded, it became apparent that Zero struggled to match Kendra's strength and skill. Despite his best efforts, Kendra quickly capitalized on his weaknesses, overpowering him with a display of her formidable abilities. It was a clear reminder that Zero's expertise lay elsewhere, and his uneasiness in one-on-one duels was palpable. Like he almost wanted to run away

Next up was Luke, another big man, 6 feet tall and twice her weight. He wielded a two-handed big mace however they were using wooden weapons for safety. The duel started, and he swung with all his might with a 2 handed wooden sword. while Kendra used her shield to slide the sword outward and stabbed into his chest eventually securing a victory. If it was a metal sword and shield there definitely would have been sparks on that impact. Kendra used the angle of her shield to slide his attack off and countered for the win.

Luke felt embarrassed and demanded a rematch, arguing that he used a two-handed mace instead. He would have blown her shield off her arm and would have won. However, the instructor disagreed and put an end to the argument.

"Well done, Kendra. You have passed the warrior test," I congratulated her. "Usually, the test is only done between you and me, but since we had extra bodies, we decided to test you against them as well."

He handed her a bronze badge. "Wear it with pride. I have to teach the rest of these wimps how to be real men since you kicked the shit out of them."

“Well, well, well, look who we have here. The mighty warriors who couldn't stand a chance against a girl” Ryota added in

“Come on Ryota, all you did was defend and didn’t attack you wuss.”

“Haha, Daiki she still knocked you out with that swift blow to the chest. You should've seen your face! Didn’t last 5 seconds.”

“All right, all right, let's not forget about our dear friend Zero here. He thought he was all cool and assassin-like, but he got overpowered by Kendra in no time.” Daiki replied.

Zero responded “Hey, hey, watch it! I wasn't expecting her to be that strong, all right? She caught me off guard.”

“Sure, sure, keep telling yourself that. But let's not forget that even our big guy, Luke got beaten fair and square. Twice her size and still couldn't handle her.”

Haha! That's right, Luke, looks like you're not as invincible as you thought.

“Okay, okay, let's give credit where credit is due. Kendra was impressive. She showed us all that she's not to be underestimated. We may have lost, but she earned that bronze badge.” Agreed, it’s humbling but also inspiring. We need to step up our game if we want to match her skills.

In the end, despite their playful banter, the four losers acknowledged Kendra's skill and congratulated her on her success, vowing to improve themselves for future challenges, and went back to practicing. To celebrate her victory, we went to the TT armor shop and got Kendra an iron sword, a round shield, and some armor. Cost us two gold for everything. I need to start paying off this debt, otherwise it will build too high, hopefully she doesn’t charge interest.

Raring to go, we headed to the adventure hall to apply her to the guild. Since it was still early in the day, we decided to take on a quest.