Chapter 125: Wins and Losses, Part Seven

Once all of the students and all the adventurers were ready, the rookies were led to the viewing spot. Led there by Olen, they watched as all of the adventurers that had come for the job suddenly grew far quieter as the time to act had arrived.

The viewing spot itself was a cramped, tight little space nestled in between a few trees and boulders. From here, though, like Olen had promised, most of the fortress was visible. They wouldn't be able to see anything that happened inside, however, but soon they heard something that made it so that, maybe, that wasn't such a bad thing.

A woman could be heard crying loudly from within the fortress, the sound coming out from one of the windows near their spots.

[A captive!?] Rin's eyes widened. They had said this could happen, and yet, she hadn't expected there'd actually be someone here, still alive.

The group of adventurers didn't appear too shaken, however. They largely ignored that sound. Instead, once all of the rookies were positioned to be able to see the mission, that's when it was time and Silvy spoke up.

"Okay, we're going in now," she said, before looking over at Cara. "You're good with keeping an eye on them alone?"

"I'm fine, yes," Cara waved her concern away. "Good luck in there, everyone."

"No luck needed," Silvy winked. "Just skill and planning is all."

Behind her, Rin saw Troph putting a hand on Vick's shoulder before saying:

"Careful you don't trip and fall off that wall, brother."

"I'll be fine. You watch your back in there, alright? I don't wanna have to carry all your stuff back to Cradle by myself."

At that, they shared a chuckle. Beside them, Elina spoke to Alerian, the boy in the black armor.

"Maybe after this, we can head downtown for some drinks back home. Someone needs to show you how to loosen up," she offered. Silvy raised a brow at that while Alerian just rolled his eyes.

As the adventurers made sure they were prepared, Rin caught Olen watching the fortress with a concerned look on his face. He, the oldest of them, was the only one that didn't seem completely confident. She wondered why that was.

Regardless, soon, as the moon hung over their heads, the adventurers were finally ready to begin. The barbaric-looking one had his ax on his back, looking like he held the strength of an entire army wrapped up in one person as he signaled for them to follow. Each one went, and with that, SIlvy said one last thing to them.

"Enjoy the show!" She said with a bright smile. "Hopefully, we'll all give you a performance worth remembering."

And, on that note, the students were left alone with their teacher, each one watching as the adventurers went to the river, behind the fortress. Of course, Vick and Alerian went to the walls to deal with the archers and this was the first part of the mission that the students would be watching.

"Man, I'm getting nervous for them," John suddenly stated, from Rin's left. "I mean, they look tough but that's a whole lot of kobolds up there."

"Eh," Carla replied, wrapping an arm around John's back as she sat next to him. "They're just kobolds. Even if they're somehow stronger, I can't see how they'd give them that much trouble."

"If they have gotten this far," Dylan responded, "then they must be skilled enough to handle what is ahead."

Seth made no comments at all. He stood there, watching what was happening ahead with crossed arms and a stoic face. Next to Rin, Eve said:

"I'm so excited!" She clapped her hands. "Finally, we're gonna see them at work!"

"Yeah," Rin nodded with a smile. "Let's see what happens."

---

The mission began with Alerian and Vick standing just below the fortress's walls. Rin wondered how the two of them were going to manage to get up there, but that question was quickly answered as they both drew some spellsigns. Vick's spell allowed him to climb up the wall, placing his hands on it and moving up with ease, while Alerian's transformed him into a black mist that flew up to join Vick.

From this point, the two of them got to work. Some kobold archers were lazily scanning the woods, looking from one side to another, as Vick calmly walked up behind one and unsheathed the two swords he carried. The kobold heard him, turned around, but didn't manage to get any sound out before Vick embedded both swords into its throat. Alerian, still in that mist form, went up to the next archer and reverted back to his normal body, before taking out a greatsword he had on his back.

He then calmly lopped the kobold's head off with one powerful swing at its neck.

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Even though everything they were doing looked fine, Rin still took a nervous breath. There were so many enemies around them that, even if most were asleep, all it would take was one bad move for an entire camp of kobolds to be up and trying to kill them.

After they took out a couple more archers, it looked like they were in the clear, and Vick sheathed one of his swords and gave a thumbs-up to Alerian. Alerian nodded, and then Vick turned toward the building below.

He let out a bird call of sorts, which was the sign that they were free to exit the fortress and begin the battle on the field below.

And so, Rin and all the other students waited for the main group to come out. They waited, and waited, but the adventurers didn't come.

Minutes passed and eventually, Eve tilted her head.

"Is it supposed to take this long?" Eve asked Cara.

"Depends on how strong the opposition inside was. Can't hear any fighting, though. Could be that they're just trying to be careful, but..."

Almost as if answering that question, the adventurers finally exited the building. A couple of kobolds quickly stirred, waking up and seeing them. And thus, the battle began properly.

Immediately, however, Rin noticed something. There weren't quite as many of them as there had been before. Admittedly, she didn't remember all of their faces. Only a few stuck out, and she knew Olen was escorting the survivors out, but still. The only ones she saw were Silvy, Elina, Troph, and one more adventurer who she didn't quite remember.

[I think they're missing one, or two people. I don't know,] Rin thought.

Putting that aside, however, she watched as the battle raged. Kobolds launched arrows and threw themselves at their opponents while the adventurers frantically cleaved them in half. Alerian hopped down the wall and landed on the battlefield, using his greatsword to assist them, while Vick took one of the kobolds bows and shot some of their enemies' own arrows back at them.

What they were doing looked masterful. Practiced and patient, they each carved through the opposition.

[Wow,] Rin smiled a little, surprised. [They're so good!]

Her eyes gravitated toward Silvy.

She saw that the woman's earlier expression, all smiles and laughter, had faded completely. She was focused entirely on the combat she was in, and Rin thought that was admirable.

But then, Rin noticed something. One kobold, at the back, was lurking in the shadows, with a bow in its hands.

[Oh, they missed it,] she noted. Then, the kobold raised its bow, took out an arrow, and aimed it at Silvy.

[Um... Silvy, you might want to turn around.]

Silvy didn't see it. She was completely focused on the kobolds ahead of her. In fact, no one noticed the one at the back.

[Silvy?]

A cold wind passed over Rin's heart. The adventurer never saw the enemy.

The kobold's arrow flew through the air and struck Silvy's head, coming out the other side.

Rin's eyes widened.

[... What?]

Silvy froze. Rin was speechless for a moment as the adventurer remained standing there. And then, she dropped her weapons and fell to the ground.

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