Chapter 74: Midnight Maiden, Part Five

Some people Rin didn't know walked into the obstacle course and placed some weapon racks on the side. Then, Maria went and handed everyone their weapons. One student quickly stepped up after they all got them, while Rin watched from the side.

"Alright," Seth grinned, cracking his knuckles, holding an ax in his hands. "Let's do this."

"This isn't a one-on-one, kid," Cara told him. "You might wanna ask your team if they want to step up first too."

At that, Seth clicked his tongue and turned around, trying to find them.

"Well?" He spread his arms as he looked back at the class. "Come on, already."

Hearing that, his teammates walked up with nothing but reluctance on their faces.

"Okay, now, let's do this," Seth said again.

"Sure. The rules are simple," Cara stated as each of the adventurers held their weapons nervously. "The fight ends when one of you manages to land a hit on me. Whether with magic or with your weapons, either way, works. We'll be doing this until every single team," she gestured at them all, "has hit at least two of us once."

"Is that it?" Seth asked.

"Yes. Until then, we keep going. Is that clear?"

"Y-Yeah, but," John said, raising his hand, "we're using live weapons here, is that alright?"

"It'll be fine. Try your hardest," Cara told them. Hearing that, John nodded and backed up.

"Well, shit, alright," John muttered.

John, Lisa, and Eve stood next to each other, while Seth was just a couple of paces ahead. Cara glanced over each one of them, before saying, "begin."

Seth did not hesitate. The man charged forward, holding his ax by his waist before raising it over his head and trying to bring it down on Cara.

The Rank A adventurer didn't even raise her sword. Cara stepped to the side, letting the weapon fall gracefully through the air before she brought a knee up and struck Seth in the gut.

"Agh!" Rin was fairly certain she saw some spit fly out of Seth's mouth as he fell to his knees, and Cara casually stepped away from him.

"A telegraphed attack like that might work on a kobold, but not on anything with half a brain," Cara stated, looking at the others while Seth remained on the ground. "Well? We started already. Fight me."

"R-Right," John said before he started drawing a spellsign in the air. Eve and Lisa both soon joined him, and a series of [Fireballs] flew through the air, heading straight for Cara. Their teacher raised her sword and used the flat side of her greatsword to block every projectile.

"Aaah!" Seth rose then, swinging his ax wildly as Cara's eyes went back to him. Again, she didn't even bother to use her weapon to block his attacks. Dancing around each swipe, Cara dodged out of the way of Seth's hits, before ducking under one of his horizontal swings and giving him a hard punch to the gut.

Again, Seth fell on his knees.

"Are you just going to watch him?" Cara asked the three mages. "Seems like a weird strategy to me, sitting around while your melee fighter is on the enemy, distracting them."

"What if we hit him?" Eve asked.

"It's up to you to figure out how not to do that," Cara replied. "That's called 'team synergy'. It's what we're training for, right now."

Having said that, Cara took a few steps away from Seth, and everyone waited for the boy to get back up. Once he did so, glaring at Cara intensely, the teacher aimed her sword at him.

"Again."

It took almost fifteen minutes before a hit was finally landed on Cara.

While Seth was trying to get his ax to strike Cara's body, hitting nothing but wind throughout the entirety of the time they spent, John, Lisa, and Eve started getting more comfortable with the spells they were casting. Eventually, Cara had to start using her weapon to deflect Seth's swings, all the while dodging out of the way of the [Fireballs] until finally, one caught her in the back, and she raised her sword.

"Done."

Seth, however, had been mid-swing when this happened. His ax caught Cara's waist, sinking into her hip, and the students all gasped.

Cara, however, didn't even flinch. No, it honestly looked like she didn't even feel the injury that had been inflicted. Even Seth appeared a little shaken, as he looked up at her while the edge of his ax remained in Cara's waist.

"... You wanna get that thing out anytime soon?" Cara asked him, and Rin swore she could hear some venom in those words.

Seth did so, and Cara cast the basic [Heal] spell on herself, before putting a hand on Seth's shoulder.

"If I were you," she said, "I'd learn a little restraint before we get deeper into the semester. Otherwise, it's going to be a pretty short career for you, one way or another. Got it?"

"... Yeah," Seth replied, and Cara walked away.

"Well then," Harriton smiled, walking forward as Cara left the area. "I'm up next. Who's stepping up?"

After that, it was Elisa and her team's turn. Dylan, Elisa, and Carla stood next to each other, as Harriton put his hands behind his back and bowed to them.

"You aren't taking a sword, sir?" Dylan asked.

"Nope. I'm nothing but a mage," Harriton shook his head with a smile. "A sword is little more than a butter knife in my hands. Whenever you're ready, you can go ahead and start."

Elisa, Dylan, and Carla, all looked at each other then. Elisa was holding one greatsword in each hand, Dylan had his spear, and Carla was using a pair of small daggers.

[Wait, so, they don't have a mage?] Rin just realized.

The first to run forward this time was Carla. The dark-skinned, short-haired woman dashed forward, and she seemed fairly quick to Rin's eyes. Harriton saw her coming and quickly drew a spellsign.

Vines spawned from his left palm then and wrapped themselves around Carla.

"W-What!?" Carla asked as she dropped her weapons and fell to the ground.

"You're dealing with a mage who spends pretty much every day researching different spells, kid," Harriton smirked, shrugging. "Expect the unexpected. When you go out there and fight monster mages, you won't know what they can do either."

In the middle of his statement, Dylan charged forward next. He was even faster than Carla, and Rin saw Harriton raise a brow.

"Oh, an opportunist!" He said as Dylan arrived in front of him and thrust his spear forward.

Harriton, like Cara had before him, dodged out of the way of every swing and then drew a spellsign so quickly in the air that Rin barely caught it. However, when he finished it, Dylan went for a spinning slash and Harriton struck him in the chest with his open right hand.

Well, it looked like he had, but as soon as his palm touched Dylan's body, the boy was launched back, flying through the air.

"You're fast," Harriton said, as Dylan rolled to a halt. "Genuinely. You have a bright future ahead of you if you work hard enough. Now, Elisa, Elisa," Harriton turned to face her. "Your teammates are down and out. What are you going to do?"

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"... No reason I can't take this moment to test myself, can't I?" Elisa asked him, grinning a little.

"If you want to, sure," Harriton shrugged. "It's up to you."

"Okay, in that case..."

She was the last one to run at him. Dragging her greatswords, Elisa made her way up to him, before she raised one up and tried to slam it down on Harriton. The mage moved out of the way, and Elisa's weapon caught nothing but air, but then she raised her second sword up and swung it from one side to another.

This time, Harriton ducked under it and Elisa maintained her momentum, spinning into a third strike that Harriton leaned out of the way of.

Rin was left feeling entranced. It was an absolute spectacle watching Elisa fight, even if her swings weren't connecting.

Then, Elisa threw one of her greatswords in the air, and Harriton looked up at it.

"Hm?" Rin heard him as his head tilted up, and Elisa grabbed her second greatsword, wielding it with both her hands as she went for a stab. Of course, she missed, but as her first weapon fell from the air, Elisa caught it and transitioned into another swing, aimed at Harriton's left leg.

He raised it up, avoiding the hit, and Elisa dropped both her weapons then and lunged for him.

"Oh!" Harriton said, trying to pull away, but he was too late, and Elisa caught his foot, falling on her chin.

"Caught you!" Elisa stated as Harriton looked down.

"Well, well, that you did!" Harriton laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll count that. We're going to be here for a while, after all. That little trick you did, though," he said, as Elisa stood up and wiped the dirt off of her body. "Where did you learn that from?"

"Uh," Elisa laughed awkwardly, "my old trainer taught me that."

"Worth every varol then, I'm sure," Harriton replied. "That's it for me then. Later!"

Just like that, he left. The vines trapping Carla unwrapped themselves and Elisa's team went back to the group.

Finally, Maria walked forward.

"I believe there is only one team left, no?" She asked with a little smile.

And so, Rin's team stepped up.

Varyn and Alea both remained at the back as Rin and Sara stood out in front of Maria. The Rank S adventurer's eyes were on Rin for a moment, before she turned her gaze to the others.

With her hands behind her back, Maria said:

"Whenever you're ready."

[Okay, how...?]

Before Rin's mind could get the third word out, Sara was already running forward. [What the...?]

She unsheathed her blade mid-sprint and swung it at Maria's stomach. The adventurer dodged it, with her hands still held together behind her.

But, one thing quickly became clear as Rin watched Sara go for it.

She was probably the fastest student here.

Rin was too shocked to move. Holding nothing back, Sara's agility and quickness put everyone else to shame as she gave multiple swings in the same amount of time that it took Rin to take one breath. Maria, however, avoided every single one with ease.

Then, a sphere of ice shot out from Varyn's hand behind Rin, surging through the air, aimed at Maria's head.

Maria ducked, and finally, she punched Sara in the gut.

"Egh-" It wasn't loud, but Rin heard Sara grunt as she was hit.

The raven-haired woman didn't stop, though. Unlike Seth, who took one hit and was rendered immobile, Sara kept swinging her sword as another sphere of ice shot out from Varyn's hand, joined by a [Fireball].

"Good, good!" Maria said, as she then took Sara by her wrists in the middle of one of her attacks and spun her around, using her body to block the incoming projectiles. Both of them crashed into Sara's body, and Maria dropped the girl, who curled up on the ground, before outright disappearing.

[What?]

Rin heard the wind whistle past her ear and turned around, finding Maria striking both Varyn and Alea's stomachs simultaneously. Both of them fell, and Rin froze up.

"Well then," Maria said casually, turning to face Rin. "This seems familiar, doesn't it?"

Chuckling awkwardly, Rin got in a fighting stance.

"Uh, yeah, kinda."

"Don't hold anything back, Rin," Maria told her then. "Now, come on."

A sequence began then that was a lot like the private sessions she and her teacher would share, but Rin wasn't able to land any hits. Knowing how her teacher fought, though, she was able to prevent herself from getting hit too many times, though Maria did strike her in the shoulder once, and in the thighs twice with a few strong kicks, which made moving around harder for her.

As the two traded fast punches, Sara stood back up and ran toward Maria. Swinging her sword this time, Rin stepped back, giving her space to work, but she noticed that she was far less fast now.

[Find an opening,] Rin told herself. [Just...]

At one point, Maria leaned out of the way of a stab and pulled Sara by her elbow, throwing her to the ground, and Rin saw her opportunity.

She dashed in, went for a punch aimed at the back of Maria's head, and without the teacher even seeing her, she leaned out of the way.

"W-What!?" Rin audibly said before Maria landed a hard elbow at her stomach.

And Rin went down as the wind was knocked out of her lungs.

"Good try," Maria said, "but, highly predictable. Monsters will try to bait you, every now and then, like that. Most of the time, openings will be real, but some stronger creatures are just trying to get you to fish for hits before they catch you. Hm?" Maria looked around, finding Rin's entire team on the ground and groaning. "Oh my. Well, let's take a breather, and get right back to it."

"W-What?" Eve asked as Rin coughed on the ground.

"Yep. They have to hit me," Maria told her, as Cara returned to the obstacle course with a few bottles of water in her hands. "We are not moving on until they do so."

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