Capítulo 71: End Of Day One
"I have always fought alone, I know nothing about formations or teamwork. And if I give orders, I can't cast any spell. I think it's better to have a skilled hunter, rather than a makeshift leader.
"Any one of you who has received military training, either as a strategist or a soldier, is much better suited for this than me."
'Not to mention that I don't give a damn about any of you. I don't have any motivation to be a good leader. As long as I keep at least one of you standing, anything goes for me. The important thing is to avoid the wipe out.' He inwardly added.
Lith's teammates started talking to each other, honestly evaluating themselves to determine who could best take charge, setting their pride and personal ambitions aside.
Reluctantly, he had to burst their bubble.
"Do you mind a simple bit of advice?" Everyone turned towards him again.
"Whoever becomes the leader has a huge problem: we know each other's class, but not what we are capable of during a real fight. In a life and death situation, you can't give detailed explanations, only generic orders.
"An order is good only if executed in a proper manner. You have experienced first-hand how easy it is to freeze due to panic. In my case, I tend to let my bloodlust blind me. Both issues would cause any plan to crumble in the face of the enemy.
"My suggestion is to put the matter of selecting the leader aside, and just watch each other's backs. Only by familiarizing ourselves with each other's skillsets and behaviours, will a shoddy team like this ours have any chance of survival."
After the team agreed, Lith started explaining to everyone how to make use of first magic in the wilderness.
They had to use the darkness spell Concealment to hide their smell all the time, and never leave the cave on foot, but only by using Flight or Float to ensure that they didn't leave ant footprints that could give away the entrance to their cave.
The same applied to hunting. Coupling those spells was the best way to sneak up on prey.
Lith, Mirna and Phloria left the cave, while Belia and Visen stayed behind. Visen decided to employ the time at hand to make the cave more stable, spacious and to solve what would be an inevitable hurdle.
Soon someone would be in need of a bathroom, and he doubted that anyone would ever consider the idea of going alone outside. Getting literally caught with your pants down was nightmare material.
Once on the outside, the hunting team relied on looks and hand gestures, trying to speak only as a last resort. Being a Mage Knight, Phloria decided to pair up with Mirna to protect her, while Lith would move on his own.
'Sigh, I can't believe I have to babysit these kids.'
'I know.' Solus replied. 'But it's the purpose of this whole exercise.'
'Yeah, it took us a while to understand why during the second day Trasque didn't assign any points. It was because he wanted us to teach each other actively, not just beat the cr*p out of your opponent.'
'And guess who you have to thank for finally understanding the real nature of this test?' Solus giggled.
'And guess who you have to thank for keeping me alive and you from having to go through the trouble of finding another host?' Lith sarcastically replied.
'I'm sorry, your Ladyship…' He performed a mind-curtsy. 'but while you enjoy the show in your front row seat, I'm the one in the Colosseum. So it's not such an amazing result.
'You can watch the bigger picture, but I must focus on teeth, claws and keeping my guts where they belong.'
'Meanie! Like I don't worry all the time! A simple 'thank you' would suffice.'
Lith felt like cr*p, snapping at her for no reason.
'I'm really sorry Solus. I know you were just trying to lighten the mood and cheer me up. It's just that I am already so stressed that I needed some way to vent my frustration.
'And thank you. You are the only one that knows all my flaws, yet still cares for me. Thank you for all the help you give me every day, and for always trying to make me into a better person.'
That was the first time his chatterbox mage tower had nothing to say. Her mind was as blank as a slate. Lith preferred to not pry any further. It was just as likely that she was angry at him as it was that she was just too surprised to reply.
They often joked about it, but he had never earnestly thanked her before for meddling in his private life.
The woodlands were denser than the Trawn woods, despite all his experience Lith was at a loss. They couldn't get too far away from the hill without the risk of becoming lost, nor could Lith go too far away on his own, in case something happened.
This time he couldn't cheat his way out with Life Vision and spirit magic. How could he possibly explain that he was able to spot animals moving underground or in tree trunks?
Mirna and Phloria weren't having much better luck. Keeping two spells continuously active wasn't something they were used to. Double casting was very demanding on their focus, and at the slightest slip up they had to quickly cast them both again, consuming even more mana.
While Mirna's ego seemed to have recovered quickly, regaining her confident attitude, Phloria had never felt so ashamed in her whole life.
She was the most promising descendant in a bloodline of Mage Knights, yet she kept stumbling through her specialization course.
Her father had taught her personally both magic up to tier three and swordplay. He even made her fight wild beasts to give her real enemies. But now she realized that all her confidence was built on a lie.
She was so used to always having him by her side that she never took any challenge seriously. Her father would always be there to help her, if something went wrong.
At the academy, instead, she was alone.
The Professors were tough and demanding, the competition so fierce that her so-called friends were too busy fixing their own mistakes to pay her any attention. When the Headmaster had announced the mock exam, she had rejoiced, thinking it was her time to shine.
But she had never seen something as big as a magical beast. At the moment of truth, her nerves had failed her, turning her into a burden for everyone.
Despite Phloria's earlier brave façade, she was still scared out of her mind, trembling at any noise, her hand clutching the hilt of her sword so tight that it was white. Phloria could not help but envy Mirna.
She was so pretty compared to her, and despite all that she had went through, her will was rock-solid.
Mirna, on the other hand, reciprocated Phloria's feelings in full. She was jealous of Phloria, so tall and strong, she was bound to have lots of admirers. The reason why Mirna appeared so confident, was because she believed that she didn't have any more face to lose.
She had already gone below and beyond the bottom of the barrel. In her mind, she could only rise up.
"Stop squirming like that, you are making me nervous too!" Mirna whispered. She couldn't bear her guardian's twists and turns anymore.
"Sorry. But I have an eerie feeling about this."
"The whole forest is an eerie feeling. Where the f*ck are all the animals? I can hear animals' calls, but we have yet to meet a single soul."
The minutes quickly turned into hours, and the only creatures they spotted were too far away and too fast to get a shot at them.
The sun had reached the zenith, so they decided to give up and check with Lith to see if his luck had been any better. A few dozen meters away, Lith had come to the same conclusion.
Even using all the tricks in his book, his prey would amount to a poor meal for one person. He had never learned how to follow tracks or use traps, he had always been reliant on true magic. But while he was observed, those abilities were sealed.
Suddenly, an odd chirping resounded. The three of them listened carefully, hoping for a last-minute big catch. The more they listened to it, the less it sounded like birds.
It was more of a mix of a rhythmic cricket's chirruping and a mouse's high-pitched squeaking.
'Solus, this sounds a lot like bats, but it makes no sense. They are mostly nocturnal animals. Not only that, but it doesn't explain why all the other animals have gone silent.'
'Definitely close, but not bats.' She replied. 'It's not squeaking, more like joints clicking.'
The noise kept growing in intensity, until it was all around them. Expecting another magical beast to attack right after announcing its presence, they tried to regroup as fast as they could.
The moment they lowered their guard, looking around for each other's positions, was the beginning of the end. From the treetops and countless holes in the ground, well hidden by the thick vegetation, countless spiders attacked them from all directions.
Some of them where small and round, their body size close to a basketball, while others were as big as a Labrador. Their black bodies were covered in long bristles, with red dots all over.
"Watch out! Those are Clackers!" Mirna yelled, but her words fell on deaf ears.
Neither of her teammates had ever heard of them.
'F*ck me sideways!' Lith cursed. 'None of the books in Soluspedia ever mentioned that insects or arachnids can turn into magical beasts. I have no idea what these things are capable of!'
The attack had been too sudden, the clicking noise wasn't a warning, it was how the Clackers had coordinated their attack, leaving the group no escape routes.
The spells in Lith's rings were useless. Checkmate Spears was a finisher against big opponents, against a small army it had no effect. The tier two ring held a healing spell, while the tier one was a simple blinding spell.
Sure, no one beside him knew what his rings contained, but that still left him with just three true magic spells. After that, Lith had to either accept the loss or blow his cover.
He had no real weapon outside first magic. The enemy had caught him completely unprepared.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
Legion20
Legion20 Guys, plz remember that the test was a surprise for everyone. It wasn't scheduled or something.
OT: to get the exp, just reply to someone. It counts both as a message and a reply. A twofer ;)
Capítulo 72: End Of Day One (2)
The Clackers' strategy was simple and effective. After surrounding their prey, the Clackers swarmed them in a one wave rush. The spiders on the ground tried to overpower them, while those on the trees threw spider webs the size of a tablecloth against their opponents.
All the while the Clackers hanging from their threads spat poison non-stop, aiming for the humans' eyes.
Lith did his best, using water magic to turn his hands into razor-sharp blades and cleaving everything that came too close, but there were simply too many. He wasn't used to be ambushed nor to fight one against many.
All the spells he had at the ready, both true and fake, were aimed toward big, single opponents, hence ill-suited to deal with a swarm of small enemies.
The girls were faring much better than him. As soon as Phloria had seen the Clackers, her father's teachings had kicked in and she had quickly conjured a tower shield made of white-hot rocks.
It served as a means of both offense and defense since her own magic could not harm her. Spiderwebs would burst into flames as if they were made of paper, the poison would just dissolve without any effect, and every Clacker that touched the shield would lose its limbs if not its life.
From the moment she had recognized the nature of their enemy, Mirna had stuck her back against Phloria's, using her protection to take full advantage of her War Mage specialization.
Mirna filled the space around them with ice shards as long and thick as an arm, that rained down on the Clackers as if they had a mind of their own, without missing a single target.
She could freely cast a spell after another, switching place with Phloria whenever she was attacked. Each one of her spells exterminated dozens of enemies at once, buying them enough space to avoid being surrounded.
Back at the White Griffon, Professor Vastor, who was in charge of surveillance for that area, contacted Scarlett demanding explanations.
"What in the gods' names are Clackers doing? This is not part of our deal!"
"Of course not." Scarlett replied.
Vastor went into a daze, seeing through the communicator amulet that the Scorpicore was sipping tea from a porcelain cup the size of a bucket.
"Insects and arthropods have no respect for any hierarchy except their own. I have to agree that they are spawning too fast, though. A culling might be needed, but right now, I have other business to attend. If you need our help, you just have to ask."
Scarlett mocked him while picking a cookie the size of a plate.
"No, thanks!" Vastor closed the call, cursing the Emperor Beast and its arrogance for trying to copycat humans.
"Thorman, get ready to retrieve three students." He said to the bulky middle-aged Professor who was in charge of the Mage Knight specialization.
"One of mine, one of yours plus one." Thorman laughed at his colleague's lack of manners, setting the coordinates for the pick-up spot in his ring. He remembered his student, a talented girl that was allowing herself to get drowned in insecurity.
'Linjos was right, after all. With the old rules, even someone like Phloria would have been eliminated before the hour mark. The academy's system needed to be changed.' Thorman was now regretting having been among Linjos' fiercest opponents.
Meanwhile, Lith's situation was getting worse by the second. Despite his heightened senses and reflexes, there was only so much he could do. The only reason he was still standing, was because he could use up to six first magic spells at a time.
Even so, he could only delay the inevitable. The Clackers were now so close that even if he was at liberty of using true magic, he would not have enough time. No matter how many he killed, there were always more coming forward.
"Help! I need help!" Was the only thing he managed to scream from time to time.
Phloria, instead, was swept by euphoria. The spiderlings normally lacked fear, but the fight had long turned into a massacre. The flaming shield was impenetrable, and every time the sword behind it flashed, many would get mutilated or worse.
They had only two paths ahead, to retreat or die.
Mirna tried her best to keep up with her partner, but while casting she couldn't move very fast. Phloria was becoming increasingly reckless with her attacks, pursuing the enemies fleeing in front of her without a care for the consequences.
"What the heck are you doing? Come back here!" They were now several meters apart, enough for the spiders to surround Mirna again.
When Phloria realized her mistake, a Clacker hanging from a tree branch cut off its string and fell on top of Mirna, inflicting upon her its venomous bite.
Before she could reach the ground, the Clackers swarmed over her from every side. The smaller spiders bit her unconscious while the big ones carried her away with their threads.
Phloria was stuck between a rock and a hard place, no matter her choice, someone was bound to die! Lith and Mirna were in opposite directions, there was no way of saving both of them.
She remained frozen on the spot, incapable of making a decision until it was taken out of her hands. Thorman appeared through a Warp Steps, right beside the cocoon trapping Mirna.
His body was exuding a blue aura and whenever a spider closed in, it would be squashed by his war hammer. Thorman slammed it on the ground, holding his weapon with both hands. The resulting shockwave turned all the nearby spiders into dust, while the cocoon at his feet suffered no damage.
Thorman loaded the unconscious student on his shoulder, before sternly looking Phloria in the eyes.
"I'm sorry for being such a cr*ppy teacher." And then he disappeared into another Warp Steps.
Phloria felt ashamed of herself. Once again, she had disappointed her teacher. To make matters worse, this time she had managed to do it in front of all the academy staff, while also failing her teammate.
The arm holding the estoc fell alongside her body, the weapon almost slipping out of her fingers, already touching the ground.
"What a poor excuse of a Mage Knight I am." She said.
The Clackers noticed the opening and prepared to exploit it.
"Sorry if I exist, but HELP!" Lith yelled at the top of his lungs.
Between the previous ambush and Thorman's attack, he was facing a far lesser number of spiderlings, so he took the chance to regroup with his companion.
Lith activated the tier one magic holding ring, generating a flash so brilliant that for a second it was as if another sun had appeared in front of him. The spiderlings groaned and took a step back, while he jumped above them to escape the encirclement.
Sadly, the Clackers had poor eyesight to begin with. They sensed the outside world mainly through their bristles, that were capable of detecting the movement of prey through the vibrations they created by moving.
Phloria could see a replay of what had just happened. Another spider fell from above on Lith's back, biting him right below the neck. Feeling his consciousness fading away, with his last coherent thought Lith unleashed Checkmate Spears on himself.
Being encircled, the ice spears would trample everything along their way, while leaving him unscathed. As much as he hated it, Lith had to pin all his hopes on a perfect stranger, who he trusted as much as a used-car salesman.
After that, he fell limp on the ground as the venom quickly reached his brain, disconnecting it from the rest of his body.
Just has Lith had predicted, the spears turned all the Clackers surrounding him into toothpaste before passing through his body as if they were just an illusion.
The spell created a path between Phloria and Lith, but it was only a matter of seconds before more enemies sealed it off for good.
Cursing herself for her stupidity, Phloria threw away her self-pity, finally realizing what Thorman's words actually meant. Most Mage Knights' spells had a short-range, but they had the invaluable virtue of needing only one hand to be cast.
In less than a second, she conjured the Full Guard spell, creating a spherical blue aura with a radius of 1.65 meters (5.41 feet) all around her. The same spell Thorman had used, with a radius slightly bigger than her estoc's range.
Thanks to Full Guard, she had no blind spots. Whatever entered the sphere would be detected, so that Phloria was able to strike with surgical precision without even looking.
It didn't matter if it was spit, webs or spiders, everything would be met by her shield or her sword.
Her estoc was the goodbye gift of her father, forged with a secret family technique. The point stabbed like a spear, while the sword's single edge cut like a katana. She moved towards Lith's position, releasing small darkness bursts with each strike.
Creatures that small were bound to have their vital organs closely packed together. Their flesh rotted as soon as it was cut, making even suicidal attacks useless. She only needed a single cut to the body or head to kill a Clacker, no matter how shallow it was.
'So cool. It's awesome.' Lith feverish mind was still able the work, but barely. The venom was impairing both his nervous system and mind. 'I… we must look into that. It's so… something.'
'Lith, are you okay?' Solus was really worried about him. 'You sound a lot like in the memories where you were drunk and under the effects of mar*juana. Your thoughts are incoherent and erratic. Are you sure you are okay?'
'Is okay. If death hammer man saves me.'
'By my maker, you are getting worse! Move that a*s, sister!'
Phloria charged forwards, using her burning tower shield as a ram, reaching Lith's side. She then used her free hand (NA: remember that the shield is conjured, she does not need to hold it, it floats by itself.) to cast the second spell Thorman reminded her of.
By planting her estoc into the ground, she activated Blast Guard. It generated a small flaming sphere that affected everything in her surroundings except for the space within a meter (3.3 feet) from her body.
To avoid accidents, Phloria crouched down, holding her fallen comrade as close as she could. The spell had a short duration, but long enough for her to cast a tier three detoxifying spell.
"Come on, come on! I can't screw up three times in a single day! Snap out of it, you are the healer, not me!"
The spell was meant to neutralize the most common venoms and poisons, magical beasts' secretions were in a league of their own. She now realized how stupid she had been not purchasing any potions.
If she had them, maybe she could have saved both her teammates without having to rely on gambles and wishful thinking.
As if he had read her mind, Lith started to cast the same spell he had used to save the Marchioness' daughter. Phloria's Detoxify served its purpose, giving him enough clarity to weave true magic and disguise it as a fake magic personal spell.
A small orb of venom was expelled, preventing any further damage to his body. Then, he activated the tier two healing spell in his ring, recovering a good chunk of his mind.
"If I were you, I'd start running." Lith said, chuckling like an idiot. His pupils were still dilated.
Phloria sheathed the estoc before lifting Lith with a princess carry, activating the flight spell she had stored in one of her rings. After what had happened earlier, she had prepared it in case she needed to escape again.
The tower shield moved on her back, preventing further assaults from above.
She took a roundabout path to lose the Clackers before returning to the cave, activating Concealment to hide their presence.
Lith looked at her stern face from time to time, giggling like a little girl.
"Look, Solus, I got my knight in shining armor to save me!"
'Lith, you are still confused. You are thinking out loud, please shut up!' She thought.
"Who's Solus?" Phloria asked as soon as the situation was safe enough to allow her to be curious.
"A good friend of mine. We know each other for years. By the way, isn't this the moment when the hero usually tries to hit on the person they have saved? Please, don't try to kiss me. I don't think I could stop you right now, I like living too much."
Phloria's cheeks reddened, Solus couldn't tell if from embarrassment, rage, or both.
"Why would I want to force me on you? Who do you think you are?" Her anger sounded genuine, yet Lith kept laughing.
"Ah, kids. So cute and naïve, getting embarrassed by stupid jokes. You need to get out more, get a life!"
"Who are you calling a kid? You are younger than me." Phloria was getting annoyed, he was clearly out of his mind.
"Want to bet?" Lith cackled.
"Is Solus your girlfriend or just an ex?" If he was trying to embarrass her, it was a game that two could play.
"Nah. She's a girl and a friend, but that's it. We are both heartless and stone-cold, so we have a lot in common. Also, it would be really difficult to get in touch with her. Get it? Get in touch!" Then he started laughing like it was the best joke ever.
She ignored him for the rest of the flight. Lith was rambling nonsense, sometimes even speaking gibberish (AN: aka English).
Back at the cave, she could finally relax. With the help of her other two teammates, she kept healing Lith until he was clear-headed again. After cleansing his body from the last traces of venom, Lith shared a couple of freshly cooked blinkers.
"I don't know about you guys, but I had enough for today. I'm not stepping out of here until tomorrow."
The motion was unanimously approved.
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES
Legion20
Legion20
Yeah, our MC is too used being the one doing the ambush and being the little guy.
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