บท 59: Rainstorm
"Let's begin," Luthien said with a grin.
The moment he said so, Rain practically disappeared as he flashed forward, slashing downward in a move that made Kir grimace to see it. Going that fast, it looked like he was trying to kill him-
Luthien caught the blade with one hand, sinking two inches downward as the dirt floor crumbled slightly beneath him.
"Excellent strength. Solid swing. I can see your weapon has a decent mana conductivity..." He pushed back along the blade and sent Rainier stepping three paces back. "Now show me some defense."
Now Luthien flashed from one position to another, his fists approaching Rainier with deadly speed. Rainier blocked and dodged, but narrowly, unable to get in any counterattacks as Luthien snuck in hit after hit.
After a few moments of watching Rain get pummeled, Kir had enough. "Rain! Drop the sword!"
"What?!" Rain shouted in protest, only to be sent flying backward as Luthien palm-struck him in the solar plexus
He was winded, but he managed to land on his feet.
"Show me what you can do from there," Luthien challenged next.
Raising his sword above his head, Rainier let out a cry as he slashed it downward. A blade of mana arced forward, carving the ground towards Luthien as it flew right for him. Rain wasn't done though, he followed up with a horizontal slash that carved through the air.
Luthien dodged the vertical slash, but when it came to the horizontal-
Clap.
With a clap of his hands, he caught the horizontal slash as it neared his chest. "Good... power..." he squeezed his hands together, until the blade of mana broke under his grasp. "But not-"
Rain was already preparing his next spell. From the left and right of his back, at first Kir thought he was looking at angel wings made of glowing light. Rain's halo, normally sitting on his head at an angle, was now fully floating and glowing. A moment later, Rain's wings resolved into ten swords of pure mana, and he sent them all scything and spinning toward Luthien in a storm of magic.
The first sword to break through Luthien's guard left a cut along the elf's arm, and his smile grew wider as he finally drew his axe.
"That gets you a yellow chip," he grinned.
The next moment, however, he bashed his axe through half the swords that were gathered around him, before taking out the remainder with his backswing.
By all appearances, it was an ordinary axe with a blunted edge, but after recovering his stance, Luthien's axe formed the core of a large, mana formed axe that grew beyond the size of the elf holding it.
"Now let's see if you can handle this!" Luthien bellowed, disappearing and appearing in the air above Rain.
Rain lifted his claymore in a blocking motion, channeling so much mana into the blade it glowed. Then Luthien brought his axe down at the room filled with light as the impact sent mana scattering-
"Luthien! Enough!" a woman's voice bellowed.
All at once, the mana axe disappeared and Luthien landed on his feet.
"Ah, Halie, what are you doing here?" He turned to address the titanic woman who had entered the room, with one of the clerks beside her.
Kir's eyes bulged as he saw what, by all appearances, was a human of Amazonian proportions. She was wearing full-plate armor and with her helmet off, her sturdy features and starkly short haircut gave her the appearance of a seasoned warrior. She was almost as tall as his father in his devil form, and she wore a badge of onyx on her belt, the same as Luthien. Next to it, however, was a golden icon, thin and rectangular, that showed a spiral tower and a rising sun. She was not carrying any obvious weaponry, but that did not preclude spatial storage.
"You were told to wait," the clerk said with a pouty look. She was an elf with brown hair in a professional ponytail and red irises. Her guild uniform was the same as those worn by most civil servants in the city, plain, blue semi-formal wear similar to the uniforms at the Academy, with a small badge of office worn over the heart.
That of the Adventurer's Guild of Norneau featured a mage and a warrior standing back to back, a four-pointed star between them and a stylized dragon occupying the edge of the circle as it bit its own tail.
"Sorry, Dahlia, I went ahead," he turned to Rainier. "Rainstorm, right? Do you have any magical or non-magical utility skills?"
"Umm... I can do a bit of healing. And I'm good with animals, lifting heavy things, uh, pottery... Oh! And I can hold my breath for fifteen minutes!" Rain smiled nervously.
Luthien smiled. "One thing, you should have listened to your friend. In a dungeon you'll more often than not find yourself in close quarters. That claymore isn't as good when I'm in your reach, so get yourself a shorter weapon or learn how to fight bare-handed. And throw some kicks. You've got the legs for it." He turned to the clerk. "Green across the board for this one."
"You know the limit for rookies is yellow," the clerk, Dahlia, said in a reproachful voice. Kir recognized her as the one who'd briefed them earlier on the Guild rules and rankings, though she'd done so in a monotone and had never introduced herself.
"That then," Luthien said with a snap and a point of his forefinger.
"Don't be lazy, Luthien, we need to assess his utility skills before assigning a chip..."
As the two descended into good-natured bickering over how to rate Rainier, Kir was locked into an intense staring contest with Halie.
"Never seen a giant before, boy?" she asked, her voice carrying a deep and feminine resonance.
"You'd be the first," Kir admitted, unsure if he should let himself blink or not. His agitation came out in his tail, which was stiff and twitchy. He noted that she hadn't brought his demonic heritage up, as most people did.
After a few moments of staring, she turned and interrupted Dahlia and Luthien. "I'll evaluate this one. Luthien, test the girl now," she ordered.
"Properly this time," Nahdia said with emphasis.
Kir took his seat along with everyone else except Luthien and Kordia, trying to think up strategies that would work against someone as huge as Halie.
For Kordia's test, since she opted out of physical offensive and defensive recognition, she was tested exclusively on her magic.
First Luthien created some targets for her out of earth, each one invested with more mana than the last.
Kordia wiped them all out with a single spell, melting them with fire as she muttered her focusing words under her breath. Kir was proud when he saw the melted puddle of lava that once had been the strongest target. She did it entirely under her own power, since Kir had yet to teach his lovers anything about physics. If Kordia's fire magic was this strong using pure mana, then she was going to love what he had to teach her.
She was aware that his magic seemed far different from the norm in many cases, and part of what made him alluring to her was the air of mystery his magic indicated.
For her next test, Luthien had her make her strongest shield while he tested it with increasing levels of mana in his axe.
Kir had helped Kordia with shielding magic, describing the concept of latticing and how it could make a shield stronger using less mana. Luthien looked bored as he swung again and again at her shield, the mana-axe growing with each blow. After what felt like hundreds of strikes, Kordia's shield finally sheared, the lattice keeping the broken halves intact for a second more as she retrieved some of it and quickly put up another shield.
"Phew," Luthien said. "I know a few onyx badges who would love to learn a spell like that," he smiled down to Kordia.
"Utility-wise, I have full marks in art, intermediate enchanting, mathematics, potions, healing, spellcraft..." the list was long. Kordia was much smarter than she gave herself credit for. Of course, the way she got those marks in just two semesters had put her into a desperately stressed spiral that ended when her heat got out of control in front of Rainer, but she was much better about her schedule now, according to him.
"Hmm..." Luthien rubbed his chin. Loudly he declared, "I'd give you green for offensive magic and purple for defensive magic if I could get away with it," he looked at Dahlia, who gave him a rude gesture. "Just having some healing magic gets you a Yellow for utility, but assuming you pass whatever utility test the Guild cooks up, you'll make green or higher in no time."
Luthien's words made all three of Kordia's tails wag, then abruptly she stopped wagging to ask, "Wait... you don't know what tests the Guild has?"
"I just test the fighters," Luthien laughed. "I'm retired, you see. I may not look it, but I'm three-hundred and fifty."
"He's been working with the guild for the last half-year," Dahlia explained. "Before that, he was just a roving disaster."
"I'm hurt," Luthien said, clutching his heart with both hands.
"Just do your job, Grandpa!" Dahlia shouted.
"Are you two really related?" Rain asked, looking from Dahlia to Luthien.
"Sadly-" Dahlia began, but Halie interrupted.
"Enough talk!" she stood. "Clear the field. I will test Kir now."
In short order, Kir wound up standing across from the giant.
The look she was giving him was a hard stare that seemed oddly not-hateful. More... expectant.
Kir asked her, "What would you have me do first?"
She cracked her knuckles through her gauntlets, before producing a helmet in her palm and donning it.
"Survive," she said.
Then Halie attacked.
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