"Are we out of sight yet?" asked Morte. "Only Dragã's following..." said Gars. "Then I guess it's okay now," said Pierre. "Indeed," replied May.
The four children instantly fell to their knees and entered a state of pure paranoia.
"If he had hit me with that charge..."
"Imagine if Rei completely missed the eye...when it hit the nose I was scared shitless."
"You got off lucky...I got hit...if not for this ring..."
"...Ogre....we kill ogre..."
Rei finally caught up to the rest but saw a strange scene in front of him. The ones who had defeated an ogre so calmly were now having mini panic attacks.
"What's happening?" asked Rei as he pulled out his sword and started looking around for potential demons. "It's standard Vanguard practice to only break down after a battle," said Morte, rubbing the area where the ogre had hit him, feeling broken bones.
"At least we know now...we can live in this world yet another day," he said, wiping his eyes.
The others followed his example, got up, and put their hands together. Then they walked towards their outpost. Except for May, who looked at Rei while she crouched. "Draga...you teach me language. Remember?" she said while extending her arm.
Rei smiled and helped her up. "We made a deal. Don't forget your end though," he said
"Aye."
The two headed back to their section of the outpost, where they were met with their squadmates changing.
"That was abnormal. An ogre bothered to scale a wall. Wouldn't it have thought to just ram it?" said Pierre as he took off his gear.
"Good point...We'll send the blood to the sorcerer. It may be a new breed. Though it's most likely an adaptation." said Morte, wrapping bandages around a severe bruise.
"Definitely not. If it adapted it would have lost weight," said Gars as he prepared to sleep. "Gars!" exclaimed Rei as he locked eyes with the lanky lad. "Thank you," he said bowing his head.
"Try not to lose your head next time. It's painful, but if you lose your life you won't get any closer to removing the pain," said Gars.
"I'll tell you a story next time, for now, my back is killing me. Fighting a horde right after training takes a lot outta a guy," he concluded, turning his face away and shutting his eyes.
"Same here...I'll see ya in the morning I guess," said Pierre, jumping to the top bunk of the bed Gars was currently sleeping in.
"Yo...Dragã."
Rei turned his head to Morte, who was sharpening his dagger. "Good job today. Rest. Tomorrow we train." Morte said, throwing the dagger at a wooden dart board. "Missed the bullseye," he said in a low tone, then rolled over to sleep.
Rei and May looked at each other, and while Rei smiled, May sat down on what appeared to be an imp skin rug. Then she closed her eyes and stopped moving. "That looks hard." thought Rei as he lay on his bottom bunk, Right under Morte.
At midnight, May's eyes flashed open. She got up and walked towards Rei, her gaze like a predator staring down its prey.
"Draga...come," May whispered into his ear.
"Okay..." he said back. Then he was dragged off the bed.
"Come now," May said. "Okay, okay," said Rei as he lazily got out of the outpost. The pair went to the training grounds and stood in the glow of the midnight sky. Rei stood for a while, admiring its beauty.
"Guard."
"Wait wha-"
In an instant, May's fist was in the side of Rei's face, sending him flying. As he landed, Rei quickly alerted himself that he was probably training. He got up but felt something warm flow down his nose. He touched it. It was blood. He checked and saw that May was wearing wooden knuckles.
"This not training. This spar. Must know skill." she said coldly. "It's this is not training, this is us sparing, I want to know your skill," said Rei, wiping the blood from his nose. He took a battle pose and prepared to block, but before he could close his arms a punch got through.
"Too slow...watch closely. Feral Claws." May said and began to unleash a fury of devastating punches and knee jabs. She gave him an uppercut and finished him off with a sidekick towards a pile of boxes.
"You see them?" May asked. Then she saw an unconscious boy lying beside crates.
"Tsag khugatsaa shaardagdana," May said in her native tongue, before grabbing him by the collar and walking back to the outpost.
"Wow...what the hell happened to you?" said Pierre upon waking up to see a deformed monster. "...No, don't tell me. You're getting trained by May. I will miss you, old friend." he said, patting Rei's shoulder. Morte and Gars also gave their blessings and they left for morning training.
May looked at Rei. "Tonight...stay up longer...need learn language." Rei looked at her with affirmation, despite the black eye.
On the training grounds, Rei and Gars sparred. Their swords clashed and Gars was winning, but deep down Gars felt exceptional strength in every strike that he blocked.
"Well since you're training with May. I guess I'll spare you some tips." Gars said as he knocked away Rei's sword from his hand. "Start the first lessons not trying to block frontal hits, but all hits."
"How does that help?" asked Rei, picking up his sword. "The Agrios clan are ruthless manipulators in combat. They make the enemy move on instinct and attack the places left behind by said instinct," said Gars in a mentor-like tone.
"So when the enemy's body is brutally beaten, they can direct their attention to finishing off their prey."
"But that's not how she fights. She didn't make me open spots, I just got rushed...." said Rei remembering the night before.
"Obviously. You can't fight for shit. Now shh, that was lesson 1, which is to test your reaction speed. Lesson two is when the Animal comes out. Here's some more advice. Watch Pierre." Gars said, pointing to where Pierre and May were sparring.
May released several punches which were blocked by Pierre's wooden shield. For each punch, there was a perfect block.
"How is he doing that?" asked Rei. "He's giving her spots to hit, then blocking them. Whether it's a demon or an Agrios, they always go for an obvious weak spot. But it won't be possible to block those without the reaction speed of a god. Or Agrios I guess." said Gars as they watched the two fight for a few more minutes, then resumed their training.
Meanwhile, Morte was sparring with a member of another squad intensely, having started a fight over his hair being called tacky.
Many nights pass, with Rei and Mayln training at night, and him training with Gars during the day. He was shaping up fast, and it was showing.
"Are you ready?"
"Bring it."
May rushed towards Rei and released a flurry of punches, of which Rei successfully blocked 9.
"Oh?" said a surprised May as she stopped her rush. "You learnt Pierre's technique quickly...even if it is not complete," she said to an exhausted Rei, who may have blocked 9 punches but had received 21.
"You learnt to speak proper Elfish too," said Rei, lying on the ground. "Well, only to a level," said May. "It's only to a certain level...or certain degree," Rei said while he collected himself. "I've been here for a month, huh? How many exterminations have we even done?"
"Twenty," said May grimly, lying on the ground beside her 'student.'
"Is that a lot?"
"We usually don't get more than five to ten a month. The rest are usually just fumigations for floating eyes. Something's going on near Asfáleia. Something we shouldn't ignore." said May in a concerned tone.
"Whatever it is...we can handle it," said Rei grinning. Then he turned serious. "Unless it's a dragon. Then it's mine."
May knocked his head with her fist, leaving him confused. "Foolish Dragã. Be wary at all times," she said seriously, prompting Rei to nod.
Some miles away from Asfáleia was a forest called Bois Monstre. This was a breeding ground for demons and was still under consideration for burning.
A black ogre was walking through this forest, currently feasting on imp meat. It suddenly stopped when it heard a rustling sound in the trees ahead. The ogre prepared to face its next meal excited that it arrived so early.
Suddenly the trees disappeared in a layer of white fog. The ogre was covered by this unfathomable mass and disappeared along with the surrounding vegetation.
When the fog dispersed, the wildlife was shrivelled up, and the ogre was burnt to a crisp.
In the distance, a huge figure clouded in white fog walked, and the forest echoed with a single sound.
'Kikikikiki.'