The magic beast snapped out of its confusion. The wild boar glared at the soldiers surrounding it. With shield bearers slowly moving in, spearmen followed behind them while archers and wizards prepared their attacks. Several nervous glances occasionally looked at the student gripping the back of the beast for dear life.
Aayla had clutched the hair of the wild boar in a death grip. She sighed in relief that the boar didn't seem to care about her. That's the benefit of being looked down on like an ant. The dragons and tigers won't go out of their way to squish you during a fight.
A burst of flames lit up the side of the boar. It squealed in annoyance but didn't really move or take any damage. She could hear a wizard cursing from afar. Magic was their greatest weapon, but it was neutralized.
The cold seeped into Aayla's body through the boar's fur. Her teeth started chattering. It was like hugging a furry ice cube. Aayla's eyebrows furrowed. She couldn't keep this up for long. Aayla readjusted her feet to get a better grip. That's when they hit something.
She slowly moved her foot again. That same small clacking sound rang out again. A silver glint would sometimes flash in her eye. Aayla returned her foot to its normal position. A silver metal thing near the neck of a creature? That reminds Aayla of that silver collar on the bear. Her heart dropped. The True Order was likely involved.
Did they figure out that Aayla tipped off the Forest Waypoint authorities? Did she get too close to something during her creature investigations? Or could this be mere coincidence? Aayla groaned. In any case, she had to get out of her current predicament to worry about those questions.
The boar started to pace and snap at the soldiers. The soldiers stepped back but maintained their line. Aayla could feel several strong mana presences gathering. However, they did nothing. She was fairly close to the neck. Where they worried about hitting her?
Aayla would love to move down the beast's back and expose the neck, but there was an issue. She wasn't sure if they could kill the beast in one strike. If they could, then the danger would be minimal. If they couldn't, then Aayla would probably die in the fight.
That left her two other options. The first was to jump off the northern glacial boar and likely get mauled or trampled. The second one was to grab the collar. If she succeeded, then magic should be much more effective against the boar. In theory. As long as she doesn't get thrown off and mauled.
She gritted her teeth. The collar would have to come off eventually. The final option was her best bet. Aayla had to act now before it got too worked up again. She carefully shimmied down to the boar's head. Her feet tapped on the metal.
Aayla silently cheered when she felt the metal go around the neck. So, it was a collar. She hesitated while she thought of her next steps. The boar was getting more riled up with each passing second. Aayla waited for the next the boar lunged and loosened her grip.
Momentum pushed her backwards and Aayla quickly caught the collar. Unfortunately, her feet slipped. The boar was furious to see a human's feet dangling in front of its eyes. It flew into an extreme rage. The collar slipped so that Aayla was dangling beneath the boar like a pendant.
She held on for dear life and tried to find the latch. Sweat dripped down her face despite the cold emanating from the boar. Her left shoulder burned with pain. Whenever she tried to climb up, the collar would simply rotate. Without a good grip on the fur, Aayla was stuck.
After several rotations, the latch was finally within reach. Aayla grabbed the latch and braced her feet against the boar's neck. Whenever the latch came off, she would jump far away from the boar. After a few deep breaths, Aayla focused her mana on the latch.
Time seemed to slow down as she focused her entire will on opening that lock. The purple gem sparkled on the New Moon Bracelet. The boar went absolutely wild. It didn't know what that human was doing, but instinctively felt like she was doing something bad. Disregarding the soldiers, it jumped and twitched like it was electrocuted.
After what seemed like an eternity, Aayla heard a soft click. The next thing that she knew, she was in the air. An arm appeared around her waist. Then, she was behind the encirclement.
"What on Tellus did you do, Ms. Glowery? McGrath is going to have my badge for this."
"Captain Figgins! You're alive!"
**********
Without its enhanced mana resistance, the northern glacial boar was quickly killed. A rescue party was sent after the ambushed unit. Apparently, Captain Figgins and the commander protected the remaining soldiers at the cost of some severe injuries. She helped with some emergency medical aid, but only until her mana had slightly recovered.
With Aayla missing, Captain Figgins went looking for her. The city could not have a Nafriton student die on their watch. She feared that Aayla was long dead. To the captain's surprise, she arrived just in time to see Aayla dangling off of the boar's collar. When Aayla fell off, she was in position to catch her.
A medical unit with extra troops was sent to rescue to downed unit. They didn't know what went wrong exactly. Nothing was obviously wrong with the magical beast flute. Sabotage and an ambush couldn't be ruled out, but with the silver collar the True Order could be ruled in.
They healed the most serious of Aayla's injuries, then immediately sent her to Nafriton. The doctors wanted to keep her in their own wards. Her injuries would heal up in a couple of days then she could hold a couple more demonstrations for the military inside the city.
However, the Nafriton delegation protested. With such an incident, they didn't want their student to be in danger again until the cause of the incident was found. The military was too embarrassed to insist, so they had to suck up to the police department to get their training.
Aayla arrived on campus just before dinner time. She was greeted by a furry wave at the entrance of Nafriton Residence Hall.
\(^o^)/ -- The cookie hooman is back! --
(/'3')/ -- Yay! Cookies, cookies! Quickly make more cookies~! *kiss~* *kiss~* --
\(*T^T*)/ -- No more icky bland-blands! --
<(#*x*#)> -- Ick! Cookie hooman smells gross! Take a bath before cookies! --
A familiar green fluffball sobbed while clinging to the hem of her skirt. Even a prideful pink king and his escorts joined in on the fun. They must have gotten board of Dormi's limited menu and penny-pinching ways. If Dormi could make do without sweeteners, then no sweeteners would be used.
The residents in the lounge were stupefied. Since when did those little demons cry tears of joy or suck up to someone?! They needed to find out which magic that she used so they could bring those furry terrors in line themselves.
More importantly, what on Tellus did their resident advisor get up to? Several bruises were still faintly visible and her clothes now looked like rags. Her face was a sickly pale and large dark spots were under her eyes. Aayla was gone for a week then looked like she came back from a war zone or something when she returned.
Aayla was instantly grabbed by Nurse Rouse to go to the medical ward. The entire time Nurse Rouse was giving her a checkup Aayla also received a free lecture on safety and knowing one's limits. Ramona and Headmaster Marin joined when the medical assessment was finished.
"Headmaster Marin, what kind of missions do you let those military ruffians take our students on?! Huh?! Look at her! Physically she'll be fine but how is she supposed to take her final exams with such recent trauma?! Ms. Glowery is only a first year."
The injured patient slowly raised her hand and put on her best trying-to-hide-her-distress-but-super-worried-about-her-grades face. "Does this mean that I can take my finals? I can't flunk out my first semester! I can at least take my written exams right? *coughs*"
"Absolutely NOT."
"I see no problem with that."
Nurse Rouse and Headmaster Marin answered at the same time. From a medical standpoint, Nurse Rouse had to refuse. She couldn't allow an unwell student take dangerous exams, especially not one who just went through a traumatic event like repelling a vicious magic beast attack beyond her level and the deaths of several teammates.
However, the headmaster could see the eager anticipation in Aayla's eyes. Clearly, she wanted to skip the exams. As an educator, he needed to help her to build her mental fortitude and understand when reverse psychology just wouldn't work. Ah, wasn't he a caring teacher?
Aayla's face twitched at the headmaster's answer. That was not the one that she wanted.