"Good morning! And welcome to the first outing of the second quarter." Doyle spread his arms out to his side, a curiously excitable grin stretched across his face while he motioned to the vined archway with his chin. "There's no briefing today, so gather your gear and we'll go through."
As always, I permitted the party several minutes to take care of their last-minute needs before we stepped through what felt like a long corridor of twisting wood.
Upon our emergence from the other side, we saw a verdant patch of forest that boasted no lakes nor cliffs. Only mangroves and tall grasses met our eyes as we turned about this unfamiliar place. Except, of course, Doyle. Who stood off to the side of us confused students. His arms crossed, a smug grin across his face as he scanned our face.
"You won't be going to the Cove just yet," he said. Pulling the student's attention towards him in a way that nearly caused his ego to burst. "Today, you and the other Party's will be doing an attack-defend exercise. There will be three rounds, with one Party playing offense, one playing defense, and the last acting as a neutral force."
"Each Party will have a VIP." He gestured to himself with both palms. "The VIP must be guarded by no less than two people at all times. If the VIP is unguarded for 120 seconds, suffers three clean hits, or is captured, they are considered dead and the party loses the round.
"As for the neutral team, no one can attack them unless they attack first. This means you can spend their time recuperating after a large battle upfront or plan for the battle that's to come. How that time is spent is up to you." He nodded to me. "However, Cook Party will be playing defense first. You have two hours to prepare before the others begin the hunt. At that time, any and all magic is permitted.
"Just no killing any students or teachers." He finished with a meek smirk. "Any questions?"
"Yeah, can you tell me about where we are? Or rather." I snorted. "Will you?"
"I don't see why not." He shrugged. "Each party has been transported to a different corner of the Coyer* Swamp. A strip of land roughly ten by twenty kilometers in length."
"Our arena, I presume?" Slate interjected, prompting a silent nod in reply from Doyle.
"Alright." With a sigh, I reached into my sleeve to pull out a smoke. Then stepped away a bit for some relative peace. "Let's see." I sighed again, dispersing a cloud of smoke that lingered in the air before being swept away by the breeze.
I had two hours to come up with a way to protect Doyle. Naturally, that'd suggest finding a place to fortify and defend. Which in turn implied finding an easily defensible position such as a hill. A tall order in a swamp such as this, but I also had to consider where my opponents expected me to hole up at. And again, where they wouldn't expect me to hole up at.
Naturally, the answer was to find a place in the middle. But I also had fourteen other answers to consider.
It was safe to presume that the opposition would assume the VIP would remain with either Winston or myself. He, who could protect Doyle in a barrier. And I, one of the strongest in the class. Urshure was a good option as well. Though I had doubts he wished to carry anyone with his wings. Only prey.
I had a plan for protecting Doyle, which left the question of where to set up our post. And it didn't take long to find a solution. But its viability depended on Doyle's answers.
With a flick, I sent my roach flying into my Pocket and approached Doyle. "First, can we separate the team members? Second, can we conduct reconnaissance during this time?"
"Sure." He shrugged. "But the VIP has to stay with at least two people. And yes." He nodded. "Recon is a part of finding a defensible position, no?"
"Yeah, yeah. I get it." I waved. Then poured a bit of mana into my shadow behind me.
With their massive paws slamming into the ground, the two dire wolves trotted out from either side of me to stretch and yawn before they noticed the crowd of students before them. Then they both grew eerily still and stared at them through the crimson orbs of their eyes.
"So you do have summons!" Scarlett approached Hatti with an open palm. And surprisingly, the shadow beast leaned his head into her hand.
"If they count as summons." I shrugged.
"They're definitely summons." Doyle chuckled with dry envy and stared at Scarlett for a long moment.
"Where'd you summon them from. Do they have names?" Scarlett asked. And much of the party stepped forward in anticipation. Save Urshure's squad, who were dragged a couple of meters away to 'discuss' a plan.
"I didn't summon them. I captured them," I said, turning away from Team 3. "They were wild animals. Changed into magical beasts by my mana. They're not pets."
Despite my logic, most of the students and even Doyle himself groaned in exacerbation. The latter even went so far as to give himself a facepalm that out-competed any of Zeff's claps by leaps and bounds.
"That's… that's beside the point." Doyle stepped forth, stammering as he reached to place his hand on my shoulder. Or tried to reach. Only to be stopped by the deep growl of the two wolves. "This is only possible because of your Sorcery. They're magical beasts now. Your magical beasts. What are their names?"
"This one is Skoll." I nodded, looking to the ashen white wolf. "And this is Hati." I finished, turning to the umbral black wolf.
"That's Dwarvish you're speaking!" Els waddled forth.
"Oh?" I turned to him. "You should teach me sometime. Anyway." I summoned another troop with a flutter of my arm. Revealing a black barn owl, looking out at the world through starry eyes. "This is Pora Bora. She'll be with me. Skoll will be with team one, along with Zakira and Els."
"That's Elsgril Silverforge to you!"
"Slate will be with team three. Both teams will be decoys. You'll need to build a convincing outpost and stay on the lookout for any attackers. And, Peter." I turned to him. "You're with me and Doyle. That's all. Depart when ready."
While some of them were confused or even anxious about my orders the prospect of fighting the other parties. More of them had eager grins plastered across their faces.
Especially the scarred and grizzled face of Doyle Wolfgang.
"I hope you show me something interesting, Amun."
"Just stay close to me and don't give away our position," I smirked at him. "And try not to blink."