"Damn it." Todd slumped to the ground, letting the flames covering his fists sputter out. "I hate your magic."
That wasn't nearly as bad as I though it would be from how they talked. Isabel's more than fast enough to fight the Slashers, and with how oily their fur was, I bet Todd's fire would set them off like torches. What's the problem here?
"If you were better at using yours, maybe you'd be able to take more than a few hits before going down. Isn't that fire supposed to fully cover your body like armor?"
"My Runes aren't strong enough to power that. And look who's talking, you don't even use magic. That's literally just a sword."
"No it isn't."
"Yes it is."
Noah cleared his throat. They both looked to him, glaring.
"Good enough for you?" Isabel asked as Todd pushed himself back up to his feet and pulled his badge off with a disgusted sigh.
"Yes. I'm not really sure what the issue is," Noah admitted. "From how you spoke in class, I thought that you'd be completely incompetent, but you seem more than strong enough to fight the Slashers. What's the problem here?"
"Are you insane?" Isabel demanded, dismissing her sword and throwing her hands up into the air in exasperation. "You think this was enough to fight a Slasher? You realize we can't keep the shield badges, right? They don't work outside the arena."
"And? As long as you don't get hit, it should be fine. Depending on how much control Todd has over his magic, he could throw a fireball and set the monster on fire. Then you can finish it off."
"You seem to be forgetting the part where they fight back." Todd crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the invisible wall of the arena, sending out a small ripple of magic where his shoulder touched it. "Neither of us will survive an attack from a Slasher. Sure, we might get lucky and kill one, but I don't want to bet my life on a test that I've got a fifty-fifty chance of surviving."
Right. Dying. Forgot about that bit.
Noah pursed his lips and fell silent, thinking. Isabel must have taken that as admitting defeat, because she pulled her own shield badge off and tossed it onto the table with the others.
"Look, you've got good intentions, but Todd is right. I'm not going to die for this."
"What if I could prove that we could beat the Slashers normally?" Noah asked. "I believe you've promised me a month."
"You still think it can be done?" Isabel raised an eyebrow. "I'm not convinced you've ever seen a Slasher. They're fast. Faster than me."
"And they don't have magic," Noah pointed out. He paused for a moment, then tilted his head slightly to the left. "Right?"
"Is that a trick question?" Todd asked.
Noah didn't reply. He just mirrored Isabel's expression, raising his eyebrow and giving them a small smile. Todd rolled his eyes.
"They don't have magic. They're not the Hellreaver. Not even this cursed school would send second year students after a Great Monster."
Noah clapped his hands together. Isabel and Todd both started, then glared at him.
"Then you've got the advantage. Here's the deal. For the next five days, I want you and Isabel to practice as hard as you can against each other. Do everything you can to get stronger."
"Like we aren't already doing that already," Todd muttered. "Thanks for the sage advice."
"Meanwhile, I am going to go prepare a lesson plan," Noah continued, completely ignoring Todd's complaints. "You'll have two days to rest after your five of practice. Then I'm going to take us all on a quick trip to the Scorched Acres, and we're going to train against the monsters there."
Todd added his shield plate to the pile and squinted at Noah. "You're serious? Your solution to us not wanting to get killed is to… go get us killed earlier?"
"I'm a professor. Don't you think I can handle myself?"
"No," Todd and Isabel said at the same time.
"Bah. I'll bring the head of one of them back with me as proof, then. How's that?"
The two students exchanged a glance, momentarily at a loss for words. Noah beckoned encouragingly. Finally, Isabel sighed and gave him a curt nod.
"Fine, but we hide and don't press any further if things look bad. I'm not dying for you to prove a point."
"Deal." Noah extended a hand. Isabel stared at it, wrinkling her upper lip in distaste. Noah wiggled the hand. Sighing, Isabel reached out and took it. They shook and Noah turned to Todd. He did the same, muttering in annoyance under his breath.
"Happy?" Isabel asked.
"Not yet, but we're getting there. Enjoy your week. Don't skip out on practice, and you know where to find me if you need advice."
"What kind of advice could we possibly get from you?" Todd asked. "The only thing you've really done is ask us questions that you don't even know the answer to yourself."
Noah shrugged in response. He raised his hand in farewell and strode away from the arena, leaving Todd and Isabel staring at his back in befuddlement. All things considered, he was pretty pleased with how the day had gone. Now he just had to make sure he could actually uphold his promise – but first, the discussion about the Hellreaver had gotten his attention.
The monster also had a Master Rune, just like what he suspected Sunder was. If he could find more information on it, even just a little, maybe it would help answer some more questions about his own magic.
Noah was loathe to spend any more time in the library than he needed, though. After all the years of waiting in line, every part of him longed to do literally anything else now that he had the beginnings of a baseline for what he could do.
Instead of giving in, Noah trudged over to the library and found a librarian, conveying his request to a librarian. Unfortunately – or somewhat fortunately, according to Noah's heart rather than his brain – the only informational book about the Hellreaver Ape had been checked out.
With that in mind, Noah set off toward the transport cannon. There was no good reason to wait any longer if the library wasn't going to be of any immediate help, and he was secretly glad for it.
No library meant more things to do and less standing around.
He had some more monkeys to hunt.