Noah’s group landed just a few seconds before the students did. He’d chosen a location as far away from the majority of the Fluffants as possible to avoid mistakenly drawing the attention of too many, but that didn’t stop the nearest few from noticing him.

He gathered energy in Natural Disaster, ready to act the moment it was needed. Even as he was calling on his magic, the students all dropped around him. James had spent more energy than Noah had to slow their fall more, but Noah didn’t fault him for it. Slow and safe was better than fast and dead.

Two Fluffants made a beeline toward them, kicking up a small storm of dirt and grass as they accelerated. The monsters weren’t going to wait around for them to get ready.

“I got one.” Todd said, striding toward the charging Fluffants. Stone raced up from the ground, slithering around his arms and solidifying into armor. As before, the majority of the armor was concentrated around his arms, but Todd also formed thick leg guards and gave himself some plating across his vital organs.

He’d clearly optimized his armor during the vacation.

His teacher was Silvertide, so I’d imagine a soldier would know a lot about that sort of thing.

“Isabel, you want to get the other?” Todd asked, unperturbed by the charging monsters.

“Already on it,” Isabel replied. There was a loud crack as a chunks of stone ripped free of the dirt beneath her, swirling up in a pillar and slamming onto her body in rapid fire succession. It only took a little over a second for her to completely encase herself in armor.

She pressed a hand to her chest and drew it outward. A shimmering blue sword formed in her grip and she dropped into a practiced fighting stance. Noah couldn’t help but notice that Isabel had elected not to form a shield or infuse her stone armor with the blue magic.

Well, the blue energy is probably her Master Rune, so I can see why she wouldn’t be using it when strangers are here. Hm. If this is hindering her progress, I might need to figure something out so she can get practice fighting at full strength.

There was no more time to think, though. The Fluffants were upon Todd and Isabel. Noah’s fingers twitched at his side, power gathered to strike at the first moment.

The first Fluffant’s heavy steps didn’t slow in the slightest as it attempted to simply run straight through Todd. He shifted his weight and jumped to the side. There was a muffled whump as the move sent him sliding almost a dozen feet, well out of the monster’s reach. Flames roiled up the sides of Todd’s armored feet.

I think that was a controlled explosion at his feet. Damn. He’s come a long way from using explosive punches.

The Fluffant skidded to a stop and spun toward him again, trumpeting in fury as it geared up to charge once more. Out of the corner of his eye, Noah saw Isabel engage the other one. She thrust a hand up, yanking a thick stone pillar at an angle. It slammed into the Fluffant and sent it staggering off course.

In the second that it was off guard, Isabel ripped more power from her Runes and sent it into the ground. A rumble shook the plateau. Grass ripped and dirt bubbled back as a large wall shot up, forming a ring around the group and the two Fluffants.

That can’t have been a low energy move. She’s probably filled her Runes a good bit as well, then. Nice.

Todd’s Fluffant charged him once more, this time attempting to slam him with its trunk. Once more, Todd dodged, giving the monster a wide berth. A grin pulled at the corners of Noah’s mouth.

He’s scoping out its moves instead of charging in and potentially getting surprised. Good shit, Todd.

Isabel took a different approach. As soon as her stone wall had been erected, she turned back to her opponent. Even as the Fluffant’s feet pounded the ground and it bore down on her, she flicked her free hand up.

A thick, jagged spike ripped out of the ground straight in the Fluffant’s path. It drove into the monster’s stomach and continued onward. It let out a scream of pain and fury, thrashing desperately.

It was pointless. Isabel’s rock formation wasn’t some small, dainty spike. It was practically a sharpened boulder – far too wide and heavy to be broken quickly. Isabel wasn’t done, though.

As soon as the Fluffant’s front legs were lifted off the ground, she sprinted around to its side and flicked her sword, sending it flying for the monster’s head. Its violent thrashing moved her target out of the way and the blade bit home into a shoulder instead, sizzling as it sliced through fur.

Isabel reared back and the sword reappeared in her hand in an instant. She flung it once again – this time striking true. The blade whistled straight through the Fluffant’s ear and buried into its brain. As if its strings had been cut, the red-eyed creature crumpled on the spot.

“Stop playing around,” Isabel called to Todd.

“I’m not playing,” Todd called back as another whump emerged from beneath his feet and he bounded over his Fluffant’s head, landing on the ground behind it with a grunt. “I’m evaluating my opponent.”

“You could have killed it twice over. You only need to evaluate an opponent when you don’t know what you’re up against.”Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

Todd sighed. “Killjoy.”

The Fluffant roared and thundered toward him. Todd adjusted his stance, holding his ground as it grew closer. Noah tensed – at the speed the Fluffant was moving, he would only have a moment to act if Todd made a mistake. The Shield wouldn’t do him much good against a physical attack if he didn’t activate it in time.

Todd twisted to the side, vaulting onto his hands. The air behind his right leg wavered, and a loud crack echoed across the plateau. A burst of flame tore out from Todd’s heel as it accelerated in a blur. He drove a brutal kick into the side of the Fluffant’s head as it charged past him.

The crack was followed by a crunch. Stumbling, the Fluffant crashed forward and rolled over itself, sliding several feet across the grass before finally coming to a halt. It didn’t move again. Its head was completely caved in.

It was resistant to magic, but not just pure blunt force. That was really clean. He made sure he understood the Fluffant’s speed and reach before taking it out in one move that accounted for its strengths. Granted, if the Fluffant had been hiding any form of attack, things would have gone a lot different.

Todd – who was still in his hand-stand – hopped to his feet and brushed an imaginary speck of dust off his shoulder. “What do you think of that?”

“I think you were showing off,” Isabel said, her helmet melting away. She scrunched her nose and shook her head. “It was a bit cool, though.”

“Hah! See?”

“I shouldn’t encourage you. What did you think though, Professor Vermil?”

“Well done by both of you,” Noah said with an approving nod. “I think these monsters might be a bit too easy for you at this point, but Silvertide clearly knew what he was doing. You’ve obviously been working very hard as well.”

“Damn straight. Pizza party?” Todd asked.

“You don’t get pizza parties for every occasion. You can have one if you crush the first exam – but we’ll get to that later.” Noah turned to the other three students. “Who wants to go next? It looks like the other Fluffants haven’t noticed we killed these two – I guess they use sight more than smell, which I wouldn’t have guessed. It does make it easier to do this one monster at a time, though.”

“I can go.” James stepped forward. “Could you open the stone wall for me, Isabel?”

A section of the stone in front of James rumbled and slid back into the ground. There was a Fluffant a ways away from them, but it didn’t look like the monster had noticed them yet.

I wish I knew I could just section them off when I was actively hunting these things. It would have made everything so much easier.

James formed a blade of wind in his hands and flicked it toward the Fluffant. The attack wasn’t enough to do any real harm, but as soon as it struck the monster’s fur, the Fluffant spun toward him.

Its eyes flashed with fury and it ripped its trunk out of the flower it had been feeding on, charging toward them and opening its mouth to reveal dozens of long, thin teeth in a roar.

Wind whipped through James’ hair as he raised his hands, holding them before him and narrowing his eyes in concentration. The Fluffant charged through the hole Isabel had left in the wall – which closed up as soon as the monster passed it by.

It made straight for James, clearly planning to run him over.

It never got the chance.

A stream of white wind carved out from James’ palms. It twisted in on itself, forming into a javelin that carved through the air and slammed straight into the charging Fluffant’s eye, boring through it.

The Fluffant crumpled to the ground, limbs flailing as it rolled to a stop in front of James. He lowered his hands and cleared his throat. “Did it.”

“Bah. You just shot it,” Todd said. “That didn’t show anything.”

“It shows I know how to fight a Fluffant.”

“Fair enough,” Noah said with a laugh. “And it also shows that you’ve got a pretty good understanding of wind. You held that attack until it was at the perfect range. Did you guess how far the Fluffant would skid as well? It stopped right in front of you.”

James rubbed the back of his head at the compliment. “To be honest, I slowed it down a bit after I killed it so I wouldn’t have to move.”

Revin is insane, but he’s no slouch. James is acting as if he’s lazy, but that wasn’t easy to pull off.

“It was cool,” Lee said, giving James a thumbs up.

“I’ll go last if you want to go next,” Alexandra offered Emily, drumming her fingers on the hilt of her sword.

Emily shrugged. “Sure. This won’t take long. I was mostly practicing ranged attacks over the vacation, so I don’t think it’s going to be very impressive.”

A section of the wall dropped away, and Emily soon caught the attention of another Fluffant. She formed an ice bow in her hands as the Fluffant approached, raising it to eye level in one smooth motion. Magic gathered in her hands, creating a shimmering arrow.

There wasn’t an ounce of concern in her posture as she lined the shot up. Emily let the ice arrow fly before the Fluffant had even passed the border of the wall. It streaked out in a flash, slamming straight into the monster’s skull and boring into it.

Whatever magic resistance it had did precious little against the frozen projectile. It slammed true and the Fluffant collapsed, just barely sliding past the stone wall before coming to a stop.

I’m pretty sure Emily timed that. She could have hit it earlier. There was also just enough energy in that arrow to take out the Fluffant without going into overkill territory. Simple – but very well executed.

Not exactly a lot for me to work with there, though. Whatever. They all fight differently, so I can’t expect the ranged ones to get into melee when they’re showing off their best moves.

“Well done,” Moxie said before Noah could speak.

“Thanks.” Emily released her bow and smiled, exchanging a glance with James. “It wasn’t a very strong monster, though.”

“We’ll get there, don’t you worry,” Noah said with a chuckle. “For now – Alexandra, you’re up."

Once again, Isabel dropped a section of the wall. Once again, a Fluffant spotted them. Alexandra drew her sword as the monster burst into a charge. Noah wasn’t sure who the Fluffant was going for, as Alexandra had yet to use magic, but she was in its way regardless.

A small frown passed over Noah’s features. Alexandra wasn’t using any magic that he could tell. She was just holding her sword at her side, waiting for the monster to reach her. His nerves tightened as the Fluffant approached and Alexandra remained in the same spot, still not making a single move.

She should be a good bit stronger than these things since she’s either a Rank 2 or a Rank 3, but even I would still get crushed if I just stood in front of one. From what she said, she doesn’t have a Shield either. What is she doing?

The Fluffant was now directly upon her, and the time to think was over. Noah nearly burst into motion, but he froze at the last second. There wasn’t an ounce of concern in Alexandra’s features.

Alexandra brought the blade down. It slammed into the charging Fluffant and it continued straight through her. Noah’s eyes widened.

Oh shit. Did she just get –

The Fluffant stumbled. Alexandra was still standing where she had been, her sword held before her. The two halves of the monster pitched in opposite directions, splattering to the ground as she turned.

Alexandra flicked the blood from her sword and slid the blade into the sheath at her side. “I did it.”