Extra's Guide to Surviving a Dark Fantasy World-Chapter 76: Second Batch

"They are holding back their strength," Cyric spoke, causing Mia to widen her eyes.

"Holding back? What do you mean?"

"Take a careful look at their weapon arts. It’s not noticeable at first, but it’s hard to miss once you see it."

Mia frowned and focused back on the two boys, watching their movements like a hawk.

Uhm... it all seemed normal to her, albeit both the boys looked like they had been adequately trained to use a sword; she still couldn’t see what Cyric was talking about.

"There, did you see it?" Cyric spoke up, pointing at the screen, causing the professors around to momentarily look towards them before returning back to their argument. "Just now, the blonde kid faintly used the movements of some other spear art, something leagues above his normal one."

Mia immediately turned the clip back a few seconds and brought it over to her screen.

That... she couldn’t see it; sure, his counter just now had been fairly impressive, but it didn’t suggest anything regarding the presence of another art.

"That’s not the only thing; the way they are fighting, it seems to me that they are normally used to using a lot more spells and abilities, especially the Valdrin kid; he seems like he is used to fighting with far more agility than he is currently displaying."

"So, you are saying that they are hiding their strength for some reason?" Mia questioned. Honestly, she would have dismissed the idea outright if it had come from anyone else, but given who was saying it, she couldn’t bring herself to do so.

"I want to see some more of those weapon arts." Saying so, Cyric stood up from his seat and leaned over to Mia’s seat. There, to everyone’s astonishment, he grabbed the little communication device and spoke up.

"Release half of the second batch onto the field."

A sudden silence enveloped the room before turning into full-on chaos.

"Release the second Batch? I am sorry, professor Cyric, but you can’t just take the headmistress’s communication device and start giving senseless orders." Professor Baldwin spoke, standing up from his seat.

"Yes, you can’t just substitute her authority headmistress. Please rectify this before the situation gets out of control."

Substitute my authority? Mia’s anger suddenly rose up the moment she heard those words.

Was it not substituting my authority when you bastards decided to sell yourself to the great houses?

With a harrumph, she immediately snatched the communication device from Cyric’s hands and spoke up.

"Do as Professor Cyric says, release half of the second batch, and replace it with what you were going to send in as the second wave." Saying so she put the communication device on her side and sat back down on her seat.

"But Miss, the second batch... It is meant for the second year. Even half of it would obliterate those kids, even traumatize them." One of the professors spoke but quieted down after looking at her glare.

"If these little brats are going to be traumatized by such a thing, then they don’t deserve to stay here in the first place. These brats need to know what it’s like to fight against impossible odds on a battlefield, and I can’t look for a better time to do so. Besides-"

She looked up at the group of professors who were previously quarreling about Aria and Seylith.

"Considering how much you were praising them on their excellence just now, I am sure Aria Nyrith and Seylith Serenth will easily be able to deal with this, correct?"

The professors stammered before looking away, eventually putting their eyes back on the screen.

That’s right, you spineless cowards. Mia turned to look at the screen herself.

On the screen, the group of students had just finished defeating the first wave and had been taking a brief rest; on another screen, one could see a large group of Glyms slowly moving towards the group’s direction.

They should meet the group on the third mark. She took a deep breath and looked towards Cyric, who had returned to his seat beside her.

It was time to see if her old master had indeed been right about the two boys.

--

A strange silence descended in the forest as Aria slashed her sword down on the last Glym, cutting it into pieces.

We had done it; we had finally done it. That must have been the thought running through everyone’s mind as a cheer ran through my fellow classmates, most of whom cheered in the air while others, mostly on the vanguard, collapsed down on their knees.

I was among the second group, plopping down on the ground, playing my part as the perfect weak two-star student. Besides me, Soren seemed to have caught up as well, sitting down on the grass under him.

"All right, all right. Everyone, please calm down." Seylith spoke up from the front of the group, trying to settle the celebrating student.

"What we did just now was indeed good, but we still have a long way to go before the academy, so don’t drop your guard just yet. Who knows when a second group might show up for another attack, alright."

He was right; all things considered, we had done a decent job. Even despite the brutal fight, the worst injury the group had to face was some minor cuts and slashes, and even those were currently being healed by our healers.

Still, that was no excuse to relax; this wave had been far stronger than the previous one. Considering there was still quite a way for us to go, it wasn’t so far-fetched to think that we might be attacked once again. We had to be ready when that happened.

The group continued our journey after a brief rest, moving through the forest, inching closer and closer to the academy.

We were almost a third of the way into the journey when suddenly, the fog around us started to get thick.

Something was wrong.

Suddenly, the forest around us erupted as a massive wave of glyms surged forward. Just one look and I could tell, these ones, they were different from the ones we had just faced not long ago, their bodies larger and more feral than before.

"Incoming," Aria shouted, prompting the vanguard to prop up their shields. The rest of us, too, readied our weapons in complete confidence and prepared to face the monsters.

Sadly, that confidence shattered the moment the first wave slammed into the vanguard, their claws tearing through shields and spells as we scrambled to hold the line.

At the same time, Deadly Intuition flared up as I noticed a similar group approach us from the back.

How did they get this close without us noticing?

Seems like Soren had noticed something wrong as well; his spear flashed forward, crimson tendrils whipping out to ensnare one glym, but even his blood magic struggled to pierce their thick hides.

In the front of the group, Aria hurled a series of ice lances, freezing one in place, but another smashed through her barrier, forcing her back.

This was bad.

Serenth’s blade glowed as he jumped over to the nearest Glym, hoping to slice the beast in one blow like he previously had, but even he couldn’t finish a single glym before two more took its place.

Steadying myself, I, too, swung my sword, flames roaring around me, but the glym I struck didn’t fall—instead, it snarled and lashed out, forcing me to leap back.

Things were quickly taking a turn for the worst; a student in the front screamed, her shield shattering under the weight of a monstrous claw. Another spellcaster nearby panicked as his fireball went wide. These monsters were relentless; their sheer size and ferocity had already begun to overwhelm us. They had already surrounded us before the attack, so each back step we took only felt like we were mushing ourselves into a small circle.

And that’s when it happened—one of the glyms broke through to the front and pounced on a healer, its claws tearing through her before anyone could react.

SLASH!!

Its claws went straight through the girl’s body.

Time seemed to freeze as her body hit the ground, blood pooling beneath her. The battlefield fell silent, and the only thing one could hear was the sounds of ragged breaths from those still standing.

No one moved, eyes locked on the lifeless form of our classmate. For a moment, even the glyms hesitated, their snarls quieting as if mocking us.

Looking around, everyone, including me, seemed to have the same thought in their mind.

How could she die? This... this was just supposed to be a test.

The silence shattered as Seylith roared, his sword blazing with bright yellow light. "We can’t let her death be in vain, PUSH THEM BACK!"

This seemed to break a spell on the battlefield as the glyms surged forward once again, their roars filling the air as if they were feeding on our fears.