Chapter 268: Where the Teaching Gets Good

Rebecca

“I kept saying that I was jealous of you for having her as a childhood friend.”

Jan didn’t say anything but nodded.

“I said you were an idiot for choosing to stay behind with Ahna instead of following Astrid.”

“Yeah.”

“You never argued with me about that.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Has she always been like this?”

“What do you think?”

Rebecca hung her head, fighting to catch her breath. They stood in a Dungeon branch, one that was some sixty kilometers away from Stahlstadt. The people here, under Astrid’s command, had been brought together entirely from a volunteer squad. After seeing what she could do, Rebecca had fought to stay near Astrid as much as possible. She hadn’t been in the team of trainees on the day that Astrid had shown her Skill, but she was close enough to hear it. Then, running to come see, she managed to witness Astrid’s second usage of the Skill.

Rebecca had Skills that she was relatively proud of. In fact, she had two Iron tier Skills, her Equipment Skill, as well as Firm Footing, which would definitely get rolled into her Equipment Skill when she evolved. More than that, two Bronze tier Skills as well. While she wouldn’t be able to reach the peak of Iron with maxed-out Skills, she was fairly confident that she could have at least three Iron and two Bronze tiers. She was confident she was going to get a rare rarity Class!

She had deliberately kept from taking a finishing Skill recently after her original, Heavy Blow, had been consumed by her Equipment Skill. It wasn’t all that good in the first place anyways. She wanted to give herself extra time to see what she could do if she really trained on getting a good one.

Astrid’s Skill was terrifying as all hell. Of course, it wasn’t a surprise that the Mithril tier was much faster and stronger than Rebecca herself. She was almost 60 levels higher than Rebecca, Rebecca she didn’t expect anything less. Even though it was obvious that Astrid was holding herself back, the first half of the Skill was easy enough to watch. She moved about as fast as a high Bronze tier. Then, halfway through the movement, she suddenly grew faster so suddenly that it was as if she teleported her fist forward.

The terrifying burst of mana and ice that had accompanied the explosion of sound had been deafening, and the fact that Astrid and Felix both looked completely unbothered by it had cemented Rebecca’s need to follow Astrid and get her finishing Skill. There was nothing else that consumed her mind like it, and she threw herself into whatever training she could possibly have that brought her close to this woman who had quickly become Rebecca’s idol.

Then Astrid directed the squad of thirty on the march. She was relentless, pushing everybody to their limits, and when somebody grew too weak, she could slap him on the shoulder, give them just enough energy to continue going, and then push the rest of the squad onward. At level 31, Rebecca had enough Alacrity and Fortitude to keep up, but it was not easy to march hard for three hours. It wasn’t far off of the pace that the army usually took when they were going anywhere, but just that couple extra kilometers per hour that Astrid pushed without any breaks was enough to have most people panting.

Arriving at the Dungeon branch gave Rebecca a glimpse of hope that maybe Astrid just wanted to move quickly. She made sure that everybody had plenty of time to recover, to get back to their feet. It was maybe an hour before Astrid nodded and guided everybody in. It was a Dungeon branch that Rebecca knew, and she was grateful that Astrid waited for her Bard friend to show up before they went in. For some reason, he’d been delayed in leaving, but he caught up about five minutes before they descended into the Dungeon branch.

As soon as he appeared, a sense of relief and comfort settled over Rebecca. At first, she thought it was just having him along, but quickly realized it must be a Skill of his, going off of how it affected everybody else. Then, he started using his buffing Skills, and Duchess above, they were good. She felt faster, stronger, and like she could take a solid hit without a problem. That lethargy from the hard-driven march faded away even more at that. Finally, just as they descended into the Dungeon, Astrid split all of the fifteen soldiers into parties of five. Being separated into smaller parties was, again, a good sign of being able to gain experience without being overwhelmed, but that was where the good feeling disappeared.

Benedict remained relatively close to all of the parties while Astrid blurred off and drew packs of orc warriors towards the waiting Human soldiers. There were always at least as many orcs approaching as there were Humans defending, and everybody fought desperately under the even, unbothered gaze of Astrid. Benedict, nearby, continued playing his flute and strengthening the soldiers, letting Rebecca move just fast enough to avoid getting killed. Even so, as soon as she killed one of the orcs, she needed to rush to one of her allies’ assistance, because she knew it was only a matter of time before she needed that help from them in turn.

She had no idea how long it had been in this damned place. This Dungeon branch was a permanent sunrise, but it must’ve been hours. Whenever she was wounded, as long as it wasn’t crippling, nobody came to her aid. She was only made to recover from the effect of Benedict’s Skills while continuing to fight. Astrid said something about the enemies never waiting for them to recover, but Rebecca stopped listening to her. All she could do was focus on surviving.

“She’s crazy,” Rebecca said as the fighting drew to a close.

“Wouldn’t be the first time that somebody called me that,” Astrid said, popping up nearby.

Rebecca didn’t try to hold back her curses of surprise, and Astrid smiled at that. Then, the Mithril tier woman looked between Jan and Rebecca.

“You’ve done really good. We’re coming up on two hours of being in the Dungeon, and by my count, each party has killed at least fifty orcs an hour. We’re going to let you all eat and recover before we get down to the next floor. We’ve killed basically everything around here and it’s not worth it to stick around.”

Rebecca blinked owlishly at that. Her group of five had killed around a hundred monsters about her own level in two hours? It wasn’t possible. When she took the opportunity to actually look at her Status, though, she found herself twice as surprised as before. She gained 8,000 experience in this short time? She only needed 130,000 experience total to get to the next level, and this was just a couple hours in the Dungeon!

“So,” Astrid said, pulling food out of a spatial pouch she carried, “good job. Eat up, and if you need more, let me know. Rebecca, I have a couple pointers for you once you’re done eating, to help you with that finishing blow. You’ve caught the shoulder more than the head a few times—actually, just come to me if you want unsolicited advice, no pressure either way. Jan, You’re doing well with the blocking.”

Astrid didn’t say anything anymore as she left the two to their lunch, moving onto the next party to give them their meal. She was just as insistent with the others, and, Rebecca noticed, with each individual, she started to mention something that the person could do to improve before dropping it and wandering off. As she realized what the more experienced woman was doing, Rebecca shook her head and laughed.

“Clever little—well, big, I guess,” she shook her head. Then, deciding she did want to hear what Astrid had managed to learn, even though she spent three quarters of the time they’ve been here in the Dungeon running off and collecting more monsters to fight. After all, she was experienced, so she might have something that Rebecca could do to improve.

***

Astrid was having a great time. She spent a couple days teaching people in the training fields outside of her hometown, and then was told she had clearance to find somewhere to get the soldiers some experience. Of course, she didn’t hesitate to do exactly that, and it wasn’t long before she trolled her memory and found a particular Dungeon branch she had thought to bring her party to once they’d reached Iron. It went without saying that that never happened. Now that she was here, she felt validated in saying that it was just what these lower-level soldiers needed.

With everything that she learned in the past years, Astrid could very accurately determine which of the orcs were about what level, and then split each raiding squad to be divided into appropriately leveled soldiers. They did quite well, all things considered, though most of the soldiers showed their inexperience with how they focused more on defending themselves than on just killing the monster in front of them. Most of the people here had specifically requested that she teach them in getting a finishing Skill, and that was the first habit of theirs she was going to have to break.

As soon as the floor was basically cleared out of all of the monsters, with a few left behind to make sure that the branch’s monster production didn’t suddenly spike out of control, Astrid called an end to the delving for now. The very moment she made the announcement, just about everybody collapsed to the ground, their bodies covered with sweat and covered with splatters of blood from the orcs. And, probably, themselves. Nobody was getting through these fights completely untouched, though Benedict’s presence was keeping them from sustaining any grievous injuries.

“How are they doing?” she asked as she stepped closer to the Bard.

“You know as well as I do,” he said, answering without saying anything of substance.

Astrid didn’t say anything in response to that, knowing exactly what he meant, and agreeing with it. The people here were working hard, pushing themselves, but it was only because they had a Mithril tier support helping them all that they were able to fight on equal ground with the orcs. If they hadn’t, it would’ve taken an entire party to deal with maybe three of the monsters instead of five.

These monsters were, without exaggeration, about as strong as one of the individuals who was here. Maybe even a touch weaker. But these people’s Skills, both from the Great One, and those that they learned, were so unremarkable that they couldn’t win a direct fight against one of the orcs without support.

“The only thing we can do is help them get better,” Astrid said with a shrug.

“Which is why we’re here,” Benedict finished. The two of them picked over a small serving of food, neither particularly hungry after having done so little. It was good for Benedict to get a little break, though, to make sure that he was at his peak in case anything went wrong. Astrid, too, was on her highest awareness to make sure that she could interpose on any deadly blow and even use a charge of Regeneration, just in case.

For now, there was no need, and though the soldiers weren’t perfectly making use of the opportunity she was giving them, they weren’t complete failures either. They were keeping each other safe, and though they were exhausted, none had lost their heads, tried to give up, or do anything other than doggedly attempt to do what she was telling them to.

“Am I making an arse out of myself?” she asked Benedict, the words quiet enough to make sure nobody else could hear her.

“I don’t think so,” he answered. “I think you might be enjoying being a hardass a little bit too much, but you haven’t insulted anybody, and you’ve given everybody opportunities to come and learn more from you. If you really want to know if they think you are, then I’m not the person to ask. If you ask me, I think you’re doing well, but I can’t really give you any more information than that, because I’m not seeing the progress that they’re seeing.”

“You’re making too much sense,” Astrid laughed, standing up from the ground. She and Benedict both had decided not to bring out any of the luxuries that they still had on them while they were surrounded by these trainees. It just seemed to be in poor taste, to bring out a table and chairs while the others were all sitting on the ground. On the bright side, there were plenty of stones that were about the right size to be sat on and the view, a sunset over a relatively ordinary hilly landscape, was nice. Or was it a sunrise? You couldn’t really tell down here, though it was usually sunsets that were this vibrant.

Just as she thought that, Astrid could feel Rebecca and Nathaniel come close. They hadn’t known each other well before this, so far as she could tell, and both seemed hesitant to come forward. To approach her? No, she realized. Neither wanted to conceivably cut in line, and she gestured for them both to approach as she turned around.

“It’s all right, though you have different things to work on, it’s no problem for me to talk to both of you at the same time. Oftentimes, one person’s question helps another.”

They both came closer, and Rebecca’s face seemed a little… Off-put? Maybe? When Astrid turned her full attention to the other woman, Rebecca blushed a little and seemed to realize that her thoughts had been obvious.

“I’m sorry, it just is weird that, even though we were both walking on soft ground and didn’t make much noise, you knew we were coming and even that you needed to say something to us,” the Hammerwoman said as an answer. “It’s just easy to forget that you’re so much higher level than us.”

“I don’t blame you,” Astrid shrugged. “I grew up with a mother who was mid Steel. There was no escaping anything, especially since her mental attributes are more important to her Class than they are to mine.”

She nodded in response, and Astrid looked at her expectantly. Rebecca licked her lips, nervous, but then Nathaniel spoke up.

“You said that my focus was too much on precision, not on power today,” he said. “Just the other day, when we were talking about it, though, you were saying that my issue was balancing strength and precision. It seems to me like I should be focusing on having a balance between the two, but now you’re telling me that precision isn’t as important? Sorry, but you don’t seem like you’re making a whole lot of sense.”

“A good point,” Astrid answered, nodding, “but that was when I was talking about you developing your existing Skill with using the axe in general. Typically, when you’re using an axe, you need to balance power with precision, and it becomes a bit of a balancing game that is, at its core, quite complicated. However, right now, you’re not looking to develop your Axemanship Skill.”

She deliberately went quiet at that, waiting for him to put the pieces together. Fortunately, Nathaniel was a quick study, and he realized what she was doing. Instead of demanding an answer, he actually thought about what she was saying. It was only a few seconds before he leaned back, pulling on his thick beard.

“Finishing Skills. Killing blows. We are looking for something that prioritizes power. We are here specifically to develop something that is super destructive, and we’re not as concerned with precision when we are doing that. Is that right?”

“You got it in one,” Astrid confirmed. “I’d imagine that a good part of this is because you’re coming from a less combat-focused Class, but you fight very deliberately. You don’t fight naturally, if that difference makes sense. Because of that, you sometimes are more concerned with the form of a thing instead of its function. We’re killing things, it’s not meant to be pretty, so long as our enemies end up dead. We’re not looking to leave behind a neatly tended forest, like your original Class was. If we go into battle, ideally, we end up taking prisoners, but a finishing Skill refuses to take prisoners. It destroys everything in its path, and it doesn’t care about finesse. Most of you are following me here today because you saw me a couple days ago. Use my Skill as an example. Do you think that’s going to leave anything but a broken body behind?”

He pursed his lips, the movement barely visible beneath the thick beard, but Nathaniel’s eyes steeled as he nodded his understanding. Then, he stepped back, changing the way he held his axe. When he usually used it, he had his hand choked up almost halfway up the haft. That let him maneuver it much better than most axes, but also deprived him from a lot of the power of leverage that the weapon could grant. Now, he was ready to break something.

“Happy to work with you a little bit, after I’m done answering others’ questions,” Astrid offered. “I’m plenty strong enough that you won’t be able to get through my shield.”

“I’ll let you know,” Nathaniel said with a nod. Then, he stepped back, letting Rebecca ask her own question. Before Rebecca actually voiced it, though, she worried at her lip for a few seconds. Astrid let her continue her thought process, noticing that most of the others who had finished their meal were seeming to think about coming closer and asking her some questions as well. Before any got closer, though, Rebecca seemed to finish her thought.

“You mentioned that for him that he needed to focus on power. However, with me, you were talking about precision. Obviously, you don’t think that I’m afraid to use my actual strength when I’m hitting something. Instead… you want me to make sure that it’s deadly?”

“That’s right,” Astrid nodded. “Hammers are not particularly precise instruments, and they don’t need to be. You hit something with a hammer hard enough, it’ll break. It or the hammer, that is. However, your life is gonna be a lot easier if you’re actually hitting somewhere that’s deadly. Sure, you can pulverize something’s legs, and it won’t be able to walk, but most monsters’ve still got mouths and arms. Same goes for people, in the sense that if you break their arm or crush their ribs, they won’t be able to hit you or breathe as well, but it’s a lot more final if you hit him in the head.”

“I’ve seen what hitting somebody in the head with a hammer does,” Rebecca said, speaking softly.

“Me too,” Astrid agreed. “It’s terrible. I hate it, and I would prefer to fight monsters every day of the year. However, we don’t get that luxury right now. And if you’re making the choice between killing the guy in front of you or leaving him alive to stab the person standing next to you, you need to make the choice. If you’re the finisher in a party, your job is to finish the fight. Do so so your side doesn’t get killed.”

Rebecca took a shuddering breath, but nodded. She, too, stepped away with a fiercer look in her eyes, and it wasn’t long before her two-handed maul appeared in her hands, and she started moving through different stances.

Astrid allowed a small smile to crack her face, hating what she was teaching to Rebecca specifically, but glad she was, potentially, able to make a difference in somebody’s life. Then, she turned to the next person and started to answer their questions about how to improve their chances of getting the Skill they wanted.