Chapter 92: Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

Thor was almost tired when the morning classes ended, and he returned to his space for lunch, but Hawk was having a glorious time. Without Karl there to take up half the work, he got to just freely attack anything that he wanted, and according to the students, he had an uncanny talent for picking off the ones that were going to hit the moving targets, while ignoring the ones that would miss. Even when they sent out a cluster of attacks, he would just knock a portion of them out and let the others fly past the target. It was incredibly energy efficient on his part, and it wouldn't have been possible with the stationary targets, as the mages would rarely miss those. They were even beginning to take note of who Hawk seemed to ignore because their aim was so bad. Those mages were going to have to improve quickly because the rest of the class wouldn't let a giant bird make a mockery of them forever without joining in on the fun. It was after lunch that things took a drastic change. Sergeant Rita, as well as the duo from the Bureau of Elite Development, had decided that martial arts training, now that he had sufficient proficiency to deal with minor threats without resorting to skills usage, was no longer the most efficient use of his time. Instead, the afternoon would be a group training exercise for Karl with the pets. Coaxing Rae to come out and play might be difficult, but today's practice was on the basics of working together against a target that was stronger than they were. It was a situation that would inevitably happen in the future, and with three of them in the team, they could now easily work on group tactics. "We have enlisted a small group of volunteers, and they will be your targets today. The goal is to intercept the three infiltrators and disable them without seriously harming them. These are all guards, so they know how to fight, but they are all at the Ascended Rank, so you can't just go all out with the attacks like you did against Tank and the barriers." Alice was explaining. That got Hawk's attention, but Thor was disappointed. If he couldn't just smash them, it would be much less fun. But Hawk's explanation that these exercises were practice for being an adult was enough to get the growing young Cerro on board. Rae considered the situation for a few moments and then came out to climb up Karl's back and look at the battleground from relative safety. "Alright, everyone is on board. The targets are instructed to take it easy on you, but they will be attacking in your direction with actual attacks. They are wearing training armour, but they are not going to be magically shielded so that you can take them down naturally. I will step in if someone looks like they will be seriously injured." The mage instructed, while the volunteers smiled at the sight of Thor prancing around in the grass, eager to play. They got into position, out of sight, around the corner of a building, with Karl as their target. They would try to grab him, as abductions by foreign agents were a real threat, while he and the beasts would work to prevent that. The idea was to give them a limited response time, in as realistic a scenario as they could concoct within the school grounds, which meant the volunteers were close, so that Karl didn't have large amounts of time to prepare. It didn't make much difference, though. The three beasts could communicate with each other, and since Hawk could see the attackers, as soon as the practice team was given the order to begin and charged, the beasts were right on them. Thor held back on the full force charge, and instead shielded himself with lightning against the lead warrior's [Slash] and then threw him into the air with a horn between the legs that had Alice bringing up a barrier to soften his fall. Thor turned on the other two, who had raised their [Guard] to deal with Hawk's [Rend], while Rae had launched herself off Karl, and hit the barrier at a tremendous speed, which allowed her clawed legs to tear right through it. She landed on one of the men's legs, and he panicked as he realized that she was a Bloodbath Spider, which let Hawk's attack hit him without resistance, pummelling him unconscious through his helmet. The last man didn't fare much better, as he could only parry Thor's attacks for the next second as the Cerro flailed its horns at him, and then Rae was there on his back, tearing into the armoured coat with gleeful abandon. "BREAK! That's a victory for the defence team. You know, you don't have to take down the strength of your defensive abilities, just the attacks." Alice announced. "We didn't. The Hawk and the spider combined tore through them faster than we could bring them back up. I've never seen a rending attack shatter a [Guard] barrier like that." The wounded man who had been pummelled on the back by Rae announced. "The training that Hawk has gone through so far has done wonders for his attack strength, but Rae is a very fast learner, and her Offensive Adaptation innate ability makes deleting barriers a breeze. Just wait until she's fully grown, barriers a Rank above her won't even slow her down." Karl praised his shy teammate. "Can we test that, so we can make a better strategy?" The one who had been thrown into the air asked as he limped over, nursing an injury to the groin from Thor's horn, despite the armour. He stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him and activated [Guard], which Rae took down almost instantly with a strike from her mandibles and both front legs in unison. The pure smugness of her attitude was clear to everyone, and Karl couldn't help but smile. "Do you have a stronger defensive ability?" He asked. "No, we trained as covert bodyguards; we don't usually use powerful defensive abilities, but parries and sudden strikes. Maybe we should try the next one without the pets already deployed? It will be good training for everyone." He suggested. Also, that would give them a few more steps before they were noticed, and perhaps his testicles wouldn't have to meet the horn of a Lightning Cerro again today.