Cithria couldn't help the sharp gasp that escaped her throat at the sight of the creature looming before them.
The Gromp was enormous, easily three meters tall, its slick, warty skin glistening in the faint morning light. Its bulbous eyes blinked once, slowly, before letting out a low, guttural ribbit that rattled the air.
"AHH! It's a monster!" Darryl screamed, scrambling backward in panic.
Cithria's instincts flared. Her hand shot to the hilt of her sword, already halfway through drawing the blade... and once again, the world blurred.
Her vision twisted, her stomach lurched, and before she could process what had happened, the ground was gone. The next instant, she was staring at the bark of a tree, no, she was on a tree, dozens of meters above the ground.
"Wha..?" The sound slipped out of her before she could stop it. A wave of vertigo crashed over her, and instinct took over. She dropped low, hugging the thick branch like her life depended on it.
"Are you gonna puke again?"
The voice made her flinch. She turned her head sharply to find Asta standing beside her, balanced easily on the same branch, arms crossed, as though they were having a casual chat on the ground.
He wasn't even winded.
Cithria took several steadying breaths, forcing her heartbeat back under control. "Why…" she managed between clenched teeth.
Asta grinned, unbothered by her glare. "Well, it's not your mission, is it?"
It took less than an instant for Cithria to understand what he meant, and it took even less time for her to realise that the two of them were the only ones on the branch.
Cithria turned her head downward, pushing through the sickening sense of vertigo, and her heart nearly stopped.
Below, on the forest floor, Darryl was sprinting for his life, his terrified screams echoing through the trees as the Gromp bounded after him, each heavy step shaking the ground.
---
Darryl was going to die, he just knew it. Every instinct in his body screamed it, even as his legs pumped furiously beneath him.
Boom!
The ground exploded behind him as the Gromp landed, the shockwave nearly knocking him off his feet. The monster's croak followed, a guttural, vibrating sound that made his bones rattle.
"Why me!?" he gasped, bursting through a thick brush. Branches whipped across his face and arms, leaving thin scratches that stung with sweat, but he didn't dare slow down.
He didn't even think about reaching for the short sword strapped to his hip. The idea of turning around, of fighting that thing, was pure insanity.
All he could do was run.
Each thunderous boom behind him marked another leap from the Gromp, closing the distance inch by inch. The earth trembled with every landing, the air thick with the creature's croaking bellows.
"This is insane!" Darryl shouted breathlessly as he vaulted over a fallen log. "This is murder!"
He didn't look back. He didn't need to. The shadow that swallowed the light behind him told him everything he needed to know.
---
"How long are you going to leave him like that?" Cithria asked, now steady enough not to tremble at the dizzying height.
She still wasn't entirely comfortable being so high up, but at least she could keep her balance now. From her vantage point, she watched as Darryl darted frantically through the trees below, running, turning, and somehow ending up in the same area again and again.
If he realized he was running in circles, she couldn't tell.
"I'll let him tire himself out first," Asta replied casually from behind her.
She turned toward him with a skeptical look. "And how exactly is that a good idea?"
Asta chuckled, his voice carrying that annoyingly confident tone. "Don't worry. The Gromp isn't going to catch him. Watch."
Before she could respond, a sharp rush of air brushed past her, Asta disappearing faster than her eyes could track.
Cithria blinked and glanced back toward the forest below. The Gromp lunged after Darryl, landing with thunderous force each time, but every near miss was somehow interrupted, its momentum stalling just before impact, giving Darryl a split second to slip away.
"Oh… so that's what he meant," she murmured.
"Exactly."
Cithria flinched. Asta was suddenly beside her again, as if he'd never moved.
"Now we just wait a few more minutes," he said, leaning lazily against the bark. "His stamina's gotten a lot better since he started training his body."
She followed his gaze downward. "He's still running in circles. How is that even possible?"
Asta laughed again, the sound far too amused for her liking. "Oh, that's me. I'm making sure he doesn't run too far from view."
Cithria frowned, noting how he still didn't answer the real question, how he was doing any of this.
Then, as if to change the subject entirely, Asta reached into thin air and pulled out a small leather bag. "So," he said cheerfully, shaking it, "wanna play a game of Tell Stones while we wait?"
Cithria really didn't like this man.
---
It took several minutes of frantic running before Darryl finally felt his legs begin to slow. His lungs burned, his chest heaved, and the only thing louder than his ragged breathing was the pounding of his heart in his ears.
Against his better judgment, he risked a glance over his shoulder.
The Gromp was still there, massive, hulking, and stubbornly persistent, but even it looked weary now. Its leaps had grown sluggish, its growls less fierce.
Darryl stared at it through the haze of exhaustion. The sheer terror that had gripped him earlier was gone, replaced by a hollow fatigue that weighed down his limbs and settled deep in his stomach.
"You got that out of your system?"
Darryl nearly jumped out of his skin. Captain Asta was standing right beside him as if he'd been there all along.
"C-Captain!" Darryl gasped, stumbling backward. "Save me! Why are you doing this?! Are you trying to kill me?! Just, just kill it already!"
Asta gave him a flat, unimpressed look and said nothing, simply waiting for Darryl to run out of breath, which, thankfully, didn't take long.
After a moment of heavy breathing and defeated sighs, Darryl slumped forward. "Okay… yeah. It's out of my system."
Asta's lips curled into a grin. "Good. Then we can finally start your first magic training exercise. Mana Reinforcement."
Darryl's exhaustion vanished in an instant, his eyes widening with excitement. "Really? You mean it?"
Asta laughed. "Of course, twerp. Now listen closely, I'm only going to say this once."
He crouched slightly, his tone turning almost instructional. "Mana is the source of all magic, every spell. It's the energy that flows inside you at all times, even when you're not aware of it. That little tingle you feel when casting spells? That's mana."
Darryl tilted his head. "So I... have mana? Isn't that just... Magic Power?"
Asta ignored the question entirely, continuing as if he hadn't heard him. "Now, instead of channeling that energy through your hands or whatever you used to cast spells, I want you to circulate it through your whole body, like blood in your veins. Let it flow from head to toe."
He stood up straight again, smirking. "That's pretty much it. Obviously there are steps in between, but you're a smart kid, you'll figure it out. Once you do, you'll find it much easier to deal with small fry like these, even if you can't kill them yet."
Before Darryl could respond, Asta vanished.
He blinked, looking left, then right, then left again. "...Captain?"
The only answer he got was the ground shaking behind him.
Boom!
Darryl turned just in time to see the Gromp lunge at him again.
"You piece of shit captain!" he yelled, taking off at full speed once more.
---
Cithria sighed, pressing her fingers against her temple as she watched from above. "He's going to collapse before he figures anything out," she muttered.
"Eh, he'll get it," Asta said without looking up from the Tell Stones mat he'd arranged neatly on the branch. He flicked one of the carved stones with his thumb. "Challenge. Far left."
Cithria gave him a flat stare. "Courage." She didn't even glance at the mat as she answered. "What makes you so sure?"
Asta frowned slightly. "You didn't even look that time." He tilted his head, conceding with a smirk. "Point to you, I guess." His gaze shifted to the forest floor below, where Darryl's frantic screams echoed between the trees. "And don't worry. He's stronger than he looks. He's not gonna die to something like this."
Right on cue, Darryl's voice rang out, shrill and panicked. "I'M GOING TO DIEEEEEE!"
Cithria winced as the boy tripped over a thick root, tumbled through the dirt, and somehow sprang back to his feet in the same motion. The Gromp landed behind him with a thunderous boom, the shockwave rattling the leaves and shaking a few loose branches from the trees.
"See?" Asta said, casually turning one of the Tell Stones face down. "He's already getting the hang of it."
Cithria arched an eyebrow, watching as Darryl darted through the clearing. To her surprise, he was starting to put distance between himself and the Gromp. His movements, while still clumsy, had rhythm now. He even had time to glance around for an escape route before the beast's next charge.
"I know you've been cutting the Gromp off," she said finally, narrowing her eyes. "You're intercepting it before it can reach him, aren't you?"
Asta tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Oh, that?" He sounded almost bored. "I stopped doing that a while ago."
Cithria blinked. "You what?"
He grinned, resting his elbows on his knees as he leaned forward. "You just can't tell because we're so high up. He's already reinforcing his body with mana." Asta let out a low whistle, half impressed, half disgusted. "It's only been a few minutes since he even heard of the spell. What a freak of nature. Gross."
Cithria stared at him, then back at Darryl, who somehow managed to leap over a rock and land without face-planting. The disbelief on her face slowly gave way to reluctant amazement.
Another thunderous boom shook the forest below. The Gromp landed hard, sending up a cloud of dirt. Darryl threw himself sideways, rolling behind a boulder just in time as the creature's tongue lashed out and smacked the stone instead, shattering it into chunks.
Cithria's breath caught. "That thing could've crushed him."
"He'll be fine. He's already gotten the first step and achieved Mana Reinforcement," Asta explained. "The next step is the fun part."
Cithria turned toward him. "Wait, what do you mean..."
She didn't get to finish. Asta vanished again, the air rippling slightly where he'd been.
---
Darryl looked up just in time to see Asta drop from a branch, landing with effortless grace between him and the creature. The Gromp's next lunge met open air, Asta had already moved, his foot connecting with the monster's chest in a brutal strike that sent it sprawling backward with a bone-shaking boom.
The shockwave blew Darryl's hair back. He stared, wide-eyed.
Asta straightened, brushing dust from his sleeve. "Well, you got Mana Reinforcement down. That's one limit surpassed."
Darryl's jaw dropped. "That thing almost ate me!"
Asta gave him a faint grin before glancing at the trembling Gromp. "Still, not bad for a first attempt. According to my friends, Mana Reinforcement usually takes days to even feel."
Darryl's breathing steadied as the last of the adrenaline settled into something else, focus. "It's weird," he admitted, flexing his fingers. "I can feel the magic... Err... mana moving… like it's part of me. Like I can tell it where to go."
Asta's grin widened. "That's good. Now use that magic to kill it."
Darryl blinked. "Wait, what?"
The captain's eyes flicked toward the recovering Gromp, whose guttural croak rose once more. "You've got ten seconds before it's back on its feet."
Darryl's stomach dropped. "Captain, maybe you could..."
"Nope." Asta folded his arms and vanished, his voice echoing. "This one's all you, kid."
The Gromp's eyes locked onto Darryl, fury bubbling in its throat. It lunged again.
Darryl cursed, then gritted his teeth. "Alright, fine! Come on then!"
This time, when Darryl forced his magic power, or mana, as Captain Asta called it, from his core into his body, the change was immediate.
The world sharpened. The air seemed lighter, sounds clearer. The Gromp ahead of him, which only moments ago had been a blur of teeth and motion, now moved slower, its every twitch and ripple visible.
Darryl's lips curved into a grin. "Awesome," he whispered under his breath. If this was how mages fought, no wonder Captain Asta could move faster than the eye could follow.
He drew his short sword with renewed confidence, the earlier fear gone from his eyes. "Alright, let's do this."
With a yell, he charged. "YAAAH!"
---
Cithria winced as Darryl's small frame bounced harmlessly off the Gromp's slick hide, sword and all.
"Oof. That's gotta hurt," Asta said with a chuckle, flicking one of the Tell Stones between his fingers. They were on their seventh game now. That was how long this mission/training had gone on.
Cithria turned to him with an exasperated sigh. "How much longer is this going to go on for? He's gotten slightly stronger, sure, but a Gromp's hide is still impervious to most blades."
She couldn't deny it, though, what Darryl had achieved was nothing short of impressive. A thirteen-year-old boy, moving faster and lasting longer than her comrades from back in the Ninth Battalion. His stamina was monstrous. The Gromp couldn't land a hit on him anymore, and even though his blade barely scratched its skin, he was relentless.
They were locked in a strange rhythm now, an odd stalemate. The Gromp lunged and missed while Darryl struck and bounced off. Again and again.
Asta leaned back lazily against the trunk, smirking. "He's a Black Bull. He'll surpass his limits."
Cithria groaned. "Don't you have any spells that could help him end this already? I'm getting tired of sitting here and beating you at Tell Stones."
"Beating me?" Asta arched an eyebrow, glancing at the board. "You've been lucky, that's all."
She shot him a glare.
He raised his hands in mock surrender. "Alright, alright. But seriously, there's not much I can do for him right now. I'm not an earth mage, I'm an Anti Magic mage. Apart from the general spells anyone can use, most of what I do would just cancel his magic out."
"So you're useless," she deadpanned.
Asta grinned. "Pretty much."
Then, his tone shifted, a touch more serious. "Even if I could help, it's better this way. He doesn't have the mana for complex stuff like Mana Skin yet, and using something like Mana Bullet would just drain him dry. What he needs is to use what he's got. His own earth magic spell."
He nodded toward the clearing below, where Darryl was once again charging the Gromp with reckless determination.
"Better he learns that spell here," Asta said quietly, "in a place I can control, than out there, where he's in actual danger."
Cithria watched the boy duck another crushing strike and come up grinning, sweat glistening on his forehead, eyes burning with stubborn resolve.
It took four more games of Tell Stones before Darryl finally did something worth noticing.
Cithria's eyes widened as the ground beneath the Gromp suddenly rippled, softening into loose earth that swallowed the massive frog-like creature up to its belly. The beast croaked furiously, thrashing and kicking as the soil hardened again, trapping it in place.
"Well, I'll be damned," Cithria muttered. "He actually did it."
"Finally! A spell!" Asta whooped from across the branch, throwing his hands up in triumph. "Thank the gods! Tell Stones suck! This game is rigged against me!"
Cithria gave him a flat look but didn't bother responding. Her attention stayed on Darryl below, who was panting hard as he approached the struggling Gromp. His short sword looked battered, its edge chipped and dulled from the repeated, futile strikes earlier, but he still gripped it with fierce determination.
"The Gromp's weak spot is its soft underbelly," Cithria observed, thinking aloud. "But with it buried like that, he won't be able to reach it. He'll have to release it and strike fast before it attacks again."
Asta leaned forward, his grin returning. "Or…"
Before she could ask what he meant, Darryl raised his sword and drove it straight into the Gromp's eye.
The creature let out a guttural, bubbling croak, thrashing wildly before going still.
"…he could stab it in the eye," Asta finished, barely containing his laughter.
Cithria sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Or he could stab it in the eye," she echoed dryly.
Asta laughed outright this time, the sound echoing through the treetops. "He's a natural!"
Cithria rose from the branch, brushing the dust from her trousers. "At least it's over," she muttered, casting one last glance at the fallen Gromp. "Now get me down from here."
Asta smirked as he casually gathered the Tell Stones and tucked them back into their leather pouch. "Well… he still has six more to go."
Cithria nearly lost her balance, whipping around so fast she almost slipped off the branch. "What did you just say?"
"There's, like, six more of them down by the river," Asta said with that same infuriating grin, already stepping closer.
Before she could yell at him, he wrapped an arm around her waist and stepped off the branch.
The world blurred into a rush of color and wind, and Cithria wished she could punch this infuriating man in the face.