The words about the upcoming training session sounded as grim as humanly possible.
'I kept hoping she wasn't serious about those swings.' - Verd looked at the sword's guard and made a few simple swings, feeling the weight of the construction. - 'My body has more or less recovered. I should last a couple of minutes at most.'
He put his foot forward, extended his arm, and pointed the blade at the girl.
Arktia was slightly surprised, but a barely noticeable smirk immediately played on her lips.
-Make sure to think before you point a sword at someone, little one.
There was a light, almost affectionate mockery in her voice.
-Didn't you say I'd be swinging a sword now? - he paused briefly before the last word.
Arktia didn't answer right away. Instead, she turned to the withered plain they had been walking across and carefully examined the ground beneath her feet.
-Partially, you're right. However...
She raised her right foot and froze for a moment. Then she stomped - not with a crash, but with a low, deep hum that was felt more through the body than heard by the ears.
The earth trembled. It didn't crack - it heaved. Within a radius of dozens of meters, the dry crust lifted like a blanket and immediately crumbled, revealing not solid rock, but something damp, dark, and... moving.
Round forms began to emerge from under the ground, as if surfacing from the depths. They were the size of a human head, brownish-gray, with a rough, cracked surface resembling the bark of an old tree or the shell of a giant seed. Because of their rounded shape and characteristic fibrous veins, they looked like monstrous coconuts.
-Just swinging a sword in front of you is an activity for fools, - Arktia explained calmly.
The creatures had no visible eyes or mouths, but they moved. They rolled, bounced on elastic root-like appendages, and made a dry, rustling sound, as if sand was being ground inside them. There were many of them. Twenty, thirty, perhaps more. They filled the space around them, slowly but inexorably beginning to roll toward the center - toward where Arktia and Verd stood.
-Sand larvae, - she explained indifferently, watching as one of the creatures rolled up to her foot. - Mindless, weak, but very tough for unranked monsters.
When the sand creature rolled closer, Arktia sent it flying into the air with a light kick.
-Catch!
Verd instinctively recoiled as the lump of living earth flew straight at him. It was fast, heavy, the size of his own head. Thoughts of stance, breathing, proper grip - all evaporated. Only fear remained, and the desperate urge not to let this thing hit him. He jerked the sword up, swung, and struck.
'Damn...'
The impact resonated in his bones with a sharp, unpleasant vibration, as if he had struck stone. The sword bounced back, nearly flying out of his fingers. The creature merely deflected to the side, flew a couple of meters, and rolled back toward him. Slightly dented, but intact. The blade had left only a shallow white scratch on its rough shell.
Verd looked at the scratch, then at the sword in his hand, then back at the larva, which had already recovered and was rolling toward him again.
'What the hell!' - he exhaled. - 'Why didn't it just get cut?!'
-Not bad, - Arktia's voice came from the side. She stood apart, arms crossed over her chest, not even thinking of intervening. - At least you hit it.
-Hit?! - Verd jumped back from another larva that tried to roll under his feet. - This thing didn't even get scratched!
-What are you talking about? You saw the mark yourself.
Verd wanted to say something sarcastic, but at that moment a second larva rolled up from behind and bumped into his shin. The impact wasn't strong, but unexpected. He swayed, took a step to the side, and nearly stepped on a third.
'What the hell is wrong with you...'
He swung and slashed at the nearest one. Again vibration, again recoil, again a useless scratch. Unlike his arm, which was bearing all the strain alone, the larva flew back, flipped over, and continued moving as if nothing had happened.
-Look at it from a different angle already, - Arktia said lazily. - Or if you want to keep doing it that way, then put your weight into it. You're swinging that sword like a stick. Did you already forget our training? Use your legs and your core.
'Says that like I've been doing this for years.'
Verd gritted his teeth and quickly glanced at the girl.
'Easy for you to say when you're standing on the sidelines watching two dozen living coconuts roll at me.'
Another larva rolled almost right up to him. This time he decided to take a risk and try to get into a stance. After clumsily positioning his feet and distributing his weight, the strike came not from the shoulder, but from the push of his leg, through his core, through his arm. The blade cut deeper into the rough shell. Not much, but deeper. The larva jerked, rolled back, and paused for a second, as if processing the hit.
-Better, - Arktia said. - But you're still an idiot.
-What am I supposed to do?! Just dodge?
-Exactly, - she snapped.
After her finger snap, three larvae, which had been peacefully rolling in circles, suddenly jumped in sync and charged at Verd from different directions.
'Shit!'
Three larvae rushed at him from three sides, rolling over dry clods of earth. Verd watched one bounce off a bump. He managed to sidestep. The first flew past, grazing his shoulder with its rough side; the second crashed into the spot where he had just been standing, kicking up a fountain of dust and small stones.
The third managed to hit him.
The blow landed in his lower back - not strong, but sharp enough to knock the wind out of him. Verd staggered, took a step back, and stepped on another larva that had rolled up unnoticed. His foot slipped, he swung his arm trying to keep his balance, and fell heavily onto his knee.
The ground met him harshly. His whole body was covered in wet mud mixed with something sticky - the remains of previous creatures. In that same instant, two larvae piled on top of him. Heavy, rough, smelling of dry earth and sour rot. One pushed into his back, the other into the back of his head.
Verd jerked, twisting. His elbow sank into someone's soft belly - not the one pressing from above, but the one that had rolled up from the side. His fingers slipped across the wet shell, lost their grip. He struck blindly with his sword; the blade cut into something, a crack sounded, and dark gore splattered across his face.
Hot. Sticky. Tasting of iron and rotten grass.
-Ugh! - he spat, crawling to the side.
The larvae were in no hurry. They rearranged themselves, rolled around, as if giving him time to get up. Or maybe just because they were stupid and didn't know how to seize the moment.
Verd jumped up. His legs were shaking. The sword in his hand trembled. His chest heaved. The whole world was shaking.
'This is so annoying...' - he clenched his teeth in anger. - 'No matter how hard I hit them, they're still fine.'
-Tired, angry, - Arktia's voice came from somewhere to the side. - Breathing like a steam engine. Hands shaking. Holding the sword wrong.
He turned around. She was standing on a small rise - a dry, solid patch of earth that the wave of larvae hadn't touched. Arms crossed over her chest. Face calm, almost bored.
-If I were your enemy, - she continued, - you'd be dead already. Ten times over. At least.
Verd wanted to respond. Wanted to scream that she could have helped, that he hadn't asked to be thrown into this hell, that...
He just exhaled. The air came out with a whistle, a wheeze, with drops of saliva and that filth that had gotten into his mouth.
-I... know, - he forced out. - But I can't do anything! You said it yourself - I'm a zero! What do you expect from me?! So much dissatisfaction, and you still won't teach me!
She looked at him for a long moment. The wind tossed her hair, threw dust in her face, but she didn't even squint. Just watched.
After a few seconds, she sighed and said, jumping down from her rise:
-Fine. Watch.
She stepped forward. One step - and the larvae, which had been ignoring her until now, all turned at once. Twenty, thirty balls rolling from all sides sensed a new target.
Arktia didn't even draw a weapon.
She just moved.
She let the first one pass with a slight turn of her body - the larva flew past a centimeter from her side, not even touching her clothes.
'How does she... that's just luck. Has to be luck.'
The second she met with her palm - didn't strike, didn't knock it away, just met it, angling her hand correctly, and the larva, losing its momentum, simply flew past.
'No. Not luck... She knows where they'll roll. Knows it before they even start moving.'
The third tried to come from behind. Arktia took a step to the side, spun on her toe, and the larva shot past, not even realizing the target had disappeared.
'I'm running around like an idiot, swinging a sword, and she... she's dancing. Just dancing, and they can't even touch her.'
-Watch your feet, - she said without turning around. Her voice was calm, as if she were giving a lecture at an academy rather than dodging a swarm of creatures. - If you were even a little smarter, you'd have realized long ago that they always roll in a straight line. If you don't panic, it's easy to predict their trajectory.
As if to confirm her words, another larva rolled straight at her. Arktia shifted her weight slightly - and the creature flew past without even grazing her.
-Also try to consider the center of gravity.
She crouched, scooped up one of the larvae with her palm under its belly, and lightly tossed it. It flipped in the air, slapped onto its back, and froze, helplessly wiggling its short appendages.
-They're unstable. And if you push at the right angle, they tip over and waste time getting back up.
Verd watched her and suddenly realized he was envious. Not just of her strength - but of that damned confidence with which she moved. A body that obeyed without question. Eyes that saw not chaos, but just a set of predictable trajectories.
'Someday... if I don't die first... will I be able to do that too?'
The thought felt foreign. Too bold for someone who just a few minutes ago couldn't even leave a scratch on a larva.
-And most importantly, - she turned to Verd. Her gaze was calm, slightly mocking. - Their weak spot isn't where you've been hitting all this time.
-Where is it? - he breathed out.
She smiled. Then she raised her foot and calmly, almost carelessly, stepped on one of the larvae.
Verd didn't even have time to blink. Her foot crushed into the creature's rough shell, and it burst without hesitation. With a disgusting, wet crunch, like someone had squashed a ripe but slightly rotten fruit.
Thick, dark liquid oozed out from inside. The larva twitched once, twice - and went still.
Verd stood a few meters away, staring in amazement at the girl in front of him. At the person who, by some lucky accident, had become his teacher.
His hands were still shaking. The sword felt heavier. His chest still heaved, and the taste of that vile gore lingered in his mouth.
-So? - she tilted her head slightly, and that familiar hunter's glint flashed in her eyes - the one Verd had already come to know and hate. - Want to try again?