Schiltach [3]

[Sarah's Pov]

It wasn't hard to see that Sophie was noticeably affected by coming here, her usually strong aura now replaced with feebleness and uncertainty. Sitting next to her in our tent, I couldn't say I wasn't a bit surprised though.

Even though this place was a bit worse out for wear than I thought, everyone should have been prepared for at least this much. So, with almost everyone bouncing back relatively fast, and the other girls now chatting away, it was pretty weird to see Sophie still struggling.

'It will be a good experience for her...'

Putting my hand on hers, still trembling, I felt her flinch a bit before looking at me.

"It will be okay. Just do your best, alright? And if you need help, we are all here for you."

At this point, Anna, Bellatrix, Suzan, and Trisha also turned their heads to us, seemingly noticing what was happening. Seeing the state of her best friend, Anna quickly enforced my words.

"Yeah, don't worry about it, Sophie! We are all here as well!

"You guys..."

"Also, how can someone like you who throws people around like ragdolls be afraid of anything? Ah, I still remember that time you dueled Arthur and when you..."

"Shut up!"

****

[Arthur's Pov]

Most of the students had gotten assignments that involved work far away from Sector A, the last sector before the monsters would penetrate the border and would thereafter be regarded as a national threat.

However, some of us had gotten delegated to other kinds of work. Like Sarah who was now busy healing as many soldiers as she possibly could, or my little group who was placed on the outskirts of the camp.

Why were we here? We were here to deal with any stragglers, monsters who had managed to penetrate the defensive wall of the border defensive further ahead. So far, not a single monster had managed to do so, but we were all still vigilant as it could lead to a disaster if they managed to make it to the civilians.

With me, I had Sebastian, Sophie, and, although I couldn't quite understand why a freshman was here, Thomas.

Not that he hadn't been impressive during the tournament, but he was still a freshman. Even worse was that he seemed so nervous that he could barely talk.

"Say, Thomas, are you alright?"

"Y-y-yes... I'm f-fine..."

Come to think of it, he did seem to be quite shy normally, so maybe it wasn't that strange for him to have a hard time right now.

"Here, take this. And calm down, if anything happens we will be able to handle it."

Surprisingly, Sebastian walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water. A very negligent favor, but also something that was very contrasting from how the purple-haired man usually acted. 'I guess people can change, after all.'

Not just Sebastian, but a lot of my friends had changed quite a lot during just this one year at the academy, me included. And maybe that was the most frustrating part of all this.

That no matter how much I thought I had changed, how strong I thought I had become, there was still a person to who it didn't matter. A person who still stood above me, someone I still couldn't reach.

To be fair, there was another person next to me that was a lot more desperate to reach him. A person who I somehow knew to be extremely nervous right now, contrasting her usually confident atmosphere.

Putting my hand on her shoulder, her whole body trembled, as if she had been ready for an ambush at any time. "Sophie?"

"Oh, Arthur! I'm fine! I was just a bit surprised. Anyway, when will the monsters show up? I'm getting bored just sitting here!"

Truth be told, it was getting pretty stale just sitting here on some empty crates, watching the vastness of the seemingly empty wastelands. However, every now and then, small sounds could be heard from a distance, sounds that let us know what the soldiers out there were doing.

Out there was a war, not against other humans, nor was it against demons. It was a war against the world itself, against the creatures that were bound to be created as a result of the status quo.

*BEEEEE!*

A loud warning signal rang out, a signal that we had learned meant that we were supposed to act. It was the first time we would experience a straggler, a monster that had somehow managed it through the defensive lines.

Now, it had to be said that if the monster was above [C]-rank, they would quickly send a teacher here to assist us, but if not, they would allow us to take it on by ourselves as practice. And in this case, there was no teacher to be seen.

Standing up, I readied my sword, "Get in formation."

...

"Uhm... What formation?"

It took a moment for me to realize something, or rather Sophie made me realize it. We were all close combat specialists, without a single ranger or spellcaster. We didn't even have a healer with us.

So... there was really no formation to be had for us, other than just going at it together.

*ROOOAAARRR!*

Up in the distance, we could finally see our opponent. With its huge stature and brown skin, complemented by just a loin cloth and a giant wooden club, it was the first time for I to ever face an ogre. Though that could probably be said about all of us.

"Hupp!"

Weirdly enough, before we had fully readied ourselves, the young man Thomas dashed forward, his eyes seemingly glowing a bit in excitement.

"Thomas?! Wait!"

Even with Sophie trying to get him to calm down, there was no use. No matter how she shouted he kept on running forward across the dirt-ridden plains. "Come on! Let's go!"

With that, we were also dashing forward, trying our best to catch up to the foolish man. Seeing as how we weren't going to make it, Sophie brought out her blue wings, sparkling elegantly under the hot sun, and increased her speed even more.

*Grooaaarr!*

Still, it wasn't enough to reach the man who now stood in front of the huge ogre, which now began its assault by sending its club downwards, threatening to squish the freshman.

*BOM!*

A cloud of dust entered the air around them, making it impossible for us to see what was happening. With that being said, I felt my back growing cold as I thought about the only reasonable outcome when the, at most, [E]-ranker went up against a [C]-rank monster.

Yet, what I had thought would happen didn't come to be reality.

As the dust cloud cleared, we could all see the young man still standing, no, he now jumped toward the head of the ogre after dodging his attack, his gauntlets shining under the sun.

*BAM!*

A huge punch to the side of the ogre's head connected, and it still didn't even flinch. In the end, the physical differences between them were too much for determination to overcome. Even worse was that the ogre, having recovered from his earlier attack, now swept his free hand towards him, ready to end the fight in an instant.

"You fucking moron!"

*BOOM!*

*Groagh?!*

A huge, fiery explosion rang out as Sophie's draconic fist detonated into the ogre's stomach, forcing him back a few meters while blood was spewing out of its mouth. At the same time, Thomas landed on the ground, surprised to see the power of the pink-haired giantess.

Even though he was a large man himself, he still had to turn his head up to look her in the eyes, eyes that were now hardened with anger towards his actions. Something that didn't go unnoticed by him.

"I-I'm s-sorry..."

"I'll talk to you later... Just go away for now..."

It was kind of ironic, that the hot-headed dragoness was the one to berate Thomas for his actions when she was the one who used to be the one to act recklessly.

"Haaa... It's fine, let's just finish our job."

Unable to stop myself from sighing, I also walked up to them, ready to bring down the monster still in front of us. Quickly followed by Sebastian, there was no doubt that the poor ogre didn't know what was about to happen to him.

"[Arc of Light - Strengthened]"

"[Piercing Steel]"

*Groogh...?*

*Splatter!*

Huge chunks of flesh exploded into the air as the monster was both severed by my light and pierced by multiple iron spears from the ground. In the end, only a very brutalized chunk of flesh remained.

Turning around, I tried to numb my ears as much as possible for the scolding that was about to take part, knowing that my lovely lady wouldn't let it go.

And, just as expected...

"What were you thinking?! Are you seriously stupid?! If not for the fact that I made it there in time, do you understand what would have happened?! I mean, god! If only..."

Looking at the large man who now seemed smaller than even Anna, I still wore a slight smile on my face.

'Haaa... At least she seems to have recovered a bit...'