Recruitment and A Thumb

Gorum was the absolute pinnacle of warriors and lived a life of brutal combat above all else. So, it was needless to say he had standards far removed from the average warrior. The days where he found someone dodging his attacks to be impressive were long gone, however...

Sierra was outside his expectations, if only just barely. He had expected her to dodge the first four thrusts, but not many after that. He could only expect that much from someone that far below him, but to his surprise she had managed to dodge 84 strikes so far. Even with Gorum taking it easy on her, what she was doing was no easy feat with her number of disadvantages.

First off, she wasn't exactly built for dodging, considering the size of her. Sierra was built like a standard heavy warrior, thick muscles, wide shoulders, and had an overall inflexible heft to her. But despite having a physique meant for heavy and unceasing charges, she was dodging at a remarkable pace. Bending and retreating at odd and unnatural angles, it reminded Gorum a little bit of himself.

"You won't get anywhere dodging. You're meant to attack me." Gorum said, calmly taunting Sierra and reminding her of her objective in one go.

Sierra wasn't listening though, she really only had survival on her mind for moment. After all, from her perspective the attacks were coming from thin air. The thrusting technique Gorum was using didn't require him to even swing his arm, so on her side of things there was no warning for when another thrust was coming, all she saw as Gorum calmly walking closer to her while attacks she couldn't see flew her way.

'This isn't going anywhere, she'll get tired eventually and I'll hit her, even at this negligible speed. But that's boring, and I don't feel like wasting anyone's time, so I'll just speed up to pressure her into attacking. Either that or I'll end up hitting her when she can't keep up' Gorum thought to himself, deciding to crank things up a bit.

Much to his predictions, Sierra couldn't keep up, and ended up with the butt of Gorum's spear planted to her guts. The impact sending her skidding across the arena floor, leaving her a slumped over mess.

"As expected of you master Gorum, that was a splendid blow..." said the lead emissary from the group that had brought Sierra.

"Mistress Damia made the right choice, assigning you to the combat testing of potential members. So, is she...adequate?" the elderly goblin asked Gorum, looking over at the collapsed Sierra.

"Mmh...she has some potential. Her aside, how many more will I be testing tonight?" Gorum replied.

"Only one or two more, if that's alright Master Gorum..." said the emissary, bowing his head.

"Hrmph, let's wait for next one then." Gorum huffed and crossed his arms.

Gorum understood why he was doing this; it was because they didn't trust him yet. Most would send him to the front lines immediately if they had access to his strength, and yet they had him out here, helping in the testing of fledgling warriors. It didn't take a genius to figure it out, so it was within Gorum's field. As annoying as it was to be doing something so trivial, Gorum didn't fully hate it. After all, if this helped the organization grow it would be fine. Now that he's switched sides, he's got to go all in. Besides, they would need as much strength as possible to overtake Idalia, The Mystic Supernova.

For Gorum, Idalia was the only other Brave that presented any problems. She possessed intense magical prowess and had at least 1000 years of experience and knowledge behind it. In his eyes, Idalia was the only other person possessing firepower equal to or greater than him, her name was well earned. She's been the greatest ally and advisor to the kingdom since 500 years after its founding, meaning getting her to switch sides would be practically impossible.

'Perhaps I could talk the leaders into not doing a hostile takeover, but instead using their amassed power as a deterrent, forcing the royal family to cede their kingdom peacefully as to minimize the harm the coming to the people. As well as keep from battling my fellow braves needlessly...' Gorum thought as he awaited the next possible members arrival.

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Gorum sighed, looking at Sierra who was sat on the ground, trembling and nervous.

"So, you were the only one who survived the test?" Gorum queried.

"Y-Yes, it would seem so." Sierra answered, staring down at the ground as she quivered with nervousness.

Gorum groaned quietly and looked over at the dead bodies of the other two recruits that were brought to him. Completely unremarkable, the both of them. He then directed his attention to the emissaries who were quietly discussing the situation.

"Apologies for killing those two. Holding back is quite difficult for someone like me." he said, bowing at the emissaries.

Immediately the lead emissaries of each group started to pipe up.

"No no Master Gorum, it's not your fault at all, please raise your head!"

"Yes, please do raise your head, it's our fault for bringing such weaklings before you!"

"Exactly! One can hardly blame you, after all one wouldn't blame a giant for stepping on an ant!"

Gorum chuckled a bit under his breath. Even though he's claimed responsibility for not only his own actions, but also the actions of others, all his life, he was now being fawned over like a child and told something that was clearly his mistake was in fact not. It was...refreshing to him.

"I see, if that's how you all see it. Now then, what's next? Do I begin training this Sierra woman?" Gorum raised his head, and then looked back to Sierra.

"Oh, no. She'll receive her own specialized training once we figure out what path will be best for her. We wouldn't want to start training her with method that won't help her final goal. For now, we'll be returning to another one of our locations here on the Demon Kings continent. You should return to the meeting place." The elderly goblin explained, waving away the thought of having Gorum train her.

'I suppose that's for the best, there isn't a guarantee that my training methods would be beneficial to her after all.' Gorum thought, turning his back as he began to head off back to the ballroom.

"Ah! Wait, Gorum!" Sierra piped up, going so far as to address Gorum informally, much to the chagrin of the emissaries.

"Yes, what is it?" he responded.

"What was that technique you used on me, I couldn't even see the spear coming!"

"Ah that, I call it spear sliding."

"Spear...sliding?" Sierra tilted her head at the odd name.

"Yes, you one hand the spear and hold it by the very top of the handle, just under the spear head. Then you loosen your hand and flick the spear forward with your thumb. And then you just pull the spear back by sliding it with your thumb. It's simple enough." Gorum explained quite nonchalantly, briskly walking away afterward, having felt that he's wasted enough time already.

"He...beat me with just his thumb..." Sierra muttered to herself, looking at the floor with total and utter dejection.