Attack On Training Ground

"Hey! Hey!! Don't cut out that part. It's very much edible!" Seth yelled at his partner, Taro who held a dagger, cutting pieces of their kill.

"Why don't you just do it?" Taro asked.

"After all that stress of hunting it down, you still want me to do this?" Seth replied with his brows raised.

"You did nothing stressful. If anyone should be complaining, it should be me. I was the one who took a blow from it. I was the one who had to cast spells to slow it down. Tch." Taro clicked his tongue at the end of his complaint.

Seth rose from the floor. "Sure. Thank you for going through all that. Now, gimme the knife and watch how I do it."

Taro quickly handed the knife to Seth who took it and began cutting into the beast he had killed.

He began by cutting off its legs first. "The thighs are necessary."

Then the tail and the shoulder.

"All edible. We don't waste meat here. Besides, you need them more than I do, have you forgotten that?" Seth asked.

"No, I haven't." Taro shook his head.

"Now that we're all done, let's move." Seth held onto parts of the leopard while Taro held the others.

"To the river, we'll need to get them washed first."

♠♠♠♠♠

"It's great. Really great." Taro confessed, chewing both the meat and softened bone of the leopard that he held.

"The rumors were true." Seth nodded, his mouth too full for his words to come out well but Taro understood.

After getting the meat washed they returned to their campsite and began cooking.

First, Seth boiled the meat until it was so tender that the bone could be easily separated from the meat.

After that, he marinated it in a pepper sauce he learned how to make while watching Meena do it. Then he roasted the meat.

The aroma was so enticing that they didn't realize what was happening before eating half of the cooked meal.

The aroma spread far as it pulled the third member of their team out from where he had gone.

Crunch.

The dead leaves on the floor informed Seth and Taro of Raiden's arrival even before Raiden arrived.

"What's cooking, boys?" Raiden appeared at the entrance of the tent seemingly unannounced.

"Just dinner," Seth answered, forcing another piece of meat dripping with sauce into his mouth.

"I see. I guess I returned on time." Raiden laughed and walked into the tent to join Seth and Taro.

"I'm sure you came back because of the aroma. You couldn't ignore it." Seth murmured, handing a plate filled with meat to Raiden.

Raiden received the plate with an embarrassed smile. "Don't be like that. Everything seemed safe so I took a break from the watch. After dinner, I'll complete the check."

Seth didn't want to further argue with his teacher and guard so he gave up. "Fine, fine. Just eat and move along. You still haven't taught us what we wanna learn though."

Seth ended up switching topics.

"That reminds me. My training with you both, starting tomorrow, has to be extended by two hours. There's a lot to learn during this remaining week and we'll have to do our best to cover it all." Raiden explained through a mouth so full that his words almost sounded mixed.

"Yenyenyen… you either eat or talk," Seth said, mimicking Raiden's way of speaking.

"If only you had started this last week, we wouldn't have to rush things now." Taro sighed.

Raiden had learned his lesson so to avoid Seth's humiliation again, he swallowed his food before speaking. "I had to teach you both the basics. Learning the basics for a week doesn't even count as proper training but since you guys have managed to grasp it pretty decently, I figured I would move on."

"When I was being taught, it took me two months to totally grasp the basics…"

Taro turned to look at Seth with a grin and Seth did the same as he spoke out. "I told you we're geniuses." Then they giggled and soon, their giggles turned to laughter.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?" Raiden interrupted their obvious attempt at mocking him.

"Nothing, nothing. So tomorrow, the training with you would be five hours long, correct?" Seth asked, filling his plate with another round of meat.

"Yes, and it may be longer, depending on certain factors." Raiden dropped his plate on the floor.

He had finished the meat served to him.

Holding a spoon, Taro asked Raiden "Seconds?"

"I'll have it when I'm done with the check," Raiden replied, walking out of the tent to complete his check, making sure the area was safe for the night.

"The basics were not really that hard. He could've just moved straight to the techniques." Taro mumbled.

"They weren't hard but they were important," Seth replied.

"Without proper training in the basics, we might not be able to perform some or even all of the techniques he'll be teaching starting tomorrow."

"I know that much." Taro smiled. "I was just so eager to learn the techniques."

"Oh, you'll learn them in a few hours. What is the need to rush?" Seth rose to his feet.

Walking out of the tent, he continued speaking. "Be like me, one step at a time. Nah, scratch that. You're better off the way you are. That's what makes you Taro."

"I'll be right back, I need to take a leak." Seth walked away from the tent, heading for a nearby tree.

He had taken lots of water and now, it was time to let go of some.

Over fifty meters away from him, Taro spotted a shadow. It was entirely covered by the large trees but Taro could spot something in the midst of the darkness.

"Ahh~" Seth felt refreshed as the liquid exited his body, giving him space he never knew he had.

"Raiden, is that you?" Taro asked, walking out of the tent also to empty his bladder too.

No reply was given.

No, a reply was given.

A massive orb of flame large enough to envelop one's head popped into existence and then another and another.

Seth was unaware as he was entirely focused on his pee break.

Ten such large orbs floated around the figure, illuminating his surroundings and revealing his shape. It was a man.

Keith had found his way here. "Just die!" Keith yelled, drawing Seth's attention. All ten orbs shot forward with bullet-like accuracy toward their target, the peeing Seth.

"Seth!" Using all the mana he could gather, Taro ran in front of Seth and created a mana barrier with the remainder of his mana, he withstood the destruction of all ten orbs.

Boom!

Explosions rang out one after the other.

Seth turned in time to see Taro getting rummaged by the orbs that had exploded. "Noooo!"

Before it could destroy him, Seth forced his hand into the explosion, pulling Taro out and throwing him toward one side.

With Taro out of the way, the remaining four orbs made their way toward Seth.

Boom!

Boom!!

Boom! Boom!!

They made a huge mess out of him as the explosions sent him flying in the same direction he had sent Taro.

Seth had survived so he needed to make sure Taro survived too.

He crawled toward him and when he felt Taro's heartbeat, his heart calmed a bit.

Taking off the bracelet, Seth ignored his attacker and proceeded to administer treatment instantly in the presence of his enemy.