A disaster.

That’s the only way Martha can describe the events unfolding right in front of her eyes.

Pessus be praised I came up with this bet. It’s better I find out early how much they’re lacking and in so many areas, than receiving news of their early demise on a battlefield.

The elderly woman is currently observing the young brown-haired Ranger running through the woods in panic. He fulfilled his role until now acceptably as leader, scout, and ranger. Everything he did had a huge margin of error and nearly all his decisions proved wrong until now but that’s not something practice and experience can’t solve.

Lost his cool head in a second after things didn’t go according to his plan.

The boy reaches the elf girl who’s playfully wrestling and scratching the hefty boar, like playing with a puppy, and his appearance just shatters the friendly atmosphere right away. Despite the objective being, hunt beasts, she made friends with one. Not an unexpected turn of events considering her personality…

As it turns out, from the boy’s point of view things look a little different. He knocks an arrow and releases it into the side of the beast with little hesitation before drawing his knife.

Despite trying to be as stealthy as possible to avoid disturbing the kids and their surroundings Martha bursts out laughing uncontrollably.

“That overprotective idiot, pfff.” She leans onto the tree holding her side. “Oh, I had my hopes up and already mourned my free afternoons… Hehe, teamwork makes my dream work.”

----------------------------------------

Victor sprints through the woods at max speed, desperate to reach his first friend. His mind is in shambles as his first-ever friend, and the person showing him that there is still some good left in this world. Being alone in the world since birth leaves a person yearning for someone to cherish them and Kayla was the first, the brightest, and the person Victor would kill for in the blink of an eye.

In such a state of panic, his otherwise brilliant mind fails to recognize a few simple facts. First, if the boar is still here with Kayla, then what about the one he left with Elyssia? Second, the girl’s expertise. She is the Tamer. And third, the difference between shrieking giggles and desperate cries.

And let’s not forget that there’s a monster in human skin with them named Martha, who would never let any of them get seriously harmed.

So after leaving his teammate to fend for herself in a losing situation, he fires off an arrow that does more harm than he could imagine.

The large boar snuggling with Kayla squeals as the projectile embeds itself into its side, thrashing and lashing out in pain. The previous friendly mood is no more and the girl has to quickly scrabble away from the startled beast else she gets crushed under its weight.

“Victor! What have you done? Where are the others?” Kayla quickly rushes to his side, partially to avoid the rampaging boar but mostly to scold the boy for his foolish actions. “Why did you shoot Mr. Truffles? And couldn’t you at least wait before I got away, he likes to be tickled on his chin.”

“Are you okay?” Her words fly right past Victor’s ears as he checks her for any injuries.

“What? Of course I’m okay, I know what I’m doing!” Kayla pushes him away and tries to calm the boar.

Her Blessing, aided by her other Tamer Skills, helps her communicate and bond with animals which in normal circumstances is a simple process, like making new friends. This time the would-be friend is wounded, confused, and rightfully angry so even a professional elbow rubber would have a difficult time.

“Hey, hey, shhh, it's okay, it was a mistake, we don’t wanna hurt you.” Kayla attempts it anyway.

“We actually do want to kill it, remember?” Victor adds, still not letting his guard down.

“That’s… true. Where did you leave the others?”

“I… fuck!” Victor facepalms. “I-I’ll tell you later, let’s first get rid of this one and fast.”

----------------------------------------

I don’t know how or for how long but the two boars still in tip-top shape are off my neck for a moment. Personally, I’d just sit down and call it a day, too tired to continue and too pissed to consider what the others would prefer.

Sadly, that would mean losing and losing is for… well, losers.

The injured beast stumbles and wobbles, eyes barely keeping focus yet still throwing his weight at me time and time again. The balance is tipped heavily against us in this three versus two, and while I might be able to take one down in a clear head-to-head fight, the constant interruptions are more than enough to stop me from making proper, actually destructive spells.

This might be my chance to do exactly that.

“Sorry piggy, I’ll make it quick, even though you’ve been slowly bleeding to death for the last couple of minutes.” I whisper while widening the gap between us again.

The trick I’m about to pull worked the first time I faced off against a boar, so why not try it again? Compress earth, form into the shape of a spike, harden, and wait for the beast.

It charges, because of course it does, as if it had no survival instincts and going headfirst at a problem, quite literally, proved to be the only option.

With practiced ease I step backward, raise the prepared spike, and let the boar skewer itself. I stay cautious not to repeat last time's fiasco and jump away just to be sure just in case the earth magic failed to bear the load. The beast slowly slides off the spike, finally losing all strength to continue fighting even if it hasn’t stopped breathing yet.

“August I’m done with this one, how are things… on your…end?” I call out and turn to check on him.

He’s gone, just like Victor, nowhere to be seen. The boars he was supposed to occupy… they’re here alright. Looking pissed as ever, considering I just killed one of them.

“Oh if I ever get my hands on you two I’ll skin you alive! BOTH OF YOU!” I shout with boiling frustration after being left in a shitty situation, AGAIN.

Mana reserves are doing poorly, and stamina is even worse… Eh, let’s try taking one more down before Martha swoops in and puts an end to things. Two versus one, just the way I like it. Except this time both of them are healthy and unlikely to pass out any time soon.

Hehe, I’ll fail anyway and dying was out of the question from the start so why not get creative?

I roll out of the way of another bite and run off into the forest. I have no intention of escaping, even if I could outrun the piggies, and creating solid enough spikes while on the run would be a bit difficult.

I don’t run to attack or flee, I just want them to gain momentum. Makes it easier to trip them.

Just when I feel like spitting my lungs out and my distance advantage starts shortening, I hold a hand up with my open palm for the beasts rumbling after me.

“This worked against August so let’s hope it shines again.” I mumble and use light magic to flash behind me with all the brightness I can manage.

I squint my eyes just in case and soon hear the sound I’ve been hoping for, grunts, stomps, and tumbles.

Skidding to a stop, I spin around and use the precious little time I’ve got before they pull themselves together and the game of cat and mouse continues. I’d love to conjure that nasty blue flame sword of mine right now and make a short work of them. If only I had the mana or time...

I run up to one of the boars, still disoriented and clueless, and hop onto its back.

Why would I do something that stupid? Well, it can't really reach me here that's why.

I make a knife-like shard of ice and stab it into the beast's neck, pushing it as deep as I can while holding onto it as it flails to shake me off.

The feeling of something sharp sinking into flesh and the pained squeals accompanying it make me shudder and almost retch. My heart aches for the poor beast and I really do feel bad for causing so much pain to it… On the other hand, mom and dad told me countless times that beasts would not hesitate to step on my throat and munch on my bones just because I cried.

That conversation actually made me retch and was a rare moment where I saw dad scold mom till she turned beet red. Something along the lines of how could you say something like that to a child and she’s only seven.

Anyway, the hole punctured into the boar's neck is only the prep work. It struggles desperately to get me off its back, still blinded yet not hindered from throwing itself onto the ground or running into a tree. I won't let it have the opportunity to do any of those so just as planned I stick my index and middle finger into the wound on its neck, which is disgusting, and use a very delicate art of magic.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

The expansion of energy rapidly and violently with devastating effects on the surroundings. Explosion magic.

Again I’m not suicidal and won’t use a stupid amount of mana, not like I actually can, just enough to cause serious damage in important areas.

While I know very little about how the body works, even less about animal bodies, I know the neck is important, be it human, rabbit, turtle, fish, seagull, or any living creature.

This boar is no exception.

The moment my spell goes off I yelp as the explosion makes it feel like someone hit the tip of the two fingers pushed inside the flesh with a hammer. They’re ejected out of the wound, accompanied by a hefty amount of blood and another deep, pained roar.

My wild piggy ride comes to an end as the boar lifelessly flops to the side, pinning my leg underneath itself.

“Shit. Shit shit shit!” I kick and push against the body to free myself with absolutely no success.

I haven’t won, oh no, I just reduced the numbers. And there is still one extremely pissed hefty animal looking forward to sending me after its family.

I raise a poor excuse of an earth shield since my depleted mana only allows for so much and hope for the best. The beast rushes through it with minimal effort and I raise my arms above my head, close my eyes, and scream.

I don’t know why I scream. It’s just an instinct I guess, not like screaming is gonna make the boar stop or anything.

The scream goes on for a surprisingly long time, uninterrupted… Then the lack of weight on my leg becomes apparent besides me not getting smushed pretty fast, although not fast enough.

Shit, this is gonna be embarrassing.

I carefully crack my eyes open only to see Martha, Kayla, and August struggling to hold the laughter in, bending over and slapping their thighs. The first thing I do is slap a moderately dangerous lightning bolt at August, or at least try to. No mana means no lighting, which leaves a regular old slap to do the work spiced with all the zap I can gather.

Try dodging that, prick.

He reacts and fails to dodge yet the attack doesn’t electrocute him… How? Well the dear instructor wheezing next to us just happens to be a master of said element and has a little more control over it than I do.

“Elyssia, bad! It’s not his fault you would’ve died!” She chides me, pointing a finger accusingly as if talking to a dog. "And stop laughing, she lasted longer than the two of you! Kayla, no everything wants to be your friend and August, the beasts are not brainless, just less intelligent."

“Who’s is it then?” I ask no less agitated than her.

Kayla quickly swallows her mirth like a big gulp of water and smiles at me innocently. Smart.

“We will talk about that after the last one learns his lesson.” Martha points downwards.

Downward?

I let my eyes wander for the first time since I got teleported here, only to realize I’m sitting high up in a tree on a particularly thick branch. My first instinct is to crawl back from the ledge right at my feet, but thankfully my brain realizes in time how a branch works.

This elicits another round of chuckles from the other three beside me, which they don’t bother holding back despite the stink eye I give.

I wobbly get up to my feet and act as if nothing happened trying to save face, or at least what’s left of it. Looking over to where Martha’s finger was pointing a second ago, I see Victor sprinting through the woods.

“Not a word! You died in the fight, now it's him alone. Let’s just quietly observe.” Martha says before I can shout at him.

I’m totally okay with this. I’m pissed at August but even that is nothing compared to what Victor is going to hear once this is done. He left me and I’m very not okay with that.

Once he arrives where August and I “died” the remaining boar welcomes him. By of course attacking head first.

Come to think of it… how did Kayla get taken out?

Without even trying to take down the beast Victor raises both his hands and shouts. “I surrender.”

Martha sends out a scrawny bolt of lighting that doesn’t just shock the pig but goes right through it, leaving a smoldering hole right through its body.

Then I feel the familiar sensation of being teleported and appear beside the last member of our team.

“Well, my expectations weren’t too high,” Martha starts a speech. “and yet you underperformed spectacularly.” And she claps… she fucking claps. ”Any of you individually would’ve lasted longer. This, this is something special, I-”

“Okay, OKAY! We get it, we’re washed, you don’t have to stress how bad we performed.” I say, defeated. “What now?”

“Now? We discuss what you could’ve done otherwise. On the way home.” She answers after feigning being deep in thought.

“Already? Can’t we stay a little longer?” Kayla asks.

“The sun is still up.” Even August is against leaving.

“And yet you all died. Dead people can’t go around killing beasts.” Replies Martha with a teasing grin before turning serious. “And I wasn’t asking, we’re warriors teaching you how to live and fight, not daycare. Now move!”

Yeah, due to Martha’s usually friendly, grandma-like attitude, we tend to forget who she’s supposed to be. We shut our traps and follow after her in a single file, as obedient children should.

A few minutes later on our way outside the forest, Martha sheds her cold demeanor and asks without turning her head. “What did you learn today?”

“Vicor is unreliable.”

“Kayla is no smarter than her animal friends.”

“All speed no skill!”

“Guys we shouldn’t-”

“I bet even a legless boar would’ve taken you down!”

“How dare you just run off like that?”

“Use your brain you Abyss damned twat!”

…

Yeah, the tension is high. We all blame each other, except Kayla, who still tries to be nice to everyone and calm us down. Blame is pushed around, curses are thrown relentlessly, mistakes are pointed out, etc…

“Okay, kids-” Martha tries to get to the real lesson here with little success.

“How little can you run? Even Eli lasted longer?”

“Was there even a single minute you didn’t mess something up?”

“Kids, we should-” Martha again.

“Kayla, how did a single boar become four?”

“It’s- I, the bird only said one.”

“ENOUGH!” Shouts the elderly woman with ridiculous loudness, scaring us and probably half the forest to death. “I won’t hear you blaming each other a second longer like some foolish children! Take responsibility for your mistakes!”

“But we are children…” Kayla adds, which earns a well-practiced, ancient death stare from our instructor.

“Listen up and whoever as much as breathes too loud doesn’t get to have dinner tonight.” She threatens, and it works astoundingly well on me. “You children took my offer way too easily, without even discussing it amongst yourselves. As a result, you lost the bet, even though it was a clear and easy trap. just because you don’t communicate.”

I don’t even try to hide the smugness creeping onto my face. I was right, they messed up.

Turns out I’m not getting off this easy.

“You, Elyssia,” She points at my smug mug. “isolated yourself the moment they made a mistake because of your constant need to feel superior and your selfish attitude. You did your part and even more and the thing I want you to improve upon the most is communication, the first step of working as a team.”

Ouch. Is that really what she thinks? That I’m some kind of unbearable brat?

The others nod, so I guess that’s what everyone thinks. They must have a terrible taste.

“Again you walked for minutes without results because of the lack of communication on everyone’s part.” Martha continues. “Scouting was a sloppy job. Even if the birds only gave you a general location you should've checked the surroundings properly once you go there.”

True, again. That was the whole reason we failed in the first place.

“I like the part where you came up with a plan together, however the plan itself relied on you working alone, separated. The point of teamwork is to work together as a team, not solo close to one another.” She points out a mistake I wouldn’t even consider a mistake really. "Kayla, don't get attached to every beast you come across. You tried to protect the boar from Victor when it was already rampaging. And August, you're a smart boy but that doesn't mean everyone and everything is necessarily dumb. Just because you stand behind the boar where it can't see you doesn't mean it forgot you exist."

By now we’ve left the forest and are on our way back to Granhall. Solaire is already ducking behind the mighty stone walls in the distance, its last rays and the calm breeze passing through the forest create a serene atmosphere, only ruined by the mood.

“And you Victor, I know you were just worried and you hurried to save your friend, but, if this were an active combat zone and you pulled something like that… I would execute you myself.” She looks at the boy in question with disappointed eyes. “You chose to abandon Elyssia and by extension August, and left them for almost certain death just to save someone who might as well been already dead. This was very much unlike you.”

Okay, that’s harsh. Victor will not hear the end of this for months on my end and I won’t be any more reserved because of the earful he just received from Martha however, it just… sounds more hurtful from someone like Martha.

“The odds told me we could beat the boars.” He mutters with trembling lips.

“And you believed in a Skill rather than your wits and your teammates,” Martha replies without mercy. “August and Elyssia, again communication. When the two of you were left alone against the three boars you did nothing else than bicker and try solving things yourselves. That little stunt where August took on two while you, young lady, killed the weakest, slowest, least dangerous one? That can’t be considered teamwork.”

“It almost worked, didn’t it? And if Victor-” August tries to sass.

“Oh, someone won’t be eating tonight, how sad…” Martha shushes him right away with a few simple words. “Anyways, the extra hours spent on polishing your teamwork, or rather teaching you what it is, as you clearly have no clue, will come in handy. All of you are individually competent, don’t get me wrong, you just lack everything else and that’s what we will be focusing on.” She turns her head finally and looks at us with a mix of sadness and something only old people can feel. “Trust me, you can only get so far by yourselves and repeating these same mistakes you just made can cost you way more than some time spent leveling in a forest. Learn to rely on others.”

“Martha?” I ask.

“Oh, someone else wants to miss out on dinner?” She asks teasingly.

“C’mon, I have a genuine question!” I protest.

Not my food, anything but the food.

“Ask away. Careful with your words!”

“How come I took down the locusts so easily compared to the boars, despite their levels being similar?” I do as told and withhold all the attitude welling inside for the sake of a full stomach.

“Hm, an actual question.” Martha nods, signaling I’m off the hook. “Two things, specialization and beast type. The locusts focus on speed, making them relatively squishy compared to the boars. Second, locusts are swarm beasts, meaning they rely on numbers to win a fight. Individually they are weaker and in greater numbers way more dangerous. Like humans compared to giants.” She explains.

Makes sense.

I’m still not convinced that my performance was that disappointing, however, I’m willing to listen to wise words. If someone tells me how to become a better version of myself then I’m all ears.

And it's not like this team is doomed from the start. The others are good, I know it, have felt it on my own skin. We can do it, and if not… I’m pretty versatile.