Ever since she was a little kid, Silah was considered strong. Growing up in a house filled with blacksmiths, she held up her first hammer before taking her first step. The techniques of her family were passed down to her, and at the age of 12, she made her first sword. When she was 16, she could make a breastplate with her eyes closed. However, despite being called a genius and the master of a generation, Silah had other plans. Living in a city where no one could leave meant that everyone knew each other. If something happened, it wouldn't take long for everyone to know. Yet, people still recounted the same tales over and over. When a couple was formed during a festival, she would spend the next month hearing that story from different sources. No one seemed to mind, but to Silah, that was maddening.
As time went by, she noticed the repetition that came with everything in the city. In the workshop, she would hammer away the same piece of metal over and over. The food was always the same. Even new stories or songs would be told and played again and again until she got sick of them. There had to be something that wasn't so repetitive, something that wouldn't make her feel like she was stuck reliving the same day every day.
Silah's father noticed her struggle but chalked it off to not having interesting enough work to do on the forge. After all, she had already become a crafter. To improve her mood, he asked Naka, the captain of the guard, to hire Silah as their official blacksmith. Even if he didn't understand the root of the problem, his idea was ultimately successful. Working with the guard allowed Silah to hear stories about the dungeon. One day, a herd of sheep came running down a mountain with a stampede, another day where a ram flew around and started chasing one of the recruits. Now, every day there were different tales and different things to talk about. However, Silah was still not satisfied. She wanted to be among those who had unique experiences. Her family was the first to push back the idea, and even the king tried to keep her as a blacksmith, but her determination didn't waver. Naka sided with Silah, seeing the potential in the girl's work. It was rare to have crafters inside a dungeon, and having someone who could repair or fix a weapon quickly could decrease the time it took to gather the supplies. It was a rare occasion for someone to be denied the job they wanted, but at the same time, the entire city would feel the loss of a genius blacksmith. After years of constant begging and complaints, both sides compromised. Silah could become a guard, but she had to work in the workshop as much as she worked in the dungeon.
It's been just three years since Silah had joined the guard, and in hindsight, she appreciated the deal. Forging and repairing weapons could be repetitive, but it was unique in its own way. Not to mention, she had done it for so long that it became something that helped when she was anxious. In the past year, that has been something that happened a lot. Silah started to notice the repetitive patterns, even in something as random as a dungeon. The stampedes would only come from specific areas, and they all moved in the same direction. The flying sheep would only go after you when someone stepped into its food. It took a mistake for something weird to happen, but in a place where people could die, she couldn't force those mistakes.
This made her increasingly worried. Could her boring life with nothing new catch up to her even while being a part of the guard? Yet, the mountain gave her one more piece of hope. Humans, the first to come by in her lifetime. They would bring stories and knowledge and more exciting things to talk about. Silah hoped she could meet with the humans once they were settled in. There was no doubt that she wasn't the only one thinking about that. Most of the city was dying to see them.
For a moment, she thought it would take years before she could talk to them, but when the captain told the guard that the new guests would be joining in the dungeon, Silah's hopes were renewed. Maybe in a couple of weeks, they would have the same schedule, and she could approach the humans. But now, one day after they were told about the humans joining, one of them was her new training partner. Not just that. The human was beautiful. Golden hair and big brown eyes with a slender figure wrapped in some sort of dark purple metal shaped in small scales. Even with the heavy armor, she had a feminine aura. The line of metal leaves that went from her shoulder to her waist reminded her of a painting that Weston made with a beautiful woman sleeping by a tree. Not to mention she was powerful. Silah was level 15, but even when she and two guard members went against Naka, they couldn't land a hit. Yet, these two humans at level 7 got close, really close, and if she considered the electric attack, it would have been a hit.
"It's Hera, by the way," the human spoke in a soft voice.
"What?" Silah snapped out of her surprise.
"My name. It's Hera, not Hema."
"Oh, right. Nice to meet you. I'm Silah, part-time guard, part-time blacksmith."
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"Nice to meet you," Hera was still annoyed with Naka. It felt like she was saying her name wrong out of spite.
Hera looked around, observing what the guards were doing and how they trained. Silah, on the other hand, stared at Hera in awe. There was so much to ask, so much to say, so much hope in that interaction that she didn't know how to start. To their side, Blue and Sevaris already started training. The dwarf was less bulky than most, and he was tall by their standards, reaching almost 1,6 meters. He had short hair that was put into a tiny mohawk in the middle of his head and a short black beard. No one was wearing heavy armor for the training, but they had some padded protection that was almost like the ones used in gyms outside the MAZE. Although the colors were much more plain. She watched them fight for a while before turning her attention to her new partner.
Silah looked to be in her mid-twenties, not that Hera could tell for sure. If a dwarf lived for 300 years, they could age slower. She had strong arms with tattoos on her bulky biceps and reddish-brown hair that went all the way to her waist. Her hair was completely braided, there wasn't a single loose strand, and all the braids ended in thick golden rings. Oddly enough, the woman was the only dwarf that looked tanned. All others that Hera met had the pale complexion of someone who never saw the sun. She had thick plump lips and those emerald green eyes that seemed to sparkle with the light coming from the glowing stones. Silah was staring at Hera's eyes the entire time, and that made the human feel uncomfortable.
"Hum.. can we start? Or do you need to check something?" Hera scratched the back of her head.
"Oh, right. No, no, we are ready," Silah looked around, trying to focus, "So, Sevaris is our only puncher. That's why the captain asked him to help your friend. I'm not entirely sure why she asked me to help you. We have other axe wielders. But they use the two-handed version."
"What weapon do you use?" Hera asked.
"Me?" Silah could feel her cheeks burning. Did someone light up the forge? "I use a mace. In hindsight, I think that's the closest thing we have to a handaxe here. Well… that is if we are not counting the senior guards, but they never train with the newbies."
"That seems wrong. If they are the experts, shouldn't they be training you guys?"
"Well.. they have to be ready to face the boss, and they tend to kill more things than us. So they are always tired," Silah replied.
"That's exactly why they should train you. If you guys get stronger, they don't have to push themselves so hard."
"That.. actually makes a lot of sense."
"Well, if the captain ever gets my name right, I might suggest it," Hera huffed.
"Oh, I'm sure she didn't mean anything bad by that."
"Right, and what are we going to do? They are already starting out," Hera pointed at Blue and Sevaris, who were already covered in dirt from being tossed into the ground.
"Oh, sorry," Silah looked around, "Hum... what do you want to do? Just start fighting?"
"You are supposed to be the trainer, aren't you?" As soon as Hera spoke, she realized how rude that sounded, "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be this bitchy. Naka is just getting to me. I know it doesn't justify the way I'm acting," Hera took a deep breath, "Let me try again. I use a handaxe and the chakram tied to my relic. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to improve?"
"Well… I'm not entirely sure. The captain is the one with a good eye for this stuff," Silah replied after thinking for a moment.
"And how do you fight? Since you use a mace, it's kind of similar," Hera smiled.
"Well.. not really. Maces are about blunt strikes, breaking and smashing everything. A handaxe can do the same, but it's more about cutting."
"So, should we ask Naka?" Hera asked.
"Well. Let me show you how I fight. I don't wanna bother the captain, and maybe there is something that can help you."
Silah pulled one of the training dummies from the back and set it in the arena. She then got ready with a stance similar to the one Naka used, legs far away from each other and knees bent almost in a horse stance. With her iron mace in hand, Silah took a deep breath before attacking. The strikes were quick, hitting specific points in the dummy. Her attacks became faster and stronger, but they were always aimed at the same odd areas. One to the left side under the ribs, another on the right side of the hips, followed by a hit on the chin, and another on the back of the head as Silah rotated around the dummy. There was something oddly familiar with the move set she was using, but Hera couldn't wrap her head around it.
"Can you do it again?" Hera asked.
"Sure," Silah unleashed her flurry once more, hitting some of the same areas but adding elbow and stomach as her targets.
"Wait, why did you move your mace down before hitting the jaw?"
"This technique is made to disrupt the opponent's attacks. By threatening the legs, the target should step back to dodge and give you enough room to return the attack on its shin. If you hit it right, you can make someone dizzy enough to fall down," Silah explained.
"So it's something based on trickery? Making your opponent corner themselves?"
Silah stared at Hera for a moment before nodding, "I guess so. This is called Subtle Strike. The idea behind every move is to either hit the target in places where it will hurt more or cause problems for their next move," Silah touched the spots where she aimed, "So liver, hips, jaw, and head. You can add knee and elbow, but there is a risk of messing their attack in a way that is detrimental to you."
"I see. Can you teach me that?" Hera asked. The martial art seemed to complement her Wire Trap style very well. If she had multiple ways to mess with her enemies and added poison or other ailments, she could be one of the most annoying explorers to fight against.