One of the first lessons after making cadet at the Academy was teamwork. Not just in theory, but in practice. Students were lined up and handed weapons at random: a sword, a shield, a spear, a knife and bow. The objective was simple, land a single blow on an instructor.
It was rare for any team to pass the test. Cadets are told that the weapons are assigned at random, but in reality, each weapon is paired with a cadet who has little to no knowledge of its use. Someone who specializes in swords might be given a bow while an aspiring rogue would be given a spear.
The goal was to remove the utility of each team member and focus on the team as a whole.
In reality, cadets assigned the bow and the knife were less than useless as combatants. These weapons were routinely assigned to headstrong cadets who were overconfident in the sword, axe or spear. Reducing their range and power with the knife, or removing those factors completely with the bow was the point of the exercise.
Sometimes, the best thing a player could do was be out of the way.
That was the thought that occurred to Willow as she watched her two rescuers demolish a crowd of armored monsters. It was amazing to watch as the two players moved quickly to push back over twenty Frostbitten so easily.
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Halmae was, like her name implied, quite old. Willow judged her to be at least sixty, maybe a few years older. She carried a great sword which she swung in great arcs cutting through four or five opponents at a time. The age of her companion, Grim, looked to be no less. His wicked axe was smaller, but no less devastating. He cut down any monsters who got too close and, when they were surrounded, he slammed the axe into the ground, creating a shockwave that drove the remaining monsters back.
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On instinct, Willow raised her hands to cast a spell but Seunghyo raised a hand to block her.
“They’ve got this.”
“But I can help.”
“We’re okay. Check in with the others,” Seunghyo said sternly.
In all the chaos, she’d completely forgotten. Of course he was right.
Sunbae, we’re both okay up here. How are you down there?
Willow could almost hear the relief in Hana’s voice. That’s good to hear. We’ll wait for you, but if we’re going to head deeper, then we’re going to need all the help we can get.
She was surprised that Hana wanted to go deeper. But, then she must’ve realized the truth. The Cha Bell Corporation wasn’t known for playing by the rules. The people who worked for them were either as ruthless and untrustworthy as Henry, the man who had kidnapped them earlier, or they were desperate people who were press ganged into service.
After days of traveling with Seunghyo, Willow knew which of the two Seunghyo was. And while the danger was all too real, Willow felt a bit of relief to know they would not be leaving Seunghyo behind.
But when she relayed this to him, his expression turned grim.
“No, we should leave,” he said. “I’ll find a way to square things with the company, but… this isn’t it.”
Willow thought to argue, but she knew this wasn’t her decision to make. And the danger of continuing further was all too real.
Sunbae, Seunghyo wants to pull back. Your father’s comrades have cleared the field, but there are more coming. What are your orders?
When no response was forthcoming, Willow repeated herself. It wasn’t likely that the clan chat had a communication error, but the last thing she wanted to do in the field was make an assumption.
Willow had trouble making out the response. She couldn’t tell if they had moved too far away for the message to come through or if something else was interfering. She could only make out one word.
…wraiths.