Belle looked worriedly at the cave ahead, then to Alissa, “Will Rin be okay?”

Alissa half hugged the rabbit, guiding her a little closer to the cave, just enough that Belle vaguely see the figures inside. Adrest followed, curious about the fight as well.

Coming closer he could see two figures, one human sized, the other an amalgamation of shapes larger than Rose’s Inn back in town. It was like a wave of bones slowly crushing towards the lone Rin.

The fight was the complete opposite of the Rin’s warm up this morning. Then, she’d fought at a blinding speed, poking through the monster’s defense and accumulating small wounds. Each second they’d clash a dozen times, but now each attack was methodical and slow like both sides were winding up for each encounter.

Every time bone and blade met in the open cave swathes on the bones would fracture or outright shatter to dust. Rin was forced a half step back each time from the sheer force at meeting the bone, sometimes forced to dodge through the air rather than meet it head on, otherwise she’d have been surrounded in a sea of bone.

The three demi-humans watched in silence for a full ten minutes, the hero and A rank seemed to be in a stalemate with both sides still going as fiercely as at the beginning. The only difference was Rin’s chest was rising ever so slightly faster than before, but still seemed relaxed. But if she said it would take her at least two hours, she must be pacing herself for a battle of attrition rather than focusing on dealing damage.

As they watched, Alisa took the time to explain to Belle, “Rin has a complete advantage against a Resha that was made with quantity over quality like this. In fact, I’d go as far to say Rin is this monster’s natural enemy, Rin has trained to cut through anything, let alone some strengthened but ordinary bone. And where the Resha is a lumbering giant, Rin is dexterous and nimble enough to dodge anything it can throw. It’s actually quite lucky for her, fighting any other almost any other A rank would involve her paying a price to kill it.”

Belle was still nervously watching as Alissa continued, “Pay close attention to her blades. Rin is constantly using wind magic to shift the air around her swords. Though you can't use that, the way I taught you to move can achieve something similar. One is just removing the problem of resistance while the other is overpowering it. Rin uses acrobatics in her fighting which is perfect for you, just try to remember as much as you can.”

Belle absent mindedly nodded along and Alissa moved on to the entranced Adrest, the fight was really incredible to watch. Alissa grabbed his hand and dragged Adrest back a few dozen feet, Alisa wasn't worried about leaving Belle alone, the coming monsters were still a dozen of so minutes away.

She spoke to the curious Adrest, who had no idea why she’d pulled him away, “Ady I need you to listen carefully.”

With such a serious expression, Adrest gave Alissa his full attention nodding for her to continue.

“The S rank is close, there is a false wall at the back of the cavern, I can feel it watching. But now, I also know for sure what kind of monster it is.”

Adrest was nervous hearing an S rank was so close and felt his hair standing up. “So what is it?”

Alissa grinned and brought out her book, opening it to a page she’d marked in the middle. Adrest instantly hated what he saw. The first thing to draw his eye was a half-page illustration of something that looked like a cross between a centipede, a slug, and monstrous pangolin. The creature was a dark phlegmy yellow, and each of its dozens of thick and muscular appendages was covered in thick and jagged armor. It’s upper body was bear like and ferocious, he could even see saliva dripping from its maw.

Looking down, he could see the description, It was named an Earthen Titan. They were well known for the trace of ancient Black Tortoise bloodline they possessed, giving them immense strength and near impenetrable defenses. They were rare and almost never seen as they spend almost their entire lives underground, ruling metropolises of stone and dirt.

They excelled at all kinds of earth magic and most were able to use water as well thanks to its Bloodline, in rare cases it had a command over metal as well. Those were the most dangerous as it enhanced their already earth-crumbling strength and brought it to a whole new level.

Adrest was unnerved after seeing the book, a killing machine dozens of meters in length with tens of legs to tear him apart. Thinking back to how big Alissa was when they first met, he thought she might be a little outsized for once.

With those thoughts swirling in his head, “Will you really be okay Alissa? You won’t just have the Titan in front of you, you yourself said there’s a good chance Rin will try to fight you too right?”

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Alissa slammed the book shut and patted Adrest’s head, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll let Rin play with it first to tire herself out, then I’ll step in.”

She paused then seemed to remember something, “Oh right! Here, keep this on you and stay near Belle later, open it when the real fighting starts. As long as you stay still it’ll keep you safe.”

Alissa handed him a simple black wooden box. Of course Adrest had to shake it, “What is it?”

Alissa smacked his hand, “Knock it off. When I shout later, open the box and don’t look directly at it, or you’ll get to learn what it feels like to have your eyes reconstructed.”

Adrest immediately stopped playing with the box and carefully tucked it inside a pocket.

“Good boy. Now grab Belle. We only have a few minutes left.”

At the cryptic message, Adrest tilted his head. Didn’t Rin say it would take her a few hours to kill that Resha? Why would we need to get ready so early?

Then just barely, in a far off section of tunnel, Adrest could hear it. He didn’t even notice it previously as between the talking and huge active warzone behind him, it settled into the background. But now, he could hear a continuous low thunder, ever so slowly coming towards them and gradually becoming louder.

Realizing a wave of unknown monsters were rushing towards them, he ran over and scooped up Belle who was still engrossed in the fight. She let out a cute yelp but relaxed seeing Adrest’s face just above her own.

“Oh hi Big bro. What are we doing?”

Quick as a flash, Adrest deposited the young teen in front of Alissa then answered her, “We are going to have a fight of our own, it’ll be the perfect chance to put what you just learned from Rin to use.

Excitedly, Belle pulled out her twin blades and started twirling them around her hands, warming up. Seeing the battle hardened rabbit, Adrest was once again amazed at a dragon’s training regime. It turned a small, frail, and timid girl into a battle hardened pro that is excited for an oncoming wave of monsters.

Well he couldn’t judge too much, the damn dragon’s attitude had gotten to him too, Adrest noted as he pulled out his sword and felt the twinges of a smile fighting to appear on his face.

As they quietly waited for the coming siege, Alissa took a few steps back and rested again the wall, “The two of you should be able to handle everything that’s coming, I’ll stick back this time and get anything that sneaks through. I’ll be around if anything goes wrong but do your best to handle it yourselves. Think of it like a test.”

What kind of bastard teacher springs a test on their students when a literal tsunami of monsters were crashing in from the front, and behind them were an enraged A-rank and a carefully hidden quasi-S rank. This damn school was ridiculous.

As Adrest complained in his mind, the first of the beasts finally came. There were dozens upon dozens of spiders, ants, and worms making up the vanguard. It was everything they’d fought on the way here so it was quick to cut through the familiar targets.

Afterwards it was wave after wave of different varieties, from trolls and ogres, small beasts like the black squirrels and ferocious rabbits, and the occasional large predator in B rank that Adrest had to handle himself as fast as possible to get back to helping Belle with the fodder.

It seemed like every monster in every tunnel was slowly converging here, even with every stroke cutting through ten D and C ranks at a time, twenty arrived to take their place. It was as if they were in a furor as they didn’t even flinch at being extremities being cut off, just mindlessly charging forward towards the intruders.

Adrest took dozens of cuts everywhere, and just as many bruises slowly formed all over his body as he acted as the first line of defense, moving as little as possible to keep Belle from being overwhelmed. After only twenty or so minutes his breathing was becoming ragged and he couldn’t tell how much of the blood that completely drenched him was the beast’s or his own.

Behind him, Belle was facing mostly D ranks with several C rank monsters sprinkled in the crowd. She was constantly dodging, shifting, and spinning both on the ground and occasionally through the air, apparently trying to learn from Rin and move more three dimensionally. Her thin outline constantly winding and cracking like a contortionist’s to move in strange directions and deliver blows from strange angles. Belle’s pure snowy hair and pale white skin was covered in so many different colors of blood they mixed to a muddy brown on her bruised and beaten body. The only things that could still be seen clearly were her red eyes, near glowing in the low light, and flashes of snow white teeth in a smile when the rabbit did something she was particularly proud of .

Even ignoring the damage Belle caused herself, Belle was quickly racking up more and more injuries as she wasn’t quite as skilled as even Adrest yet, and was struggling with so many attackers. But she was undaunted as there was a constant stream of pure green energy flowing through her body repairing wounds nearly as fast as she accumulated them.

The seconds dragged by as Adrest and Belle fought with everything they had, seconds turned to minutes and they lost count of how many monsters they’d killed. The bodies were piling into mounds at their feet with blood pooling into a stream flowing down the smooth tunnel floor. With the new and growing hazards they had to be even more careful to avoid loosing their footing and being overrun.

While they were fighting with no end in sight, Alissa was still relaxed and leaning a few meters behind Belle, occasionally pointing a finger at a beast that managed to slip through the other two to have it burn to a crisp. As she was carefully watching Adrest and Belle, she was also keeping an eye on Rin behind them too. About half of the bones that made up the Resha were destroyed and little more than powder at her feet, but the monster was still resisting fiercely, letting out sharp grinding roars of anger.

Satisfied, Alissa went back to her students whom she was actually quite impressed with. Sure, the two carried a God’s Blessing so they weren't allowed to be ordinary, but without hard work, persistence, and a lot of blood they couldn’t go far. This was the accumulation of months of brutal work and training.

Alissa spent the next hour observing her little monsters, proud of her own work. Eventually the impossible rush of monsters slowed to a steady stream, to a trickle, and finally, mercifully, the final D rank was cut down.