Chapter 266

“A wager?” Arran eyed Brightblade suspiciously . When she smiled like this, it was rarely a good sign . And with a wager added, he knew there could only be trouble ahead .

“First, take a look,” she replied . “After that, you can decide if you’re interested . “

Without any further words, she turned to the large group of novices standing nearby . Arran’s arrival had interrupted their training, and they were now standing idly, staring at him with curious eyes .

“Cohort! Form ranks!” Brightblade called out .

The novices set into motion at once . In a few short moments, they had formed up into four lines of three dozen mages each, with two paces’ distance between each line .

Arran was surprised at the speed and precision with which they moved . It was obvious that they had practiced this extensively, and even if he did not understand their purpose, just the sight of it was enough to impress him .

Brightblade shot him a brief grin before turning back to the novices, clearly pleased with their performance .

“Attack!” she shouted .

An instant barrage of attacks burst forth from the first rank of novices, slamming into a large wall several hundreds of paces away . And even before the attacks struck their target, the second rank of novices had stepped forward and launched attacks of their own .

It didn’t stop there . A moment later the third rank took the lead, and again, a volley of magic attacks was flung at the wall in the distance . They were followed by the fourth rank, and even as the fourth rank stepped back again, the first rank once more took the head .

Arran watched in wonder as the novices spent a good two minutes launching a continuous storm of spells at their target, never more than a moment between attacks .

Now, he understood the tactic . With time to recover after each attack, the novices would last far longer than they could otherwise . And while that would be of little value in a brief fight, in a prolonged battle it would be invaluable .

Moreover, although these were just novices, Arran could already imagine the effect of a group of adepts fighting in this manner . While novices’ Essence reserves would eventually run dry, adepts should be able to maintain a pace like this for hours on end .

“Halt!” Brightblade called out . The novices stopped their attacks at once and quickly turned to their original positions, and Brightblade turned back to Arran, pride clear in her expression .

“Impressive,” Arran said . “Fighting like this, they can go on for ages . “

“That’s an advantage, but not the main one,” Brightblade replied . “Hunters are at their strongest up close, and a single one who reaches our lines can kill dozens of mages . But attacking like this…”

“There won’t be any gaps for them to use,” Arran said, instantly recognizing what she was getting at .

His own preferred tactic against mages was similar to what Brightblade described — to close the distance as quickly as possible, then overwhelm his enemies without giving them a chance to respond .

And this tactic of Brightblade’s was designed exactly to counter that . Against a constant barrage of attacks, there would be little chance to close the distance without getting hit .

Brightblade gave him a pleased nod . “Exactly . And this is just a single cohort . A full legion can cover an area of miles . “

Arran frowned . “So this wager you mentioned… you want me to fight them?”

He had not forgotten her earlier words, and after seeing the cohort in action, he had a good idea of what she intended . With a tactic created exactly to counter his fighting style, she would naturally want to try it .

“Well-guessed,” she said . “And if you can defeat them without getting hit, I’ll give you a thousand Essence Crystals . “

“Without getting hit?” The task seemed impossible, but after a moment of thought, Arran responded with a nod . Not because of the crystals, but because he was curious to see how he would fare against such tactics . “Agreed . Where do I start?”

Brightblade seemed surprised — and more than a little suspicious — at how easily Arran agreed, but she pointed at the wall in the distance . “Start at the wall . If any attack gets past your shields, you lose . “

Although starting at a distance of three hundred paces would put him at a disadvantage, Arran did not object, and he quickly headed over to the wall .

As he took position, Brightblade turned to face the novices . “Cohort!” she called out . “Today, you will face Lord Ghostblade! Do not disappoint me!”

The novices responded with eager looks, already gathering Essence for the attacks they were about to launch at Arran . With his status, defeating him would be a victory worth celebrating despite their massive advantage in numbers .

Yet Arran wasn’t concerned, and he faced his opponents calmly, patiently waiting for the confrontation to begin .

Finally, Brightblade’s voice thundered across the training grounds .

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“Begin!”

In an instant, Arran formed a Shadowcloak and rushed to the side . When several attacks slammed into the wall a moment later, he was already fifty paces away .

The furious assault on the wall continued relentlessly, but there was no need for Arran to worry about it . None of the novices would be able to detect him at such a distance — their Shadowsight would cover a dozen paces, at most . And that was without the distraction of having to attack .

He approached the group at a casual jog, completely ignoring the continuous stream of attacks that soared through the air dozens of paces to his left .

When he was almost upon the group, he burst into a sudden sprint, sword drawn as he rushed into the novices’ midst . A few detected his approach at the last moment, but it was already too late — before they could launch any attacks, Arran was already among them, striking down his opponents as quickly as he could move his sword .

Faced with this ferocious assault, the group collapsed into chaos almost instantly . Some of the novices drew their weapons while others lashed out with Essence, but their panicked attacks only added to the chaos in their ranks .

In just a few breaths of time, half the novices had already fallen, and the others offered little in the way of resistance . None of them had Shadowsight anywhere near as good as Arran’s, and against an invisible opponent who outclassed them in both strength and skill, they were all but defenseless .

Arran took care not to injure them, of course . These were mere novices, and not particularly skilled ones, either . Instead, he hit them with the flat of his blade, using only a small part of his strength . That was more than enough to cause them painful bruises, but not so much as to seriously harm them .

When most of the novices had fallen, Brightblade’s voice finally sounded .

“Halt!”

The word put an immediate stop to the chaos, with the novices who still remained standing stopping in place . The others, meanwhile, slowly got back to their feet, more than a few of them sporting fresh bruises .

Arran let his Shadowcloak dissipate, and after a brief glance at his defeated enemies, he returned to Brightblade’s side .

She gave him a flat stare . “That’s not what I had in mind . “

“That’s why it worked so well,” Arran replied . “And either way, it’s a win . “

“Don’t worry, you’ve earned your crystals,” Brightblade said . “But let’s give this another try — this time, without you using Shadow Essence . “

Arran gave it a moment of thought, then nodded . “Very well . “

He returned to the wall unhurriedly, then turned toward the novices once more . Even at this distance, he could see that their enthusiasm in facing him had diminished considerably .

“Begin!”

Before Brightblade had finished the word, a thick earthen wall shot up from the ground a few dozen paces ahead of Arran, blocking the novices’ attacks as he rushed forward .

A barrage of spells tore through the wall in moments, but already, Arran had put up a Force shield . The shield collapsed as quickly as the wall, but the brief delay brought Arran forth another few dozen paces, and behind it followed another shield — Wind, this time . And when that shield failed, another earthen wall burst from the ground .

This wasn’t an effort Arran could maintain for long, but crossing the three hundred paces between the wall and the novices only took him a few short breaths .

This time, the novices saw him coming, and their discipline failed as soon as he fell upon them . In moments, the group collapsed into chaos, and it took only moments before half of Arran’s opponents were defeated .

Uninterested in seeing her students receive another thrashing, Brightblade called out once more . “Halt!”

The fight came to a stop once more, and Arran sheathed his sword, then walked back to Brightblade .

This time, she gave him a pleased look . “It seems you have progressed even more than I expected . “

“I’ve had good teachers to help me,” Arran replied truthfully .

“From what I hear, you’ve put in considerable effort yourself, as well,” she said .

There was no need for either of them to mention that Arran’s victory owed much to the weakness of his opponents . Against the novices at his own estate — the Houses’ most promising students — he wouldn’t have fared nearly as well .

“But let’s try this again,” Brightblade continued . “Without you using magic . “

Arran gave her an incredulous look . “That’s impossible,” he said . “I can’t reach them without magic . Not without getting hit, at least . “

Of course, if he were to rely on his resistance to magic, reaching the novices would be simplicity itself . None were strong enough to harm him . But that would expose things neither he nor Brightblade wanted to share with the world just yet .

Brightblade, however, merely raised an eyebrow and extended her hand toward Arran . An instant later, he felt a shield of Essence take shape around him .

“This protection should match what most Hunters have,” she said . “See if that’s enough for you to break through the attacks . “

Arran gave her an uneasy frown . “If I do that…” He glanced at the novices, then continued in a low voice, “The strength I’ll have to use will draw attention . “

Brightblade gave a dismissive shrug in response . “You’re heir to the Matriarch, and the Valley is filled with stories of you — no few of which far surpass anything you’re capable of actually doing . You’re well past the point of having to worry about drawing a little more attention . “

Her words weren’t quite enough to convince Arran, but with a small sigh, he headed back to the wall .

This time, the novices looked at him with wary eyes even before the fight began . Any hopes they had of scoring an easy win against the Matriarch’s heir were long gone, and now, they mostly seemed worried about whether they’d receive yet another beating .

“Begin!”

The ground cracked under Arran’s feet as he leaped forward, the first volley of spells passing harmlessly beneath him . Moving with bounding leaps that tore the ground where he landed, he crossed three hundred paces in barely two breath’s time .

A few of the novices’ spells still hit him, but nowhere near enough to break through Brightblade’s shield . And as the novices saw him approach, their faces filled with fear . Their ranks broke almost instantly, their discipline failing before he could even reach them .

“Halt!” Brightblade’s voice sounded again, ending the fight before Arran had the chance to strike even a single one of his opponents .

With the battle having come to a premature end, she turned her attention to the novices .

“This is what you are training to face!” she called out, a harshness to her tone that hadn’t been there before . “When you fight the Hunters, this is what you will fight! And if you break like this, each of you will die!”

She gestured at a nearby adept and curtly instructed the man to continue the novices’ training, then turned her attention back to Arran .

“Let’s find a quieter place to talk,” she said, no sign of the anger she had shown the novices on her face .

“Was that your plan, then?” Arran asked as they walked off together, Brightblade’s two guards following a dozen paces behind them . “To use me for scaring your students?”

“It’s part of my plan,” she replied . “You are the closest thing we have to a Hunter in the Valley . If war breaks out, it will help the students to know what they’ll be up against . ” She gave him a glance, and in a slightly annoyed tone, she added, “Though with how much you’ve advanced, I fear you might be too good an example . “

Arran shrugged in response . That his strength had increased should be no surprise — even if he had spent the past year focusing his efforts on magic, he still had the Dragon’s Ruin and enough dragon meat to last for years . And if the meat was beginning to taste a bit stale, that did little to reduce its effectiveness .

“But there’s another matter,” Brightblade continued . “And it’s something best discussed in private . ”