Projectiles both physical and magical filled the air as the students opened fire on the swarm of bird-like creatures that was attacking Reginald, some of them accidentally striking their erratically moving teacher. Luckily Reginald was strong enough that these weak attacks didn’t even deal any damage to him or he wouldn’t have been able to hold himself back from attacking the students.

Seeing that most of the attacks were missing the monsters Kyle decided to change tactic and use his Mental Energy attacks instead sending a mixture of Mind Storms and Pain Spikes into the creatures that slowed them down long enough for them to be torn to shreds by the attacks of the other students and Reginald but leaving him without any Mana or Stamina for another assault.

Quickly he took a seat on the ground and started to meditate in the hopes of at least recovering some of his MP, lamenting how much it cost to use his Mental Energy Skills once more as he did so. They were extremely effective since they were almost impossible to dodge unless the target had Mental Energy Skills of their own, but he just couldn’t use them often enough at the moment for them to be a major part of his arsenal.

As he did this Fi took to the air so that she could give the defenders a bit of warning before the next monster attack, sorrow filling the small companion as she looked out over the ruined city that they had lived in for the past few months. From the air it was even more obvious just how much damage had been done by the attacking monsters. In the distance she could see that the number of monsters assaulting those on top of the walls as the defenders retaliated with powerful attacks of their own lighting up the sky in a myriad of colours. Every now and again she could see large gouts of magma shooting up in the distance letting her know that Galdon was still fighting which filled her with hope. Galdon had once been one of the most powerful Adventurers to ever live and even though he had weakened slightly with age he was still more than capable of holding his own against the comparatively weak monsters that the Twisted Forest was capable of spawning.

Looking around once more she noticed another flock of flying monsters heading their way, drawn by the ruckus they had caused a few minutes ago and dropped back down towards the school sending a mental message to Kyle as she descended. The monsters were called Squall Gulls and were capable of creating magical gusts of wind that while individually weak could create tornados that could rival the one that Reginald had created in the last fight if the flock was large enough. Luckily for them only a few members of this flock had made it past the defenders on top of the wall and its strongest surviving member was only Level 12 so they wouldn’t quite be able to do that although they were still formidable opponents for the students.

Immediately Kyle opened his eyes and told the others to prepare for the next fight before turning to Yuliah who was looking at Reginald worriedly.

“How much longer do you think he can stay in control?” he asked frowning as he realised just how difficult it was going to be to contain the lion-man if he lost control while they were still fighting the next wave of monsters.

“I’ll be surprised if he makes it through the next wave of monsters,” Yuliah admitted shaking her head sadly.

“Alright,” Kyle replied making her turn to him in confusion. “Then I’ll act as a distraction if he loses control, so you focus on containing him please.”

“Absolutely not!” she exclaimed. “I told you to stay close so that I can protect you!”

“What’s more important Yuliah?” Kyle asked frowning as he asked Fi how much MP and SP he had managed to recover. “Containing Reginald so he doesn’t injure any of his own students which we both know would destroy him or keeping one student safe?”

As Yuliah grimaced at his words he frowned irritably as Fi replied. As he had feared he hadn’t been able to recover much MP and his SP wasn’t much better, but it would have to do for now.

“I’ll try and recover as much as possible first and I’ll focus on defence instead of attacking so you make sure to contain Reginald, don’t worry Fi can heal me a bit if anything goes wrong and you can be sure that Hal will be along in a moment with replacement gear to help,” Kyle said as Fi circled above his head listening to the conversation between the two.

“That’s right!” Fi exclaimed. “You just worry about Reginald. Speaking of Hal though, I wonder what’s taking him so long.”

“I don’t know,” Kyle shrugged. “But more importantly it’s time to do something with the Skill Points I’ve got saved up. Can you unlock the Stamina bonus for my Physical Conditioning Skill please?”

“Right,” Fi replied as she unlocked the requested Bonus and brought up the information for Kyle to check.

Physical Conditioning Bonus Unlocked!

Increases SP by 1% for every Mastery Level after 5 (Current Bonus 4%)

Kyle nodded as he read the description, he already knew what the Bonus would do but he still appreciated Fi bringing it up and with that done a quick bit of mental arithmetic told him that he now had a max Stamina of 146, it was only a small improvement but every little bit helped especially as he automatically received the extra 6 points of Stamina right away instead of having to wait for it to regenerate, he only wished that he had unlocked a Skill that increased his Stamina Regen but unfortunately he had yet to do so.

“Alright then,” Yuliah sighed finally she had been visibly wrestling with her conscience for past minute or so, but she couldn’t really see any other way out of the situation she had found herself in. “But if I’m going to let you do this you need to be in the best condition possible, so I don’t want you to do anything until I say so.

Kyle immediately agreed and sat back down, if he was going to do this then even a little bit more MP and SP would help. Sitting down to meditate once more he watched as the next group of monsters flew in over the walls and were met by a barrage from the students who immediately took cover behind the giant shield as Hal, Gloria and the other student braced themselves to receive a powerful gust of wind that ripped chunks of earth off the ground as it passed before blasting over the shield which had been angled to prevent the attack from ripping it out of their hands but it still knocked them backwards making Kyle jerk to his feet in worry but a glare from Yuliah made him sit back down and Fi wrapped herself around his shoulder reassuringly as she decided that she would save her own MP for if her partner needed it.

Meanwhile Reginald tore into the swarm of monsters with his claws showering he courtyard with their viscera as the grey bird-like monsters retaliated with blades of wind that left rents in his flesh that quickly closed as Yuliah cast her healing magic. Already she could tell that she was right about this being the last fight that Reginald would be able to participate in as he was no longer using magic like he had been up until now and was instead using the incredible physical Stats that he had which had been further boosted by his Berserker Skill to the point where he was actually injuring himself now that he was losing control.

“Get ready,” Yuliah told Kyle a few minutes later as Reginald completely missed a leap due to the muscles in his right leg tearing under the strain and ended up being blasted through one of the walls surrounding the school. “That’s all he’s got.”

“Yeah that looked nasty,” Kyle replied as he dragged himself to his feet and cast both Mana Skin and his Physical Defence Enchantment on himself and after a moment’s thought he also decided to cast Minor Vampiric Enchantment on one of his chains so that he could drain away some of the monsters’ health when he attacked them.

“Kyle, I’ll back you up as best as I can,” Resald told his friend calmly drawing another arrow from his quiver and Amy nodded her agreement. Unfortunately, Amy had yet to unlock a defensive spell but Resald quickly cast a spell called Forests Vitality on Kyle which increased his HP regen slightly before firing another arrow into the crowd of Squall Gulls.

Unfortunately, the attacks of the low Levelled students were barely damaging the more powerful monsters and without the distraction provided by Reginald they were quickly forced on the defensive as the gulls battered them with their magical attacks.

Getting to his feet as he heard a roar even louder than the ones earlier as Reginald charged back through the hole he had made in the walls only to be stopped in his tracks by an orb of light that suddenly surrounded the badly injured man and lifted him above the battlefield as he raged and beat at the magical forcefield that was now containing him.

Meanwhile Kyle was performing something akin to a dance as he attacked one more tow of the gulls with his chains or a Mana Bolt before throwing himself into a Dodge Roll or Leaping out of danger whenever he got hit by one of the monsters attacks as Fi quickly cast Restore on his injuries before rushing back into combat.

Yuliah watched the students fight with a worried expression on her face before turning to Reginald who was still trying to break out of the barrier that she had encased him in. Anyone who saw the lion-man would be surprised and horrified that he was still moving in the state that he was in let alone bashing his hands against the magical barrier between him and Yuliah while bloody foam dripped from his lips. All over his body Yuliah could see bones sticking out through great rents in his skin that were already beginning to scab over as Reginald’s HP regen started to take effect and she knew that she had to work quickly, or the bones would have to be rebroken and set properly. Chains made of light wrapped themselves around Reginald’s limbs and began pulling drawing a strangled yell of pain from Reginald’s lips as the bones shifted in his wounds before his lolled to the side as he mercifully lost consciousness. Moving quickly Yuliah used the chains created by her magic to set the bones as best as she could before checking that Reginald was stabilising.

“Well thank the Goddess for that,” she breathed finding that he was in no danger and cancelled the barrier that had been surrounding him before turning back to her students just in time to see Kyle activate his Lash Skill which killed a severely injured Squall Gull. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw the state he was in, while she couldn’t see any major injuries Kyle was absolutely covered in bruises and cuts, with the blue silk lining of his prized leather jacket showing through in places.

With a snarled Kyle leapt back as another gust of wind almost knocked him off of his feet, he had failed to dodge an attack like this earlier which had lead to the arm of his jacket being shredded by the vicious talons of one of the bird-like monsters that had quickly been driven away by a barrage of attacks by the other students allowing him to regroup and be healed by Fi and one of the other students who could use healing spells. Unfortunately, this action caused him to slip on one of the puddles of blood that had formed on the ground causing him to fall to the ground.

“Shit!” Kyle shouted as he was swarmed by three of the remaining Squall Gulls while the rest of the flock attacked the students who ended up stuck behind the shield that was now looking rather worse for wear from the various attacks that it had weathered unable to help Kyle making Yuliah cry out in horror as a grey blur shot past her and slammed into the monsters attacking Kyle.

Kyle looked up at the figure that stood over him clad in a familiar suit of armour. A frown covered his face as he realised who it was as they swung a small hammer that looked like it would be more at home in a forge than a battlefield.

“Jeez, you took your time Hal,” he groaned as he got to his feet. The armour that his friend was currently wearing was something that Hal had been working on in class for a few weeks now, Hal hadn’t managed to complete it in time to take it with them into the Dungeon and it showed. The individual pieces of armour had gaps between them and weren’t quite fitted to his friend’s form but at least now he knew why Hal had taken so long to join them back outside. In Hal’s other hand was a new shield which explained why he had chosen to take a blacksmith’s hammer with him this tie instead of the two-handed hammer that he usually wielded in combat.

“Yeah, sorry now get back so that you can be healed you idiot!” Hal snapped as he smashed the shield into one of the monsters knocking it out of the air before swinging his hammer at another as Kyle took his advice and Leaped out of danger gasping in pain as using the Skill caused some of his injuries to open further before a wave of light passed over him sealing his wounds shut.

“Well done Kyle,” Yuliah told the young man as she cast another healing spell on him bringing him back to full health. “It was reckless, and you made a couple of mistakes, but you managed to get out of it without serious injury.”

“Yeah, there were a couple of close calls, but I made it out okay,” Kyle agreed as his legs collapsed underneath him. After what he had just been doing, he needed a bit of a breather before going back out and backing up his friends.

The other students continued to attack the Squall Gulls now that Hal was taking their attention, but it was obvious that they were running out of MP and ammunition. They just weren’t able to keep up with the more powerful monsters for an extended period of time like this at their current Levels but Yuliah was proud that they were doing as well as they were and started casting her own spells at the Gulls driving them away from Hal for a few seconds and giving them a bit of a breather.

“Damn, this is harder than I thought it would be,” Ulrich panted as he hauled the shield up once more to block another blast of wind that nearly ripped the massive piece of metal out of his hands.

“Yeah and the mages are running out of MP,” Gloria agreed grimacing as she felt one of the blisters on her hands burst from the strain of moving the heavy shield around. “I’m just glad that no-ones been injured.”

A few minutes later Kyle clambered to his feet having partially recovered from his exertions and started making his way back into the fray before freezing in surprise as a familiar voice broke into song, accompanied by other voices and instruments, wide eyed he turned around to see a familiar dark skinned young woman singing with a group of other young men and women.

Sonia’s teeth flashed brightly as she caught Kyle’s blue eyes with her own brown ones. The orphan who had been uncomfortable in her own skin the entire time that she had lived in Farholt had been thriving at the Bard’s Guild here in Greenhearth, quickly becoming the prized pupil of many of the teachers. Occasionally she and her fellow students even took self-defence classes qt the Adventurer’s School, so he saw her relatively often, but it was still a surprise to see her here singing along with the other young members of the Bard’s Guild.

As the song washed over the bodies of the students, they suddenly felt energy return to their bodies and their eyes widened as they realised that their Stamina and Mana regen had been increased which would allow them to continue to fight for even longer.

Kyle shook himself free of the surprise and turned back to the remaining members of the flock of Squall Gulls and activated his Suppression Aura causing the monsters to shriek in pain as the Mental Energy surrounded them and turned to the young man who was producing it with bloodshot eyes as a smirk covered his face, he wouldn’t be able to use this Skill for long even with the Buff to his regeneration provided by the song Sonia and her friends were singing but hopefully he would be able to keep it up long enough that the others could recover enough to launch a counterattack.

The Squall Gulls launched themselves at Kyle in an attempt to kill him before his Suppression Aura caused them too much damage but were intercepted by Hal who threw himself in front of his friend just in time for one of the gulls to smash headlong into his shield followed by the remaining members of the flock which knocked him off his feet. Hal’s body slammed into the ground at Kyle’s feet as the gulls scratched at the parts of his body that they could get at through the gaps in his armour, except for the one that he had managed to block with his shield which was lying on the ground with a broken wing allowing Resald to finish it off with an arrow as Yuliah summoned a shield around the fallen Hal allowing the students to open fire without having to worry about accidentally hitting their fellow student with their attacks.

Soon the combination of the attacks from the students, Yuliah and Kyle’s Suppression Aura allowed them to whittle the remaining members of the flock down to two, driving them both back into the air where they cawed angrily down at them.

Hal allowed himself to be dragged to his feet by Kyle who had deactivated his Suppression Aura so that he wasn’t wasting MP or SP and the two friends patted each other on the back before turning to the others who were watching the cawing monsters warily.

“Well done guys,” Kyle told them before turning back to the monsters circling overhead. “Now let’s finish the job.”

As he spoke he fired a Mind Storm at the remaining monsters knocking one of them out of the air with the sudden attack which allowed them to be finished off by the other students and Yuliah as it fell, the other upon realising that it was the only one left decided to turn tail causing a loud cheer to rise up from the exhausted students. They had managed to fend off an attack by more powerful monsters largely on their own which was a reason to celebrate if they had ever heard one.

Landing around Kyle’s shoulders once more Fi surreptitiously checked her partner’s Status and smirked as she noticed what she had expected to see, even though she knew that it wasn’t news he was going to be very happy about, even he wouldn’t deny that it was something that would be helpful if they had to fend off another wave of monsters.

Kyle was now Level 4.