Soul of a Human

Mor was finishing, setting up, and refilling his reservoir when Gorn returned with his hunter team and the Chief. Mor had looked for a space big enough for his plans and then replicated an arena like the one at school, which was only a bit smaller. However, he couldn't make it bigger on such short notice because of his reservoir. Still, it would do. The space was marked with a furrow in the ground, and inside the area, stone thorns were simulating something akin to a forest. Meaning there were enough things to take cover or set ambushes, depending on which role you fulfill.

"Hey Mor!" Gorn greeted the boy. "Looks good."

"Fortress, tell us finally why we are here." Drop grumbled.

"Shut up, Drop. He has his reasons." Cutter shushed the scout.

"Hi, Gorn, and the rest!" Mor greeted the group. "We're almost ready to start. I just need to rest for a few more moments, and we're still waiting for the rest."

"Soul-boy! What are you doing? Fortress said, you had an idea because of the strange red Charger the last group brought in, but he didn't want to explain further." The Chief asked.

"If you wish. Once I heard the Charger breathed fire, I wanted to add anti-magic training to the training of my friends, preparing them for their first hunt. Because Gorn told me he had been chosen to go look for more of those, Lize asked me to give a crash course to his team. If they want to." Mor explained.

"I see." The Chief said, and Cutter nodded.

"Sounds good. Most monstrosities only have a ridiculous resistance but don't use that many strange attacks." The striker agreed.

"I told you this was a good idea," Gorn said. But who are we waiting for?"

"Well, you are all very skilled and strong hunters, so I alone will be no challenge, even with some rules in place," Mor said, and the hunter team smiled.

And like on cue, the persons Mor had been waiting for arrived, Jorgen, Elly, and Lize. However, Mor had only asked Jorgen for help; Elly and Lize had tagged along to watch.

"Son, why are you here?" Cutter asked.

"Mor will explain," Jorgen replied, and Mor nodded.

"As I said, I am no match for any of you. So we will do the following. You're having a one-on-one fight with Jorgen, but at the same time, I will make it more difficult by attacking you with magic effects. The rules are simple. You lose when either Jorgen or I hit you once." Mor explained.

"Then how do we win?" Drop asked.

"Easy, you win when I run out of magic," Mor said with an evil smile.

"So only one can go?" Cutter asked.

"No, we will just take a two-hour break, and then I'm good to go again. So if everyone wins, everyone can have a go at least once." The Soul-kin explained.

°I think they underestimate the challenge. Look at their self-assured faces.° The human sighed.

°Yes, and it will help them not to underestimate other magic attacks.° Mor replied.

°True enough.° The human agreed.

°Also, we can try out some spells we usually don't use and add them to our repertoire.° Mor continued.

"Chief, don't you want to switch in for little Jorgen? Beating up two kids seems wrong." Drop asked, and the Chief got thoughtful.

"Let's trust the process of the two young ones. Maybe they are able to surprise you. At least, it seems they have thought about it quite a bit."

Mor nodded, and Jorgen smiled.

"If you're so sure, how about you go first?" The upcoming hunter asked the veteran scout.

Drop laughed at the young man's audacity, but he was the only one. Gorn, Lize, and Elly knew how hard the boy had trained. Cutter believed his son was up to the task. Silence was mute, and the Chief was simply interested.

"Fine, I'll take you on!"

Mor went over to Jorgen and whispered something in the boy's ear, making him nod. After that, the two combatants grabbed some of the training weapons and entered the arena from different sides. Mor signaled them to start and then flooded the area with mist, hiding both fighters. Drop reacted quickly and jumped onto one of the stone spikes, looking for his target. He wasn't in any rush because up there, he was safe from Jorgen's attacks.

"Why is he standing there like an idiot?" Cutter asked.

"How would I know," Gorn replied.

"He jumped and then looked like he was climbing something, and now he's squatting there." The Chief added.

Jorgen, on the other hand, simply walked up to the veteran scout, put his training weapon on the hunter's shoulder, and waited. When Mor dropped his spell, Drop blinked once and twice and looked at the smiling boy.

"How by my frozen balls did you do that?!" He asked.

"I walked up to you, and that's that," Jorgen replied with a broad grin.

°That was pretty effective. How did you get inside his head?° The human asked.

°His self-assurance, but honestly, I'm still not too fond of illusions. Even if I'm the one inflicting them, ° Mor answered, and if the human still had a body, they would nod in understanding.

"What did just happen?" The Chief asked.

"That's what I want to know!" Drop said after he left the arena with Jorgen.

Everyone looked at Mor, who shrugged.

"I told Jorgen to stay still and out of sight. Then, I used a form of magic we call illusion. Drop was so self-assured that he couldn't lose. He didn't take us seriously and saw it as a joke, a bit of fun to have before the boring mission started, and this was my way into his head. I made him see what he wanted to see, giving Jorgen the easy win." Mor explained, and Cutter threw a stern look to the scout.

"What?" Drop said with a shrug. "He's right."

"Then how do you defend against illusions?" Gorn asked.

"Be alert, and don't let fear or other strong emotions get to you. The calmer you are, the more difficult it is to catch you in an illusion. However, with more power, you need less and less of an emotion to latch on to. Meaning the second important thing to watch out for is to be attentive, all of you. If someone of you had called out to Drop that he's still on the ground or to move, the illusion would have been dispelled." Mor explained, and the hunters nodded in understanding.

"Then who's next?" Jorgen asked excitedly.

Cutter stepped forward but was stopped by Silence, who walked into the arena.

"What's the strategy now?" Jorgen asked, his magic backup.

"I will harass his movement. Just go in hard." Mor said.

Jorgen went to the other side and waited.

"What do you mean "harass" Silence's movement?" Gorn asked.

"I will try to lock up Silence's legs so he can't dodge and move like he wants to. If that doesn't work, I will change over to normal magic attacks. This illusion thing was to demonstrate a point and make you take this seriously." Mor explained.

Mor again signaled the start of the fight, and Jorgen charged Silence, going in hard and fast, just as Mor had told him, really hoping his partner would come through for him. He felt Silence's gaze focus on him and almost stumbled. Jorgen recovered and swung his training weapon, which Silence easily parried. However, the stone thorn aiming for the veteran's legs almost got him, and instead of returning the favor, Silence had to dodge backward.

Silence now looked annoyed, and when Jorgen set up another attack, the hunter countered with a strong underhand swing to "break" any appearing stone thorns and, at the same time, counter the other boys' attack. However, this was the wrong decision because just as he put his weight on his front foot to gather enough strength for such a swing, it sunk into the earth and then was stuck. Still, Silence was skilled enough not to panic, and even while he was now stuck in place, he parried the wild swings of Jorgen over and over.

His attention was kept by the relentless attacks, to which he couldn't retaliate since Jorgen always retreated after an attack. Also, something was strange because the boy's attacks got more powerful with every moment, and the young Ice-kin seemed to get bigger with every overhead strike, which was impossible. Only then had Silence noticed that the magic attacks had stopped. Instead of attacking, Mor had timed his "attacks" with Jorgen's, and every hard strike of the Ice-kin boy had made the striker sink further into the ground, and now that he was stuck for good. His legs were stuck in the ground up to his knees. It was only a matter of time until Silence couldn't defend anymore.

Now, while Jorgen continued his attacks, Mor prepared his finisher. Normally, a rock throw would be appropriate, but he didn't want to kill the stuck man. Instead, he took a page out of Saphine's book. While Silence guarded against another attack from Jorgen, a burst of ice-cold water hit him, drenching the striker, much to the amusement of everyone else.

"I guess that's another victory for the boys." The Chief noted.

"Yes, this magic stuff is nasty. Think about it. You're stuck in the ground like that, and the thing you're hunting grills you." Drop stated with a shudder. However, he wouldn't be a Scout if his mind didn't already think about countermeasures.

Mor used some more magic to get Silence unstuck, and the man left the arena with a thoughtful expression.

"So, how do you deal with that?" The Chief asked.

"Simple," Mor said with a smile. "Don't stand on earthy ground. This wouldn't be possible if it were the forest floor, with vines and roots."

"This is also a reminder to watch out for each other," Gorn said, much to the delight of his wife.

"If we can get each other unstuck, this isn't much of a problem." He added.

"Indeed, but we have to pay attention to the possibility of someone being stuck, so this is excellent training," Cutter stated.

"Then how about some food and a break?" Mor asked. "Casting so often and with such precision took much of my power. I need a break."

Everyone agreed, and the old hunters used this chance to talk with each other before Cutter got ready as the next fighter.