The New World: Battleground (Part One)

"… You've got to be joking." I said, quickly, giving Rin a look of disbelief.

"What? We get to use all our traps and knowledge and stuff to our advantage to take out beasts!" Rin frowned, folding his arms and giving me a look.

"Don't you find this a little odd?" I folded my arms, narrowing my eyebrows. I gave a sigh, then rubbed my forehead, groaning gently, as unpleasant memories were brought to the forefront yet again.

"I guess. But there's nothing we can do, right? We gotta play to her rules." Rin frowned lightly.

"We can refuse to take part."

"We both know that won't end well."

I looked at Rin, raising a single eyebrow inquisitively.

"If we don't beat all the monsters, we'll be stuck here. You heard what Ares said." Rin elaborated.

"So… Why are you excited?"

Rin frowned a little, rubbing his shoulder and glancing away. "Don't you think the intent is to teach you useful combat abilities? I'm eager to learn, is all." He said.

I tilted my head gently. "To what end?"

"I'm sorry?"

"To what end do we need combat skills? Isn't it a little fishy?" I folded my arms, giving a somewhat disappointed look.

"…Mmmh." Rin inclined his head lightly. "You have a point. There's not really any need for combat outside of a hobby in a world such as this, ruled by gods… Regardless, I think we need to prepare. We got half an hour, and then I presume we'll be booted out to fight, whether we like it or not." He said.

As much as I hated to admit it, he had a point. "…Fine." I said, reluctantly. I stood up, and looked around. It looked like most of the class had already headed to the underground armoury.

"Better get in quick or all the best stuff will be taken." Rin said, already making his way over. I nodded lightly.

"I've already got a specialized weapon." I said, remembering the bow and smiling. One of the things I was most thankful for given the whole situation, I guess.

"You mean that bow? Did you bring it?" Rin tilted his head, glancing back of me as he stood in front of the stairs.

"Ah, no. But I don't need to." I replied, grinning lightly. I closed my eyes, and focused. I remembered what Illaena had taught me about the bow, and searched deep inside myself. I then called forth the power settling within, and held my hand out, clenching it around air. Then, I let it burst forth. From my hand, fire spread out vertically, curving into the shape of a bow. I then focused on using that fire as a sort of wireframe and feeding energy into the wireframe. Then, the flame dissipated, revealing my bow.

I opened my eyes, and saw Rin staring at me.

"…Well, crap, I need to get me one of those." He said, in a deadpan voice.

I snorted, and manifested a matching quiver in much the same way. "I'll fill it up with arrows from the armoury." I said, as I began to walk to the stairs down. "When it runs out I can use my fire." I grinned.

"That's a wise idea. How does your fire work?" Rin asked, as we descended down the stairs.

"Well, from what Illaena told me;" My voice lowered into a hush whisper. "It's my own energy. My spirit energy—coming from a 'divine spark' or… whatever she said. It's limited, and if it runs out it doesn't bode well for me."

"Interesting… I suppose we'll see how it works." Rin said.

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Huh?"

"I'm worried Myria's examining my behaviour through this to find weaknesses in me."

"…Well. Avoid using it if you can. Should solve the issue." Rin shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess…" I nodded, sighing a little.

We arrived in the armoury. The rest of the class was sorting through the weapons and working out a battle strategy. I glanced at Rin, who glanced back. "What are you going for?" I asked.

"I'm thinking the classic sword and shield. Close range combat. Though, I'll try to take as many traps with me as I can. We can try and lure the beasts into them." He suggested.

I nodded lightly. "Right. I'll bring with me what I can, too." For now, I de-summoned the bow, and headed over to fill my quiver with sharp, steel tipped arrows. I think it fit over fifty, and even then I had to leave some for others. I wasn't really skilled in sword combat, so I decided to leave the close range stuff to the experts.

I placed my backpack on the floor and emptied its contents in the armoury, putting them behind a shelf so they wouldn't get stolen when this was all over, looking over my shoulder as I did so to make sure nobody was watching. I then headed over to the traps section of the armoury, and looked around. I picked out several tools from there- a hammer, some scissors, a pocketknife, three bear traps, some nails, and some general tools which would be required to displace some of the wood and metal around the school and insert makeshift traps. I also picked up a mini-shovel for pit digging. I then picked up a pre-made trap; if triggered, it would shoot knives through either the wall or the floor. The trigger was magical, working on line-of-sight. It had a ten second delay before it activated. I put a few more in my backpack, before I realised there was no way I'd be able to fit anything more in it.

I grunted a bit and zipped it up, slipping it over my back and heading back to the main section of the armoury. A lot of the weapons and armour had already been cleaned out, and… Speaking of armour, I decided that it was probably in my best interests that I get some. Perhaps that should have been my first idea. I sighed, placing a hand on my forehead and rubbing it a little.

"What's up?" Rin asked, glancing at me.

"I need some armour." I replied, frowning. "I don't think there's any in my size left…" I sighed. "Should have gotten in earlier."

Rin chuckled. "You'll do fine. There's also respawning, remember?" He said.
"Best not to let us get ahead of ourselves." I warned. "We don't want that to be our fallback plan. Don't want to get reckless, alright? We won't have that luxury in the real world, and that's what we need to train for." I said.

"Okay, point conceded." Rin said, patting the hilt of a sword now buckled onto his belt.
"You got traps?" I asked.

Rin nodded. "Yeah. Filled my backpack with 'em. Also left my lunch in, because Gods know how long we're going to be out there."

I nodded. "Sounds fair. I don't really have any room in my bag… I should probably head to get my lunch back in it. Hold on!" I said, turning around and rushing to where I hid my belongings.

That was when I felt a tugging sensation on the back of my collar, and then… I felt air rush upwards beneath me, before falling on something solid.

I yelped in surprise and pain, landing on what appeared to be a giant branch. I would have rolled over, had it not been for the fear of falling on the ground far below. I winced, feeling part of the branch rubbing against my leg. I had a sinking suspicion that I was already bleeding.

Was it time already? Had the test started? I rubbed my forehead and placed my hands on the branch in front of me, before pushing myself up into a sitting position. My leg was grazed, and cut; though the cut wasn't deep, so I could deal with it. I looked around, my ears twitching a little at the sudden burst of new sensory input that the teleportation had brought on.

I was in a forest. There were gigantic pine trees littered throughout, and I just happened to be sitting on the branches of one of them. It was still morning, judging from the position of the sun, and at the very least I guessed that I was still on the school grounds, just far out into the forest behind the school's fields (Which is where the arena was.)

As it stood, I was rather disorientated. I wasn't quite sure which direction I'd have to go to get back into the school, though something told me that if the test involved a large portion of the forest that it would not be as easy to complete as we had previously thought.

I decided to wait a minute or two on the branch, my ears perked upwards and on the lookout for any warning signs of a monster close by. However, the forest seemed to be quiet. I then decided to risk it. I placed my hands on the branch, and leaned to the side, glancing down trying to figure out the best route downwards. I snaked backwards so I was right against the tree trunk, and then shakily placed a foot on a sturdy looking branch.

I slowly eased my weight onto the branch, not quite sure how much it could hold. I could feel the wood keeping it together wane slightly as I did so, which made me hesitate. I took a deep breath, my hands grasping the sturdy piece of wood as tight as they could. I then placed more weight on the branch.

It didn't take long. I first heard a loud snapping noise, and then my foot fell through the branch, my hands suddenly feeling the full weight of my body as one of my feet dangled in the air, the other pressed against the trunk for support. Part of the branch flung and scraped my leg as it fell to the ground, but I kept my mouth shut to prevent me from making any noise that might alert beings in the general area more than I would have already.

I quickly raised my foot back onto the safe branch, swinging my body around so it rested on it without risk. I lay there for a minute, breathing heavily and trembling a little. I then closed my eyes, and rested my head on the branch.

"Okay… I can do this." I said to myself quietly, opening my eyes again and examining for another branch to get down with. It wasn't safe to jump, not from this height. "Curse that bitch…" I swore, a gut feeling suggesting that Myria did this on purpose.

My ears flattened in disappointment as I realised that the only branch safe enough to be able to fully support my weight on this level of the tree was on the other side. From the looks of things there were branches over there that in theory could support a decent, but first I needed to GET there.

I winced a bit at the thought, before wiping some sweat off of my forehead and slowly getting onto my knees, my body feeling rather wobbly. I needed to pull myself together.

Rotating my body around so I was facing the tree's trunk, I realised I couldn't wrap my arms around the trunk because it was too big. That would have made getting onto my feet a little easier. I grimaced, and risked it. I slowly rose on two feet, and as soon as I was standing upright, leaned my body against the trunk, my legs trembling. I dared not look down, now. The height was beginning to really get to me.

My heart was pounding rapidly in my chest. I took two deep breaths to try and calm myself down a little.  I then placed my hands on the tree, and gulped lightly. I snaked my foot around the trunk of the tree, onto a rather small stump of a branch that had previously fell down. It was slippery, but with the right angle and timing I could get my other foot onto the branch on the other side of the tree without falling.

It was my only option, so I decided to go through with it. I placed my foot on the stump, and then quickly swung the other foot, landing it on the other branch. I then shifted my body weight along the tree, and placed my remaining foot on the branch. I let out a breath. So far so good.

I quickly looked down and analysed the best route to proceed. Surprisingly, from here it seemed rather easy. I laid down on the branch I was on, wrapping my arms around it, before swinging my legs down and placing them on the branch there. I then began a slow, careful descent to the ground, before finally, my legs hit the soft, leaf-covered grassy mud.

I breathed a sigh of relief, wiping some sweat off of my forehead.

"…Nice form. Lacks skill." I heard a feminine voice form behind me.

My ears perked up and I yelped gently, almost jumping, my heart feeling like it skipped a beat as I turned around, stumbling back in surprise.

Standing in front of me was what looked like a humanoid anthropomorphic foxgirl. She was covered in sleek, auburn fur, had hazel eyes and one tail. She wasn't wearing any clothes, because her fur obscured any features one would not want to display in public. She had the head of a fox, though the eyes and forehead seemed more… Humanized. She was rather well-endowed, and curvy at that. Half human, half fox, it seemed.

"Um… h-h-hi…" I stammered. I hadn't seen this girl before.

"I heard there was a new vixen in school." The foxgirl said, walking up to me. "The name's Yumi." She held her hand out.

I accepted her handshake, still fairly shaken. "N-Naema." I replied, feeling rather embarrassed. "Were you watching the… entire time?"

"Most of it, yes." Yumi chuckled. Her grip was firm, and the fur on her hands was rather soft.

Even though I couldn't see it, I knew my cheeks flushed red. "A-ah…"

"I'm surprised someone with as little experience tree climbing as you was able to make it down, to be honest. Congrats." Yumi said, her hand sliding away from mine as she flexed her arms lightly.

"A-Ah, thanks, I guess." I wasn't quite sure how else to respond. "—how did you know I was inexperienced?"

She stared at me.

"…oh." I mumbled. "Never mind." Jeez, was it really THAT obvious?

Suddenly, I heard a rustling noise form nearby. My ears flicked upwards and turned to the source of the noise, as did my head. The sound of quick, small, scurrying feet seemed to be closing in on us.

"Ah. The party's here." Yumi said, grinning widely.