After their short conversation, Master Nieminen and Erik resumed their training. The young man moved agilely around the room, trying to exploit the few openings that his master was showing him, but he wasn't able to capitalize on them at all. However, the older woman was very pleased with her student, who learned a lot about the Flyssa in such a short time frame. She complimented Erik on his progress and encouraged him to keep practicing, emphasizing the importance of patience and perseverance in mastering any skill.
But Erik knew that most of his progress was due to his high dexterity. High dexterity made people more coordinated with their hands and eyes, among other things, and Erik's greatly improved intelligence helped his training a lot.
However, what really surprised Master Nieminen was how strong and fast Erik had become. She noticed his improvement, and it became clear how strong this boy really was despite his natural restraint to avoid raising too much suspicion. Despite his natural abilities, Erik remained humble and continued to put in the hard work necessary to improve his skills. He was grateful for Master Nieminen's guidance and knew that with her help, he could reach even greater heights.
At that moment, Erik stopped moving around and tried to hit his teacher. She made a simple movement, which was characteristic of her own sword style, and with a precise but fast movement, she deflected the attack. Obviously, Erik knew that if he didn't move, he would end up getting kicked in the face, so he quickly backed away from her with a somersault, and as he did, he saw his teacher kick, barely missing his nose.
"Well done, but this won't be enough to defeat your opponents. Always assume they are stronger than you during a fight and play it safe. Capitalize on their openings and exploit their weaknesses," the master said.
"Yes, sir!"
Erik then attacked again; he slashed right, but her master parried; she didn't attack; he then went right behind her, but Master Nieminen obviously saw him. She didn't even need to move that much; she raised her arm and moved the sword behind her back, rotating on herself while parrying the blow. Erik moved back again and observed his sparring opponent.
A few seconds passed before Erik finally decided to retake action. He started with an offensive maneuver aimed at Master Nieminen's head. He charged straight forward, using his charge's momentum to ensure he got his full weight onto his strike. But when he reached the woman, she merely turned slightly and used one leg to push against his chest, forcing him backward.
Erik failed again but didn't let this small failure affect him again. He tried again to confuse his master by jumping around the room, trying to use his agility to get past her defenses, but his efforts were futile once more.
His movements weren't sharp enough, and Master Nieminen clearly saw past them. Erik then started probing the woman; his attacks looked like nothing but feints or attempts to distract his master. And every single attempt ended with Master Nieminen deflecting or easily parrying. Erik was impressed by Master Nieminen's skills and knew he had a lot to learn from her.
However, since he couldn't land a single attack, he grew frustrated and angry at his lack of skills, which led to a mistake: he suddenly switched tactics and tried to increase his speed. However, Erik didn't increase his dexterity, and the two stats showed a vast disparity.
The young man could go even faster than he was currently doing, but being unable to control his body, he ended up stumbling and falling to the ground with a painful thud.
"Don't overdo it, Erik; you'll only hurt yourself. I'm proud of how far we've come but don't expect miracles. You still have a long way to go."
The young man slowly stood back up, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. "Sorry, ma'am," he apologized.
Master Nieminen smiled gently, patting her student on the shoulder. "You're alright; don't worry. Let's stop here for a couple of moments; you still have a lot of things to do today, so it would be better not to tire yourself out," she said. The student looked relieved and grateful for the understanding. "Thank you, Master Nieminen," he said with a slight bow before taking a deep breath and composing himself.
The two started chatting in order to give Erik time to catch his breath and recover some energy. Obviously, he hadn't been expecting such a strenuous session, but despite this minor setback, Erik was impressed by how much he had improved, thanks to Master Nieminen.
A couple of months ago, he never thought he would be able to wield a sword like he was doing now. Besides, Master Nieminen seemed to know exactly what he needed to improve on because each time she countered his strikes, she always said something to him, explaining what he was lacking and what he did wrong.
While still talking about this and that, a siren echoed inside the city, and giant red lights started blinking inside the training room. It was a red alarm, something that meant huge trouble.
"Erik, take your sword and go hide inside the building's underground bunker," his teacher said with an alarmed look.
The young man understood clearly what the alarm meant. It signified they were under attack; the horde finally managed to reach the city. For this reason, he complied.
As the siren rang, Erik sheathed his sword, but before heading out of the room, he asked his master: "What are you going to do now, Master?"
The woman looked at Erik, and with a solemn look, she said: "I was instructed to join the army at the eastern gate. I will also take a look at what is happening. Remember, do not leave the bunker for any reason; is it clear?"
"Yes, Master," the boy replied, and despite the attack on the city, he wasn't that worried. If someone like Master Nieminen joined the city's defenses, there was no way something terrible could happen to him.
Besides, he didn't really care about the city in itself. If, for some reason, the eastern gate ended up being breached; he could simply run away. He didn't know if he had enough strength to survive such a harsh situation, but he had a clear destination in mind in case something like that happened: Etrium. However, it was clear that the situation had to be grave for the red siren to start ringing suddenly.
Erik knew that he had to stay safe, but he was subject to the disease of curiosity and was dying to know what the situation outside was.
The boy then thought about his friends. Amber was surely heading toward the Red Palace's shelter with all the other people. However, he knew that Aaron was in the middle of the city with his father. His friend said that he needed to buy some stuff, but Erik didn't know much. He was a little bit worried about him.
Erik's heart raced as he grabbed his sword and ran towards the bunker, wondering what could be happening outside. He stopped being idle and quickly headed out of the room, taking the stairs for safety reasons. He was having a little bit of difficulty walking since he was sore all over, but there was nothing that he could do about that. As he descended the stairs, he could hear the muffled sounds of chaos and panic above him, making him even more nervous. After three minutes, he and many other students arrived in front of the reinforced door protecting the Yellow Palace's shelter.
On the door's side was a red button with a speaker just above it. The boy pressed it, and a ringing buzz sound echoed.
As soon as the noise ceased, the shelter's door opened, and the boy and all the others entered the room. Beside him, at least a hundred people were there; they were all first-year students who hadn't joined military school yet and were simply too young to join the defensive effort.
There was not a single adult or sixteen-year-old present in the room, as they were called by the army to fight, or they had to help set up the complex defenses surrounding the university.
<This is the safest place I could be,> Erik thought. <I only hope the others are okay.>
"Hello, everyone!" The voice of a soldier greeted them from the speakers inside the room. "We've received word from the main command center that we are currently under attack."
Everyone turned around and listened intensively to the voice, but nobody spoke. They couldn't believe that the thaids had really reached the city, even though it shouldn't surprise anyone as the army had already announced this was a possibility during the past week.
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