This served as a wake up call for Aldrich. Until now, most of his understanding of Crestmasters has been superficial.
Even when he learned from Krynt's books he mostly dismissed the deaths of Crestmasters as unlucky accidents.
Deep in his mind he had a belief that Crestmasters were somewhat invincible and infallible.
This couldn't be helped as the common sense understanding of Crestmasters was that they were simply out of reach.
However that was far from the truth.
Crestmaster were powerful, frighteningly so, and yet the monsters that inhabit the land were not completely annihilated yet.
In fact there were many areas all throughout the land where monsters regained supreme.
The monsters and other enemies of the empire were not weak at all. In fact, there were times in history when Crestmasters were slaughtered one-sidedly by these monsters.
Another factor was that information about power difference between Crestmasters were very vague.
The more practical information about grade two Crestmasters was unavailable anywhere he looked. All that was clear was that they were the elites in many high positions in the world.
And it was even worse for grade three, as the only description he got was that they were no longer human. This of course didn't help much in gaining any clear understanding.
"Time's up."
Aldrich didn't argue, he got up and took the long sword that Gazeff held to him.
"Watch carefully, I'm about to demonstrate the twenty eight basic sword forms you can also call them stances. If you have any questions ask me after I'm done."
Aldrich backed off and watched keenly as Gazeff showed him one stance after another. The moves looked... awkward.
As Aldrich saw more and more forms he was progressively convinced that none of these moves could ever be used in real combat.
He didn't consider himself to be an expert swordsman by any means but he definitely was somewhat experienced in real combat.
He could tell that these moves were purely reliant on looks like a dance, it was good for showing off during some festivals or parties and whatnot.
But, what enemy would let you dance in the middle of a battle? That didn't make any sense at all.
When he compared it with the swordsmanship of the nightmare realm he couldn't help but shake his head.
The nightmare swordsmanship was aggressive, brutal and to the point. He didn't learn it from a teacher but by fighting to the death with husk swordsmen.
"Do you have any questions? If not then it's your turn." Said Gazeff after he was done.
"Actually, I do have a question. What is the use of these forms? Even a child could tell that it won't work in real combat."
"That's the stupidest thing that I've heard all week." Gazeff facepalmed.
"I'm being serious." Aldrich demanded.
"Do I look like I'm joking with you? That, just now, was a demonstration. Meaning that I was extremely slow so you can see the moves clearly."
"Well, that is true..."
"With your strength and build the thing you lack right now is coordination and efficient use of power. When you can perform all twenty eight sword forms as smoothly as the flowing water of the Yongar river you will understand.
Next week we will have a spare at the end of the day, then you tell me if you think the stances are useless.
Now, get working! And if I see you slacking off you will get some extra laps today."
Aldrich proceeded to try and repeat what he saw but along the way he made a few mistakes here and there. Gazeff had to correct his blunders every now and then.
The forms got increasingly more complicated as he went on. The weights and the armor made everything harder than it had to be in his opinion.
Switching quickly between the stances was the hardest part. This went one for several hours before Gazeff called the training to an end.
Gazeff ordered him to collect the flags back at least he got to take the weights off. After Gazeff took off the weights Aldrich felt like he was an uncaged bird, free and unfettered.
His body was soaked with sweat, his smell was probably terrible, good thing he couldn't smell himself.
Aldrich and Gazeff moved a little while looking for a stream or a brook. They did bring waterskins but it's been so long the water turned warm.
Abruptly while they were walking Gazeff's grabbed him by the shoulder. Aldrich looked back at him and saw that Gazeff had an ugly look on his face.
"Don't panic," He warned with a frown, "we must retreat at once. But don't run no matter what, keep your speed in check and a tight lookout around you."
Aldrich felt that Gazeff was not joking and he tightened his grip on his sword. This was not good, a threat that made Gazeff retreat was not something he could underestimate.
If his luck was bad then it might be…
No. No point in overthinking. Aldrich breathed in and out then he followed Gazeff step for step, while keeping a moderate pace.
They were returning to the town but it was not close it might take an hour at best. If they had not decided to look for water…
At some point an extremely foul smell spread in the area, he could stomach it at first but as time went on he started to have to cover his nose and mouth with his shirt from under the armor.
Afterwards they were hit with howling winds and they heard the distinct noise of a great amount of trees collapsing behind them.
Whatever it was it wasn't too far away now. Aldrich wanted to make a run for it but Gazeff motioned for him not to.
"If you run too fast you'll attract several monsters to yourself, our luck was bad but so what? Just remember not to do anything unnecessary. Stay behind me and follow my instructions to the letter!"
Aldrich didn't hesitate, he may not like Gazeff much but right not he was pretty much his only reliable support. And if this was a grade one monster then…
Aldrich felt the winds calm after they were furious moments ago, the foul smell was back stronger than ever and it was coming from…above!
Aldrich looked up and witnessed a huge silhouette diving down, wings flailing everywhere and dark purple and blue feathers scattered everywhere.
Before he could get a decent idea of what he was looking at the figure crashed in the clearing right in front of them. The crash was loud and he heard the cracking of bones when the mud and grass was sent flying by the impact.
Aldrich looked at the malformed earth up front and realized there were two figures that crashed, they were entangled together.
The first was the obvious two and half meter giant bald hawk, and it took the burnt of the fall damage as it's left wing was broken.
It's eyes were shining in green and a purple liquid leaked out of its mouth and it released a dark fume as it dripped on the earth.
The bald hawk was lying prone and it had two massive claws, even in comparison with the rest of the body. The claws were armed with long talons and each claw could easily hold an entire human.
And one of the claws indeed was, at this very moment, a man clad in blue and silver half plate armor was held in one of these claws. The massive talons pierced the man's defense in several places and deep red blood seeped outward.
The blond man was without a helm and blood oozed out of his mouth, but he was smiling all the same.
Aldrich knew why, he could see in his hands the man held a long bone lance that penetrated the chest of the monster and was what probably brought the monster crashing down here.
"A Necrotic-Claw Hawk, this is not good." Gazeff mumbled.
Aldrich had never heard or read about it but just one look at it told him that it was a grade one monster. Even in this state he could feel a terrible pressure from it.
Before the pair could recover from the after effects of the crash landing they were alerted to the nearby trees falling down.
With unimaginable force, a beast burst into the clearing, the beast had a long lanky neck and antler horns grew along it's spine's length from head to tail.
The monster had was mounted by four individuals who were all Crestmasters, their crests were openly revealed on their foreheads. The monster which was their mount glared at the Hawk with red angry eyes.
Before the mounted party could come any closer the Hawk seemed to have regained consciousness due to the feeling of danger. With a screech it stood upright.
The man was trying to pull out his lance but he had to abandon it midway to escape. But the Hawk was not about to let him escape so easily it lunged at him, attempting to snap him in half.
The man looked to be in a sorry condition as his movements were sluggish and slow.
Aldrich looked beyond, to the party riding on what he assumed was a Catoblepas. This was a monster that he had read on.
On the Catoblepas a woman stood and pointed both of her hands to the struggling pair of monster and man. She unleashed a torrent of flames in that direction.
Aldrich's hands curled into fists. This attack wasn't intended to save the man but to burn both the monster and the man together. After all they were struggling together in close proximity making an accurate shot was not possible.
The mass of fire was fast, so fast that it crossed a distance of more than fifty meters in the span of a breath.
Before the fire could incinerate both man and monster, that mass was separated and turned into several fire birds that dodged the fleeing man narrowly.
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