Chapter 4 - Came out swinging

Holtz waited a solid minute of walking after being out of earshot of Arady and even looked back to make sure the coast was clear, before he broke the silence. "Well it seems like the little lady got a soft spot for ya. She doesn't just ask for help from anybody"

I chuckled for a moment and noted. "Well the two of you have given me a chance despite the initial signs"

He smiled and gave a hearty laugh. "I've seen a lot of bloodshed in my day and got a sense for a good heart on warriors. I am especially keen when these sleazy types leave a toxic slime trail. I don't know what you've been through kid, but you are way too calm under these circumstances. That's not normal, but I like it!'

I am grateful to hear that I'm at least under watch by someone giving me a chance, out here in these fields.

Which, by the way. I'm being dazzled to see there's a lot of pristine grassland in front of me. Out further I can see clearly of rolling hills in the distance, and even a chain of mountains beyond that. Some peaks are even high enough to warrant snow caps, even in this gorgeous environment. These must be huge like the mountains far north of Rome.

Soooooooo much open space. And yet even more vibrancy of life force exuding from everywhere around me, even above and below.

There are herds and flocks of beasts of all kinds, land born and flying. I can imagine that aquatic life isn't out of the question either. Considering that I've experienced these mana motes around the Colosseum so far, there must be other mystical types of creatures that I should stay open to learn of.

The ancient fables of my old life spoke of half breed creatures sired by Zeus, magical beasts summoned by the magicians of the Nile and their gods, and I even witnessed an angel and the demons firsthand. Just while being here, I was already told that entities from multiple worlds reside in this realm. 'Thank you for the protection, Father.....'

I look up deeply into the sky and take a deep breath to absorb my first real moment of peace since coming out to this land. My eyes fix on a certain spot though. It almost feels like something is looking back at me. Watching me. It was a very deep impression as well, like I had no say in the matter for whether I liked it or not.

'..... Starting to think too much....' And well- Arady did mention that almost everything was alive here in some form. I'll just take that literally for the time being before I throw doubt around a world I know very little of, so far.

Seeing me stare into the sky after relaxing, Holtz speaks up "Hey! Let's not get ahead of ourselves Densu! You are still under my watch and I told you I was gonna keep your hands busy. But first let's get something straightened out. This is a land of combat and resourcefulness. If you're gonna be here with us in this Colosseum, it's imperative that you know how to fight. Let me see your ribs by the way, where Arady punched you earlier....."

I snapped out of my curiosity of the landscape and surrounding wildlife imaginations, and lifted my shirt to expose my ribs because I was curious about that as well.

I didn't see any bruising at all but there were 8 dots lined up, just under the bottom left floating rib where she tried to lift me from. Those rings she wore are an unassuming weapon in the right hands.

"That's actually quite impressive. You can take a serious shot, kid. She looks small, but I've seen that girls' work, out here in the fields. With that particular strike, I've seen her fold seasoned adventurers in half, like fresh bread"

He motions for me to put the shirt back down and begins to ponder. "Right now I'm under order not to let you get used to having any hand held gear to do any work, and unfortunately capturing and harvesting these creatures counts as 'work' for you. So that means you gotta use your hands and feet to do the work in the meantime"

Hearing that reminded me of what Damina told me to ask about with that trainer. "Excuse me, but do you know of a... Master Curtio?" I didn't necessarily want to blow Damina's cover, but so far Holtz has been good to me and I had to take a chance.

When I mentioned 'Curtio', Holtz stopped walking and got very serious. "How do you know of him?" He stepped closer to me very imposingly. Did I screw up?

I took a deep breath and sighed, I guess I'm in for some garbage treatment one way or another, but I also didn't want to immediately reveal Daminas' intention either. I sighed in resignation and came out with it. "I.... I was told to ask about a Master Curtio if I wanted to learn unarmed combat. When you said I had to use my hands and feet, it suddenly reminded me of this. You also mentioned about knowing another person who was helping the guards before, so I thought maybe you might be connected enough to know about Master Curtio somehow"

He sized me up and down and the words made sense, and the word lucky came to mind for him again before he turned his head to some boars that were coming our way.

"Lets see if you're qualified to ask anything from that man first. FIRST STEP! Point your toes down when trying to use your foot to slap someone or something out of your way with a front round kick. OR, pull your toes up to your knee and push out with your heel when kicking against an object you want to push away from you."

He pointed at the boars rushing towards us and nodded his chin at them to test me and how I would handle the situation. I started scanning their pace as he continued. "Both kicks are good when dealing with shields and even moving targets- if you time your steps and kick well at the proper angle. Immobile targets are easiest to start training with, but it seems you're on the fast track today kiddo".

I thought about the shapes of my foot and correlation with how it would feel, when I suddenly got a flashback to when Damina responded in the testing room and appeared before me. I recounted her stepping foot setting down to the floor, applying pressure to pivot on the pads under her toes, making the toes turn away and face back. While her plant leg rotated away, the fast part was how she lifted her other knee and twisted her hip towards my face. Then rapidly she extended her knee and toes forward to straighten out like a whiplash snap, aiming for the top of her foot to reach out and slap at the side of my head rrriiiiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt before I caught her foot.

Hooves pounded louder.

Suddenly the air got tense and the first boar leaped right at me. I made a half step back and pivoted the foot to face away, then copied the same hip to knee to foot extension sequence I remember seeing. I felt my leg bend upwards, my hip roll up and over, then I straightened and extended the top of my foot outwards. The timing was precise and a loud meaty slap emitted from the side of the boar's head and half of its body when my shin and foot connected.

[+1 Kick Art]

A wet popping sound and bones crunching under an audible thud was heard and the carcass of the boar had projectile hurled in a slow downward arc before ragdolling for some distance on the ground till it stopped entirely. A tusk had broken off and spiraled, hissing off into the distance before stabbing into the ground relatively close to where the body lay.

I set my foot down to step sideways and turned to the next boar as it leapt to gore me. I raised my right foot up and pulled my toes back then simulated a sideways 'stomp' motion. I pushed my heel out as hard as I could to connect with the next boars' collarbone as it jumped at me full speed.

[+1 Kick Art]

I was remembering how Damina reacted when I grabbed her ankle and she stomped my chest to get me to let go, and how I flew back from her. This boar also made a popping thud like the first boar I kicked, and then it arched into the air the same way I must have. This boar didn't have a pillar to grab onto and its front legs stuck out in weird angles as it traveled in the air. It also came to a ground tumbling stop.

I took a few side steps to measure the next two approaching boars and lightly jumped over the first and stomped my heel down on it's head like crushing a snake.

[+1 kick art]

I landed and swiftly turned to the next, which was now very close to me and reacted by kicking straight upwards underneath its jaw and felt a crunch of bones as its neck bent upwards. Teeth exploded sideways and the body followed upwards in a 25 ft arch while spinning madly in the air before it traveled back down.

[+1 kick art]

The four boars were not moving anymore and I stopped and looked at what I had accomplished in the heat of the moment. I witnessed the skid trails left behind from the two that ragdolled after I had launched them into the air.

When the coast was clear, that's when I remembered being told that the beasts can also be used as resources.

I haven't gotten that information yet so I swiftly ran to collect the bodies. I found them surprisingly lightweight for being larger than adult sheep, as I ran back with the carcasses. I set them all together, aligning all 4 side to side. 'I wonder how these taste.'

I clearly didn't register just how strong I've had to become to cause damage like this. The way Rudra toyed with me etched into my bones that I am somehow comparatively weak, compared to the forces that threaten my life. I still have no semblance of the power gap between the various life forms in this land yet. Right now.... Boars bad.... Manastones good.

Keeping my eye out for anything else moving closer to us, I was now very vigilant to what was going on around me. It was my job, that I had to dig by hand under pressures like this. Okay. I'll have to figure out an attack and defense pattern. I'll find a way to get better at this.

As I reconfirmed that the surroundings were clear, I looked to Holtz who was grinning ear to ear, half bent over, tears welling in his eyes, and holding himself up with his knee while clenching his stomach gasping for air from uncontrollable laughter.

"Boy, that damn near brought tears of joy to my eyes!!!! I haven't seen overkill like that in far too long!!!" He gasped and kept laughing again.

I stood there and processed how that all must have looked from an outsider's perspective and wasn't sure if this was normal or not. So now I too started to have a small giggle to myself from the mental image I conjured up too.

Right.......... 'Try to keep a low profile'.

I took a deep breath and settled myself down, determining to start paying more attention to my internal sense of awareness. I need to be in better control of my body and my movements, like the way I noticed from Rudra. I also had to get that sleight of hand awareness and speed that Arady displayed. Role models right now.

As for the resources.

"Hey Holtz. I was told that beasts can be used as a form of resource and that I can somehow capture or summon creatures from the wilds. How does this work?"

I looked down at the 4 carcasses of 4ft long boars with golden bronzed and browned hairs, also having darker brown streaks along the back and sides. These tusks looked like curved blades sticking outwards and up.

The first one I kicked sideways was missing a left tusk. 'Ooohhh yeah, I heard it shatter and fly off when I kicked it'. I squatted down to look at and then brushed off my shin and foot to check for any skin damage. I seemed to be in good shape! A tiny little red indent at the shin, but nothing hurts.

I squat walked a few steps closer to that particular boar and placed my hand where I kicked it. It was still warm.

I had to. I pressed into the place where I kicked it and felt fur, gristles and chunks of bone squish underneath my palm and fingertips. Visceral tactile sensory overload taking place.

Also. This part won't cook well.....