Chapter 8

The Academy

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Continental Peace Treaty of 2050

The Abolishment of all Military Organization:

ARTICLE 1

All State Parties agree to the demobilisation of all military forces and the disbandment of all previous institutions related to war.

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The sun was not completely up and partially shined the Academy's compound. Hundreds of rows and columns of people filed neatly in the compound and were arranged facing northward toward the central stage that held the flag of the UAN,.

The people who had gathered around the central stage were staffs and cadets of the Academy. The staffs comprised mostly of former soldiers, marines, pilots and spies all of whom had lost their job and designation under the effect of the peace treaty. Previous governments who were now under the UAN were frustrated in the money and time that they had spent training these soldiers in hand to hand combat, strategy and tactics. To try and recoup their losses, they decided to create a new organization that would make use of their trainings. Bounded by the peace treaty, they created an organization in the guise of a learning institution, the Academy.

The central stage was elevated by at least 1 meter. On the outskirts of the stage there were 20 long iron poles erected around it. 20 poles with 20 distinct flags corresponding to the 20 nations united under one rule. The flags belonged to Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and other Asian nations. At the front of the central stage stands stood a pole taller than the other and held the largest flag of them all, the UAN flag.

One officer went to the center of the stage and started conducting the official anthem of UAN entitled Under the Eastern Sky. After the singing of the official anthem, they started reciting their oaths. The whole ceremony took 20 minutes and everyone was then dismissed.

Lt. Kino’s Platoon was on their way to their classroom. However, during their walk, some cadets were murmuring and whispering while looking at them.

“No way, a single squad?” said one them.

“Yeah, a single squad did it.” Said the other.

“No way, the whole platoon maybe.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe it either.”

Lt. Kino’s platoon entered their classroom and sat down at their respective seats.

“Good Morning, Ari. Good Job yesterday.” Mary greeted.

“Oh hey, Good Morning Mary.” Ari sighed.

“What’s wrong Ari?” Mary worriedly asked.

“Well, we may have defeated the Minotaur but we lost two lives yesterday.” Ari sighed again.

Ken was approaching them when he overheard their conversation. “Good morning, Ari. It was entirely my fault I died anyway, don’t blame yourself.”

“But, still…” Ari was stopped by the incoming student.

“I’ve heard about your conquest yesterday, Ari. The second year couldn’t believe it.” Rizzo said while fixing his glass. “They say the whole platoon, us, were in on it.”

When Jazmae heard what Rizzo said, she immediately went in front of Ari’s desk and slammed her hand to the desk.

“You idiot! What were you thinking?” Jazmae demanded.

Ari was startled by the reaction of Jazmae. “Uhmm. Well… You know…” Ari stuttered. “Uhmm. I didn’t know you were worried about me.” Ari said while looking away with his flushed face.

Jazmae gulped. “I am not. I am worried about our platoon.” She placed both of her hands on her hips. “Your whole squad could’ve died on that dungeon raid and lost all your items.”

“Ahm... Ahh.” Ari couldn’t formed a single word. He looked to his squad to ask for some help but every time a member locked eyes with him they all looked away, feigning innocent.

He looked to Van to ask for some back up since he were pretty much the only other one who really wanted to take down the Minotaur but Van wasn’t even looking at him, just whistling an out of tune song.

They all knew it was reckless the first time they entered the Minotaur dungeon, but they couldn’t say no to their squad leader persistent persuasion. The second time was beyond comprehension, an exercise in futility, which is why they can’t help but only feel sorry to Ari by Jazmae’s admonishment.

“If you died the second time and lost all your equipment to that dungeon, the Logistics Division will have no choice but to replace them.” Jazmae said.

Ari wasn’t able to understand what Jazmae was trying to tell. “Hm. Yeah?”

“Of course they will, it’s their job.” Jazmae slammed Ari’s desk with her two hands this time. “The point is, if my squad and Rizzo’s squad were to ask for an upgrade in our equipment, they would hesitate now to give us new ones to compensate for the items you had lost and would've lost.”

Ari nodded.

“Good, now you understand.” She looked to the other members of Ari’s squad. “You guys did well. Congratulations, you made your platoon proud. But, please try to restrain this idiot.”

“Uhm… You know I am proud of them too, being their leader and all.” Ari said to Jazmae feeling happy that she recognized his squad.

Jazmae just stared at him and sighed.

***

I was still hiding behind a rock near the entrance of the Minotaur's lair while trying to assess the situation. I observed the fighting intently trying to discover some weakness. Ari and the assassin came to us with low health. Mari and the other woman whose costume had a resemblance to that of a witch healed them back into shape.

Wait, Ari and the assassin were completely dodging every swing of that Minotaur’s giant axe. How come their health is dwindling?

“Let me heal you too.” Mari said to me.

What? I looked at my Health bar and saw it was not full. 5% of my HP was gone. When did I had received some damage?

I watched the fight again and heard the Paladin was saying something.

“Van take the Cow’s aggression. Ari, Zath and John let’s lure this thing near that wall.” The Paladin said pointing to the west wall. “It should render his axe useless when we fight near to the wall.”

“Good idea, Joan. Let’s do it.” Ari said.

“Van let us position ourselves first before coming to us.” Joan said.

“I know that already. Nail Punch” Van said while punching the thigh of the Minotaur.

So her name is Joan. She was good to think of that, but I think it will be pointless.

Van was now running, heading towards to the west wall and the Minotaur was following him. Every step of the Minotaur took, a slight tremor could be felt. When he reached the west wall where the others had gathered, he stopped and faced the Minotaur. “Come here you ugly cow." The Minotaur held back his axe trying to gain some momentum and released it towards Van.

“Here it comes, dodge.” Van shouted.

Every one of them dodged the swing easily. The Minotaur may be strong but it was so slow, a price for his size and power. Joan’s plan would have been successful if the giant axe would have stuck in the wall, but it was not the case. The wall was destroyed and rock debris were scattered everywhere. Ari and the others took quite a bit damage from the debris.

I thought so.

“Urgh… I’ll hold it for a while, get yourselves healed now.” The Knight said.

“Thank you John. Wait for us.” Ari said while running towards us.

The supports used their healing magic to restore some amount of their health. The damage was so significant that the healers couldn't fully heal them instantly. Ari rushed back to the Minotaur disregarding his health points.

“This will do. I’ll go help John. Van and Joan, make sure your HP is full before going back.” He said.

“Ari wait…!” Mari shouted.

The Minotaur was busy attacking John that it didn’t noticed Ari jump at his back. Ari held one of his sword using his mouth while his left hand was forcefully clinging to the mane. He stabbed the back of the Minotaur using his remaining sword equipped in his right hand. The Minotaur felt the stab but before he could react Zath and Joan attacked the left leg of the Minotaur. It shrugged the attack but turned his attention to Joan and Zath and had forgotten all about Ari who was still on his back.

“Ari, let’s lure him back to the center. Fighting near the walls was more dangerous that I thoug....”

The Minotaur jumped in the air but before it could reach the ground Ari was already gone from its back. A huge tremor was felt when it landed.

So that jump was the cause of gradual dwindling of their HP. I looked to my health bar thinking it must also be the damage I received a while ago. To my surprise my health was still full. Aaaahhhh, if not the Cow’s Jump, then what was it? I looked at the supports beside me and saw their worried look. Their MP must be getting low. The situation was bad and it was getting worse every minute. If they ran out of Mana the game is over. I should run away now. I looked to the giant door and it was closed. I ran towards it and tried push it but it didn’t budge. It was locked.

“You can’t escape now. That door will only open if we defeat the boss.” Ken said.

Oh, you must be kidding me. I’m trapped here? The sight of me lying in my bed and my legs were covered with blanket flashed before me. NO! This is not the time. I have to do something. I went back to the rock and observed the battle. At this rate, the supports will run out of MP before they even defeat this thing. They need another source of damage and I can’t provide that. I looked at the archer and one of the mage and thought that If only they could attack, they would have stand a chance .

The Minotaur's lair had some sort of rock-like corridor, it connects the giant door into the center of the lair. The corridor was 15 meters wide and at least 25 meters high. Hit and hide tactic might work if there was not much distance between us and the Minotaur. Of course, Ari and the rest could lure the Minotaur near our hiding place. But, it would not be wise, seeing what had happened when they tried fighting near a wall,

Ari and the rest didn’t stop their attack. Zath the assassin rushed forward to attack the left leg.

“Vital Assault.” He shouted.

Vital Assault

Your mastery in the Art of Killing gave you knowledge in spotting vital points of your target.

Critical Chance: 100%

Duration: 5s

Character Info(Zath)NAMEZathorLevel25ClassAssassinHP

MP250/380

179/250Physical Attack

Magical Attack36-48

3-5Stamina35/100Defense21AttributesStrength25Intelligence25Agility61+18Dexterity61+15Vitality5+14Wisdom5

Combined with the previous attacks and the pinpoint attack of Zath, the Minotaur finally kneeled on his left.

“Hell yeah! Let’s finish this.” shouted Van.

Before everyone could attack, the Minotaur raised his axe and looked like it was about to attack but it was the blinding light.

A moment of blindness and when it was over, no one had died. It was true what Ari said, it only attacks everything it sees outside its Axe’s range. The Minotaur stood on its two feet again and prepared for another swing.

I must do something, or rather come up with something to escape here alive. Let's review the facts. First, it’s big but its attack was slow. Second, it has a blinding light spell that renders our sight useless and attack everyone it sees who was not on its axe’ range. Third, its attack was rudimentary and only compose of horizontal swings and the Occasional Jump attack that will cause tremors. Wait, how many times had it used the Jump attack? Twice.

“Hey, anyone of you counted how many times the cow had jumped?” I asked. Of course, I knew the answer. I only asked to see their reaction under duress.

“Twice.” Said two of them in unison, they both wore a magician’s robe with different colors. They looked at each other and smiled. Come to think of it, they both looked similar. Twins, maybe. I was occupied in my thinking process that I didn’t bothered to ask.

Not bad.Twice, it occurred. Under what circumstances? A sudden realization hit me. It was when someone was clinging onto its back. That’s right, the first one was when the assassin was on its back, and the second was when Ari stabbed it on its back. So it will only jump when someone is on its back to get rid of them, why? Fourth fact, the health points of Ari and the rest was gradually dwindling despite completely dodging the axe’s swing. Why?

I focused myself again into watching the ongoing battle. What causes the gradual decrease of their HP? It was not the jump attack since it only happened twice. It must be the swing. Well, what else could it be? I have eliminated other factors and it was the only one that remained, the swing. Last remaining fact, it has some sort of powerful wind spell technique that could rip someone into two and it only uses it on the duration of blinding light spell.

I saw Ari dodge another swing. He turned his back on the Minotaur and dashed to us.

“I need a heal.” Ari said.

Oh, I am an idiot. Why didn’t I think of that? Wind pressure, of course. It was the wind pressure produced by the axe when it was being swing at a great force that damaging them little by little.

“Thanks.” Ari said as he went back to the Minotaur.

Oh, great. Even if I tell them that, what could they possibly do to dodge it?It is now a battle of endurance.

One of the twins started to chant something and a light was forming at the tip of his staff. Oh no, he was about to attack. The wizard stepped out of the rock and and directed his staff to the Minotaur and released the accumulated energy. The burst of energy didn’t reach the Minotaur and it just dispersed in the air.

I have a feeling on what is about to happen so I rushed to the wizard and tried to grab his arm but I was too late, I was now blinded, but still I felt I had successfully grabbed the hand of the wizard and I pulled it so hard towards me.

When we regained our sight, Ari shouted. “Ronne, are you okay? Ronne?”

“Yes, I am.” Ronne replied.

Ronne faced me and said smiling. “Thanks. I owe you.”

I had felt the gush of the wind again during that commotion and realized something.

***

“Why don’t you just drop dead already, you fucking cow.” Van said angrily.

“We are close on defeating this thing.” Ari said.

Joan sighed. “I wish I could share your optimism, Ari”

John entered the conversation. “Ari, our supports. Their mana is getting low.”

“We have to defeat this thing faster, then.”

When Ari was about to attack he saw someone running to him. It was Cripple.

“What are you doing, Cripple?” Ari asked.

“I have to try something. Don’t mind me. Continue your assault.” Cripple answered.

Cripple stood near John the Knight because he knew John was currently the target of the Minotaur. The Minotaur swung his axe, John and Cripple ducked down to dodge the attack.

“Ari, tell the others to come out of hiding and attack this thing.” Cripple shouted.

“What’s he talking about, Ari?” John asked.

“That would get them killed.” Ari said to Cripple.

“If they don’t help attack this thing," Cripple said while pointing to the Minotaur. "Your healers will run out of mana first. And if that happened were all doomed.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know what happened last time. They died instantly after casting a spell.” Ari argued.

“Yeah, I know that. The Minotaur was programmed to deal with ranged heroes first.” Cripple said.

“Then why do you want them to attack this thing? You should know we were close to bringing this fucking thing down.” Van said.

"Actually, so far we had only dealt 35% damage to this cow." Zath said calmly.

When everyone heard Zath, they were shocked. For them the battle has gone too long and thought they had at least brought the Minotaur down to half HP.

“How did you know that?" John asked to Zath.

"Its one of my skills as an Assassin." Zath replied.

"Why didn’t you tell us you have such skill?” John asked, somewhat pissed off.

“You did not bothered to ask.” replied Zath.

Joan was agitated that they still had to bring down 65% of the Minotaur’s life. “Hey, Cripple was it?" She turned to Cripple. "Why do you want our ranged members to come out of hiding? Surely you have some plan?”

Cripple turned to the paladin. “Yes. I do have.” Then turned back to Ari. “Ari, tell them to come out of hiding now.”

Without hesitation, Ari shouted. “Ronne, Rinne, Mari, Reica and Ken come out now and attack this thing.”

“Ari, tell Zath to cling on the back of the Minotaur and to never let go, no matter what happened.” Cripple said.

When Ari was about to give the order, Zath had already jumped and was holding the mane of the Minotaur.

Though somewhat confused by the order Ari had given. Ken and the others started to attack. Ronne cast his strongest offensive spell and Ken fired his arrows continuously.

Cripple turned to Ari. “Ari, make sure someone clings on the back of the Minotaur at all times.” He then, turned his back to retreat.

The Minotaur felt the constant bombardment of magic and arrows. It shrugged the attack and started to jump.

“Don’t let go, Zath.” Ari shouted.

Tremors were felt when the Minotaur landed. Due to his low base armor and health Cripple died on the jump attack.

Zath was still holding the mane and his health took a lot of damage during the Jump attack. The healers cast their AOE restoration and healing magic. The Minotaur lowered both of his knee. It jumped again for the second time and another tremor was felt when it reached the ground.

Reica cast her spell. “Incomplete Voodoo Ressurection.”

Incomplete Voodoo Ressurection.

One of the pinnacle of Voodoo magic, resurrecting someone from the dead. Though the art is still incomplete.

Revive the target as a voodoo doll.

Cannot use skills and will revert back to normal state after 12 hrs.

Cripple’s body transformed into strands of hays that retained the basic form of human. The Voodoo doll Cripple ran back to where Ken and the others were.

Ari somehow knew that Zath wouldn't be able to hold on to the mane much longer. He ran to the Minotaur and slid between its legs.

“Zath give me a hand.”

Zath held out his left foot for Ari to grab on. Ari grabbed the leg and started to climb.

“Zath, get back to the ground.”

Zath jumped away to the Minotaur. Ari climbed higher and reached the back of the neck of the Minotaur.

The Minotaur lowered its body to prepare another jump. Ari drew his twin swords and stabbed it so hard onto the back of the Minotaur. He braced himself and another tremor was felt when the Minotaur landed.

Arrows were shot, spells were cast, swords were drawn and shields were raised. The Minotaur was feeling the constant onslaught. It raised its giant axe to prepare another devastating swing, but instead the room was filled with so much light that it blinded everyone for a second.

When everyone was able to see, to their disbelief, no one had died. They continued their attacks and Ari was still clinging onto the back of the Minotaur. He didn’t know the purpose of what he was doing, but he felt the importance of it.

The battle lasted for another 10 minutes and finally the Minotaur dropped its giant axe and fell down.

THE MIGHTY MINOTAUR HAS BEEN SLAIN.

“Fuck yeah!!!” shouted Van raising his hand in the air.

Mari hugged Reica beside her. Ronne and Rinne just smiled, but this time their smile was now full of relief and happiness. John and Joan both dropped their shield. Ken placed his bow at his back and Zath was checking on the Minotaur's corpse looking for Ari.

“We did it, Zath.” Ari said as he emerged from the Minotaur's corpse.

Zath didn’t say anything but his eyes were smiling.

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Proofreader: ShadowOfHavoc.

This Chapter was 1200+ words longer than the previous ones. I don't know if its too long or just enough.