Chapter 167: Necessary

Chapter 167: Necessary

“Is this really necessary?” James asked, the exasperation clear in his tone. He and Revin stood in a cloak of darkness on a dune, overlooking the other students from Arbitage while they set up their camp. They’d been there for the better part of the hour, just... standing.

“Of course it is,” Revin snapped. “This is a vital part of our training.”

“I’m pretty sure that you’re just a pervert.”

“Pervert?” Revin spun toward James, throwing his hands up in the air. “Have you never heard of scouting out the opponent? There’s nothing perverted about it. Besides, they’ve got to be doing something to make me a pervert. All I see is them setting up camp.”

“I think the pervert part is more on the one watching than the one doing,” James said with a shake of his head. Despite his annoyance, James was more confused than anything else.

Revin was strange. The professor was egotistical, rude, borderline insane, and unbelievably lame – but he wasn’t stupid. Not this stupid, at least. For some reason, Revin was seriously interested in the group, and that probably meant that James was missing something.

Not that I’ll ever admit it. This asshole doesn’t need any more things to laugh at me about.

“You’re wondering what the point of all this is, aren’t you?” Revin asked.

James glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes. “I didn’t say that.”

“You were thinking it.”

“Stop with the weird mind-reading crap. Do you have a Rune for it or something?”

“No. You’re just very easy to read,” Revin replied. “And the reason that I am watching them is before you.”

Revin thrust a finger down at the camp. Even though Revin had twisted the darkness around to cloak them from view, James still winced. Every time Revin made a sudden motion, James felt like someone would spot them.

He followed the finger down to the camp, where Revin was pointing at – well, it was difficult to tell. He’d just pointed in the general direction of the camp.

“Could you just use your words?” James asked. “I’ve got no clue what you’re pointing at.”

Revin let out a heavy sigh and shook his head in disappointment. “The students, James. Don’t you notice anything about them?”

“...No? I swear, if you’re about to say something creepy, I’ll rat you out to them myself.”

“I would never. None of them are nearly cool enough to catch my eye, and I think I prefer older women myself,” Revin said. He rubbed his chin, tilting his head to the side. “You know–”The roots of this story extend from novell bìn origin.

“Do not tell me whatever you’re about to,” James warned. “Just get to the damn point, Professor.”

“The short girl with silver hair is a noble.”

James’ eye twitched. “As is nearly everyone that goes to Arbitage.”

“Exactly,” Revin said. “But the other two aren’t.”

“Are you going somewhere with this? I won’t even ask how you’ve managed to figure out that the silver-haired one is a noble.”

“She’s wearing a fancy shield bracelet. I recognize its make – Torrin family. The Torrin family are rather elitist, you know,” Revin said, tapping a finger on his wrist. “All their main branch members have silver hair. Not because they get it or dye it, mind you. It’s just because they like to keep their main branch pure. Helps them make sure the kids will be talented, or some shit like that. Never bought it myself, but hardly matters. There’s only a single girl from the Torrin family main branch that’s your age.”

James stared at Revin. “You say that like you expect me to have memorized everyone in their family.”

“Emily Torrin,” Revin said. “Heir to the main branch, and in line to control the family once her old folks up and kick the bucket in a few hundred years.”

“Lovely,” James said. “And that matters how, exactly?”

“The other two don’t have shields at all,” Revin continued, unperturbed. “They aren’t nobles. Curious, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. My professor is a psychopath, though. I don’t know why he’s decided to cause your group problems. Again, I’m really sorry.”

“Stop apologizing,” Emily said. Her eyes – a grayish silver, just like the color of her hair – bored into James. “Are you going to try anything?”

“What? No! I have absolutely no idea what Revin was thinking,” James said. “We were just supposed to be training. I don’t know what he’s after.”

The ground rumbled. The back of James’ neck prickled and he threw himself toward Emily, increasing his speed with a concentrated blast of wind beneath his feet. Isabel lunged, but James was faster than she was.

Emily’s eyes widened and she yelped as James slammed her to the ground. A loud crack split the air as a spike of sand screamed past where Emily had been standing and slammed into one of the stone tents, shattering it.

“Sorry!” James exclaimed, rolling off Emily quickly before any of the other students could attack him. “There was–”

“We saw the spike,” Todd interrupted, his eyes scanning the sand. “How did you see it coming, and where did it even come from? I can’t tell where anything is in this desert. It’s too hot.”

“Lots of time around Revin gives you a pretty good danger sense,” James replied, launching back to his feet. A pillar of stone rose up beneath Emily, pushing her upright as well. Emily glanced at James, then inclined her head.

“Thanks.”

“It’s kind of my fault it happened in the first place,” James replied, swallowing and turning in a circle. “I have no idea what attacked, though.”

The sand rumbled again. The top of a dune bulged, sending red particles cascading down. Isabel took a step forward, moving to stand before all of them.

“I think we’re about to find out. Get ready. There’s a third one of these things, and the professors are all occupied.”

***

Noah launched himself to the side as a barrage of spikes arced toward him, slamming into the sand like gunfire. The dunes trembled as a huge, clawed hand ripped out from within them. A massive, crablike creature burst out from beneath the ground, mandibles clicking in a hissing roar.

The monster’s back was covered with long, tubular protrusions that made it easy to tell where the spikes had been coming from. It had two enormous claws, each nearly the size of several horses.

Sand twisted and swirled around the crab’s legs as it scuttled across the desert toward Noah. He ran to the side again, narrowly avoiding one of its claws as it crashed down, and threw his flying sword down.

Noah shot into the air, sparing a second to glance back at the camp. What he saw didn’t make him feel great.

There were two more crabs. Moxie and Lee stood against one of them a short distance away from the camp. It was a little smaller than the one that Noah had cut off. The third and smallest by far had somehow reached the camp, and the students were squaring off against it together with another form.

It took Noah a second glance to realize that the extra person was James. He didn’t see any signs of Revin anywhere, but Noah doubted the strange man was far.

The hell is going on? There’s no way this is a coincidence. James is standing with my students, though. Did Revin abandon him? Wouldn’t surprise me.

The crab’s back whumped and a spike whistled through the air behind Noah, missing him. He turned back to the monster, glaring at it.

I knew there was way more to this desert than I thought, but what even is this? It’s got some sort of Sand Rune for sure, and the pure force behind the spikes its shooting is pretty scary. This isn’t a weak monster.

The crab raised its back legs, aiming its back toward Noah. A barrage of sand bolts shot out and Noah swore, leaning forward into a tight dive. He dove off his sword, sliding beneath the crab and aiming his palm up.

A bolt of lightning ripped out of Noah’s palm and slammed into the creature’s underbelly. There was a loud crack and the bottom of its white shell blackened, but his magic didn’t penetrate its defenses.

Noah shot himself forward with a blast of wind as the crab dropped, smashing its heavy body to the ground in an attempt to squish him. The monster spun toward him, chittering. Noah’s eyes narrowed and he called on his magic.

This isn’t going to be a fast fight. I hope Moxie and the others hold up until I can kill this thing.

Spikes of sand shot down toward Noah. He thrust a palm up, blasting the attacks away with a violent, churning gale, then sprinted toward the crab, calling more magic to bear. Even in spite of the literally looming threat, Noah couldn’t help but feel just a little curious.

I’ve always wondered what crab tastes like.