Chapter 232: Amphibious Training

Chapter 232: Amphibious Training

"So, do you care to elaborate on what you said about monsters in the water the other day?" Reivyn asked Kahl.

Reivyn was busy tightening straps and ensuring all of his gear was accounted for and properly secured. It would be a disaster for something to come loose and fall into the open water, especially if it was impossible to dive down to try and save it. All around, over a hundred other people were likewise seeing to their gear.

Kahl had coordinated with a couple of other groups of local guardians to put this entire thing together. Reivyn didn't know what kind of deals he had struck with the others, but they were still only responsible for including Kahl and his own contingent among their training sessions. Reivyn found himself focusing less on his personal Skills and more on instructing others, but he didn't mind too much. One could easily gain insights they otherwise wouldn't have from instructing others, so it wasn't a loss of his time, either.

The plan was to split the groups in two. Refix would command the defenders, and Reivyn would command the attackers. There were six long boats beached on the shore that they would use to transport everyone back and forth. There wasn't much in the way of preventing someone from falling over the edge of the boat, either, which was one reason Reivyn was so concerned about making sure everything was as tight and secure as possible.

"Well, there's really not any danger in the local waters," Kahl admitted. "There isn't anything that's going to pose a threat to your person unless you just get super unlucky and happen to get tangled up with more than one octopus or squid and they drag you deep into the water. Even then a high enough Stamina will see you through the lack of oxygen while you fight your way free.

"No, the real danger comes from seeing too much. I say don't go into the water under any circumstances mainly to avoid the possibility. There are things down there that will break your mind. I've seen seasoned veterans turn nearly catatonic. Mild cases give someone the shakes for a couple weeks. Bad cases make a man invalid."

"Seeing too much will break your mind?" Reivyn asked, quirking an eyebrow skeptically. Kahl just gave him a deadpan look.

"Those are Tier 8 monsters out there, lad. None of us are ready to face something like that."

"You have a point there. Still, it's hard to believe someone will lose their mind from just looking at one. I'll take your word for it, though. You're the expert. It might be some sort of Skill for all we know," Reivyn nodded his head.

"Yeah, there's been a lot of speculation on it. It might be a Skill, but it could just as easily be raw, primal fear. Best to just avoid it all together."

"Alright, well, let's make sure nobody does anything stupid while we're out on the water, then. The defenders have instructions to not actually aim their projectiles at us. They'll just be flinging spells and missiles all around us to simulate coming in hot. We'll compensate the owners for any damage done to the boats, but it shouldn't be a problem."

They had already gone over the plan multiple times. Reivyn was just repeating things for the benefit of those standing around and to reiterate. It was never a bad idea to be 100% certain of what was going on. The spells and missiles that would be flying about were all going to be the minimum levels and wouldn't cause any dangerous damage to anyone participating.

"It's all good," Kahl said with a grin. "We're all excited about this little training exercise. We've never really had a reason to do something like this before. Even though it's for training, this might give some of the lads the boost to their Life Experience they've been waiting for."

"Hey, win-win situations are the best. Alright, let's get loaded up!"

At Reivyn's call, everyone quickly finished their final checks and headed to the boats. The half of the people who were going to defend the beach headed to the embankment. They were already hard at work digging holes and building fortifications to Refix's specifications. Reivyn deliberately didn't look at what his father was up to. It wasn't a big deal, but he was going to try and make the assault as realistic as possible. He usually wouldn't have knowledge of the exact layout of the defenses prior to making the landing in such an attack.

Reivyn was one of the first to get onboard his own boat. He would be standing in the back of the boat, one of the last to get off, but he would have a better view of what was going on while they made their assault. The local guardians quickly boarded the boats. Teilon and Kimberly were with Reivyn, but they were on their own separate boats. They wouldn't normally be together during a combat situation in the future with Teilon being in command of the scouts, so Reivyn didn't want them to get too used to leaning on their familiarity with each other.

The boats launched out to sea. The man controlling the boat wasn't one of the local guardians. He was a fisherman who spent a lot of time on the water, and he had the Skills necessary to propel the boat all on his own at quite a fast clip, even with all of the added weight of the bodies onboard. They spent several minutes shooting toward the distant storm wall, but they didn't get anywhere close to it. The wall looked like it was just right there, but it was actually several dozen miles away.

"This should be far enough," Reivyn said to the man in control of the boat. He turned his head so his voice would carry to the side. "Turn about!" He infused Commanding Shout into his voice.

The defenses that were being thrown up were mainly aesthetic, but even then, with high Stats, they were able to be erected quickly. Reivyn didn't need to give his dad any additional time to prepare, so as soon as all of the boats were facing the shore oncce more, Reivyn ordered the helmsman to head back to shore.

Reivyn looked at the distant beach. There were walls, holes, and obstacles erected all along the beach, and he could see people moving about behind the hastily built fortifications. His sight bobbed up and down along with the waves, and almost immediately Reivyn sensed the Mana of the incoming Spells.

They coordinated their assault, and they quickly got up and over the wall. More defenders and attackers laid down, and Reivyn charged ahead to the designated area that would signal the end of the exercise. There was a little flag pole erected about thirty yards beyond the makeshift wall, and Reivyn let out a lout shout as he lifted it up and swung it about.

The sparring sessions all along the wall ceased and everyone turned to see Reivyn "conquering" the objective. Refix appeared with a smile on his face and clapped his son on the shoulder. Kahl was close behind him as the others ambled their way over.

"That was fun!" Kahl exclaimed, face flush with excitement. He wiped at the sweat beading his brow, but other than that he seemed ready to keep going.

"Yeah, other than that little incident at the beginning where one of the boats almost capsized, I'd say it was a success," Refix said, nodding his head. He wasn't even a little out of breath. His face and posture were calm and sweat free.

"Yeah, I was on that boat," Reivyn said, chuckling. "Luckily, the guardians were paying attention and snagged the one guy who almost lost his balance. Speaking of that incident, though, do you know what happened?"

"One of the Mages got distracted," Refix rolled his eyes. "How do you get distracted while launching a siege Spell at an impending invasion? Anyway, he looked away from his target just as he cast it for whatever reason, and it went a bit wide. I chewed him a new one, though, and I don't think it'll be a problem again."

"Yeah, we don't have to have everyone pull back on their siege Spells. Just get with the Mages and figure out which ones were the most accurate and responsible, and have them continue like they had before. I think moving through the water with the explosions and water splashes was effective in building the right kind of environment."

"From what I've seen, everyone loved it," Kahl said again. Many of the guardians congregating around nodded their heads with smiles on their faces. "Those running the attack had it better, but even the defenders had fun."

"Alright, but it's time to spice things up a bit," Reivyn said. "This time, each boat will designate two people as 'wounded.' They won't be out of the fight, but they'll have to be carried up the beach. Once they get to the first obstacle, they can participate in the sparring. We'll go a little harder with the spars, too, and if an someone gets tapped three or more times during the time sparring, they're out. We'll designate a minute of sparring for the initial fox holes, five minutes for the wall, and ten minutes for the final obstacle. If everyone gets tapped out, it's a failed invasion."

"Sounds good to me," Refix agreed. "I'll try and switch some things up on my end, too, try and throw some surprises at you."

"Not anything too elaborate for the second round," Reivyn said. "We don't want to lose sight of the point of the training."

"Sure, sure. I'm not going to activate my Skills and take out an entire boat, if that's what you're worried about," Refix laughed.

"Alright!" Reivyn turned to address the crowd. Everyone had made it over to the end point by this time. "Thirty minute break, then we go again. The team leaders will explain the changes this time around to each boat. Good job on the exercise this time, everyone. Let's keep it up."

There wasn't much more to say, so Reivyn didn't say it. There had been a person designated as the team leader for each boat, but it was more to handle miscellaneous things than to take charge. They had all been present for when they had decided to add the changes to the plan, so Reivyn let them disseminate the news.

Teilon and Kimberly were standing nearby talking with Kefira and Serilla. Kefira and Serilla were among the defenders. Xudrid and Vyria were off to the side talking to each other. They had been split up for the exercise with Xudrid being with the attackers and Vyria among the defenders. Reivyn and Refix walked over to the group and pulled out some simple rations.

"Eat up while we have the chance," he said. "No telling how long each new iteration of the assault will take. No reason to be hungry."

Kefira broke away from speaking with Kimberly and walked over to Reivyn's side. She pulled out her own rations, and everyone sat in a loose semi-circle. Reivyn was busy thinking about the next exercise and what other things he could implement to change things up, but the others happily chatted and joked with each other about the experience. Kefira was content to just sit next to him while she ate her own food and listened to the others.

Reivyn quickly munched through his rations and let himself relax while waiting for the time. All too soon, the thirty minute break was over, and he leaped to his feet.

"Alright. Once more into the beach."

Nobody else caught his little joke, but he still chuckled to himself.