The Elemental Relics

The combat gym wasn’t what Ali had in mind. He was expecting a large room similar to the one with the race track on the airship. Instead, the gym was basically a small town with many buildings and streets. The teenager would be told later that the combat gym was designed to train individuals in urban combat where one had to learn how to fight through the streets where the defenders had a big advantage. There was another combat training called the field training where they would be fighting in open fields and forests. The training exercises weren't neglecting any settings that the resistance army could be fighting in. Seeing the urban setting, Ali understood why his group had struggled so much in the combat portion. Unlike combat in an open field or a forest where one had some ideas of where one’s opponents might be, an urban setting became far more complicated when the enemy could be in any building and, within those buildings, any of the floors.

To be honest, I don’t know where to start either. Urban combat allows all the dirty tricks in the book to flourish.

To make matters worse, the teenager learned from Svenne that the top ten teams worked together. They didn’t want to run the risk of elimination so the top teams formed an alliance that guaranteed them of their trials. Therefore, the odds were heavily against those from the outside trying to make the top ten. From what he gathered, the other twenty groups were also hesitant to work together as they didn’t trust each other enough. Backstab wasn’t uncommon so one always had to be wary of the other group’s intentions. Even if his group somehow was the among the last eleven groups, they had to overcome the incredible the seemingly impossible task of eliminating one of the top ten groups.

“Let’s try our best and see where that takes us,” said Ali.

Until he got a better feel, the teenager doubted that he could strategize better. He fully expected the next dozen or so combat exercises to be losses but he intended to learn as much as he could. As long as they performed well on the morning runs, then they should at least avoid the last spot. Yet, he had no more time to ponder. All the participants were told to go to their starting point which was selected at random. As soon as all the groups were in position, the drill sergeant announced the start of the combat.

“Let’s head into that building for now,” said Ali as he pointed to a three story building next to their starting location.

As soon as the group entered, Ali asked Kamis to guard the door while the rest of them explored the building, making sure they stayed low so no one got a clear shot of their heads through the windows. Once they got a better idea of the building’s layout, the three of them rejoined Kamis at the entrance.

“Did you hear anyone running down the street outside?” asked Ali.

When Kamis shook his head, Ali asked Svenne to use his abilities at the main entrance and at random spots on the main floor while the group headed to the second floor. The tall teenager had abilities that placed nasty traps wherever he wanted. These traps were similar to those Ali encountered during his evaluation with Instructor Bardanes, only they could be nastier and, with the caster close by, they could be manually triggered.

Head to the roof and inform me if you spotted anyone.

As Tian flew to the roof, Ali shared with the others his air serpent ability. The air serpent, with his small stature, would be difficult to spot. As he learned while training with Tian in the summoner realm, his summonee could actually become the wind. In other words, Tian sacrificed his ability to fight for the ability to remain concealed. For anyone that got too close, the individual would only mistake the air serpent for a breeze and be none the wiser. The high MP cost over time would be a limitation but a better understanding of their initial situation could make a big difference in their survival in the early stages of the combat gym.

“What do we know about the other groups?” inquired Ali.

They were waiting for someone to either trigger the traps on the first floor or be spotted by Tian atop the roof so, for the time being, they could freely discuss their strategy. Ali had hoped for more time to prepare.

“We don’t know much except that the top five teams are filled with monsters,” shared Svenne.

The tall teenager went on about how each of the members on the top five teams could single handedly defeat the other twenty five groups. They were considered the elites so the resistance army purposely grouped them together to make them even more terrifying. Due to their status, the twenty members were guaranteed top officer spots within the army. They only had to stay at the top until the army was needed and they were all deployed into combat.

“When is the army needed?” asked Ali.

“When leader Thomas says so,” replied the other three at once.

Thomas has been diligently training his soldiers while he ponders for an opportunity to pull the trigger. If his soldiers don’t know any of the dates, then they cannot leak anything to the enemy if captured…

Ali was about to ask about the other groups when Tian informed him of a group heading towards their building. The teenager relayed the description of the individuals to his companions only to see their faces turn pale.

“Seems like we are fighting the strongest group,” said Kamis.

Shit! We can’t be that unlucky, right? Or are the group starting points selected so the top ten teams never encounter each other?

“Let’s see how they’ll respond to the traps then. We might get a chance to inflict some damage before we go down. We might even learn something at the end of the day."