Rot Heart: A LitRPG of Rot Magic in an Ancient World (Book 1 completed)

Realizing his arrows couldn't pierce the Stonehide Bear's armor, Belilamos switched targets and eliminated several smaller beasts running alongside the bear.

Then, Carmeta placed herself in the path of the charging monster and planted her greatsword into the ground. The edge of the sword was facing the Stonehide Bear.

While she still held the handle with both hands, Div and En sensed her gathering mana on her blade. They didn't know what she was capable of, but they trusted she knew what she was doing.

While Carmeta was preparing, Belilamos armed his bow with two arrows, much smaller than the ones he normally used. Paired with his giant bow, they looked more like darts than arrows.

He released the string of his bow, sending both arrows flying toward the bear.

They lodged themselves into the beast's eyes.

But the monster wasn't stopping. It couldn't see but its charge kept going, as if nothing had happened. The Stonehide Bear was going straight for Carmeta.

Div and En couldn't help but clench their hands on their weapons. Carmeta didn't seem worried, but it was unnerving to watch a rock-covered bear—likely heavier than all the warriors on the battlefield combined—barrel toward her.

Around them, the other students were similarly anxious. The only one not showing a reaction was Gennorina, still entranced in whatever she was doing.

When the bear was about to collide with Carmeta, she let go of her blade's handle and ducked behind it. The monster ran into the blade, but instead of knocking it over as Div and En expected, it was cleanly sliced in half.

The two pieces of Stonehide Bear kept going as they parted around Carmeta's blade. They slid on the ground for a moment before coming to a stop behind her.

The blade was intact, unmoved. Carmeta stood up from behind her weapon, grasped its handle with a single hand and plucked it from the earth. Then, she raised the massive sword into the sky. It was larger than she was.

(If we ever make her angry, we need to run.)

[That's so cool! Have you seen how sharp that sword was?]

"Carmeta's bloodline is helping her here," Vedovessa explained to the class. "She can imbue her weapon with sharpness-attuned mana. You can see the result for yourself. Notice how she and her husband worked together to achieve this result. Had the bear seen the mana in the blade, it might have changed its course."

Div and En could see that their new comrades were already thinking about how they could synergize their skills with their closest friends. They were a little disappointed they couldn't even theorize on that. After all, they were new here and didn't know much about everyone's skills.

If they hadn't been exiled from Kheiron, they would surely have had this sort of discussion with Sebastian, Zoe, and Phillon.

(I wonder how they're doing.)

[I only care about Sebastian.]

(Don't be like that, the others had good reasons not to see us off. We don't want them harming their standing in the city for no reason.)

[For no reason? Nevermind. I don't want to fight with you now.]

(Sorry, I guess we can have different opinions on that. If we get our way, it will not matter.)

If they managed to separate, it didn't matter if Div resented their old friends. En could keep fond memories of them.

A battlefield was not the place to talk about their respective feelings.

More and more Evolved Rank monsters were making their appearance. While the Stonehide Bear had been swiftly dealt with, others were not so easy to kill.

Vedovessa was constantly reminding her students of the particularities of each species and giving details on how the Camboacian warriors were defeating them.

"Look," she said. "Vercinetos is chasing after a Dust Ferret."

Div and En looked in the direction their teacher pointed to. It turned out Vercinetos was the name of Gennorina's father. The spearman was moving incredibly fast after a little grey creature. From the distance they were at, it was hard to make out the details.

"Dust Ferrets are difficult to handle," she continued. "They are fast, but the main issue is their ability to transform their bodies to dust when they take a hit. Try hitting dust with any weapon, it won't do much. Yet, they must be dealt with since their dust magic is highly disruptive to other combatants."

"What's the solution?" Ambisenna asked.

"There are a few," Vedovessa said. "But Vercinetos' specialty is speed, so once he catches up to the ferret…"

Just as she said that, the spearman nearly teleported next to the beast and in an instant, the Dust Ferret had disappeared into a cloud of dust.

A cloud of dust that was now drifting toward the students.

Vedovessa clicked her tongue and shouted, "Vercinetos! Use your brain for once in your life."

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Then, in a casual motion, she willed mana into action and gathered raindrops into a water curtain, stopping the dust before it reached her class.

"As I was saying," she said, ignoring her students' shock at her casual display of water magic. "If you hit a Dust Ferret, it will shift its body to ash and reform it. But Vercinetos hit it near-simultaneously all over its body, overwhelming its ability to recover. Water magic also works. What you need to do when you encounter a monster is to assess which of your party's abilities is best suited to deal with it."

Div and En thought about it. It wasn't guaranteed that their rot would have any effect on the Dust Ferret. It probably depended on the exact nature of its dust. If rot didn't work, they didn't have a way to deal with the ferret.

Neither did they with the Stonehide Bear. Would its stone-covered skin rot? Unlikely.

(I don't like how dependent we are on rot.)

[I have to admit that I don't either. Even if I'm fine with using rot, I now see that it's not adapted to every situation.]

(Evolved Rank is not as simple as we thought. All those monsters have abilities we would have a hard time breaking through.)

The battle continued.

Despite the evident strength of the Camboacian warriors, cracks were starting to appear. It started with one man getting his foot crushed by one of the weird three legged birds. He had to be carried away from the frontline.

From this point, injuries accumulated while the rain kept going strong.

Div and En could see it. The other students could see it.

"Teacher, let us help," Segorix asked.

Vedovessa refused.

Div and En glanced at Gennorina who was still channeling her mana into the earth, her eyes closed.

This had been going on for almost an hour. Her endurance was impressive, and so was her concentration. It wasn't a small feat to stay serene in an Evolved Rank battlefield.

Div and En doubted they could have done that.

Another warrior had to be escorted away from the fighting. This time, it was the mother of one of the students. Agitation grew.

"Quiet!" Vedovessa ordered. "So far, the battle is going well. Injuries are par for the course on a dark day. The fact that none of our warriors fell to the enemy so far is enough."

Her words sobered her students. People could die.

Still, not being able to participate was frustrating. Even Div and En, with their new bond to the village, were itching to throw themselves into the melee. They could only imagine how the others felt.

[But what is Gennorina doing?]

(I'm curious too.)

[I mean, she's sending mana into the earth. There must be a reason for this. Why is Vedovessa letting her do that? I'm not seeing any effect but it feels like she's preparing something.]

There was no chance Vedovessa hadn't sensed it too. With her recent display of water magic, it was clear their teacher had an exceptional grasp of mana manipulation.

As they grew suspicious, Div and En tried to pay attention to their teacher and Gennorina. They didn't think they would do anything uncalled for, but they wanted to figure out what was happening.

With this notion in their mind, it quickly became clear Vedovessa was aware of Gennorina's actions.

The teacher was periodically looking in the young druid's direction. It was too regular, too correlated to surges in Gennorina's mana consumption to be a coincidence.

(What's going on? It doesn't seem like any other student is aware, but when I look at the Evolved Rank warriors…)

[What did you see?]

(Not much from those on the front line, they are too busy to spare us a glance. But the injured ones resting closer to us are also checking in on Gennorina.)

"Crap!" Vedovessa muttered, stopping Div and En's thoughts. They followed her gaze into the sky and noticed a flock of birds moving in their direction.

"Students," she said, with a tone that wouldn't allow disobedience. "Be ready, thirty-four Dire Birds are plunging toward us. Among them are four Evolved Ranks. I will deal with the Evolved Ranks birds but you might have to fight."

"Birds?" Segorix exclaimed. "Birds never fly during dark days!"

"Dire Birds are the only exception," Vedovessa explained. "Be careful, they don't have special abilities but they are nasty, they will hurt you without caring for their own safety."

Div and En watched as the injured warriors stood up to shield the students.

[If only our clan was like that.]

En didn't comment. But he wasn't sure the Leios clan's Evolved Ranks would have been ready to sacrifice themselves for the younger generation.

Once the birds passed over the front line, the archers like Belilamos were able to spare a few arrows to thin the flock. Unfortunately, they were too high in the sky, only one Evolved Rank and a few Basic Ranks were hit.

Then, they came into the range of the student cohort. Lugsellos and the other archers started firing, but their aim was shaky, and many arrows missed.

Vedovessa stood straight, first in line to receive the attack. Water mana swirled around her as she braced herself. The village hadn't assigned its weakest to the defense of the newly awakened students.

The three remaining Evolved Rank Dire Birds dove straight toward her as the injured warriors converged to support her. Meanwhile, the twenty-five or so other Dire Birds aimed for the students.

Moments before impact, Div and En noticed Gennorina still had not opened her eyes. They weren't the only ones to notice as Segorix and Amnisena moved with them to stand before her.

"What is she doing?" Div and En asked.

Neither Segorix nor Ambisena knew. They tried shaking her awake, but she was too focused on her spell to hear them.

They would have to protect her. There was no more time. The birds were here.

Spear and Shield in hand, Div and En switched to combat mode. Their minds worked together to calculate their best moves.

As the bird flock crashed onto the students, they impaled one on their spear while they positioned their shield to block three others.

Those three Dire Birds were the first creatures to get a taste of their Rotten Shield skill. While the bird hanging on the tip of their spear was dead, the three having hit their shield were still alive, but Div sensed rot-attuned mana had seeped into them.

He communicated his findings to En.

(We can never use shields in training again.)

[Yes. Too dangerous.]

Compared to Div and En, the other students didn't have nearly as much success. While most of them managed to push back the birds attacking them, with some students only having a bow, the melee fighters were outnumbered by the beasts.

Div and En were the only ones to score a kill, while some students were injured.

Some started panicking.

The battlefield descended into chaos.

Those who managed to stay focused on the fight, including Segorix, Ambisena and even Lugsellos, fought hard to protect their friends. Some of them stumbled and fell to the ground, others dropped their weapons in fright.

Div and En took a deep breath. They needed to do something.