Training (1)

"Ok now, Irena you will take control, while I will only correct the mistakes you make with the formation.", she then told Irena.

"Ok.", Irena voiced out and then commanded them, "Let's get moving. We will slowly move down the corridor, while in formation until Vlada comes to us with the rats."

Everything voiced out that that they understood her command and they started to slowly move while trying to keep the formation.

"Ivan lift your shield by 5cm, Irena, move your shield 2cm to the left. Greg, move a bit closer to Ivan.", Celine started to throw out corrections for their formation. They weren't big changes but by following them, they were easily able to feel that the formation seemed to fit better.

They hadn't managed to advanced far, when Ivan got a message from Vlada, that she had found a group of rats and was now coming towards the group with them following behind her.

"They are coming.", he warned the group so everyone would be prepared.

"Everyone stop and get ready to receive them.", Irena speedily reacted.

Vlada was flying near the ceiling while the rats ran after her and jumped up and down, trying to get her. Since the rats on the first floor didn't have any form of ranged attack it was a futile attempt. Still, that couldn't stop them from trying.

Even when they saw the shields of the group they didn't change their target. It seemed that they had been angered by Vlada so much that they had fallen into a rage, ignoring everything else.

Without hesitation, the group of rats crashed fully into their shield-wall. Now Ivan could really feel how the wall worked. Some of the force was absorbed by himself, while some were transferred towards Irena and Greg. On the other hand, the sideways force that was created by the rats hitting the shield in an angel was transferred partly to Irena. This force was compensated or even overcompensated by the force exerted on Irena's shield. This made it exceedingly easy to hold the shield centered and thus keeping the wall closed.

The group of rats wasn't small, with more than twenty of them crashing into them. As such the force was large as well, but they managed to hold their ground. The front row of rats, on the other hand, wasn't that lucky. The force with which they crashed against the shields was partially bounced back onto them, and while not being able to throw them back or fully stun them, it still managed to make them dizzy.

"Make use of this opportunity and attack over your shields.", Celines timely command came.

Ivan used his sword to stab over his shield, trying to wound the rats at their heads or even pierce them. While the low size of the rats made it easier to block them with the shields, it also made it harder to hit them.

Realizing the problem Irena asked Celine, "How are we supposed to do this? We can't reach them."

"Don't you have spears? Change to them."

After she said this, the others realized that she was right. For the spear formation, they had prepared spears. And with spears being much longer than swords, they were much more suitable for stabbing over the shields.

Ivan took out his spear together with the others. While it wasn't as good as his sword, in fact, it wasn't much more than a simple wooden shaft with an iron spearhead, the range made up for its lower quality. With it, it was possible to reach the floor while keeping the shield in position. Luckily the ceiling was high enough for them to freely use the spear.

Since nobody of them had any real skills in spears, beyond the basic ones they learned in school, they could only simple stab at the rats, making the progress slow and tedious. Celine seemed to be much better with the spear, but she was holding back intentionally, trying to keep her skill at the same level as the others, to make the training more efficient.

Together it didn't take much to clean up the group of rats, although it took time, nobody got hurt and the shield-wall withstood all attacks of the rats.

"Do you want to give a review now or do we continue?", Irena asked Celine when the last rat was pinned to the floor with a spear.

"Let's continue. I'll give you all a full review when we are done.", the woman beside her responded.

"Ok. Then let's move on."

Once again they slowly made their way through the dungeon. They were lucky as the corridor was linear with no crossroads, making it easier for them. With the dungeon generating a new layout every time this just might be different next time. During this time, Vlada had pulled five more groups, each of which had between 20 and 40 rats and which they had slain easily.

Due to the long fights, they just needed to long to kill off the rats, they were now completely exhausted. This was especially so for Irena and Ivan, while Greg, Serge, and Pia who were in the second row were still a bit better off. Only Celine still seemed to be full of energy, making the others envious.

"How do you have so much stamina?", Pia asked her while breathing heavily. Using the spear to kill the rats was taxing since she had to reach over the woman and shield before her.

"Well, I didn't exhaust myself with training before we started moving."

This answer only got her unbelieving looks. "I don't believe that is all.", Pia voiced out what everyone was thinking.

"Alright, alright. I admit it. I'm just better at using the spear and my body is better than yours.", Celine said while smiling at them.

"So you only let us train beforehand, so you can look better now?"

"Of course not.", Celine shot Pia, who had asked the question, a glare. "But if you continue asking than I have to assume that you are eager to continue."

The warning made Pia instantly swallow the words, she had planned to say. They finally had a small break and there was no way, that she would risk it.

"Alright, enough.", Irena interjected. "Everyone, eat and drink something."

Some food and water would refill some of their stamina, which they truly needed. Although it wouldn't do much for their mental exhaustion, it could at least ensure that their bodies would function properly.

After everyone had finished some food and water, they once again got into formation. Irena stared into the room they had to enter.

"The formation wouldn't work there.", she murmured while thinking to herself. The open space in the room would be completely unsuitable for their two-row formation. "Should we increase the formation to three rows? No, that won't work."

Ivan looked to the side and saw that Celine was looking at the woman between them with a smile. As if feeling his gaze at her she looked back at him and nodded with a smile. He was able to guess that she indicated her agreement with Irena's thoughts.

"Ivan can Vlada pull them into the corridor?", Irena turned towards him and asked.

"No.", he shook his head, "She already tried before, but they won't leave the room except to their selected corridors."

"Damn. Then I guess we can only try to break through and then have on row facing forwards and one backward.", she sighed while voicing out her new plan. She then looked questioningly at Celine in order to get her opinion on it.

Celine just shrugged her shoulders. "It is your decision."

Irena took a deep breath and then said, "Alright, let's do it. We will rush through the room into the corridor opposite to our.", she pointed at a corridor. "Then the back row will turn around and defend against any opponents coming from the back. Ivan and Greg, you will defend the left side, while Pia will defend the right side. I will focus on the front and Serge you take care of the back."

With her new adjustments, they changed the position of their shields. Although they now weren't in the 'Basic Turtle Formation' anymore, the shields now provided them with a better all-around defense.

"Go.", on Irena's command, they stormed out of the corridor and into the open space of the room before them. As soon as they êntered, more than a hundred red eyes turned towards them. Then the rats rushed towards them from all directions.

Luckily for them, there weren't many between them and their targeted corridor. But they moved slower than them and even though they had a headstart, it wasn't enough. Ivan used his shield to knock aside a rat, that had tried to jump against Irena from the left side and used his spear to get another one to move out of his way. He wasn't trying to hit the rat since that might end up slowing him down or forcing him to drop his spear.

"Damn, I should have changed to my sword.", he cursed, realizing that the shorter but sharper sword would have been the better choice.