FIRST TRAINING

The knights and squires of Leonardo gathered by the estate's enchanted outdoor training ground an hour before dawn just as instructed by Evelyn

However, the young lady arrived at the site way ahead of the soldiers. Something that Evelyn found unpleasing.

"WELL LOOK WHO DECIDED TO JOIN ME!" shouted Evelyn to her soldiers. "I BET YOU'RE ALL WELL RESTED CONSIDERING I CAME TO THE TRAINING GROUND BEFORE ANY OF YOU. WOULD YOU ALL LIKE TO CANCEL THE TRAINING AND GET BACK TO SLEEP?"

"NO, MY LADY!" replied all the soldiers promptly.

Evelyn walked toward them so they could hear her more clearly.

"Listen! As the soldiers of Leonardo, it is your duty to have a burning desire to improve yourself. Being eager to use every waking moment to train should be one of your main characteristics." said Evelyn. "When I wanted you to gather an hour before dawn, I meant two hours before dawn. And if you have any loyalty to the Leonardo family, you'd come three hours before dawn. And if you're smart, you'd use those extra time for more training."

Evelyn looked at each and every one of her soldiers. Making sure they were looking right back at her.

"This is the last time I'm the first to arrive at training. Do you hear me?"

All of the soldiers straightened their stance.

"YES, MY LADY!"

Evelyn clapped her hands and gestured her army to come over to her.

"OKAY, THEN! LET'S GET THIS MORNING'S TRAINING STARTED. EVERYONE STEP INTO THE FIELD!"

Despite knowing who gave the order, some of the soldiers were a bit hesitant crossing into the training ground.

The Gale of Nightmare spell which induces fear was still active in the area as promised by Evelyn. Only Hilda and some of the Leonardo knights followed Evelyn into the field right away.

Seeing some of the soldiers were still scared to enter the training ground, Evelyn sighed and addressed her hesitant army.

"For those of you who don't wish to participate in this morning's training, you may go back to the barracks, pack your belongings, return to your family and never come back." said Evelyn coldly. "I told you. I need soldiers who are brave. I have no room for frightened hearts."

With that, Evelyn turned her back and prepared to begin the training.

The hesitant soldiers were, of course, slapped back into reality after hearing their commander's harsh words. They quickly gathered enough courage within them and stepped into the enchanted training ground.

All soldiers eventually joined Evelyn as instructed.

She then began the training with a little speech.

"In terms of capabilities, there are many skills you'd need to have in order to fight a demon. But there is one skill that you absolutely need to possess and master."

Evelyn snapped her fingers and casted a spell.

[Bara Arts, Intermediate Earth Manipulation]

Brown runes appeared on the border of the training ground field, on top of the runes for the Gale of Nightmare.

Suddenly, the ground beneath the soldiers started moving.

It was not like an earthquake, but more like a landslide. Only in this case, the land was not moving on a slope. It was moving horizontally and continuously in one direction.

The ground moved from the far side of the field to the nearer side from where the soldiers were standing. But when the ground reached the opposite site, the ground got swallowed to the belly of the earth and new set of grounds appeared on the other end. Continuing the cycle.

This weird phenomenon caused the soldiers to gradually get carried from their position toward the end of the field. But then they saw Evelyn still remained at the center.

Apparently Evelyn walked in opposite direction of the moving ground, which made her maintain her position.

The soldiers followed suit and walked so they would not get carried by the moving ground to the other side of the court.

Evelyn continued her speech.

"There is one ability you need to have when fighting against demons. And that is the ability to run."

The young lady snapped her fingers once again and the ground began to move a little faster.

All of them had to slightly jog in order to maintain their position in the field or they would risk get carried away by the moving ground.

"Our activity this morning is simple. RUNNING. We'll run for hours without stopping!" stated Evelyn. "Anyone who got swept by the moving ground and got tossed out of the field will be given additional exercise after this."

"YES, MY LADY!"

Evelyn nodded at her soldiers' enthusiasm.

"Good. Now that you are informed about the training, shall we pick the pace up?" Evelyn snapped her fingers again. "No demon run this slow, after all."

The moving ground moved even faster that all the soldiers had to run, almost to the point of sprinting. Something that the soldiers found difficult to perform.

Had it been a normal run, the soldiers would had been fine. But since they were all under the Gale of Nightmare spell, they had to battle the fear inside their mind. The fear that numbed their mind and made their limbs grew stiff.

As such, it took them greater effort just to perform a simple run.

Because of this, some of the soldiers started lagging behind. The army were then beginning to scramble all over the field due to their difference in fear-handling ability.

But all of the soldiers managed to stay on the field and not got swept by the moving ground.

They continued running at this pace for two hours.

By then, about half of them, mostly the squires, were already gasping for air. The more resilient ones like Hilda and the experienced knights were tired but they still managed to put on a strong face.

Seeing her army was able to withstand the training, Evelyn decided to increase the difficulty.

"It is great that you all are able to keep running this long. A good stamina is necessary to fight demons." said Evelyn.

She snapped her fingers again.

"But, just so you know, we usually don't get to fight demons on a flat plain like this."

A rumbling sound was suddenly heard at the far side of the field.

The moving ground ahead of the soldiers started to deform.

The knights and squires gasped at what they saw formed in front of them.

Instead having a flat surface like how it was with the original training ground, the moving ground was now rugged like forest landscape.

The running track now had small hills, mounds, and pillars that were as tall as trees. All of which were obstacles that would be present on natural terrain.

These hills, mounds, and pillars would then get swallowed up at the other side and reappeared at the other end, in different positions and sizes from before.

"O Einsof…" prayed one of the soldiers as he saw the great challenge ahead of him.