Chapter 74.1 – Oaky, the unbeatable 1.1

The angry Dwarf Teacher was bumping her foot on the ground again, and she shouted, “What the heck was that? You were supposed to fight Oaky! Not Tresuria!”

Chujitsuna leisurely pointed at the muscular pet that still had his arms raised and retorted, “He quit. That means I won, right? It is not my fault if Nozomu and Taisetsuna were not smart enough to realise that Tresuria is Oaky’s weakness.”

“But you were supposed to fight him, not her!”

“And I did! Why are you yelling at me? I fought Oaky, I figured out a way to win, and I won! Why are you so angry about it? Geez! Lighten up, Teacher, frowning like that will make you go old sooner! I did what Teacher Egar Gage told us during Strategy Class, that we needed to know our opponent! I found out Oaky’s weakness, and I took advantage of it to win! You are just jealous because you didn’t think of this move first!”

Muse Sirel rubbed her face with both hands, feeling drained, “Argh! Why are the students this year all nuts? Fine, you won! New rule, everyone! Oaky is the opponent, not Tresuria! Who wants to try next?”

All the students were looking at Oaky, who was walking to his place on the open field, and no one dared to say a thing.

Then, Tomiga Yurao took one step forward and said while frowning at the big pet plant, “I want to try something.”

As he was running forward, he grabbed Draiky by the head and took him with him.
Without even slowing down his running, he used Draiky as a weapon and slashed Oaky continuously. Wooden splinters were flying everywhere, and Tomiga didn’t stop attacking.
Until Draiky got enough. He grabbed Tomiga’s wrists with both hands, held onto Oaky’s head with his feet, and threw the surprised Lion-kind boy against the floor by using the momentum of a downward slash.
Tomiga hit the ground with such strength that he got knocked out immediately.
Draiky went to him and kicked his head a few times to check, and he then grabbed Tomiga’s tail and bit it, cutting it by the middle. He put the severed tail around his neck as if it was a scarf and ran to Nozomu’s side again.
One member of Tomiga’s Party rushed to him with a vial of a Healing Potion. When he finally woke up, he looked at his tail and screamed in terror.

He got up with a jump and went to Draiky and shouted when he was near him, “What was your idea to cut my tail? Give it back!”

Draiky hid behind Nozomu’s leg and shook his head.

When Tomiga moved to get to him, Tresuria stood in his way and put her open palm over his chest and warned him, while she was pointing her yellow flower at him, the one that could shoot sleeping gas, “Go away! You were mean to Draiky, so he was mean to you! It is your fault if you lost half your tail!”

“Get out of my way, you weird plant! He cut my tail! I am going to break him into pieces! I will-“

In the next second, he fell asleep under a cloud of light green gas. Tresuria slowly shook her head as she asked, “What is wrong with this kid? He keeps on making mess after mess! Is he doing this on purpose, or is he just plain stupid?”

His friend came running and picked him up as he apologized, “Forgive him, Tresuria! He is not a bad person; he just acts before thinking most of the time!”

“Well, it is better if, when he wakes up, you tell him it is not a good idea to mess with this one’s pets. Oaky is still a newborn, but Draiky knows very well how to deal with mean people. Next time, he might not end up with only a bruised ego, and a missed tail. He might not even wake up ever again. Consider this as the last warning!”

As the boy was leaving with his fainted friend, Nozomu whispered, “Darn, Tresuria, that was amazing! I didn’t know you could get so angry!”

As an answer, she grabbed his arm and hid behind him, as she trembled and fought to speak, “I-I am n-not… I just… wanted to scare them… That Lion-kind boy, he was so angry…”

“Well, maybe because losing a tail is a big deal, I suppose. Suna also gets pretty pissed off if someone messes with her tail. Maybe to him, it is like if you lost one of your flowers?”

“Oh! This one wouldn’t like that one bit! It would be terrible! That means that Draiky shouldn’t have cut his tail! Now what? Is it too late to put the tail back?”

Nozomu shrugged, looking at the Lion-kind boy who was still unconscious on the floor, next to his friends who were attempting to wake him up. “I would say it is too late. The cut stopped bleeding, so I guess there is nothing else to do. He will have to learn how to live with half a tail. Judging by the way he has been acting since he arrived, he looks very prideful, and such a loss might have shaken him a bit. I don’t care because he had it coming. What was his idea, anyway, of using Draiky like that?”

Chujitsuna leaned forward and stood between them, saying, “Actually, it was a good idea. He only forgot that Draiky wouldn’t like that. Maybe if it was one of us that asked Draiky to use him as a weapon, he wouldn’t mind, but being grabbed like that? Yup, I would beat his butt as well, and I would take one arm together with the tail, so he got out pretty easily after that stupid stunt!”

Teacher Muse was once again rubbing her face as she complained, “One stupid after the other… Seriously… What do I do with this pack of morons?”

She then stared at the students that were avoiding facing her and said, “Just you wait for the armed fights… I am going to punish you so much… Next student, go fight Oaky. Anyone, I don’t care who, just let’s finish this so that I can beat the crap out of your sorry asses!”

The remaining students made a line, and one by one, they went to Oaky. And one by one, they were defeated.
After nearly thirty minutes, there were knocked out students scattered everywhere, and Oaky was in his initial position, waiting for more opponents.

Teacher Muse faced Tresuria and asked, “You didn’t fight, right? Can you fight him, or would it be as if you were fighting yourself?”

“This one can’t do that, Teacher, nor Draiky. It would be too confusing for Oaky. This one can fight Draiky, but not Oaky.”

“Well, let’s do that on another occasion. For now… Teacher Egar, they are all yours!”

Muse Sirel went to the open field, tapping her frying pan while looking back with a weird grin at the scared students.

Teacher Egar Gage faced his students and sighed. “Well, now you have done it... You managed to piss her off. Go get your weapons, armour, helmets, everything you have because you will need them. Don’t be fools and underestimate her, because she is not someone you would want to face. Try not to make her angry during the fight by going easy on her, or she might take the protector from the hilt of that frying pan and pierce your head. Be prepared for her speed and weird movements. When in doubt, back away and think. Try to find an opening or a weakness in her fighting pattern. Not that she has any, but you might as well try; it serves as an exercise. Nozomu, you want to go first?”

“No, I refuse. I almost died against Oaky. No way I am going to face her with that weird smile she has on her face! I didn’t do a thing to make her angry; it was Taisetsuna, Chujitsuna, and that weird kid. Let them get punished for their stupidity!”

While everyone else was laughing, Taisetsuna complained, “Nozo! There was no need to throw me down a cliff like that!”

“You shut up! You were the one that cheated during an unarmed fight! Now go there and get your butt whopped! Chop, chop!”

Taisetsuna looked up at the mocking Fire Dragon, and asked, “You too, Hinotsume? Darn it, why is everyone after me today?”

Teacher Egar Gage pointed at Muse Sirel, who was still waiting. “The longer you take to go to her, the more she will be pissed. You sure like to gamble with your life! I wouldn’t have all that courage!”

While she was grabbing her chest plate and her sword from her bag, Taisetsuna grumbled, “Anyone that hears you talk might think you are afraid of her. Weren’t you supposed to be a great swordsman? She has a frying pan for a weapon, for crying out loud!”

Teacher Egar answered after vigorously shaking his head with a grimace, as if he was trying to get rid of a bad memory. “You never fought a Dwarf, did you? They are a thousand times worse than fighting a Lion-kind, a Cat-kind, and a Snake-kind at the same time! Dwarfs are violent, they fight dirty, and they never, ever get tired! The more they fight, the faster they get! You may be fast, but in a few moments, you will learn what it is like to be really fast! She had to use that frying pan because the Principal forbade her from using anything sharp or that had a tip. She once fought me with a broom, and she almost killed me. That is why she now uses that! Remember what I said! Search for an opening, and when in doubt, back away! If you see yourself in danger, quit immediately! She will not stop attacking you, and she doesn’t know when she is getting too dangerous!”

Taisetsuna went to the Dwarf Teacher with a frown, still doubting Egar Gage’s words. Muse grabbed her frying pan with one hand while the other was clenched in a fist.
As soon as Teacher Egar gave the order, she ran straight to Taisetsuna, who was waiting for her to get near. When she was within reach, Taisetsuna threw a side slash aimed at Muse’s chest.
To Taisetsuna’s surprise, she disappeared. Or better yet, she went to Taisetsuna’s blind spot. Because Taisetsuna was using her right hand to use her sword, all that Muse had to do was lower her body while running extremely fast to approach Taisetsuna from her right side. By doing that, to Taisetsuna, it was as if Muse suddenly disappeared.
Then, a powerful strike to her butt with the frying pan made Taisetsuna bend her body backwards in pain, only to get her legs swiped by a powerful kick. She landed with her back on the floor and got hit with the frying pan on her stomach so many times that she lost count.
Muse Sirel jumped back, and Taisetsuna rolled on the floor, emptying the contents of her stomach. When she was cleaning her mouth, she got hit straight in the face with such force that it made her roll back on the ground and faint. Muse jumped, twirled in the air, and landed on top of Taisetsuna’s chest.

She poked her forehead and looked at Chujitsuna with a grin. “Your turn, dumbass! Come here, and get ready for a well-deserved deserve beating!”

Chujitsuna made a big smile and answered, “No way, you crazy lady! Find someone else to play with you! I am out of here!”

At an outstanding speed, Chujitsuna slithered past her straight into the forest, disappearing in seconds among the trees.

Muse Sirel shouted, threatening her, “Come here, or you are going to fail this class!”

From the forest, Chujitsuna shouted, “You can’t do that! I am doing a strategy retreat to access the situation! Just like Teacher Egar taught us! I am going to come up with a plan and I will get you!”

“Come here right now, moron! I am-“

Then, Muse Sirel let go of her frying pan and stared at her arm, which was completely numb. To her surprise, the numbness was spreading, and her legs were losing strength. She noticed a small throwing dagger struck to her right shoulder, and Chujitsuna came from the forest with a big smile on her face and one small throwing dagger in each hand.

She approached the Dwarf Teacher, who was now kneeling on the floor, staring at her in complete disbelief, and said, “I won again. Just five more seconds, and you will sleep for a few hours, plenty of time for you to calm down. You may be a good fighter, but my mother did not raise a fool! She always said, in the slim shot that I couldn’t win against someone in a fair fight, to use poison. Or, in this case, a dagger dipped in a Sleeping Potion. Nighty, night, Teacher!”

Muse Sirel fell on the ground, and while she snored, Chujitsuna took the dagger from her shoulder and put it on her belt, where it was disguised as a button because of the small shining stone on the top of the hilt.

Teacher Egar stared at her belt and nodded with a slight smile. “That is a brilliant idea. You look unarmed when you are ready for anything. Not bad, not bad at all! Well, someone grab Teacher Muse and put her near the wall. Don’t wake her up, or she won’t shut up. Line up, because you are now going to fight me. Observe my movements and look for an opening. Chujitsuna, Teacher Muse won’t be very happy with you when she wakes up!”

The smiling Snake-kind girl shrugged. “Then it is probably better if you tell her to not get near me because I am going to either make her sleep or poison her. Like I said, mother raised no fool! She might try to get me, but she will fail every time!”