165 Training 1 (1/2)

”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.