A formation was set up by Scarlet and a few captains, Shoga being one of them. Alex wasn’t sure if it was because of the teams contribution to getting the information, but he sure looked proud. With good reason, he would be well compensated as a captain.
From what he has seen, the formation will have two rotations on the front to help deal with any fatigue or injury they may incur. The tension of the march was thick, like men going to war. Which with the large force, it would almost seem like it. No one knows how many giant insect monsters there are, they were to assess the threat and help buy the town time to defend, and if worse comes to worse, evacuate those incapable of fighting such as the children.
Ewen explained the problem about being a nexus town is that it costs a lot of money to teleport as well as magic. This early on, there is no proper magic transportation circles or rune networks to mitigate the costs. It isn’t something that any nexus crystal is able to set up so early in integration. This also means that people can’t simply flee through the nexus, they either have to fight, or flea on foot. If you wanted to go to another nexus town, you needed to walk until there is a proper network set up.
‘ If shit hits the fan, I guess there would be no need to hold back.’
Alex’s team at least had their over heal buffer still since they hadn’t seen any combat after coming back thanks to the non decay effect of his ability.
“Halt!” Shouted out Scarlet, causing the formation to come to an abrupt stop. “Captains, prepare your squads.”
The squads composed of the captain usually consisting of a warrior or vanguard. Besides that is an additional vanguard or warrior, a rogue, 2 archers, 2 mages and a healer. Most captains consisted team leaders of their own teams, so their own teams were usually in their squad, plus additional support and a healer.
This meant Alex was on Shoga’s team as their healer. The rest of the team was with him, and there are 3 additional faces in his team, a warrior, an archer and a mage. Alex was never good with names, and since they are not in team Bright Steel, he already forgot them.
The squadrons were set up, three close quarter combatants at the front, behind them is 2 archers and mages along with a healer. There was a bit of a switch with how the healer position, they would be standing near the mages and archers, ready to heal any fatigue or injury of those who fall back.
With every one settled, Scarlet gave the go ahead for the rogues to make their way into the jungle Around 10 minutes later, they came running back out of the jungle, with some insects on their tail. It wasn’t just mosquitoes either, though they seemed to be the majority insect coming out of the wood work. With how fast they were coming in, it didn’t look like they would make it back to the front line.
“FORWARD!”
Every one advanced at her signal in tandem, before Scarlet sent the captains a signal.
“CHARGE!” The captains roared.
The rogues made it just in time as some vanguard and warriors blocked and parried the flying insects,
Rahl had blocked a giant stinger aiming for Ester, and parried it, causing it to stumble mid air before falling to the ground, where Shoga and Warrior number 2 pounced on it.
“Archers, at the ready!” Shouted Scarlet. Archers had better aim and range than mages, while mages had more fire power and crowed control, as such, with the insects engaging the front line, precision was needed.
“Fire!”
A hail of arrows rained down with pin point accuracy thanks to the super human ability and accuracy of the adventurers shooting the monstrous insects, those that didn’t perish from the arrows, sadly changed targets.
“Mages ready! Fire at will!”
Bolts of condensed mana, fire, ice and lighting shot up into the air like fireworks, followed shortly by the falling corpses of flying insects a few got through, causing a bit of panic. One targeted Rea due to her fire bolts. Alex stood in front of her and tanked the hit. A blue sphere briefly flared around him, only taking 96 damage. The Mosquito, not expecting to strike what must have felt like a brick wall, broke its stinger and was stunned momentarily, allowing Alex to leap up and smash it with his mace.
His single hit brought it down to the ground where he beat it to death, finally crushing its skull.
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“Damn Alex.” Commented Sylvie before she once again started firing on the distant mosquitoes.
“Thank you…” Alex simply gave Rea a grin and thumbs up.
The battle died down not long after, the first wave beat and healers rushed forth to tend to the injured. Healing spells also healed fatigue, so even though his team didn’t have any injuries due to their team work, he still healed them. They had a moment for healers and mages to regain some mana, before the rogues were went back into the jungle.
___
For the better half of the day, every one fought in skirmish after skirmish with what Shoga had announced to his team, being that there were zero casualties. Morale is at an all time high and by sun down, people set up camps. Giant centipedes, beetles and mosquitoes were being processed by some while others cooked up veritable feasts with their stored food. No one in their right mind wanted to try their luck eating the bugs.
All the processed monsters would be taken in by the guild, and people would get their share of loot and or coin by the time they had finished their objective
Sylvie herself had volunteered to cook, as it was surprisingly her Utility class. As she stated, being an adventurer sometimes means living off the land, being an archer and survivalist, identifying edible plants, processing monsters and cooking her kills were apart of her skill set. That, and she enjoyed cooking, so Alex let her use his cooking station. He didn’t set up his tent, since it was a bit too fancy to have others eye off, so he just pulled out a sleeping bag. He was glad that it was a clear night, if a bit humid due to the proximity of the jungle.
Guard shifts were given out to some of the more keen eyed adventurers. A few minor monsters, likely those who smelt all the blood or those pushed out of the jungle were handled easily, meaning Alex had a restful night.
By day break, they had a quick light meal and got ready for another day of grinding. They changed their position away from the previous battle field and a few scouts were sent in first to assess the situation, coming back with news of a new monster type.
Fire ants and black ants. The fire ants, large as a person, while the black ants are much, much larger. The difference being that fire ants numbered in the hundreds while the large, tankier black ants were four times the size but fewer in number. The previous formation was set up in record time, and a the rogues were sent in to aggro a few of the ants. About five minutes into the rogues scouting mission, smoke was visible from the direction of the jungle, and Alex noticed movement in his upper left peripheral.
“Somethings wrong…” Muttered Alex.
“What?” Asked Sylvie, having spotted the smoke in the horizon, she knew something was up.
“Ester has taken damage.” He stated, half his buffer was gone, and it was slowly draining away.
There were similar exclamations around them, some healers claiming their squad’s rogues had taken damage or worse, some of them having perished. Tension rose as anxiety spiked through out the ranks of people as sounds of screams and panic echoed from close to the exit of the jungle before the first rogues broke free of the jungle in rough shape.
Cries for help and to run came from those whose spirits were broken, and for good reason. A veritable deluge of ants were not far behind.
“By the gods…”
It was a carpet of red and black, that skittered out from the jungle. Scarlet had hastily called for captains to advance to help those who remained and archers to fire at will. There were so many ants, that were so fast, it was not possible to retreat without heavy casualties.
“GET IN FORMATION!”
Scarlet's war-cry seemed to help increase the broken moral, likely a skill of some sort and people broke out of their dazes and started to advance.
As much as Alex wanted to hide his cards, it would do him no good if every one perished.
”Sylvie, hold down the fort.” Alex said before rushing forth.
”What are you doing?!” She shouted at him.
“Helping!”
The front line wasn’t holding, some of the ants made it past. Alex placed down one turret near the group, getting a look of confusion from Sylvie and Rea at not having seen it before. Their confusion turned to shock as the ants that started to break through were easily annihilated by a single shot as Alex used his mace to smash his way through the few ants to reach the front.
“What are you doing here?!” Panted Shoga, as he blocked a biting ant with his axe, having spotted Alex before kicking it and bringing his axe down in its head.
“Placing down my pylon.” Alex told him. “Be sure protect it.” Shoga nodded as Alex placed it within reach of them four, getting appreciating sighs from the four as it healed their mounting wounds and fatigue. After that, he placed 2 more turrets, one on each side of the formation.
“What are-” Rahls question was cut off as the turret he was looking at, swiveled and shot a nearby ant, blowing up its head. The four had gaped briefly at the ease the two summoned constructs were handling the ants with such speed and visible ease.
“They are how I made it out of that dungeon.” Stated Alex, smirking at the groups gaping look.
”Watch out for the soldier fire ants.” Warned Ester. “They breathe fire.” It was Alex’s turn to gape.
“You’re shitting me.” Ester shook his head at Alex’s question. “That explains the smoke and fire.” Alex muttered as he looked towards the jungle. The spreading fire seemed to cause more monsters to come out of the wood works. “Dumb ass ants.” He cursed.
“Stay by the pylon, I’ll support those that need it.” Spoke Alex, as he pointed to a group being over whelmed.
“Just be careful!” Spoke Shoga.
Alex nodded and rushed to a nearby group, who with their healer not nearby, had accumulated a great deal of wounds. Their vanguard had taken on more than she could handle, being snapped up by one of the giant black ants and bitten in two. Alex stashed his mace and pulled out his pistol, firing two shots at two of its legs, causing it to collapse after blowing off two of them at the joints, before firing two charged shots at its head. One blowing a hole in its head, the other crumbling the rest, causing it to finally still.
The other 2 warriors and Rogue had written the woman off as a lost cause, as she lay in a heap, holding in her spilling organs while in shock. Alex knelt next to her, and she didn’t even register him as he started casting. Alex had to lay down a turret and digi-clone in order to hold back some ants while he worked.
As Alex pumped magic into her, he watched with morbid fascination as new flesh seemed to bubble and boil, growing back her lower half, legs and all within the span of roughly 6 seconds, causing Alex to turn away and hurl his breakfast.
This is what he was afraid of, freezing up or not coping during an intense battle. He slapped himself in the face hard and turned back to the woman to find her unconscious. It must have been too much for her. He grabbed her equipment, wrapped a shirt around her lower waist and hauled her in a princess carry before he was interrupted.
“Who are you?” Asked a rogue. “The captain she… She was…”
“She’s fine now. Managed to heal her, but she wont be able to fight, she went into shock.”
“How?” He asked, as he was joined by two other wide eyed men.
“Don’t you recognize him?” Asked a warrior. “Hes that miraculous healer every one was talking about.”
”Even so!” The rogue gestured animatedly to her lower half that was on the ground a bit away from them.
“Please take care of the captain.” Sighed the second warrior in relief. Alex nodded and booked it, running back to his group to find Sylvie and Rea holding out well.
“Who’s that?” Asked Sylvie.
”Some one I saved." Alex answered somberly "She was bit in half, but I managed to regrow her lower half.” Rea gasped and covered her mouth in horror at hearing that. “The ordeal seemed to be too much for her, take care of her, there’s more work to be done.”
Alex laid her down on the ground, re summoned the turret near them before he headed to the next group.