"Why are you back this early, have you already completed your mission?" George questioned Kairos the moment he stepped into the Command Tent.

"No Sir, I ordered a full retreat after I sensed something is wrong.”

“Give your full report.”

“We are successful in the expulsion of 20 out of 30 blue team members.

We have also managed to secure another 23 badges from them in the last three days" Kairos described honestly, albeit clumsy in his inexperience.

"And your reason for retreating?" George asked as he observed Kairos full in the face.

It was an expression that is neither filled with anger for the disobedience nor a look of trust for the decision to shorten the operation. In any case, this new captain, Kairos, still needs to be tested. After all, even though their team have the most achievements, they appear suspicious, at J rank officially, and they were not well known before this examination.

The few that were familiar to the five is also around J rank and likewise rather unknown themselves, and they had all been called in by George to understand the squad better.

Unfortunately, his questioning revealed nothing. Those that mixed around with the five could not provide a sensible answer, primarily having dismissed Kairos’ group as weaklings in the past.

It has been George's guess that Kairos and his team had been hiding their actual abilities for some reason, and during this training exercise, they had unknown incentive to show their true strength finally.

Because the real cause behind this is unknown, it left George feeling uneasy, and doubtful on utilising Kairos' crew during this exercise.

George believes that people who act with such secrecy come with self-serving motives, only when there are personal gains to be made will they reveal themselves. And this became a reason for his doubt.

“Is it fame, fortune or glory that you seek?” He thought privately, as he awaited the answer from Kairos.

Regardless what Kairos motives are, in the end, George still need this team at the fore.

Kairos has turned into the sharpest blade he has in such a crucial time.

Before deciding what he could trust them with, George designed this mission for them, to better test their abilities and personalities.

On the other hand, Kairos also understands that he is scrutinised currently, and depending on what his answer is, George will decide the role that his team will play for the rest of this exercise. He did not take this lightly, for it is possibly determinant for their results.

Kairos looks at George and calmly said carefully, "As the scouts must have reported, Luciette had underestimated our numbers at the start and handed us our initial success.

She then switched tactics, adopting to a defensive line against us, and resorted to lure our team into ambushes.

Failing this, their guerrilla units retreated, and they refused to engage us regardless what we do.

Our team could only turn to more forceful tactics.

With our progress slowing down to a crawl, I judged there is little merit to continue, especially after that reverberating howl.

I’m sure you've also felt how formidable that Orc appears to be, by the great disturbance it made in the Heavenly Energy with its roar."

Hearing this George nods in agreement. The report coincides with what the scouts have told him.

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Kairos had purposefully withheld the fact that the roar had temporarily disrupted his Soul Perception ability. Having lost his sense to detect danger from far was the main reason that he decided to call for a fallback.

"George, we also stand by Kairos' decision. After that roar, our internal Ki were unsettled, and many of the guys suffered internal injuries," one of the captains that went with Kairos added.

George nodded in silent agreement. That sound blast had also disrupted his own Ki, but his case was mild compared to the reports he received. There were many patrols closer to the source of the loud roar that was wounded by the invasive oscillations. It was fortunate that during that time, he was in the war tent surrounded by thick timber walls.

When Kairos and the boys first heard that his crew suffered internal injury from that roar, the five of them were rather surprised. Though they were out in the field and closer to the source, they suffered no damage.

He suspects the reason for this is because their body has become more durable, filled with vitality, after training in soul force cultivation. And it allowed them to shrug off damage that would have wounded most people.

Unfortunately, besides Kairos’ team who are all Soul Force users, only four people out of the 20 men sent by George were uninjured, and all of them are team captains and are higher ranked practitioners.

"I have acknowledged your decision in returning early. Give me the status report," George says.

Despite questioning Kairos, George, as the commander, actually believes that during an operation, decisions from captains and leaders are essential.

If the judgment is logical and sound, there is no reason to mete out punishments even if it seems to go against his initial orders. In fact, he would like to encourage his leaders to think on their toes because they will be the ones that face the situation and therefore can make the quickest arrangements.

"All 25 of our members are active and ready for combat.

There are eight among us are that are slightly wounded, but those injuries will not hinder our abilities for short campaigns.

While all of us are exhausted from the three days operation, and most of the guys have sustained internal damage thanks to that roar, we will still be able to operate at 90%" Kairos said while inserting as many details for George as possible. At the same time, he hinted that a short time for rest would be appreciated.

For a defensive-type commander like George, being able to understand a situation as completely as possible is crucial, and will enable him to make better decisions.

However, hearing Kairos' report, George's usually calm composure broke, and his eyes widen in surprise and disbelief.

Everything that Kairos had said prior to this was summarised in a report that now rests on George's table. Therefore he wasn't too surprised that Kairos chose to stop the operation, especially since it is no longer effective to attack Luciette without incurring significant losses.

In fact, why he wanted Kairos to report isn’t just protocol, but also to help himself understand more about this new captain with ever-growing achievements.

But being capable of engaging in constant battles for three days against a good commander like Luciette, and without incurring any losses, is such a great achievement that George could no longer hide his shock.

Furthermore, he is well-informed the enormous amount of stress that Kairos, as the captain, was under, when the group fought, surrounded, and deep in enemy territory.

It is well-known that Luciette's forte lies in covert, ambush and aggressive tactics. George had read from reports on the ground situation that Kairos' squad was attacked mercilessly from all directions as if being hunted by demons.

It is a miracle that the group had not been pinned down and requested for backups.

In fact, from the statistics he was told, George had imagined that Kairos' teams already took massive losses and was even contemplating if it is too late to send a retreat order over.

At the most, he is willing to let Kairos lose half of his guys for this operation; any more and they will be unable to take the next course of action. So when Kairos returned to the camp a day early, he was not alarmed.

What truly confounded, and impressed him, was how no man was lost yet they managed to expel 20 blue team members.

This result was far more than what he could hope for, and actually pushed forward George’s plan. In fact, they could start the next part of their strategy immediately without any issues.

Right now, Luciette is left with only 115 active members, but among them, 30 had fortified themselves in East base and another 30 in the West base. That means, she is left with only 55 members hiding in the forest, for her to mobilise.

A triumphant smile danced on George’s lips. Although Luciette has probably found the hidden flag by now, she had lost 35 members and 46 badges in exchange for it. This amount of losses must have made her fumingly angry, especially when the red team managed to keep their losses to only ten scouts so far.

.....

At this very moment in the blue team's war tent, Luciette is indeed fumingly mad. However, unlike what George had thought, her anger did not come from the losses they incurred, nor because of their inability to hunt down Kairos.

It was instead directed towards Calculus who, because of his orders, caused the death of two students, and one returning as a cripple.

Despite retrieving the flag, the most important target of this examination, her wrath was greater than she expects, for it also extends to herself. As the commander of the Blue Teams, it was her decision to send Calculus that caused them these losses. Not only had that their morale fell, the number of people their team could mobilise now dropped by another 15.

On Luciette's orders, Calculus and his men that were sent to seek the hidden flag were told to retreat if their target is located within the Orc’s Nest.

Yet, Calculus obstinately sent his men for a raid, only for them to be chased out of the village fleeing for their lives; hounded like dogs by the fearsome Orc Hunters.

It was a form of insubordination, yet not Luciette's place to mete out punishment on a high-noble from the Devilheart family. She could only grit her teeth as she continued listening to the report.

As magical beasts, the Orcs had always been able to trace mana from the air, but this time, for some reason, the beasts were far more sensitive in locating Calculus' position. Having an uncanny sense of their group, despite their efforts in camouflaging themselves.

Quite a few times, the Orcs forced Calculus' teams with their backs against natural barriers like treacherous grounds and fast rivers. As hunters and creatures of the forest, these Orcs have naturally developed methods of herding prey against cliffs, and they used this against the humans with some success.

In such critical situation, the injuries that the men sustained steadily increased, until finally in their most intense battle with their backs against a thick swamp, one of the student's leg was torn off in the struggle, and two others were killed.

Sadly, death had always been a possibility in the training ground, and no one had the time to stop and mourn them.

It took merely a day to reach the Orc's village, but they needed three days of savage battles to retreat to base. And it was only because of their superior equipment and martial techniques that they had managed to drive back the Orcs each time.

Left with nearly half the team incapacitated from battle, Luciette damned Calculus for being the glory seeker as ever and causing her teams to pay for his self-serving purposes.