The trip to the settlement in the North was pretty uneventful, as Kai and his team enjoyed a carriage ride for the first 2 days before disembarking on foot towards their destination. After all, the settlement was located on a knoll, making it rather inaccessible to carriages, not to mention the dense forest terrain.
Nonetheless, the team trekked fast through the forests, their navigation training paying off. Consequently, they only required 2 days in the jungle before they reached the village. During their breaks along the journey, Kai had wisely spent the time recapping combat tactics with his team, refreshing their memories on the exact roles each and everyone would be playing.
Any additional time left over would be spent on honing individual skills and techniques. Kai was proud that the students under his charge were able to effectively reflect on their weaknesses and take concrete steps towards improvement. This motivated him to do likewise, as he continued working on his ability to cultivate demonic energy with Akame.
After all, Akame had said that Kai wasn't 100% efficient at converting and using demonic energy, implying that he had much room for improvement. Concurrently, he sought the knowledge regarding the Eclipse Luminos from Adeline, as he wondered if his Luminos could evolve further.
Sadly, Adeline told him that the ability to awaken the Eclipse Luminos was hereditary, and since there was limited information as to whether his biological mother had an Eclipse Luminos, it was safe to assume that Kai didn't possess such aptitude.
At the village, the team split into 2 groups. The boys would be in charge of meeting the Point of Contact (POC) for this mission, collecting as much information as possible. The girls, on the other hand, would take care of logistics such as resupply etc. It wasn't difficult for Kai to locate the POC for this mission, after all, it was the village chief that hired their services.
The chief, a short and scrawny old man with a staff, began narrating his experience of the attacks launched by the band of guerrillas, who prioritised the pillaging of resources and necessities over destruction. He said that this band of criminals weren't very large, and appeared to be the remnants of a far larger force in the past, as evident from the common tattoos on their bodies.
Since they didn't cause widespread devastation in their attacks, it was clear that the purpose of their attacks was simply for sustenance. As the village had almost no trained guards, not to mention warriors, they couldn't send a taskforce to investigate the hideout of these criminals, hence, they appealed to the Adventurers' Association for assistance.
After all, even though the attacks didn't result in loss of human lives, they were hurting the livelihoods of the villagers tremendously. Kai noted down as much relevant information as possible, including the estimated strength of the enemy as well as routes commonly taken by them to assault the village. Once Kai had clarified all the information he required, he thanked the chief before preparing to take his leave.
As Kai was about to join Jibril and Chen, he felt a sudden tug at his arm. The chief spoke solemnly, "Young man, I'm no prophet nor magician, but I've lived for several decades in these forests, so I know them at the back of my hand. Recently, I can sense a great disturbance within the woods, as evident from the fleeing animals.
There's something out there, immensely powerful, that is scaring away even the predators in this jungle. I should add that the raiders had already been attacking us way before this phenomenon, and whatever it is out there, it's found in the same direction where the raiders originate from. Be extremely careful, young man, for this mysterious being may be allied with the raiders."
Kai flashed a puzzled expression for a while as he tried to comprehend what he'd just heard before bowing respectfully, "Thank you for your wise words, village chief. I would bear them in mind as we conduct our pursuit of the raiders. We will return with good news, I promise you." The village chief nodded ruefully as he bade farewell to Kai and his companions.
Now, Adeline was engrossed in her task of selecting the most suitable ointments as Akame merely accompanied her, since she had no medical knowledge whatsoever. Akame asked nonchalantly, "What's the point of all of these ointments when healing magic can close up wounds rapidly?"
Adeline replied patiently, "Well, there's a limit to how much healing magic can treat a wound, even for experienced healers. In the event of deep wounds, we would usually prioritise quantity over quality, treating as much wounds as possible till they're non-fatal.
Subsequently, we apply these ointments to ease the pain and facilitate recovery. Of course, the wounds take a longer time to heal this way but it conserves our mana, enabling us to treat more patients in critical conditions. That's what I learnt in my internship with the Coventry, sorry if I rambled a little too much!"
Akame shook her head as she quipped instinctively, "No, no, that was rather enlightening! You see, back at Clan Vizard where Kai trained for nearly a year, we don't really have many experienced medical personnel with the exception of one stubborn surgeon, hehe.
All injuries and illnesses were mostly sorted out by ourselves, strengthening our bodies as a result. I'm not trying to say that a healer is redundant, it's just that we're accustomed to relying on ourselves and the cultivation of demonic energy to treat our wounds and purge our toxins."
Adeline nodded gently before resuming, "How's Kai during training? From the description you gave earlier, it sounds like he's been through hell over the past year. No wonder he behaves more mature and confident now, having gone through such arduous challenges."
Akame gave an awkward smile as she answered, "Well, training was definitely tough, hahaha, otherwise, what's the point right? Kai's lucky that he's a fast learner, or else he would have received greater punishment from everyone! He's born with a resilient body that won't crumble so easily, a proof of our ancestry, so don't worry! Anyway, I'm curious, what exactly do you see in him?"
Adeline smiled gently as she closed her eyes before opening them softly, replying, "They say that love can be rather irrational, which is true yet false at the same time in my case. It's not only his suave looks, more importantly, it's his character, where he can be kind and gentle to everyone yet firm and resilient at the same time.
Our shared experiences through life and death situations have also developed our relationship to the next level, since we have complete faith in each other's actions and decisions having survived one tribulation after another. Why do you ask, Ms Akame? Do you have someone you're interested in?"
Akame's face swiftly turned red as she stammered, "M-Me? No, I don't have anyone that I fancy at the moment, d-definitely not a rash, arrogant brat like Kai!" Adeline giggled slightly at Akame's sudden outburst as the pair walked towards the meeting point where Viper and Eunice were already waiting.
Night soon came and Kai's team felt fortunate that they could finally rest with a proper shelter over their head. However, that feeling of bliss vanished in an instant when Kai issued out sentry duties, insisting that 2 people were to remain awake at any point of time to alert the rest in case the enemy attacked under the cover of night.
This was turning out to be worse than the nights they had spent on the carriage and in the forest, as they had much more rest during those nights. Kai explained, "In the first 4 days, we needn't practise so much security because we'd yet to reach our objective and our enemies are unlikely to ambush us if they'd no idea about us in the first place.
However, right now, we're standing on a heavily desired objective that attracts our enemies like nectar to bees. Thus, I'd expect everyone to be on their guard during your duty, for this is not a training exercise. This is real. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded as the first pair, Jibril and Chen, left the inn to perform their patrol.
In the middle of the night, when the crescent moon glowed brightly in the starry night sky, Adeline woke up as she prepared to take the next shift. As she walked out of the inn, she saw a figure seating on the roof of the inn, busy scribbling away. His identity was unclear to her, as the crescent moon cast a shadow over him.
Adeline leapt onto the roof to take a closer look, only to discover that it was Kai, who was busy rehashing the combat engagement plan. As team captain, Kai was exempt from sentry duties, but here he was, working late into the night. Adeline walked up to him and said softly, "You should get some rest, dear. As team leader, we need you to be at your best."
Kai looked up from his sketches and replied, "Thanks for your concern, Adeline. I'll turn in soon, after I've finished this last bit. I'm doing the planning out here because I thought I'd play my part too in watching over the village at night with my Luminos."
Adeline sighed as she said, "You worry about us too much, Kai. Now, go back to your room and rest. You'll need your energy." before giving Kai a slight peck on his cheek. Kai returned the gesture as he packed his stuff before returning to his room in the inn. Adeline smiled gently in appreciation of Kai's ardour in ensuring mission success as she began her patrol of the village.
It turned out that the night was relatively peaceful, as nobody suspicious was sighted during the patrols. Thus, Kai allowed his team an additional hour of rest till 0700 hours before officially commencing with the mission.
After all, from the intelligence he's gathered thus far, the guerrillas were pretty methodical in their assaults, always invading the village in the morning around 1000 hours. This was probably a consequence of the lack of opposition from the villagers, which made them over-confident, something Kai could utilise to his advantage in this operation.
Before leaving the village, Kai conducted one last brief to his team on their respective roles and positions. Simply put, the overall objective of the mission is to eliminate all hostiles before they can enter the village. There are 2 main points of entry; one through the mountains and the other through the forest.
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After considering their respective strengths and weaknesses, Kai put Jibril and Eunice in charge of the mountain route, because their direct style favoured an open terrain with no place to hide. Viper and Chen took the forest route because of Viper's ability to exploit dense terrain as evident in their practice battle weeks ago.
Finally, Kai, Adeline and Akame were positioned further behind, mid-way between both routes. They served as the Command HQ, and reserve force if required. Once the brief was completed, Kai's team dispersed to their respective positions.
A team of 8 were running through the rocky path between the hills littered with stones. Just before they could finally exit the mountain range, a young man stood in their path. He was unarmed, yet he confidently declared, "You all shall not pass!"
The 8 brutes immediately burst out laughing. Among them, a man with spiky purple hair in a Mohawk hairstyle cried, "Are you kidding me? I can't believe I nearly panicked in fear when we received news that the damned village head had the audacity to request the capital for aid. I thought they were going to send a guild like Saint Cross to hunt us down! However, it appears that all the capital could spare is a young chap who has probably never killed before, hahaha!"
The rest of his companions joined him in laughter as the young man remained unfazed, announcing, "Remember the name Jibril, so that you may answer the gatekeeper of Hell when he asks why you're there!"
The men stopped laughing, some displaying incredulous expressions while others were visibly angered. The man with purple hair warned spitefully, "Don't push your luck too far, kid! You're 100 years too young to be threatening us! Eat this, [Wind Leg - Cross Slash]!"
The purple-haired man performed two quick successive sweeps with both legs, one horizontal and one vertical as a cross-shaped air blade flew swiftly towards Jibril. To his surprise, Jibril disappeared in an instant and reappeared in front of him.
Twisting his right arm as he thrust it forward, turning his body towards his left to attain maximum reach, Jibril muttered, "[Edgefield Lance Style Unarmed - Bullet Lance]!" as he mercilessly stabbed the hapless man with his right hand coated with black mana armament.
The force generated by the twisting motion was so potent that the resultant air pressure blew a large hole cleanly through the man's chest. The man could only gasp in surprise before his eyes rolled up, as he collapsed to the ground, dead.
Jibril calmly swung his right hand towards the ground, splashing his dead foe's blood messily across the ground as he said coldly, "You're right, this is the first time I've killed someone. Now, come, I'll take you all on!"
This time, the remaining 7 were all furious as their supposed leader yelled, "Get him! Avenge our comrade!" 3 men rushed towards Jibril, their weapons or limbs coated with mana armament as they intended to overpower him with their advantage in numbers.
Just as it seemed that they would tear him apart, suddenly, they were forcefully halted in their tracks, as though they crashed against a brick wall. The truth was, they had collided head-first against Jibril's now clearly visible black mana shield on his left arm. Jibril had caught them off guard by charging towards them at the very last minute while increasing his mana output towards his previously invisible mana shield simultaneously.
The remaining men were stunned, but quickly readied spells to hurl at Jibril. However, before they could do so, dolls suddenly emerged from the ground, zapping their targets with Lightning magic from their mouths, electrocuting all except one man, the leader.
Meanwhile, Jibril had quickly disposed of his opponents one after another, killing the first with a thrust to the heart, the second with a concussive blow to the head with his shield and the third with a well-placed [Wind Leg] to the throat just as he pounced on Jibril.
The leader was appalled. His team of minimally Master tier combatants were so easily dismantled by a bunch of kids with no experience in killing whatsoever. He scanned his surroundings and realised that he had only 2 opponents to deal with.
The boy looked tough but he didn't know anything about the blonde-haired girl, though she was probably responsible for the dolls that electrocuted his men. Deducing that she was the weaker between the two and she probably over-relied on her dolls, he leapt towards her, casting [Wind Burst] to suddenly accelerate in mid-flight to catch her off guard.
Just as he thought he could decapitate her with his Wind magic-empowered knife, he felt a tingling sensation through his chest. He glanced down and was horrified to discover an electric-filled hand buried deep within his chest.
Eunice had perfectly countered his aggressive advance with a vintage [Lightning Blade] that she had learnt from Kai over the past week. The man spat out blood as he slumped onto the ground, dead.
Eunice heaved a sigh of relief as she remarked, "I guess it's over? Can't believe that we completed the job so quickly and easily, makes all those gruesome training worth it." Jibril nodded silently and just as they were about to depart and return to the rendezvous point, both felt a shiver down their spine as something huge crashed unceremoniously behind them.
The resultant shockwave nearly threw them off balance, but they managed to keep their wits about them as they spun around to face their newest opponent, a burly tanned man armed with a large battle axe. The man flashed a wide, confident grin as he fidgeted with his weapon, the clouds above him turning dark to signal the times ahead.
Another section of 8 were deftly navigating through the dense vegetation, some leaping via the branches of the huge trees which were strong enough to support their weight. The supposed leader, a woman who hid her facial features behind a porcelain mask that resembled a cat, whispered instructions to her backline as her advance party continued to scout ahead.
The advance party intelligently utilised the interlocking canopy of the trees as a form of concealment, as they progressed rapidly towards their destination. Suddenly, one of the men among them felt that his foot had tugged against some sort of line, but before he could react, he was engulfed in an explosion, killing him instantly.
The remaining members of the advance party were wise enough to get back onto the ground, instinctively understanding that more unseen traps were probably laid in the canopy. The party leader cursed, "Darn, this place is rigged! The enemy must have learnt of our advance beforehand and prepared these traps in the canopy to flush us out onto the ground where there is less cover! Everybody, be vigilant of your surroundings! We won't want to trigger another trap like earlier!"
Well-hidden amidst the thick bushes lay Chen, who was lying down in a prone position as he watched his enemies appear before him from above, just as Viper had intended. Chen was amazed by the amount of knowledge Viper possessed in both tactics and traps, not to mention the short amount of time she had taken to set up the intricate network of explosives within the canopy.
These weren't the only traps that Viper had in stall for her unwary prey, for she had tasked Chen with igniting her simple homemade "Flash Mines" when the enemies had mostly entered the killing zone on the ground. The "Flash Mines", which were activated by a simple tug of the line to remove the safety pin much like a tripflare, doubled as both a flash bang as well as a conventional grenade.
As the unsuspecting enemies wandered gingerly into Chen's killing zone, upon getting all three within the designated area, Chen calmly tugged the line attached to the "Flash Mines", triggering them near instantly as they exploded with an intense amount of light, blinding all three men and even their comrades in the backline as shrapnel shredded their defenceless bodies.
After the light had subsided, the leader shouted without any care for stealth, "Everybody, on guard now! Activate full body mana armament or barriers before you take another step!" The remaining members of her section dutifully complied when they saw the hideously mangled bodies of their comrades in the advance party.
When everybody had raised their defences, the leader ordered, "Fan out, we wouldn't want to get caught all together in one single trap, would we? Move out!" The 4 of them began advancing slowly via different routes in the same general direction. Unbeknownst to them, their predators had only begun Phase 3 of their plan.
Phase 1 was to deter the targets from using the overhead canopy route, as it would be difficult to locate and dispatch the foes within the thick vegetation. The explosives strewn all over the barks and branches in the canopy were designed to force their enemies onto the open ground below.
Phase 2, in the form of "Flash Mines", was designed to achieve as much attrition as possible, since it was activated by manual activation without the use of trip lines, catching the enemies off guard as their focus was on avoiding the non-existent trip lines on the ground.
The purpose of using "Flash Mines" was not solely for show, as the bright light actually concealed Viper's advance to the rear of her unsuspecting enemies. In addition, the use of "Flash Mines" had the added benefit of getting her enemies to separate, in fear of getting caught in a similar trap together.
This led to Phase 3, the elimination of isolated foes. Even with their mana armaments, the remaining targets were disposed of one by one surreptitiously by Viper, who used her Enigma Ability to approach them from near impossible angles. This included approaching from the bark of trees and below the ground, surfacing from the shadows as she silently slit their throats with little effort, concentrating her mana onto the edge of her blade.
The leader, who realised that her subordinates were disappearing one by one without warning, visibly panicked as she realised the severity of her predicament. Throwing stealth out of the window, the leader decided to rely on speed and agility to escape from the forest as soon as possible, willingly taking the risks of triggering hidden traps than to suffer certain death by an unseen adversary.
Viper smiled under her mask as her quarry dashed through the trees frantically, she had foreseen such a circumstance occurring and had already made plans to deal with it. This kick-started Phase 4, the removal of enemies who had crossed beyond a certain line.
Now, it was Chen's turn to shine, as he had instantly activated his [Limit Break - Level 2] when the final target crossed his line of sight. Too preoccupied with navigating her way through the trees, the leader failed to notice Chen gaining upon her until the very last minute, when she was met with a fierce kick to the face, sending her crashing into the ground.
There, she lay immobilised, her nose broken as her head bled profusely. Chen landed gently next to her and deactivated his technique, deeming her harmless in her current state. To his surprise, she shot an [Air Bullet] from her fingers, which nearly struck him on the throat if not for Viper, who had emerged from the shadows in the nick of time to deflect the spell, terminating the life of her prey with a quick slash to the throat with her tanto.
Chen panted in shock before he caught his breath, mumbling, "Thanks…I would have been a goner if not for you." Viper nodded silently before staring at him with a deadly gaze, which Chen understood as a warning that his complacency could cost him his life in the life-and-death situation they were currently in.
Just as they were about to return to the reorganisation point, Viper suddenly sensed a wave of hostility. Both of them realised, to their horror, that the traps they had set in the canopy were all triggered all of a sudden, the chain explosions lighting the trees on fire as they had to avoid burning wood falling onto them.
The pair then heard a voice amplified by mana, "Two can play at the game of hide-and-seek, hahaha!" A shuriken empowered by Wind magic swiftly flew their way, as the duo prepared themselves against their latest foe…
Kai grew visibly anxious when he realised that neither of the teams had sent the signal to indicate their completion of their respective missions. It had been over 2 hours already, and judging by the mission intel and his knowledge of the abilities of his team members under him, if everything had proceeded smoothly, they ought to have returned by now, never mind the signal.
Adeline was about to go forward and assure him when suddenly, the earth rumbled strongly as birds started flying away frantically from their forest homes. Kai, who had his Luminos activated, muttered in disbelief, "This mana frequency, it can't be…However, to be able to see it so clearly from such a distance, there's no doubt, he's back…"
Akame asked confusedly, "Who's back? Why are you guys looking so worried?" Kai quickly ordered, "As much as I'm worried about those kids, there's no mistaking the source of this mana pressure. I'm going to hold him back for as long as possible, you two stay here to support the kids in case they need help. Is that clear? No objections, I'm going after Amon alone."
Kai dashed out of their makeshift tent as Adeline looked extremely fearful. Adeline was restrained forcibly from joining Kai by Akame, who held her tightly to comfort her. Akame whispered, "Have faith in Kai…he's much stronger and wiser now…"
Adeline could only tearfully nod as she slowly relented, watching Kai disappear into the horizon to confront their age-old foe, the Chaos General of Wrath, Amon.