CHAPTER 56: EASY
Lifting a soldier ant with her telekinesis ability, Clémentine slammed it against the wall.
Despite the ant’s shell, its organs were heavily damaged because of the impact and Leslie shot it to finish it off.
“This is the last one,” Leslie revealed checking her holographic watch.
They had already finished off the dungeon boss, which was just a group of B-Rank fire ants.
Strong at a distance with their fire magic, but weak in close combat.
Nicole showed her skills, and they were now eliminating any ants, so the cleaners could do their job without fear of being attacked.
“Are we done?” Nicole asked in puzzlement.
“Yes, we’re done,” Leslie replied with a big smile.
The group looked at each other and...
“This is great! Clearing out a temporary dungeon on our own, that’s a great job!” Nicole exclaimed with a tired but cheerful expression.
Clémentine gave a smile.
Her mental strength was quite depleted and for a period she started using the magic energy nodes on her suit.
They were all the same.
Physical exhaustion because of constant battles and mental exhaustion in the face of difficult confrontations, knowing that the situation could become complicated at any moment.
Certainly, without the teachers there for support, it was a totally different matter.
Even though Alice and Liam were outside waiting for them, it made them feel safer.
So it was normal to fall exhausted and be happy to finish the mission... Her first unsupervised mission.
“It’s a big job, but it’s also a big feat!” declared Érica with a gigantic smile.
She was sweating quite a bit and was drinking a magic potion to recover her magic energy, letting it be seen that it was a tough fight in which she was completely exhausted.
They had cleared the dungeon completely... They were certainly all tired.
“Let’s get out,” Clémentine said with an exhausted sigh, but a pleasant smile.
Érica’s words were no lie.
For a group of true novices like them, it was truly quite a feat to have cleared a dungeon on their own.
Clémentine knew that their classmates, who were trainees just like them, were not performing such tasks... Or at least not entirely alone.
Her group had missions from the beginning and within a week, they ended up taking care of a dungeon on their own.
Walking leisurely, Clémentine watched the small wasp drones pass by and join Leslie’s back where they were stowed.
“I’ll leave my drones in case something happens,” Andrés commented as he deployed his newly loaded drones.
The temporary dungeons once cleared, no more creatures appeared, but it was always good to keep a safety in case any ants were not discovered by the scanning system.
When they exited through the portal inside the dungeon, they were met with an overflowing heat, which made the weary students feel sweltering as they reached the desert.
The cleaning schedule was in the afternoon and although they had finished early and it was nearing dusk, the sun continued to be just as intense as before.
“Congratulations, my companions!” Liam said, ordering one barrier drone to cover the group while another created a more comfortable environment.
“The cleaners are already present. You can go rest and wait for your pockets to fill,” Liam commented with a smile, pointing to the trucks next to the tent.
With a few smiles of thanks, the quintet entered the tent, leaving the cleaning specialists to go about their work.
Liam didn’t mention about leaving, because the dungeon was in the desert and while the cleaners were trucked in from a town, this area was dangerous because of the sandworms.
Covering for the cleaners was just extra work... Work that Clémentine was willing to do.
“Ahhh... This is paradise,” Andrés muttered with a refreshed expression, flopping down on one of the couches.
Alice, who was eating chips, looked at him strangely, but...
“Yeah... It’s heaven,” Nicole confirmed, plopping down on a rug that looked comfortable.
Leslie shook her head and using the quick change ability made her armor disappear, leaving a casual outfit in its place.
“It’s so refreshing. I love it,” Érica declared pulling a bottle of ice from the fridge to hug her.
Someone normal would feel cold at the temperature of the bottle, but Érica was truly enjoying it.
Clémentine couldn’t help but smile.
The inside of the tent was extremely pleasant and one would inevitably feel refreshed in high spirits.
To walk out of a dungeon into a desert and into the tent... It was a wonder.
“Aurora was delayed by traffic, but she’ll come by later to give you congratulations and tell you that you’ve become slightly experienced group members,” Liam said with an amused smile.
The group ignored the ‘slightly’ and couldn’t help but be pleased by the ‘experienced’.
Clémentine was one of them.
They lacked gaining more experience and doing more missions, but the group was adapting as fast as they could to benefit from all this month and the work of their superiors.
As she thought that, Clémentine’s holographic watch vibrated.
Clémentine’s gaze changed for a moment when she saw that it was her father and, not wanting to get up and leave the place, she went to a corner and answered the call.
“Is something wrong, father?” Clémentine asked in a calm tone.
“Remember, I told you I’d send you on a mission? Well, a small business associate has traveled to Africa and, after heading out on a tour near the magic forest, he ran into trouble. A few minutes ago he called asking the company for help. Normally, he would be ignored because of his insignificance, but since I was interested in giving you a mission for your group, I said I would send help,” Counted her father in a quick, unchanged voice and without waiting for Clémentine to respond, he added. “I don’t care if you don’t save him. You will still have work and you will be paid well. I already sent the mission to your group... Daughter, I must go. I have a meeting with the board. Good luck and take care.”
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With those words, she ended the call immediately without Clémentine being able to say a word.
Her face changed in different ways, but her expression became slightly hard when she saw that the tent was silent.
“Did you hear?” Clémentine asked with embarrassment.
Her father had quite a few flaws, but he was a man who loved his family... Even if sometimes he didn’t listen to their decisions or criticized them, just like he did when Clémentine entered the academy or decided to do her internship in Aurora’s group.
But that the situation developed this way was her fault, because during the entire week she was so dedicated in her work that her answers to her family were short and simple without giving too much information.
Giving a mission to a mercenary group was fine... If that group wasn’t Aurora’s, who usually didn’t accept outside missions.
“Yeah, we heard everything,” Liam replied, and looking at his holographic watch, he started working without Clémentine being able to see what he was doing.
Clémentine’s expression changed, and a silence filled the interior.
Did she have to ask them to accept the mission or should she let her father know?
“Don’t wear that expression, Clémentine. We’ll accept the mission if we have to, we’re not abandoning our companions,” Alice announced , putting her chips aside and not caring about the group’s expression, she looked at Liam and asked. “The situation?”
“I’ve read the intel and the coordinate. A nearby scout drone is gathering information,” Liam muttered and, pausing for a moment, he frowned and then stated, “I found our target. They are safe, but I don’t think it will be for long.”
Hearing those words, the whole group stood up.
They had heard Clémentine’s father’s entire conversation and even though he had mentioned that he didn’t care if they were saved, as a group of heroes, they would not let people die.
As for Clémentine’s father’s cold indifference, the group pretended they hadn’t heard it... There was no need to criticize someone they didn’t know.
“Right. Get ready, we’ll move now,” Alice ordered with a serious expression.
Clémentine’s expression improved slightly.
******
A grown man accompanied by four mercenaries was running while on his back he carried a large backpack.
Two of the mercenaries were injured and the other two mercenaries were helping them walk.
“Shit... We need to move fast!” the adult man shouted, looking at his holographic watch to find the location of his jeep.
The mercenaries’ expressions contorted, but they just grabbed their companions and continued on.
Behind them, roars could be heard from the deep magical forest that, without them realizing it had become a sinister place.
Running in desperation, the group found their jeep, but when they noticed the wheels broken by claws, their expressions changed horribly.
As fierce roars heard from the place they had come from, the sky distorted and a group of people descended.
“I am Clémentine Delacroix. My father Jacob Delacroix, owner of the Agmar Company, has sent me to help you...”
Alice, who was watching with an indifferent expression, watched as Clémentine introduced herself.
Using a portal to travel, they could arrive early, however, Alice knew the situation was quite bad.
“Delacroix?” the leader of the group asked in surprise and, with a relieved sigh, he warned. “I am grateful, but these beasts of the forest want to murder us. We must escape now!”
His desperate expression made it clear how frightened he was.
Clémentine didn’t know what to say at those words and the other person’s obvious fear.
“Be careful, they are coming,” Liam reported through the group’s headphones.
Upon hearing those words, the entire group descended and entered a fighting stance.
It was still dusk, and the sun had not yet set, but the surroundings felt ominous and more so as beastly roars could be heard from afar.
“Andrés, heal these men and see to their protection. Érica prepare your spells and...”
Before Clémentine finished her orders, dozens of leopards surrounded them one after the other.
They were several meters away, but their wild and furious growls were terrifying.
Most of those leopards were B-Rank and some could emit magical energy as their claws were infused with different elements.
Not only were they B-Rank magical beasts, but some of them could use magic.
Alice noticed Clémentine’s expression change, but that was not because of the enemy numbers, but because of the bigger leopards that were appearing.
The sizes of the B-Rank leopards were quite similar to that of a normal leopard, only slightly bigger.
It averaged one meter in height and two meters in length, but the Rank A creature that was appearing was even larger.
At two meters tall, its length was equal to those of its companions, but its size and hulking body were different.
However, Alice’s gaze remained fixed forward as four arms shot out from its back.
At the front of the group, the darkness distorted and a three-meter tall black panther with a hulking body and sharp claws appeared.
The bloodlust and savagery of an S-Rank magical beast made Clémentine and her group turn pale.
The magical beast held her haughty gaze and looked at the leader of the group they came to rescue, only to redirect her eyes to the sky.
A portal was created and a young woman descended from the sky like a meteorite raising dust in her fall.
Aurora kept her gaze fixed on the S-Rank black panther.
“That man has something that is ours. I expect you to act according to our treaty, Protector of Zerzura.” The black panther said as her gaze was fixed on Aurora.
Her voice sounded cold and serious, but at the same time, it carried no threat in it, only a request.
“Alice, take care of that man,” Aurora ordered, keeping her calm and solemn expression.
Alice, who was watching, nodded and turned to the man they had come to save, she looked at him for a moment, but then two of her arms went to that man.
“What do you think you’re doing? You don’t know who I am... Ughh...”
Alice was not bothered by the titles and did not wish to listen to his words, she simply, with one of her black arms, grabbed him by the neck and with the other took the backpack carefully.
The mercenaries did not dare to move as they recognized Alice’s distinctive black arms.
Tossing the man aside with no respect, Alice opened the backpack and took out a spherical object.
Its texture was rocky, and Alice recognized it immediately.
“An egg from a ‘Fire Eagle’... It makes sense that you would go out looking for it,” Alice said, handing the egg to the black panther.
Fire eagles were a magical beast whose numbers were very few, but they were some of the strongest flying beasts, being Rank A in adulthood... And at the top of that rank was a Rank SS beast, inhabiting Mount Nyiragongo in the ancient lands of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“That’s my job,” replied the black panther, checking the egg carefully and then just gave the man a glance and muttered. “I hope your kind will take care of that individual.”
“I will see to it that Zerzura City acts according to their laws,” Aurora replied, without changing her expression.
The penalties against individuals who sought to steal protected creatures within the magical forest were high.
Still, ending up in prison was better than what an angry beast who wouldn’t mind soiling its jaws with blood and guts could do.
However, in the area of Zerzura City’s influence, the law was very strictly enforced to maintain a society with magical beasts.
With a growl, the black panther took the egg away with her darkness magic at the same time as her pack followed behind it growling quietly and glancing at the group from time to time.
“Do you know what you just did? You wasted my effort...”
“Keep quiet!” Clémentine ordered, at the same time using her telekinesis ability to press him to the ground.
This mission that ended up being more than it seemed truly annoyed her.
This week she had been doing different jobs and noticed how the mercenary group kept clear rules about their actions.
The importance placed on magical beasts, considered allies, was very high, and even if some of those beasts did not have high intelligence or were not capable of human speech.
“We took the mission because of me. I will take the consequences,” Clémentine murmured sincerely as she lowered her head.
The other members of Clémentine’s group lowered their heads in unison, accompanying their leader, tactically accepting some of the blame as members of the group.
Alice smiled at the sight of that attitude, as...
“Consequences? There are no consequences to take. You accepted a mission from your father to save one person. Neither he nor you knew what that man did. Those things happen more often than you think,” Aurora replied with a serious expression and, looking at Clémentine, who raised her head in surprise, she announced. “Now what matters is that man and his accomplices be judged according to the laws of Zerzura City. However, that is no longer your business.”
Alice noticed Clémentine sighing in relief, but her friend wasn’t lying.
Saving a supposed innocent to find out that he was actually someone with misdeeds in his name was unusual, but normal.
If it was possible, then she would let justice be the judge of that, and if not... Sometimes hard decisions had to be made.
“As for you guys...” Aurora said, and looking at the mercenaries and their leader, she stated. “You can either surrender easily or use the hard way.”
With that, she threw down some collars to suppress the group’s abilities for a few hours.
Seeing that the mercenaries looked doubtfully at the collars, Alice let two black arms show behind her back.
“If you guys want, you can try to resist,” Alice added, opening her bag of chips.
It was all going to be easy... As easy as a one-sided beating.