Mission Three
The next time Logan found himself doing his daily massage of Captain Frear, he found himself zoning out. The Captain rarely ever spoke during these sessions, and Logan didn’t have to worry about putting anything less than his full power for everything.
Instead he found himself entranced by the manifold scars etched in her body. There were some smaller cousins in the Captain’s collection, but most of her scars were vicious and still disfigured her skin. Logan didn’t go out of his way to feel them, but putting his hands on Captain Frear’s scars was impossible while attempting to massage her.
“Focus up. Your weird tendril things start shaking when you are distracted, it's creepy and it makes me uncomfortable.”
Logan didn’t know what he was more shocked by, the Captain’s ability to see his soul, or her brutal lambasting of it. The combination punch left him flustered, so he just responded briefly.
“Yes ma’am.”
The brief exchange left Logan on edge suddenly, which also made him hyper focused, which he was sure was the point. Logan also realized that it had been a relatively harmless way for Captain Frear to reveal her own awareness of one of his secrets, but it still unnerved him.
The rest of the massage was spent in the usual silence, Logan unwilling to push his Captain at all. Thankfully, as he finished up and was setting out, Captain Frear stopped Logan to say something.
“Recruit Brewer, anyone at B-Tier or higher will be privy to that particular information free of charge. It shouldn’t pose any issues in the Legion unless you get put under some Noble snob, but be wary that those you have to fear the most will have the most potential reason to hunt you down.”
Logan hadn’t spoken to anyone about his soul, wisely it appeared, but had held out hope that his condition wasn’t too abnormal. Those hopes were utterly dashed with those words though. Whatever Logan was, he wasn’t human anymore, and there were people out there who would know.
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Only a few short days later, it was time once again for the Frear Squadron to deal with their assigned mission. They had all gathered out in the training yard to listen to their Captain give some brief details before departing.
“Alright, listen up folks. We have a new mission today, and apparently this one is somewhat urgent. More Monsters, this time some Naga down by the shore, who may still have civilians alive. No time for more, let's move out.. Double time, people!”
And with that hurried pep talk, the Frear Squadron was off. This time, there was no time for conversation on the way, everyone moving at a pace that denied easy speech. There was a palpable pressure coming from the group, as despite their differences, no one wanted innocents to die on their watch.
Still, even with their heightened pace, it took the Squadron almost two hours until they reached the reported site of the Naga. Their speed had been cut by the massive sand dunes they had been forced to navigate to reach their destination. Once they finally crested the last dune, Captain Frear stopped the group.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Nodding to Jerry, she indicated he should give a report on the Naga. Understanding his Captain’s intent, Jerry cleared his throat.
“The Naga are the most intelligent foes this group would have fought, with a savage cunning not to be underestimated. Beyond that, they are serpent humanoids with long, prehensile tails. Although the Naga are powerful, it’s likely that our Squadron outnumbers them. If we encounter a greater tally of foes than expected, we should retreat. Naga are known prominently for eating their prey alive when possible.”
Logan focused to avoid gulping. This sounded like it would get scrappy. Logan was glad he had made the decision to leave Remy behind, this would not be a simple first fight for the Rizzel. Honestly, Logan didn’t think it would be a simple fight for him, either.
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As the Squad went further towards the shore, Logan realized what Jerry had meant by the increased intelligence of the Naga. They had created some sort of underwater structures by cording together seaweed and other marine plant life into walls that lead up to the surface of the water, which served as a roof.
Logan asked, “Do we… have to fight them underwater?”
Jerry looked over, and responded, “As soon as they become aware of our presence, they should leave their dwellings and come to shore… Although it seems unlikely they wouldn’t have noticed us.”
The Squadron mulled about, with Larry going as far as to splash both feet into the shallows. When nothing came out to greet them, a general grumbling started to ensue, everyone wondering where their targets were. Logan looked over at the Captain, to find her with an unusually pensive look on her face.
Suddenly, she spun about, and turned to a spot behind them. Logan followed suit, and finally laid eyes on the targets for the Frear Squadron’s third mission.
The group Naga five strong slithered over the sand dunes, human captives clutched over their shoulders. Then the Monsters spied the Legion Squad that had set up outside of their residence, and started having a hissing fit.
Streaming a slew of snake noises as they swiftly slithered to meet their foes, the Naga dumped their captives who had been bound in seaweed, freeing their clawed hands for battle. However, as the Naga neared their enemies, they had the sense to slow their charge down a fraction, so they could stay bunched and coordinated.
Stream rolling right into the Frear Squadron, they knocked the frontline to the ground, but thankfully weren’t able to capitalize on the opening before a recovery was made. Suddenly, the two groups were in close quarters, and a brawl broke out.
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Engaging with their serpentine enemies, Larry was once again first to take contact. The big man flashed his equally large axe through the air at even more massive enemies. His blade made contact, but the Naga he was swinging at dodged enough that the axe just impacted some scales and deflected off.
Hissing, the Naga tried to return the favor, swiping with jagged claws at Larry’s head. Arasaka was there to intervene with a shield, and then Logan didn’t have time to pay attention to the others anymore.
One of the Naga was slithering towards him, sizing him up. Calming himself, Logan took a deep breath. This was why he had been practicing so relentlessly. Whipping his tentacles into motion, Logan braced himself.
Suddenly, the Naga was right in front of him, clawed hands outstretched. Logan serenely summoned the Soul Sword, and brought it down in an overhand motion. Against a normal opponent, Logan was sure it would have connected.
Unfortunately, the Naga wasn’t ordinary. Leaning backwards unnaturally with the help of its prehensile tail, the Monster went almost parallel with the ground to dodge, before launching itself at Logan like a catapult.
Unfortunately, this time for the Naga, Logan wasn’t ordinary either. Teleporting to a spot only a few feet to the right, Logan let the Naga sail harmlessly by him as he swung the Soul Sword once more. Twisting, the Monster managed to dodge once more, but this time Logan wasn’t left without consolation.
The Naga’s left hand fell to the ground, smoking slightly from the power of the Soul Sword Ability. Logan could see the panic in the Naga’s eyes as it realized it had overextended, and left the protection of its fellows, only to get maimed.
Logan just got ready to punish its mistake further. This Monster’s days of eating people were at an end. Readying a horizontal slash, Logan teleported directly in front of the Naga. Its head soon followed its hand to the sand, joined promptly by the rest of its limp body. Say what you would, Logan’s training was seeing results.