Gideon, Rick, Andy, and I left the mess hall to the northeast after asking Grover where we should deploy. He basically just told us to find somewhere with monsters and start exterminating them, nothing new for us. There must have been quite a few squads deployed this direction, it was a solid 10-minute walk before we saw any monsters. It made sense though, considering this was technically their front lines, or at least their border with Kontrix was in this direction.
Without our other three members our fighting formation was Rick in the middle of the line with Gideon on his left and Andy on his right while I took up our right flank. Gideon and Andy were the main killers of the line, while Rick just slowed down our enemies until someone else got to them or he finally put them down with blunt force. I'm pretty sure Rick has the Tank class and is putting his free stat into strength.
Our fights were easy enough, and we progress down street after street killing any monsters we could find. At one point we came across another group, but we just waved, and they moved on to a different street. The next four hours passed quickly for us, there were only a few close calls but nothing close to near death. As lunch time came, we took a break and returned to Breakpoint HQ.
Upon our return we were met with the sight of the three women sitting at the same table we ate breakfast at. We joined them grabbing our food from the cooks under the nearest tent. Sitting with my food I got an interesting look from Lilly; I wasn't really sure what it meant.
"Anything important we should know?" I said in a low but mild voice.
"Honestly no, from what we heard Jax was telling the truth. Though ..." Iyana started, but the trailed off, looking around.
"Conrad is a murderer, it's basically an open secret around here." Sam finished the comment in a hushed whisper.
I snorted; I was honestly a little surprised they were being this skittish about it, though I was happy that I had guessed correctly. After getting odd looks I explained the snort.
"I was pretty sure he was Jax's assassin when we met him yesterday, I was just surprised you guys are apprehensive about the whole thing." I told them.
"You think he's killing for Jax?" Sam hissed trying to be quiet but not really pulling it off.
I chuckled a little at their slack jaws. Apparently, it wasn't common knowledge he murdered for Jax, that was truly surprising. People must suspect as much but I suppose those aren't the kind of rumors they talk about if they don't want a visit from Conrad.
"I kind of thought that was obvious, Jax certainly knows about it considering how easily you found out about it. I suppose he may not be the one to give the orders but he's fine with it happening at the least." I explained to them.
"Why would he allow this to happen?" Iyana asks with wide eyes.
"It actually makes sense, I doubt everyone they met just fell into line under Jax, so by letting it be known his friend is a murderer loyal to him It acts as a deterrent." Lilly was the one to figure it out first. She's getting good, I'm impressed.
"That's exactly right. Well done, Lilly." I send her a nod with my praise.
"Thanks." Lilly smiles and start to blush before looking to her food to hide it.
The rest of our meal revolves around what the ladies have found out, which turns out to be what we were told with a little more backstory. As we get up to put our dishes away, Lilly pulls me to the side.
"I think I'm ready to get my class." She tells me in a low voice.
"Thats wonderful, do you want just me and you to go hunting or should we get the whole group together?" I ask her, understanding now what the weird look was about.
"Uhm, why don't I just go with you, that way no one sees me get my class. Is that okay?" She asks with some nervousness and a heavy dose of excitement.
"Of course, let me tell the others and we can head out." I tell her with a smile.
"Wait, what are you going to tell them." She reaches out to stop me.
"I'll tell them I wanted to check some things out and help out another one of Breakpoints squads and I decided to bring you with me." I come up with a decent excuse on the spot.
"Ok, yeah I'll wait here." Lilly says as I move to reunite with our group.
I tell our allies and Andy the excuse I made up and tell them to go out as a group of five and continue helping, but to stay closer to the HQ while we're not with them. They merely ask what I wanted to check out, to which I told them I would like to check on how their squads operated more. They seemed to accept the excuse and I headed back to Lilly.
"All right, lets head out and get you a class!" I make sure to lower my volume as I speak the last part.
It takes around fifteen minutes to find a street with monsters on it. Once we do I use my real capabilities and maim monsters for Lilly to kill. It isn't long until she stops, backing up a few paces and starts staring into the middle distance. I kill off the rest of the monsters I had lined up for her then stick close by, watching for anything trying to harm her. A few minutes later, Lilly turns to me with a huge smile on her beautiful face, and a sparkle in her vibrant emerald eyes. She pumps her fists into the air and makes a few hops up and down before throwing herself at me and giving me a big hug.
"I did it Cass, I got a class! Thank you so much!" She says with exuberance lacing every word. It was also the first time she had called me by my nickname that Andy always used. I didn't mind it, it meant she was opening up more to me.
"Thats awesome!" I exclaimed trying to match her excitement and hugged her back.
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"Do you want to share what class you got?" I ask her.
"Of course, you're the only reason I was able to get it in the first place." She said, pulling back but still bouncing on her toes.
"My class is called "Obervatrix" and the stats I get from it are +4 Intelligence +2 Wisdom +4 Dexterity +2 Agility and +3 Free stats. The skills I got are Detect, which increases my ability to notice weak points, body language, and other hidden things. Scrutinize that increases my ability to determine when someone is trying to hide a secret. Camouflage which allows me to stay out of sight while gathering information. And Weak Point that lets me strike at a weak point observed in a target." Lilly exclaims with a huge smile once again plastered on her face.
"Wow, that's such a cool class. Are you happy with what you got?" I ask her.
"Yeah, I'm really glad I waited, thank you again for helping me get this, I know I wasn't as helpful as everyone else while we were fighting monsters." Lilly said with a hint of embarrassment in her voice.
"Don't worry about it, I'm glad you waited for the right class too." I told her, waving away her worries.
"Why don't we try and get you a level before we go back for dinner, we still have time." I smiled at her.
We did just that, for the next few hours I maimed monsters for her to kill. When we encountered another team out clearing the streets, we joined with them. With only a half hour remaining Lilly got her level up, reaching level 2, she didn't make a huge deal about it, just telling the squad we were with that she leveled up, but I could tell she was excited. After that all six of us packed it in and returned to the HQ for dinner. I think we made a good impression on the squad we helped and made small talk most of the time we were hunting together and the entire way back. It must have helped that they heard what I had done this morning because they accepted our help as soon as we found them and opened up quickly.
As we returned Lilly and I bid our farewells to the squad and moved off to find the rest of our group. It didn't take long before we did, they were most of the way through their food, so we grabbed our own and joined them quickly.
"Welcome back." Andy greeted us.
"Good to be back. How did you guys do." Lilly asked.
"We did fine, Rick had a close call, but got away with a scratch that seems to be healing just fine." Gideon says.
"I'm glad you guys are alright." I nod to them as I take my seat.
As we eat questions are shot back and forth as everyone is filled in on what happened to the others, stories are told, and small talk is had. I let Lilly do most of the talking and try to memorize her version of the story. Everyone but Lilly and I are finished with their meals when Jax marches out from one of the houses and over to his table.
"Everyone, I need your attention!" He yells, to be heard over the conversations happening around every table.
"I have just received a report that Kontrix is coming our way with what looks like everyone they have. I have sent runners to retrieve all groups out currently, but I need everyone to gear up and move out with me to the front lines to meet their forces before they take too much ground and catch our squads alone." Jax announces with strength and calm in his voice.
Everything is still for a second before all the soldiers stand and start running to get their gear and form up to move to the front lines. Our group stands a second after everyone starts running for their stuff, we all look at each other not sure what to do. Maybe 10 seconds later Grover comes jogging up to us.
"Reaper, would you and your group be willing to aid us in battle with Kontrix?" Grover asks me.
I look back to my group and see either shrugs or nods from everyone, good enough for me, let's have some fun.
"Sure, we wouldn't mind at all Grover." I give him a predatory smile.
He nods and jogs off towards where Jax and the other leaders are gathering.
"Everyone ready to go?" I ask my group.
Affirmatives and nods come from everyone. We gather with the other squads and wait to move out with the small army gathering in front of Jax and his party. It doesn't take long before everyone is ready to move out. We head as directly northeast as the town roads will allow us. It's 20 minutes of jogging until we hear the occasional scuffle or shout, and not a minute later we see two squads of four retreating from maybe fifty people. The eight people from our side nearly stumble from relief as they see us flow around the corner. The two tired squads retreat to the back of our small army but prepare to fight with us. I turn to my group and lean in to whisper to them.
"I'm going to split off from you guys and work on the edges of the upcoming battle, maybe try and get behind them and cause havoc, they aren't wearing any uniforms or anything so I should be able to do some damage without being singled out and mobbed. You six stick together and keep each other safe, I'll find you after the battle is done." I tell them, receiving nods before I move to the edge of the army.
Night hasn't fallen yet, but I think it's dark enough for me to use my Void Tainted Cowl considering the huge distraction the fight will cause. The two groups come to a halt with 200 feet between them. Nothing happens for a full minute as both groups just watch each other. Finally, from somewhere at the front Jax yells for a charge and the two forces run forward wanting nothing more than to kill everyone on the other side.
I move with them, staying to the outskirts until the two sides clash. At that point I activate my cowl and move away before anyone can notice. I move along the flank of the Kontrix army, if you could really call it that. With my own little portable shadow, I move like a wraith ... or a Reaper, launching Energy Daggers into the chests, necks, and skulls of my enemies killing over ten people and collapsing the left flank before either side even knows what's happening.
I receive a flood of Void and class energy as I reap the lives of the Kontrix soldiers. Everyone I've killed was nearing or past level 5, it won't be many more before I level up. As our left flank advances and wraps around the remaining soldiers, I stay ahead of them moving past the flank and reaping more lives from behind their forces. As I get the nagging feeling of a level up notification, I can see this battle is won. I advance back into the left flank of our army and deactivate my cowl. I take out my blade and move into the fray killing another two people before the fight is truly over.
I caught the last few kills Jax and his party made from the front middle of our army. The first and most surprising thing I spot is that Vivian is a mage. She launches what could only be a ball of energy into the chest of a Kontrix soldier. It's nice to finally see another mage, I expected there to be more people choosing that class, but at least I've found one and she seems to be doing quite well with it. Conrad of course is using two daggers to fight, no surprise there that he's a rogue. Though his use of dual wielding is absolutely absurd, he basically just uses one at a time and when he uses his left hand, he's slow and only stabs people he's already injured. He would be better off just using one, but he probably wants the cool factor or something, O well not my problem. Austin is using his axe with powerful swings, no surprise there. Grover is a surprise though, he's actually using a bow and arrow, but he's fighting one row behind his group instead of from a distance which is a little odd, though maybe he just isn't accurate enough to fire long distances with his allies in combat with his targets. Finally, I see Jax decapitate someone with an honest to God sword. I don't know where the fuck he got a real sword, but he wields it fairly well.
With the battle over I can tell we've lost a few but less than we probably should have, the encircling maneuver killed many Kontrix soldiers from the side or back, many of them my personal work. Jax looks up at me and I see surprise in his eyes, the look doesn't last long before he turns back to his army and raises his sword announcing victory. The cheering is loud, but I think people are more excited to still be breathing than they are to have beaten the foe, it's not surprising to me. Stories don't usually portray the normal soldiers in a battle like this, most soldiers in most armies across most of time are usually just happy to be alive at the end of a battle.
The celebrations are cut short though, screams echo from a few streets away, this isn't over.