The bus ride was the definition of "not smooth". The roads leading to the Dewspin Peninsula weren't maintained frequently and would often be full of cracks and pits. As the convoy of buses travelled further inland it would only get worse. There would be the occasional Horde spawn dotted here and there, but the gunners on the top of the bus would annihilate it, much to the hooting of the kids in the Recruit buses.
Eo had nothing to do, so it was pretty obvious that he was going to train. The rest of the Essov gang looked at their boss quizzically. Was Eo always like that? They decided that they needed to catch up to their boss in terms of power so they decided to train as well. People were looking at them strangely as they practiced inside the tight confines of the vehicle.
The bus abruptly halted. The students inside stopped what they were doing and looked outside. They saw what was a Phase II demon-type monster, 3 meters tall.
Given that the kids had only seen about 1 meter tall monsters up to this point, they all held their breath. They couldn't really gauge the power of enemies properly due to lack of experience, and this looked terrifying.
Monsters from the Horde Chasm came in various types which was defined by their morphology, attack characteristics, intelligence, and power. Sometimes the monsters would undergo a transformation and would rise to a higher phase. The jump in power from Phase I to Phase II was extremely high, and from Phase II to Phase III even higher. It continued exponentially. However, higher phase monsters were exceedingly rare in the outskirts of the incursion, which was why most higher phases were confined to certain zones within a calculable range from the origin.
This Phase II was an anomaly, as it was quite far from the spawn. All the students in Eo's bus froze in terror (except Eo). Eo had gauged the fact that this monster was simply too slow, and the bus could just outrace the demon-type in the worst situation.
The gunners on the bus simply opened fire again. This time however, the bullets left a strange whizzing sound and on impact created a small sonic boom. The ripples rocked the bus.
The demon-type's shoulder, and leg exploded. It collapsed on its other leg, desperately trying to walk forwards on its other leg. The injured shoulder got hit again, and the ensuing blast vaporized the entire shoulder/chest. The arm connected to the shoulder fell off.
Eo could hear some kids screaming, either in joy or terror.
Eo carefully looked at the hail of whizzing bullets. He concluded that the gunner was probably a sound elemental, and was enhancing their bullets' penetration power/explosive power. Not a bad idea. Eo mentally noted it and watched the rest of the demon-type get pulped by the hail of screaming projectiles.
The bus continued on as if nothing had happened. After a few hours the convoy started to split up based off of rank.
Eo and four other buses stayed. These were all full of Recruits. A mentor stood all the way at the front to address everyone.
"This is Zone F. This is the weakest zone of the incursion. Going into Zone E and beyond is not recommended. In fact, some Yellow Ranks are also staying in Zone F as well, albeit a bit closer to the origin point. Remember that 3 meter tall demon-type? If you go farther in you'll meet more of those."
Eo saw the entire Recruit Cohort shudder.
"Everyone, remember to follow the Academy rules. NO KILLING EACH OTHER UNTIL AFTER GRADUATION!"
Everyone nodded. Mentors from around started to hand out supplies like food and water.
Eo gathered his group and decided to go towards the origin. Wifjad looked terrified.
"Didn't the mentors say to not go in that direction?"
"Yeah, but how do we get stronger than?"
".... what if we meet one of those insanely strong 3 meter ones!??"
"We kill it."
"..."
Almost as if to prove his point, a 1 meter crab-type monster appeared, trying to attack Eo. Eo synthesized a spear and slammed it into its carapace. He twisted the shaft and the crab stopped moving.
"Boss is amazing as usual."
Eo gave the crab corpse to Utaris.
"Try dismantling it."
"That's gross."
"There might be useful stuff in it."
'Like what?!"
"Uh… meat? It looks tasty."
The rest of the Essov gang just looked at Eo with slight terror in their eyes.
Eo shrugged.
"The rations aren't tasty enough."
Eo sat down and desynthesized his spear back into essence. Then he continued to circulate his essence.
The gang sat around for about 10 minutes trying to cook the demon flesh when a looming shadow appeared behind them.
Eo turned around irritatedly.
"If it's someone from the hero gro-"
It was a 3 meter tall demon-type monster: Phase II.