"Take it easy this round."
Squad 9 was full of confidence.
The ninth squad members had the best ranking marksmen among the second years. Today, they had chosen the best four; there was no way they could lose.
"Let's maintain distance and look around."
Squad 9 chose a frontal attack. The four members moved in a line while maintaining proper distance away from each other.
They each took on a role to look out into different directions. It would be impossible to get into their blind spot.
Brrrr.
The cameras attached to the tree branches moved. The cameras followed the squad members' every actions. The current competition was being broadcasted for everyone to see.
The second years were watching squads 9 and 13. Nobody wanted to miss the chance to see the new squad in action. It was their chance to figure out squad 13's specialty and attack power.
"Squad 13 won't move?"
"Are they setting up a defense at their starting point?"
The second years murmured. The actions of squad 9 and 13 were polar opposites.
Squad 9 searched forth using standard procedures. Squad 13 was surveying the trees in their surroundings. Squad leader Han was looking for a suitable tree.
'We can't win in a direct gun fight. It will be difficult to win with such a difference in skill without a suitable battle tactic.'
He thought of many tactics, such as ambushing the other team from on top of a tree, or setting up a camouflage to ambush them.
'We haven't trained enough to shoot others from on top of the trees. There's not much to camouflage with. There are many times when an eccentric plan would be better than an ill-prepared frontal attack.'
Han looked for a generously big tree. He looked to Kuro.
"Kuro, are you okay with this much? We can't compromise with anything smaller. We must be able to comfortably hide our bodies behind it."
"I'll try."
"Kuro, you don't need to bother shooting. Just focus on this. Jose, let's start."
Jose nodded, and his irises glowed red.
Psychic energies were generally blue, but sometimes it changed depending on their unique skills.
The color of their psychic energy would change according to the mental imagery of their power. Those with the power of ignition commonly glowed with red light.
HWAAA!
Jose burned the lower trunk of the tree. He was soon drenched in sweat. He focused to strengthen his fire while controlling the area of ignition.
He ignited a small area with strong flames. This type of psychic control was difficult.
"Slowly. It's okay, Jose."
Han said calmly.
'Although we're tight on time, the most important aspect of psychic power is focus. Distractions will only make focusing more difficult.'
"Canute, go out first and survey our opponent's movements. Don't engage with them after finding their locations."
Canute nodded and sprinted off. Canute was swift even within this thick forest.
"Haa, Haa."
Sweat rained down from Jose's face. Smoke from the burnt tree rose into the air. Jose momentarily sat down and rested.
"This much should be enough."
Han sprinted and banged his body against the tree. The burnt portion of the tree shook.
'Damn, the tree core is still intact, Jose is already exhausted. At this rate, he will faint before combat.'
Kuro who had been watching placed his hand onto the tree. Han observed Kuro.
"Han, let me try."
Crack, crack.
Kuro focused on the burnt lower trunk of the tree. The sound of the trunk's core snapping rang.
"Han, on the count of three, push."
Han nodded.
"One, two, three."
Han ran and pushed the tree. Kuro also used all his strength to push against the tree.
KWAA-Ji-Jik! Boom!
The sturdy, huge tree fell over.
"Gasp, gasp."
Han and the exhausted squad members tried to catch their breath while leaning against the fallen tree trunk. They were panting with heavy breaths.
"We lost all our strength before the fight."
"Let's rest a bit and move on."
"Kuro, do you have enough strength to continue using your telekinetic power?"
"I'll be fine after I rest a little."
Han observed Kuro's status. The core strength for this tactic relied on Kuro.
'Kuro need to reserve his strength, but he already wasted so much.'
Strategies will not always work out as planned. Han caught his breath as he sat down, before his data bracelet rang.
-Enemy is approaching 200 meters from the front. I will rejoin the team.
It was Canute's message. Han smiled bitterly. Everyone in the squad stood, understanding their situation.
"No time to rest. Prepare immediately."
BANG!
The sound of a gun rang in the forest. The sound of more guns followed immediately. He could hear a short scream. Canute ran over while limping his leg. A bullet was jammed in his leg. It had no power to kill or penetrate the body, but the electrical shock had caused paralysis to Canute's leg.
"Damn."
Canute tried his best to suppress the shooting pains as he ran.
'This is no joke. They hit me at this distance.'
The ninth squad was indeed veterans. They could easily hit Canute who had been running quickly through the forest. They pressed forward, hunting Canute.
"Gasp, gasp. I'm late."
Canute judged it would be impossible to rejoin his squad.
'I would only be in the way even if I rejoin them with the state my leg is in. It would be better to buy them more time by escaping into a different direction.'
Canute ran into the opposite direction of his squad. He sent the current status to Han.
BA-ANG!
He could hear the guns closing. The tree next to him lit up in flames from the spark.
"Damn."
Canute turned his body backwards and aimed at them. There would be no way he could hit them with this unsteady pose. Squad 9 hid themselves behind a tree and laughed.
"I don't think we need to bother concealing ourselves. His aim is horrible."
Canute was a skilled shooter, but that had been at the shooting range.
It was a different story trying to hit a moving target inside a forest. Canute felt the skill difference with his body. The experience difference between squad 9 and 13 was too vast.
'Just one person, even if it's just an injury.'
Canute fired his gun blindly. He reloaded his gun. In that short moment, the ninth squad sprinted forward.
"Goodbye."
The ninth squad all shot at the same time.
The bullets hit Canute's body with ease. Canute's body shook violently. He couldn't even talk from the electric shock.
His body spasmed and convulsed. Canute had become unable to battle.
"One down. Three left."
"Why was there only one person in the front? Was there a reason to use an advance guard with only four squad members? This round will end with a frontal attack anyway."
Squad 9 pushed back their helmet shields to rest for a moment. They felt something was strange. The thirteenth squad sent an advanced guard and lost one of their valuable soldiers.
In a ten member squad battle, it would reduce their man power by only one tenth, but in a four member squad battle that was a quarter of their military strength.
This was a fatal loss. There was no reason to send a scout out risking that loss in a four vs four battle.
"They probably thought up some lame battle tactic."
Squad 9 geared their helmet shields and assembled in a line once more. They descended to look for the thirteenth squad.