"Captain, it's bad! I believe the information we received from the ranker division is wrong." Cotton said.
"As always," Shog indifferently commented.
Captain Jose nodded his head and scrutinized the group of fiery serpents to ascertain their strength.
"Looks like the mission level has increased; it will be tough to complete the mission without all of us working together," Jose said.
"Yes, the three Rank-3 and two Rank-5 wild beasts won't be our problem but there's one advanced class beast which already reached exceeded the ranks of the wild beast," Shog said.
"Mn, the Rank-7 wild beast seems to be recently advanced one. We have a 50-50 chance of success if everything goes as per plan!" Captain Jose spoke after considering their odds.
"Captain, if it's alone then we may have a chance but it's not," Karina said.
From their conversation, Gin could discern, that it's not their first time in a situation like this. Even so, they are perfectly calm and composed which shows their experience and strength.
Jose suddenly looked at Gin and Astro, contemplating for some time, he said: "It's possible! If Gin and Astro manage to lure a pair of Rank-3 wild beast to fight themselves, we may have a chance."
Gin was surprised, but inwardly he is excited - thinking of fighting a wild beast by himself. Every cell in his body pounded, stating their yearning for battle.
Unlike Gin, Astro is a little nervous as it's going be his first time battling a wild beast, all alone.
"If you two have the confidence to handle a single Rank-3 wild beast by yourself, we can proceed further, otherwise, we can only return abandoning our mission," Jose proposed.
Even though it may seem like Jose's words are meant to corner Gin and Astro into a battle, it's also somewhat true.
If Gin and Astro weren't present today, Jose would have decided to pull back.
The Rank-3 wild beast may won't have much impact on the battle of their level, but you also can't ignore them at the same time.
"I can," Gin replied, his eyes are calm as a lake.
Hearing Gin's answer, Astro tightened his fist and firmly replied: "I too can handle a single Rank-3 beast myself."
"Good!"
"Our plan is very simple..." Jose explained the complete sequence of actions that everyone should do.
According to Jose, there's no battle formation or anything of that sort. It's a combined attack, where everyone would have to deal with a single beast.
Jose and Shog will be battling the Rank-7 beast while Cotton and Karina will lure and fight two Rank-5 beasts.
Meantime, Gin and Astro have to lure a single Rank-3 wild beast on to them and kill it as it's their task for passing the ranker exam.
The success of everything lay in the hands of Karina and cotton. They have to quickly kill the two Rank-5 beasts and come back to assist Shog and Jose in their battle to eliminate the Rank-7 beast.
"Everyone, ready for the battle?" Jose asked.
"Captain, there's a total of three Rank-3 wild beasts, who will deal with the third one?" Astro worriedly asked.
As soon as Astro spoke, Karina who was standing behind everyone took out her silver longbow and placed her arrow.
She aimed her bow at the wild beasts in the distant, her form looked perfect and powerful. The arrow's entirely drawn to the limit, the bow can hold.
Aiming the target, Karina loosed the arrow. The arrow bolts from the bow in lightning speed with 'swish' sound.
'Fast!' Gin mentally exclaimed.
He could perceive the arrow is fast and packed with a deadly force, enough to pierce a steel coated armor.
In a blinking speed, the arrow pierced one of the Rank-3 wild beasts head and came out of the other side, killing the Rank-3 fiery serpent in one move.
The fiery serpent collapsed to the ground while it's lifeless eyes twitched in wonder, 'why am I suddenly feeling sleepy?'
The other fiery serpents were stunned by the abrupt change in the situation and noticed their companion has got killed by something.
The Rank-7 wild beast is clearly different from other lower-ranked beasts, as it easily noticed the direction of attack.
It hissed in fury, notifying the other beasts of hidden attackers. Soon, all the fiery serpents began to 'hiss' in fury and madly charged towards Team Jose.
"Now... only two Rank-3 beasts are remaining, you guys should be able to take care of it," Karina cooly stated.
"Everyone, proceed according to the plan!" Captain Jose said, raising his voice for everyone to hear.
The battle began.
Gin looked at the group of madly rushing fiery serpents. Their red eyes burned in fury like they want nothing but to devour everyone on Gin's side to avenge their comrade.
In his side, Jose and Shog locked their eyes on the target, Rank-7 fiery serpent.
Karina and cotton set their eyes on two Rank-4 wild beasts. Now, Gin and Astro have to confront the other two Rank-3 fiery serpents.
Gin was calm, though, but Astro is a little nervous, one could see beads of sweat on his forehead.
Gin patted Astro's shoulder and said, "Brother Astro, you take the one on left and I will deal with the other one."
Witnessing Gin's calm demeanor, Astro relaxed a bit and nodded his head while setting his eyes on the fiery serpent Gin mentioned.
When the fiery serpents are ten meters away from them, Jose and Shog took action and directly confronted the Rank-7 beast.
Captain Jose lunged at the fiery serpent with high speed and struck using his weapon - a dual silver dagger.
He had the same weapons in both hands; a silver dagger shaped like a half-moon with a handgrip in middle.
Noticing the life-threatening attack, the fiery serpent assaulted Jose using its large tail. Jose easily avoided the attack like an agile monkey by stopping his attack in midway.
Shog, who was waiting for a perfect opportunity, took action by attacking the serpent's blindspots with his large ax.
At the same time, Karina shot an arrow towards one of the Rank-4 wild beasts and attracted its attention while cotton also took action.
Gin also sprang up and charged towards the Rank-3 serpent, while Astro gathered his courage and rushed towards the other serpent.
Noticing Gin, the fiery serpent brandished its mighty tail towards him in hope of smashing his head into smithereens.
Gin, who was already expecting an attack easily dodged sideways. Seeing he was successful in drawing its attention, Gin slowly lured the fiery serpent away from the center of the battlefield.
Only after confirming that he is at least 500 meters away from the battle, Gin halted his movements.
The fiery serpent followed Gin while its fiery red eyes locked on to him like it was overseeing its prey against escaping; without knowing its the prey.
As soon as Gin stopped, the fiery serpent 'growled' at him with a ferocious might, capable of intimidating other same beasts.
On the other side, the battle was happening intensely between the fiery serpents and Team Jose. It's hard to decide which side will win!
'Thankfully, the fiery serpent I am fighting is only Rank-3.' Gin thought.
Without giving any opportunity to relax, the fiery serpent attacked Gin once again. It opened its large mouth which is filled with gleaming sharp teeth and long canines, capable of perforating a metal.
The serpent's strong jaws neared Gin as its plans to bite the head of his body; Gin nimbly avoided the attack by rolling to his right.
If not for the complete transformation of his body two days before, Gin's flesh would have already been completely ripped apart by the serpent.