"Remember, you can use your Personal Elemental Control Wand to your satisfaction and preference. Well, I mean, if you don't want to confront and overlook the enemy then you can go mid-ranged." Pier stated.
As he ordered everyone around, the Astrochist have begun to equip their PECW, some of them are already Synchronized. For the better view of what they are holding, at least a few of them are released in Swords and Bows.
On the other hand, everyone is struck by Stell's Released PECW.
With the use of Drake's fang, Brook has specifically designed an Axe as a weapon for him. Stell can wield the Axe pretty decently, it is because of his strength that he had acquired while training on the Zone.
"That's a good Axe..." Nile approached him as he smiled.
"Yeah, how about you though? Aren't you going to have Brook do some Synchronization Release for your wand?" Stell asked.
Nile nodded.
"Yeah, although I'm not sure if it is even possible for me to use this stone that I have gathered." He said.
"Well, that's okay man. Whatever it is, you have to take care of it and use its full potential." Stell stated some motivational facts in front of Nile. He raised his left eyebrow.
"That's not like you, Stell." Nile said with a worried expression lurking down. Stell chuckled when he heard Nile said those words.
"Hahaha, Well, to be honest with you, you're not the only one who changed, Nile. Everyone did their best to get in here. For the past few months, we're doing everything we can for the sake of the whole world."
"Yeah, I know that. Well then, I'm going to see him now. You guys are careful on your way out there." Nile departed.
"You too, man. Make sure that you defeat a lot of monsters there." They have exchanged goodbyes. After a little while, everyone was set off to venture into their respective areas. Stell's group was the first one to leave the mountain. Their location was a little bit far from the central course. Nonetheless, even though it is difficult to go there, they still persevered.
Few hours have passed, the sun is rising and the temperature is getting too high. Stell went down from the hill to lead the way. He seems to be more well informed and cultured with the terrain and the other place. He rushed downhill seamlessly gaining the track with the other Astrochist. He noticed that everyone is tired after a long walk in which he proposed that they should take a break first and drink some refreshments, which is water.
Stell, being informative with the location, he raised his hands and created a triangulated shape with his fingers.
"What the hell are you doing?" Suddenly, a tall boy wearing glasses asked him. Stell turned his body and growled for calling him out.
"Huh...?" Stell did a smugged in which it bewildered the guy who called him.
The name of the man who called him was Lee. Alongside their fellow Astrochist, Lee is also good at manipulating earth mechanism and he's on par with Stell when it comes to fighting and firepower.
"I asked what the hell are you doing?" Lee repeated his question but this with a little bit of hostility and a sour expression coming from his face. Stell didn't flinch with his reaction and instead of arguing with him, he turned his head to the place he was looking for earlier and started talking.
"I'm reiterating the area and calculating our coordinates. At this point, we don't even know if we're lost or not. The path that we took wasn't normally prominent when Pier described it earlier." He explained in a soft voice. Lee slide off the hill as well and stayed beside him.
"That's not how you calculate the area. Here..." Lee lent him a hand. Stell placed down his arms and leave the rest to Lee.
"See that mountain over there? My father always told me that if there's a mountain on both sides of the area, the right path would be leading on the center between them. Since there are 3 paths that we can take, it is most likely that the vast field is located on the center." With his magnificent knowledge about the terrain, Stell was surprised about it.
"Wow... How did you know?" He asked.
"The birds that are flying are heading over there. Usually, we can use the path of the bird to also know if there is any ocean or nearby field across the edge of the mountain. See? They are taking a detour on the center, that's going to be our path for now." Lee responded with a smile as he gazed through the sky watching the bird flew.
"You sure knew a lot of information about places..." Stell said.
"Well, my father is a former scout of the royalties. He knows a lot about the terrain and the direction. He always takes me to specific places and teaches me how to dissect them and analyze the coordinates. Well, you can thank him instead of me since I'm not really interested in doing this kind of scouting stuff, let alone, expeditions." He answered as walk away.
"So... What's the plan now?" Lee asked him.
"What? Why are you asking me that?" Stell gasped.
"Uhh... Obviously, because you're the one leading the way. It's not surprising that they will take you on as a leader. Our team is currently exhausted as of now because of the tracking earlier."
"Well, we still have at least 10 hours before nighttime falls, but I'm worried about the mission that we need to do. Should we just lie to them that we have defeated a lot of enemies for the sake of this training?" Stell asked.
"No, I wouldn't resort to that. See those over there?" Lee pointed his finger directly across the top of the mountain they were in earlier. Stell shifted his gaze from Lee to see where he is pointing at.
"Yeah, I see the forest... What about it?" Stell asked.
"I can see that there are at least three to five executives from the Mana Zone program watching us," Lee said. Stell startled when he realizes this.
"Since when they are watching us?" He asked out of the blue.
"Since the beginning... They were testing our skills and abilities as well as our decision making and strategic coordination. Whether or not, we must show them that we can do this. If we're going to lie about the results of the mission, then they're most likely going to report the truth behind it. So watch out for them, we need to seriously complete the mission or else we're going to get dropped and what's worse is that we might get expelled from the program." Lee's expression was nonchalant.
As if he was never interested in joining the Mana Zone in the first place. On the other hand, Stell was left with no choice but to progress, otherwise, they are all going to make themselves feel mortified.
"I got it, we should just take a break first for a couple of minutes and then we will continue to go to that path." And finally, he made a decision.
Because of that, they were forced to take a break and rest on the steep rocks from the mountain. They fixed some of their equipment and clothes. The others have gone to the river to grab some water to drink and they did all of that in a short amount of time. After a few minutes, it was finally to time to head off yet again for their training.
Stell lead the way and took the nearest path as what Lee has calculated a while ago. The track is not that difficult to cross, there were a few complications with the bridge and the surface is mostly not flat. However, since they are an Earth Elemental User, they used their disconnection spells and deformation techniques to create a clean and seamless path for their way.
It worked for them until they reached the field. It was really vast. Birds are flying away and the sun was beautifully set in the middle of the desert.
"Finally, we're here..." Stell murmured. Everyone rejoiced as they reached the field. However, all of their happiness abruptly ended when a sudden earthquake shook their platform.
"What is this?" Lee gritted his teeth.
"Tsk! Everyone! Run to the field! We're going to leave this area and form our way in the center! We have no choice, come on!" Stell ordered them to get out of the shaking area. As the platform shook them, some of them didn't have the chance to run away. A few of them were saved by Lee and the other guys.
"Run!" Lee screamed.
With the ground shaking, a loud roar sparkly erupted beneath them. Stell stopped his momentum as he turned his back on the area that they were in earlier. And when he did that...
A large Scorpion made out of sand dunes appeared right in front of them. The scorpion does have an unordinary size, it is bigger than most of the buildings they have seen from the capital. That being said, the scorpion's tail was described as full of stingy impaling sharp bones with a green substance from the tip of it.
"Damn it! Everyone run!" Stell screamed as he slowly reverted to his momentum but as soon as he runs, he saw a girl tripped over.
"No!" He exclaimed.
"Help me!" The girl's leg was badly injured because of the rough edges on the floor caused by the sudden breakout of the platform. While the scorpion was busy emerging itself on top of the ground, Stell boosted his speed with his elemental powers to rush over to aid the girl.
"Can you stand?" He asked quickly.
"My legs are impaled, I cannot stand..." She responded.
(Damn it! What should I do? At this point, we're going to get stung by this monster thing. Think, Stell. You have at least 15 seconds before that monster attacks. What should I do)
"Stell! Come on hurry!" Lee's screams resonated. The ground was constantly shaking and it is making him dizzy for a little. As he went over to the girl, he wrapped his arms to her belly and between the joints on her knees and he carried her.
(She was incredibly light...) He thought.
"It's now or never"
The scorpion has finally erupted from the ground and the shaking has stopped. Their position was a couple of meters away from the area so it is impossible for them to reach the other Astrochist with Stell carrying an injured girl.
Until...
"Earth Magic Skill: 3rd Form: Rock pad!" By the time the Scorpion was about to hit them with hits venomous tail, Stell has cast a spell beneath them.
A rectangular-shaped boulder suddenly appeared on his feet and it launched him upward the sky. the tail of the Scorpion flinched when it made contact with the rock. They were launched in the sky as Stell kept on carrying the girl.
"That guy... He freaking did it!" Lee stated as he gazed through the sky.
Falling down from a high place, the girl screamed in fear.
"Don't worry, this is going to be easy! Earth Elemental Magic: 2nd Form: Body transformation!" He cast another spell and his legs turned into a rock. And because of this, their landing wasn't that bad at all because the hard object managed to decrease the pain and point of impact. Stell placed down the girl on safe flat ground.
"Here, take her to a faraway place from this field, it seems like our enemy has finally shown themselves." He ordered a couple of guys and they nodded.
"What do you mean? Don't tell me..."
"Yeah. Those scorpions over there..." Numerous scorpion finally appeared in their sight.
"We're going to beat them up..." Stell's eye was fierce as he said those words. His devilish smile gained the trust of other Astrochist, indicating that they are now ready to join the battle to complete the mission.
"Let's see..."