When I arrived at the barracks our team is using at this base I found the rest of the team in a horrible mood, the atmosphere in the room was quite heavy. The first to notice my entry was Carmilla who was on the bed by the door.
"Ulric, are the healers finished?"
"Tania is still being treated for her wound and it's pretty big, but the healers aren't having a big problem healing her arm. Nolan is now cured, but Fim did not survive the treatment."
Not one of them seemed surprised by the news that Fim died, his injuries were the most serious and they all saw how his body was being petrified. Nobody thought his chances were very good.
"Is the magical beast's elemental energy that strong?"
"Yes, Luke. That magic beast is quite unique, even the healer with the element of death could not destroy the life element of the magic beast, unfortunately End's wound was too deep and the beast's elemental energy had a long time to spread through his body."
"Did we take too long? It hadn't even been an hour between the time the End was wounded and the time we arrived at the base."
"Normally you would be right Abel, but from what Ulric said the magical beast energy is basically a kind of devouring poison for any living thing. This magic beast is very dangerous, the military must send a specialized group to eliminate the magic beast."
"Since you brought it up, Carmilla. I have Ana's orders for the team, not one of us should speak to anyone or even each other about what happened today, this magical beast is classified as a secret and no mention of it should be made in the future either in oral reports or written as in conversation."
"Absolute silence, our team was attacked by a very strong group of normal level three magic beasts with the appearance of lizards, nothing else happened. Understand?"
"Yes!"
Even though some of them were almost whispering their answer was enough for the silent ambience of the room to disappear.
"We won't be going out on a mission in the near future, Ana and I will likely be needed on a mission unrelated to what happened today. Take this time to rest, when it's all over we'll find out what our team will do in the future I doubt the loss of one person justifies the dismantling of the team."
I left the room to finish my preparations, it didn't take long for me to clean up and prepare my gear, but unfortunately, I didn't have much time to sleep. After a few hours of rest, I was woken up by Ana.
"Get up! The team sent from the capital will arrive any moment and we have to meet them in the headquarters room, as I warned you before, we were both chosen for an urgent capture and investigation mission."
"OK."
When I got up with almost all my equipment ready Ana had already left the room, taking the rest of my equipment I just miss a lightning bomb since I didn't have the time to make a new one, but I doubt it would be used during that mission.
The team sent by the capital should be full of green and yellow core members, I doubt I can make a contribution to the combat part of the mission. Upon arriving in the room where the matrix is located, I stay in the corner of it with Ana.
"So, am I going to be the team tracker or am I filling in an empty space?"
"Why would we take you to fill a vacancy? You can't help in combat or transport the magic beast; the incoming team will probably have three or four people and the mission leader will be among them."
"Who's going to lead the team?"
"I have no idea, but I know he's a mage. He probably knows a lot about the region, before going to wake you up I had a good conversation with the leader of this base, I thought he would have information about the possible origin of the magical beast."
"Is the saint's legend really connected with this magical beast?"
"Probably not, in a straightforward way, but it wouldn't be strange for this magical beast to have come from the swamp than it would have seemed unexplained in my forest one. It confirmed the fact that weird magical beasts have appeared for the past few decades here, but not one of them is as strong as the one that killed Fim or had any abilities or appearance close to what we saw."
Before he could hear the rest of Ana's explanation the matrix began to gather mana from the air and the space around it began to distort. A flash of light was born from my matrix, covering the awareness of four figures.
A hooded figure caught my attention immediately for obvious reasons, it was a warrior with an orange core and with the elements of fire and shadow and by the volume on its back it seems to use a two-handed weapon, probably a sword.
At the front of the group is an orange core fire mage who is probably the quest leader, he has a snobbish air and a goofy grin that gives the impression he thinks he's superior to the others. I don't like to have an opinion based on stereotypes like nobles are idiots, but this guy gives me a really bad impression.
The other two-party members are closer to Ana's level, a green core warrior with the wind element who carries a bow and spear as weapons, the latter is a green core curse and shadow element mage.
This mage must be here to immobilize the magical beast with curses and a shadow element prison. A good choice of elements to use against a life and earth element magic beast.
The mage emerges from the matrix with a very white, gleaming smile in our direction.
"Good afternoon, I'm Dean Sunshine the leader of this mission. Could you show us a room so I can explain the quest to everyone?"
"Of course. Just follow me, a safe room is ready for us."
Ana exits the room leading the way to a safe room. This arrogant wizard from one of the capital's great families manages to be polite, so I may have gotten the wrong impression of him. Maybe he's not a complete snobbish idiot, but he still thinks his smile is superior and very fake.
On the way to the living room, I felt the eyes of the rest of the group landing on my occasions when what is quite normal and expected, I'm a warrior in the middle stage of the gray core and it's not quite normal for me to be here. But among the four people behind me the hooded warrior isn't even hiding his gaze, he's blatantly studying me and it's bothering me because along the way this warrior's energy and aura seem strangely familiar.
But I don't remember meeting a warrior in the middle stage of the orange core before. So, it doesn't make much sense for me to think we've met before.
Upon entering the room, I stood at the door waiting for the hooded warrior to pass by so I could see him better as his cloak covers his entire body. But just as this warrior was about to pass me, he attacked me.
A slender arm in black leather armor comes out of the cloak gripping my shoulder and throwing me carelessly into the room. I almost fell to the ground, but when I heard a laugh behind my back, I found out who this warrior was and why I felt like I knew this person.
I turn around only to find Raven's smiling face, it looks like she's advanced to the middle stage. I didn't expect to find her so quickly, shouldn't she be leading her own team by now?
"Looks like you've gotten stronger, Ulric. Ready to ditch the training team and come work for me?"
The question that Raven asked while closing the room door and activating the room matrices caught the attention of everyone in the room, especially Ana who seems not at all happy at the prospect of losing another member of her team.
"What do you mean by your team? Don't you seem to be leading anyone or even having a team?"
"Temporary situation, Ulric. A new unit led by me will be formed soon so I can count on you as my tracker?"
"Hey! You are really ignoring my existence here! Who do you think you are to steal my tracker, right in front of me?!"
Anna is not happy.
"Hi, your team is just a makeshift team and Ulric is already destined to join my unit before the war. Old agreement by several re-spousal parties, you must have already earned enough merits to stop being a training unit, right?"
"Yes, but that's not the point here. My unit may be a training unit, but as its captain I can request the transfer of any team member to my next unit."
"True, but as I said before, the transfer of Ulric to my unit in formation has been in the works for a long time. The officers who formed his unit already know that this unit wouldn't last long because Ulric and as far as I know two other members already have invitations to different units of the army. I understand why you want him as a tracker, but I arrived first, I even have the blessing of his guardian."
Guardian? It makes me feel like a primary school kid. But before Ana could respond to Raven and probably send her to hell, the leader of this mission interrupted this discussion.
"Ladies, please calm down. This is not the time to dispute who has the preference over recruiting the boy, we have a complicated mission to do and time is not on our side."
Out of respect for the army hierarchy, the two didn't fight anymore, but Ana is still shooting Raven with a death glare. Raven really enjoys teasing others.