They woke up at dawn and nothing much occurred except the apparition of some low level mistborns. This was of course expected as the mist followed the same logic every three years. It was estimated by experts that it is only when the mist reaches Trochelo river that higher level creatures will appear. So, the soldiers had very little to worry about.
However, about an hour before the sun was about to set, one could observe a dwindling and yellowish sunlight, one could feel the air getting colder and the mist thickening. There was a sudden and unnatural drop in temperature, the mist became much denser than it should and a cold and sinister presence could be felt by Colonel Xino unbeknownst to the other soldiers. Adrian also felt a change in atmosphere but he didn't feel bothered by it.
Colonel Xino who has been in the reconnaissance squad for four times, two as an ordinary soldier, one as a captain and one as a colonel could immediately sense danger. He knew that something was wrong and yelled, "Retreat into formation C9!"
The soldiers immediately followed the orders of the Colonel and stood in formation. Like all formations which begin with the letter C, the colonel stands in front. Behind the Colonel stood three tanks, seven damage dealers, 2 supports, three tanks, 7 damage dealers, 2 supports and three damage dealers and three tanks respectively. They were all facing the mist and their backs where about fifty kilometers away from Trochelo river. The reason why the Colonel picked this formation is because although the mist was denser than it should be at this point in time, it was still not in the least thick enough to compare to the thickness it would reach once it reaches Trochelo river. The denser the mist, the stronger are the monsters which can materialize from it. Therefore, if any high level creature had to materialize, it has to do so in front of the entire squad where the mist is thicker. That is why the Colonel is in front. The backlines are still being defended in case some lower level creatures materialize from the back.
The atmosphere was tense and the soldiers breathed heavily. They could feel that something big was going to happen by the way the Colonel reacted. They were nervous and despite the cold temperature, some of them even sweated.
This tense atmosphere and silence which dominated the air for less than a minute was suddenly broken by the sounds of shouting.
Aaahhh! Aaaahhhhhhh! Heeeellllpppp!
The silhouette of a person running through the mist could be observed. At first, it was barely visible and many assumed that it was just a mist creature and awaited orders to open fire. But the Colonel waited. He felt that something was strange and different. The energy it had did not feel like an intermediate or higher level monster. So, he let it come closer. Once this figure was close enough, many were shocked to see that it was actually a person. Whether this person was a boy or a girl no one could tell. The skin and hair of this individual were pale like the creatures which come from the mist. This strange person looked like he/she was barely twelve or thirteen. Many soldiers assumed that it was a humanoid creature which was trying to trick them.
But the Colonel didn't sense the energy of an intermediate or epic level mistborn from this person. He was confident in being able to decipher the energy levels of any monster of epic or lower level. Furthermore, it just impossible to fathom that a higher level monster could materialize and maintain its strength with this mist density.
He trusted his instincts and let the individual come closer before taking action. Once this person came closer one could tell that it was a boy with long pale hair and pale skin.
Colonel Xino felt as if he was missing something. He stopped focusing his energy on the little boy and used it on his surroundings. That was when he realized that he was being chased. Something dangerous and nasty was travelling in the mist. At this point, the shouting of the boy and the sound of his running resonated throughout the atmosphere. Colonel Xino had only a few seconds to decide. The boy could be a mist creature posing as a human boy to lure them. But he decided to trust his instincts and yelled, "Epic tier monster incoming. Save the kid. He is being chased."
He immediately used flash to travel behind the boy and intercept the epic tier creature. He used his earth, lightning and fire elemental attributes to create a sword and cut down the wavelengths in the mist through which the epic tier monster was travelling.
Adrian and some other squad mates followed behind. One of them used his earth attribute to secure the boy in a sphere and pulled the sphere towards the rest of the squad. A small group of soldiers secured the sphere as it travelled to the main squad.
Before the Colonel could cut it down, the epic tier monster materialized from the mist. It had the upper body of a human like creature and the lower body of a spider. Its legs were huge, hairy and sturdy and it could also use its hands to conjure magic spells. It was an Arachne.
Although the Colonel knew that in most cases, he couldn't take on an epic tier mist creature with his squad of fresh graduates, he believed that they could still do this since the mist was not dense enough for the monster to be able to fight at full power.
However, he was still perplexed as to why an epic tier creature materialised to chase a young boy. He could have easily been taken care of by lower level mist creatures. But he had no time to worry about that now. Higher level mistborns are not known for chasing after weak preys. They did not even have to eat to survive.
The creature shot spider webs at him. He assumed that they were most likely poisonous and avoided all of them. Some mages came to back him up and attacked the epic tier Arachne from a safe distance. The tanks and close combat damage dealers were still figuring out whether they had the skills to go any closer to that monstrosity.
Tens of elemental attacks flew towards the Arachne at tremendous speed and with incredible power. The grins on the faces of the graduates disappeared as soon as they came. The spidery creature casted massive and intimidating shields to protect itself and immediately retaliated in anger. It ran towards the group of mages. The Colonel intercepted it and the tanks had no choice but to join in also. They were lucky that Colonel Xino took most of the agro, otherwise, they would not even last even one second. The supports immediately reacted and casted healing spells, movement and attack speed buffs and attack power buffs on the Colonel. Some casted durability spells on the tanks. Some close combat fighters also joined in. Half of the squad was dealing with the Arachne and the remaining half were still grouped together around the boy in the earth sphere. Many of them were waiting for an opportunity to go in and help.
However, they noticed the fluctuations in the mist and realized that some mist creatures were materializing. Since they were at the back of the line, where there is barely any mist, they knew that the creatures would be low level ones and indeed they were. Albeit, there was an unusually large amount of low level monsters. They must have been influenced by the apparition of an epic tier Arachne.
Back on the frontlines, the Colonel was struggling to keep up with the Arachne. Its legs were all twice the length and size of the Colonel. Maintaining agro was tiring him about and his mana was depleting rapidly. He had no choice but to adopt a more strategic approach since his squad lacked the raw power to deal with this creature.
"Use all your buffs on durability for the tanks", yelled the Colonel. He had to let them take agro so that he could charge some more powerful spells. The close range fighters such as Adrian were barely doing any damage since the Arachne had such thick body armor. The supports listened immediately and started chanting new incantations. The seven tanks on the frontlines immediately felt much sturdier and felt more confident to attract agro. The Arachne had the intellect to understand what was happening and tried to keep its attention on the Colonel. However, he flashed backwards and immediately charged up the lightning style technique until it turned into black lightning. The tanks casted huge earth and wind walls to delay the Arachne's movements. The mages casted violent whirlwind, dragon of fire, water tornado and other large scale magic attacks to distract it. The close range fighters used this opportunity to sneak in and deliver strong attacks to the creature.
They knew that they were not going to do much damage but they only wanted to buy time so that the Colonel could charge up enough energy to deliver the fatal blow. The Colonel sucked in even more energy and those fighting the Arachne knew that it was time to retreat so as not to get caught up in his attack. Colonel Xino used lightning to propel himself upwards, casted four massive lightning rods around the Arachne and casted lightning storm above it. He did not stop there. He even casted a lightning field inside the square formed by the four lightning rods. One could see the lightning rods slowing down the Arachne. The lightning field further stunned it and prevented it from moving. Above the square formed by the rods appeared grey clouds which electrified the air below them. As for the final spell, he activated Lightning Dragon of Apocalypse. A huge and terrifying dragon soared from the grey clouds with a loud roar, causing a fear effect and attacked the Arachne with multiple lightning breaths before eventually exploding against it. Upon seeing those massive explosions, Colonel Xino's squad cheered and was amazed at his strength.
They believed that it was now over. Colonel Xino fell back to the ground. The residues of lightning energy still flickered on his body as well as over the body of the beast. The Arachne screeched louder and louder until the sounds eventually died out.