[Water Ball!]
Splash!
Harry shot up.
A water-attributed mage had used a spell on him to wake him up.
He tried to recall what happened, 'wait, why was I unconscious again?'
It only took a moment for his face to pale again, recalling how that demon of a kid had stared him down with a wicked smile.
Harry looked around and found the same kid who had pinned him down. One thought ran through his head, 'Demon!'
Not daring to linger as the center of attention, he went to the opposite end of the group from where Cage was.
Zaria brightly smiled, ignoring Harry's reaction, and said, "It seems like no one had any questions, so let's go! It's Adventure time!"
The group half halfheartedly responded with a cheer, ""Yayyy...""
Cage could almost hear the epic adventure music playing in the background.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't be going on an 'epic adventure,' they would be going to a land where beasts ruled and where their power was as insignificant as an ant.
They traveled for several hours. Zaria explained a little more about what exactly they would be doing along the way.
As she mentioned before, they would be trimming the beast population in Quadrant X for about a year. Doing so would give them combat experience and help keep the balance in the beast cavern. If they performed well enough, they might be moved to the military and have more freedom.
Trimming the beast population was only one of the goals, though. The other primary goal was to gather rare resources that were only available in Quadrant X. Things such as soul-gems, which Andrew had used before, were common in Quadrant X. One can just imagine the temptation it held.
Quadrant X also isn't under the Dralos Kingdom's or the Agrius Kingdom's control; it could be considered a no man's land. The biggest thing they needed to watch out for wasn't the beasts but the Agrians (people of Agrius).
Until they gained intelligence, beasts were primitive and straightforward; they would just look to keep themselves alive and follow their instincts. The sentient beasts who could think would also usually not interact with them. People, however, could be scheming and conniving.
Zaria glanced at all of them, "This is an order, by the way; you all are forbidden from mentioning any details about Quadrant X unless mentioned otherwise."
Their cuffs glowed red, registering the new command. If they tried to speak about it, they would be unable to do so and would feel immense pain instead.
After passing through several Quadrants, they finally reached the no man's land known as Quadrant X.
To summarize Quadrant X in one word, it would be chaos. It was truly a warzone.
Explosions could be heard constantly, and the mana in the air was chaotic. The mana was continually shaking and changing in nature. As a result, the terrain was constantly changing as well. It would go from icy one second to flaming the next.
Large chunks of rock floated in the sky, defying gravity, and would collide with each other every so often. On the topic of gravity, the area's gravitational pull also seemed to be out of wack as well. Rivers of both water and lava flowed upwards or sideways through the air.
In the center of it all was a soul-stone the size of a 20-story building. It illuminated the entire region in bright light and would pulse periodically.
Everyone except for Vic and Zaria had their mouths open in awe; they had never seen something so beautifully chaotic.
Zaria clasped her hands together, "Alright, we have a job to do. Let's get to it!"
...
It only took five minutes, just five minutes, before beasts attacked them. A group of about 50 white rabbits with green stripes surrounded them instantly. The rabbits all looked at them as if they were food, and they all had dried blood around their mouths.
"Screeee!"
The rabbits let out a screech and lunged at the group as if on cue.
The stripes on their back glowed green, and they sped up to the point of being white and green blurs.
Cage grabbed a dagger from his waist and went into a readied stance.
Sensing imminent danger, Cage bent backward. A rabbit passed through where his neck was less than a moment ago.
Cage held his breath; he had barely avoided a fatal attack.
'These things are aiming for vitals?!'
Not giving him a moment to rest, Cage saw another white streak charging at him.
The rabbit sped up and lunged at him.
[Resonation]
Cage followed the trajectory and slashed his arm downwards with his dagger in hand, cleaving the rabbit in two.
'That's one down, four-dozen to go.'
Two more rabbits lunged at Cage while he felt another presence at his back as well.
'Three at once? That makes things easier.'
Cage smirked. The rabbits were running to their death by charging at him. He wouldn't complain, though; their attacks were easy to see through. The only thing the rabbits had for them was numbers and speed.
Fortunately, Cage wasn't alone, so the numbers advantage was essentially non-existent, and they weren't faster than Cage either.
Three silver streaks of light slashed through the air, followed by three splurts of blood and three rabbit corpses hitting the ground.
Cage quickly rushed to the area densest with rabbits and turned into a silvery maelstrom of slashes. The rabbits were helpless in the face of Cage.
"Scree!"
A rabbit with a scar going over its eye, seeing that they were outmatched, screeched and gave the command to retreat.
The rabbits all scampered away as fast as they appeared.
Fortunately, no one in the group was a green-horn. They all had some form of combat experience and were able to avoid injury.
Dan sighed in relief, "Those swift-foot rabbits appeared in such a large pack in just the outskirts! Just how dangerous is the core area?!"
Zaria chuckled, "Don't worry, you won't be going to the core area. The things inside there would only have to flick a finger to kill you." Zaria paused for a moment before she continued, "You 20 will be staying in the outer region of Quadrant X to trim the weaker monsters, weaker to me at least; I need to go to the middle area to kill the stronger creatures."
Zaria turned to Andrew, "You have the best leadership skills and are one of the strongest, so I'm giving this to you."
She placed a small green orb in his palm and said, "This is a tracker stone. I have an amulet in my pocket that's linked to it, so I can find you if need be."
Andrew stowed the orb in his pocket. "I'll be sure not to lose it."
Zaria nodded, "Good. Be sure not to die." She scanned across the 20 faces and stopped at Cage before returning her attention to the path ahead. She smiled slightly, "That's all from me; see you guys in a year!"
She once again moved faster than they could register and disappeared into the depth of Quadrant X.
Once Zaria had left, Andrew stepped to the front of the group and asked, "Alright, does anyone have any problems with me being the leader while we are here?"
After waiting a few moments to see if anyone voiced their objection, he continued, "Good. We should continue moving; the blood will attract other beasts soon. We should try and find a suitable location for our outpost."
After walking for about an hour, the expedition team found a suitable location to set up an outpost.
It was a natural stone pillar with a tree on the top of it. It could be seen from miles around and would be a good landmark if they were lost.
It was also easily defendable but would be a nightmare to attack due to its height and narrow pathway upwards.
The pillar was also close to a flowing stream of water, so they had their water needs sorted out. Once they built the outpost and defenses, they would have a much easier time.
"Who here has a skill or spell that can carve out an area big enough for all of us?" asked Andrew.
Vic raised his hand, "I'm an earth mage, so I can handle that."
Andrew nodded, "Okay, try and make enough rooms for various things as well as several storage rooms and rooms that we can sleep inside."
"Once the shelter is built, then we will go hunt for food. While we wait, it would be good to introduce ourselves and what we are skilled in. I'll go first. I'm Andrew, a Stage Two wind enchanter. I specialize in close-range combat."
After Andrew introduced himself, everyone else followed suit. Cage mostly just mindlessly listened to their introductions, but a few stuck out to him.
Dan waved, "I'm Dan, a Stage One neutral mage. I specialize in medium-range combat and utility."
After Dan, a girl with short red hair who seemed to be around 19 or 20 introduced herself. She said, "Hello! I'm Layla, a Stage One healing enchanter. I specialize in, well, healing, but I'm also a close combat fighter as well."
After Layla, Vic, followed by Henry, introduced themselves. Vic was a Stage Two earth mage who specialized in medium-range combat, while Henry was a Stage One fire enchanter who was, unsurprisingly, a close-range fighter.
There was one more person who caught Cage's eye.
A man with brown hair who looked in his 40's stepped forward. He wore an eyepatch over one eye and looked to be a veteran. He gave off a sense of danger to Cage. It wasn't at the level of someone like Zaria, but enough that it put Cage on edge. He spoke short and concisely, "Arman, Stage Two earth mage. Super-long range."
Some more people introduced themselves until finally, it was Cage's turn.