As the Beowolves began their escort to the Alfheim warp gate, the current drivers were Canni and Abel. Aimzay naturally functioned as the team's navigator as he was the team's designated lie detector and marksman. At the same time, Abel was practically forced by El to be the driver so that she could sit beside Cain for the next 3 hours.
Driving in the middle of the desert during a hot day caused the Beowolves to be in low spirits; Lorelei, in particular, found it quite annoying and proceeded to use spells that mimicked air conditioning in her jeep. Rai was like a stone mountain that didn't move; thus, while Abel, Cain, and El were quite cool, the other 3 Beowolves were annoyed and uncomfortable.
At Cain's edging, El copied Lorelei's skill and cast it on the first vehicle, much to the gratitude of everyone, including Rai. When the mage saw the appreciation in the white-haired man's eyes, she couldn't help herself as she began to giggle uncontrollably. A stern voice suddenly resounded in the dog tags.
"Captain, I see a beast tide coming right at us; I count it's about 20,000. No flyers; it looks to be led by a rank 5 Savage Rhino. Your orders?"
Cain didn't even need a second to reply.
"Beowolves prepare for combat."
The Savage Rhino was one of the more vicious demonic beasts; it looked like a cross between a camel and a rhinoceros. The back of the animal had two vast lumps like that of a camel without the valley. The most frightening feature about the animal, however, was its face; it had the face of a man with the teeth of a shark.
The face was placed at the end of its short neck, making the beast an aberration by all accounts. Its two horns were placed on the humanoid face's forehead. While the horns might look short in contrast to their size, they were, in fact, around ten meters. The monster's height was well over a hundred meters, and it weighed over three metric tons.
It was leading a massive stampede of over ten thousand beasts as they trampled over the landscape. Standard warrior groups would already steer clear of such a tide. However, the Beowolves were anything but ordinary. A teenage voice resounded from all the dog tags with a wolf emblem.
"I want none to survive; your battle suits need all the Force we can get. Therefore, I am ordering the Beowolves to annihilate every demonic beast we come across from now till the Warp gate to Alfheim. Rai, you are not to assist in any way, including protecting me."
Hearing the grave order given by their charge, Cain started organizing the information in his head. At once, he formed a battle plan and started giving out orders.
"Drivers for the jeeps will be Vasiliás and Lorelei. Aimzay, I want you on the top of the first jeep. Canni, I want you to be on the second. The both of you are to snipe and track any beast that tries to escape.
Abel, I want you to charge at the middle and draw them all. Then, Jin, El, and I will herd them all to you from 3 sides. The goal is to make them cluster and annihilate them by using Moon rank skills to break them all while you keep them occupied. No showy skills should be used around the center, or they will diverge and scatter. Any questions?"
Hearing his orders, they began the battle, the drivers swapped, and Adriel and Claude mounted the vehicles. Abel, Jin, and Cain got off the cars and summoned their battle suits, while El joined Claude on the roof of the second vehicle. Abel then declared as he chuckled.
"Ha-ha, you know, I am supposed to be shielder; why am I the one charging at the middle like an offensive warrior."
But before anyway could say anything, violet energy enveloped Jin as he slowly said.
"Conserve your energy; the next three days will be long."
El quickly gave Cain a swift peck on the lips before the mage summoned her suit as she started to fly and gain altitude. The beauty then shouted when she was around 500 meters from the ground.
"Gunolf Lupus trigger [Strength without arms] mode B!"
As she did, several specks of dirt, dust, and stone started flying toward her. They all slowly coalesced and solidified into giant 15-meter lances that pointed towards the horde. These lances each weighed around 300 kilograms.
While floating, the air started swirling around them, creating mini-tornadoes that reduced the air resistance of the lances significantly. Over 50 of these lances were hovering around El, protecting her like loyal soldiers.
Jin used his skill [Wind rider] and skated to the far left, while Cain used [Faster than light] to run to the far right. Abel used [Demon of War] and enlarged his body to 40 meters. He then channeled the energy from [Delayed Impact] to his horn and activated his shielder skill [Only I Exist] as he charged like a lightning bolt towards the most massive beast in the stampede, the Savage Rhino.
While all this was happening, in the eyes of the Beowolves, hundreds of invisible beasts started being outlined by orange energy making them visible. As two jeeps moved towards the horde, white bullets continuously destroyed the beasts' heads.
Cain remembered the short history lesson Lorelei gave before Claude sighted the beast horde. She was prompted to do so when she gave them small earpieces that looked like small flat knives conformed to the side of their faces like headsets. Then, while giving them the new gear, she explained what they were for.
"I know that Earth originally had hundreds of languages across the six beacons. However, Freya gave Earth the blessing of Babel; the gift allowed Earthlings to converse with one another regardless of linguistic capability and language comprehension.
This blessing, however, doesn't exist in Alfheim. Once we leave Earth, you all will be speaking in your mother tongues and may not understand one another. Wearing these will prevent that problem from happening. It will also translate not only the Asgardian language but Elvish for you as well. Lastly, it will also interpret the language of Gamallrinn."
Canni proceeded to ask the question on everyone's mind.
"Lorelei, what is the language of Gamallrinn?"
Understanding that this knowledge was unfamiliar, the twin-tailed Asgardian continued to explain in a bored voice.
"Simply put, it is what Asgard calls the language used by Freya and the Lemegeton Clavicula. It means the language of old in ancient Asgardian. Like the blessing of Babel, Asgard originally heard the words of Freya as words in our oldest languages. Their words were translated to the linguistic sounds native to the race they were speaking to. Only after millennia of study was Asgard able to decipher and learn the language of Gamallrinn.
For Earthlings, I was told by those I adopted that Freya's words sounded like Latin, Greek, and Chinese combinations. All three of which are among the most ancient of Earthling language systems from their understanding.
However, the words are only heard correctly in the white space. Once Earthlings leave the said space, their skills and spells, even if they understand them, phonetically sound and read as combinations of the said languages.
I call these devices the Ears of Babel. You should no longer be any differences in what you hear from the language of Gamallrinn in or out of the white space. They are like universal translators across the nine realms."
*BOOOOM!!!!*
Cain was broken out of his trance when he heard the first signs of battle. A loud red streak slammed against the head of the Savage Rhino. It was knocked off its feet, thereby stopping its charge. The surrounding beasts had red eyes as they charged into the armor-plated shielder without regard for their bodies.
Enduring the onslaught of demonic bodies slamming onto him. Scale darts, globs of poison, fire, and all manner of projectiles assaulting him from every direction. Abel felt exhilarated as his battle senses were heightened. He was about to activate his reaction skill [Rebound] when he heard a voice in his helmet.
"Endure, not yet, Abel. Endure the beating. Jin, El, and I aren't in position yet. Endure it and wait for my signal. El and Jin, start herding the tide to the center. We need to hurry."
Abel cursed inwardly as he crossed his arms in front of him. He then proceeded to dance with the charging beasts. He deflected their charges by slipping past the vanguard as he ran inward. The berserk beasts ran after him, toppling over one another.
"GROWWLLL!"
The rank 5 Savage Rhino stood up and started growling while its spit flew as it shook its head in a show of dominance. It then locked its blood-red eyes on Abel and started charging at him, trampling upon its allies as it did so. Then, like a tide, the monsters at the edges of the stampede started to charge inwardly, crushing everything in their path. Aimzay noticed this detail and quickly reported it.
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Proofread By: Pearl_Wang
Edited By: WorthyAdversary