After they finished their meal, the group members fell asleep instantly.
Everyone except for those on watch duty that is.
This time, it consisted of Delsie and Rick.
The two sat in silence, enjoying each other's company.
Delsie rested her head on Rick's shoulder, with the latter silently running his fingers through her long black hair.
"I'm surprised you didn't tie them into dreadlocks," Rick quietly whispered.
Delsie smiled lightly.
"Weren't you the one who said you like my hair straight?"
Rick raised an eyebrow.
"When was this? I don't remember saying that."
"A couple weeks ago? You asked me why I braided my hair with a disappointed look. I stopped wearing them since then."
Rick blinked his eyebrows.
"Wait… That's… That's not what I meant."
Delsie gave him a puzzled look.
"What did you mean then?"
Rick awkwardly coughed and looked away.
"...I like braiding your hair."
Delsie looked at Rick with surprise before bursting into laughter.
However, she quickly covered her mouth to avoid waking up her companions.
Focusing back on Rick, whose cheeks were burning crimson, she couldn't help but think her boyfriend was surprisingly cute at times, especially for such a brawny man.
This dichotomy was something that hooked her in the first place.
"You got sad I didn't ask you to braid my hair? Ha ha… That's so you!"
Delsie gave him a tight hug, and Rick responded in turn after a moment.
Gazing at him with undisguised affection, Delsie smiled.
"How about… You braid my hair now? It's not like we're doing anything else while standing guard."
A small smile formed on Rick's lips.
"Are you sure?"
Delsie nodded, amused by his eagerness.
"Positive."
"Well then…"
Just as he was about to begin, Delsie's ears twitched as a panic appeared on her face.
She hurriedly got up and hastily grabbed her Rapier before assuming a battle stance.
Sensing her urgency, Rick also did the same.
Without wasting a moment, Rick manipulated the earth lightly to shake their companions awake.
While none of them understood what was going on, after seeing the tense expressions on their companion's face, a similar grave look was soon reflected in their eyes as well.
"What do you sense, Delsie?" Quietly whispering, Lorie asked.
"From the sound of their voices… They're humans. Not only that… But there are at least ten. Also… They have us surrounded."
Rick scowled.
"The Coalition b*stards… They somehow found us."
After doing everything in their power to hide, whether by erasing their tracks with Rick's mana art or even hiding underground, they had done everything to stay undetected.
Even the bodies of those the creatures they killed were adequately disposed of.
There should have been no trace of their presence here.
Yet their enemies still found them.
Lorie looked to Lyn with a tense expression.
"How should we handle this?"
Lyn frowned slightly.
"Since they have us surrounded, we need to first escape their encirclement. Since they already know we're here, escaping undetected is not possible. We need to fight our way through."
While they could dig deeper, it wasn't too hard to break a wall of dirt.
No matter how fast Rick could tunnel them out, it was almost impossible to avoid a confrontation.
Tiring out one of their combatants before the battle started was a less-than-ideal plan.
"But… Why are they just standing there? They could have attacked us by now." Ginny asked apprehensively.
As if on cue, Delsie's face crumbled.
"...I can sense another human rapidly approaching!"
"Damnit! They were waiting for reinforcements!" Lorie exclaimed.
Lyn turned to Rick.
"Don't give them time to prepare. We strike now."
Rick nodded his head and dropped his palms onto the dirt floor.
The earthen expanse of the burrow began to shift as the ceiling opened above them, revealing several surprised humans wearing similar clothes.
Before they could fully process what was happening, two of them were instantly taken out by well-timed blaster shots by Lorie and Lyn.
Delsie, Blaine and Ginny also tried to take out one each, but sadly, the people they shot at managed to block their impromptu attack.
Even though some of them missed their mark, their sudden assault reduced the enemy forces by 20%.
Seeing two of their companions go down, one of the men wearing camo uniforms scowled.
"Kill them!"
Without wasting another second, several of the people around him began firing down at Blaine and his companions.
Lorie cursed.
"D*mnit! They have the high ground!"
Hastily raising a green-like barrier, Blaine blocked several light beams before his barrier cracked and shattered like broken glass seconds later.
Luckily, though, Blaine's speedy reaction gave Rick enough time to shift the ground beneath them and shoot up.
Without wasting another moment, the four captains jumped off their earthen platform to face their enemies head-on.
Raising their respective weapons, they deflected the incoming shots of light before landing in front of their respective target.
Fighting at close range would stop their enemies from gunning them down from afar.
The risk of friendly fire would be too high.
However, this would reduce their enemies from gunning them down without resistance.
The difference in numbers was still quite stark.
Furthermore, the Captains had a horrifying revelation moment after exchanging blows with their enemies.
These people were all 2-Stars!
"Damnit! This was an ambush!"
Lorie couldn't help but curse.
The Kelonian woman fighting her couldn't help but smirk.
"And you idiots fell for it. Hook, line, and sinker."
Lifting her sabre, Lorie channelled her mana art and swung her blade down fast enough to leave after-images behind in its wake.
While momentarily shocked by the weapon's speed, the Kelonian woman lifted her long halberd. She blocked the attack with the polearm's body.
(BANG)
Despite the horrifying sound of the weapon's collision, the Kelonian woman seemed unaffected by the force of the exchange.
Flexing her muscles, she pushed Lorie's weapon back with pure strength.
"...A strength-increasing Mana Art," Lorie couldn't help but sigh, "so you must be Captain Letha Sawyer."
The Kelonian woman smiled.
"And yours increases speed? Captain Lorie Sanders, I take it?" Letha looked at Lorie's attire with an amused look, "Although… Your files never mentioned that you like to dress up. In the Coaltion's uniform at that."
Lorie returned the woman's smile, albeit hers was far more forced.
"What can I say? A girl has to have her hobbies. I'm already told enough that I'm too much of a workaholic."
"I understand that! My co-workers tell me the same," Letha gave a cursory glance in the direction of her two fallen companions, "it's gotten to the point that I stopped feeling things like sadness and grief."
"I guess you're even worse than me."
"Maybe so."
Lorie glanced at the woman's halberd as countless combat simulations flashed through her mind.
"Speed versus strength… It's quite the poetic pairing."
Lifting her halberd, Letha pointed it at Lorie.
"Indeed… So why don't we put the age-old question to rest?"