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Chapter 9 - Chapter 9: Beast Hunt

Andrei woke up to "Mini's Alarm Clock" for the second straight day as Mini did not even go back to her room after class. Andrei was thinking he might be the luckiest man alive. Young love does that to the brain. He got dressed and they headed to the Assembly hall to get the day started. While walking Airwrecka, Sophia and Lily came out of one their rooms as Andrei and Mini were walking by so the 5 of them started to chit chat.

Sophia jabbed at Mini "You left some on your chin"

Mini knew Sophia was jealous so she played right into that "Care to take a taste and get it off for me with your lips?" 

Sophia wasn't expecting that response, "um, if only…" her voice trailed off

Lily was back to rapid fire questions with Andrei who was trying to pay attention to Mini and Sophia's conversation but Lily's questions didn't stop.

"What do you think the record is for the most beast cores collected? Do you think we can break the record? Do you think if we break the record they will let us keep the gear? This is really sweet gear but seriously what do you think the prize will be for first place?" Lily rattled off seemingly without breathing if anyone was watching. 

"Let the man breathe Lily!" Airwrecka pleaded with her friend seeing the uncomfortable look on Andrei's face. 

"Yeah it's our job to choke on it not suffocate him" Sophia chimed in. Mini busted out laughing at the comment.

They entered the Assembly hall and joined their squad and listened to the drill sergeants instructions. They would be leaving the building taking multiple vehicles. Five trucks, each with the team color, made it quick and simple for the squads to file out.

There was a short drive to the gate and after the proper protocols were followed the five vehicles departed the city limits and also went into five separate directions. While in the transports they were given final instructions including the fact that they had 5 hours to find as many beast cores as possible as a squad. 

Any and all cores would be counted and be added to the squads score for the 3 weeks. Andrei looked around at the nervous faces and decided he needed things in order.

"Melee users hands up" Andrei ordered and those that were melee specialists raised their hands, he counted 15 of them and included himself in the group.

"Ranged users hands up" Andrei continued his commands and after counting 25 he knew he only had 10 support.

"Ok listen up when we exit I want melee to take the lead and once we establish true North we will proceed true North till we can no longer go true North. Keep 20 yards or less between each other as we move forward. Ranged stay behind making sure we have two ranged focused on supporting one melee. Support give your support where needed and I will be your melee support if anything gets through or comes from behind. Hoorah?"

"Hoorah, Hoorah, Hoorah, Death Squad, Death Squad, Death Squad," the 50 members shouted at the top of their lungs. Andrei then pulled out his longsword and it lit up the entire vehicle and surrounding areas making it somewhat dangerous for the driver if there was traffic or something needed to be avoided. 

"Overlord" Andrei thought and everyone felt a boost of energy, the 25% boost to stamina gave Andrei over 300 more stamina since he was now fully geared out. 

The driver and assistant at the front of the truck shared a smile, they had never seen a group like this. They were beyond impressed with how quickly this was a platoon. Plus they liked the boost of energy they just felt as they felt the effects of Overlord.

The assistant driver, who actually just graduated the last Cadet 3 week training and was on his first transport assignment, stated to Andrei "Not sure what you did to get their respect but I just went through this and we were all a complete mess in this truck ride. You guys got your shit together! Keep it up!" and he slapped Andrei on the middle of his back. He would have hit higher on a normal man but he was only 5'6" himself and Andrei was a foot taller.

The back door dropped down to form a ramp and the melee ran out first. They established North was actually straight out of the truck so they quickly spread out and let the range fill in and support on the backline. Andrei exited the vehicle last, looking at how quickly everyone panned out they made their way forward noticing that there was dense forest they were thankful that at least three people were always looking out for each other.

It didn't take long for the first sounds of combat to erupt and the first shouting. Support was listening for the screams and quickly moving towards any that sounded to be those of pain. Andrei noticed that so far they were killing standard beasts quite quickly and everyone was soon cutting up the beasts for their cores and looking for anything else that was known to be helpful. 

During the break in action Andrei still had not attacked anything, he had only observed. He was still standing leaning against a tree contemplating how he would get involved, when he heard a purring sound. At first he thought it was Mini who might be behind him but he had been keeping a mental note of her at all times and she was currently laughing about how she figured out how to use the daggers to remove the beast core in one move. 

Standing in front of him was a different beast that was not apart of the scouting report. Andrei used "Identify" on it and it stated that this was a Standard Lioness Priestess of Hathin also something Andrei had not heard of before in the Tactics class. 

That is when he figured this was his chance to try to tame a beast and that thought alone he felt a power come to his hand as it opened up with the palm facing the beast glowing a soft green/yellow/white light that reached out towards the beast softly. This was the channeling process for "Tame Beast" at the same time he thought about activating his helmet but there was not an active skill just the pet would be duplicated.

[Tame Beast success: "Standard Lioness Priestess of Hathin"]

[Tamed Beasts will follow commands once given a name. Attack/Stay/Fetch/Defend/Find/Hide then their name will command them.]

[Tamed Beast Slot 1/1]

[Give "Standard Lioness Priestess of Hathin" a new name?]

Andrei thought about it and it looked like a LaLa plus easy to say in his head. Then his system displayed another message.

[Tamed Beast Slot 0/1]

Looking down Lala had disappeared from view and Andrei was wondering if he just hallucinated the entire experience. Looking around he couldn't see LaLa and he felt sad for a moment then his left leg purred and wanted to jump out of his own skin. He pulled up his pant leg and now there was a tattoo of LaLa as if she was sleeping on his leg.

"Identify" "Standard Lioness Priestess of Hathin named LaLa"

Andrei looked as he heard rustling and the massive Intermediate beast that they were warned about came charging forward. He had the longsword out which meant he could attack at will. The beast was a defensive beast in first place but it didn't even seem to have a chance. There were two weak points that if you hit them you could actually remove the furry shell. Like bra straps if you broke those two points the shell would fall off. 

Firing two "Storm Bolts" directly on those two points the lightning attack shattered the connections and the shell fell off. The beast roared in agony and without delaying pointing his longsword at the beast's backside he channeled Fireblast till the beast stopped moving.

Death Squad had all stopped what they were doing and were looking at their captain in complete awe. They were told to engage as a platoon if they came across one of those, none of them ever had a chance to react, the "Fireblast" was already smoldering by the time most had turned around to see the commotion caused by the enormous beast. 

His ears picked up more of the intermediate beasts not far away. He noticed that his eyes were starting to see further as well and Andrei decided he was going to act. "Keep formation and continue North, I will catch up." Most of Death Squad just shrugged their shoulders and continued North. 

Andrei could hear the Intermediate beast snoring, yawning, chewing some plants and that is when he noticed that his hearing was popping dots on his mini map. Seeing a red dot appear by itself just to the West, Andrei snuck over and tried out "Tame Beast". His palm faced out and the glow emitted from his palm, this time the beast was not purring feeling this sensation like LaLa just did. The beast roared at the top of its lungs and many of its fellow beasts started a chorus.

The beast started to charge Andrei, with him holding his ground it looked like the beast was about to run right over him. Instead at the last moment it came to a halt looking right in Andrei's eyes from less than a foot apart, breathing heavily, blowing Andrei's hair back.

"I shall call you Fluffy and you will be my Fluffy" Andrei cooed at his new pet.

[Tamed Beast Slot 1/1]

Instantly behind Fluffy another Fluffy appeared but to Andrei it appeared almost like a hologram. Andrei figured this was to distinguish the clone easily. He then was put right into a situation where he had to fight more Fluffys as the rest had now joined after the loud roar Fluffy originally made. There were four of them standing at a distance not sure why two of their own kind were just standing next to what should be dinner.

"Meteor" Andrei thought, pointing the longsword at the group of 4. All 4 of them ducked into their shells which Andrei had not seen them do other than in the Tactics VR. Telling himself he should have waited he already remembered he could suppress these 4 with meteors for as long as he wanted.

Moving closer he did just that raining constant meteor after meteor not letting them think they have a chance to survive. He then activated "Adrenaline Rush" and got between the four beasts to set off "Ice Nova" , freezing the beasts in place. Then used Storm Bolt to remove the shells of all four of them while they were still frozen. 

"Adrenaline Rush" ran out of power and he had used "Wind Walk" just after he had jumped out of the middle, he stepped over the beasts that were in agony and with the longsword pointed at the middle of the four of them while not even looking he thought "Meteor" and the four intermediate beasts died.

Andrei then thought "Fluffy Fetch Beast Cores for me" that is when the clone lept onto the dead beasts and one by one clawed at their bodies then ate the beast core which was transferred into Andrei's inventory.

Andrei could no longer hear any of the beasts but he did hear some screaming coming from the North. He shot off back towards his squad and that is when he came across another group of these intermediate beasts. The squad was holding them off but so far it was a stalemate. They all seemed to be forgetting the tactics class and were attacking all sorts of different points on the beast. 

He had put his longsword away so he could run faster so he summoned a "Sledgehammer of Lightning" that appeared in his hands. He had been running full speed and leapt in the air while summoning the two handed mace coming down on the head of the closest beast. He had thought "Wind Hammer" while swinging down in the same motion and the loud BANG! That had been synonymous with "Wind Hammer" popped through the air.

There was a scream from behind Andrei's back and he turned around to see a beast about to chomp down on the girl's body. Andrei thought "LaLa attack" and a kitten appeared right in front of the beast's face and clawed out each of its eyes. Andrei then felt purring in his leg and knew LaLa just attacked. The beast had stumbled backwards and the closest melee was able to then stick his spear fatally through the beast eye and the girl was saved without taking a scratch.

"Remember the shoulder guards to attack those that will remove the shell and then go for the kill. Unless you can chop its head off, go for the shoulder guards." Andrei shouted to the squad. The tides started to turn and the intermediate beasts were starting to fall one by one.

Andrei had stopped attacking after giving the command and looked around to make sure that everyone was in a good situation. He wasn't sure if he was hearing things but it sounds like to the west there were multiple screams. All their MIDs lit up and an alert sounded "Attention all Cadets this is an emergency return to your designated vehicles ASAP. This is an order" it was their drill sergeants voice. 

"Fall back to the vehicle and I will catch up." Andrei shouted and left the squad "Adrenaline Rush" with his mind and took off towards the sounds of the screams. When the skill had run out he was standing in a dense patch of forest and he had stopped to wait for the next sound. A moment later he wasn't far from another scream and then half of a body went over his head and splattered against a tree.

Andrei cleared the brush and was greeted by a scene of death. There was complete chaos as Posse Loco had run into an unknown Advanced tier beast. This beast had a tail with a claw on the end of it that was snapping cadets in half. The beast's body looked like it was a plant but it had legs that must have been below the soil as they were the same color as the Hathins soil. 

There was no organized attack or defense or anything going on and Andrei yelled "Fall Back!".

He pulled out his longsword and summoned a "Stone Wall" in front of the Advanced beast. It looked confused since it had not seen this attack before so it cautiously approached then its claw stabbed at the wall. Nothing happened and the beast's attention was then changed to the multi-colored glowing sword that was now in its sights.

Then the beast shot out a jet of water from the center of its body. "Adrenaline Rush" Andrei thought but it was on cooldown and the "duh duh" rang in his head. Why not fight Water with Water "Extinguisher" Andrei commanded out of his longsword and forgetting that it was a channeled attack soon a loud screeching sound was heard from the beast. 

He had overpowered the attack from just sheer longevity. He was holding the longsword with both hands and using his shoulder aiming the channeled spell. "Fireblast" and the tunnel of water turned into a neck of armored fire and a dragon's head formed on the end reaching the beast and encompassing the beast it burned off all that resembled a plant and the body of the plant and tail is all that remained.

That is when the beast attempted to sink into the soil. "Fluffy Attack" and both beasts lunged out from behind Andrei where they had been patiently waiting for a command. Fluffy and twin each grabbed a hold of its tail and pulled it back out of the ground. The beast was frantically trying to get away from the two beasts pulling on its tail. 

Figuring he had to finish this before he lost his first pet Fluffy to something else this beast might pull out of its hat Andrei charged in. "Shock Armor" "Skill Sap" he thought about right has made a massive swing from top to bottom chopping the body of the beast in two. The Skill Sap rewarded EXP and then the kill rewarded a bonus exp for the first time defeating the advanced beast.

"Fetch Beast core Fluffy" and the duplicate hopped on top of the beast and ate the core adding it to Andrei's inventory. " Good boy Fluffy" he thought and the two beasts jumped in unison 180 degrees clockwise multiple times, simulating a dance.

Andrei looked around him and saw the devastation that was done to Posse Loco. If what he was looking at was the only survivors then they had lost over half of their squad. The wrist bands if detected a sudden death gave the automatic retreat so that the situation could be figured out. 

If Andrei had not reacted even more would have been lost as they were losing the fight and Loco had been knocked unconscious at the very beginning of the encounter which caused even more chaos.

Andrei escorted the rest of Posse Loco and carried Loco on his back over his shoulders back to their yellow vehicle. The driver and assistant were both in shock seeing the small number of cadets return. 

"Where are the others?" the driver demanded from any of the cadets to respond.

"This is all that survived, it was an advanced tier plant beast that was hidden and a cadet stumbled upon it" Andrei reported to the driver. The driver looked at Andrei and noticed the MID had orange to it.

"What are you doing outside of your squad cadet?" the driver inquired.

"Saving their lives Sir!" Andrei retorted, not liking the line of questioning or the tone from the driver. 

"It's true without him we would have all been dead, he came from the east away from us and put up a massive wall to stop the beast from attacking us. Then the beast shot out a jet of water and he countered it with a more powerful jet of water, which turned into a stream of fire that swallowed the beast whole, severely burning the beast. Then it tried to retreat and his pets pulled it right back out of the ground that it was digging into and he ran full speed in and split the beast in two with his long sword."

"HAHA, cadets these days have some wild imagination!" the assistant chimed in this time trying to get in on the joke. That is when all the cadets stopped and looked at the assistant like he was a dumbass. 

"Believe what you want, get them back to the MA safely, I have to get back to my squad as I am their captain." Andrei brushed off the driver and assistant and headed back to where his truck was. His mini-map showed him where to go and on his way he came across multiple standard beasts. Summoning "Ice Axe" he made short work of each and had Fluffy fetch all their cores.

He wasn't sure but he was pretty sure that Fluffy got the last two without being commanded. He thought again 'Good boy Fluffy" and the two did their dance. Feeling a purr in his ankle suddenly LaLa appeared circling Fluffy looking it up and down, Fluffy sniffed the kitten. Then LaLa's head turned as if it heard something and shot off. Andrei's interface then displayed a new beast core obtained followed by a purr in his ankle.

"Good girl LaLa!" Exclaimed Andrei in his head as he realized she just killed a beast and took its core and delivered it to him. He was answered with a resounding purr in his ankle. He then wanted to check out the new beast core he just received and opening up his inventory he noticed there were more things in there than he was not aware of. 

When Fluffy had been fetching the beast cores it would automatically obtain any relevant parts of the beast that were known to be useful. "Beast Scraps 8 count" was the first inventory space taken and when he selected them it asked if Andrei wanted to feed Fluffy. Andrei made a motion to toss something to Fluffy and out of his palm scraps of meat appeared and Fluffy jumped at the food and devoured it. He used the 7 others just to see what would happen and no change other than Fluffy finished them all.

Realizing he probably should be testing these things out when he isn't expected back at his vehicle he quickly resumed heading that direction following the gold arrow on his mini-map. Arriving at the vehicle the whole squad had been standing outside of the vehicle nervously waiting for their captain to return.

"FINALLY WE CAN LEAVE!" The driver had been arguing with the squad that they needed to leave but they all had stayed out of the vehicle to make sure that he would not leave without their captain. He had been trying to figure out the best way to get them to leave but finally just waited with them for Andrei to appear. 

Everyone quickly grabbed their gear and appeared to be on guard as they saw Fluffy and clone approach. "Fluffy Hide" Andrei thought and the two disappeared which then caused everyone to panic. "Fluffy is my beast I just tamed, he will not harm you, now lets move out".

"Haha very funny, you named him Fluffy?" one of the girls who was the most scared of Fluffy questioned Andrei. He gave his best grin to help ease the tension but beast taming was not a common power for Hathins to have so beast pets were rarely seen. The little experience they had with tamed beasts probably helped Andrei the most as what he just did with his pet was not a common power.

Death Squad shuffled into the vehicle and Mini came up and gave him a tight hug around his thigh. Andrei explained to the squad what had happened and that he was able to save some of Posse Loco but unfortunately it seems they lost about half their squad. 

Returning to base they headed to the checkout stall where they would get their beast cores registered. Andrei told them to each keep their own kills and that they could use them how they saw fit. They each went through getting scanned and Andrei was last. 

"Woah big shot with an advanced tier, why do you get the core and not someone else?" The man working the registration commented as Andrei first pulled out the Advanced tier core. Mini not happy with the way her man was being talked to voiced her thoughts "Probably because he killed it by himself after it killed half of Posse Loco" 

Glancing over to the yellow line the man nervously laughed and stated "I meant no offense just no one has turned in an advanced core from a cadet hunt before. Or at least not in the last 10 cycles I have been stationed on this base." Andrei was getting annoyed that people are so casual with death but it is the military he thought to himself.

The squads reentered the Assembly hall and there was loud discussion going on with the day's events. One of the biggest discussions was the now massive lead Death Squad had on every other team. All four other squads combined were less than Death Squads total thanks to the advanced tier and the many intermediate tiers that they took on. Posse Loco and Delta Force both did not break 100 points from the standard cores giving one point each. The advanced cores gave 100 and the intermediate cores gave 10 points. 

"SILENCE! I WANTED TO CONGRATULATE ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE RETURNED ALIVE. AN ADVANCED TIER BEAST THAT HAD BEEN HIDDEN FROM OUR SCOUTS BEFORE POSSE LOCO STUMBLED UPON IT. THOSE LIVES LOST WILL BE REMEMBERED THROUGH EACH OF YOU."

"CADET ANDREI CAPTAIN OF DEATH SQUAD TOOK CARE OF THE BEAST AND EVERYONE SHOULD SHOW GRATITUDE TOWARDS HIM." The drill sergeant announced to the cadets.

"DEATH SQUAD YOU WON TODAY'S CHALLENGE BY COLLECTING 246 POINTS, THE REWARD IS YOU GET TO KEEP THE GEAR YOU SELECTED. ALL OTHER SQUADS NEED TO PROCEED TO THE ARMORY AND RETURN YOUR GEAR!" 

Cheers were heard from those in Death Squad as they were getting to keep advanced tier gear to help them in their own personal goals. Andrei felt like he just missed an opportunity to make himself really powerful but then again the longsword was almost a cheat code to elemental users.

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