Chapter 56: 56:First Mission (3)
At least the hotel they were staying in was decent enough. Raymond actually managed to get a decent amount of sleep before being forcefully awakened by Ellen in order to get breakfast.
Since the mission was going to be more of a marathon rather then a sprint, they needed to get all the energy that they could.
Raymond personally recovered more energy by sleeping well rather then being jolted out of his sleep to eat breakfast but he didn’t want to argue with Ellen.
Seeing the others already ready made his face turn slightly sour.
All of them were always so hard working, so diligent in whatever they did, never slacking off even a little bit.
It made him feel really bad about himself sometimes.
After a quick breakfast of the hotel food, all four of them got into the shuttle prepared by the Livins Power Company—Noelle, Lucy and Cador got a separate shuttle. Quickly heading out to the power lines they had to defend.
Looking out of the armoured windows, Raymond could see a vast expanse of foliage stretching out nearly as far as they eye could see. In the distance towards where they were heading, Raymond could barely make out the outline of the city which supplied Dravenport with its power.
Along the smooth ride, they made light conversation with the employees who were following them. Mostly consisting of repairmen and two individuals who were responsible for applying the monster repellant.
One of them called out to Raymond, "You’re that kid aren’t you? The one with the potential score above a hundred?"
He nodded, "Didn’t know I was this popular already."
Another one of them butted in, "Are you kidding me? You practically gripped the entire awakened society by its throat!"
All of them were unranked. While technically only those who had formed a core were considered awakened. Since most humans had an average potential score of around fifteen, the chances they could succeed and become an awakened were abysmally low.
Those like Raymond were still considered awakened since they were on the path to forming a core, while these people had already given up on trying. At best they might be able to reach the G-rank.
A bit confusing maybe, but the system had been in place for so long that most simply got used to it.
He whistled, "Lucky kid, don’t die early from any demon attacks! We’re counting on you to wipe them all out for us!"
Way to plant a death flag, with the forced splitting of the continent during the second Human-Demon war. Although most demons lived on the Alti continent, now referred to mainly as the demonic continent. Many demons and demon contracters still lived on the Euni continent that most of humanity resided on.
The official war may have ended but both sides were still fighting, just in the shadows this time. Constant assassinations of future talents, corrupting whatever politician or awakened they could. Even launching attacks on important occasions.
Raymond knew, because the Apex Union had literally attacked the academy during Zachary’s third year in the previous timeline!
That’s not to say humanity was just passively taking each of these attacks, they too sent constant scouting expeditions to the demonic continent. Often wiping out groups of demons and saving whatever few humans still remained there.
"What’s there to worry about? The academy will protect them to allow them to grow up and become heroes."
He smiled slightly, these people held so much trust in the academy. If only they knew about the countless problems within.
They continued their small talk for a bit longer, before eventually the shuttle touched down on a relatively open patch of the jungle. Pipes exiting the ground lain in a straight line, before eventually running back into the ground. By his rough estimates, it looked to be at least a kilometer long.
Stepping out of the shuttle, he quickly summoned his staff. He could hear the sounds of weapons being drawn by the others as well. A sword, a bow, a few daggers. A bit further off, he could hear the sounds of something slamming onto the ground—followed by a few flashes of light. Even further away, he could just barely make out the sound of a rapier being drawn.
Only the parts of the power line which entered and exited the ground seemed to be intact, Raymond couldn’t see it from above but he quickly realized what exactly he was seeing.
All throughout the lines, were countless hives of small palm-sized hornets. Each had a slight glow to them, making them resemble blue fireflies slightly. The buzz created by their wings was all he could hear, accompanied by a constant snapping sound as jolts of electricity-attuned mana ran through the insects.
Thomas furrowed his brows slightly, "The company didn’t shut down the power lines?"
"The town of Dravenport still needs to get power. The Electro-shocking hornets are conductive to the electric-attuned mana used so some of it still makes it through to Dravenport."
He rubbed his chin slightly upon hearing Raymond’s explanation before asking him another question.
"Does it make them stronger?"
"Yes, without it they might as well just be regular hornets."
"I see. If we attack this part, will the ones from the other end come attack us as well?"
"Probably."
All of them had gathered around now, analyzing the current situation first before acting.
"With how much of these hornets there are. It’s almost guaranteed to attract any wild Barbed Bears."
"That’s only when it gets too low, even a Barbed Bear would struggle with this many."
Too many attracted bears, too little also attracted bears. What a annoying predicament.
The hornets as well. This would have presented a challenging dilemma, attack one hive and the ones hundreds of meters away come and attack you as well. Although one hive was considered to have a strength of G rank. Hundreds of nests combined together would have caused even F and maybe E ranks to struggle.
If not for Raymond and Audrina.
Raymond himself was currently at the F rank after reactivating his cores, but more crucial then that was his ice magic. Allowing him to create barriers to fight them in parts rather then all at once. Letting them have an easier time while fighting.
Whereas Audrina had her Black Fog Arts, not only did it provide a convenient way for her to conceal herself. It also had a debuffing effect to anyone and anything which inhaled it, making them sleepy, weaker and sluggish. Even causing their emotions to go out of control.
Although the last one was more a side effect of demonic energy rather then the arts.
Even though they too would feel the same debuffs, they could at least resist it and still maintain a decent fighting capability against the hornets.
Raymond was also the one with the most AOE out of them all. When fighting swarms of hornets, a sword or a bow really didn’t do much unless they had some sort of specialized Arts. His magic was much more convenient.
At least Noelle, Lucy and Cador were fairly better off. Their arts had certain skills which had a large area of effect.
Aiming his staff at a certain section of the power lines, he casted a ice wall spell. Forming a sphere or ice around them and sectioning off the part of the power lines. Immediately, countless hornets swarmed out of their hives. Disturbed by Raymond’s spell, small arcs of electricity traveled through the power lines and onto them, creating images of large nets.
He could feel thousands more scratching and trying to get in through his ice dome from outside as well. Luckily ice was a pretty damn good insulator for electricity.
All of the Livins Power Company workers were still waiting in the shuttle which was parked further away from them for now. Once they had cleared out this area, they would immediately get out and start their repairs.
Aiming his staff at a particularly concentrated part, he fired off a series of frost blasts at them after charging for a bit.
Each of these conical shaped blasts of pure ice easily took out nearly a hundred each. But Raymond had sectioned off a pretty large area so there were at least a few thousand inside the dome with them.
He could see a black fog start to spread from the corner of his eye, along with several beams of golden light. Each beam would create a hole in the swarm that let him see the other side briefly before it was filled in again.
Ellen was easily the worst suited for this current mission. She always specialized in dealing hard and heavy attacks, not the fast and weak kind.
But she still did well enough, her years of fighting had taught her lots that theory couldn’t
He aimed at Thomas first, " Greater shield, Electric Resistance, Thorns."
Thomas was the second worst suited, unlike the others who at least had a small amount of abilities they could use against swarms. He had nothing, so Raymond prioritized giving him a shield.
His mana was limited after all, he couldn’t maintain too many of his shields on people and keep firing off his aoe spells.