"Yuno, C-rank water user; Jane, C-rank fire user; Rolan, C-rank earth user. Dael, D-rank ice user; Mira, D-rank fire user; Kira, D-rank earth user. Thorne, E-rank ice user, and Kaizen, E-rank. You’re all assigned under your B-rank Squad Leader Ash."
The calling and assigning had long started, all others had already set out, five level two squad, five level three squad, six level four squad, four level five squad, three level six squad and two level seven squad. Level seven squads usually took care of E-rank portals.
Kaizen’s squad was a level six squad, just the like the one he joined during the last raid. He mostly joined either level six or seven squads.
Kaizen turned to find someone he didn’t recognize, slim tall built six foot guy, sharp handsome features that instantly left an impression, he looked a little too feminine for a guy. His long black hair tied in a warrior’s bun, a few strands falling loosely, framing his face.
"Yes." Kaizen answered quickly.
"I’m Yuno, we’re squad mates for today’s raid." Yuno greeted, offering a handshake. Kaizen stared at his hand for a while, skeptical. It was hard for him to trust anyone these days, so he was fully ready for whatever trick this dude might try to pull.
He accepted the handshake, and surprisingly, Yuno gently pressed his hand fondly, giving him a warm smile. "Let’s try to get along okay?"
"Yeah." Kaizen awkwardly pulled his hand away when he noticed the handshake felt a little too intimate.
"Those are the rest of our team over there. Captain Ash should join us soon." Yuno said, pointing to several people gathered in the corner. They had already found themselves. Kaizen instantly noticed a familiar face, Kira from the previous raid.
He wasn’t the type to initiate conversations or he would have waved, they weren’t exactly close anyways.
Just then, a slightly short, medium height man came down from the stairs from where he’d been standing with Wraith. He was armored and had a sword hanging by his side. His hair was tussled, his face bearded, and his left eye blind, a whitish tint coating his iris.
"Ohh! That’s the captain."
"Alright squad, we head out now. I’m sure everyone is already prepared." Ash said, walking towards the group. "I don’t think anyone amongst you is stupid enough to come here unprepared, right?"
"We’re all ready. You two, come over.. you’re part of the squad aren’t you?" Rolan called, gesturing to Kaizen and Yuno. They both hurried and joined them, Kaizen almost missed his steps but he quickly regained balance.
Yeah he could be clumsy sometimes but the clumsiness could wait, right now he didn’t want anyone to sense him as weak or tag him as death weight. People were quick to judge and just a little clumsy fall could ruin everything.
"Kaizen right? I remember you from last raid. Coincidence huh." Kira tapped him playfully on the shoulder.
"Yeah, hi." He replied, giving an awkward smile. What happened today? Everyone suddenly calling his name and acting so friendly. He was used to being treated as trash, getting attention for anything other than being bullied or made fun of was something he never experienced before, so he didn’t know exactly how to react.
"Here’s how it’ll be done, if you’re the one who landed the kill on a beast, the gem is yours to keep. Just don’t be stupid and go for something clearly bigger than what you can handle. Especially you two E-ranks," Ash said, pointing to Thorne and Kaizen. "Stick with E-rank and F-rank beasts. Anything above that, the rest of the team will take care lf it. Understood?"
"Good. We head out now, our portal is located at the west district, we take public transport there, let’s clear that portal as soon as we can."
Six masked figures all sat behind eachother, their palms placed on eachothers backs, the final one at the front had his hand hovering above the eight red gemstones. They were all channeling their mana into the stone, passing it through contact.
They needed to merge the eight stones into one, and then it’ll become a core which they’ll bury inside the host’s body. It sounded like something simple but it was extremely draining.
Their eyes now looked heavy and tired behind the masks, they obviously had spent a lot of mana, and yet...they weren’t even half done.
Two guards stood by the door, watching for intruders. After several the minutes of channelling their man into the gemstones, two of them finally merged into one, a sign that they were progressing. But they didn’t stop there, they couldn’t stop until all eight were merged together, otherwise they’d have to start all over. They needed absolute concentration and no distractions.
Kaizen and the rest of the squad had arrived at the portal. It took them less than fifteen minutes to reach there with public transport. They now stood in front of the portal, bracing themselves to enter.
As soon as Kaizen got close enough, he instantly sensed that something was off. The portal was clearly D-rank but the ominous mana he sensed from within said otherwise. He wanted to speak up, but he knew for sure they’d brush him off, but still...he decided to confirm.
"Captain, is this really a D-rank portal?" He asked after moving closer to the captain and asking quietly so others wouldn’t hear.
"Of course, the color clearly shows D-rank, what’s the matter? You sense something?"
"I sense something ominous coming from within, I don’t really know what it is but, it’s definitely not supposed to be in a D-rank portal." He suspected it was going to be the same situation as last time, but he also hoped it was just that.
"Don’t worry about anything, that’s why you have me here. I’ll take care of any beast that’s beyond what you-all can handle." Ash reassured in a friendly tone. But then he paused, squinting his gaze at Kaizen.
"Wait, I know you. You’re that kid without magic right?" His voice was a little too loud this time, and the rest all had their attention on Kaizen now.