Major Liam Carver stepped into the surveillance office and walked past the various desks monitoring the base security, right to the centre of the room where a corporal was keeping tabs on various screens by himself.
Owing to his quick pace and silent footsteps, the corporal did not notice his arrival until his shadow covered the man. He was startled by the sudden appearance of a figure, but when he looked at who it was he calmed down, and saluted the man, giving a very perfunctory "major" as he sat back down.
The major's expression remained stoic and unchanging, as if he was unaffected by his subordinates' casual behaviour.
"How are the recruits performing?" the major asked.
"Worse than expected, to be honest. Someone got the bright idea of various teams working together. They haven't even mastered working in teams of five yet, so larger teams are resulting in even more chaos. Many of them have had to retreat because they ended up walking in the path of another recruit's spell or ability and got injured. They have no coordination, and no sense of teamwork.
"But that was expected, more or less. By teaming up, they're just expediting the result we already expected. If things continue like this then a majority of the teams will fail their missions in the next few hours. There are some exceptions, but they're very rare."
"Whose idea was it to gather various teams together?"
"That would be a recruit by the name of Nero Grant, as far as I can tell. To his credit, he's actually managed to make things work."
The corporal pulled up one of the screens that showed a large group within the forest, facing off a host of Thaumic ants - a type of mutated ants that grew up to 60 cm long (2 feet). Ants were some of the worst kinds of enemies one could face in any situation, for if even one escaped, they would bring back their literal horde for revenge.
Thaumic ants were especially dangerous because their shells were resistant to most elements, and were especially difficult to break through. Liam observed the group fight, and immediately he could pick out the inexperience and lack of coordination in the recruits. Fear had also gripped a number of them, which could be clearly seen by the embarrassing display of quaking knees.
Yet for all their apparent weaknesses, of which there were many, the group held their position. None of them retreated, regardless of how evident it was that they wanted to. They kept their positions, and while the few competent fighters held off the ants, keeping them from coming closer, the rest used their long range spells to try and damage or disorient the ants.
It was an acceptable display of how numerous weak attacks could result in a strong outcome - mainly because all of their attacks were pathetic.
The primary reason, however, that they were able to hold their position, was one recruit who single handedly was dealing with about ten ants. He stood in front of the group, and became the protective wall that kept a majority of the ant scouting party at bay. Moreover, he did so effortlessly.
He was not desperately attacking, despite being outnumbered. Instead, he was masterfully keeping the ants at bay, using his spear to shepherd the ants where he wished. Now and again, his spear would burst out a blue flame and harm the ants, but for the most part, he just kept them where he wanted them, while the others slowly dwindled their numbers.
"He is rousing courage in them," the major commented admiringly, but that only got the corporal to bark a laugh.
"More like they're more afraid of him than the ants. He told them that if a single one of them tries to retreat in the face of danger, he will send the ants away from the group and towards those retreating. Nobody dares to test him."
The major paused for a moment, but nodded anyway. It did not matter how he was doing it. What mattered was that he alone was using a group of incompetent recruits and turning them into somewhat productive soldiers. If they continued to gain experience in such a manner, they might even become decent soldiers.
"No wonder the sage took notice of him," the major muttered, then turned his attention to the other students. Nero was not the only competent one of the whole lot.
*****
Finishing off the Thaumic ants was more a practice of patience than skill. Sure, he could have killed them all himself, but he would have sustained a few injuries in the process and exerted himself greatly. Comparatively, just keeping them at bay and angry enough not to run away as their numbers dwindled was much easier.
Traditionally ants would be considered a very dangerous enemy to encounter, but that was because of their swarming tactics. As soon as Glade identified them as a scouting party, Nero instructed the group to fall into the slower but more stable formation of having the non-combatants use long range offensive spells.
Whether it was Air Push or Air Bullet, or anything else they may have, it did the trick, slowly and steadily.
When they encountered more ferocious foes, and they faced many of those, Nero had them deployed in a different formation where the Synergists would boost him and the other combatants, while the rest would distract the enemies. Nero, Wendy and Charles would take on the responsibility of killing the animal in that case. No matter which formation they took, though, Nero was always in front.
He had to be, as without him holding the enemies at bay the entire squad would scatter.
It was not courage holding them in place, though they had developed some of it with repeated success in fighting off enemies. It was purely fear of Nero, and his promise to let the animals chase any who retreated without orders.
The artisans, predictably, held a large selection of cards which they distributed among the others for temporary use. That is where most of the ranged offensive cards came from. But they also proved helpful in harvesting various ingredients from the animals' bodies.
More importantly, they had a very thorough understanding of which animals were edible or not, and which parts of them they could store safely for use.
After all, once Nero announced that they would be spending the night there, everyone started to think of ways they could contribute and make their experience better.
Slowly, but surely, they progressed, and by the time the run reached its peak in the sky, they had reached the border of C-7. That is where Nero's team's target was.
They took a short rest to recover their aether and eat some food, while the scouts searched the periphery for any place where they could take shelter at night. So far, the only option they had was a small clearing they encountered a while back, but it offered no protection at all other than being free of trees.
Unfortunately, their rest was cut short when a couple of Lynx attacked. No one detected them before the attack, even Nero or Glade. Henry, with his uncanny ability to spot animals might have been able to do it, if he had not been sent out to look for shelter. It was literally the first time Nero sent the scouts farther than a few metres.
Only when Nero saw a blur did he realise something was attacking, and used Air push without hesitation. His timely intervention saved the life of one of the Synergists as the Lynx had been aiming for his throat, though he still suffered deep gashes on his back. The other recruit who was attacked was Adam.
The hammer wielding healer's immediate response was probably what saved his own life, since no one else reacted fast enough. Out of instinct, without even realising what happened, he began to use his ability on himself. At the same time, he punched the Lynx that had just begun to pierce its fangs into his neck!
Before anyone else could realise what was happening, Nero charged with his spear while bathed in roaring blue flames. A chill suddenly crept into the air as he rushed by, but the Lynx were faster than him, and managed to dodge.
A fountain of blood squirted in the air as Adam fell to his knees. Someone screamed.
"Defensive formation!" Nero roared, and more out of sheer reflex than actual conscious effort, everyone formed a circle around the kneeling Adam. It was only once they had surrounded the healer that they realised what they had done.
Nero didn't have time to pay attention to them. He could see an abnormal wind surrounding the two Lynx as they stared at him growling.
Nero made the first move. They were faster than him, but he had a greater attack range.
The two Lynx dodged, both going in opposite directions. If Nero attacked one, he would leave his back, as well as the group, open to attack from the other.
That did not give him pause, and he stabbed towards the closer Lynx without holding back.