Chapter 47: Operation Schoolyard Rescue (4)
The group went through the industrial district fast. It was a blur of shattered concrete, spilled blood, and screeching Rift-Sprites. Reidar’s Bone Militia and Rift-Sprite Squad went through the monster hordes, but not without difficulty given the large number of creatures he had to take care of and the number of people he had to protect.
It wasn’t just that. The number of Rift-Sprites, in fact, exceeded Kate’s predictions, by quite a large margin at that. Despite those being low level, they forced Reidar to use more mana than he anticipated, but the additional challenges also spurred his companions’ growth.
All of that pushed more and more humans to reach level 5 and to join his party, which made things even simpler.
By the time they reached the residential zone, every survivor in Malcolm’s core group had hit level five, and so did Reidar’s group.
As for the place itself, it was rather large despite Three Lakes town not being THAT big. Regardless, most of the buildings had been destroyed, either by the earthquakes or because of the huge tsunamis that spilled onto the area when the same earthquakes hit. There were collapsed roofs, splintered fences, and streets choked with debris.
It looked like the Rift-sprites particularly liked this area, because their numbers exponentially grew here.
<I guess it’s because this place is large and closer to the original nest.>
Regardless of the reason, their chittering echoed through hollowed-out homes, which made Reidar’s skin crawl.
His skeletons marched forward in a rattling line, their swords chopping at the brittle, porcelain-like skin of the wild rift-sprites. But the little monsters kept coming in. Dozens more came out from basements and broken windows like discharge from festering wounds, circling around to flank the group and putting people in danger way too often.
However, Malcolm’s fighters proved to be quite good at fighting. It was probably because he’d drilled them in military tactics: formation drills to hold lines, quick signals for repositioning, and cover fire to pin down the swarms.
For sure, his tactics worked, and Reidar took note of them often, as he could use them with his summons.
By afternoon, the last sprite on their path fell. It didn’t matter much, though, since at that point they reached the school. Shadows crawled over its walls, clear even from where they stood.
Reidar wiped ash from his face, counting the tired fighters. There were no casualties, luckily, or his quest would have had some problems.
"Rally point here," Malcolm said, gesturing to a half-standing pharmacy on the opposite side of the street. "We need to wait for the others."
Reidar nodded. While they killed several monsters on the way, the real bulk of the wild beasts would be at the nest.
"There will be more than just a thousand monsters there," he said.
"Yeah..." Malcolm sighed. "We for sure need to change the way we collect our information."
"Don’t be too harsh on yourself, Malcolm," Kate said. "If our scouts weren’t such scared cats, they would have done a much better job."
In essence, during their advance through the town, the group reached a consensus about why there were more monsters than they had assumed.
It was simple, really. The scouts Malcolm sent were not strong enough to thoroughly check the surroundings. That meant they had only a vague idea of what was around, not the complete one they claimed to have.
Dark alleys stuffed with trash, busted sewer lines twisting below ground, and ruined buildings packed with unchecked rooms. They had overlooked so much. Even the buildings still standing weren’t trustworthy; packs of monsters could lurk inside without leaving a trace.
Reidar realized that Three Lakes wasn’t just a plagued town; it was a labyrinth of monster lairs.
Every broken foundation and boarded-up storefront could hide smaller nests; every gutted-out car could be a makeshift den for creatures waiting to ambush unsuspecting survivors.
There were simply too many places where the monsters could hide. The endless dark corners and overlooked nooks meant the town crawled with way more monsters than those first scout reports let on.
He shuddered, imagining the sheer amount of times he would have to fight in the coming days.
<This is basically a war of attrition.>
The problem was that it was against an enemy that outnumbered them by quite a few numbers.
He sighed.
The scouts sketched a map with far too many blind spots, each one now likely teeming with monsters attracted by the sounds of the battles he and the others were having.
But it was understandable. They were weak compared to the monsters, and they had no skills, no proficiency, no experience.
<Well, at least they did something, even if not in the best of ways...>
"How far are the others?" Reidar asked.
"They should be a couple of hours from here, I think," Malcolm said. "Most likely, we missed some of the monsters, and they had to fight them on the way."
That was possible and would explain why a group that should have been no more than five minutes away from their position was so behind.
"Let’s take this chance to rest then. We are going to do the hardest part of the quest now."
Everyone nodded. That was exactly what they needed at that moment. Reidar was relatively full of energy since he only had to walk and launch fireballs. The others, who didn’t have skills yet, had to fight with weapons.
Reidar couldn’t help but smile as he looked upon his Guardian Shade. The thing was dutifully siphoning mana from the surroundings to replenish Reidar’s reserves.
Then Reidar turned to the others. Sweat gleamed on their faces. Dark streaks of monster blood, or whatever that stuff was, smeared their clothes, mixing with spots of dried blood.
<They need a shower...>
Several leaned against crumbling walls, chests heaving, while others sat slumped on the ground amidst the debris, some even using it to rest their heads.
<And some sleep...>
—[«PARTY»]—
Party Status:
Party Leader: Reidar Miller (Level 15)
Party Members: Malcolm Reed (Level 8), Kate Morrison (Level 7), David Chen (Level 6), Sarah Martinez (Level 6), James Thompson (Level 7), Lisa Rodriguez (Level 5), Michael O’Connor (Level 6), Amanda Foster (Level 6), Robert Kim (Level 6), Jessica Walker (Level 5), George Wells (Level 6), Linda Merr (Level 5), Margaret Steinis (Level 5), Frank Lindon (Level 5), Mike Leisman (Level 6), Sarah Finch (Level 5).
Current Party Size: 16
Party Benefits Now Active:
C.L.A.S.P. Points sharing enabled
Health status visibility enabled
Resource sharing protocols activated
Party Leader Note: Reidar Miller can invite additional members and modify party settings.
—[END]—