Chapter 242: Elite Troop – Part 2

"Elias, where are we going?" Blade asked.

"Let's go north. On the map Luan made, it says there are a lot of scorpions that are easy to kill, as they are slow running but fast with their tails. If we are careful with the tails, we can kill them easily. Ones of the First, Second, and even Third Order can appear. In all cases, we go in formation and kill the scorpions," Elias said.

"Understood!" Blade saluted.

Afterward, they walked, but Elias was finding it all very strange. This was not very similar to what Luan was saying. In the markings, there were supposed to be some trees next to some small lakes, despite having so much sand. What caused the drought in this place? As he thought about this, they had already come a long way and had almost reached their destination.

"I am afraid," Alice said in her soft, childish voice.

Despite being 14 years old and in the Third Order, she was, after all, a teenager who had never fought in her life. She had just trained a lot and with the help of pills she made it to the Third Order, but that didn't give her enough courage to face monsters.

"Stay calm. Until you get used to it, you don't have to fight. The important thing is to get used to it and be cautious, and also not try to go against strong enemies. Just choose the weaker ones and get some Credits." Bruno (Blade) told her with a gentle smile.

"Okay." She still hadn't totally gotten used to her mother dating Bruno. Not that she was against it, but she felt shy around him. After all, she had never had a father present, her mother was her sole caregiver and her father, she only saw him sometimes in person or on television.

"Mommy won't let her princess get hurt, don't worry," Arlinda said in her sweet voice.

Alice held her mother's hand tightly and continued to walk with the group.

The red scorpions appeared. Some came out of the ground, others were already out of the ground. Upon feeling the presence of human warmth, they became alert, especially when feeling the Qi of some of the group who could not hide theirs well.

After that, the scorpions ran in groups towards them, but as expected, they were slow, at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour. For the squad, this was too slow. If it was for ordinary people, maybe this would be quick, but not for them.

Elias took the heavy sword from his back and held it in both hands. Ezekiel held a shield and sword. He took the front, to serve as a tanker.

The tail attacks caught the shield, but they bounced off. After all, it was a Third Order shield; it wouldn't break so easily. Blade advanced with his spear and pierced a scorpion's head, instantly killing the scorpion. Their teamwork was well coordinated, with some defending, others attacking and killing.

Maihara used a bow and arrow and needed a maximum of 2 arrows to kill a Second Order monster. Of the Third Order, she hadn't tried it yet, but as her bow and arrow were of equivalent level, she figured she could kill it with the support of her peers.

Alice held a pretty sword with a hilt made like rose petals. She saw some slower scorpions that were First Order and attacked and killed them.

"Yay! I did it!" She celebrated. However, something came out of the ground. A scorpion tail was heading towards her back.

"Alice!" Arlinda was a little too far away and wouldn't make it in time. Blade used his agility and spear range and managed to get there in time by slamming the spear point into the scorpion's tail.

"Ahhh!" Alice yelled, startled. She ran towards her mother. The scorpion that almost had attacked her was actually of the Third Order.

"I need help here," Blade said out loud.

Maihara supported him as she shot arrows, causing the scorpion to be distracted, while Blade tried to find an opening to attack. Many of his attempts failed, but he finally managed to pierce one of the eyes and the scorpion got agitated and wanted to hide in the sand, but Elias suddenly appeared and slashed at the monster's neck with his sword heavily.

*Bang!* The sound echoed loudly. The neck was still attached, but half was cut off. Elias drew his sword and backed up and Blade finished it off with the cut in the neck.

Their Origins were not awakened. Despite feeling the presence, they still couldn't use them in a fight. Most Origins awakened when people were climbing the tower, and the one who understands the most about Origins was Luan. For now, they could only use blunt force to fight. Gradually, they would each get used to their Origin and be able to use it in battle.

Like for example: Paloma, she had an Origin related to wind. It was very good, but she always messed up when using it, like hitting an ally or increasing her running speed too much. In all situations, almost always something bad happened. That's why Elias forbade the group to use them in battle. First they needed to train individually and then train in a group. Using them at this time without knowing how to control them was very dangerous.

They continued to fight the red scorpions until exterminating them all.

"Finally it's all over." Arlinda was dripping with sweat. The weather was already hot, and on top of that she had had to fight these monsters. It was all very complicated.

"Yeah," several others agreed.

"Careful Elias!" Arlinda suddenly screamed. She had something like a premonition and suddenly a scorpion attacked Elias's back, trying to kill him.

Elias was confused but ran away from where he was, and what appeared was something frightening. It was a scorpion twice the size of the previous ones.

"Shit, is this Fourth Order? How can there be such a thing here?" Samantha screamed, completely scared.

"Everyone!" Elias shouted, getting everyone's attention, "Stay calm! Yes, it's a strong monster, but we number 23. Let's use the formation Luan had us go through. He said we could fight a Fourth Order monster if we use that formation and if everyone is in the Third Order. And that's exactly the situation we find ourselves in!"

"Okay!" Even in fear, they listened.

"Ezekiel, come with me and help defend against his tail, but first, watch carefully what I'm going to do. Test it a bit and find out if it's as slow as the other one or not," Elias said.

"Okay." Ezekiel nodded firmly in his voice.

Elias put away his sword and took out a 150 cm shield. It was silver and heavy, but for Elias, it was reasonably light. Afterward, he ran towards the scorpion which was almost 120 cm standing, and 500 cm in wingspan. It was too big.

It was even faster than a bullet from a .38-caliber gun. Elias used his reflexes to defend himself with the shield, but the shield was left with the tail mark that pierced through it. Even though it was a Third Order shield, it would withstand a maximum of 3 attacks, Elias figured.

"Now, attack from afar! Don't stop, stay in formation. Switch positions with those who are tired, and Ezequiel, get ready to take my place to defend against this thing. For those who use spears, try to find the best time to attack the legs and try to break one of them," Elias yelled.

They did as Elias said and some used bows, some shot arrows, others used their spears to try to break its legs. Just as Elias had predicted, the third blow broke his shield and he backed away. The scorpion's speed was at most 100 kilometers per hour. It may seem fast, but it was actually acceptable.

Ezekiel took Elias's place and stood in front of the scorpion, taking the blows. Elias took advantage of this and took the last spare shield he had. He took his big sword as well and at full speed ran and jumped, catching the distracted scorpion and slashing his heavy sword at the scorpion's head. The attack didn't have that much strength because he only used one hand and with the other, he defended with the tail shield that came towards him. He was thrown, but his blow took effect. The scorpion started to slow down; its head was spinning like it was drunk.

The Elite Troop took this chance and attacked non-stop while the scorpion was injured. After almost 1 hour of fighting, the scorpion fell with a heavy *Blam* to the ground.

"Hahahaha!"

It is unknown who started it, but everyone started laughing, happy to have succeeded and survived. After all, they had just killed a monster in the Fourth Order! Strangely, the mood starts to change. Before long, the dry air was no longer so dry.

Elias approached the scorpion and said, "This scorpion was indeed very powerful, to the point of being worth 12,000 Credit points. I can't even believe we managed to kill him. In any case, we should be fair and divide it appropriately... But, I personally think we should divide 500 Credits for each of us, and with the 500 that are left, throw ourselves a party to celebrate, how about?"

"I agree." Gradually everyone agreed. In reality, they were happy to be alive, and they made far more points killing the scorpion group than killing the boss. They then happily headed towards town to celebrate.

"By the way, isn't it better to breathe in this place now? It's like there's not that dry air…" They started talking about it as they went into town.