Chapter 194 - First Encounter (1)

Auron waited until the other squad had finished their introduction. A few minutes passed, one by one each squad's leader giving their report to Colonel Scud. Soon, all of them already finished their introduction and dismissed their squad.

Now, there were only seven people left, including Auron, Colonel Scud, Auron, and five other private squad's leaders. Colonel Scud moved to the front and faced Auron and the other private squad's leaders.

"Now, I will tell you what your squad's task for tomorrow." 

"From our scout's report, there is no living activity near the demonic stick. Also, it seems the demonic stick was very vulnerable without any protection or some sort."

"However, to be safe, we want to set a perimeter around the area. So, the Lieutenant already divide us into several groups. Four colonels and their groups will in charge of the northern, eastern, western, and southern parts of the perimeter. Meanwhile, the other six colonels will be the ones responsible for destroying the demonic sticks."

"And our group belong to the latter group. Yes, we are the attacking team. We will work together with the other groups to destroy the demonic stick as quick as possible."

"We don't want any mishap or unpredictable situation due to interference from the enemy's spies or the demonic creature. That is the reason we put many groups on the attacking team to take it down as fast as possible."

"However, the Lieutenant doesn't want you to be careless and focus on just attacking without paying attention to the defense. That is why your task as the leader is to make sure everything goes as planned."

"You will have to survey your surroundings, so there will be no enemy's spies that could make any surprise attack us."

"Not only that, after we destroy the demonic sticks, we plan to scour the area for the possibility of the demonic monster or any of the enemy's spies."

"To give you a news ahead, when we scouring the area for demonic monster or enemy's spies, we will go on our own as a group. So, I want your cooperation in commanding each of your groups."

"That is all from me. I want you to prepare your squad well following these two tasks. Before I dismissed you guys, any questions?" Colonel Scud gave a chance to ask questions.

However, none of the squad leaders seem to want to ask a question. Because of that, Colonel Scud decided to dismiss them, "If there are no questions, then you can leave. Don't forget to prepare well since there were many unknown variables in this operation. I hope you prepare well. Dismissed!"

All of the squad's leaders dismissed and went on their destinations. Meanwhile, Auron thought on what to prepare. Just like what Colonel Scud had said, there was little information about the demonic sticks.

They didn't even know how to destroy the demonic stick. Should the soldiers pull it up or should they burn it or attack it. There was also no information in the update changelog given from Black Sheep.

However, since this was a game, Auron thought that it would not be as simple as pull it out from the ground. He felt that they had to destroy it. So, he thought it would be the same as when he went hunting. Only the difficulty will be more serious. With that in mind, Auron began to prepare everything he needed.

Buying potion was a must. So, Auron went to the potions shop first and bought a bulk of potions. He also didn't forget to buy a reserve for stock for an emergency. After purchasing the potions, he moved to buy other necessities.

Finished his preparations, Auron looked at the time. He still had a lot of time before the designated time tomorrow. However, since his mage character could not leave the town in preparation for the operation, he decided to move on to his swordsman character. He also made his mage character went back to the academy and stayed there until the designated time.

Auron regained his consciousness in his swordsman character. He was in the wilderness since he commanded his swordsman character to go hunting. He wanted to continue hunting when a worldwide notification rang up to all players in Gaia.

[The Gaia's military has announced recruitment! For all of you who wanted to apply or look for more information, you can go to the military office in Miderian or its branch in every town]

Auron read the notification. It was about military recruitment. Auron didn't have any interest in participating in such activity since he had already joined another military operation. He didn't want to risk the death of his swordsman. Although he would not lose his character permanently like his mage character, his level would go down by 2. Two levels were a considerable number. Moreover, he needed more experience to level up.

Auron ignored the notification and controlled his swordsman to move to another location. However, before he could move far. He spotted a boss monster.

[Gremlin mage] (common boss monster)

Level: 230

HP: 1982345/2000000

MP: 5000000/5000000

Skills: Summon gremlin, Gremlin's Roar, Slow, Haste, Lightning Strike, Paralyze

Description: A gremlin who learns to use mage. It is made to be a support. It has a 90% chance of using summon gremlin skills when there is no guard around him.

Auron commands his swordsman character to hunt in a low-level area to be safe. He also made several additional commands such as, to avoid a boss, or to avoid fighting against more than two enemies at the same time.

Due to that additional command, his swordsman character was when hunting alone; however, the leveling speed noticeably slower. Right now, he spotted a boss. However, he also noticed the boss was in the middle of a battle.

Auron looked at the boss's opponents, and it was an eight-man group. From the look on the boss' hp, it seems the battle had just begun several minutes ago. He wanted to join the fight, so he slowly approach the battle.