Chapter 295: Planning their Next Course

"Great job. Really great job." Kai smiled while Sofia looked around to see whether there were any magical beasts closing in.

After confirming they were safe, she walked toward Kai along with the rest.

"Doesn't really feel like I have fought against a hundred magical beasts…" Ayaka mumbled with a carefree tone.

"It just means that you have gotten stronger." Kai smiled.

"Yeah. The past me might have no ability to use my magic effectively." Ayaka nodded and felt a bit proud of her growth.

"Still, this is not enough. The fight felt easy, but our enemies were stronger." Michelle shook her head.

"Fair enough. Maybe because we have been setting them as our enemies to overcome, we have gotten stronger than we actually think." Tasha nodded. "Everything needs a process. As long as we keep striving forward and don't be proud of killing a mere small group like this, I think we will be fine. If you feel proud, I will make you experience free fall from the sky without a parachute."

The girls rolled their eyes before Sofia mentioned a few things. "First, there is another great sign coming from our eleven."

"Yes. I have noticed them too. It's a small group, but there is a huge one coming right before it. I am assuming that this one is…" Kai paused as the others answered at the same time. "An A rank intelligent beast."

Their expressions turned serious as Sofia nodded, confirming the claim. Kai thought for a moment and said, "This one is much harder because it's tough to sneak attack this beast."

"Why?" Sofia asked, noticing that this beast's danger level wasn't really much higher than the three A rank beasts combined.

"They are underground. I assume there is a small underground nest nearby containing around two hundred to three hundred magical beasts. I don't know whose nest is this though." Kai shrugged while listening to their movement.

"This is going to be difficult." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Not only our space is limited, we are not really aware of their terrain."

"Don't worry. Although I have said a nest, this one doesn't really look like an ant nest with so many hidden tunnels. Well, I should be able to know if they are coming, so it will be fine." Kai assured her before asking. "By the way, you said you want to say a few things. What is the rest?"

"There is a single beast a bit further than us. I believe we should hunt that monster first." Sofia pointed in a different direction.

Kai closed his eyes for a second to listen to the beast's footsteps and confirmed it was there. Still, this beast felt massive. "The beast is huge because every step is big and creates a loud noise. I try to look at this beast with the tremor caused by him, and it seems this one is a black bear."

"It's going to be troublesome then. I have heard that every time a black bear appears, the base asks the base for an elite group to hunt this down. Not only does it have thick skin, but the strength is also far stronger. I believe it is a bit stronger than Kai's current strength with his exoskeleton combined." Michelle explained while searching all information through her memory.

"What do you know about it? And how powerful his defense is?"

"I am not very sure. You can say that the black bear is one of the strongest beasts in this area. I believe Ayaka's fire won't be able to burn its skin… Only his fur, I guess. The same applies to Sofia's ice magic. It doesn't really feel cold, and unless you create a powerful attack, it won't penetrate his skin."

"That sounds like a thick defense." Kai nodded. "How about my Vibration Sword?"

"I think your vibration sword can deal with it, but I am sure he is going to stop you no matter what. And it has the speed needed to handle your speed. In other words, it relies on us how we want to restrict it so you can kill it."

"It will be hard indeed." Kai glanced at Ayaka, who seemed to have something to say.

Feeling his stare, she picked up a branch near her boot as a magic circle appeared and disappeared.

"What is that?"

Ayaka didn't say anything and simply threw the branch as far as possible.

*Boom!*

The branch exploded, startling everyone in the area.

"Don't worry. I won't do this if you have retracted your Sound Insulation magic." Ayaka smiled before starting to explain. "As you can see, I have applied my Magic Bomb to that branch, making it explode within a few seconds."

"You want to explode it inside the black bear's body?" Kai narrowed his eyes, catching her plan almost immediately.

"Yeah." Ayaka smiled.

"I think it will work." Michelle approved the idea. "I never heard about them having a powerful inside."

"If you can do this, I think we won't have much trouble, and I can focus on fending the bear to create a few openings for all of you to attack the bear. How about it? I will act as the bait while all of you are going to injure it. As soon as you create a small wound, stuff a thing that has been coated by Ayaka's magic bomb, and we will retreat." Kai suggested with a carefree tone.

He didn't want them to rely on his Vibration Sword too much because they might stop inventing powerful magic attacks. Hence, he agreed with Ayaka because he loved her creativity.

"I don't have a problem. Do you want me to stuff it inside with my arrow?" Tasha was the first to answer. "Ayaka will need to come to me later though and match the timing with the bomb."

"One minute is enough, right? It's not like the bear will sweep away a branch that is stuck to its wound." Tasha asked.

"One minute is enough. I can get better timing and position to stuff it then." Tasha nodded. "But I shouldn't reveal my position because the bear might be wary of me."

"I believe the three of you are enough to injure the bear, right?" Kai immediately asked Ayaka, Michelle, and Sofia.

"My Shadow Slash will be enough." Michelle grinned.

"No, no. Even Kai can't withstand my full blow, I am sure I can make a deep wound in the bear's body," Ayaka interjected.

"If I freeze the bear first, it will reduce the power of its muscle, allowing us to create a wound easier, so it will be me." Sofia also made a bold claim.

"I know that you are eager to do this and thank you for that. This is a team fight, so you need to work with each other." Kai rolled his eyes. "So, how long can I expect you to kill the bear?"

"Including the time of the bomb, five minutes." The three gave the same answer at the same time.

Kai widened his eyes in amazement. They might have fought together to even give the same answer like this, and he couldn't help but smile.

"Since the matter of the bear is finished, we should talk about the nest again."

"Yes. I have gathered a few information during this conversation since I can focus there." Kai nodded. "There are many screeching sounds in the nest, so I guess there are a few mammals there like Hares or Collared Pikas that seem to be living around an area like this… Let's think about our position as well."

"Indeed. We are around an alpine. If we continue to the north, we will climb a little bit of the mountain…" Michelle looked down, falling into deep thought.

"Well, the nest should be a bit warm, so I guess there will be bats and some bugs like ants there as well."

"Yeah. They don't really have many colonies to begin with, and the ants don't really like cold, so I try to calculate them and find that the ants are mostly filling the entire nest, so you can expect a similar ant nest."

"This is why I hate underground nests." Sofia gritted her teeth, looking very frustrated.

"Anyway, their population is roughly five hundred. Because of the tunnels the ants made, they are pretty scattered. I think we should be able to solve this by ourselves."

"How many ants are there?"

"I believe there are around one hundred beasts other than ants inside. And according to Sofia, there is no intelligent magical beast, so we can use this to our advantage." Kai nodded.

"Do you want to kill their strongest or clear the nest first?" Sofia asked.

"Clear the nest first. Although their leader doesn't really look like one, I don't want to be surrounded while fighting the leader." Kai instantly answered.

"I can guide you to all the tunnels then. You just need to tell us how many there are, and I'll tell you their strength." Sofia nodded in agreement.

"Alright. That's settled then." Kai thought for a moment. "We will strike the bear first since there are only a few magical beasts surrounding the bear. Well, they are not that close, so we can assassinate them first before killing the bear. After that, we will clear the nest."

"Before that, I have a question." Ayaka raised her hand.

"What is it?"

"I have remembered one more thing, so I want to ask whether we need to bring the crystals from the magical beasts we kill or not?" Ayaka remembered where they still gathered those crystals for some extra money.

Kai forgot about it because he had gotten enough money from the government, so he never mentioned or thought about it again. "There will be too many magical beasts to dissect, so maybe I can strike a deal with the military base where we split with the soldiers and the base for this. This way, we can also give a portion of what we get to the soldiers to let them have a better life."

"Alright then." Ayaka immediately brushed the matter away. It wasn't like she needed this money, but she just wanted to make sure they didn't waste it. If they had cooperation like this, getting a smaller portion was enough for them."

After settling the issue, Kai said and started moving. "Let's go."