272 Training Soldiers - New Shield

A stable life.

Normally, an individual could easily achieve stability once getting a regular job. It doesn't matter whether the job had a high paying salary or a high position.

Once someone had a regular job, they could become stable.

In the apocalypse, becoming stable means having enough strength to live day by day.

To feed yourself, to fight for resources.

If you can't, there's a high chance that you'll die.

After the basic checks on the newly recruited army, King brought them to the very front lines. 

Teresa and Baras, the towns northern and eastern to Morong, respectively. The First Army had 149 recruits and would be trained daily until they're used to fighting in groups. The army's main goal was to be able to deal with Evolved Carriers without receiving any casualties. 

Jun overruled the decision to send the disqualified recruits to the Scavenger unit and placed them as reserve army soldiers instead. They would still continue to train and would receive remuneration from Black Haven, but with no benefits and only half the regular salary.

As the First Army attempted to clear Teresa, they were able to meet an increasing number of survivors scavenging for loot.

Everyone knew that the scavengers from Black Haven hasn't reached here and these scavengers are probably locals or belong to the Antipolo City up north.

Teresa only had fresh regular carriers and mostly Rank 1 Evolved Carriers. The First Army was taught how to differentiate how many days the carrier has died depending on the clothes carriers wear.

A worn dirty carrier was easily recognizable against a newly killed survivor. Even if only a day passed, their clothes tend to remain softer than blood-drenched clothes of the older carriers.

The First Army was faring well against Rank 1 Evolved Carriers. Attackers and Defenders were assigned based on their skill.

A person who can block a Rank 1 Destriyer's punch face to face would mean a lot and naturally would be placed as a Tank.

People who had piercing or cutting related skills would become frontline attackers and had to remain alert and on standby to make sure that the Tank's skill would be put to good use.

Unlike toggle skills, most skills that completely negate an attack had an averagely long cooldown.

Individuals who had supporting skills were taught how to use bows for further attacking ability.

For example, a teacher who had the silence skill could help keep the Destroyer quiet, making sure that they could pick lone Evolved Carriers on their own. If it can't shout or roar, the Tanks don't need to worry about the ringing on their ears while fighting.

There's also a unique support skill by an unemployed NEET. He had the skill called Disrupt, which helps confuse the target by jolting them for a second.

Not that they wanted to in the first place.

Most of the scavengers were from Antipolo while the few unrelated ones were from secluded barrios that managed to survive by themselves.

Baras was of the same population size and land border.

Unfortunately, since not many people have traveled from town to town, the whole town was still populated by carriers, and not just regular carriers—Evolved Carriers.

The First Army had to slowly push forward and had to retreat several times to the outskirts due to the enemy numbers. Though the town residents fought back due to evidence all over the place, one could assume of the grim end that the town couldn't escape.

King had to make a decision. He either has to go back and request for help or continue with the slow progress.

Since they were here to train, he was inclined to continue. They just have to be careful with fighting the enemies and everything should be fine.

"We'll take a short rest to plan things out. Team Leaders, come over for a meeting."

One hundred fifty people blocked the road that led to Baras. No carriers could sneak out unless they were invisible.

King gathered the team leaders for brainstorming. This were temporary team leaders that had high contribution and has good prospects with retaining the title.

There were six people that came forward and met with him, two from each roles.

For the tank team leaders, one was a bodyguard while the other was a club bouncer. The attack team leader had a barber and a chef. Last but not the least, the support team leaders, a teacher and a NEET.

Everyone worked in harmony since previous jobs doesn't really matter anymore after leveling up.

King explained his plan to continue forward but slowly and safely. This was still training and althoug getting first hand experience in clearing towns was a good experience, dying would be bad.

After the break, they continued their training for the next few days.

At Black Haven...

Old John sighed in relief after dealing with the shoulder guards Jun gave him. He finally succeeded crafting the naturally formed shoulder guard from a Rank 3 Destroyer into a long-pointed shield that lengths at least one meter. The shield had a round-top and a pointed bottom. He named it Fantasy Shield.

Anyone who uses this shield could completely defend his body from knees to shoulders easily. 

At first, he was surprised when he received the item from Evo, saying that Jun found it for him and requested the material to be made into a shield.

For the past few weeks, he couldn't work on it due to his energy not being able to pierce it, but after leveling up and alotting points on power and wits, he was finally able to pierce it.

At the same time, he gained a level after working on the two shields. 

Old John quickly sent the two Rank 3 Fantasy Shield to Jun and started working on the remaining armbones and legbones. For a Rank 3 Destroyer that had a height of four meters, the arm and leg bones easily reached one meter, very suitable for making pole weapons.

But he won't do that.

This material was very rare at the moment and he wanted to experiment.

Since Jun didn't request anything in particular for these bones, he might as well give it to others. From the main attack group, Adrian and Sheila had outdated and inferior weapons, so he would like to gift them something that could help them.

At the thrid floor of the guild hall, more apprentice had applied. Most of them doesn't were even fine if they weren't taught personally by the master, but as long as they could watch him work, they were alright with it.

They knew that the Master wasn't able to work with that strange black material for a long time and were surprised to see him finish it.

After seeing such a scene, they worked harder thinking that their sharp energy profeciency weren't good enough to pierce and carve on that kind of material.

———

Cardona, Wild Fishpond Dungeon.

The haul was good and the rays of the setting sun covered the surface of the water. It was a tiring long day and yet everyone had smiles hanging on their faces.

The food supply was becoming stable for the four towns under Black Haven.

A military camp was setup on the uptown district, close to the fishport and warehouse. It provided a sense of security for the people who worked and returned to this town.

The baker who didn't move from his house became a local celebrity and continued producing bread from his remaining stocks of flour. 

At the military camp, the reserved soldiers who just returned after patrolling were headed back to their lodgings when they heard panicked shouts coming from the outside.

On the other side of the bridge, a man was running at full speed towards the uptown district.

"Please come and take a look! There are people who came out of the red portal!"

Not everyone was privy to a lot of information, however, even if that does happen, why would the man be so panicked about it?

One of the reserved soldier stepped forward and calmed the man down.

"Are you sure that they are people and not carriers?"

"Yes!"

"Where are they? Did you not talk to them? Are they from other towns? What if they're troublemakers! Did you leave them on their own?!"

"About that... I'm sure that they're human, but they're severely injured. There are a few people watching over them, and they passed out after taking a few steps from the red portal."

"Thank you for immediately reporting this. Everyone, as the reserve soldiers for the First Army, we must keep the town safe. A small group would remain here to watch over the fish port while a small group would come with me. Let's go!"

From the sixty reserved soldiers, thirty people joined the response group while thirty people remained to defend.