Chapter 169: Route Intersection

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"Report, Squad #3 entered the surveillance field." One of the scanners reported.

"Keep the pace. We will meet them in person soon." Cedric replied to which his team affirmatively replied.

After their brief rest (not really), they continued on their patrol route as usual. Everybody's still wary about potential attacks so they proceeded with caution.

Considering that they're not even proper cadets, they are pretty far from the walls. Even with their combined strength, there are a lot of enemies around these parts that could kill them within seconds if they're not being careful. This was not an exaggeration. After all, the team personally saw those things themselves.

After a few minutes, someone alerted the rest that Squad #3 entered their line of sight, and that turned out to the be case.

Cedric of course saw them already before anybody could. He did even before they took a break.

What he saw did not impress him though. Squad #3 is in a dire state.

"Leader, they are..." #5 muttered softly to him.

"Mn, I see it." Cedric replied, wearing a serious expression.

It's clear Squad #3 had an accident. They were missing two people already, and the rest had this harrowed expression on their faces.

Cedric saw Isabella, the leader of this squad, and despite her stoic expression beneath her veil, it was clear that she too was in a terrible state.

It didn't take long before members of the Squad #3 saw them. The way they informed each other and how their eyes brightened upon seeing them didn't escape his sight, nor his team.

"H-Hey, it's you guys—...!! What!"

Whatever that person had to say died in his throat when he saw how Squad #1 entered a combat formation and appeared hostile against them.

"Hey! Hey! What's this!"

"Stop! We're not enemies!"

"Shit! Could it be that they're imposters?"

"What do we do? We can't lose people anymore!"

"We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"

Squad #1 grimaced as they saw how easily Squad #3 crumbled. They couldn't help but be shocked but also disappointed at this sight.

Where's the order? Why so hopeless? It's understandable for them to feel depressed because they lost people, even though they would feel the same, but losing all sense of order isn't wise in an environment like this.

More importantly...what's their leader doing?

However, even if they could see it, none of them said a thing. It was unnecessary anyway. Unless they were given explicit orders to do so, they will remain silent.

What follows after this should be an intersection. The Squad Leaders will exchange information briefly and go about their way. It's as simple as that since they have other responsibilities to attend to.

Before crossing routes, Cedric stepped forward after ordering his team to remain in formation. Isabella did the same, but it is now clear to everybody that she does not have complete obedience and authority over her squad.

"You're missing members. Talk to me, what happened?" Cedric asked her, starting the information exchange.

"Terrible landing." She replied, "We were attacked as soon as the transmission was over. The corruption was too much and we were too slow to get into formation."

"You didn't teach them Ki Pulse?" Cedric asked with a raised brow.

"I did, but we're too pressed for time. Only two learned it and they're dead." She stated with a flat tone but Cedric could tell that she was shaken about it.

The slight quiver in her tone might not be noticed by others but not him. His ears are too sharp and she's too close for him to miss that.

"Tough luck, then." Cedric replied, choosing to not sound empathetic because she did not need it.

"My team didn't experience a terrible landing but we had a close shave with a Capra Demon." He told her.

Isabella's eyes widened in disbelief beneath her veil.

"Fortunately, we made it out alive. I sensed the thing before it got to us, so we used stealth. I reported the sighting to Captain Silverwing so they should be informed of it."

"How come you're still here if you did that?" She asked.

"It's a report, not an SOS." Cedric deadpanned at her. Inwardly chuckling at the way she blushed in embarrassment for making that mistake.

"Right, sorry. I'm a bit frazzled." She admitted.

"I know." Cedric uttered. "If it weren't for the fact that you proved your identity, I would've thought you were a Demon because of how you reek of corruption."

Isabella looked at him in alarm, seemingly asking if he was kidding. However, she saw Cedric's deadpan expression and silence, convincing her that she was not.

She then saw him turn to his team and barked: "Pulse, now."

Swoosh!

Every single one of Squad #1's members, including Cedric himself, performed Ki Pulse.

20 pulses of pure and unwavering Ki swept through their surroundings and onto the members of Squad #3. That amount was more than enough to completely cleanse the hold of corruption to every human in the vicinity.

Isabella herself felt some kind of invisible burden leaving her body, causing her to involuntarily sigh in relief. That's when she truly realized that he was indeed not lying when he said that she reeked of corruption.

But before she could say anything, she saw Cedric returning to his squad and saying:

"Formation A! Eliminate with extreme prejudice!"