One of Galafray's seven suns rose in the morning, its rays bathing the base with intense heat. Soon several fully armed crawlers and sandboats rushed out of the encampment, cutting a beeline through the sand towards a small ruined town far in the distance.

Galafray had a long history before the creeping shadows of corruption overtook it. There were cities, towns, and a vibrant community of people living together in peace and harmony.

Victoria had truly liberated this prison world made to destroy her and her people and turned it into a functioning society.

But now? It was but a shell of its former glory.

The more Enzo saw about this world from the communications from the other regiments, the more pride he felt for having played a part in the history of this place.

But more than anything, he wanted to know now more than ever what had happened to Lady Victoria and Nibbleskin. Were they defeated by chaos and fled? Or did they stand and die?

"We are coming up on the settlement. We will do a full-force drive-by and clear the big deals. After that, you youngsters have to cement a foothold for when we get back."

The wind blowing back his long black hair, Lios spoke to the institute students, echoing their plans of engagement.

These were essentially kids. One couldn't just give them objectives and expect them to finish them. They lacked the experience, and despite the institute's training it would be a bad idea to do such. Details and plans were what they needed.

"Yes!!" Enzo and the rest echoed.

Soon

The convoy of vehicles reached the outer perimeter of the settlement and released eight Hellblaze missiles that struck at eight major targets, causing massive explosions.

Seconds later, the convoy drove through the flames and separated into three teams, each heading for a target at the Great Terror rank or higher.

The difference between them as students and those who had long passed out became obvious a second later.

"Boom!!"

"Slash"

"Bang!!"

Roar!!

As if nothing, they slew fifteen Great Terrors in one joint effort, systematically weakening the corrupted creatures in the settlement before rejoining the main convoy.

"That's a bulk of it. You guys can handle the rest," Darth spoke from the firing cylinders of their vehicles as it muffled the sound of his voice.

The preliminary sweep was enough to assure that they wouldn't encounter too much resistance when they tried to take the settlement.

But most of all, it was a test of their capabilities. Failing would affect the trust of command in them.

About 100 miles from the settlement on the other way, they dropped Enzo and the rest, then went straight for Rune City that faded into the cloud in front of them.

"First years, you're under Malvran. You're taking the west. Second years, Savage Wolf is your guy. The east is your home. Third years, you know the drill," Titus stepped forward and said as the main convoy faded into the distance.

Seconds later, teams of ten were formed as they pushed into the settlement in three directions.

From Enzo's team, aside from Raven and Zeke and Zhou, the others were strangers, people Enzo had never spoken to in his months in the institute.

Yet he had been chosen as their leader. He had to act accordingly.

"There are three Great Beasts in the corner there. Raven, you can finish them off so they don't draw attention."

The settlement was still burning from the initial strikes carried out by the Lios team, so most corrupted creatures here were either in a disarray or fleeing from further bombardments.

What they needed was to secure higher ground first. Thankfully, there was a cathedral with a particularly high vantage in the western part of the settlement.

Although old and decrepit, it still stood firm. As they pushed towards it, it became evident it was sturdy.

That was their target.

"Enzo!! There's a horde heading towards the cathedral. Are you sure about taking it?" Flying overhead, Zeke asked, a look of worry on his face.

The creatures around were rushing towards the safest location not besieged by fire. And unfortunately, the cathedral was one of them.

"Yes. It's the best vantage point. Take three men and disrupt the charge of the horde while we set up," Enzo said as he and several others stopped at the cathedral's iron gates.

"Okay!!" Zeke quickly dropped down and picked two people, taking them into the air and flying them to building tops.

"Big guy, can you take down this gate?" Enzo turned to one of the men in the crowd and asked, a raised eyebrow.

He was a massive guy with thick muscles and metal gloves. He looked strong.

"Sure.." the man nodded.

Actually, Enzo was not a popular person even amongst the special programme students. The fact that Titus had chosen him as team lead and the other special grades didn't object was baffling to them.

But in the brief moment they had seen him work, his competence had shown.

"Good. I can't sense anything inside, so your journey up should be easy. Quickly set up a heavy artillery turret at the top floor and wait for my signal," Enzo said, taking off his cloak and draping it over his coffin.

"Raven, Zhou, let's join Zeke," Enzo said with a nod, and the three broke from the group, leaving only three to man the cathedral.

As they rushed forward, Enzo easily spotted the horde heading towards them with his eyesight.

At this point, several lethal bullet rounds had started being shot by the three men with Zeke while he rained down fire on them.

They were a mix of monsters with different shapes and sizes. But one thing they all had in common was this inky substance around their bodies that emulated their skin.

"Zhou, you're support. Keep a good distance from them. There's something wrong with those creatures," Enzo said as he pulled out his silver spear.

"Got it," Zhou nodded, then entered a reverse spear formation with the three.

He had participated in the Astoria mission in a limited capacity. But he knew what these people were capable of.

He wasn't worried for their wellbeing.

Enzo first started by summoning two sets of red scales that concentrated around his hands, then a round shield that seemed to be made from the very earth itself.

Raven summoned in her left hand two rotating daggers and in her right two spears made from absolute energy. A scarf also wrapped around her neck, floating in the air like a spirit.

Raven was the first to move as she threw the two spears in hand directly at the horde while they enlarged in midair.

Woosh

Beside the three shooting from building tops, the two projectiles breezed through with a horrendous gust that blew them away, crashing directly into the horde.

Roar!!

The myriad of creatures roared helplessly as they failed to anticipate the impact and were pushed back.

At the same time, Enzo appeared in front of one of the creatures and struck with his spear directly at its head.

Instant death. However, the creature's gooey skin soon coagulated around the spear and held it in place.

Irritated, Enzo used his shield to smash the creature into the ground, using the leverage to pull out his spear.

In the second instant after that, another creature appeared out of nowhere, its gooey skin dripping as it pounced on Enzo.

They were relentless.

Every time Enzo took one down, another would appear and try to kill him.

Worst of all, they didn't seem to give a single echo even after killing a dozen.

"Keep the heat coming!" Zeke shouted at the top of his lungs as he mustered all his firepower and rained down flames on the beasts.

Minutes passed; ammo was slowly running down, giving Enzo and Raven, who were on the ground facing the bulk of the damage, a hard time.

Thankfully, however…

"Enzo, they are ready!!" Zeke shouted, forcing Enzo to look back with the corner of his eye.

"Disengage!!" Suddenly Enzo's command resounded. He pulled his spear from a creature and faded into a shadow on the wall.

Everyone else followed suit as three glints appeared atop the cathedral's bell towers.

-grinnnn

Tu tu tu tu tu

One after the other, explosive rounds shot through the air from the cathedral, decimating the horde one creature at a time.

They had successfully set up camp.

What followed after was the utter decimation of the horde, with some of its creatures escaping.

With that, Enzo, Zeke, Raven, and the rest returned back to the cathedral and consolidated the security of the area.

After which,

Several flares shot into the sky, indicating that the other positions in the settlement had been captured.

In the two hours after the initial strikes of the settlement, they had consolidated a solid grip on the settlement and a launching ground for further military operations.

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