Raid!!!

John headed in for work expecting to run errands but instead Rico had a new mission for us. Though John was suspicious of how well it was going to go considering that their last mission resulted in an ambush. John looked over to see Sarah visibly grimace, and Janet’s eyes twitched in response to his words. Rico saw everyone’s negative reaction and started speaking again.

“No need for all the frowns. We got a mission to investigate where the Insectomancer might be located. I know that some of you probably want **** more than others, but this is the perfect opportunity to get some.”

Sarah frowned even harder in response to his words while Janet sighed and said, “At least it’s not more errands.”

“That’s the spirit.”

John wondered where they even got this intel from in the first place, but instead of thinking too hard about it, he decided to just ask Rico.

“Rico, how did they gain the whereabouts of the Insectomancer?”

“We received a tip from one of the members of the classless.”

John noticed that Rico didn’t say a name alongside that piece of information. Is it classified or is there a reason he doesn’t want us to know? Hopefully, it’s not because he forgot the person’s name.”

Sarah angrily said, “So this could very well be a trap that we're walking into.”

“It’s possible, yes.”

“You didn’t think that telling us this would be essential to the mission.”

“Calm down, knowing that it could’ve been a trap isn’t going to change anything.”

“Changes anything. IT CHANGES EVERYTHING! What would you have done if one of us was severely injured or killed because of an ambush?”

“You have to be alert at all times since anything could happen. If you were ambushed, then that means that you weren’t as aware of your surroundings as you could be and if you were killed then you weren’t strong enough in the first place. The military isn’t for weaklings. You best remember that for every single assignment from now until you quit or die.”

The tense atmosphere caused by that conversation persisted as they left the city and even after we’ve arrived near the location of the Insectionmancer’s base of operations. It was located in the same forest between the capital and Riverdale that they traveled on for their first mission. John observed the surroundings and couldn’t see anything, but he did hear a faint buzzing sound. Rico motioned for every to be quiet as Janet climbed up a tree to get a vantage point. After a few minutes, Janet came down and told us the direction that we needed to go. She also let us know that she could see a few huge bugs that we would have to fight if we wanted to keep going. Rico didn’t seem that worried about the bugs and told the group to keep going.

Eventually, John got close enough to see the bugs for himself. A gigantic red centipede that could curl itself around three different trees was currently sleeping next to a wasp the size of a small house patrolling the area. John could see hundreds upon hundreds of legs attached to this centipede. Thanks to getting the skill Sense Level, he was able to tell that the centipede was the weaker one and wasn’t that much stronger than himself. The wasp on the other hand was almost double the level of the centipede. John wanted to ambush the centipede while it was sleeping, but will they be able to do serious damage before the wasp found them. While John was thinking of their next move, Rico took this opportunity to speak up.

“I’ll distract the wasp while you three get the jump on the centipede and kill it. Afterward, you can join me and help me kill the wasp.”

“Captain, do you know of any weak points for the centipede?” said Janet as she reaches for her bow.

“The legs are easily the softest part of the centipede, so I would recommend doing as much damage to them as possible and let the creature bleed out. However, don’t allow it to bite you since the poison it injects you with is no walk in the park. I’m sure the three of you can handle this. You're not part of my squad for nothing.”

Rico sneaks away and leaves the three of us alone. Sarah speaks up and says, “John, we both need to cut off the legs of one side of the centipede. That should make it harder to move and easier to kill. Janet could give us support from a distance.”

Janet nods in agreement. John didn’t have any problems with the plan, so he agreed as well. John and Sarah stealthily reached the centipede without waking it up and attacked together. John activated his skill Enhanced Speed Boost to easily cut over twenty legs in a second while Sarah gained an orange aura that seemed to increase her strength as she cut the centipede as well. The centipede woke up from the pain and screeched loudly. John could feel his danger sense activating from his right and immediately jumped back as he saw a stinger lodge itself into the ground where he was previously. John looked over to see the wasp was a fair distance away but saw the wasp’s eyes stare at him for a second before turning its attention toward the attacking captain Rico.

If John’s blood wasn’t pumping enough, it was now as Janet shot an arrow covered in fire toward the centipede’s mouth. The fire arrow hit, but the centipede didn’t flinch as it lunged toward Sarah to bite her. Sarah blocked the attack with her ax but was being pushed back. John knew that he had to support Sarah, so he enhanced his speed once again and began cutting off more legs. The centipede screeched once again as it disengaged from Sarah to spit a ball of green goo towards John. John quickly dodged and saw a hole made by the green goo. John figured it had to be acid as it continued to shoot more balls of acid at John showing that it now the centipede’s full attention. Janet tried to get its attention by shooting it with more arrows, but she ended up missing her target and hitting the centipede tough exoskeleton.

All John could do was dodged as he saw Sarah glow with a red aura this time as she lunged toward the centipede once again. Like a knife cutting through butter, Sarah cut through its hard exoskeleton and decapitated the centipede in one swing. The centipede’s green blood sprayed everywhere as Sarah leaned against a tree looking exhausted. John turned toward the wasp that attacked him before to see it dead on the ground. Captain Rico seemed to be leaning against a tree watching our fight. As soon as John’s eyes met his he smiled as he began walking over. John tried to use his skill to sense the level of their captain, but it failed to take effect. John wondered if its because he was too weak or if there was something else at play that he wasn’t aware of. Either way, it seemed like a good time for John to take a breather since Sarah was in no condition to continue. If he wasn’t mistaken, she used the Reckless **** to take down the centipede. It sacrifices stamina to multiply a person's strength exponentially. John knows that it is quite the double edge sword. Thankfully, she wasn’t using it long enough to endanger her life or cause long-lasting damage.

“There’s a small house up ahead, and if these bugs aren’t enough of an indication, then that’s where we’ll find our Insectomancer. Janet and I will watch the house to see if anyone leaves while you two catch your breath.”

John and Sarah took the time to rest before they all approached the house. Rico cut down the door as we all started searching the house. It looked more like a lab than a house as there were chemicals, test tubes, and a variety of test subjects. Not all the test subjects were bugs, but at the very least they were all beasts that normally lived in the forest. John searched one of the rooms by himself and came across a well-hidden book under the floorboards. It seemed to be a diary of the person who created this place. John stashed it away to look at it later as he continued searching the place for anything else. However, the only thing he was able to find other than the diary was a couple of research notes, so he made his way back to the group.

Janet managed to find a couple of low-grade healing potions that she shared with the group. Rico said that we should keep them for ourselves in case of an emergency. Rico managed to find some **** that supposedly enhance a person’s mana capacity significantly in exchange for points in strength and stamina, but the use of these kinds of **** is banned. The country doesn’t like it when someone has the power to significantly boost their strength with the use of an item. Anything of the sort is heavily regulated. Sarah found some poison but gave it up to the captain because holding onto it made her uncomfortable. The squad searched the place from top to bottom and took anything of value from the place. Obviously, they didn't find the Insectomancer they wanted but this was their base at one point, so at the very least it's one less place they can run to when they find them. Eventually, they made it back to the city and dropped off almost everything they found. Captain Rico said he would handle the report as he relieved us of duty. John knew that he leveled up from the mission, but was too tired to pick out skills as he headed home.