362 Chapter 362: Stasis Uninterrupted

So we were making an Aliens: Colonial Marines reference now. Brilliant. That turned out to be such a disaster, thanks to Randy Pitchford and Gearbox screwing things up and then trying to absolve themselves of responsibility for butchering the game. And the demo was so promising too…

"Hello? Kid?"

"Sorry. I was making a reference to the downloadable content, Stasis Interrupted, for the game Aliens: Colonial Marines because I thought it would be appropriate." I shrugged after Redfield waved a hand in front of my face. He stared at me incredulously.

"Did you use up so much mana that you've gotten delirious?"

"No, I was just making a reference." I sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, the genre of this story is parody. I'm supposed to seize every opportunity I have to joke, break the fourth wall or make fun of other popular media."

"You okay, bro?" Redfield was getting increasingly concerned. Looked like my jokes weren't working on him. He raised his hand to hail a healing mage over. "Medic…"

"No, no, I'm fine!" I hastily assured him as I rose to my feet. "I was just cracking jokes. To ease the tension and all that after such a huge battle, you know?"

"Really?" Redfield didn't look convinced, but it wasn't my job to persuade him. "If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," I told him firmly.

"Sir, what do we do about the Assassins?" one of the Silver Wolves mercenaries asked Feng Hai. The Hurricane Blade didn't hesitate to give out the order, his voice cold and almost emotionless.

"Kill them."

Not to sound like an edgelord, but we couldn't just leave the Veneneum Assassins lying around here, unguarded and unchecked. Once they recovered from the Arachnes' venom – which was enough to kill most skilled mages, a testamount to the tolerance and resistance that Veneneum Assassins built up to toxins that they were so adept in using – they would cut their way free of the webbing and chase us. Their target was clearly Anastasia, and if Redfield already knew about how the Grand Master of Assassins planned to use our precious comrade as food to fuel his own growth for power, then certainly Feng Hai was aware of that as well.

The Silver Wolves commander thus executed the Assassins without any ceremony, conjuring a few spears and impaling the cocoon forms of the unconscious Veneneum Assassins, granting them a quick and relatively painless death. No, we were not edgelords who reveled in the pain and suffering of our enemies, so stop whining in the comments about how we didn't take our time to torture them to death. Besides, we had much more important things to do, and not a lot of time.

The other Silver Wolves mercenaries joined in, butchering and massacring the rest of the Veneneum Assassins that Feng Hai didn't manage to hit. Brent obliterated a few of them with well-placed strikes from his staff, and he even checked their corpses to make sure they were dead. Not that it would be likely that they could live when he smashed their heads into bloody pulps. The other mercenaries under his and Feng Hai's command executed the order similarly, beheading the poor bastards or impaling them through their chests.

I closed my eyes briefly, not at all enjoying the grisly sight. Even though I knew the slaughter was necessary – especially since our lives were at stake here and we couldn't afford to let these guys live and then pursue us through the forest later – that didn't make the spectacle pleasant or satisfactory. Just a grim sense of necessity and resignation, and a recognition that the world was harsh and cruel. Normally, we wouldn't have bothered, but these were highly trained, professional killers we were talking about. We couldn't afford to cut them loose.

"You okay, kid?" Redfield noticed my grimace and deliberately stood between me and the gruesome carnage, probably remembering my age. He didn't have to. I had killed other people before, like Hades, for example. I didn't have a weak stomach. It was just that I didn't enjoy watching it, and had no reason to watch such a grisly spectacle when it was absolutely unnecessary.

Nodding, I then turned away in a different direction and began striding off to leave the massacre behind. Glancing at Redfield, I forced a smile. "Yeah. More importantly, let's go check on Ana."

By now, Glacia had completed the casting of her spell and placed Anastasia in stasis. A white fog drifted over the shimmering field of azure mana that currently enshrouded her body, which was currently lying down. For some reason, I was reminded of a crystal or glass coffin – from an ominous perspective, it looked as if Anastasia was being entombed and sent off for burial.

Of course, the mercenaries who were ferrying her with telekinesis spells were not bringing her to a graveyard or mortuary. Instead, we were trekking back toward the hovercraft. Feng Hai organized us into a closely packed formation, with Anastasia's, uh, coffin in the center. The rest of us escorted the floating container, flanking it on all sides and holding our weapons at the ready.

Okay, that was an exaggeration. Most of us had slung, sheathed or holstered our weapons, but any sense that we were far from combat ready was an illusion. We could draw our weapons in under a microsecond, rather than remain so highly tense and strung up that we exhausted ourselves mentally and needlessly even before an actual battle.

Fortunately, other than a few Grey Wolves and Snow Panthers, we didn't encounter any real resistance. We managed to dispatch them relatively easily – at least more effortlessly than we did against the formidable Arachnes, anyway. They were obviously more difficult to deal with than the Trites, but a few spells, and a few strikes from our weapons were more than enough to put them down and discourage the rest, who fled.

"Do not pursue," Feng Hai ordered when he saw the Grey Wolves escaping into the depths of the forest. "Our goal here is rescue, not extermination."

"Yes, sir!"

Time was of the essence, after all, and we couldn't afford to get bogged down in fighting when we wanted to bring Anastasia back to the base, safe and sound. And unlike the Veneneum Assassins, the Grey Wolves weren't stupid or persistent enough to pursue us after we left them alone. Their instincts kicking in, they would have learned from this experience to avoid conflict against us mages at all costs. Sometimes I wondered if monsters were smarter than humans…and if humans were actually a more dangerous and terrifying foe than monsters.

"Brother Richard!"

The first voice I heard, upon returning to the landing zone where the hovercraft awaited, belonged to none other than Adrian Stuart. He was waving at me from atop the lowered ramp of the flying transport, with Melina Angel…I mean Franklin right next to him.

"Hey," I called back to them with a friendly wave of my hand. Their eyes widened when they saw how bloodied and battered I looked. When I saw their horror, I raised both of my hands quickly to placate them. "Don't worry, most of the blood isn't mine."

"That's what you get for wading into battle instead of relying on your summoning magic!" Redfield guffawed as he slapped me in the back, almost sending me toppling over. I scowled as I staggered forward.

"I didn't have time to summon anything!"

"Yeah, you did. If you hung back and allowed us to take care of the monsters while using the time we bought you to summon, you could have used your Soul Beasts instead of your swords. Aren't you supposed to be a summoner, not a swordsman?"

I tried not to roll my eyes. Given their skills, the Silver Wolves mercenaries would have annihilated the enemy and driven them off before I could summon a single significant Constellation spirit capable of combating the Grey Wolves or Snow Panthers. I would feel bad leaving them to do all the work. Besides, I needed to move, to fight, so that I could take my mind off some…unpleasant memories.

"Amazing." Melina was staring at me in admiration. "As expected of the Samurai class! That's impressive, Sensei!"

"Give that samurai thing a rest already," I growled. "I already told you I'm not a Samurai. Just because I learned the Miyamoto sword style from my dad doesn't automatically make me a Samurai. Get that through your head already."

"Make way, kids." Feng Hai was unamused at our conversation, or more likely just not paying any attention to our dialogue at all. He waved for the kids to clear the ramp, most of the middle school students having emerged to watch the strange procession in fascinated curiosity. "Coming through. Give us some space."

"What the hell is that?!" one of the middle school students gasped when they saw the hovering ice coffin that encased Anastasia's beautiful form. However, Anastasia was still shrouded by a sickly green – shimmering toxic mana that was frozen in the midst of pulsing and expanding. Like Feng Hai mentioned earlier, it was a very close shave.

"A comrade," Brent told the kids shortly when Feng Hai couldn't be bothered to answer. "A very precious comrade who is in urgent need of medical care. So please understand and give us some space for her."

"Understood!"

Wow, the mercenary captain was a genius. By appealing to the innocent middle schoolers' sense of compassion, he was able to earn their obedience more effectively than through reprimanding or losing one's temper.

As the middle school students scattered to the sides to make way for the mercenaries and Anastasia's stasis pod, I stayed below with the rest of the escort force. The sentries waved us to the temporarily set up tents, wordlessly instructing us to get some rest. After going through such a grueling ordeal, we were more than happy to oblige.

"Take ten, and hten we pack up and leave." Feng Hai poked his head out from the underbelly of the hovercraft, having followed the procession into the transport earlier. He smiled, tiredly but triumphantly. "We're going home."

*

I watched as the Silver Wolves mercenaries brought Anastasia back to their headquarters, a secure base in their adopted home city, Lupin City.

"We'll bring you guys back to Aurora City," Brent informed me. Feng Hai had busied himself with Ana's case, and Redfield had followed him deep into the secure vaults that were protected by advanced security that forbade outsiders from entering. Even though I had participated in many missions alongside the Silver Wolves, I was still not officially recognized as a member. Truthfully, I also had no intention of officially joining the Silver Wolves anyway. In any event, with the commander of the Silver Wolves occupied with important issues, he had delegated the taking care of the middle school students and me to his second-in-command.

"Thank you." I nodded and bowed. "We'll be relying on you then."

"We appreciate it!" Adrian added cheerfully, and also lowered his head to express his gratitude on behalf of his class. Beside him, Melina mirrored his gesture by bowing sharply. "Thank you so much! That will be a great help!"

"All right then…follow me." Brent then led us to another convoy, where a second hovercraft was being prepped for travel. "That's your ride, kids!"

He then turned back to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder.

"I'll be leaving them to you then, Richard. Take good care of them."

"Uh, I'll do my best." Somehow I wasn't sure that was a good idea, but since I was used to dealing with kids, especially back in my previous life, I theoretically should be able to handle the responsibility.

"Once we're done with Anastasia, the bulk of the Silver Wolves will return to Aurora City. We're still under contract to provide security for the tournament, and for the high school students participating in it."

I nodded. That made sense. Watching Brent leave, I then glanced at the hovercraft and cracked my neck to the side, loosening my stiff muscles. I was finally returning to Aurora City, huh? It had been a few days. I wondered how the rest of my team was going. First, I needed to drop the kids off at wherever they were supposed to be, before I rejoined my friends.

"That reminds me." I turned to the middle school students. "What were you guys heading to Aurora City, anyway? I thought you enrolled in a school in Southampton City. Are you on a field trip or something?"

"Sort of, but the reason why we are going to Aurora City…" Adrian grinned, excited. "…is to watch firsthand the national tournament qualifiers for the Federation High Schools!"