Chapter 300: End of the First Day

Kai created a Sound Blast to stop the flying magical beasts in their tracks.

Tasha released three arrows at the same time while Ayaka flew to the side with her wings, killing the two birds near her.

The Sound Levitation magic circle soon disappeared as another one made its appearance, but Kai tilted it forty-five degrees, so it launched him to the birds.

"!!!" The birds tried to fly to the side, but Kai's speed was faster than they expected. He took the life of the two birds before using his Sound Blast to the right side, bouncing like a pinball.

Even though the bird could freely fly in the sky, their speed was somewhat lacking compared to the boost that Sound Blast gave, allowing Kai to kill them one by one.

On the other hand, Tasha aimed those on the left side because Kai separated them right in the middle. This way, Tasha and Ayaka teamed up to kill the remaining.

Arrow after arrow was released while some of them got grilled by Ayaka's Fire Net or the flame from each swing.

The group managed to defeat all thirty of them without much problem while Sofia and Michelle already waited for them as they had finished their job.

Kai took a glimpse of the corpses behind them and made sure that not a single one of them were still alive by listening to the organs inside their body.

"Alright. We have finished our job here." Kai announced with great relief before glancing at Sofia.

"There are only two targets remaining unless we want to get too deep today," said Sofia while taking another look at the north direction.

Kai thought for a moment and nodded. "We are going to kill these two along with those in the southwest direction until the sunset. The next morning, we will move our base and start cleaning the area according to today's schedule."

"That means we will only have around two hours to clean up the other direction… Well, it's pretty tight, but it's alright." Michelle nodded.

"By the way, I haven't asked this, but have any of you killed an A rank beast alone?" Kai asked.

"I have." Tasha, Ayaka, and Sofia raised their hands. It seemed they had encountered them in their respective directions, but it seemed they didn't encounter more than one magical beast.

Kai was surprised by Sofia's action. She had clearly seen the north direction long ago, and she clearly could monopolize the magical beasts to win the little competition they had. But she chose not to. Whether it was because of her consideration for the group or because she couldn't do it, Kai was thankful to her.

"How much power do you need to kill an A rank magical beast? And is it possible for you to kill five of them at the same time?"

"Hmm…" Tasha looked down. "If it's only one, I can employ many techniques because I only need to watch out their movement along with the weaker ones that don't really possess much threat. It will be different if I am fighting against multiple A rank beasts at the same time.

"I have no vanguard that can hold them down for me. Although I am able to escape using my Teleportation Magic, it's still hard to kill them," Tasha answered honestly.

"I have the same opinion. Well, the A rank magical beasts are smarter than your typical magical beasts, so I will be surrounded unless I can thin their number in a single attack. Although I can use my Scarlet Explosion, I doubt they will fall into that trap unless I have a vanguard that catches their attention or I use my magic bomb with different timing." Ayaka nodded in agreement.

"I can probably… Unlike the others, my main ability and role are suited in the middle position. I have enough firepower to maintain their position in check while injuring them. It's going to take a bit of toll, but they won't be able to destroy me." Sofia shrugged.

Kai and the others furrowed their eyebrows, wondering where Sofia's confidence came from. Sofia hadn't used all her strength yet, and they somehow believed that after seeing how confident she was.

But this also made Kai understand how considerate she was to the team because she didn't go to the north direction where she could get the most points despite having seen the magical beasts with her eyes.

"Alright. I will take a note of this." Kai nodded. "I think it's time to go to another place. Michelle."

"Yes. I have updated the data to the headquarters. They will surely send people here after we finish our mission." Michelle gave a thumb up, saying she had finished her job.

Kai nodded again before setting out. The group followed him.

They started killing the magical beasts from normal magical beasts to A rank magical beasts. This might be the most bountiful place that they had ever visited during this mission as they managed to collect more than a hundred points in this place alone, totaling a great number of four hundred points.

It was only a day, but they somehow managed to reach this number, especially when Michelle took another hunting session during the night.

When she returned, the group was still waiting for her.

They looked refreshed and wet as they just took a bath.

"I have placed the barrel, so you can wash yourself and dive into the hot water right behind the truck. Ayaka had reheated it as well." Kai nodded and gave her a towel to wipe the sweat on her face.

"Thank you. It's like I am being treated like a princess this time." Michelle smiled.

"Haha… You can even skip your watch out time and let me take it over." Ayaka raised her hand and teased her. The aim was obvious. If Michelle became lazy, Kai wouldn't accept even if she had the highest point.

After all, it was only because of them that Michelle could reach the top spot. Of course, the person in question also understood this and nodded. "Don't worry. You don't need to treat me that much. I can still gather cold water from the river not far from here. And I have rested enough during the day, so I should have no problem during my lookout time."

Kai stared at her for a few seconds and nodded. "Alright. But don't push yourself too much, okay? You can take a bath first and rest for a while."

"Uhm." Michelle nodded before taking the towel from his hand and walking toward the truck.

The tent had been set up, and the dinner was ready. As soon as Michelle finished taking a bath, they had a nice dinner.

During the night, they wondered what they should do. They could do some research for new magic, but they couldn't get the mood as they were still in the wild. So, they decided to gather around the heater while talking about random things.

"I noticed this earlier…" Sofia turned to Kai and asked, "There is a joint operation between the two bases, right? I have been informed by my family about it. They've said the US Base wants to investigate a magical site like Easter Island."

"I know about it as well." Kai nodded.

"Do you know which place will we visit?"

"Gobekli Tepe. We need to search if there are some clues in the place where the first apocalypse happened," Kai felt he didn't need to lie about this because she would know sooner or later.

Michelle and the others, on the other hand, furrowed their eyebrows. "When is that?"

"Probably April. It's still just a plan though." Kai shrugged. "And the operation is for our group."

"Then how about visiting my hometown? I would like to receive you at my house as a guest." Sofia smirked.

"I would like to decline your invitation." Kai raised his hand and shook his head. "I will just follow the contract."

"Tch." Sofia shrugged. "Well, I will add that in the contract then, stating that you need to stay at my house during the whole trip."

Kai shrugged as he didn't really care about it. In fact, the more desperate she acted, the more annoying it would be. If she did that, she would only get less respect from Kai, and Sofia obviously knew that.

"Never mind. You can treat me as saying something useless." Sofia smiled and waved her hands, brushing the matter off like nothing. "Anyway, there is already a positive response after knowing what we experienced during the expedition on Easter Island. And I think the official agreement will be finalized soon… Or at least, that's what they told me."

He thought for a moment and nodded. "No one has told me yet, but I have the same thought. With how beneficial it is, the two bases will surely spare anything to finalize the deal. Not that I really care because we might also get the biggest benefit while doing this."

"Indeed." Sofia nodded in agreement. Although she seemed to receive nothing from Rapakha, the fact that Rapakha told her to trust her teammates more was the biggest advice he could give.

After all, Sofia had been betrayed once by the one she could trust. And how she actually completed missions after missions alone due to her strength and exoskeleton, being not very close and drawing a line between each other had become a part of her nature.

However, Rapakha believed there was a chance to melt that nature of her, and Kai knew that. Sofia specifically acted so well to her only friend, so he knew that inside Sofia's heart was that of light.

Kai didn't rush this because he didn't want her thinking of him badly, destroying this trust. So, he waited patiently until Sofia opened up first.

"Ehm?" She noticed Kai's stare and tilted her head in confusion. "What is it?"