>B-rank Mission<
Detail: Hunt the kraken that had been eating fishes from the Cisco River and creating trouble for the fishermen.
Assigner: Fishermen East Department
Reward: 5 credits, Three days and four nights free trip in Zentiya Resort
>B-rank Mission<
Detail: A Minotaur has escaped from the Paris Dairy. Bring it back without severely injuring it. There should be no damage to the genitals or the mission would be canceled.
Assigner: Paris Dairy
Reward: 5 credits, Physical Reinforcement Spell (Echo-rank)
>B-rank Mission<
Neo took the missions and returned to the cafeteria.
Mars, Christian, and Jack were asleep.
He sat in an empty area and focused on recovering his injuries.
Fortunately, the ghosts’ mastery of Death was not very high.
It was not too difficult to remove the lingering Aura from their attacks.
He awoke others two hours later.
“Yawn, is it time already?” Jack asked.
“Yeah.”
Neo showed them the missions.
“I’ll choose the kraken one. I can fight underwater thanks to my bloodline,” Christian answered.
He rubbed his eyes to wash away the sleepiness.
“That sounds good! It will be a good challenge to fight with Fire element underwater!” Mars grinned.
Neo shook his head.
“Mars, you’ll team up with Jack for the B-rank mission.
“Your elemental affinity will put you on a disadvantage if you go to battle the kraken.”
“But—”
“Mars, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to fight stronger opponents.
“We still have an A-rank mission left and don’t forget our main goal is the S-rank mission.
“We need to conserve our strength for that.”
Mars looked unconvinced.
“The minotaur mission is more difficult.
“Because you need to subdue it without harming it.”
Neo lied with a straight face.
His explanation made Mars nod with a satisfied expression.
“Are you sure you want to come with me, Neo?
“Fighting underwater is completely different from fighting on the ground.”
“Don’t worry about it. I have a Spell for it.”
“Hmm?”
Christian noticed the hidden meaning behind Neo’s words.
“It has to be a Water Spell if it helps you fight underwater. You have Water Affinity?”
“Yeah.”
“…How many affinities do you have?”
“Quite a few.”
His ambiguous answer raised their curiosity.
They wanted to know the truth.
Unfortunately, Neo never planned to satisfy their curiosity.
The group split up.
Neo and Christian crossed the Oujha farm.
They travelled for a few hours before they reached the Cisco River.
It was big and deep enough to be called a lake.
Neo silently marveled the landscape before his eyes.
“You two younglings! Get away from the river! The kraken is still there!”
A fisherman approached them with a slipper in hands.
…
Lucas’ Room, Seraphim Hall
“Why have the cleared the C-rank missions already?” Lucas questioned.
“T-that…” Zoe stammered.
“I gave you a team and made you a team leader because you wanted to prove yourself.
“The only thing I asked from you was to make sure those mudbloods can’t compete with us for the S-rank mission slot.
“How did they complete three C-rank mission then?” Lucas questioned with a smile.
Harrison and other members of the Zeus Clan were present in the room.
Stares of multiple people, especially Lucas, made Zoe tremble.
“Don’t be scared, Zoe. I’m not scolding you. I’m just asking for the reason why it happened.”
She gulped.
“W-we made sure only the most difficult missions were left.
“But somehow they cleared them all.”
Zoe prepared meticulously.
From making sure the Salamander Queen Bee was present in the nest, there were multiple ghosts, to confirming the rolling boulder monster was about to evolve.
She checked the other remaining missions were just as difficult if not more.
However, it was as if Neo knew the specialties of his teammates.
He chose the missions best suited for them.
“You are saying that fraud Ruler managed to study his teammates in detail within a day and chose missions according to them?”
“Yes—”
Her words were cut short when Harrison scoffed.
“There is no way a team that formed a day ago can have a proper coordination to complete multiple missions at once.
“It’s clear you were at fault for leaving easy missions behind,” Harrison spoke angrily.
Zoe cowered.
Lucas interfered before the matter escalated.
“It’s okay, Zoe. Everyone makes mistakes. Just make sure they aren’t repeated.”
“You mean…?”
“Those mudbloods chose two B-rank missions. It’s these two.”
Lucas showed her the details of Neo’s team missions.
“I want you to make sure they fail this time.”
“Y-yes!”
“Make sure you confirm the completion of the task yourself. We can’t have another failure, right?”
Lucas’ smile made Zoe shiver.
She nodded and left the room in a hurry.
…
Cisco River
The fisherman glared at Neo and Christian.
“How did you two come here? Go shoo, attend your classes!”
Christian turned to Neo with a wry smile.
It looked like the fisherman did not recognize Neo’s clothes.
“We are here for the kraken subjugation mission.”
Neo stepped forward.
He revealed the mission’s document.
The fisherman looked at them with a doubt.
“You two peanuts will defeat the sea god?”
“Sir, kraken is not a sea god. Please refrain from speaking thoughtlessly like that.”
“O-okay.”
Christian’s sudden strong tone made the fisherman flinch.
He looked at Neo.
“We should start the mission. I doubt these people can provide us any valuable help or information.”
Neo nodded.
It was his first time seeing Christian angry.
Christian and Neo entered the river.
A blue aura covered Neo when he used the Ocean’s Embrace.
They dived underwater.
The flow of the river was strong.
It was powerful enough to uproot a tree.
Neo took a few tries to adjust himself.
He began to swim nimbly like a fish.
When underwater, Ocean’s Embrace allowed him to breath and it boosted his movement speed.
He felt no different from standing on ground.
The only difference was he could move in any direction, including above and below.
His smooth movements surprised Christian.
‘Follow me,’ Christian signaled Neo. ‘I can sense the kraken in that direction.’
The two swam towards the center of the river.
Again, the river’s width and depth surprised Neo.
When they reached the location, Christian stopped.
‘It’s down there.’
Christian pointed at the natural trench on the riverbed.
No light returned from its depth, leaving it shrouded in darkness.
Christian used another Spell and created an air bubble around them.
They could finally talk.
“We should discuss our roles.
“I’m a tank, but, strictly speaking, I’m stronger than you.
“And while you are a damage dealer, you have better defenses than me.
“I think for this battle you should be the tank and I’ll be the damage dealer,” Christian said.
Neo shook his head.
“I can use Aura Snipe and Aura Slash to end the battle in one go.
“Besides, I can shield only myself with my Spell and not you. I can’t be the tank.”
He tightened his grip around Obitus.
Christian pondered over Neo’s words.
“I doubt your mastery is enough to take down the kraken in a single attack.
“But you are indeed correct. You have more lethal attacks than me.”
While they were discussing the plan, Neo focused on the kraken sleeping inside the trench.
The darkness was no problem for Neo.
He could see the ginormous body of the kraken and its eight limbs coiling around the rocks clearly.