“Oof. Huff… Huff… That kid is something else,” Akeme breathed hard as he rested against a rock. The vice-captain cast a wary glance at the child fighting against an Ax-Beak.

Ax Beaks were warrior ranked terrestrial, bird-type monsters. They resembled ostriches with large, powerful, ax-like beaks capable of crushing boulders. Their primary weapons were their beaks and powerful legs capable of immense speeds.

Akeme’s group ran across a group of these territorial beasts on their way to inspect one of the suggested campsites, leading to a long, drawn out battle. Initially, Akeme was worried about Rao Wu, but the child soon proved his doubters wrong.

“Lu Lin, Ground Whip!” Rao Wu shouted as he charged at an incoming Ax Beak.

Lu Lin, who stood a few meters behind Rao Wu, swung the vines growing out of her arms toward Rao Wu. Seeing the thick vines about to strike Rao Wu’s legs, The onlookers grimaced, wondering if she messed up.

Hup! Just before impact, Rao Wu suddenly jumped, and the vines zipped harmlessly below his legs.

Thwack! “Kwaa!” Due to Rao Wu blocking its sight, the Ax Beak failed to react before the vines struck its exposed knees. Letting out a pained cry, the Ax Beak stumbled, but fortunately, did not fall.

Rao Wu, on his way down, remained in its path. However, the child did not panic. Before the Ax Beak struck him, a vine wrapped around his waist and then yanked him upwards. The Ax Beak, having lost its target, zipped past, but then focused on the vulnerable Lu Lin.

Lu Lin’s measured gaze did not falter as the vines quickly retracted.

“Not fast enough.” Nearby, Denuchi frowned as he calculated the speed at which Lu Lin retracted her vines. At this rate, the Ax Beak would return before she could mount a defense. The smart thing to do was retreat to buy time, but Lu Lin seemed to have no intention of doing so.

Lu Lin’s reason for standing her ground became clear the next second.

“I’m your opponent!” screamed Rao Wu as the vine flung him onto the Ax Beak’s back. His knee crashed into the Ax Beak’s back, and the force sent them both tumbling to the ground.

Rao Wu recovered first, quickly springing to his feet as the bird slid past him. Sching! Rao Wu drew his favored bone dagger and then pounced onto the disoriented Ax Beak. Before it could recover, the young man viciously drove his dagger into its exposed throat.

“Kwa—gurgle!” The Ax Beak jumped, throwing Rao Wu off as it trembled in pain. As Rao Wu fell on the ground, the Ax Beak turned to trample him with its last breath. Fortunately, Lu Lin yanked Rao Wu out of harm’s way, causing the Ax Beak to futilely strike the ground.

The Ax Beak subsequently collapsed, having expended the last of its energy and then slowly bled out.

Rao Wu’s gaze softened as he watched the twitching Ax Beak. He picked up his fallen dagger and then softly made his way to the monster. After ensuring the monster was not faking its weakness, he knelt down and cradled its massive head. “Sorry about this. It was either you or me. You can rest now.” Rao Wu then completed the cut, slicing off the beast’s neck.

As the Ax Beak’s head fell to the ground, a bloody Rao Wu stood up and then looked at Denuchi. “How was that? Did I pass?”

Denuchi smiled and then nodded, “You did good, kid. You’ve clearly got experience.”

“Where’d you learn to fight like that?” A curious Akeme asked. “There aren’t many people who fight alongside their soul pets like that.”

Rao Wu shrugged. “I don’t know. It just felt like the right thing to do. Aren’t you guys the same? You fight with your soul pets too.”

“It’s different for us,” said Ramy. “Because of our crazy missions, we usually end up outnumbered. We simply have no choice but to learn how to fight, or else we’ll die.”

“Alright, that’s enough chit-chat,” called Denuchi. “Clean up the bodies and we’ll head out.”

Following Denuchi’s orders, the group got down to harvesting the monster’s soul cores, and cutting out some meat for the road.

“Check out Rao,” muttered Ramy as she watched Rao Wu expertly cut the carcasses.

“Maybe he should teach you?” Olek joked as he disdainfully glanced at the battered carcass under Ramy’s blade.

“Shut up!”

The crew joked amongst themselves, but efficiently completed the cleanup in just over thirty minutes. They placed the meat and cores in bags which Ramy’s Eight Calamities Spider carried on its back.

And so, having proven himself, Denuchi allowed Rao Wu to participate more freely in future battles as they inspected the different sites.

Unfortunately, Denuchi was ultimately dissatisfied with the proposed locations. The first was too far from the proposed dig site, and the second was a cave with only one way in. It would be too easy to smoke them out of hiding. Neither qualified for the picky mercenary captain.

Denuchi scrunched his brows. The other teams went to scout out the remaining proposed locations, but having seen these two, Denuchi doubted the others would be much better. ‘Those damned humans didn’t put any work into this.’ Denuch, to be honest, was not shocked. The human scouts would have been pissed off that they were essentially working for hybrids. Denuchi was lucky they found locations at all. He was not naïve enough to believe the scouts would work hard to ensure his team’s safety.

They were called suicide squads for a reason, after all.

Akeme, recognizing Denuchi’s frown, walked up and said, “How about Fort Drakon? Wouldn’t hurt to take a look while we wait for the other teams to finish up.”

“Fort Drakon?” Denuchi paused and then glanced at Rao Wu. “Sure, why not? We might just get a nice surprise.”

With Denuchi’s approval, the party packed up their stuff and then trekked to the infamous Fort Drakon.

After about thirty minutes of walking, the group finally came across Fort Drakon.

Rao Wu’s eyes widened as he admired the stone fortress encased in a blue ring, within a sea of red, cracked earth. The Fort Drakon, an old military base, had high walls that had begun cracking and breaking due to disrepair. The moat surrounding the base was roughly fifty-meters wide, a terrifying sight to any would-be crossers.

While Rao Wu admired the building, Denuchi picked up a rock and then tossed it across the moat.

Whoosh!

To Rao Wu’s shock, the rock barely reached two meters across before it plunged downward as if attracted by some unknown force.

“Wishful thinking, boss,” joked Akeme as he looked at Denuchi’s frustrated gaze. “Don’t think Void Sharks die off that easy.”

“Void Sharks?” Rao Wu looked at the moat in wonder. Void Sharks were an aquatic other-type soul monster. These soul monsters drew in prey by emitting a gravitational pull around them. Void Sharks were also synergetic soul monster.

Their gravitational pull grew stronger the closer they were and longer they spent in each other’s presence. Normally, Void Sharks were spread out in oceans, but in this small moat, the field stacked and amplified until it created a powerful pull that dragged in prey from above the surface.

Rao Wu now understood why Denuchi said he shouldn’t bother jumping across. Void sharks could leap as high as ten to twenty meters above the water’s surface. And, since their gravitational field followed them, they could catch anything that came remotely close to the water’s surface.

However, on the plus side, if they somehow made it across, then they could easily hole up in there while awaiting reinforcements.

The longer Denuchi looked at Fort Drakon, the more he liked it. Alas, he had no ideas on ways to cross. Glancing at the silent Rao Wu, the mercenary captain shockingly asked, “Well, kid. You’ve seen it yourself. Got any ideas?”

Rao Wu grimaced as he observed the thirty-meter gap. That was a long distance to cover. His hypothetical plan did not account for a thirty-meter gap. Ten or fifteen, maybe. But, thirty meters was way too long. As a result, Rao Wu could not give a definite answer until he had verified his plan’s eligibility withing the defined parameters. “I’m not sure. Give me a second.”

Rao Wu then pulled Lu Lin aside, and spoke to her in hushed tones. After a few minutes of deliberating back and forth, Rao Wu returned to the group with relieved eyes. “Yeah, I might have a way across. But, you need to explain exactly how to lower the drawbridge.”

“Why?” Denuchi asked with a raised brow. “One of us will need to go with you anyway.”

Rao Wu, however, shook his head. “I’m not a hundred percent sure this will work, so I can’t risk your lives.” He then pointed at Lu Lin and said, “She’ll go with me. She’s got five fingers like any human, so whatever we can do, so can she.”

Surprisingly, Denuchi shook his head. “I cannot have you risking your life for us, either. Have a child risk his life for mine? I haven’t fallen that low. We’ll just find another option—”

“No!” Rao Wu vehemently refused. “This is the best option and you know it. Also, stop treating me like a kid. I can fight just as well as anyone else here. You’re not babysitting me.” Denuchi made to speak, but Rao Wu cut him off, “If Akeme had the idea, would you tell him not to risk his life?”

“The situation is—”

“Not different at all,” argued Rao Wu. “He’s even more important to the team than me. If he can risk his life, so can I. Or are you going to babysit me when the real mission starts?”

Denuchi hesitated. The impact of a child’s ability to ambush adults with sound reasoning was second to none. Denuchi found himself unable to refute Rao Wu’s arguments, and so, said instead, “Fine. But, if you’re risking your life, so should my men. One of us has to go with you.”

“Can’t do that.” Rao Wu shook his head. “I’m going alone, and that’s final—”

“Nothing’s final until the boss says so,” refuted Akeme with a powerful glare. “You don’t want to be treated like a kid, then don’t behave like one. You are part of a team now, which means you must defer to the boss’ judgment. If everyone did what they wanted, we would end up dead in a ditch.”

Rao Wu frowned, but ultimately kept quiet. He knew Akeme was right. It was his job to convince Denuchi, or otherwise obey the boss’ instructions. That was what it mean to be part of a squad—or pack.

“Fine. Let me explain it this way,” stated Rao Wu. “Lu Lin can grow seeds into fully matured plants, with the caveat that they die shortly after. She has a few seeds from some very tall jungle trees. We plan on growing the tallest and then dropping it across to fall on the castle wall. I’ll then dodge the Void Sharks as I run across and open the drawbridge from the other side. I can do this because I’m confident in my reflexes, but I don’t know if any of you have trained for this sort of thing. It’s too dangerous.”

“Well, I don’t know if I should be impressed or insulted.” Ramy whistled as she admired Rao Wu’s plan. “That’s not bad if Little Lu can pull it off, but I’m not running across shark-infested waters. I tank hits, not dodge them.” She then glanced at Akeme with twinkling eyes, “How about it, Akeme? Think you can pull it off?”

Akeme scoffed. “Since when do I look the athletic type?” Shrugging he pointed at Olek. “I think this is more your wheelhouse? You should accompany your fellow fox, right?”

Olek, however, rolled his eyes. “I’m an archer. It would be much better for me to provide covering fire from here.”

“You all are really—” Denuchi groaned as he listened to the squad reject the position one after another. Well, there was no point in forcing them. After all, like Rao Wu said, none of them were well-versed in reflex training. Denuchi was not the type of captain to willingly send his men to their deaths out of pride.

In the end, Denuchi sighed and then asked, “Wait. Instead of crossing, can’t you hold onto the top as it falls so you land inside the castle walls?”

“Uh…” This time, it was Rao Wu’s turn to be embarrassed. He never even considered that possibility. This was one of those ‘two heads are better than one’ scenarios. Indeed, if Rao Wu could secure himself to the top of the tree, he didn’t need to run across and endanger himself.

“Yeah, that could work,” admitted Rao Wu with an embarrassed smile.

Denuchi, seeing Rao Wu’s expression, smiled and ruffled the youth’s hair. “Don’t worry about it. Remember to always share with the team. Sometimes, a second opinion is just what we need to complete a difficult task.”

Rao Wu, in response, meekly nodded and then looked at Lu Lin. “Alright. Let’s do this.”