Avryn helped up Fyllbar, who was still reeling from the fight.

  “You fight good, Starbright,” they shook hands.

  “You’re not bad yourself,” he complemented.

  A vibration in Avryn’s pocket alerted him. He took it out and read the message. His squad was to be deployed back to Outpost D again. Avryn smiled and bid farewell to his slum buddies. He returned to the barracks and called up his squad mates to inform them of the re-deployment. Leifren’s squad were the first people to greet him there, they were also on the same order. Avryn noticed Harver was in good spirits, and so was Jenilah. The rest of Avryn’s squad turned up at the barracks. They set forth to the docks and took a ship to the outpost. The journey took about the entire day.

  The morning after, they were called up by the Major. Their next assignment was given. They would accompany recon squad D-6 to survey the areas farther away from the outpost, up to the north. They reviewed the map and discussed strategies and marching order. They went outside the gate afterwards and were given dualcycles to ride on. Those were magic crystal powered motorcycles, silent and quick. The recon squad gave them a quick tutorial on how to use it. Each dualcycle could carry one driver and one passenger.

  They rode, following the river north and reached the first branch. The recon squad halted them and gathered their data. The two squads stood guard. Rustling from the nearby bushes and groans sounded in the air gave alert to the squads.

  “Warthogs,” Tvira warned.

  Corpse warthogs charged straight out of the bushes, eager for a fight. They were bigger than the usual Corpse boar, but sported less armor. The squads prepared for battle. Avryn and Leifren organized the counterattack. They assumed a formation to deal with the Corpse warthog charges.

  Shots flew by as they charged against the group. The warthog’s skin was a naturally thick armor. The shooters switched to armor piercing bullets. The bullets had enchantments from fire crystals, it would prove to be the difference maker in the fight. Melee fighters rushed in to defend the Warthogs’ charges. Avryn thought of an idea, he equipped ice bullets into his pistols and shot at the ground. Pools of ice formed and the Warthogs had difficulty in their main strategy.

  “Good thinking, Avryn,” Leifren complemented.

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  They switched up to swing their heads around, hoping their tusks would hit anything.

  That was the opening the teams needed. Valoche sliced off many of the hogs’ heads with his axe. The armor-piercing shots hit their mark, hitting their brains. Just as the battle died down, another group of warthogs arrived to terrorize the field.

  “Just how many are there?” Avryn complained.

  “Less talking, more fighting,” Rinna replied.

  “Keep them off the recon squad,” Leifren had them refocus.

  Avryn ran out of ice bullets. He settled for melee fighting, Lerosa in hand. One warthog was about to reach one of the recon squad members. It was stopped by Jenilah, her shotgun put a full stop to it. Another warthog jumped over the one she shot and attempted to attack her. Harver had her back, his estoc penetrated through the hog’s head.

  “Thanks, Harver,” she smiled.

  “Just doing my job,” he bantered back.

  Just as they finished with this second wave, another wave was attracted to the fighting came to them. This time, the Warthogs were fiercer. Kiria and Rinna were fighting together as a unit. Their fighting styles blended well. Kiria’s mace battered down the warthog’s defenses while Rinna’s halberd helped finish them off. Kiria’s holo-shield helped gave them a quick momentary rest from the fighting.

  With the last of the hogs killed, the recon squad continued their duties. The squads finally earned their break. There was something in the air, however. The recon squad was scanning the nearby cleaning when they saw a new threat. They called for the two squads to assist them.

  Corpse bears were investigating the noise. Those bears had something unique about them: crystals growing from their body. The crystals had a yellow-orange color about them.

  “God damn, nature just doesn’t give us a break, huh?” Avryn complained.

  “You’re complaining about fighting? Are you sure you’re the real Avryn?” Harver joked.

  Leifren was contemplating. He hadn’t seen such a creature before. He commanded the recon squad to scan those bears. They didn’t know their true strength just yet.

  “So what’s the plan?” Rinna turned to him.

  “Get whatever data we can on them, and get back to the outpost. These bears are bad news,” he reasoned.

  “Right,”

  The bears were investigating the noise of the battle and were now making their way towards them. The three squads went back to their dualcycles. They returned to the outpost with the new data. The recon squad went to have a meeting with the major. They rested around the campfire and rested whatever injuries they had. Avryn was the first to breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Man, those were so many warthogs, you can fill an entire classroom with it,” he commented.

  “Well at least those were forty-ish less hogs to worry about,” Leifren was more optimistic on it. “It’s the bears I’m more worried about.”

  They discussed possible strategies. Could the crystals embedded in them be taken advantage of? Surely those were magical in nature. They consulted their old notes. Orange-yellow color meant it was an earth element. This was their first time seeing such a creature close up.

  “Those are strong at least, but how much is what I’m wondering,” Avryn was thinking.

  “Now that’s the Avryn we know,” Harver said.

  “I’d rather fight forty unique, strong opponents than forty of the same every time,” he replied.

  Leifren chimed in,

  “Next logical step is to know their routine, what they’re up to. We need to study them up close,” he stroked his chin.

  “We? You think we’ll get that assignment?” Kiria asked.

  “I hope we do. It would make for a nice challenge,” Jenilah was optimistic.

  A Corpse with magic crystals embedded into its body, a true test indeed. The squads would have to wait for a while before their next assignment. They decided to retire to their tents after this eventful day.