10 Chapter 7 : Outside the Walls --------------------------------------

"Zico, they're closing in. The first one's just 3 miles away now."

"3 miles....hmm, that should give us about 5 minutes right?"

"About so, there are more behind it, the exact number is unknown but there's bound to be many of them"

"Don't worry, we've been training for months, we've got this!"

"Listen up everyone, the first ones coming, we're going to attack it before it reaches us. Remember what I told you, the top priority is to return in one piece. Keep that in mind and take them down one at a time."

With this said they passed the boundary wall, leaving the colony for the first time. The outside world wasn't much different, except for the fact that the trees here looked much wilder than the ones inside.

But no one had the time to notice this, a Manwol was approaching, that's all they cared about right now.

"Let's stop here, 5 of you go to the right and 5 to the left the rest remain here. Don't forget that just injuring it isn't enough, you have to destroy the core too."

"Sir, it's coming!"

"So, it is... positions everybody, let's see how strong exactly is a Manwol."

In a few moments everyone had a clear visual of the Manwol, it was a big black rhinoceros like creature (the head was a little different, and there weren't any horns either) with blue stripes converging into its chest.

"The core is in it's chest, you can see the lines meeting there! Everyone on the left and right attack, the rest take care of its head."

The Manwol was being attacked by 15 Drivers, but no matter how much they damaged it, in mere moments it regenerated itself.

"Kai, blind him! Yuna, destroy the core"

Immediately Kai used his light magic and the Manwol fell to the ground, in the mean time Yuna had already reached it and stabbed the chest with her driver.

The Manwol was down, the stripes had turned colourless and the core was shattered.

"Good work everyone, as you can see, fighting the real thing is much more exhausting than fighting in a simulator."

"Don't let your guard down yet, more are coming!"

"We took down the first, what's the situation?"

"Zico, I think there's something wrong! The others were heading straight towards you but then they suddenly changed paths."

"What do you mean changed paths?"

"I don't know the ones far off are just not moving and the ones which were near have spread out in a circle surrounding you."

"Have you been able to figure out their numbers?"

"Not exactly but I estimate about 300 of them."

"How far are they from us?"

"All of them are at least 10 miles from you"

"Zico, the radar just picked up a signal! Something's coming something big. It's giving out a lot of energy, I'm not sure but this could be a high class Manwol. That would explain why the rest cleared the path. It's about 30 miles away from you."

"Exactly what we needed in our first battle, I'll make preperations, keep me updated on the situation"

"Gather around, the situations changed, we've been surrounded by a lot of Manwols but they're not going to make a move. A high class Manwol is supposedly moving towards us, hopefully we'll be able to take it down together, but if things go wrong retreat, go to the base and regroup. Xander will be waiting for you there."

"Sir, why are you saying that like you already know you'd die in the situation."

"Don't ask questions now just follow the orders, don't attack randomly and absolutely do not charge in without any warning"

"Try to conserve your stamina as much as possible, even after we get through, we'd still have to face a lot of lower class Manwols."

"Take your positions, it'll most likely be reaching any moment now."

"Use all that you've learnt in these past months, Kai fall back a little bit but stay close so that we can reach you if needed. Try to provide consistent healing to everyone once we engage into battle."

Though no one showed it, deep inside everyone was scared, this was not something they had expected to face in they're very first mission.

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