-WILDERNESS-

[??? POV]

"Yes ma'am, the target seems to have been let through the gate." I've been following this boy for a few hours but I didn't expect him to do much of anything. Miss Kaira's borderline obsession with this boy the past few days has been annoying. Of course I would never say that to her since she would kill me without hesitation.

I wish I never got assigned as her subordinate.

My report was met with some curses before I was instructed to follow but keep my distance.

I wasn't told a lot about the target. Only that he should be followed and that they want to recruit him if possible but if it goes too long without him joining then we should eliminate him. It's a lot of work for someone who was only recently promoted to D-Rank. Though I guess if he somehow got permission to go into the wilderness despite his rank then he must be either really important or really strong.

I will follow him for now but I hope I won't have to fight him alone. I won't hesitate to call for backup. We have dozens of bases in the wilderness anyway so I should be able to get some help if I really need it…

[Miles POV]

This is it. One more step and I'm outside the city. Is it bad that I'm excited? A few months ago I would never have guessed I would be outside the city…

A hand suddenly smacks into my back, making me stumble a few steps forward over the line into the wilderness. Looking back I see Mera with a child-like grin. "Come on kid, we're going to have to walk for a few hours at least before we can run into any monsters so let's get moving."

Pulling the straps of my backpack up, I feel the weight to confirm that nothing is missing. I have no idea how long we will be out here but I was told it would be a couple weeks at least.

"I'm ready, let's get going," I announced towards Mera. She looks happy with that and moves to step outside before she pauses. Her smile is replaced by a scowl as she tilts her head to the top of the city wall. "What's wrong?" I tried asking but to no avail. She turns her head back to me and the smile returns. "Nothing is wrong. Just some bugs…"

*******

"How much longer is it going to take you to get a good buff?" Mera seems a little annoyed. It's been about 30 minutes since we left. At first I thought we would just be walking but Mera buffed herself quickly before telling me to do the same.

Seems her plan is for us to both buff our stamina and then to run at a high speed for a few hours so we can get far enough away from the city to find monsters. The obvious flaw with this pan was that I was having no luck. Even with my luck stat at over 500 with the help of my items, I still wasn't getting any luck.

It took another 10 minutes of walking at a normal pace while buffing myself before I finally got a stamina buff that was worthwhile. 

'Buff activated: +250 stamina'

Finally. After telling Mera, we quickly picked up our pace. Soon the city wasn't visible in the distance. Not long after we finally stopped, resting for a moment before we would figure out a real plan.

"So how do we find monsters? I get that they could be anywhere but shouldn't we start looking soon before it's dark?"

"Don't worry, Roland gave me a few things to help speed up your growth. First we got a measuring device. Pretty self explanatory, we should measure a gate's level before entering so we don't enter one that's too high ranked. Aside from that, we have a few basic supplies like food for a couple days, plenty of water and other basic tools that could help."

Mera seems to return my questioning gaze before she realizes the issue. She has no backpack or any kind of bag for that matter. With a smirk that showed she was clearly enjoying showing me new things, her ring began to glow before a compass appeared in her hand. "Its a storage ring. They are expensive and quite rare so mostly only those at A-Rank or above get to buy them." She tosses the compass to me as she talks.

"That compass points towards large clusters of energy. If we follow it then we should be able to find some monsters. It wont pick up anything too small though so don't let your guard down."

With that said, we set off once again. The wilderness was pretty cool looking. The environments we passed through changed quite a bit. At first there was green fields, long grass and the occasional tree. Then it quickly devolved into a swampy marsh. A rocky expanse and a desert soon after. Apparently the environment changes so often because of the monsters that appear when a gate breaks. Sometimes they can influence the area and once they die it never really goes back to how it was.

On the horizon another city comes into view. This one is different from home though. No walls line the perimeter, No light fills the buildings and the city itself looks void of life, even from afar. "The monsters are probably inside that old city. Keep an eye out for any movement and don't go too far from me until we know what we are dealing with."

I manage to process Mera commands quickly before casting a close ranged spell, hoping for some kind of weapon to fight with.

'Close Ranged Spell activated: Ice Shield'

Just as quick as the thought to cast the spell appeared, so did a shield made of ice. It's a bit cold to hold but not as cold as I thought it would be. I would have preferred a weapon but i won't bother to try recasting the spell. A shield is a sensible choice when going against an unknown enemy after all.

I could summon something to help me fight but with how fast we are running, most things would be left behind. Sure there are some things that could keep up with the speed but just because they are fast doesn't mean they are strong. When we get closer and learn what we are fighting, I will summon something that can help.

As we get closer to the city our enemy appears. Standing over 8 feet tall, scaled humanoids stand prepared. They wield spears in one hand, a small wooden shield in the other. They have basic leather armor on some while others are without armor. "They know we are coming. For now just fight carefully and try to gauge their strength. Don't get too confident."

They lower their spears, pointing them towards us. There's got to be at least 10 already prepared but more quickly appear and extend their defensive line. If it continues like this then there will be over 20 by the time we get to them.

Maybe I can thin their numbers out if I get lucky. If I cast a few long ranged spells while we charge towards them then hopefully when we get there we will have less to fight.

My arm is raised in front of me yet doesn't slow down my speed. Please don't let my luck fail me now!

'Long Ranged Spell Activated: Ice Lance'

'Long Ranged Spell Activated: Slow Curse'

'Long Ranged Spell Activated: Poison Shot'

'Long Ranged Spell Activated: Fear'

'Long Ranged Spell Activated: Lightning Serpent'

The mess of spells fires near instantly one after the other. The ice lance fires at great speeds and its target tries to dodge but the slowness curse hits him first, dooming him to an ice lance to the face.

While the other lizard human creatures tried to process what happened, a glob of poison fell on the ground, far from them. That's the one I used when I got my license… while long ranged i suppose it cant go too far. No worries though as the leftmost lizard falls back on to its ass, dropping both weapon and shield.

In a clear panic it quickly dragged its feet behind it as it ran screeching into the city. The final spell was one that I couldn't decipher from just the name. From my arm shot an arc of blue lightning in the shape of a snake, roughly 8 feet long. It shot across the ground, crackling along at light speed till it reached another of the lizard men. The lightning wrapped around the monster, constricting like a snake. The beast screeched, clearly in pain. It tried pulling the blue crackling snake off of its body but the more it struggled, the tighter the lightning coiled around it. Soon after the snake dissipated and left behind the scorched limp body of the lizard. It doesn't seem to be dead but it seems paralyzed and pretty injured so it should be out of the fight for now.

I look to Mera for some kind of validation for my actions and get a cheeky smile and thumbs up before she launches into the air. I hadn't realized she had been holding back this whole time… Ahead i see heads of lizards explode into a sudden burst of blood as they fail to survive the punches she hurls towards them. By the time i arrive she already finished clearing up the last of the group. Most with missing heads or large holes in their chests where they received a punch.

The paralyzed lizard man is still alive although it isn't moving. "I was hoping to at least kill a few more so I could level up…" As I complain to Mera, who clearly finds it amusing, I take my ice shield and smash its edge into the neck of the paralyzed lizard, killing it. As I do, ice spreads from the areas the shield touched, spreading a few inches before stopping. Hmm, pretty interesting effect.

My thoughts don't get time to wander as the roar from some beast cuts through the air. Maybe that's the boss or something… But no, the boss shouldnt be able to leave the gate so it can't be.

"Seems that one you scared off with your spell went and snitched to its boss…" Meras eyes show she is not impressed but she also isn't too mad since it's my first time in this kind of environment and it was mostly out of my control.

The distant beast screams out one more time before the sound of smaller, lesser creatures mimicking the roar can be heard from further into the city ruins. "Seems that's the direction we should go if we want to find more monsters."

"Just be careful… We may have won that skirmish with ease but I've never seen those lizardmen before so it could be some new type of monster that hasn't been discovered. These lizards are at least C-Ranked monsters on their own so the boss could be as much as an A-Rank. Don't let your guard down."

Really what is wrong with me… All I feel is excitement.

END OF CHAPTER 19