The New Team

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Several massive fir trees fell to the snowy surface, unable to resist a needle capable of passing through even the densest fabric.

A few more minutes and the trunks of the spruce trees were sliced into equal bars.

Adam would have done it sooner, but he simply had no way to build a fire. There were no dry branches as well as leaves. It was constantly snowing, and the fir trees were hard and sturdy. However, that has all changed now.

"Nera! It's done!" Adam waved his hand, standing in front of the mountain of timbers.

Nera closed the NEP with a heavy sigh, slung the hammer on her shoulder, and headed towards him.

"Bad news?" Adam raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, no matter how hard I tried I couldn't contact the communications department or any military base. Well, either way, we need to warm up first. Maybe the smoke will attract the rest of us who got hit by the spatial anomaly if there are any more losers like us."

Then, Nera raised her hammer high above her head and used her Nexus again. She had only done this recently, so she would have to face the consequences, but it was better than dying of cold.

Just as the hammer reached the ground, the frozen ground was bare from under a thick layer of snow, and a fire as tall as a multi-story building ignited. Flames covered the underside, passing through the gaps, igniting the heat source they so desperately needed.

Jets of smoke immediately headed upward, traveling straight toward the clouds.

"What are we going to do? I mean, how long are we going to wait? In a few hours, it will already start to get dark. When night falls our chances of survival will be greatly reduced." Adam asked with a slightly worried voice. 

In his time as a Phantom, Adam had already been on three missions, though the first time had been more than spontaneous. However, each time it happened during the day because the night was a special period when the most dangerous monsters came out to hunt.

In addition to the already known parameters, all missions were globally divided into two types - day and night.

No Phantom newcomer who has not yet revealed his Lock was not allowed to take night missions, because the risk was too great. For the mission department, it would be like sending a Phantom to his death.

Not only were there more monsters at night but there were new species much stronger and more aggressive. In fact, the difference was so great that there was a separate section for them in the White Book and Red Book. Unofficially, they were called the Night White Book and the Night Red Book. 

"Tsk. You're right. If we're not far from the Citadel, the air fighters will be able to come for us in an hour, at most two hours if we're very far away. In that case, let's wait exactly one hour. That should also be enough time to warm up and rest." Nera suggested.

Adam nodded and sat down in front of the fire, placing his palms forward. A smile quickly appeared on his face.

Perhaps there was only cold and brutal wind around them, but the campfire was a kind of oasis in this world of cold where gradually even coziness was emerging.

"By the way, how did you get here? Or rather, you were on a mission, right?" Nera asked.

"Yeah... We dealt with the Nest of the Golden Searchers, luckily we killed the queen before she awakened the king. It's kinda weird not hearing my Operator anymore. I'm even starting to miss it." Adam smiled slightly.

Nera's eyes went wide.

"What...? You have your personal Operator!" Nera exclaimed, looking at him intently, "I thought you were a newbie! You don't even have a Nexus!"

Adam raised an eyebrow, then he looked at his gloves.

Nera made an awkward expression, she realized too late that his Nexus wasn't a weapon.

"Wow... I wish I had my own Phantom too. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to get a personal Operator if you haven't already revealed your Lock, though squad leaders are granted that privilege..." Nera muttered with obvious sadness in her voice.

Adam's gaze grew deeper, he knew it. If he hadn't been a Naturalborn Phantom, he wouldn't have met Silvana.

'Hmm... So it turns out Oren is also a Naturalborn one? Although, he may have performed well on the first missions. They might give him a personal Operator for that too.' Adam pondered while looking at the constantly changing flames.

Crackle. Crackle. Crackle.

There was a scraping of snow from tentative but welcome footsteps that came from two directions at once. 

Two silhouettes in desert robes stepped forward, looking around.

As Nera had suspected, the smoke from the fire had indeed attracted other Phantoms who were as unlucky as they were.

On the left was a tall guy with blue hair, azure eyes, and a long bow behind his back. On the right was a girl with pale skin, gray hair, and a cold gaze. In her hands, she held a long staff that looked like many intertwined branches, with a light green smoke coming from the tip.

"Oh... So it turns out I'm not the only one like this... What luck!" The young man exclaimed, running up to the fire.

Nera smiled.

"Hello, my name is Nera, this is Adam."

"Nice to meet you! I'm Mark! I just became a Phantom a few days ago! I apologize if I give you any trouble." Mark bowed low with an excited expression.

Adam glanced at the girl.

"What about you?"

The girl lifted her chin arrogantly, looking away.

"Katrin, and unlike this guy, I've been a Phantom for a while now and realize the situation we're in. My Operator is not responding. We need to hurry up and get out of here if you want to survive."

Mark's eyes sparkled like a child's.

"What...? Do you have your Operator?! How cool!"

Katrin ruffled her hair with a wave of her hand.

"Pffft, I performed well in my first missions and got my Operator after only two months. I won't lie, it's unlikely you'll get the same results, but you just keep trying." Katrin smirked, "Well, I think we should get going, I'm warmed up, we need to get out of this area before nightfall."

"Wait!" Nera exclaimed, "We already have a plan! We have to climb to the highest point so the signal can reach our NEPs!"

Katrin narrowed her eyes.

"You think you can boss me around? I bet you don't have an Operator either. I should be leading our team!" Katrin clenched her fist.

She wanted to say something else but stopped because a silhouette rose from the ground and blocked her view. 

Adam had his back turned to her. He scratched the back of his head and pointed to a massive rock in the distance, from the peak of which he could see everything.

"So... We need to go up there, right? Damn, it's pretty high, but if we try we can make it before it gets dark!" Adam said excitedly before moving forward. 

"Hey! Don't you dare ignore me! Maybe you want to fight for the right to lead!" Katrin said irritably, pointing her staff at him.

Adam waved his hand. A dangerous glint ran down the strained threads on his gloves.

"Nah, take this to someone else. I don't fight humans."

It was worth it for Katrin to hear this as her eyes went wide, and she froze in place. 

Having your personal Operator gave many advantages, but one of the most important was that the Operator kept in constant contact with their Phantom. They trained together, prepared for missions, and kept an eye on the other Phantoms as well, because competition was a constant.

Many Phantoms watched videos of other Phantoms' fights, learning and trying to get better by spotting mistakes.

'Oh, the Nexus gloves and that phrase... Looks like we have a chance of surviving...' Katrin muttered internally, took a deep breath, and followed Adam as well as the others.

Although apart from this small argument, everything was quiet, in fact, it was a game of survival where the most valuable currency was time.

As soon as the sun went below the horizon line, the countdown to their deaths would begin.

With their powers, it was impossible to resist the monsters of the night.