Not Very Pleasant Here [2]

Rumble

The ground was shaking as the former residents of Pleasantville were moving towards the outer edge where Dean and the others were located. 

Every member was in formation, but their nervousness was apparent on their faces and posture...except for Dean and Bob who maintained a calm expression in the face of an incoming horde.

Then.

A horde of former students and Pleasantville staff members along with grotesque monsters showed up flooding from several buildings and side streets. Some were turned insane as apparent by their glowing red and black eyes, but most were undead monsters both humanoid and animal-like.

The undead brought along their rotten smell which instantly flooded everyone's senses almost causing some to vomit while others just stomached through it. 

Luckily, they were at the outer edges of the small town or else the monsters would've have attack from directly above them as seen by various fiends and husks on the rooftops of various buildings.

Overall, the horde numbered in the hundreds despite some of the attention being focused on where the tram station was at.

Though, Dean noticed, minus Bob and surprisingly Kat, that everyone was shaking due to the size of the horde. While the horde of flyers were far greater than this horde, it can't be denied that this horde had more fearsome enemies and more intelligence.

So with this in mind, Dean gave out a series of orders in a quick and concise manner.

"Mary power up the turrets. Bob keep protecting her. We'll make it out of here alive as long as everyone remembers their training." 

Everyone nodded as flashes of the past five years flooded their mind. Even Mary who only took mandatory combat-related classes in the first two years, was calming herself down. 

'This is kinda like that 2nd year exam...well minus the fact that the enemies look human ugh'

She grimaced a little at the thought of killing people, but shook her head as she powered up the turrets. There was no time to hesitate, Mary had the goal to survive and not let Jacob's death go to waste.

Besides, she was only powering up the turrets so technically she won't be killing people....even if they were undead or driven insane.

The turrets powered up and instantly fired at the incoming horde. They were respectively each placed on both sides slightly behind Mercury. The distance between the turrets were farther than before meaning Mary would have to strain herself more, but with the low ammo, she wouldn't have to keep powering up the turrets thankfully. Plus overstraining herself a little was worth it in her mind because...

BANG BANG

....the enemy that numbered in the hundreds were instantly being reduced by the .50 caliber rounds. The fiends were either ducking to the side for cover or activating their defensive esper abilities. 

The rest?

Husks and the other monsters were being turned into either swiss cheese or meat paste depending on impact.

The machine guns were directly firing into the horde on ground level, but the remaining ones of the rooftops were still charging forward. Freddie notices them and started firing his arrows while Dean started to telekinetically lift the javelins again in dozens instead of hundreds and send them flying down. This time he wasn't aiming as Dean wanted to conserve his mental energy for Ha-eun or more surprises, so the javelins were mostly missing their targets. Though said targets could be seen dodging thus exposing themselves, making it easier for Freddie to target them as he too was conserving his energy in case of surprises.

Mercury though couldn't afford to conserve energy as various fiends were bombarding them with projectiles or their range esper attacks such as fireballs or crystallize shards. Blocking so many attacks at once was rapidly draining Mercury as he was seen sweating profusely and turning pale.

Seeing this, Dean started targeting the range attacks, but this time he was spending more energy on directing the javelins. Even Freddie started to use his powers on the range attackers. 

.

.

.

After a few minutes, the battle was slowly turning to the group's favor as more than half of the horde was decimated. The turrets were down to 10 percent ammo capacity prompting Kat to switch to semi-automatic mode. Their significant decreased fire rate would've been detrimental if not for Dean sending the rest of the javelins onto the horde. This further exhausted Dean as his nose was bleeding even more yet so far, Ha-eun wasn't showing up during the turmoil. Whether she was truly gone from this place or simply waiting, both were far from ideal.

But staying at the number 2 spot for almost 5 years, Dean knew what kind of person Ha-eun was, how she reacts in this kind of situation...

***

4 years ago

In the large space of the arena reserved for group mock battles, there was a group of seven 2nd year students having a discussion on their current course of action until...

"Ugh, why are we doing more groupwork for this shitty class."

"I know right? If this wasn't a mandatory class, then I would've picked another class haha." 

Two people were whispering to each other while the leader and his 2nd-in-command were discussing strategies to the rest of the group. Of course, their whispers were heard by said leader.

"The reason there's two years of mandatory combat training is because of the growing number of rogue espers on the frontier. Doing these assignments and tests helps to cultivate future talents for military use and even prepare the ones working in the civilian sector for emergencies such as unexpected attacks or-"

"Okay four-eyes I think these peasants get it."

The two people were visibly offended by the vice-leader, but couldn't do anything as her family background would make their life hell. Even if they were protected by law, there were other tactics employed by nobles to make their point cross, so they chose to keep their mouth shut and simply glare at her.

Of course, their glares didn't faze her as Melanie looked at Dean who pushed his glasses up once he was rudely interru- ....once he was finished with his explanation.

"sigh....Alright let's go over the battleplan again. This time we're facing against a group with Mark and Ha-eun in it, so we'll need to be thorough on this."

The group went back to normal as Dean started going over different strategies with Melanie giving her inputs on what Mark and Ha-eun could do. This was just like any mock battle in name only.

It was halfway into the first semester for the 2nd years, but this mock battle felt like a semester final exam as high ranking students were paired against each other while lower ranks would only be fodder.