Squad Leader Training

After I had gotten the information that I was being chased by assassins, Barat said, "We don't want to bench you but you will need backup now."

"Letting you wander alone just to be attacked would be careless of us so we plan to use the fact that you have just been promoted to a squad leader to assign you some reinforcements."

I frowned and said, "Not to disparage my potential teammates but will they be able to even keep up with me? You know I am one of the most powerful men on the continent right now."

"I don't think most people have the qualifications to even stand by my side when I go all out against a similarly powerful opponent."

"I doubt that you have many S-ranks around that you can just give to me especially if they are going to be my subordinates. That would rankle the sensibilities of many powerful mages."

Barat smiled, "Yes that is true, we don't have many S-ranks running around but 1 S-rank, in particular, was interested in joining your squad for a while now."

"His abilities are particularly suited to helping you fight, and in allowing much weaker members to be useful in a fight between you and other S-rank mages."

I asked, "What is his ability and why does he even want to join my squad?"

Barat said, "He is Knove and he has awakened an incredibly powerful variant of Barrier Magic that we like to call Aegis Magic."

"This type of magic not only vastly increases the defenses of each barrier but the flexibility, they can be shaped to be form-fitting armor or a massive wall of barriers."

"The drawback is that is incapable of attacking in any way. No crushing men between 2 walls, no swords made of barrier, or not even just punching a person."

"We believe that the reason that the Aegis Magic manifested in him is that he is only capable of protecting people not attacking, explaining my his magic is so much stronger than the norm."

"He hates Dark Guilds however and after hearing about your numerous accomplishments with dealing with them over the past year and recently he wanted to join."

I raised my eyebrow, "He wants to join the squad of an ex-Dark Mage?"

Barat nodded, "He has been through a similar experience like you but instead his family was killed and he was kidnapped at the age of 8. He was under their thumb for 2 years."

"By then his barriers were so strong he managed to run out of the guild and reached us. So he knows the experience that leaves on people and sympathizes with you."

I nodded, "How powerful are his barriers?"

Barat said, "That depends on what form they are in. The more the barrier is meant to defend the better it works. If he makes barriers to walk on they are incredibly weak as they aren't meant to defend."

"Similar things have also occurred with the armor, since many people use his armor to attack it makes it weaker than a wall he would use to defend himself."

"At his strongest just a static bubble surrounding him and his comrades, I estimate it would take you around an entire minute to be able to break it. And if you leave then the barrier will start self-repairing."

I whistled in surprise, for a minute. If I was fighting someone there was no way I was going to let them have an entire minute to attack the barrier.

That meant that if I took him and others to join me then I wouldn't really have to worry about them being taken out by the enemies.

I would be free to fight only checking in on them once in a while. This was perfect. I asked, "He can protect the entire squad using this method?"

Barat nodded, "He can do it for 4 people including himself so now you have 3 more members that you can choose to enter your prospective squad."

I scratched my chin, "The barrier, does it allow people in it to send magic out of it? So that all attacks incoming and block but those inside can still send out magic attacks."

Barat said, "It can be done but then the I would only be able to withstand 30 seconds of continuous attacks by you. So it is up to you to determine if the risk is worth it."

I nodded. So if I want my squadmates to be useful they either need to be able to do something while in the bubble not interacting with the outside world or I would have to weaken the bubble.

I decided that I would weaken the bubble, it was annoying but 30 seconds is still a long time and there are a lot of magics that even at the weakest level would be able to help in a fight.

I said, "Knove does definitely sound like he would fix most of the problems I would have with a squad. Have you found potential members that would be useful?"

He nodded and started laying down a bunch of people with their names, characteristics, and background listed on it.

He said, "These are all the potential members that you can potentially have in your group. They are not the best we can offer, as many of them are already in squads, but they aren't terrible."

I nodded and began sifting through the pile of paper in front of me in order to find the best squad members. I didn't need them to be the best in a straight-up fight but be useful to me.

I can handle a straight-up fight and a rank A fire mage ain't really going to help me at this level so I was more focused on supplementary magics.

I found 5 that I could see in my squad. They would be able to help me even with their weak magic in a fight or do something better than me in certain situations.

The first person was a mage capable of blinding magic, which could not only blind their sight but also all of their other senses for a higher magic cost.

This worked on S-rank mages although due to the difference in magic power it was incredibly short-lasting less than a second in most cases.

That was Ok however because even a fraction of a second where I could make my opponent blind to me was a godsend.

When you move faster than the human eye can see then that fraction of a second becomes an incredibly long time for me mid-battle.

Shee also had a lot of experience being a Rune Knight for around 10 years now. She did not have much to offer than that but it was a massive boon if used correctly.

The second was a mage with charm magic. She was able to use that magic to interrogate enemies and cause them to switch sides for a moment.

Although that didn't work on S-rank mages just the ability to gather information from the grunts of an organization consistently would make it much easier to hunt Dark Guilds down.

She was also able to contribute a little in battle as she has also learned gun magic from the enemies she can't take down using charm magic.

It was not that strong however so most of her utility comes from her ability to twist the minds of others to give us the truth.

She had been with the organization for 2 years so was pretty inexperienced. She hadn't been on many extermination missions, most information gathering or infiltration missions.

Thirdly was a man that had Charging Magic. Basically, he was able to supercharge attacks by slowly gathering magic around him and then releasing it in one massive blow.

He could send out superpowered punches, lasers, and explosions so long as he had enough time to charge. If he didn't have that time he was useless.

It also couldn't be stored, he had to stay completely still in a certain position to begin the charging process. He had mostly been used as magical artillery, destroying magic bases and castles.

Cause while he could take up to 10 minutes to charge to full capacity his attacks were similarly incredible, being able to do more damage than even me.

After that, though he would be completely out of gas and not be able to do a repeat. He was useful as his ability synergized extremely well with the Aegis allowing him to charge up safely.

And since his attacks were so powerful they were actually useful in a fight with another S-rank mage. His 5 years of experience was also in his favor, being more used to a battlefield.

Next was a ritual and warding mage. He specialized in those 2 types of magic and hadn't been sent out on the field much as those types of magic tend to be too clunky to use mid-fight.

Setting up wards and rituals takes time and energy. They also need complete focus so that they won't make any mistakes when drawing the wards or ritual diagrams.

I thought of taking him because rituals and wards are some of the most versatile types of magic. They can basically do anything if you have time to set up.

As utility having him is a huge help, as he can dispel the stronger curses I can't, track down enemies using their blood, and set alarms for camps.

In a fight, he may be able to be useful so long as he is calm enough to draw a diagram while protected by the barrier. Rituals could do a lot of things mid-fight which disrupted my opponent.

Lastly was a mage who specialized in Bliwildering Mist magic. She could basically send out mists that covered the area around her and caused anyone trapped in it to start to hallucinate.

This would pair up well with Knove making the barrier incredibly hard and attack. Furthering the defensive capabilities of my squad members.

The mists could also be used as a weaker form of charm magic, less accurate but potentially able to a similar role. It would have to be used carefully to not hurt any friends.

While she could control parts of it also had the bad habit of running loose if she lost her focus so we had to be careful. But with her 7 years of experience, it didn't happen often anymore.

Looking at the list of potential squadmates I began to eliminate some of them. The women with Charm magic were first on the chopping block.

While she was able to fight a little in battle with her gun magic and had years of experience she just was not able to do anything in the battle to help me fight.

While being able to interrogate lower-level mages was incredibly useful with my Observation Haki, Telepathy, and Conquerer's Haki I would soon be able to do something similar.

So I decided that while useful I would not use one of my precious slots to put someone in that I could potentially replace in the future.

The Bewildering Mists mage was also removed for a similar reason. Her utility as an interrogator was even lower than that of the Charm mage for more offensive power.

While her mists would definitely help protect the barrier it also would make it so that they would not be able to see out of it. Making sure that they couldn't contribute to a fight.

So I was left with 3. The Blinding Mage helps me deal with single target opponents much easier. The Charging Mage for a similar reason but he can also do massive AOE damage as well.

And the Ritual / Warding mage for utility and possible attack ability. I would feel much safer with him around to protect me from the potential curses Irene would send my way.

Overall my squad would be an interesting mix. I will meet them tomorrow hopefully they will be able to work together to make powerful support for me in a fight.