Chapter 1008 (2/2)

If the damage had been to Erickson Steel, no one would care. But if there were other population centers involved…

“Alright, let’s retreat now, and run damage control,” Crane said while his mind spun at one thousand miles a minute. “As long as we can get on scene and mop things up quickly, we can control the news and spin it w we want.”

Linde’s response was bitter and childish. “But if we kill the monsters before they can threaten Erickson Steel-”

Crane punched Linde full in the face before he could finish that sentence. Although sowing more discord between them might hurt him in the long run, Crane couldn’t deny how much he enjoyed the feeling of dominance he felt afterward as he looked down at the blank-faced stare that Linde gave him.

“That is business,” Crane said bluntly. A business I don’t want your grubby fingers touching. “This is for the good of the Zone. Let’s get going.”

Oblivious, the staggering group of thirty people ran past, arriving before Erickson Steel.

*****

They didn’t have breaks, not really, on their trek West to return to Erickson Steel. But even so, there were exercises that took significantly less energy than the others. Which ended up being the equivalent of rest. Jogging was actually the most restive of those, but there was also time given to the aspirants of the Order Ducis for “self-improvement”.

During one of those self-training exercises, Vye had mentioned to one of the other applicants she had become close to, Garrett, that she wasn’t sure how their training could grow worse form this current level. Despite her Level, she hadn’t had her Stamina above one-third full the entire week. Let alone sleep, their meals were so truncated that Vye felt less like a civilized person and more like a beast hurriedly devouring carrion before an even greater predator arrived and stole the lion’s share of the spoils for itself.

During the week they had spent sweeping sinuously North and South on a meandering path back to Erickson Steel, the Order Ducis has antagonized and exterminated every Raid Boss they encountered while carrying weights and sprinkling in random ‘duels’ between the different members of the training camp.

At one point, at Ajax’s barked order Vye had to hurry out from a protracted siege of a warren filled with monstrous badgers to participate in a duel immediately. Afterward, he had urged her to return, because ‘everyone had saved her spot in the attack.’

And truthfully, Vye had hurried back. Because she had been forced not to advance in an attack, but simply hold her ground without killing any monsters while some of her companions had dutifully marched out to duel. It was hell. And then it was a relief when the person dueling returned and the group could finally resume killing the monsters. God only knew where Naffur had come up with such a hellish series of rules to exacerbate the difficulty of fighting even further.

Garrett’s expression darkened while he listened to Vye’s flippant joke. “Heh, make sure you don’t say that too loudly. Believe me, they have ways.”

When Vye raised her eyebrows, Garrett shook his head sorrowfully. “I was there… as the first three were inducted into the Order Ducis. Afterward, Randidly insisted on personally training Naffur. Now I know that Naffur isn’t the most outwardly intimidating… but you’ve seen his obvious Stamina by now. But… a half an hour later… Naffur had practically every bone in his body broken.

“Perhaps even worse… the rumor was that the Ghosthound had learned Naffur’s Skills during the training session and used them to beat him bloody. It was mental and physical suppression. But Naffur later admitted that he had gained almost a hundred Skill Levels from just that one session with Randidly Ghosthound. So… it will get worse, but we will grow faster”

“When I met Randidly… He honestly seemed rather normal,” Vye said lightly.

Garrett sighed. “Of course, because you were just a person to him. But to those in the Order Ducis… I’ve heard he tortured someone who slacked too much on their training just by looking at them and unleashing his killing intent…!”

Blinking, Vye tried to rationalize the view of Randidly as this average, barefoot man with him as a torturer. “He… tortured someone…?”

“Well, I think that’s a rumor,” Garrett had said. “But just remember, it’s gonna get worse when the Ghosthound starts handling our training.”

Now, after a week of training that had been plenty exhausting for Vye, she was standing outside of the gates of Erickson Steel. Which was, perhaps, the most exhausting activity she had done this entire time.

Mental and physical suppression, Vye thought bitterly. But she refused to give up. She would find the Path Randidly used to become powerful… even if it killed her.