Chapter 842: The first day of the evaluation trial (part 20)

"You want to take us to your camp, big tiger sister?", asked Lauren, which made Aster almost laugh at Mira, since that was quite similar to the nickname Kana used with her when they first met.

But he restrained himself because the ligress glared at him as if she was saying "Laugh and I’ll kill you", and Aster didn’t want to get scratched by Mira, so he remained silent.

"Yes, your whole actual team didn’t amount to ten people anyway, so I don’t think you could have developed much on your own, wouldn’t it be better if you join a larger camp?", said the ligress to Lauren who looked at Cassandra instead.

"Certainly, abandoning our camp is not really a problem, we built some simple refuges and instead of expanding focused in developing weapons and gathering food, but the weather has been acting suspiciously lately, so we were going to move, still I need to consult with my teammates, and I also need you to clarify what will our status be, if we join your group", said the green-haired female leader to which Lauren added.

"Mm, I don’t mind listening to big tiger sister’s orders, but I don’t want to work in the mines or fight in the cage like before meeting sister Cassandra if possible".

"...", that careless tone and her rather indifferent attitude towards what she was saying, made Mira who was thinking on telling her to not call her "big tiger sister", change her focus to something else, what’s more, while she kept a cool front, the ligress nearly lost it there.

’Fight in the cage, damn scum!!!’, she roared to her insides, she could imagine something like that happening considering that Lauren’s race is known for being fearless and not caring about difference in strength, once they deem someone their enemy they will fight to the death without any regard for their own lives, which is why no one in their sane mind would mess with the adult and elders of her race, but she is quite young and her lineage is too immature, not to mention that she is a mix based in her eye-catching hair color, so she was a perfect target.

Some people capture spirit beast descendants and train them to fight either for entertainment or to turn them into guardians of large forces or sects, since as previously stated spirit tamers are not easy to come by, but spirit beast descendants can also under some circumstances change to spirit beast form, so yeah.

The race with which Mira is familiarized and from which at least a part of Lauren’s lineage comes, is called Heavenly Slaughter Badger, yup, that short-orange haired is basically a honey badger spirit beast descendant.

Just to put an example, a normal mortal honey badger which is not even as big as a middle-sized dog wouldn’t shy away from fighting apex predators like lions, so you can imagine how fearless a spirit beast badger, the size of a blue whale would be.

Said race is on par with the clan of Mira’s spirit beast parent, they are a hegemon among spirit beast races from high ranked divine firmaments, the only difference between them and other strong spirit beast races, is that they are few in number when compared to others.

The reason as to why Mira didn’t recognize her is because of her hair color, everyone from the heavenly slaughter badger race has black or brown hair which fades to white at the upper part of their heads, but Lauren has completely orange hair instead.

’Was she abandoned because she is a mixed, no, unlike other fools who drown in the supposed superiority of their "noble" lineages, they don’t make distinctions such as main or secondary branches and even if they revere strength, they care for their sick and elderly, then why...’, the more Mira thought about it, the angrier she became until she was returned to the real world by a warm hand which was placed on her shoulder.

"The blue flaming board can act as our witness, besides providing the intel we want, not betraying us and making your fair share of work to earn your keep, you won’t be obligated to anything else, of course this only applies to those that didn’t aim to kill my teammates, others will be worked to the bone, if they are even worth conserving their lives that is", said Aster.

Mira who took a deep breath to calm down, nodded at Lauren and Cassandra as she added.

"This guy is annoying but he only looks like a bad person on the outside, so don’t worry, you won’t be mistreated under his watch", said the ligress girl with a smile on her pretty face.

"Oh damn, I guess I misjudged a strong and good person again, sorry swordsman big brother, I hate bad people and absolutely hate bad strong people, luckily I didn’t get to attack you thanks to big tiger sister, last time I nearly slashed sister Cassandra’s throat with my claws", said Lauren.

"Ahem, that guy’s name is Aster just call him that, you can call me sister Mira", added the ligress girl.

"I don’t mind the nickname though", casually said Aster which earned him a soft growl from Mira as well as giggles from Kana.

"What a funny new sister~", said the little girl who as always made it easier for people to connect just with her presence.

"Umm leader, if things are okay between us now, can you ask them for us to be allowed to stand up without that blond haired lady watching over us please...", said the younger brother, he was still worried that Sarina would suddenly turn them into a pile of severed limbs.

"I want to be given permission to have a little "conversation" with this guy as well", said the middle-aged man as he started daggers and the spear guy who was in his team, he apparently couldn’t wait to interrogate him, even more so than Aster, which made Cassandra sigh.

’Am I the only normal one in my own team... no, I guess I’m the weirdest since I ended up surrounding myself with these guys’, thought the green-haired female leader.

Leaving aside the basically set in stone deal between both groups, the fights weren’t over yet, but before we focus in the remaining two girls from Aster’s side, let’s see how the squad captains and their respective members were doing against the giant centipede.

...

Back to when Amanda and Brenda set off without waiting for the other two squad captains and their respective subordinates, the centipede screeched at the incoming weird creatures that looked small from his point of view.

"Shaaaa!", the centipede then raised its upper body and descended towards Amanda while using its metal clinker-like mandibulae to bite at her.

"Clang!", said metal clinkers were blocked by a pair of swords, one belonging to Amanda while the other was wielded by Brenda.

"Woah, this guy is quite strong!", said Amanda as they were both forced to retreat due to the clash.

"Luckily our steel weapons are quite good", added Brenda as she looked at the edge of her sword which remained flawless, which confused the centipede by the way, no prey had ever survived an attack from him before after all.

"Sister Amanda, sister Brenda, shouldn’t we shape the formation before jumping into the fight?", mumbled a girl subordinated to Amanda.

"Luckily sister Violet followed right away", added a girl subordinated to Brenda as she sighed.

"Hey, we are the "battle stars" arriving earlier and testing the strength of the enemy is within our function you know", said Amanda.

"Archers, take your position and form the outer perimeter!", Violet who had just arrived a few seconds after those two, accompanied by Blair directly put hands to work in order to organize the formation.

The four archers, one belonging to each of the captain’s teams, spread in the four directions, putting a large distance between themselves and the giant centipede.

"We’ll go with the classic large enemy strategy, two shields to restrict the enemy, one spear to reduce its mobility and create openings, captains can move on their own and go full offensive, the archers will keep the enemy locked within the formation!", said Violet to then add.

"Blair, you stay with me, look out for long ranged poison attacks and those frontal legs which are venomous, that’s all".

"Yes!", exclaimed both captains and subordinates in unison as they brought out the respectively mentioned weapons, besides the archers everyone else had the four equipment on them, which were the base of the formation.

Two girls from each small team held onto their shields with both hands, while the remaining one from each team, wielded their spears, so there were eight defenders, four middle range attackers namely the girls with spears, four long ranged attackers, in other words the archers, and lastly four flexible fighters which were the captains.

"Shaaaaa!", seeing the small enemies spread around him, the centipede screeched as he tried to break out of the encirclement, only for him to be blocked by a wall of four shields aligned next to each other with a couple of meters of distance in between.

"Clang!", the legs of the centipede which were quite tough, clashed against the metal reinforced shields being wielded by those four and produced sparks as well as the sound of metals colliding, however the centipede was surprisingly unable to push them away.

’Heh, don’t underestimate our teamwork!’, thought the girls holding the line, alone they couldn’t hold a candle against the strong members of the camp of course, but when they shared the pressure like this, they could even endure a couple of attacks from someone like Mylene without being blown away due to the impact.

"Shaaa!", of course this required for them to trust that no one would cower and retreat before the others, even on the face of an incoming attack like the one the centipede was trying to pull by biting their way after not being able to push them away and seeing that another four of those weird two-legged creatures were blocking him on the opposite side, since the eight shield wielders had split into two groups of four to flank the enemy.

"Whistle!", their faith on their teammates was rewarded with two objects flying at high speed which created whistling sounds as they aimed at two of the eight eyes of the centipede, those were naturally arrows shot by the archers, which presented the centipede with the option of either halting its attack to block the arrows or losing his eyes.

"Clang!", the centipede might not be like Guardian and the other animals who despite being mortal animals instead of spirit beasts have a strange degree of wisdom, but it is also not a mindless beast, so of course it chose to block by raising its head which stopped its attack, and also changed the aim of the arrows to its armored upper body, resulting in the arrows piercing through the outer part of its exoskeleton but stopping a couple of centimeters into it, not really wounding the centipede.

Long ranged attacks with arrows were unable to really harm the centipede, unless we are talking about arrows which packed quite the punch like Kana’s ones, it’s not that those girls are weak, it’s that they are facing the equivalent to a peak foundation establishment cultivator as mortals, currently.

"Ha!", using the opening created by the arrows, two of the four spear wielders advanced through the spaces left between shields to then stab their spears at the base of the centipede’s legs.

"Crack!", as tough as the exoskeleton as the centipede might be, it has its flaws and weaker areas, like the joint areas which connected the legs of the centipede with its body, so a precise and strong stab like the one used by those two fierce girls, was enough to break through the protection and reach the flesh of the centipede.

"Shaaaaa!", the centipede who had forgotten about how pain even felt after having been at the top of the food chain for years, loudly screeched in response to the previous.

"Charge!", unfortunately when he tried to roll his body and crush the enemies attacking him on that side, with an order from Violet, the second shield wielding team all bashed their shields at the centipede’s opposite side.

"Clang!", the shields naturally weren’t meant to be used for offense so they didn’t break through the centipede’s protection, but the impact generated by those four who rushed at the enemy was strong enough to push the giant centipede a couple of meters, while sparks were produced due to the clash between the metal reinforcing the shields and the centipede’s exoskeleton.

"Now!", with the centipede distracted between the attacks on both sides, he left his lower abdomen which had a thinner protection, unguarded, just in time for Violet to give the order to the "battle stars".

With a "swoosh", two swords cut large wounds on the vulnerable abdomen area of the centipede, making green-blue blood splash all over the place.

"Tsk!", Amanda clicked her tongue, as a sword obsessed girl, she of course knew the sensation of properly cutting down an enemy, so she could tell that their attacks weren’t enough to be lethal.

"We didn’t reach this guy’s organs, the slashes were too shallow", said Brenda, to which Violet nodded, she didn’t expect the fight to be over just like that, they were dealing with an enemy that while not "stronger" than Guardian, could cause more destruction than her and this formation was prepared so that even the "average" members of the group could deal with enemies as strong as the bear, safely.

"Shaaaa!", the centipede loudly screeched as it enrolled its body so that the most protected upper part of its exoskeleton was facing at the enemies to then charge at them, it had changed its attack pattern after suffering a scare when Amanda and Brenda cut its abdomen.

"Full shield wall!", ordered Violet, the eight girls who were already wielding shields stood next to the other with their shields facing frontwards, while the spear wielders changed to shields as well, for a total of twelve girls who met the centipede’s charge head on.

"Boooom!", a loud sound echoed through the battlefield as the twenty-meter large centipede clashed with the shield wall.

"Humph!", those fierce girls were pushed backwards a couple of centimeters but with a cold snort they resisted the impact and didn’t lose their stance which was prepared to endure high impacts, which ultimately stopped the advance of the centipede, who was in trouble now by the way.

"The two in the middle, upper standing support!", ordered Violet, which made two girls raise their shields above their heads, just in time for Amanda and Brenda who had gained impulse by rushing at high speed to make a small jump and land on top of the shields, using them as support to then propel themselves into the air.

"Ha!", those two who had reached the head of the centipede, fiercely slashed their swords at the sides of the centipede’s head.

"Shshshshs!", an irregular screech escaped the centipede’s mouth as it had four of its eyes destroyed by those two, Amanda and Brenda might not be as organized and composed as Violet and Blair, but that doesn’t mean they are irresponsible, otherwise Eris wouldn’t have chosen them to be squad captains, they just had to direct their fighting spirit towards the correct target, in this case to diminish the sight of the enemy, so that the formation could advance from the restraining and weakening stage, to the elimination one.

"Everyone retreat!", with Violet’s order, all the girls, including Amanda and Brenda who had just landed safely on the ground, got away from the centipede’s vicinity, why you wonder, well, the reaction from an enemy who had lost its sight will most of the times be the same, it will panic and trash around by instinct.

"Boooom!", and just as Violet predicted, the centipede loosened its defensive stance and started lashing its body all over the place, creating small craters and cracks on the platform with the help of its large body and heavy weight.

"Archers draw its attention, the rest aim for the legs!", shouted Violet after the centipede had wasted its initial impulse.

"Whistle!", four arrows, aimed at each of the remaining four eyes of the centipede were shot from the distance, forcing the centipede to undulate its body so that it wouldn’t leave its abdomen unguarded like before, while protecting its eyes.

"Crack!", that in exchange blocked its view from its legs which were slashed by swords and then stabbed by spears, breaking the joint area which connected them to the body.

"Watch out for the counterattack of the other legs!", said Violet just in time for the legs which weren’t being attacked to try and pierce the girls, who perfectly dodged not without landing another round of attacks on the legs that were used by the centipede.

"Shaaaa!", as a result, the centipede lost control over around a third of its total legs, because they were now only hanging powerlessly at the sides of the centipede.

’Mobility and sight have been reduced by half, that should be enough, but...’, just as Violet was evaluating whether she should call for the killing move, what she has been looking out for, happened.

"Full shield wall, archers be on the look!", shouted violet as she saw the centipede throw its head backwards an action that was followed by it spitting some large globs of a green substance, right at not only those close to it but also at the archers into the distance.

"Hssss!", the poison didn’t pack up much impact, despite its viscous consistency, but it indeed caused damage to the shields which blocked it head on, mainly to the wood parts which weren’t fully covered with a steel layer.

Of course, Aster’s designed shields were made so that even if the wood base suffered damage, the steel would keep everything together, some of the poison also landed on the corners of the brigandines and corroded one of the leather jacket layers, leaving a few steel plaques in the open, but that was it.

They dared to block this attack because all the equipment they were using was properly tested against corrosive attacks, with the help of Mylene’s alchemy and a bit of Vivian’s blood, so they knew that the centipede’s poison would be unable to melt their shields, it was still a proof of how much they trusted it though.

’As expected of senior brother, his equipment perfectly protected us~’, thought those fierce girls as they broke the shield wall, ah right, in case you are worried about the archers given that they don’t have shields, their light equipment and quick feet allowed them to completely dodge the poison.

And now, with the centipede having used its trump card it was time to go for the kill.

"Full killing mode, archers go all out, four stars charge, the rest pin it down with the spears!", ordered Violet.

The twelve girls were the first to charge, with their spears they pierced the sides of the centipede and then moved the spears to stab them downwards while inside the body of the centipede.

"Crack!", the spears came out of the lower part of the centipede’s body and sank into the ground, securing the centipede in place as if it was a camping tent.

"Sha..shaaaaa!!!", the centipede which felt pain due to the previous, screeched louder when arrows flew right into its mouth, like previously stated it’s not that those girls are weak, they just needed to aim at the correct target like right now.

Using the opening, Amandra, Brenda, Violent and Blair jumped on top of the centipede’s body and ran all the way to its head, but just as Amanda and Brenda who of course moved ahead to land the killing blow, were about to slash their swords at the centipede’s head, they were stopped by Violet shouting.

"Stop!", while keeping her own sword at the centipede’s neck, Violet told those two to stop.

"What, don’t tell me it will self-destroy after we kill it or something, it shouldn’t even have a beast core, right?", said Amanda.

"S-Shhaa!", the centipede who suddenly started trembling, actually lowered its head and then left its body fall powerlessly to the ground.

"It surrendered", said Violet.

"Huh?", all the girls, Blair included couldn’t help but exclaim in unison.