User:NeloAngelo/Redstuff/1-6

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The next day&mdash; True to the Guard's words, Captain Jack has revised his tactics to incorporate Nelo. As usual, I have to clear a the cloud of red to allow the rest of squads to launch their assault. To prevent collateral damage from Nelo's firepower, the Captain allowed Nelo to strike first, so that he has a good headstart. To be honest, I wondered if it's just the Captain subconciously wanted to keep a distance between Nelo and his men. Nelo seems fine with it, sticking to the usual "whichever allows me to punch through this the fastest". Whatever that means.

At 8:00, I performed the quick Transmigration. I'm not really confident that it will hold as projected, similar to the last time, but I don't want to risk it by modifying the method taught either. Shifting the Plague with Transmgiration is like sifting water with a spoon; if not done correctly, it will result in leakage and rapid reconverge. Once separated, the Captain issued the first round of opening salvo, then Nelo is off. Unlike the first time, after Nelo is deployed, the rest of Squad will provide additional cover fire from behind before advancing. Guess they really are trying to make up for yesterday.

No longer restricted, Nelo is working harder thatn yesterday. He wasn't given a rifle, but the fire plumes he discharged from his hands makes up for it. He repeated the same circling tactic to isolate the approcahing Grotesques one at a time, and fire after fire, sword after sword, Nelo quickly left a trail of Grotesque corpses. The following squad seems to be taking in Nelo's tactics, and suitably adjusted their approach as well. No longer are they approaching slowly with units covering one another, instead, they would focus on killing one Grotesque, then use its corpses to circle strafe into picking off the rest.

In the short amount of time, the Squad has advanced futher than yesterday. I looked up at the sky, no re-converge yet. I surveyed the battlefield again, Nelo and the rest of the Squad are moving to near center district as well. As the tide turns, I can see Captain Jack's eyes gleamed with pride, then quickly shifted to focused, but energetic. Shortly, the Captain approached me. "Lady Shaman, I need to move Squad A's forward since the rest are moving too far away from us. Will you trust us and lend us a hand?" "Of course. I want to see this through." I don't know why I would take up the offer and expose myself to such risks, but I guess the andrenaline and fervor pushed me to.

Under the protection of Squad A, we moved from the barricades and followed the trail left by the advancing troops. Well, I say 'protection', but our path is filled with nothing by dust and fire purging the Grotesque corpses. Nelo, taking point, continued charging forward, with rest of Squad following suit with.

And then he stopped. Nelo stood there, his back turned and and his eyes fixated on something in front of him. The following Squad was surprised by Nelo's actions, and quickly raised their guard and approached much more slowly. As they reached Nelo, they too, stopped their advance alongside Nelo. Captain Jack is unamused by the sudden turn of events, and contemplated turning back. "Squad B,C,D, what's with the sudden halt? Is something wrong?" "Captain, you....you better see this yourself." Curiousity quickly overtook our reservation of advancing, and shortly, we finally caught up to the rest too.

Squeezing through the group of Guards, I eventually made my way next to Nelo. He doesn't even seem to notice my presence, he simply gazed forward, as if in a trance. What exactly is he looking at?



Before us lies the corpse of a large Grotesque completely sliced into pieces. Its scale suggest that it was a mutated further than anything we've seen, but its so disfigured that I can't really tell. Who could've done this? No cutting tools are sharp enough to leave blade marks extending even to the point of embedding the earth. Even if they are, it can't perform such precise incisions to overwhelm the Grotesque's fast regenrative system. Not to mention this is a Grotesque with advanced mutation. Even Nelo could only cut through Grotesque due to the heat energy he channels into his sword.

If a Grotesque corpse isn't cleaned up, it will breakdown into clusters of Plague, so I quickly summoned my Staff to inspect the atmosphere. Nothing. Weird, I can't sense irregularity from the corpse. It's as if its circulation of the Plague is severed. Then, unexpectedly, Nelo's lips muttered the word "Mana".


 * Red: Mana? This is done by magic?
 * Nelo: Huh?
 * Red: You said "Mana". Is something wrong?
 * Nelo: I did....?
 * Red: Hey, hey, get a grip.
 * Nelo: Right.
 * Red: If you remembered something, save it for later; we're still on field here.


 * Captain: Lady Shaman! Are you alright? Please don't move on your own.


 * Red: I'm fine. Sorry.
 * Captain: The size of this Grotesque...who could've done this? I doubt even our entire team can handle it.
 * Red: I checked the corpse, oddly enough, I can't trace any circulation of the Plague inside it. Still, to be safe, we should dispose of it. Can you do the honors, Nelo?
 * Nelo: Yeah.

With hands primed at the corpse, Nelo charged up, then fires a large swath of flame forward, setting it on fire. "First an Infected, then using magic barehanded, your assistant sure is full of surprises." "I trust you will be discreet Captain. You and the rest of unit. Please." "You have my promise that me and my men will keep silent about this, but-" The Captain was cut short as I felt something changing in the air. Oh no. The cloud of red is starting to re-converge. We've been so drawn by the corpse we've forgotten about the cloud of red.

Quickly, the Captain issued a wide area order of retreat. The corpse is still halfway cremated by Nelo, but we don't have time for that. The sudden shift in gears startled the rest of the force, who has been curising through relatively smoothly. Messily, the units began scrambling to regroup for a retreat. As the cloud of red steadily re-converges, the rest of us stumbles back. The Captain kept urging everyone to keep their cool, but with how he is repeating it over and over again, it's clearly unnerving him as well. I have no intention to catch the Plague here, but the speed the cloud of red is re-converging is disheartening.

I can see starting barricade walls looming at the distance -just was the cloud of red closing in. And then, the cloud of red shifted away again. A Transmigration? Different from what I usually, the speed in which the cloud shifts and its scale far surpasses my limits. Large flow of mana wisps are trailing, capturing the Plague, then spiraling back to a central point- I looked at the Captain- his gloom has reignited to a focused look. Not just the Captain- the rest of the force are up airs about it. I can hear cheering- "We-we're saved!" "She's back!" "Our saviour is back!" "Our Lady Shaman is back!"