As three hours rapidly raced by, Damien and Zara got familiar with the trio they were partnered with. As it turned out, they'd been together for many years already.
The Hell Hole was just as torturous of a place as Damien had seen during his brief visit, and despite undergoing the pains of remaining there, these three were able to rely on each other to overcome all odds and survive.
'Still, to be able to take all that torture without bending is admirable, especially for that brat. This group might not be so bad.'
Damien's plans didn't change at all, but he could at least admire the spirit of these three, mostly the Mechanist named Synth.
Even putting aside her fortitude, she'd turned a more engineering-based technomancer class into a battle class with her own ingenuity. She was a genius among geniuses.
Damien's group continued conversing and getting familiar with each other, and in what felt like an instant, the starship was already hovering within Calypto's atmosphere.
"All troops, prepare for transport!" The commander's voice boomed through the hall.
Each group immediately stood straight, separating from each other and grabbing onto their group members' shoulders.
"Follow what they're doing," Tyler said to Damien and Zara, "we will be teleported to our mission coordinates all at once. While holding onto each other isn't necessary, it heightens the chances of us spawning at the same point rather than being scattered around the area."
Damien nodded and grabbed Zara's shoulder, and she did the same with Ash.
The 5,000 geniuses stood in these connected positions for only a few seconds before groups started to disappear one by one.
And soon enough, Damien's group's turn came.
A flash of light enveloped him, a formation circle appearing beneath the five's feet.
In the next instant, they vanished from the starship.
***
A mixture of sharp pleasant and foul odors mixed within Damien's nostrils as he rematerialized. The leaves of the tall tree that produced these odors brushed against his face.
'Ha, even with all that talk, we still got separated.' Damien scoffed inwardly.
He spread his awareness into the surroundings and rapidly found the rest of the group. Other than him, they all landed together.
'Just my luck.'
He teleported over before they could even regain their bearings. Other than Zara, the rest didn't even realize there'd been an issue.
"Good, everyone's here," Tyler said under his breath. "Let's find a safe place to look through our mission tasks first and proceed from there."
"Done," Damien said almost immediately.
"Hm?" Tyler voiced questioningly.
"Don't worry about it. We'll be there in 3…2…1…"
The group teleported once again. Nowadays, Damien's teleportation skill didn't have many restrictions. Bringing a group of five people around his strength level with him wasn't a problem at all.
When they reappeared, they were standing in a mossy cave. Just as they regained their senses from another sudden spatial jump…
Hssss!
The plants around them began to hiss violently. Poisonous purple fluid dripped from the ceiling and fell to the floor, burning deep holes in the earth's surface.
"Didn't you say it was safe?!" Synth exclaimed.
Damien flicked his finger. Sixteen spatial lights left his hand and hit the surrounding plants, expanding into miniature Dimensional Cages that trapped them.
"Well, it is now." He smirked.
"Why would you do that?!" Tyler shouted immediately. The previous kind facade he possessed dropped immediately.
"Do what?" Damien responded cluelessly.
"Not only are you acting without consulting your teammates, you're even putting them in danger! Even ignoring the sudden teleportation, why would you choose a cave that you obviously knew was populated?! This isn't how a team member should act!" Tyler yelled sternly,
Damien sighed in response. While he could see the man's point, he also scoffed at it. Truly, these kids were green without experience in the field. They'd never been forced to survive in the wild before.
Meanwhile, Damien had experienced it from a first-person perspective. Whether it was the 10 years of war he lived through as Alaric or the 2 years of brutal survival he lived through as a teenager, both were experiences these geniuses who grew up in the Hell Hole couldn't compare with.
He couldn't take Tyler's words seriously.
"I can at least acquiesce about the teleportation. Though, it wasn't a mistake. I did it on purpose because I'm an asshole." In natural Damien fashion, he decided to start his rebuttal by pissing them off.
"About the cave issue, sure if it's just the three of you, finding an unoccupied cave would be the best. But since I'm here now, it's different." He continued.
"This world was once dominated by plant species. Whether you realize it or not, everything around us has at least some form of spiritual intelligence. The reason I chose this cave is precisely for that reason."
"As long as these acidic grapevines are alive, their aura will mask our scent. Not only that, the local flora and fauna won't randomly intrude on this cave since its existence has already been ingrained in the ecosystem. With the vines trapped by me, they're not only unthreatening to us, they're even helping us scare off those beasts and sentient plants who were waiting to strike us. Don't tell me you didn't even sense their obvious killing intent?"
Tyler shrunk back a bit, intimidated by Damien's eyes.
Old habits died hard. Whenever he put himself in a survival mindset, Damien's eyes would become exceedingly cold.
Indifferent rationality and untameable insanity, only a combination of these two could allow one to survive in a place like the First Dungeon as a classless mortal.
Something sparked within him.
It wasn't just Tyler who experienced a shock from his words. Even the unruly Synth and the shy Ash stepped back a bit.
They fully supported Tyler's outburst a moment ago. Just like him, they were incredibly displeased by Damien's actions.
But even though Damien himself said he was being an asshole for the teleportation gimmick, his following reasoning left them no room to question him.
"I know you all think highly of yourselves, but put away that pride of yours. We've entered enemy territory, there is Nox aura permeating every inch of the surroundings. I don't care about the tactical intelligence the commander told you to exercise, it means nothing in front of me."
Reddish-black sparks erupted from his eyes as they swept across the three.
Space trembled due to the pressure of his gaze.
"I'm demanding obedience from the three of you. I don't mind you playing around when it's time to play around, and I don't mind you gaining experience here. But at least for now, I will not tolerate insubordination. Understand?"
His aura flared. Space and time followed his command and twisted around the three, suffocating them. Despite the commotion Damien was making, not a single existence sensed the group's presence.
They'd long been isolated from the world by a Dimensional Cage.
"I'll ask again. Do. You. Understand?"
Tyler was the first to cave. He nodded immediately, followed by Ash.
Through years of training, differentiating opponents they could face from those who could crush them became instinctual.
And Damien…perhaps he even surpassed the latter category.
Damien's gaze focused on Synth. Despite his show of authority, she remained staring at him with blazing eyes, not speaking a word.
He teleported in front of her. His hand lashed out like a claw and took hold of her neck.
He squeezed. He squeezed as if he was going to snap her neck if she uttered a single wrong word.
"Synth!"
"Unhand her!"
Furious cries came from Ash and Tyler, but Damien ignored them. He heightened his spacetime control, restricting their movements completely.
"Do you think I won't kill you right now?" He asked coldly.
"Kill…me…then…" Synth replied. Her defiance didn't drop even at this juncture.
Damien stared into her eyes indifferently. That blazing light they contained, it reminded him of himself.
But in the current situation, he didn't have the time nor mind to entertain such a rebel.
"As you wish."
His hand tightened immediately. Synth immediately felt the pain of suffocation. Her eyes widened. She…was she really going to die here?
She'd been unruly in the Hell Hole, sure, but the only reason she could do so was because she knew the instructors wouldn't kill her.
Facing a real threat of death…how was she supposed to react?
A gentle hand landed on Damien's shoulder.
"Damien…"
Zara's calm voice rang out through the cave.
Before Synth could even completely comprehend the situation, Damien let go of his grasp on her throat and backed away.
"Haa..." He sighed lightly. Flashing Zara a reassuring smile, he turned back to the trio.
"It's been brought to my attention that I was a bit too heavy-handed with my approach, but let's put that aside for now. How about I explain the situation first, and then you can deem whether or not my actions were valid?"
From the bloodthirsty demon he was a second ago, he transformed into a smilingly handsome young master.
This sudden change…
Was quite hard to adapt to for the unlucky trio.
