Damien's squad's tasks were simple on paper, but were perhaps the hardest tasks given out during this assignment. At least, Damien felt they had to be.
'Is it because I'm on the team? Haha, am I being overevaluated or am I just being too cautious?'
Essentially, their squad was tasked with destroying the periphery bases of the Nox on this world, destroying their food supplies, and cutting their supply chains.
It was a great deal of work, enough to take an entire army to accomplish, but it had been delegated to five people alone.
Damien looked over at the other three curiously. Despite reading through the tasks themselves, they didn't seem too alarmed by the scale of their mission.
'Are these brats better than I thought…?' He wondered.
Maybe he was the scary one and they were normal…
'Nah, that can't be it.'
Swiping his hand, Damien shuffled the holographic windows around him until the world map was displayed.
'Theasi, Engra, and Lilas are the closest nearby cities that have been transformed into peripheral bases. We can start there. Other than that…I wonder how those three will react when they see it.'
He located the nearby food supplies and supply routes soon after pinpointing the cities and turned back to the three, explaining it to them slowly.
"First, we'll attack Theasi and eliminate any troops within. There's a food supply only a few kilometers away, so it's the best place to start. After destroying Theasi and the food supply, cutting supply chains to Engra and Lilas will be extremely convenient. As for how we move from there, it depends on the situation."
"Any thoughts?"
While Synth and Ash put their heads down, Tyler began calculating the viability of Damien's choice. He was the main tactician of their small group, so naturally, the other two would follow his lead.
After a moment, Tyler slowly nodded. "We can do this. There shouldn't be any problems unless something unforeseen happens, but those situations are unforeseen for a reason. As you said, it's best to act accordingly when the time comes."
Damien smiled lightly and nodded back. 'This guy has his priorities straight.'
Unlike Synth and Ash, who were still somewhat preoccupied with the previous event, Tyler forget it entirely in favor of completing the mission.
There was a reason he acted as their tactician.
'Well, I did almost kill Synth so I can't say anything about her aversion. This Ash though…is she really a berserker?'
It was hard to imagine a berserker with such a frail personality, but there was no reason for her to lie about her class.
'Whatever. I guess I'll find out when it's time for battle.'
"Next up on the agenda: escaping this forest." Damien continued.
"In all honestly, it won't be that hard. As long as you remain completely obedient and follow my steps to the tee, you'll escape without a scratch. Worst case scenario you get poisoned, but didn't I say before? It's just a matter of endurance." He finished with an evil grin.
Synth and Ash shuddered when they saw his expression. Without hesitation, the three agreed to his words.
If they could survive properly, the matter of leadership and obedience meant nothing.
They couldn't trust Damien at all both because they didn't know him and because of his actions until this point, but they could be certain of one thing:
Damien cared about this mission.
And as long as he cared about this mission, he wouldn't needlessly sabotage their team, especially if they followed him properly.
Damien smiled widely when he saw their unhesitant reactions. These three really caught on quick.
"Good, since it's settled, then it's time to go. Remember! Follow me closely!"
With those words, Damien walked out of the cave and began traversing the forest.
He did so casually, recklessly moving without caring about the surroundings. It almost made the trio doubt whether or not they wanted to follow him.
But seeing Zara do so easily, they weren't left with a choice.
Slowly but surely, they exited the cave and followed Damien's footsteps exactly.
And somehow, the surrounding plants never attacked them.
Every step Damien took was followed by a light ripple in space. The path he walked was filled with the element, each step only amplifying its effects.
Hssss!
A nearby plant shot forward, opening its leaves like a Venus Fly Trap as it tried to attack Damien.
But before it could even get near his body, it ran into an invisible wall. Regardless of how hard it tried, it felt like it was stuck in molasses, unable to move forward even an inch.
The concept of distance that Damien used for Horizon Break had plenty of other uses as well. Making an infinitesimally small portion of space nearly infinite was only one of its base abilities.
And with this simple method alone, Damien was able to keep the group safe from any attacks.
Trees couldn't move. Even if they attacked, they could only do so with branches and roots. Restricting these was just as simple as restricting regular plants. Other than the trees, however, nothing else was a threat to Damien's safety.
As for the poison…
'Material Shift'
'Material Shift'
'Material Shift'
The poison in the surroundings was constantly separated from the atmosphere through Material Shift. As Damien's mana depleted, the toxicity of the atmosphere in the surrounding few kilometers began to substantially drop.
His awareness spread to its limits, searching for the end of the forest. As long as he could see it, he could go there.
And while Damien implemented multiple complicated techniques to make the casual stroll he was taking possible, they were incredibly discreet techniques.
To the three geniuses following behind him, it was like a miracle occurred.
Attacks couldn't get near them at all, and every time a block of solid purple material appeared in the sky, the air became slightly more breathable.
They didn't understand exactly what Damien was doing, but his actions served as a greater show of strength than anything he'd done in the cave.
Only half an hour later, Damien found the edge of the forest ten thousand kilometers away.
He surrounded the group with his mana and teleported them without a word.
In the next instant, they were standing on a desolate plain with the forest to their backs.
It was that easy.
'But…if we'd stepped out of line even once, his protection wouldn't have applied to us. We would've been stuck in that strange sticky space, completely susceptible to incoming attacks.'
And Damien wouldn't put in any effort to save them if that happened. Tyler realized it instantly.
'Perhaps…that tyrannical showing was necessary.'
Tyler glanced at Synth from the corner of his eye. No matter how close they were, he had to admit that Synth was still too unruly to act as a soldier.
Tyler was the brain, he was a practical thinker regardless of the situation.
Now, his rational brain was showing him the obvious.
Without being terrified of Damien due to him almost killing her, Synth would've never listened to his orders. Even if Tyler and Ash tried to convince her otherwise, she would've done something out of line just to satisfy her silly pride.
That kind of action would've cost her her life.
Tyler looked at Damien's back with a complicated gaze.
Was it all planned from the start? Or was Damien just naturally tyrannical?
While he couldn't formulate a proper answer to this question, he at least knew this much:
Perhaps following Damien in a brutal environment like this one…
Was actually the best decision they could've possibly made.
