Chapter 182: A Few Adjustments

Words : 1093 Updated : Sep 25th, 2025

"Hao, you good?" asked Hal, "Y-Yeah..." Those were all Hao could answer with. He had just gotten back from a military mission when an offer to volunteer for a Prospect Platoon was given by their battalion commanders. Hao instantly volunteered and was lucky enough to be picked. However, he didn’t have much time to study who Hal Fennec was. All he knew about Hal was that he didn’t specialize in any element but had extremely high comprehension and had mastered spells to an insanely high degree for someone his age. Hao was initially disappointed due to Hal’s overconfidence. But after witnessing how the Magna Prospect utilized multiple elemental spells, each more destructive than his own, Hao was mind-boggled and could finally understand why Hal was so confident. What he couldn’t comprehend, however, was how Hal—who was also a human like him—could do this. Hao simply couldn’t believe that he had no elemental boosts, as it’s more plausible that Hal had a minor boost in all types of spells. ’Yes...that should be it...’ the barely-alive squadron leader mused, following Hal with his gaze as he checked on the other platoon members. Soon, Hal returned to their squadron. It seemed that they were the only ones wounded. One of Hao’s squadron members, Lily, was about to chug down one of her precious minor healing potions when, suddenly... "Lily! Wait!" Hal exclaimed, causing the young woman with blonde curly hair to stop. He then walked closer and was about to do something abominable. Good thing Hal realized that his [Heal] spell was not in the optimal gesture slot. It wouldn’t be wise to fire a vicious middle finger at Lily to heal her injuries, would it? "W-Wait a second..." Hal turned around, secretly tapped his left wrist, and deftly rearranged the gesture slots a bit. He then turned and placed his hands on the long claw wound on her left shoulder, healing it under Hao’s flabbergasted gaze. "B-Boss Hal, you can also use heal?" the squadron leader asked, not realizing he was asking the very same type of questions he hated answering. "Yeah," Hal patiently confirmed, waiting a few seconds for the spell card to go off cooldown before doing the same for every other Hao Squadron member, including the squadron leader. Soon, the recovery sessions finished, and the Chaos Platoon momentarily retreated after clearing out the area between two sectors. They would have to come back again to finish the job. But for now, they would have a quick meeting. The Chaos Platoon arrived back at the uplands of Parralen Valley, which was confirmed to be safe as it was under the Imperial Army’s control. They sat at a small clearing with a few redwood trees in close proximity. "So, we’ve confirmed today that a single squadron cannot handle a C-ranked Fell Beast but should have no problem dealing with D-ranked ones and lower, correct?" Hal began, turning to look at Rocky. "Yes, Boss Hal! That annoying fox was no match for my squadron. I believe that as long as we carefully take on one at a time, there should be no problem," the massive baldy confirmed with a loud voice and a nod. Of course, Yhohan wasn’t one to be outdone: "Our squadron didn’t have much trouble dealing with the Fell Venomfang Raccoon, too, boss!" Hal nodded in appreciation. The next moment, he shifted his attention to Hao, who was seemingly deep in thought. "What do you think, Hao?" Hal didn’t say it, and didn’t need to, but he trusted the well-informed squadron leader a great deal. Probably even Rocky, who got along with him the least, trusted the bespectacled guy. If there was an opinion they needed to hear, it was Hao’s. "Well, it probably won’t sound convincing, considering what just happened," Hao began, pausing for a bit to adjust his combat goggles out of habit before continuing, "but I do think that a squadron can, at the very least, contain a C-ranked beast, depending on which squadron it is. For example, Rocky’s squad probably wouldn’t have struggled as much as we did against the Fell Zephyr Leopard. My squadron would have also taken care of that Fell Shadow Fox faster than they could. I think we have to consider who to send against which creature, too, as each squadron has their own specializations." "I see, I shall keep this in mind." Hal nodded in agreement. He indeed hadn’t thought much about who to send and had simply allowed the squadron nearest to each Fell Beast to deal with them. "With that said, we’ll abandon the plan of assigning a squadron to each area, as there’s a risk of running into a C-ranked Fell Beast. Two D-rankers fighting together also wouldn’t be easy for you guys to deal with. For now, let’s clear each marked location together before trying to optimize our operations." The platoon members all nodded in agreement. They didn’t need to prove their competence right off the bat, since they could only do so if they stayed alive. It was better to clear a single area together before moving on to the next. "Come, let’s return to the marked areas. We still have a lot of Fell Beasts to kill..." They only had a few hours to complete their quota for the day, unlike the Fire Platoon, so they had no time to relax. For today, at least... Hal also knew he wouldn’t hear the end of it from Ennya if he failed to clear three marked areas and she did. It didn’t take long for the Chaos Platoon to arrive back at the two dangerously close marked areas, and as soon as they did, Hal summoned his Spirit Sparrow and began scouting the entire location. Reconnaissance took significantly longer this time. However, it also made the operation safer and the squadron members more confident. Their mindset shifted from "quick and clean" to "safety first" after Hao’s close brush with death. Soon, Hal spotted three Fell Beasts in close proximity to each other: one C-ranked and two D-ranked. ’Should be a piece of cake...’ He mused, perching the invisible sparrow, opening his eyes, and turning to look at his subordinates. "There are three five minutes away from where we are: one Fell Redlands Tarantula, one Fell Irontusk Boar, and one Fell Flameshell Armadillo. My squad will handle the tarantula. Rocky and Yhohan’s squads, take the armadillo. Hao, I believe your squadron can easily handle the boar. Are we clear?" "Sir, yes sir!" "Then move out!"

Chapter 182: A Few Adjustments

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