Thud! Thud!
Rex's boots hammered down on the tiled floor of the military base as he sprinted rapidly in the direction of the Black Camp.
For over 2 months that he spent in the army already, this was the first time that Rex was receiving such an urgent message from his team leader with a message title of Emergency in caps lock with 3 exclamation marks.
Rex had no idea what was happening, but Justin definitely did a good job in conveying the urgency of the situation through his message as he dared not delay.
As Rex sprinted away, he delegated some of his attention to observing his surroundings and he soon noticed the unusual atmosphere in the army base.
In normal circumstances, he would not have noticed this unusuality but after Justin's message, he easily read an ominous meaning to the base's current state.
Rex could feel his heart beating faster as he increased his speed. A minute later, he arrived at his location as he barged inside the Black Camp.
On entering the Black Camp, Rex felt his heart sinking due to the sight that presented itself before him. The originally always boisterous Black Camp was nowhere to be found, the camp seemed scanty and left out.
"Rex Vector, climb to the 2nd floor!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Rex obeyed the order of the Camp attendant as he rushed and scaled the stairs to the 2nd floor where he was finally allowed inside a room.
On arriving before the door to this room, Rex felt his heart skipping a beat again, this was because this room was the Black Camp Sergeant's office.
"Come in!"
A deep voice reverberated from inside and Rex instinctively opened the door and entered the office. On entering, he ignored everything else as he fixed his gaze on the Sergeant before saluting respectfully.
"Sergeant!"
After saluting, Rex walked to the corner before blending in with the others.
Once Rex joined the others, Sergeant Gaud finally stood up from his chair. "All 20 required soldiers are now complete, now is time to know your mission".
While the Sergeant spoke, Rex's tense nerves relaxed a bit as he finally observed all the soldiers that were currently in this room with him.
With just one look, Rex saw all 5 of his teammates. Not just his teammates, Rex saw Cassandra and also recognized her teammates.
Apart from the Death Card team and Cassandra's team, another team seemed to be here also and Rex recognized 2 of the soldiers in the team. Reginald Damien and Turan were members of this military team.
Apart from them, there was another soldier who seemed to not be in any team. This was a soldier that Rex knew also, Morgana.
"3 teams are gathered, what exactly is happening?" Amid Rex's dilemma, Sergeant Gaud's face turned solemn as he faced the soldiers.
"Some of you may already know or may have guessed but yes, yesterday, Obedin City suffered an attack from a unanimous marauding tribe".
On hearing this sensitive term 'marauding tribe', for the umpteenth time today, Rex felt his heart skipping a beat as memories of this term returned.
Rex learned of the Marauding tribes during his 5 years spent in the Obedin Mystic Academy. The term that mystic beasts were our main enemy but humans are our greatest enemies was made because of the Marauding tribes.
After the age of awakening, as humanity entered a golden age where the Ancient Mystic families ruled and had all the power, it was inevitable that other families who lived through the period of transition would be dissatisfied.
They tried their best but unable to topple the grip of power of the Ancient Mystic families, these dissatisfied families decided to go rogue.
Over the years, their dissatisfaction with the ruling Mystic families grew until it developed into hatred. They later became known as the Marauding Tribes.
Famed for not having fixed homes, roaming from one place to another while making attacks and raids in search of plunder, the Marauding Tribes were one of the greatest scums that threatened to bring the downfall of mankind.
Sergeant Gaud continued on seeing the reaction of the soldiers. "They arrived swiftly in the night and their target was our Commissioner of Defense".
"We deployed a lot of soldiers but we were unable to stop them".
"We killed a lot of them in the veil of the night but we also lost over 50 soldiers, we lost the Commissioner".
"Now, their numbers are few and they are exhausted but we can't openly go in pursuit of them due to some political reasons and demands".
"This is the reason why I called for these 3 military teams".
"For the same political reasons, we can't send our best soldiers and intermediate mystic warriors to go after the marauders since their movements are always being monitored by our rivals".
"In the past 2 months, you have proved to be among the best teams in the army, and with the others occupied with other missions, we could only resolve to seek your services for this priority mission".
"In short, this is an off-the-book rescue mission".
"I want you guys to go after the Marauding tribe. Your task is to go in fast without attracting too much attention, catch up to them, overwhelm them and do anything in your power to rescue the Commissioner".
"Remember, rescuing the commissioner is the priority".
"For this mission, due to the lack of time, there is no specific approach plan. You all are soldiers, use your intelligence and make decisions as you go".
"You will also have to decide the leader of this mission among yourselves".
"Do you understand?"
"Yes sir!"
"Good!" Sergeant Gaud nodded. "Get ready, in 15 minutes you'll be leaving the city through a hidden pathway. Details on the mission will be sent to your AOS smartphones after you leave".
"Good luck!"
…
10 minutes later, Rex and every single one of the soldiers that were selected was back after having completed their preparations as fast as possible.
This mission was out of the blue, it was extremely sudden but they had no basis to complain, that was why they were soldiers.
They were paid over 300 K.R.S Credits monthly just for moments like this.
Once they were gathered, Sergeant Gaud and his superior, Lieutenant Crook led the 20 soldiers to a hidden pathway in the army base.
They activated some mechanisms to open the door and once it was open, Rex and the remaining 19 soldiers in their all-black attire entered the dark pathway. As they left, the Sergeant and Lieutenant wished them Goodluck.
"What do you think of their chances, sir?" Sergeant Gaud suddenly asked.
"Extremely small". The old Lieutenant gave a bitter chuckle.
"We sent them for the formality, to fulfill all righteousness, there is no way those kids can rescue the Commissioner from the hands of veteran marauders".
"I also sent them for another reason". The old Lieutenant's eyes narrowed. "My instincts tell me that this kidnapping is the first step of an even greater conspiracy and I think that Weaver City is involved somehow".
"We need to remain alert".
The old Lieutenant sighed. "God help us".
"God help us".
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om