"yes captain"

"what is it Gus?"

"its.... her"

Gus pointed over to Victoria that was playing innocently with some tumbleweed before he continued

"are we sure she won't be a problem during the mission?"

"ah... mind enlightening us Mars"

all eyes focused on Mars that gave a sigh before he called Victoria over

"Victoria come here for a second"

"okay..."

Victoria walked over and laid down in front of Mars before he continued

"first of all Victoria understands speech and will be able to listen to commands, secondly I don't have confidence in winning over her in a life and death match"

Vanessa nodded before suddenly looking confused and asking

"you don't have confidence?"

"no, even though shes a cub she still is a cla.s.s 9 magic beast"

the group fell silent before suddenly Gus spoke

"...I don't believe you"

"Gus..? explain why you don't please"

"because I have seen a cla.s.s 9 magic beast before and the presence it gave off was nothing short of breathtaking.... even if she is a cub, shouldn't she give off more pressure?"

Mars nodded and pointed to Victoria before he said

"try punching her"

"...really?"

"really, don't do it lightly either"

"fine, don't blame me"

Mars stood up and walked away form Victoria before Gus in full armor suit punched out and hit Victoria, or so he thought because the moment his fist connected the Victoria before him turned into black smoke

"what!?"

"now please slowly turn around"

Gus, still confused turned and saw close to 15 shadow spears floating a few centimeters form his face along with 5 more Victoria's off in the distance with more shadow spears ready to fire, feeling the cold sweat down his back Gus took a step back in fear before the shadow spears turned into black smoke along with the shadow clones off in the distance

"...I believe you now, sorry for doubting you"

Mars gave a smile and petted the real Victoria besides him on the head

"I don't mind, neither dose Victoria"

"...thanks"

Vanessa along with Hans and Nicole all stared at Victoria for sometime before Vanessa gave a sigh and showed a smile on her face before she spoke

"I think I speak for us all when I say we're happy to have you Victoria"

Hans, Nicole and Gus nodded along with what Vanessa was saying

"now then is there anything else..? no then I will continue, as we're camping out we need night watch, the pairs will be Mars and Victoria, Me and Hans and finally Gus and Nicole, we will rotate the times in that order too. Next is food, eating time is 2 times a day and water breaks is 6 times a day, other than that I expect all of you to be at your sharpest at all times"

""""yes captain""""

"good then let's move, we have a lot of ground we need to cover today"

""""yes captain""""

the squad began moving, Hans was the navigator so he lead the party with Vanessa the commander after him, then came Nicole that watched the right side then Gus that watched the left side and then finally Mars and Victoria that was responsible for the back of the group

'this feels really familiar ...almost nostalgic'

Mars walked along the desert dunes and kept watch while he walked and for a couple of hours nothing really happened besides the squad holding a few minutes water break, it was then it happened

"hmm..?"

Mars stopped and looked back, Gus quickly noticed and called out to him

"Mars, what's wrong?"

"I think something's under the sand"

"s.h.i.+t, Mars and Victoria get away!"

Mars listened to Gus and kicked off the ground to quickly get away Victoria jumped into a shadow and disappeared

*BOOM*

the sand exploded and a blur shot out of the falling sand after Mars, he quickly drew his sword and blocked

*CLANG*

Mars was sent flying back by the impact just as Gus yelled while he drew his great sword

"SAND SCORPION!"

Mars did a flip and landed on his feet and looked at the giant sand colored scorpion as his [Energy: information] skill activated

adult sand scorpion

gender: male

cla.s.s: 7

basic info: a adult sand scorpion, a deadly hunter capable of lightning fast ambush as it hides under the desert sand, a tail measuring close to 10 meters carrying a deadly venom its know as one of the scariest hunters of the empire's southern desserts

"sure is big..."

Mars looked at the giant sand scorpion with a casual look on his face, meanwhile Hans , Nicole and Vanessa all drew their great swords and rushed the sand scorpion, Gus was the first to arrive and slashed down on one of the scorpions claws

*CLANG*

sparks flew of the scorpions chitin and Gus's great sword

"d.a.m.n it's hard!"

"Gus watch out the tail is coming!"

Gus raised his sword and blocked the tail that shot down with break neck speed

*CLANG*

Gus was pushed back a few meters by the tail, meanwhile Vanessa took the opportunity and slashed down on the exposed tail with all her strength and managed to cut into the tail slightly which clearly p.i.s.sed of the sand scorpion as it with lightning speed shot one of its claws forwards and clutched Vanessa

"CAPTAIN!"

"oh no you don't!"

Mars appeared next to the claw and made a lightning fast slash that cut right through the claw, severing it form the sand scorpion

*KISSAAAAHHHH!!!*

"oh it's p.i.s.sed now"

Mars didn't hang around he activated [Instant movement] and disappeared meanwhile Victoria was shooting shadow spears at the sand scorpion, but her shadow spears had little effect as they only pierced a few centimeters into the chitin but it did give Vanessa enough time to free herself from the severed claw of the sand scorpion and pull back

"...time to end this"

Mars appeared silently on top of the sand scorpion and lightly touched its head with his left hand before suddenly

*BOOM!!!*

like a giant invisible boot had stepped on the scorpion it flattened almost completely spewing it innards out of the cracks in its chitin and onto the desert sand, looking at the now dead sand scorpion Vanessa pulled herself out of her daze

"wow... what was that Mars?"

"hmm... something like a special skill"

Nicole also awoke form her daze

"...awesome, hey Mars what's it called?"

"secret"

"aw come on Mars you can tell me!"

"...still a secret"

"che... never mind that captain, can we eat this tonight?"

Vanessa took off her helmet and nodded

"sure, as long as you disa.s.semble it yourself"

Nicole gave a salute

"yes captain, I'm on it!"

Mars looked at the dead sand scorpion and asked Hans

"you can eat that?"

"sure can, it's one of the best kind of meat in the desert"

"I see... mind if I take the core?"

"well I'm fine with it but ask the captain"

"okay"

Mars walked over to Vanessa

"hey captain, you mind if I take the core?"

"well you did kill it so why not"

"thanks"

Mars got his sword ready and helped Nicole disa.s.semble the sand scorpion and by night time they had finished and began eating the meat, Mars roasted some over his flame and first made Victoria taste some of it

"how is it?"

"it's.... good... more"

"okay here you go"

Mars gave Victoria another piece before he bit into his own

"oh this is good"

the meat was tender and faintly tasted like chicken

"I told you right?"

"yeah you were right Hans, here you go"

Mars handed a piece to Hans that had gotten out of his armor suit

"oh thanks"

Hans bit into the meat with glee on his face

"hey not fair Mars!"

"don't worry there's more where it came from Nicole"

"fine then I want the next piece"

"sure... and here you are"

"thanks!"

Mars looked out over the night desert while he roasted more of the sand scorpion meat for the rest of the squad the only one not eating yet was Vanessa that was talking with the general tough a communicator powered by mana stones, after she finished she walked over and joined the group and sat down next to Victoria, Mars quickly handed her some roasted meat

"thanks Mars... I most say you're more of a a.s.set them I ever expected"

Mars naturally felt happy being praised and gave a smile

"I only do what I can"

Vanessa ate a little of the roasted sand scorpion meat before she looked over the rest of the squad

"okay eyes on me, when we're done eating hit the hay. Mars and Victoria you guys have first night watch, be sure to wake me and Gus before you end your s.h.i.+ft"

"yes captain"

the squad gradually got done eating and began resting in the tents they had brought with them, only Mars and Victoria was awake after some time, they sat by a campfire and was snuggled up with Victoria lying on Mars's lap and Mars slowly petting her on the head while he looked into the campfire as the night gradually grew longer