Jodi was the stereotypical blonde, handsome ladies man, while Anise was a short but muscular ginger woman, and both were among the military half of the Bureau of Elite Development agents. That seemed to be a deliberate choice by Daniel as he led them all to a military vehicle which was far better suited to off-road use than the car that they had taken from the Academy.

"How long will it take us to get there?" Karl asked as they got in the truck.

"Not long, we're close to the region that we want to start the search in, so we will drive a few hours and stop at a way station for the night. It would be better to search for the targets when we're all fresh and rested. Mistakes happen in the dark, and I despise writing incident reports." Daniel replied with a teasing smile.

They didn't wait for any long goodbyes, they just headed out and followed the highway south, intending to make their destination in time for dinner.

That was still going to be difficult, Karl realized as the sun set, and they were still driving, but a few hours after that, they were pulling up to a walled town that opened the gates for them and let them in to park next to a small motel, with a row of units in two levels, and gun turrets on each end of the roof.

"I take it that this place is a bit more dangerous than it is at home." Karl commented with a gesture toward the guns and the spotlights that were mounted on every building near the wall.

"A little bit, but mostly it is a precaution against larger predators trying to break into the city. Nobody wants to run to the wall for every emergency, so they build turrets on their workplace instead." Alice explained.

Daniel checked them in, and Karl found himself alone in a small room with a single bed and a television. It wasn't anything special as far as hotels went, but it was quiet, so he spent the next few hours meditating and working on the new Beast Space to prepare it for occupancy.

[Get something cool.] Hawk demanded.

[And what do you think would be good? If you say a messy eater so you can steal the scraps, I will have to remind you that you mostly eat in separate spaces.] Karl replied.

[Something that will scare targets. Maybe a huge snake. Everything is afraid of snakes, even if they're easy to chop with Rend.]

Karl thought for a second. [I think that it would be best to get another smart species. We work well together because we can communicate easily. If they can't follow the same instructions, it will just make it harder to fight.]

[That rules out snake monsters. They're dangerous, but not intelligent. What about a Warbear? They're smart. We should get a Warbear.]

They were also seven metres tall when standing on all four feet, covered in heavy natural armour and infamously ill-tempered, Peak Overlord Rank monsters. A Warbear would take on anything without fear, from a juvenile Dragon to a main battle tank.

[I don't think we will be in a mood to celebrate if mama Warbear finds us trying to steal her cub.] Karl reminded Hawk.

The Windspeed Hawk and the Warbear actually got along well, as the Hawks liked to chirp for assistance when they wanted a partner to take down prey, and the Warbear would happily kill anything that walked on its territory. But it didn't consider birds a threat, as they stayed off the ground unless they were hunting, and they were smart enough not to hunt anything that the Warbear liked to eat.

Karl drifted off to sleep a few hours later, and woke up to the sound of a warning siren.

He quickly threw on his uniform and got up to see what was going on. As an Elite at the Awakened Rank, it was part of his duty to respond to these sorts of emergencies, even if the town was prepared.

They had the four escorts from the Bureau as well, so he wouldn't be in any real danger, but if it was a monster attack, there was a chance that it might lead him to an opportunity to find his second partner.

As soon as he stepped out the door, there was a man in a police officer's uniform pointing at him.

"You're an Elite, right? Ranged or Melee." The policeman shouted.

"Either. Where do you need me?" Karl asked.

"On the wall. It's a locust swarm."

The officer was obviously panicking, and Karl wondered why a bunch of tiny insects were causing so much panic to people other than the farmers.

Jodi and Daniel were outside a few seconds behind him, while Alice and Anise were up in the tower on top of the hotel, and were already preparing to start casting spells.

[Hawk, stay inside. They're shooting at anything that moves.] Karl warned his partner, then ran to the wall a few metres from the hotel.

The swarm was hundreds of metres wide, and behind them, there was nothing. Not branches or grass, nothing but bare dirt and locust droppings. That explained why the villagers were terrified of these things, and they were much larger than Karl had read about in the book.

These were a Common Grade monster species, and larger than his forearm, instead of the size of his finger.

Nothing was trying to eat the locusts, as Karl had expected of this insect buffet, and he quickly realized why. Every one that the locals shot was instantly devoured by those around it, leaving nothing behind. With that sort of cannibalistic instinct, not even Hawk would want to attack and have most of his food stolen before he could retrieve it.

Karl shook himself out of his reverie and sent a constantly widening set of [Rend] attacks into the front of the locust swarm, tearing dozens apart with each of the four attacks.

That wasn't even close to enough firepower to slow the tide, but the power consumption was low, and Karl was throwing them out twice per second.

The mages were the ones that made the first real change in the tightly packed ranks of the swarm, by using fireballs to burn huge holes in the pack that quickly filled with other locusts eating the bodies and caused the front line to waver as the insects were distracted by the prospect of food left behind.

That made for an even more densely packed group, and Karl changed to creating a net with two Rend attacks, and stretched it into a thin wire, which took a bit more power, but which tore apart a large patch of the locusts.

The more of them that were destroyed at once, the slower their progress got, buying time for the locals and their guns to get in position and begin defending their homes.

The buildings would likely hold up against the swarm, Karl assumed. But the gardens and everything else would not. The land would be left completely barren after the swarm passed, and they would have to start over from nothing.

"Welcome to the South." A man with a rifle and a cart full of equipment greeted Karl as he made it up the ramp.

"Quite the morning. What do you have there?" Karl replied as he continued to attack.

"Automated flamethrower turret. If we have to retreat to the bunkers, they will burn most everything that tries to get into the town. Bloody locusts will even eat the metal when they get close, not much else you can do."