Chương 150: Chapter 149 – Reconvene

With two high Speed enhancements, it took Cole and Ketchup less than an hour to make it to the base of the mountain. Rather than taking the long way around, Cole used a couple of his charges to jump them straight up to the castle, where Morganstern and Arley met them on the battlements overlooking the orchard. Her armor and the front face of her cudgel were coated in the red-orange slurry of the advanced fungal zombies found closer to the spore druid's center of power.

"I take it we missed the fight with the old king?" asked Cole.

"Yep," said Morgan.

"I might have had a bit of a grudge to settle after last time."

"What about the castellan?" Morganstern and Arley shared a look.

"Not there," she said.

"Not regenerated, yet?" The senior Kicker shook her head.

"We usually let him stick around for Curahee. Gives tryouts a chance to see that even with their classes, some things here are just too tough for them. Sometimes a whole push will team up and manage to take him out. But since he's stuck in the gatehouse, most of the time new Kickers retreat and find a different way into the keep." Cole glanced over to the western gatehouse.

"And he was up when we were in Curahee?"

"We didn't cull him last time," said Ketchup.

"But he's not there now… Which means he somehow got out."

"Or something else got in," said Cole.

"Think the Beast Cult paid another visit?" Morganstern huffed a laugh and crossed her arms.

"They'd be fools to, after the message your girl sent them last time."

"So then, what?" asked Arley. Morganstern shrugged.

"That Beast Cult team was high level. At least thirty or forty. That's pretty strong. Hell, only Ludwig is that high. Maybe them coming here threw off the spawn timing or territory or something. Would explain why Bessie and Big Wood both shifted closer to the river." Ketchup gave her a skeptical look. She pushed his shoulder.

"Okay, genius, you got a better theory?"

"No, ma'am."

"So, then, what happens?" asked Cole.

"Does an anomaly or a loose castellan push the tryout to the right?"

"Naw," said Morganstern. She walked to the other edge of the battlements and gazed out over Curahee valley.

"There's always something weird going on. Local god's got to entertain himself somehow. We'll brief the tryouts on the castellan, let them know to retreat if they come across him in the valley. He's big and strong, but he's slow. If they're smart, he won't be a lethal threat." She turned around and leaned back against the battlement, sighing.

"Three days and nights, starting tomorrow evening. That's all we have to manage to keep these chucklefucks from killing themselves for. A push this big, I don't think we get lucky. Even with four proctors, someone will get in over their heads before they can tap. If I get even a whiff of teleportation magic, we'll sound the alarm and pull everyone out. Steel yourselves and let's get as many new Kickers through as we can." * Base camp this time wasn't just an empty ridgeline.

Six total personnel manned it, including two medics, a drone team, and two attuned security personnel with Earth armaments. Cole waited with Arley as Morganstern and Ketchup brought a pair of vehicles through the portal with seven pacs in each. She had them dismount and circle up while she gave her final words and introduced Cole and Arley as the final two proctors. She reiterated the details about the flare guns and anti-fungal tabs.

While she spoke, Cole looked at the faces of the hopefuls that would be on the west side of the valley. He picked the seven faces out easily enough. His gaggle included the JIRF recruit on loan to audit the training, as well as the bearded Kevlesh rescue, a Hispanic soldier in Army fatigues, a ginger airman, and two dark-skinned guys in outdated woodland camo that looked close enough to be twins, other than the inch of height difference between them. Once she was done, the groups piled back into their vehicles.

Cole hopped up on the running board of the one heading west.

"Howdy, boys and girls," said Cole.

"Please keep all tray tables stowed and seat backs upright and locked. We'll be landing shortly." You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. He got a few anxious smiles and no chuckles. Nervous bunch, not that he blamed them. They got to the first drop-off. Cole hopped down and kicked the rope over the side.

"JIRF, you're up," he said. The Japanese woman in JDF fatigues hopped over the side of the vehicle, then grabbed her pack, her gun, and a weapon that looked like a mini samurai sword on the end of a pole. She walked over to Cole and looked up at him.

"LF analyzer," said Cole. She hesitated.

"Elefan…" her eyes sparked in recognition and she dug her analyzer out of her pocket.

"I'm sorry, my English is not the best," she said.

"Your English is better than my Japanese," said Cole, shrugging. The analyzer came on when it touched her skin, displaying Level 1 and her enhancement metrics. She had Speed as her highest, with Strength as her next best. Cole watched as she looped the line around herself and made her way down the cliff face and into the clearing outside the valley forest. At the next point, Cole whistled.

"Attila bros, you wanna drop together?"

"Hell yeah," the taller one said. They helped each other get their packs and weapons down. They weren't as familiar with their firearms as Cole would have liked to see, but each of them had an axe with handles well-polished from use and they moved as a well-practiced team. Both of them came up as Level 0 on the analyzers. They must have been rescued pretty quick. Cole felt a pang of envy and regret. Would he and Ryan have come through Curahee together if the Department had found them instead of…

well, there was still no guarantee that Ryan was in the March. But the odds were good.

"Ari and Fasil. You guys parachute onto fires?" asked Cole. They looked at each other and laughed.

"Sort of, not really," said the shorter one.

"We jump ahead of fires. Clear brush, do controlled burns to clear fuel, help with evacs and SAR. That kind of thing."

"Wait, you guys start forest fires? So it's true that all firefighters are closet arsonists?" Ari grinned.

"Just me."

"Just don't shoot yourselves in the foot," said Cole.

"Or each other." After they descended, Cole headed to the next drop. Cole called the female Army soldier and the ginger airman down.

"Delgado, McHanley, you're up," he said. The pair made no move to help each other with gear. Cole clicked his tongue at that. Once they got down, the pair looked at each other.

"We have to stick together down there?" asked Delgado.

"No offense, but if I gotta babysit, we ain't gonna make it in three days." McHanley turned a bit red at that and shot her a death glare.

"Fuck you, too, Denada."

"Don't fuckin' call me that," she hissed back.

"Hey!" said Cole.

"I don't give a shit if you three-legged race your asses up that mountain or if you carve a line in the valley for his side, her side. Just shut the fuck up and show me your analyzers." They shifted their packs and pulled out their LF analyzers. Another level 1 and another level 0. Cole watched Delgado descend first and immediately make her way into the forest without waiting for McHanley. The airman followed, still fuming mad. At the last station, Cole called down the two remaining tryouts.

"Wayland, Burke, let's go." Burke hopped over the side of the vehicle. Wayland handed down Burke's pack, before swinging his own on and jumping down. Wayland had a spear with the pearlescent sheen of an otherworld armament. The two pulled out their analyzers without being prompted and Cole took a look. Burke showed Level 1, but Wayland showed Level 4 and already had a class assigned.

"What the heck is an Arterial Nightcaller?" asked Cole. Burke gave a sidelong look at his station-mate. Wayland rolled his eyes.

"Blood mage. Stronger at night, stronger if things around me are bleeding."

"Sounds cursed," said Cole.

"It's actually not that bad. Lot of support buffs and…" he scratched the back of his head.

"Well, curses. You got me there. I gotta eat organ meat to regain charges, though." Burke took a wide step away.

"Not human organs, dingus. I've got three pounds of dried beef liver." He winked at Cole.

"Though, human organs probably do work."

"Can I go down first?" asked Burke.

"I want to get a head start before he starts hunting me for my kidneys." Cole scrolled down on the analyzer.

"There's an enhancement here I've never seen. Clairvoyance. What's that?" Wayland readjusted his pack.

"It's like Acuity for psychics. I can sense the blood flowing in living things, know its quality."

"No shit?"

"For real." Cole let Burke descend first. He burned a half-charge to mark friendlies and leaned over to Wayland.

"So how far away can you sense him?" Burke hit the deck and headed straight into the forest. His blue glow filtered through the trees. Wayland closed his eyes and stood for about four minutes.

"Just lost 'im." Cole could still see the glow about two-hundred meters out.

"Huh. That's useful. Don't get too reliant on it, though. Not everything that can kill you down there has blood." Wayland wrapped the rope around himself.

"Thanks for the tip, Airborne. See you at the castle." We'll see, thought Cole. The Kevlesh rescue had a leg up on the competition already being level 4, but that didn't mean it was a done deal. Having to eat organ meat to recharge his abilities might be a huge handicap. He could run out. And Cole wouldn't want to decide whether it was worth it to eat a raw zombie liver before it could ablate. Once his last tryout was out of sight and into the woods, Cole walked back to the vehicle and grabbed his own pack.

"Headed straight down?" asked Arley.

"Yeah. Didn't—" A burst of gunfire somewhere to the east interrupted Cole.

"Starting up quick," said Arley.

"Yeah," said Cole. He waited by the vehicle for a moment to see if a flare would go up somewhere in the forest. When nothing did, he continued.

"Didn't expect two of the pairs to split right away. Going to do a bit of shadowing, make sure they don't get in over their heads running away from each other." Arley gave him a mock salute.

"Got it. I'll park the Vic back at the FOB. Gonna stay on the ridge a while, keep an eye on things with the drone team. Radio if you need an assist or feel spread too thin."

"Sounds good," said Cole. He dialed down his personal gravity, angled back toward the first drop point, and launched himself into the valley.