Chapter Fifteen: The Arrival of the S-Class Mission

Chapter 15: The Arrival of the S-Rank Mission

At dawn the next day, Shuster stepped down from the carriage.

“Sigh… Why is magical modification so difficult?” Shuster muttered to herself.

“Good morning, Miss Shuster!” Aioria called out as he roasted meat over the fire.

“Morning, Aioria.” “Good morning, Miss Shuster. Thank you for rescuing my sister last night.” Fiona stood up and bowed to Shuster.

“Oh, don’t mention it—it was nothing.” Shuster waved her hand dismissively.

“Alright, Fiona, Miss Shuster isn’t one for formalities. Come, Miss Shuster, have a seat and try my cooking.” Aioria smiled and handed her a freshly roasted piece of meat.

“Mmm, roasted perfectly. It’s delicious!” Shuster praised.

“Alright, everyone on board. The caravan is moving out,” the old man in black ordered.

Back in the carriage, Shuster once again took out Jasonki’s magic tome and began to read.

By noon, the sun was blazing, so hot that even the air felt unbearable.

“It’s sweltering, boss. Why are we riding horses while the women get the carriages? You even cleared out the wounded’s carriage for them,” Matthew grumbled to Aioria.

“They were just injured and were hunted all day. They’re sleeping now. How could we, grown men, take the carriages from them? Has the sun fried your brains?” Aioria replied, giving Matthew a playful flick on the forehead and fanning himself.

“I’m just complaining about the heat. Do you have to hit me?” Matthew protested, rubbing his head.

“Huh? Matthew, look—what’s happening on the prairie over there?” Aioria suddenly said.

“Hmm… Looks like dust. Yeah, it’s definitely dust,” Matthew observed.

“I think so too. The dust cloud stretches over a hundred meters!” Aioria nodded.

“What? A dust cloud? Everyone on alert—” ×2

“Ding! S-rank mission detected: Rat Swarm. Help the caravan survive the assault of the Blazing Rat horde. Mission reward: 50,000 Soul Crystals, Skill Scroll: Improved Triple Body Technique. Blazing Rats, Tier-3 magical beasts, weaker individually than Tier-1, but classified as Tier-3 due to their swarming nature. About the size of a large dog.”

“So it’s a Blazing Rat horde! But for me, it’s just a chance to rack up points. Looks like I’ve found a loophole in the system!” Shuster almost wanted to burst out laughing.

“This is bad! It’s a Blazing Rat swarm!” “We’re doomed, we’re all dead!” The caravan members and the newly rescued wounded looked utterly despairing.

“We swear to defend the caravan!” “We will not retreat!”

“Tch. Leave this rat swarm to me. Aioria, Fiona, you two just guard against any that slip past.” Shuster stepped forward ten paces, pulling out Pandora’s Box.

“Miss Shuster, please be careful!” Aioria called as he and the others formed a human wall behind her.

“Hmph, let’s see what surprises you little rats have in store for me!” With a flash of white light, Shuster deployed six Vulcan cannons on the ground.

With the rat swarm less than three hundred meters away, Shuster grinned wickedly and pulled the trigger.

“Drrrrr…” Instantly, the swarm was flattened like a pancake, a huge bite taken out of it, though the gap was quickly filled in again.

“What kind of weapon is that? It’s so powerful—it’s holding back the entire swarm!” said an archer beside Aioria, shooting a Blazing Rat that had gotten close to Shuster.

“How would I know? All I know is we need to protect the caravan and complete the mission,” replied another, slashing down a Blazing Rat with his sword.

“Can’t hold them off? Time for this!” Shuster grumbled as the swarm slowly advanced.

A flash of white light—she aimed the PS124 triple-barrel rocket launcher at the horde…

“Boom!” A wave of fire and pressure sent countless Blazing Rats flying skyward; in an instant, thousands were obliterated.

“That felt great, let’s do it again!” Cheered by her results, Shuster shouted gleefully.

Everyone stared, speechless, at Shuster’s rampant use of area-of-effect attacks. How had the gentle young lady become such a ruffian?

“Wait, what’s this? Damn, they’re combining their magic to neutralize my shells!” Shuster complained, watching the rats spit giant fireballs that detonated her rockets midair.

Another white flash—now she held the plasma laser cannon from her game.

“Heh, let’s see you blast these apart! I’ll vaporize you all!” Beam after beam split the rats’ fireballs and consumed entire ranks of Blazing Rats.

Again, everyone was left speechless.

The Blazing Rat swarm was held at bay, each meter forward paid for in blood.

“Huff… Doom gauge full. Heh, take this!” Shuster grinned at the gauge on her weapon.

Another white flash—suddenly she was airborne, lifted by a small combat drone, looking down coldly on the swarm as she pulled the lever.

“Bang bang bang bang…” Countless small missiles fired from twelve barrels.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” Each missile homed in on a Blazing Rat, hitting with unerring accuracy. The explosions roared in a continuous chain.

Ten minutes later, the ground was blasted half a meter deep, and more than half the horde was gone.

A piercing squeal rang out—the surviving rats began to retreat.

“Hm? There’s the Rat King? Heh, die!” Another flash—now, on one knee, Shuster wielded an M82A1 Barrett sniper rifle.

“Crosshairs locked, target at approximately two hundred yards, no need to adjust angle, temperature thirty-five degrees, wind at three meters per second, eastward, scope auto-calibrated. Fire!”

Bang! The M82A1 spat a thirty-centimeter-long tongue of flame, launching its 99mm round from the barrel.

In less than a second, the bullet traced a slight arc and struck the brow of a Blazing Rat smaller than the others but far redder.

A burst of blood, and chaos erupted in the rat horde.

“Heh, let’s see where you run now.” Another white flash—six Vulcan cannons appeared once more, spewing half-meter streams of fire.

Three minutes later, the plain was a river of blood. Not a single Blazing Rat survived; there hadn’t been any left to flee for two minutes. Shuster swept the field one last time—it took her only a minute.

“Ding! Mission accomplished. Reward: 50,000 Soul Crystals, Skill Scroll: Improved Triple Body Technique. Please claim in the Infinite Space.”

“Ding! Congratulations, host, you have reached Tier 7, beginner. The Time-Space Traversal System is now activated. The host must enter a dungeon scenario for training. In thirty minutes, you will be forcibly transported.”

“Oh come on, System, are you trying to get me killed?” Shuster said helplessly, putting away Pandora’s Box.

“Ding! Due to the host’s disrespect toward the System, you will be forcibly transported in twenty minutes.”

What the hell, is the System acting up now? Seriously?

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P.S.: Even the System’s acting up; can our protagonist be far behind? Guess where the first dungeon will be? What identity will he assume? Just so you know, this novel is not a “harmonized” harem story, nor a “post-harmonized” palace novel. Please, don’t make me add more love interests, alright?