American Isekai - Chapter 164 (Patreon)

November 6, 623

I sat in the war room with Colonel Henrik. The man and I had gotten used to each other over time. We had both made a similar deal with Polly, so we were both in the same boat. He was a summoner like us, and that made our conversations interesting. 

My mind worked pretty fast now. Normally I’d forget things just as fast, but that wasn’t allowed to happen with my power. These two things combined and when I’d hold conversations with people, I was often getting way ahead of them before three lines were even spoken. Thankfully I wasn’t interacting with my Platoon much otherwise the problem would be exacerbated. 

Almost all of my time recently was spent somewhere in headquarters, and Commander Pollux started exempting me from patrols so I could work there. I had a feeling it was by Polly’s order, but I didn’t mind. Patrols were mind numbingly boring.

In exchange, I was crunching data with the Colonels. I’d read dozens of mission reports in the past several weeks, dozens of papers on analysis from Polly herself, while also going over historical records in storage. It was all deskwork stuff, but I was actually having some fun with it. My powerful mind made it interesting. If I were just an ordinary man, it wouldn’t be nearly as enjoyable.

This also meant, however, that my conversations with the Colonels were rather detailed. Quick words, long sentences, we never repeated ourselves, and a lot of understandings relied on historical information you had to already have. Something as simple as pointing out an adjustment in a Scourge encampment could take months of context to understand and utilize in further predictions. I was playing catch up a lot of the time because of that. 

But I was also a summoner, and being frank, my mind was much more powerful than Colonel Henrik’s. He was a smart man who had been doing this stuff for years, but my sheer power was pushing me closer to his level at a rapid pace. 

As for Polly, she was actually a very powerful summoner. Apparently she had two Sparks, which made her mind a level more powerful than my own. Given another advancement I would probably close the gap, but given her sheer experience, as well as her own intelligence, the actual difference between us was pretty vast. Her predictive abilities had humbled me a couple times already. 

Well, I was certainly learning a lot. My studies were coming along nicely and I was making tons of progress in all areas. However, I still found myself longing for a good mission. I had gotten used to fighting at the Magisterium, and not doing so felt weird. 

I had a lot of “time off” working in headquarters. And this mission we proposed to the Marshal was my next big gig. 

The Marshal took our reports and spent two days thinking it over. Polly went back to consult her a few times, but ultimately the decision remained up to the Marshal, especially something this big. This wasn’t recon or a sensor check. This was an infiltration deep behind enemy lines. 

And finally, the decision came back. 

As I lounged in the war room, Polly suddenly entered with a few papers. I turned to her with a smile. 

“So?”

“The mission was accepted. We’re green to go.”

“Hell yeah.”

“There was a change to the candidates though.”

She looked me in the eye, and my smile vanished. 

“John, you’re not going.”

“...”

“She said that you’re not suited for something so dangerous, and that there are much better soldiers who can handle the mission requirements in a much shorter amount of time. It would take 3 to 6 weeks with you there, but half the time with someone else.”

“It’s not about the time, it’s about the quality of the data collection. And did you tell her about my recent recon mission?”

“I agree, and yes I did. But you have to understand that, technically, we can get by with a report from one of our Snow Doves. They know what to look for too. There’s a reason they’re a Snow Dove.”

“...I want to talk to her.”

I stood, Polly stepping in front of me before I could walk out.

“Stand down, John. There’s no good way your conversation with a Marshal can end.”

“I’m supposed to be on that mission. There’s no good reason why I shouldn’t be. The time difference is negligible compared to the information I can bring back. We could have a grasp of their entire operation beyond Hare’s Pass within two months! She wants to trade that just so she can have three soldiers back in 3 weeks instead?!”

“No, John. The issue is that you have an alarmingly high chance of dying with every single day that passes over there.”

“I would argue the oppo-.”

“Shut up and let me speak!”

Her voice rose as she stepped up to my chest. I was taller but she did her best to get eye to eye. 

When was the last time I’d been yelled at like this? I could smell her dark blue hair with how close she was, and given her stature, she was reminding me a lot of my own mother. Maybe that’s why my mouth snapped shut. 

Her voice fell again. 

“You’ve been here for two months John. I admit you’re taking to all of this amazingly well, but you’re letting your position in this war room get to your head. Don’t forget that not only are you only a Captain, but you’re an Authority 5 summoner. No base within the Kingdom has ever had to deal with someone like you, so given the information at hand, you can’t blame a Marshal for rejecting the idea of you going on a sensitive and high risk mission. We’ve gotten by without you so far. We won’t collapse just because you can’t get out there and use those fancy eyes of yours. So stand down, and don’t make any stupid decisions unbefitting of your rank. Do I make myself clear?”

“...Yes ma’am.”

“Then go and take the rest of the day to cool off. We will reconvene tomorrow.”

I stared at her for a second before saluting, receiving one in return before walking out. 

…

Polly sighed when John walked out, straightening her blouse.

“Feels like I just scolded my son.”

“...How old is he? I never looked at his profile.”

Colonel Henrik carefully asked, Polly looking down at a stack of papers.

“Only 23. He’s like a teenager.”

“A very smart teenager. Kid is absorbing knowledge faster than I can give it to him.”

“Which is great, until he gets in over his head.”

“You knew the Marshal would reject him?”

Henrik turned to Polly, scratching his scraggly beard. He was approaching 60 but still looked middle aged. The only hint of aging was the slight thinning of hair on his head. 

Polly sat down and closed her eyes. 

“Of course. He never had a chance.”

“Never?”

“John’s got some big names watching him. The Marshal would never risk his life like that, regardless of whether he could handle it or not. But even besides that, my reasons from before still apply. He’s young, inexperienced, and much too comfortable throwing himself into danger. I need to reign him in. I just thought hearing it from the Marshal would be better. I didn’t think he’d actually go try to talk to her.”

“Heh, he’s got balls.”

“Which is more than I could say for most of the soldiers and intelligence agents I’ve met. But they’ll get him killed if he’s not careful. He just needs someone to help keep him in check, keep him safe.”

“Hm.”

Hanrik hummed, smiling a bit as Polly started to read some more papers. 

She looked tired and angry, but that was normal. She had what some might call a resting bitch face. She never really looked happy, and could be off-puttingly blunt. 

But what wasn’t normal was explaining herself like she did to John. She had outright shut down people much stronger and more dangerous than John, and for much less. But she took the time to rationalize things, which spoke volumes. 

Of course, John didn’t understand that. But he hadn’t been here long. Either way, it seemed Polly wanted to take care of the kid. Even Henrik was feeling a bit proud. 

Summoners had to stick together, and letting other people into their circles was very rare. But when a summoner came around who was extraordinary in just about all aspects, they couldn’t help but latch on. 

John was a genius, even though he acted far from one. He could go toe to toe with the most talented knights and warlocks at his level, something impossible for other summoners. And more importantly, he wasn’t afraid to use his gifts. It wasn’t enough to be capable of fighting knights and warlocks, or even the Scourge. For a summoner, one had to muster the courage to even face them. A summoner was fragile, could be killed on a whim. John was no different, and yet he faced all of it unhesitantly. He had the scars to prove it. 

This meant that some, like Polly, wanted to nurture him. Making sure he didn’t throw himself behind enemy lines and get killed was the first step toward doing that, even though it robbed him of valuable combat experience. 

……

…

Revisions for the mission plan ensued. Since I had formatted a good chunk of the infiltration part of the mission around my visual abilities, we had to adjust it all to accommodate the other candidates. 

I was also inserted into the preparatory parts of the mission. 

The Pathfinders would be assigned to additional sensor placement on the bridge across Hare’s Pass. We needed to add another layer of alarms in case the Scourge decided to change tactics and send some monsters across the normal way. That was because we would soon be leaving for the Treehouse again. 

If we were sending people to infiltrate, we needed to scratch the surface a bit. We couldn’t just point them in the general direction and let them be on their way. We would need to plot a path all the way to the eastern crossing before scouting the area, logging Scourge activity, and securing an infiltration point and time. 

Since the rest of the Snow Doves were busy, the Pathfinders would be sent out to do what they did best. 

I would be overseeing the bulk of the reconnaissance on the crossing since I was no longer doing the real recon across the Pass. 

Once the finalized mission was compiled, we set a date and then lit the green light. Half of the Pathfinders were mobilized to go set up sensors on the land bridge, while the other half left for the Treehouse early. Once the first half was done with sensors, they would return to base before setting off as well. 

This left the base generally undefended, but since the Marshal was still there, we should technically be fine. 

I was in the second half that left early. My objective was to get to the Treehouse before linking up with Polly’s Colonel there and delivering the mission plan. I would be responsible for briefing her as well as overseeing general mission progress. This also meant I had to go out and make sure the teams were assembled and on schedule to operate, including the infiltration team. I would be receiving help from the Colonel there, but the bulk of it was on my shoulders. 

It was a large amount of responsibility for someone who should only be a Captain. I had a feeling though that this was Polly’s way of making up for the fact that I didn’t get to infiltrate myself. In which case, I’d have to handle everything perfectly to prove I could at least do this. My only source of doubt was how I’d handle Alois. Hopefully I could just dodge him and grab who I needed. 

Like that, two more days passed before the day came to deploy. 

Four Steeds were activated, two of them going to the Pass to set up more sensors while the other two would hold my travel party. My travel party consisted of Squads 1 and 3, as well as a single supply truck. 

Pollux would be going with the travel party while the sensor guys would be on their own. The job was easy so they should be able to accomplish their mission and get back before sundown. 

As I loaded some things into the supply truck, Pollux came and found me. I was still cheesed from being rejected, but thankfully I had cooled off since a couple days ago. 

“Cooper.”

“Commander, sir.”

“I’ve got something for you. Figured you could use it.”

Pollux held up the insignia of a Master Sergeant. My brows raised. I didn’t think this promotion would come in just a couple months. 

“Thank you, sir.”

“I’ve been hearing good things from Polly. Keep working like that and you’ll be you’ll be on the fast track to commanding a platoon of your own. Maybe you’ll slip into the Snow Doves.”

“We’ll see. I need to get my Authority up first.”

“Indeed. You’ve got time though. I’ll be assisting you on this mission. Technically I’m the commanding officer in name, but since you know the details I’ll defer to you. Just keep us on the right track. 

“Yes sir.”

I gave a salute, receiving one in return before the two of us continued to prep. 

Before long we were boarded. I took a seat within Squad 3’s Steed, sticking my head out of a turret hole. 

“Handler to Liaison. You all look primed to launch.”

“Affirmative Handler. All heads accounted for.”

“Then you have permission to deploy. Sensor teams will be sent later.”

“Copy.”

I switched channels.

“Commander, we’re good to go.”

“Alright then. Let’s roll, Pathfinders.”

Pollux’s voice echoed across all the nearby aerials. With that, all of us sped out through the open gates. 

We quickly diverted off the normal path, taking the road to the Treehouse. I visualized the map in my head, feeling the cold wind on my face. 

The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. We should arrive at around noon the next day. From there, I’d assemble teams and get us to the eastern crossing, paving a way for our infiltration team. 

Simple on paper, but we’d see how much trouble it would bring me. 

I sunk back down into the Steed when the frosty wind started nipping at my nose. 

It was getting colder as the year continued. 

……

…

“Well that’s not reassuring. It’s a good thing I advanced…”

Umara muttered while sitting against a tree, packing and wrapping some cloth around her hand to stifle the nasty cut across her palm. 

She couldn’t care less about the wounds or the bleeding. What had her concerned was the entity making its way over to them. 

Of course it had to be a patrol that got them in a nasty situation. It couldn’t be an actual mission when they’d be completely prepared to fight, even though they were supposed to be fully equipped for patrols anyway. 

Most of her platoon had failed to react and paid with their lives. The rest were slaughtered as they retreated. Unfortunately, only she and Tana were capable enough to make it out in time before the real danger descended. Umara could only hope she didn’t get suspected of abandoning her team. Their deaths had basically paid for their headstart.

Now she was dirty, bleeding, on the run, and had sacrificed her foci. That last one was half on purpose though. She’d be asking for a fancy new one after this, one that could actually handle her new spells. 

For now, her Aura would have to compensate. 

Umara’s ear twitched before she suddenly tilted her head. A blade sliced across where it once was, the tree behind her being felled like butter. 

Then she put out her hand, a formation glowing across it and releasing a dense fiery explosion that launched the attacking royal away. 

Tana was in the path of the flying body, Vigor glowing on the edge of her sword as she sliced and took off that Royal’s arm. 

Umara stood and continued running while Tana diced that Royal into a few pieces, pocketing the body in the process. 

Then they continued, paying no mind to the fact that the Royal they just killed was well into Authority 7. 

“Your spells are making this too easy. Tone it down a notch.”

Tana muttered while swooping in and grabbing Umara, launching herself into the distance right after. 

Umara activated another spell, the wind splitting for the two and carrying Tana farther with each bound. 

As they found their way into a large valley, Umara felt some blood pool around her eye before falling down like a tear. 

Although her foci had been weak, it had been something. Without it, she was under much more pressure when casting spells. They had to be perfectly made the first time, which was difficult given their ever growing complexity and precision. 

That normal looking explosion which launched the Royal utilized pure oxygen drawn from the atmosphere, being concentrated before getting ignited with her fire mana and supplemented by extreme air pressures to direct everything toward the Royal. She couldn’t yet draw in pure hydrogen, nor could she liquify it or oxygen to get the really explosive mixtures under her current circumstances. But this would have to do, because anything else would give her an aneurysm. 

Making that spell wasn’t even that hard. It was the strain of drawing in information with her Aura first which got her. It was directly infused into her mind. Most, if not all was forgotten soon afterwards, but for a short duration she was being overloaded. She was still practicing compartmentalization to help with that. 

Umara wiped away some of the blood tickling her cheek. 

“Don’t worry about me.”

“Wrong response.”

“...We’ll do what we need to do to get back to base. How many more miles?”

“Maybe 6, if we cut across the cliff.”

“Do it.”

“Alright. It’ll be a bit bumpy…”

Umara looked over Tana’s shoulder as they cleared the valley, seeing that entity emerge from the treeline. 

It had arms so long that it could almost touch its elbows to the floor. They were skinny and disgustingly vascular. On the other hand, its legs were thick and muscled.

The creepy part was probably its neck, which was at least 2 feet long, leading to an emaciated face with thin strands of hair hanging off its scalp. It gave Umara chills whenever she looked into its pitch black eyes. 

A Corrupted, once human, now monster. 

The struggle someone put up during the corruption process could be visualized by how mutated they were. The more they struggled, the more they mutated, until they eventually broke and gave in. In this case, it seemed whatever unfortunate soul once within that body had put up a good fight. 

Umara remembered the girl from John’s homeland, Aki. She told of entire armies of Corrupted returning to their once homes to decimate their cities. She couldn't imagine an army of these monstrosities. She could barely stomach one. 

And she’d try to put that soul out of its misery if it weren’t so damn strong. Thankfully Tana was fast and had endless stamina. 

The two continued bounding across the terrain until they saw a huge cliff appear. About 400 meters across was another cliffside, which led to the rest of the land that would brind them back to the base. If they didn’t jump the clif, they’d have to go the long way around, easily doubling the distance to travel. 

Umara didn’t think they had it in them to last that long, not unless they used her one-off knife attack. She wanted to do what she could to avoid that though. That was her last resort. 

“Hold on tight.”

Tana spoke, picking up speed before launching herself off the cliff. 

Right as she did, Umara formed a spell, pressurized air exploding behind them and launching them even further. After that, the winds formed and carried them, splitting out of their way before looping around and propelling them. 

Umara remembered one of John’s lessons on aerodynamics. If she had wings like a bird, she’d definitely be able to fly. Unfortunately, the two girls were about as aerodynamic as a rock, so there would be no flying yet. 

For a second, Umara remembered that she needed to start dabbling in spatial magic soon. It fell under the air element, but knowledge on it was top secret. It was similar to Aura in how restricted it was. Fortunately, Umara was getting so good at forming new spells that it might not matter whether she had some to go off of or not. 

First though, they needed to get back to base. 

The propulsion was enough to get them across. Tana slammed to the ground, jolting Umara’s body and making her cringe in pain. After taking a quick breath, Tana kept running. 

The Corrupted continued sprinting after them, jumping off the cliff as well. It soared much farther than Tana did, but didn’t make it all the way across, slamming into the cliff face. 

Then, it started climbing, it’s long arms and fingers stabbing into the rock and throwing itself up with uncanny strength. 

Tana and Umara could hear it coming, but it wasn’t as fast as them. Now, the distance between them had widened massively. They were a half mile away by the time the Corrupted finally made it to the top. 

When it got over, it looked off into the distance and saw the two running. It stood there, watching as they eventually disappeared over a mountain. 

Then, it clawed the ground, launching itself dozens of meters, moving even faster than before. 

Umara clicked her tongue. 

“It’s gaining.”

“Unless we want to fight it, we’re going to have to keep it away for the next several minutes.”

“Give me a number.”

“...6 minutes.”

“6 minutes of brain-liquifying spellcasting… Let’s do it. All in.”

“Then here we go.”

Tana lowered her body, her muscles flexing like steel cords before shooting them forward. 

6 miles in 6 minutes was a pretty big ask, especially since she was carrying Umara. But Tana knew that it was either that, or they’d have to fight this impossible enemy. Like Umara, she didn’t feel like rolling those dice. 

So she used her spatial storage to strip off her armor and weapon before putting her all into running. 

The area they ran into was hilly, so Tana was forced to fight gravity as they gained and lost elevation. She was moving fast, but that Corrupted was moving a bit faster. 

As she ran, Umara maintained air spells to help Tana move while slinging others to stifle the Corrupted. She cut down trees and threw them in the Corrupted’s way, blew sharp gusts of wind that slowed its speed, and used some explosive fire magic to throw it off. 

More blood went down her eyes and nose, a vein or two popping from her forehead. 

It felt much longer for Tana, but 2 minutes passed quickly. At that mark, she started breathing heavily. Still, she kept her speed. 

When the 4 minute mark came, her legs started twitching, her lungs heaving for air. That’s when she actually sped up though, more vigor pouring through her body. 

Then, after another minute or so, they crested a hilltop and came in view of the base. 

Unfortunately by that time, the Corrupted was alost on top of them. 

Both of their heads swung around when that monstrosity launched some blades of energy from its long fingers. They gouged the floor, forcing Tana to dodge and killing some of her speed. 

She kicked up right as she was safe though, the ground sinking under her foot as she shot off once more. 

The muscles across her thick legs spasmed, but she continued anyway. At the same time, Umara cast some final spells, signal flares shooting into the sky and exploding with brilliant red colors. 

She’d get their attention, one way or another. But their battle wasn’t over yet. 

Tana dodged once more as some more blades flew her way. That allowed the Corrupted to get in range, a 7 foot long spear appearing in its hands. 

Umara’s eyes bulged. 

“God, what the hell kind of spear is that?! This guy is all about reach, huh?!”

“I can’t fight that with my sword!”

Tana shouted, dodging a spear strike and continuing to run just as Umara launched some explosive spells. They were powerful, not something the Corrupted could ignore. 

That gave them room, Tana using the last of her strength to sprint toward the base. 

She covered another half mile in a dozen seconds, but then, she felt her neck tingle in danger. 

Umara shouted.

“Keep running!”

Spells were cast as a spear came slicing down on top of them. However, Tana ignored the danger and kept moving forward, trusting Umara with her life. 

And Umara’s spells clashed with the spear, tiny compressed fireballs exploding right next to the blade as it fell, carrying it off its trajectory and forcing it to slice right past them.

It created a rift when it hit the ground, but they were completely safe, Umara grinning ear to ear. 

The precision, sublime. The timing, divine. That was her most impressive feat this month. 

Then, the calvary arrived. 

Several knights came charging through the gates, two of them Authority 9. It seemed like they didn’t want to miss a good target, so they were enthusiastic. 

The shot past Tana, the Corrupted turning on a dime and running right after its failed strike. 

The three shot into the distance, Umara in too much pain to give a damn about whether or not they killed that thing. 

Finally, they made it to the gates. Tana immediately fell to her knees in absolute exhaustion, Umara jumping out of her arms.

She bent down and brushed the blonde hair out of Tana’s face. However, this day wasn’t over. 

Umara, looked up, scanning the surrounding people with a nightmarish face. She was pissed, and someone was about to take the heat.