Jeanne stood by the edge of the field, her eyes glued to the two men rushing toward the earth drake. She had to admit, the synchronization between them was incredibly clever—clean, deliberate, and almost entirely without flaws.
Of course, she only meant it lacked glaring openings; it wasn't a flawless performance. Someone with Jeanne's battlefield experience could easily spot a dozen different ways to break their formation.
Then again, considering her own personal combat philosophy usually boiled down to wrapping herself in her supreme magic resistance, ignoring the enemy's logic, and smashing straight through their front line, her tactical critiques weren't exactly a standard guide for normal fighters.
As for the spectacle unfolding in the center of the field? Jeanne would describe it as a grueling, bitter stalemate. But if the clash dragged on much longer, she could see that Ace and his partner stood a very slim chance of walking away victorious.
The primary issue lay with Logos. He was supposed to be the heavy hitter responsible for cracking open the beast's defenses, but the young Banshee caster was quickly realizing that this lizard was built differently. The spells he threw at it were barely leaving a scratch.
Logos stared at the rugged hide of the earth drake, noting with growing frustration that his destructive arts had only managed to nick the thick scales, causing a few drops of dark blood to trickle out. The output was embarrassingly low!
If he were facing any other colossal wilderness beast, he possessed the absolute confidence to melt them down with a single incantation. Yet, this creature's natural resilience to ancient arts was absurdly high.
"I hate to say it, but you picked the absolute wrong partner for this excursion..." Logos complained, nimbly diving to the side to avoid the massive beast's sweeping claws. "Get your shield up, quick!"
Right on cue, the earth drake unhinged its jaws, unleashing a torrent of roaring flame straight at them. The two operators reacted instantly, throwing themselves clear of the searing blast as they desperately racked their brains for a new angle of attack.
For now, they could rely on their agility to keep out of the beast's jaws, occasionally landing a few superficial strikes.
But the crushing flaw in their plan was endurance. A mortal frame simply couldn't compete with the boundless stamina of a primordial drake. If they kept dancing this dance, they would eventually collapse from sheer exhaustion and lose the match.
What kind of species is this anyway? they thought. The density of its armor was sickening, and that magical resistance was completely unfair. Did this angry lizard have a weakness at all?
The duo felt like they were hitting a brick wall. They had no idea how to actually inflict real damage on the thrashing titan, leaving them with no choice but to probe its defenses with careful, hesitant strikes and minor hexes.
The elite operators watching from the sidelines were thoroughly stunned. They knew exactly what Ace and Logos were capable of on a bad day, so seeing a single beast hold them off with such effortless power was a massive eye-opener.
At the same time, a wave of profound excitement swept through the ranks. If creatures of this caliber were integrated into their vanguard, it would give them an overwhelming advantage in the upcoming campaign—a factor that would be doubly devastating across the rough terrain of Kazdel.
After all, the Regent's mercenaries relied heavily on high-impact destructive arts, heavy Originium charges, and the raw, brutal physicality inherent to the Sarkaz race. Against a titan like this, those standard advantages were completely neutralized.
"Alright, that's enough. Let's call a halt. I have gathered all the data I need," the Doctor called out, intervening just as Ace and Logos were beginning to feel the heavy weight of exhaustion dragging down their movements.
Jeanne stepped forward alongside her, raising her voice to soothe the restless beast. Under the Saintess's gentle command, the fierce earth drake instantly settled down, turning as docile and compliant as a house cat.
Of course, its sudden shift in demeanor might have had something to do with the tiny companion clinging to Jeanne's shoulder, who was currently staring it down.
To a supreme entity like Fafnir, this massive creature was essentially a mid-day snack. The young dragon was looking at the drake with an expression that screamed sustenance.
Before the dust could even settle, Warfarin—who had originally been dragged along solely in case someone lost a limb—sprinted past the line of operators. Before anyone could process her movement, she was underneath the drake, frantically holding out small glass vials to catch the crimson drops dripping from its shallow wounds.
She had spent a good portion of the morning showering the Saintess with excessive flattery just to secure formal permission to harvest a few drops of blood if an entity got nicked. She wasn't about to let a single drop go to waste!
Even though the vampire doctor had framed her request under the high-minded pursuit of academic research, Jeanne couldn't shake the suspicion that the woman was simply hungry and desperately wanted to know what ancient dragon blood tasted like.
"Wait, is that really all? Just a few drops? Come on, leak a little more! This meager amount isn't nearly enough for a thorough analysis!"
Warfarin pouted, glaring at the shallow cuts which were already knitting back together at a visible pace. The earth drake offered the ancient vampire zero attention, turning its massive snout away to completely ignore the woman Jeanne had authorized.
"I can't believe you two struggled that hard. Were you just having an off day or what?"
Over on the other side of the field, the remaining elite operators closed in on Ace and Logos, tossing a wave of playful mockery at their exhausted comrades.
"Easy for you to say! Why don't you march out there and trade blows with it?" Ace growled, sucking in a deep breath of air as he leaned heavily on his tower shield. "You have no idea how punishing that hide is until you actually hit it." He would much rather face a whole squad of elite mercenaries than go another round with that wall of muscle.
While the operators were laughing and trading stories, the Doctor pulled the Saintess aside to pitch a rather radical adjustment to the test. Jeanne looked incredibly hesitant; she wasn't entirely sure if the proposal was a safe path forward.
"Are you absolutely certain about this? If we scale the encounter up to that tier, I cannot guarantee the personal safety of your people. One wrong move and someone is going to lose their life!"
Jeanne was genuinely worried—not for her manifestations, who would simply dissolve back into energy if bested, but for the mortal operators.
The Doctor hesitated for a brief moment, fully recognizing the inherent danger of her suggestion. However, she had calculated their limits carefully before opening her mouth, and she harbored absolute faith in the survival instincts of her elite vanguard.
Seeing the stubborn glint behind the Doctor's visor, Jeanne let out a soft sigh and relented. If things took a truly catastrophic turn, she would simply step into the fray herself to freeze the action. The worst-case scenario shouldn't manifest under her watch.
Thus, the moment Ace and Logos finished catching their breath, they were called right back to the center of the field. Looking at the strategist's shifting stance, the operators' faces fell, especially when the Doctor announced that for the next phase, they would be executing a comprehensive group assault to see if their combined output could breach the next entity's defenses.
A sharp wave of vigilance swept through the entire line. For the Doctor to demand a full-scale group deployment just to measure an entity's combat tier meant the incoming threat was an absolute monster.
Under their watchful eyes, a magnificent, winged wyvern materialized on the field. The operators instantly realized the stakes had just skyrocketed!
While this entity lacked the dense, boulder-like mass of the earth drake, nobody was foolish enough to assume those massive leather wings were just for show. This creature owned the sky!
Suddenly, the composition of the squad the Doctor had assembled made perfect sense. She had intentionally packed the field with high-output sniper elites and specialized casters, leaving only a handful of heavy defenders for the frontline. Close-range fighters would be practically useless here.
Still, the sheer physics of the creature left a few of the intellectually inclined operators baffled. How on earth did a biological entity of that immense scale generate enough lift to launch itself into the air? Was it utilizing some form of innate levitation arts, or was its actual mass far lighter than its appearance suggested?
There was zero time to ponder the science. With a powerful sweep of its wings, the wyvern launched itself into the sky, immediately raining a relentless barrage of massive, roaring fireballs down upon the testing ground.
The ground units were forced into a desperate defensive dance, locking their heavy shields together to form a barrier or relying on sheer reflexes to dive clear of the explosions. The ranged elites quickly formed firing lines, attempting to clip the beast's wings and drag it down to earth, but the wyvern moved with a terrifying, fluid grace that defied its massive proportions.
By the time the Doctor finally called an end to the engagement, the operators' greatest achievement was a series of severe, bleeding punctures along the creature's lower legs and tail.
The damage had been inflicted by a synchronized volley of charged shots from the snipers. They had initially targeted the beast's vital chest cavity, but the wyvern had somehow twisted mid-air, dodging the lethal strike and taking the impact on its limbs instead.
Jeanne was thoroughly amazed. She knew Babel's elite vanguard was a formidable force, but she hadn't expected them to be this potent. To force a airborne wyvern into a functional draw while operating at such a massive disadvantage was spectacular!
Yes, the operators looked incredibly disheveled and covered in soot, but through their flawless tactical coordination, they had left the wyvern with significant injuries, even severing the tip of its tail.
This development threw Warfarin into a state of absolute, ecstatic joy. Her passion for harvesting unique biological fluids was practically boundless! Whether she intended to refine it in her laboratory or simply drink it for breakfast, she was entirely thrilled.
The wyvern, seeing Jeanne's reassuring nod and recognizing that Warfarin was actively applying a soothing healing salve to its wounds while collecting the runoff, chose to close its eyes and tolerate the eccentric vampire's antics.
By the time the dust fully settled, both the Doctor and her elite vanguard had forged a clear understanding of the unique forces joining their ranks. It was glaringly obvious that their interest in these legendary creatures had reached an all-time high!
As the operators realized that these terrifying drakes would be fighting alongside them as dependable allies in the days to come, the exhaustion washed right off their faces, replaced by a wave of pure, unadulterated excitement that none of them could hide!