*Thud~!*

The news stupefied Kai for a few seconds before he screamed. "What did you say?"

"You didn't hear it wrong. After that bastard escaped, he seemed to have smuggled a few samples of SSS rank magical beast. The blood from the one we fought in the Underground Nest. I think his subordinates used some of them to create three zodiacs while he himself still holds some." Ria let out a long sigh.

"How about the current condition? Where are they? Looking at how close this timing with the Raid Mission is, it will become another trouble that we need to worry about. I have once thought that the threat of normal zodiacs is already high enough… What kind of effect does the blood give?"

"I am experimenting with it right now, but from what I can see, it is the same as a normal zodiac blood." Ria paused for a moment, changing her tone. "But you should know what kind of power this Protector had…"

Kai drew a cold breath while listening to her serious tone. He knew exactly what the blood granted. "Strong Body or I can say indestructible body, along with element manipulation?"

"That's right. Although I can't say anything about it, the security camera managed to capture some scenes. Their skins became stronger than ever, and their strength is stronger than yours probably. But… As expected, the element manipulation is the most troublesome. Although they can only control water, they controlled the water inside the research center and blew the pipe, causing a huge stir in that place. That's why they could escape in the first place."

Kai's expression turned grim. "Where are they? Considering the mastermind of this accident, I am sure they will attack us in the raid mission. Is there any plan for this?"

"There is no other plan. We have been preparing this mission for a long time, so it's not like we can back away. Nathan should have told you the change of plan and how many people we will bring, right?"

"I see. Now that I think about it, I had researched Teacher's record when you fought the S rank magical beast. It turned out that there were only sixty thousand monsters coming. However, Sir Nathan said we need forty thousand people to hold one hundred thousand… In other words, the remaining will come from either this Matt person or the Protector itself…" Kai stroked his chin, wondering what he should do.

"That's why I want you to come to meet me, so we can discuss this plan. Of course, in my house. We will hold the meeting two times. The first time is only with me while the second time with all those old-timers. Don't worry. If they flaunt their seniority, I will flaunt my strength."

"I understand. When do I need to meet you?" Kai asked.

"Hmm… I have a mission for you. You will leave tomorrow."

"Understood. But Teacher, you haven't answered my question."

"We are going to meet a week after that. The same applies to next month."

Kai thought for a moment. "Alright. I will keep it in mind. What is the mission?"

"There are three people escaping right now. However, we have managed to heavily injure one of them, so he wouldn't be able to escape that far."

"Do you want to take advantage of my hearing?"

"Not really. You should know that sometimes monsters went past the frontline, right? There is an influx of monsters in a certain region currently, so there will be a high chance to be in that place."

"Still, how many monsters do we need to fight?" Kai frowned. If they needed to kill a few hundred monsters just for this, it wasn't worth it.

"You only need to kill one. This is my mission. Assassinate the guy with your group alone. With your hearing and Sofia's instinct, I believe you can locate him in no time. As for those magical beasts, I will send you a reinforcement. I will give you a coordinate and meet them in that place."

"Alright then. Since Teacher is taking care of this, I will follow your plan."

"Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel and Brigadier General. Before going to the EU Base, you are going to have a star on your shoulder, so I will keep giving you missions this year. Are you ready?"

"I know that Teacher won't harm me. I trust you." Kai said without hesitation.

"Good. That's what I like to hear."

"Before that, I want to ask another question. If we kill this guy, they still have another two people capable of bringing magical beasts… This is going to be a long fight, isn't it? And do you know where that Matt is?

"No. Our focus is to kill S rank magical beasts. After that, the magical beasts will slowly crumble, so I don't think this will be a long battle. As for that bastard, I don't know about his exact location, but we can safely assume he is in the south, hiding among the magical beasts."

"Why did he do this?" Kai sighed.

"I don't know the exact reason, but I think jealousy? He was the leading scientist before I took over with my zodiac blood… And I think he wants to prove himself or something. Unfortunately, he is doing this with my research as his base. Pathetic."

"I understand. I will talk about the mission with you after I have finished the last mission. One more thing. Do you think I can talk about this with my group?"

Ria didn't answer him immediately because she knew the whole situation. As much as she hated to say it, she said, "No. I think there won't be more than ten people knowing our situation. This will allow us to retain our morale and so on. In other words, other than you, me, and the people I will invite in our discussion later, it is hard for anyone to know about this."

"I understand. I won't tell anyone about this. Although the others might realize when we hunt this zodiac with the Protector's blood, I won't confirm it." Kai nodded with a solemn expression.

"I want to add a goal for this raid mission."

"What is it?"

"Since it might take three mission and five mission to rank you up to Colonel and Brigadier General respectively, your goal is to reach this Lieutenant Colonel rank in this Raid Mission. In other words, you need to contribute many things."

"I will try. It's not like they are going to be that strict since I probably won't get that rank if they don't lower their requirement."

"Alright. See you later in one or two weeks."

"Yes, Teacher." Kai nodded before looking up, staring at the blue sky. He scratched his head and let out a long sigh. "This is going to be a long year…"

After calming his heart down, Kai returned to his room and found the group staring at Sofia.

Kai tilted his head in confusion. "Is there something wrong?"

"She…" Michelle hesitated for a second. "She wants to fight you without the simulation device. Although we can heal your injury with Evan's ability, this battle will give you a huge disadvantage."

Kai understood her intention and what she meant by disadvantage. It was obviously his Vibration Sword. That sword alone would penetrate the metal rods of this exoskeleton, so unless he wanted to cripple her, he shouldn't do it. The same applied to a few of his magic because it might cause a long-term effect. And yet Kai simply smiled and said, "I am fine with it."

Michelle and the others were dumbstruck, blinking their eyes a few times. As for Sofia, obviously, this statement thrilled her. "Great. Where are we going to fight? We need an open field for this."

"I don't like being stared at by other students, so I think we can do it in Michelle's house. You have a huge field for this, right?" Kai glanced at Michelle with confidence.

"I have it but…" Michelle looked down. How could she let another woman try to injure him in her own backyard? This is unacceptable. Besides… "My father is going to rage just like Grandfather you know."

"Please help me convince him. Besides, she will be with us for a year, and I will probably have used all my techniques in front of her by that time, so there is no need to conceal it. Instead, it's better to reveal it this early so we can cooperate better. What do you think, Sofia?" Kai smirked as he called her by her first name to show how he accepted her inside the group.

"I would love to. Since the great Leo has spoken, I will also use my power in this fight. Oh sorry, should I call you Captain or Kai?"

"Kai is fine. It's just a name, so no big deal." Kai shrugged before glancing at the girls. "You guys are not going to be mad at me with just a simple thing like this, right?"

"Do you want us to act like those 2D girls? Please, they are outdated after the magical beasts overturned civilization." Michelle shrugged, followed by a nod from Tasha and Ayaka.

"Oi, since when can you say something like that?" Sanae joined the conversation with a grin.

"I learned it from you. Didn't you sexually harass me with this kind of thing when we were in United Asia? Where Students will learn if it's not from their teacher?"

"Tch." Sanae clicked her tongue and looked away.

"I just hope that they won't follow your nonchalant attitude though."

"You want to fight me?"

Kai shrugged and looked back at Sofia. "We can leave school in three hours. Try to make yourself comfortable first before we go to Graham Family. Will that be alright with you?"

Sofia nodded. "Sure. I will follow your arrangement."