The next morning, Seth found himself in the back of the armored transport with Echor and Kong. Dan was up front as the driver with Bertha on the side. Echor was typing away on a handheld device, while Kong sat there dozing.

When Jacks said the Federation held relaxed attitude in this city, Seth didn’t believe him. If the organization responsible for the safety of the world held an easygoing attitude in security, who would feel safe?

However, when he was able to walk into the armory just by mentioning Jacks name, it made him feel like maybe the words Jacks said wasn’t a complete lie. The person in charge had even help Seth find and try out the equipment. That was how he found himself in his current get up.

Seth was decked out in a standard brown camouflage uniform. He was also equipped with a handgun and a standard issue knife. Seth would have prefers weapon with more length, but there was only standard issue knives available. Seth had thought that the gun was not going to see much action as he was still unfamiliar with guns, but it would work if a emergency happens. Seth was more accustomed to using blade weapons.

Seth faced another surprise as he sat in the Humvee. He had questioned whether security would allow them to pass through the gate. Oasis city was surrounded by reinforced wall, with only two points of entry. The walls were ten stories high and filled with guards, missiles, guns, etc. Any incoming threat to the city would be blasted to oblivion before they have a chance to reach 100 feet of the city.

Not only was there a physical wall surrounding Oasis City, there was an energy shield covering the city. While it was used more for temperature regulation, it did serve some protection against aerial monsters. It was barely noticeable, but without energy shield, the citizens of would be toast. The barrier made the summer heat from being unbearable to tolerable for the people within.

Seth had always stayed away from the wall as he never had any reason to go through them. People who were allowed outside were either strong Awaken or equipped with powerful weapons, neither of them were anything that Seth wanted to mess with.

So when their vehicle was allowed through, he felt as if he was lied to his whole life. The security guard merely looked at their vehicle, looked at Bertha waving at them, and just waved them through the checkpoint. No inspection, no passes, and no questions asked. Seth had been expecting some form of questioning, but his expectations were tossed out the window when their armored transport was allowed through

Over an hour had passed since they passed through the gate.

“Are you sure Hunter is fine up there? ” Seth asked.

“Oh he’s fine. He likes being up top,” answered Bertha. Hunter, the afore mentioned person was not in the vehicle. He was on the roof of the transport, keeping an eye out while manning the turret at the same time.

“Why does he need to be up there when there is a radar?”

“It’s his awakening ability. It lets him manipulate he five senses within this vicinity. Anything that see us, hears us or smells us, he knows it right away. Then he make us disappear from their senses. However it’s best done in the open, not in a car with metal walls around him.”

An Awaken who can affect senses? It was an interesting ability and one that Seth had never heard of. Then again there was thousands of Awaken in the word, each with their own unique powers.

Dan drove the armored transport while Echor would give out directions from time to time. Some of the directions were done to avoid any monsters. Others were to correct their path. Bertha would make comments time to time to entertain them.

What Seth saw through the window was just sand as far the eye can see. The environment was all desert. There was a few hills and scarcely any plants. The sandy scenery remain constant for the most part.

It was all really underwhelming. No monsters were seen as Hunter would distract them with his ability, or Echor would give out directions to avoid them.

It took an hour for the group approach their target. A dirt brown tortoise that was the size of a mountain.

The Fortress Tortoise.

Most well known for their incredible defensive abilities. Not only was the shell almost impossible to penetrate, it’s skin was also quite durable. When a Fortress Tortoise decides to withdraw itself, nothing would be able to break through. Its tough skin prevented entry through any opening on it’s shell.

Besides just holing up from threats, the Fortress Tortoise would also spin its shell. This would create tornados and sandstorms that could cost devasting damage. The Federation classified the Fortress Tortoise a Class 4 threat. Fortunately, these beasts tend to be on the docile side and rarely ever traveled near cities. However, the potential damage a Fortress tortoise could cause made them an object of observation. Hence the current trip for Seth and the Squad.

Dan parked the transport a good distance away from the tortoise and Echor threw a few scouting devices. They were the same scout machine that Seth had encountered on his first day in the Federation. The only difference was that while that one was the size of a head, these were the size of his fist. This scout machine was more specialized for the field. These machines were responsible for gathering data on the Fortress Tortoise and its surroundings.

Hunter remained on top of the car as looked out, while Dan and Bertha, helped Echor set up. Kong groggily got out of the vehicle, but his eyes lit up when he noticed the Tortoise. “We came here for that? Does that mean we’re killing that today?” Kong asked eagerly while swing his left arm.

“Haha. It’s a bit early to try killing those. Did you read the mission notes that were sent to you?” Dan answered.

“... I did a quick skim on them.” Kong muttered as he looks to the side.

Dan chuckled, not bothering to point out the lie. “ I can see that you’re going to get along with Bertha. She hates reading mission notes too. Anyways our mission today is to observe the Fortress Tortoise. In the direction it’s going, it should avoid the city and any outpost along the way. It’s our job to make sure it stays that way, but if it decides to change it’s direction for any reason, it’s our job to make sure to change it’s mind by any means necessary.”

“How come we can’t just observe it from the city?” Seth asked.

“Unfortunately, despite all the technology improvements made throughout the years, tracking technology isn’t perfect. You can ask Echor the problems that exist with the tech. He’s our tech expert on the field, but I suggest you not to ask unless your really curious cause he can drone on hours about it. Beside observing it, we also need to make sure that nothing shows up to be a threat. We wouldn’t want the tortoise to be alarmed right? Once it starts spinning, it can take days before it stops. We’ll need to change our maps if that happens.”

“So we’re just caretakers then?”

“Hahaha. That’s one way of putting it. Better get comfortable now then because here comes the most excruciating part.”

“Which is?”

“We wait.”

***

And so they all sat there. Waiting. Watching. For hours under the blazing sun.

Observation was mostly left to Echor who was recording data through his mechanical equipment. Hunter just sat on top of the vehicle, silent and still. Even after a few hours have passed, Seth noticed that Hunter hadn’t moved an inch.

It was quite eerie.

As the youngest of the squad, Seth and Kong weren’t required to keep watch of the Fortress Tortoise. Not that there was much to keep watch as the beast barely moved twenty feet.

Kong who couldn’t stop fidgeting the whole time finally couldn’t take the waiting and spoke out. “Can’t we somehow rush it along? Like, I don’t know, blow up its rear or something.”

“Bad idea, anything done that seems threatening would make tortoise curl up and up. That would only extend the time needed to observe it.” Dan said.

Echor chimed in “As long as you don’t actually hurt the beast, getting in close would be fine. There has been cases where people actually climb atop of it shell while it walked. However it is not a recommended action as one time an unawaken person climbed the shell, the tortoise decided to test taste the scientist. Apparently while the Fortress Tortoise diet consist mostly of earth, it is not averse to eating small creatures along with it.”

This caused the group to shudder at the thought and decided that their current distance was good enough.

“I have to say though, I understand what Kong saying. Let’s just blast this turtle to oblivion and be done with it.” Said Bertha.

“You know it would take too long and be too costly. The Federation isn’t willing to take the risk.” Dan stated.

“Yeah, I know the whole spiel. Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Bertha said as she wiped off sweat from her head.

Dan nodded in agreement. “Well boys hypothetically speaking, if our mission today was to take out the Fortress Tortoise, how would you guys go about it?”

Kong gave a answer right away, while Seth took time to mull over the question. “ I’ll go and punch it with all my might! I don’t care how tough it is, but if I punch it enough times, it ‘ll definitely die.”

“Nice answer, but we’re trying to avoid alarming the Fortress tortoise as much as possible. Just punching it won’t work. Only Awaken with top class strength can punch through its shell. By the time you try your second punch, the Fortress Tortoise would have already began to spin and ripped you to shreds. Seth?”

“I’ll sneak up on it from behind on it shell and then aim for its head. I’ll try to kill it as fast as possible. If I fail, I'll retreat right away.” replied Seth.

“Bingo, that’s the right answer. Except for the climbing part. We would gather as much firepower as possible and try to kill it in the first blow. If too little damage is done, the Fortress Tortoise would either ignore us or try to kill us itself by stomping or biting. That turtle is surprising agile when it feels likes it. If it survives after the first blow and feels threatened, then it’ll withdraw into the shell and began to spin. At that point, we can only retreat.” Dan explained. “Speaking of threats, Echor, are there any possible ones around here?”

“I see two individual metal eaters in opposite directions that are coming closer on the radar.” Echor piped up.

“Perfect. Since you guys are bored, go and take out the metal eaters. Try not to get yourselves killed.”