Chapter 54: Cleaning

Looking out over the endless desert and feeling the overflowing heat despite her combat suit, Clémentine took a drink of cool water.

The barrier in the tent kept the heat away, but today it was heavier than any day, and even though Clémentine was not a mage, she felt the magical energy altering the weather.

“The fire element is denser in this place,” Érica muttered with an expression that seemed to be her resisting, saying some curses.

For a mage like her, this kind of environment was a weakness... A terrible weakness since she was an ice mage.

“Do you think the temporary dungeon has the same atmosphere?” Nicole asked, adjusting her gloves.

“Yes, it’s possible. Temporal dungeons are usually very different from natural dungeons, so it’s hard to say precisely until Andrés and Leslie gather information,” Érica replied, looking at the translucent portal, and when some small drones came out of that place, she signaled to her group and commented. “Let’s go inside. They should already have their report.”

The dungeon they were to clear was a temporary dungeon in the Sahara Desert.

Because of the overflowing heat, only highly equipped mercenary groups accepted this type of mission in these regions.

Unlike the last time they cleared a dungeon, they were now more prepared.

Both in experience and resources.

When they entered the tent, they could feel the space spread out, turning out to be larger inside than it appeared from the outside.

This self-set-up tent was enchanted with space magic effects to make its interior more spacious.

Inside it had a solid floor where a refrigerator was located along with some armchairs, while in the center was an operating table where Leslie and Andrés were using the small exploration drones.

The temperature was very different from the outside... Very comfortable.

Clémentine watched Liam playing with his holographic watch, then Aurora and Alice, who were eating chips together while looking bored.

It was no joke that they were letting them clean the dungeon independently.

They only solved issues and gave the resources; it was their group who was in charge of how to use them, organize themselves, and how they should act.

“The situation?” Clémentine asked with a solemn expression.

She didn’t want to ruin her first mission, and so she watched those who had the scouting job in her group.

Leslie tapped a few buttons on her holographic watch, and on the operating table, a 3D image appeared, along with some video screens.

“Magical density is high, with the fire and earth elements being slightly denser than the others, but less dense than out here,” Leslie reported, giving a smile to Érica, who sighed in relief and playing the videos where the creatures appeared; she explained. “This dungeon is an ant habitat. As an enemy, we have identified Rank C worker ants, Rank C soldier ants, but with stronger defensive capabilities, acid ants with an innate ability to spit acid classified as Rank C, and lastly we found a fire ant, presumed to be a Rank B magical creature.”

As she finished her report, an ant that could reach a human’s waist shot a fireball from its jaw towards the drones.

“Do you think there is an Ant Queen or a Rank A creature?” Clémentine asked her scouts.

“I can’t confirm or deny it. However, the ants have been fighting among themselves and the only thing I could say for sure with full confidence is that there is no ant queen,” Leslie replied, letting us see other projections of ants fighting.

Clémentine nodded sternly at the sight of such a situation.

The dungeon creatures fought among themselves, and only when one species was totally dominated by a higher-level magical beast or someone of their stronger species was when they followed orders.

The hierarchies of the ants, their habitat, their way of acting were still maintained even though they were magical creatures... It was instinctive, in the same way, that the weak followed the strong.

A queen meant that she would dominate the lower-ranking ants, just as the dungeon they cleared in Mexico, The Spider’s Lair, was dominated by a spider.

They did not classify the temporary dungeon as Rank A, but it was always possible for a creature of that rank to appear in a Rank B dungeon.

“The magic energy of the dungeon is at the lower limit of B-Rank dungeons. I doubt there is an A-Rank creature,” Andrés communicated and made some magical density scales appear in front of everyone.

They were in the year 2048, that meant that twenty years had passed since the ‘Great Cataclysm’ and since magical energy entered this world.

The magical and technological knowledge gathered over the years made it possible to keep a reliable record on the classification of both natural dungeons and temporary dungeons.

And the analysis showed that this temporary dungeon was weaker than the one Aurora, Érica, and the others entered on Atlantis Island.

It was more likely that it only exceeded the Rank C ranking limit by little a bit.

“It doesn’t matter if a Rank A creature shows up. It doesn’t matter if a Rank A creature shows up. First, we must clear the dungeon and then take care of it,” Clémentine organized after thinking about it.

They were only a group of five people, and it seemed slightly excessive to clear a temporary dungeon by themselves. Still, they were confident in defeating a single Rank A creature if they coordinated well.

As they were all very well equipped, it allowed them to make powerful attacks if they used their full potential, plus the support of their suits or weapons, they were confident in taking care of the creatures.

Besides...

“If things get tough, we just back off.”

Clémentine said with a smile, and while balancing a scroll she pulled from her space ring, she added. “We have plenty of time.”

The others also gave amused smiles.

No one and nothing said they had to clear the temporary dungeon the first time, or that they had to stay inside to finish it and, more so, when the temporary dungeon had plenty of time before it automatically overflowed.

The scroll in Clémentine’s hands was an item that would allow her to escape the temporary dungeon, so at any time, they could leave to re-enter later.

The word ‘coward’ was incompatible with how unimportant this mission was when compared to risking their lives.

It was true that they would rather run away and then come back and clean it up than ask Aurora, Alice, or Liam for help.

But that didn’t mean they were going to risk their lives as if thousands of lives depended on this mission.

“Are you guys done?” Aurora asked when she saw that they were already giving the final preparations.

“Yes, we’re ready,” Clémentine answered seriously.

The group had organized, and they had unanimously left Clémentine as the leader of the group.

She was the one who would make the final decision and would have to keep a cool head at all times.

The others preferred to focus on their specialties and their own roles rather than have extra weight on their shoulders.

“Well, first of all, let me warn you that whatever you earn from this temporary dungeon will be your own private income, apart from your monthly pay,” Aurora announced, and giving an amused smile, she added. “Income you can spend enjoying the city or paying for some booze for your superiors.”

Hearing Aurora’s last words, the quintet of students laughed in amusement.

“Or dinner,” Alice added from the couch.

The students looked at each other without holding back their smiles and nodded in unison in explicit confirmation.

At this point and after so much work, someday to relax was necessary.

They were young people in one of the most important cities in Africa!

Away from their parents and families, they needed a moment to enjoy themselves.

“These two will be present in case you call for reinforcements or there is an emergency. Remember, this is not a drill and, unlike the academy, we don’t have someone like Professor Santulli who can teleport,” Aurora said, pointing to Liam and Alice.

With her words, she was remarking on the fact that even in an emergency case; it was possible that the duo would be late to support them.

“For my part. I have other business to take care of and won’t be present, but I wish you guys luck,” Aurora added with a smile.

The group nodded gravely as they made their final adjustments to their plans.

They were ready for battle.

******

Aurora, as she rode in the cab, looked at her holographic watch projecting the battle of the students.

Unlike how it looked, Aurora did not send them out blindly.

Liam, with his stealth drones and his control over them, had investigated the temporal dungeon, checking for potential dangers.

Actually, Aurora had thought to send them a natural dungeon, but since this dungeon appeared yesterday, after the scan and verifying that the students could handle it, she took it for herself and handed them over to the group.

Watching as Clémentine and Nicole took the lead to fight head-on, Aurora couldn’t help but nod.

Nicole was devoting herself to being a main fighter who was in the vanguard while Clémentine, even though she was a psionic, was also supporting her a little further back.

Nicole’s lightning fists were causing great pain to the ants, and Clémentine’s psionic attacks were fatal.

As Leslie and Andrés had discovered, this dungeon did not have a queen or a Rank A creature, and although the ants were of one species, they were enemies.

So it was a perfect dungeon for the group to adjust to each other coordinating in a real situation.

A Rank B dungeon, with creatures of the same rank that, although some were quite tough, as a group, could be taken down if no mistakes were made.

What Aurora liked most were the roles that had been distributed.

From Leslie’s back, small wasp drones spread out through the tunnels, analyzing and checking all their enemies.

Leslie would give warnings and reminders about enemies as she went about creating a map of the dungeon that was shared via her holographic watch with her team.

Érica, for her part, took her role quite seriously.

Her ice spells were fast, and those with area effects were devastating.

Her ability to learn and cast new spells by adapting them to the situation was worth mentioning.

—They are very talented.

Her system, that was usually silent and acted as if it was lifeless, gave an honest compliment in text form.

“They are,” Aurora murmured with a smile.

The students she had chosen had flaws, but mostly they had great potential.

Aurora thought that if they worked hard, they could get above the A-Rank, which many were stuck at.

That was the level of talent these young geniuses had.

Even Andrés, who could have spent his time standing behind a computer to use his talent in a computer network, used drones in a spectacular way.

He supported and attacked at the same time without interrupting his teammates.

With medical drones, he was in charge of healing the minor wounds of his teammates before they accumulated, and together with his barrier generator drones, he gave them time to breathe easy.

His lightning drones not only paralyzed but damaged his enemies and were used as his only means of attack, which proved to be very useful.

“Maybe they’ll be done clearing it in less than an hour,” Aurora muttered, shaking her head.

That was a pretty high time for a group of five B-Rank students, so it was just as well.

—Their equipment is excellent, and they’ve been working pretty hard. A time like that is a given.

The words of her system popped into Aurora’s mind, and she could feel a definite hint of pride in that text in her mind.

Was he proud because she supported them?

At that simple question in her mind, it was only answered by a silence from her system.

Aurora found her system’s silence amusing, but in the end, she changed the subject.

“Do you think they’re ready for the ‘Ark’ mission?” Aurora asked quietly.

The cab driver gave a backward glance, but Aurora ignored him by pointing to her wireless earpiece in her ear.

That was an excuse to talk quietly to her system.

—They have skills, and they are strong. But missions like this have a great deal of uncertainty in it. There is no telling what will happen or what will occur during the course.

Aurora couldn’t help but agree with her system’s words.

“But they must do it. They are heroes and at some point they will have to experience this kind of situation and perform this kind of mission,” Aurora stated in a simple, yet serious tone.

Who was giving her the responsibility to choose about what the students should or should not perform?

It was a question Aurora did not have in her mind.

She would give her the chance to perform that mission, and no matter if they accept or not, her group would end up performing it.

As the leader of the group, she was only giving them a mission... A mission that would show them the reality that many unfortunate people were living.

—This mission can create problems for the students, but it can also help them mature. And it is vital if you want them to perform the ‘Assault’ mission.

Aurora nodded, knowing the problems her system was talking about and their need.

Heroes were presented as those who came from the sky in the middle of the city, saving innocent people from some monster.

Individuals who in the overflows were the first to be found supporting others.

And it was true, those were heroes, but only a part of them.

Another part that the world seemed to forget were those who crawled through mud, blood, and even sometimes inhospitable places to help innocent people who, for governments or important media, had no ‘value’.

The only reward in this kind of mission was ‘gratitude,’ which in the end left one wondering if it was really deserved or not.

While such ideas were on her mind, Aurora shook her head and pushed those depressing and negative thoughts away.

To some, they were worthless, but to others, they were.

Looking at the grand temple and its long flight of steps to reach the top, Aurora climbed down from the cab after paying the fare.

This temple with tall white pillars and an ancient style that occupied a large area was one of the most important temples in Zerzura City.

In this place was the Church of Time and Space with which Aurora was cooperating for the ‘Ark’ mission.

A mission that would be very important.