KINETIC

Platoon one returned to the Infernum headquarters with several injured members but luckily no deceased.

Shortly after arriving at the headquarters, Leo held a meeting that consisted of everyone Captain Rank or higher within Platoon one.

The meeting was being held in what was being called the 'War Room'. It was something Leo requested to be set up for meetings with the higher ranking members of the Platoon.

Within the War Room there was one large round table with ten seats spread around it. Crystals were placed inside the room for light when the curtains needed to be closed during confidential meetings.

"We need to talk about what happened today." Leo said from his seat at the head of the table.

"What exactly happened? I heard something about multiple mongers appearing?" Clay asked.

"Cain and Connors squads were attacked by several monsters, each of them numbering over six. One third of those monsters were Uncommon tier." Leo explained.

"That shouldn't be possible..." Clay replied, dumbfounded "How did you manage to come out of it without losing any lives?"

"I went to help Connors squad while Nila went to help Cains. Luckily we were able to reach them in time and defeat the monsters." Leo answered.

"I still don't understand how this could happen." Leonard said "I did some reading before we left to learn more about monsters and something like this wasn't mentioned."

"There have been stories of multiple monsters working together when they are being commanded by a more intelligent and powerful monster, but even then they have never attacked with a number larger than four." Clay explained.

"Then maybe it was that panther monster?" Connor suggested.

"A panther monster?" Clay asked.

"After Leo helped us with the group of monsters, a panther showed up that could use lightning attacks." Connor explained.

"It was an Elite tier monster." Leo added.

"An Elite tier monster!" Clay said in surprise "Even Uncommon monsters are a lot to handle right now based on what you've said, how did you manage to defeat an Elite tier on top of that?" Clay seemed unable to process such a thing and was overcome by shock.

"I didn't stand a chance. It dodged every attack I made by turning itself into lightning and moving out the way. It's attacks were too fast for me to dodge as well, nearly killing me after just two hits. If the others hadn't shown up I would be dead."It was obvious that Leo was disappointed with his performance against the panther.

'I understand why he's upset but he's being too hard on himself. An Elite tier monster is the highest tier you can encounter outside of specific areas, it's a huge deal to survive a fight with one.' Clay thought to himself.

"Do you think it's possible that the panther was leading the other monsters?" Leonard asked.

"It's possible but I don't think it was the panther. When a group of monsters last appeared, it was around twenty years ago and they were being lead by a legendary tier."

"The monsters that appeared with it were two Commons and one Uncommon. For an Elite to command several Uncommons and almost a dozen Commons... It's very unlikely." Clay answered.

After answering the question, Clay looked like he was deep in thought while pinching his left earlobe between two of his fingers. The others had come to realize that he did this whenever he was thinking hard about something.

"If it wasn't the Elite then was there a more powerful monster somewhere nearby?" Nila asked.

"Maybe. Either there was something stronger than an Elite or there was someone controlling them." Clay said.

"Someone? Like... A person?" Cain asked with a confused expression.

"Yes. With all our abilities, is it really that hard to believe that someone could control a monster, or several at that." Clay answered.

"I thought all of the ability users were brought to the academy. I don't remember anyone there who could control monsters." Cain said, still just as confused.

"That's not necessarily true." Clay said and everyone waited for him to explain. "All abilities are able to improve, how they improve is dependant on the user."

"Take Leo for example, initially he could only use his ability through his own body, making it stronger and releasing Energy when hitting something. Now he's able to create blades out of wind and shoot balls of fire that explode."

"Taking that into consideration, it's certainly possible that someone could have improved their ability into something capable of controlling monsters." Clay finished explaining and waited a moment for everyone to think about his words.

After about a minute or so, he spoke again.

"The Cult could also be behind this."

"The cult? I didn't know they were such a big deal." Connor asked.

p "They are a huge threat, many of their members have several abilities such as controlling blood and creating shadow monsters to fight for them. Trent Zemor joined them and can now turn humans into monster like creatures called Beasts." Leo said with a serious tone.

" I didn't realize..." Connor said, frustrated with his own ignorance.

"Its possible one of them acquired an ability that allows them to control monsters." Clay said.

"So our suspects are a stronger monster than one we've already lost to, an ability user that's gone rogue, or the Cult." Leonard said with a pessimistic tone.

"Correct." Clay replied.

~Sigh~ "The best outcome would probably be a rogue ability user. The cult would be the biggest problem because even if we took care of the one with the ability, they could have someone else develop the ability again later on."

"A stronger monster is just difficult no matter how you look at it. If an Elite tier nearly killed me without even trying, then what could we do against something stronger." Leo said.

"I agree. The rogue ability user would be the easiest to deal with." Clay said as he reach up and pinched his earlobe.

"We need to send more Infernai to patrol the outskirts of the city in case of another attack." Leonard said.

"We can't just send all our best fighters, we need to keep some here for othertraining and other missions." Nila said.

"Then I'll speak with Commander Anders and Snythe. If we can send half the squads from each Platoon and add them to the forces already within the city then it should be enough." Leo said and everyone agreed.

With the meeting over, Leo made a request for a meeting with Commander Anders but was told that it wouldn't be possible until the following day.

Leo decided there was nothing he could do and knew that even if everyone agreed to the plan, they would only be sending the squads to the city in the morning.

He returned to his room, took off his charred uniform, and climbed into the bath. His wounds had completely healed by now, thanks to both Rene and the Regeneration skill.

'Atleast today wasn't a complete fuck up. We managed to get crystals from some of the monsters and I'm told that their uses are being looked into. If we can make something useful from them then at least the fighting yielded some results.' Leo said inside his mind.

'Dont forgot the whole point of the monster hunting. Your people gained experience.' Dreifus replied with an optimistic tone.

'I don't know how much combat experience they ended up getting when all they could do was defend.'

'Anything can happen on a battlefield,earning to defend is arguably the most important aspect of battle.' Dreifus replied.

'I suppose you're right, they did learn how to fight when overwhelmed. I wonder what reward I would have gotten from defeating that Elite tier panther.'

Thinking of rewards, Leo opened the system to see what he was given for completing the quest he had revived.

[Quest - Save squad 3] (Complete)

[Reward]

- +1 to all stats

- 1 skill point

- 2 stat points

'Not too bad, I'm one point closer to upgrade my Authority and the increase in stats is always good.' Leo thought.

STATS

- Strength - 31

- Speed - 31

- Stamina - 31

- Agility - 31

- Intelligence - 31

- Perception - 31

- Mental Fortitude - 31

- Defence - 31

- Energy - 320/320

- Health - 120/120

- Unassigned stat points - 2

- Unassigned skill points - 3

'I'll put one stat into Health and the other into Energy. Taking those lightning bolts has shown me the importance of increasing my Health.'

[Health 130/130]

[Energy 320/330]

After distributing the points, Leo looked up at the top of the page.

Name: Leofalor

Level: 17 (255 000/320 000)

Race - Hybrid

Evolution available

(0/30) Source material aquired

' Source material...i got the one i needed for my first evolution when I killed that Cultist at their base in the mountain. I have to kill another thirty of them before I can evolve again.' Leo began thinking that it might take a while for that to happen but then another thought crossed his mind.

'Do I even want to do another evolution? My appearance might change even more, to a degree that I can't explain... The boost in power would be good though....'

While mulling over these thoughts, Leo finished his bath and turned in for the night, doing his best to get a good night's sleep.