The goal of the 7th graders was to get experience fighting "basic" Demon Beasts on a level for a human that was equivalent to a Silhouette Knight fighting a Duel-level Beast, with an emphasis on fighting small groups or larger individuals. This was a step up from the 6th graders dangerous vermin extermination and occasional individual "basic" Demon Beast. On the other hand, the 8th graders were supposed to fight groups of Beasts with the occasional Duel-level Beast.
During the entire exercise, the highschoolers (9th through 12th) that were escorting the expedition were either guarding the main campsite or patrolling the general area looking for suspicious activity but leaving the extermination of Demon Beasts to the middle school.
*CRUNCH*
Stephania internally remarked on how appt the word "extermination" fit the situation as, yet another Staccato Lizard was hurled from their battle line in a small burst of scales and blood. The dorsal sailed reptiles were known to hunt in packs, utilizing their fast bipedal stride, sickle claws, and vicious intelligence to take down far larger prey than even their near human size would first imply. This airborne individual had the near entirety of its chest caved in, and its sinewy neck bent at a particularly unhealthy angle; quite dead even before it crashed into a tree followed by the ground.
A quick glance towards the spearpoint of their formation showed the tall metal back of the "Battle Armor", the Kishi, that Frededen was piloting. Having volunteered to take the position of "Tank", the proto-Knight certainly made an excellent vanguard, evident from the quartet of disfigured corpses at its feet. Initially, the Demon Beasts had attempted to avoid the larger and obviously more dangerous individual of their party.
The Kishi suddenly pivoted to the right as Stephania watched and dropped into a sprinter's stance. The ground under its metal feet burst in a small explosion of dirt as the armor hurled itself over a dozen meters. Its trajectory had it crash into a group of Staccato Lizards that had been harassing the formation's right flank. One particular individual served as an impromptu landing cushion and was bodily flattened in a burst of viscera. Capitalizing on the lizards' moment of stunned shock at its violent arrival, the Kishi lashed out with its warhammer as it rose from its crouch, the strength of the underhand swing sending yet another reptile hurling clear through the forest canopy far above them. Continuing the momentum from the swing, the armor's other arm snapped out as it pivoted and casually speared through the torso of the leaping lizard that had tried to attack its supposedly open back. The ease of the attack was through the now scarlet claws that were reminiscent of its pilot's personal weapons. Seeing the last beast trying to flee the slaughter, the Kishi bodily hurled the now twitching corpse on its arm with such force that the target became one as well, ending the encounter with another nauseating crunch.
"All hostiles terminated." the armor's distorted voice growled out, an odd clash of pride and disappointment still evident.
Suffice to say that the beasts were quickly shown the depth of their mistake in leaving the Kishi to its own devices. There were cheers from the crowd of students, all having a far easier time during the expedition than they had been led to believe. Stephania herself was torn; on one hand there was the fact that everyone else wasn't getting as much experience as they probably should have. However, the other hand was...
The back of the battle armor blossomed outward, allowing its pilot to exit. Thin clothing soaked from exertion and heat; the elder Echevalier sibling gratefully accepted a flask of water with a stunning smile from a suddenly frozen and red-faced water mage. The Selati heir couldn't blame the poor girl, not when faced with the absolute meal of glistening musculature that the silverette had cultivated. All too quickly, Frededen cast a drying spell on himself and his armor before climbing back within the armored shell.
The hiss and clank of the Kishi sealing shut served to knock a few females back to their senses.
Stephania privately decided not to say anything against the battle armor's performance.
]I[
I couldn't wipe the grin from my face as the party marched to another location. The thrill of watching opponents either be sent flying or exploding outright into gore, and it was even a service to the common people! Stars above, I couldn't get enough of this world. The only downside was that I hadn't been able to finish the maneuvering thrusters and the arm mounted heavy machine gun that will be replacing the basic manipulator that was currently my right hand.
Despite that, I had still collected a far higher kill count than everyone else, to the surprise of no one at this point.
"Alright everyone, it's time to start heading back to the campsite; especially if we want to have dinner at a reasonable time!" Acting Commander Stephania called out, her gaze up at the sun's lowered position in the sky.
"'Yes Commander!"" everyone responded back, diligently beginning the process of swinging the formation about without losing the strength of its shape.
"That looks like it's going to take a while to clean…" The voice of Stephania spoke up next to me, with her indicating to my now gore soaked armor. While one might be led to think that I was simply enjoying playing the role of a barbarian, and wearing the viscera of my enemies as a fashion statement, I was honestly just didn't have enough energy to bother with cleaning it right then. After all, everything cost mana while inside the battle armor, from casting spells to simply moving around. Thus, the idea of wasting energy just to keep my armor sparkly while still inside hostile territory seemed quite unappealing.
I lazily tilted my helm side and gave a slow shrug. "Eh, I'll cast some cleaning spells before turning in for the night. What? Were you perchance-"
I heard something.
"Frededen?"
Correction, I could hear something steadily getting louder. It was a noise that was quite familiar, even if this particular tone and pattern I'd never heard before.
"Frededen, what is it?" credit where it's due, the tone of her voice indicated that she already knew generally what it was, if not the particular identity. But I suspected that the distant buzzing could be faintly heard by even unenhanced ears at that point.
"Aerial insectoid swarm, contact imminent." I tried to murmur, but evidently failed if the stiffening of everyone indicated anything.
"A swarm?! Are you sure?" Stephania gasped, rightly worried about the threat.
"The sounds are too loud and the harmony too deep to be anything else." I grumbled as the formation quickly reassembled in the direction of the noise that everyone could indeed now hear. A quick command by the girl had one of our mages shoot out a magical flare to signal the highschoolers nearby. Well, nearby for the scale that Mechs operate at anyways.
In that moment I was struck by a memory. I remembered a time from my previous childhood, from my great grandmother's house. Living in the Louisiana wilderness, she had dumped her decomposable trash in the woods behind her home. I imagine that she'd been doing that for longer than even my parents had been alive, after all, the woman lived to be well over a hundred years old. That compost heap had been claimed by a beehive of such size, that the buzzing of their wings gained a deep bass thrum that you could feel just as much as you could hear.
It was an even louder and deeper version of that noise filling the air as a horse sized purple wasp crashed through the canopy above us with a hissing shriek. The creature was diving down towards our rearline and the squishy mages that stared up in horror.
"B-b-baron Beetle!" a voice cried out.
Don't ask me why a wasp got labeled as a beetle; it's a long story. The baron part was because of the royal purple color of their exoskeleton and the golden luster of their mandibles.
Said exoskeleton shattered as I power jumped into the diving thing, driving my left servo's vibro-claws through a segment of the plating. Unfortunately, despite locking the entire limb before impact, I still felt some warping and small cracks forming from stunt. Thankfully, the force of the impact spun the two of us so that I landed on top of the dying bug when we hit the ground just outside the formation. Despite my prompt reaction, there were more wooden crashes as more of the wasps arrived, and I was still elbow deep in a insect that had curled around it in death, forcing me to start ripping the thing apart to get my arm free.
Thankfully, my intervention gave the party enough time to get their wits about them and get their heads back into the game. Magical shields appeared to protect those that couldn't huddle next to one of our shield bearers. Soon, fireballs and earth bullets were hurled at the bugs, with one falling due to shredded wings to be quickly finished off by our melee specialists. Yet despite two already being dead, there were six others already engaging the group. And furthermore, the buzzing was just getting louder.
No, not buzzing. I paused after I finally managed to rip my arm free of the carcass with a wet squelch.
It was thumping. The same rapid thumping sound that my memory associated with helicopters. Indeed, the treetops above us were starting to sway in a strong gust. As I watched, my heart sank as an immense shadow suddenly appeared through those leaves.
The was a deafening cacophony of crashing wood as the majority of the canopy was ripped away, revealing something that should not have been there.
The students screamed in horror was one of the larger Duel-level Demon Beasts was revealed, known for being even more dangerous due to its escorts of smaller bugs.
"I-it's- it's a Gilded Baron Beetle!" Stephania gasped in terror, her fellow students not any better off.
I could only stare as the colossal bug glared down at us in bestial hate and hunger. It's purple carapace shone in the revealed sunlight, its great golden horns and mandibles even more so. A collection of unique predatory insect appendages all large enough to threaten Silhouette Knights, the Baron was also known for its flaming breath attack. Because of course it did.
I remembered this monster from before in another life, and it shouldn't have been here. If it was going to appear, it should have attacked a young mother and her two children while in a carriage with her father.
Yet it hadn't, and now it was here.
I felt tendrils of horror wrap around me as one thought raced through my mind:
This wasn't canon.