Azure: Gunner

Numerical superiority is crucial when engaging an opponent of a higher Level. On open ground, the SFR (Suggested Force Ratio) for engaging an elite monster with low probability of casualties is 4:1 for a 0-1 Level gap (LG), scaling to 8:1 for a 2-LG and up to 20:1 for a 5-LG. Above 5-LG there are no established guidelines.

On advantageous or lightly prepared terrain, the SFR drops to 3:1 per LG. When defending a field fortification, SFRs of 2:1 per LG or better are recommended. Finally, when fighting out of an established fortress, a front-line SFR of 1:1 per LG is acceptable with fire support.

In any individual engagement, victory is achievable even when below the SFR. However, it is not sustainable as the number of hostiles increases.

- Army Tactical Manual (ATM) 402.42

[YOU HAVE NOW GAINED THE REQUIRED AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE TO BE PROMOTED TO LEVEL 6! CONGRATULATIONS, GUNNER! WHEN YOU ARE READY TO PROCEED, SIMPLY SAY ‘LEVEL UP’!]

I managed to ignore the ringing in my ears as I forced myself to my feet, wincing as I checked my resources. My health was at two-thirds, so I wasn’t too worried for myself, but Tara was still down and Siare was kneeling next to her.

“Is she OK?” I asked as I stumbled over to them, wincing at the amount of blood covering Tara’s body. The Healer had a worried expression on her tanned face as I knelt next to the two of them. There were two huge rents in Tara’s armor, where the claws of the Tier 1 monster had ripped through the metal with ease. Blood was everywhere, but as far as I could tell the bleeding had stopped, and her chest was moving just slightly.

“I… don’t know,” Siare confessed. “I’ve got her wounds closed, but she’s lost so much blood… I think she’ll be OK, but we need Lydia or Elaine to take a look at her.”

“Did you give her a potion?” I asked, and the Healer shook her head.

“Her helmet won’t come off!” she said in frustration, and my eyes widened as I realized we had no good way to get her armor off of her. There was a Healer Skill that would let them remove armor components from a Squadmate’s baselayer, but Siare obviously didn’t have it yet.

I reached into my medkit and found my injector. I held it helplessly as I searched for a place that was uncovered, but Tara’s armor was very well made. Even the small gaps between plates were protected by chain mail, and the only opening was…

I apologized to her mentally as I shoved the injector roughly into the wider of the two gashes on her chest, the opening just large enough as it scraped along the sharp edges of the cut metal. I pushed it as deep as I could before triggering it.

It jumped slightly in my hands as the needle fired out, hopefully reaching deep enough to deliver the potion. A few seconds later, it clicked again, and I withdrew it. I reached down and gently patted my teammate’s shoulder, then slowly stood.

My potion had taken the edge off the pain, but I was still wincing as I looked around the battlefield. Our team had taken by far the worst of the damage. Bria’s armor was dented but intact, and as I watched she channeled mana into it and it popped back into place. Venkat was limping, but didn’t seem to be bleeding.

Zaire and Arlo were both on their feet, but I could see the pain on both of their faces. G’hala was supporting H’ruk as the two walked slowly back towards us. Raylan trailed behind them, holding his hand to his side and wincing.

“Wasted fuck,” I heard someone say, then realized it had been my voice. The curse had slipped out on its own. I was sure the entire fight had taken less than five minutes, yet we’d been on the verge of death.

I knew that if either Squad had encountered the quadrosaur on its own, they’d have been slaughtered. Even eight-to-one odds wouldn’t have been enough to make up the nearly 10-Level gap. We’d had fifteen-to-one odds and barely come out on top.

“Indeed,” someone added, and I turned to see Venkat approaching. “Are you all right?” he asked, and I could see the concern on his dark features.

“Been better,” I replied drily, and he laughed.

“I’m sure. Sit down and rest, my team will keep watch. I don’t think we’re going anywhere right now.”

I nodded and went to check on the others, managing to recover four of my expended slugs. At this rate, I was going to be out of them soon. We waited for at least ten long minutes, watching Tara’s chest rise and fall slowly, but she still hadn’t stirred when a detachment of guards from Backhorn finally found us. They had a couple of Tier 2s and a half-dozen Tier 1s, including a Healer.

The stout man checked on Tara first, using some kind of Skill or Spell to examine her, and announced that she would live, she just needed time to recover from the blood loss. He gave each of us a bit of healing, but told us he needed to keep mana in reserve in case they were attacked. One of the Tier 2 guards, a Swordsman, stayed with us as the rest of them continued up the hill to check on the situation at the Academy.

It turns out even cute girls weigh a fucking ton when you can’t get their plate armor off of them. We decided to follow the patrol back to the school, reasoning that if anything was strong enough to take out the instructors, Backhorn was doomed anyway. Unfortunately, with both of the orcs wounded, none of us were strong enough to pick up Tara by ourselves. I didn’t want to try to carry her up the hill between two people.

Eventually we convinced the guard to carry her for us. Once he stopped protesting that he needed his hands free in case of an attack, he easily scooped her up in his arms. It was a long, slow walk up the hill to the school.

We arrived just in time to see the Squad of guards departing. It was a chaotic scene. At least a half-dozen more quadrosaurs were lying dead on the grounds outside the wall, along with one even larger specimen. But the gates were open, and inside we found people milling about, some of our classmates looking shocked.

Unlawfully taken from NovelFire, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Az!” a voice called out, and I spotted Wolf coming towards us at a jog. The Ranger was covered in blood, but I couldn’t tell if any of it was his. He stopped short when he saw the guard carrying Tara.

“Is she -”

“The guard’s Healer looked at her and said she’ll make it, but I’d really like Lydia or someone to heal her properly. Where is she?”

Wolf was already shaking his head.

“Let’s take her to the infirmary,” he said, and gently took her from the guard who sketched a quick salute, then departed to rejoin his team. As we walked, Wolf told us what had happened at the school.

“Most of the instructors were at our homes in the north valley.” That was the area up closer to the hills beyond the school’s northern wall. The instructors liked to live there because it was outside the dungeon’s stabilizing influence and had higher-Tier mana.

“We barely had any warning before we were swarmed by dozens of Tier 2s being chased by a high Tier 3 – it took four of us just to pin it down while the rest dealt with the Tier 2s. We managed to keep any of those from getting past us, but we couldn’t deal with all the Tier 1s running around.”

He shook his head, clearly angry.

“The alarm didn’t go off until the Tier 1s were almost at the northern wall. Most of them were stopped there, but some of them went up the sides of the valley and managed to bypass the wall. A dozen of them got loose among the buildings before Thompson and her pet stopped them. It was ugly.”

He sighed as we approached the small infirmary building. There was a row of more than a dozen cots set up outside, and most of them were occupied by a mix of students and Academy guards. Lydia was sitting on one of the unoccupied cots as we approached, and she stood with a groan. The Tier 3 Healer looked exhausted, and I realized I’d seen her like that once before.

“Put her here, Elias,” she instructed, then quickly checked Tara. “She’ll be fine. We’re all out of mana right now, so you’ll have to wait until we’ve recovered. Go, get yourselves cleaned up and bandage anything that’s still bleeding after you wash it thoroughly. We’ll need a few hours at least to tend to the most serious cases. Leave Tara with us and we’ll keep an eye on her.”

“But – “

“Go,” she ordered firmly, and Wolf guided us away back to the dorms. The common room was shockingly full. People didn’t use it often – when they weren’t training they were usually eating, drinking, or sleeping – and eyes widened as we walked in. We’d all repaired our armor at some point on the way back, but most of us still had blood somewhere, and we were moving slowly.

At least a half-dozen students were sporting bandages and quite a few people looked visibly shaken. There were a few smiles and nods as our combined Squads came through the door. I was happy to let Venkat explain what had happened to us as my teammates and I made our way to the showers. I quickly learned that, unfortunately, having an indoor bathroom with running water doesn’t make it hurt any less when you’ve got to wash out a wound.

The gashes down my chest had stopped bleeding a while ago, thanks to the healing potion and the guard’s Healer, but they were barely scabbed over. Parts of the cuts re-opened as I stood under the body-temperature water. By the time I made it out, the pain had subsided a bit. G’hala and I helped each other wrap some long bandages around our chests before we pulled on our clothes.

Jayce was the only one among us not bandaged up when we emerged from the bathroom. The monster had gotten both Tara and H’ruk along their right sides, since they’d been using their strong hands to strike at it. That was Jayce’s cybernetic side, and instead of bloody gashes, they’d ended up with half-inch deep gouges through the metal half of their chest.

“Does it hurt?” Raylan asked them curiously after they lifted the bottom of their shirt to show us the damage, nearly flashing part of a metal breast at us in the process.

“Not in the same way as our flesh does,” they answered in their dual-toned voice. “However, it is… unpleasant, and the sensation will be with us for some time.”

“How long will that take to heal?” I asked, slightly worried.

“No more than a week,” they responded, seemingly unfazed.

Shit, that’s a real drawback of Balance for our team! I mean, it’s saved H’ruk’s life twice now and also Tara’s today, but if we pile up wounds on Jayce without any way for them to heal quickly…

I shuddered slightly, but there was nothing I could do about it. I hoped G’hala would learn some more conventional healing abilities soon. When we returned to the common room, letting the Deathdealers take their turn in the showers, I was confronted by a stocky boy I recognized as being on the twins’ team – the human twins, that is.

“Az! I heard your team was back, and you were just lounging around in the showers?! What the fuck!”

My eyes widened in surprise as I stared at him. Shit, what’s his name again? Identify.