"Sevens are down huh. But, what is he standing there in daze for? I guess he wants to meet his friends immediately. ?Magic Bullet?!"


    "Guaahh."


    Shizu took a shot at a confused and dazed Nevis, who had turned frozen stiff on his ground. The bullet struck against his armor, echoing a dull thumping sound, blowing him away. The impact brought Nevis to his senses.


    Simrly, he also realised the seemingly weak but irksome shower of bullets was merely a trick to push them toward the trap, and felt a rising fury toward himself to overlook such a simple fact.


    If anything, even the spot he had been blown away to could have trap setup around, and this was his final moment in the match. It came to him toote but, he finally understood he misjudged the strongest ss among first-years.


    However, ss-15 have crossed the bridge of no-return. What he must do is to push forward on the path only. Nevis renewed his outlook.


    "Are you alright, Nevis?!"


    "Fine. It didn''t do much damage."


    He gestured toward the worried members to halt on their steps, get back to his feet and fired a new wave ofmand while vigntly watching for the gunshot.


    "Beware of traps! Don''t let the gunshot get the better of yourself! We''re going to make a breakthrough with Koburou''s help!"


    Koburou was one of the—or, now the only student with scout job in the ranks of ss-15, the only surviving ?Ninja? after the encounter with ss-1.


    Nevis swiftly formted the n to have him check out for any sign of trap and slip past this area.


    But, they had just decided when a new wave of scream from the rear side jolted them.


    "Kyaaaa!!"


    "Gyaaaa!!"


    "What in the tarnation is happening now?!"


    "It''s the enemies! ?Machos? has appeared from behind!"


    "The ?Machos?!? Does that mean their main squad is back?!"


    Nevis''s eyes turned saucer wide when he heard the panicked shout, mingled with confusion.


    He almost went giddy at the news—?Machos? had appeared, even closing their sole route to escape.


    ◇　◇　◇


    After Celestin led group had intercepted and eliminated three of ss-15''s scouts, they turned to the shade of a certain barren mountain, and focused on quietly monitoring the movements of ss-15 and ss-99.


    The first to show any sign of movement was the ss-99. But they''re not the only ones; ss-15 acted in the same split second. Moreover, it was seemingly their leader that was approaching ss-58. This group immediately set their priority to trace ss-15’s movement.


    Afterward, they received words from Karua and returned to their ss. They heard details of their nextmand and again, left the defense line to entrap the enemies from rear when timees.


    Once they confirmed ss-15 was pushed to the trap by Shizu and Miyu, they showed themselves to ambush them.


    "n-san, would you cater to that group? I will take care of this side with two other members."


    "Hahaha! Right on, Celestine! Then let''s go—receive the baptism of my musclessss!"


    "I-I-I-It''s Machoooosss!"


    "Nooooooo!"


    —Shriek as if they''d belonged to hell dominated the area.


    It was unknown what had been the cause behind their ghastly screams; was it because they''re formidable enemies, maybe it was despair from being caught in pincir, or it was the sight of group of ripped, nudists—though they''re at least d on their underwears—rushing toward them while sprinting.


    "Faceee iiiittt! The Muscleeee Lariaaat!"


    "Kyaaaaaaaa!"


    The tragedy had begun.


    ss-15''s students found themselves in embrace of muscr, and—not that they''ve been measured—girl''s waist size-esque thick biceps. Their shriek echoed throughout the area, their HP plummeting by a broad margin. Fortunately, it didn’t hurt their body... but only god knows about their heart.


    The sudden jumpscare from Machos had ss-15 members almost weak on their legs. And having gone through an earlier ordeal, their panic was at an all time high.


    Meanwhile, n struck a victory pose on the other side.


    "Are you impressed by my muscles, eh?"


    "Woohoo, there''s no one like your muscles!"


    "Dang it, that pose rocks!"


    "I know, right?"


    A wave of praise washed over n from Machos.


    ◇　◇　◇


    Nevis found himself gritting his teeth as soon as the report about rearguard reached his ear. This was the news he had most wanted to avoid, yet here they were.


    "So the pursuers at the back are ''Gracious Simile Celestine'' and Machos?!"


    Nevis hurried put his mind to work amidst the *ng-ng* noise of bullets pping against the big shield.


    This was a trap. They had been lured into the deathnd. Ahead was the trapden path, behind was the deathly hug of muscles.


    The earlier ordeal had already cost them seven of their members out of 22.


    The pursuers at the back were counted to be 7, something they could deal with somehow if everyone lunged at them. But there''s no way ss-1 would watch it happening silently.


    He had no doubt they would be gifted with another bomb should they turn their back. It was a crossroad that couldpletely sweep the ss-15, and that option must be avoided at all cost.


    "There''s no way, we can only move forward! Let''s break through the minefield and take down their base!"


    Nevis promptly made his decision; a wise decision given the situation.


    "Kubrou!"


    "Here."


    "Trace out the traps and lead a safe route."


    Nevis'' words had Kubrou break out in cold sweat. He didn''t believe their opponent would have left such a convenient option for them when they''ve pushed them to the edge of despair.


    Of course, Nevis hadn''t missed it either, but in this dark road, that was the sole path for them.


    Alright, there''s no one beside himself who can break their current predicament—Kobrou murmured in his heart to ease his mind and swiftly adopted the firm expression.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I will do my best! ?Search Trap?!"


    Kobrou took the helm, while Nevis and Shielders covered his nks.


    Koburou was the glimmer of hope they absolutely couldn''t let anything happen to, else itpletely pushed already fidgety ss-15 into the chaos. Nevis took note of the situation in his mind, and focused entirely on watching out for any possible attack.


    "Calm down, everyone! Take a deep breath and look around! We haven''t lost yet!"


    He started by calming down his ss members.


    Caught up in confusion, the ss members turned to focus on Nevis, their sole pir to lean on.


    "Our path to survival is in moving forward! Yes, everything would be ours once we take down ss-1''s base! Get worked! 3rd squad, you turn to rearguard and stop anyone from approaching! 2nd squad, you''re our guards! Be the shield for the triumph of your ss, and smash through traps at the sight!"


    A bright new hope rekindled itself among the students as Nevis continued.


    "If we take down the base...... he''s right. We will win if we take down the base!"


    "Let''s do it! Let''s snatch a victory from ss-1! But please have boys shield against Machos."


    "Hey, heeey!"


    A few encouraging words from Nevis finally diluted their sense of urgency.


    A part of their group—mainly boys overtook the role to slow down Machos, their face contorted in grief-stricken expression. Nevis saw that, but could only whisper ''live well'' in his heart.


    "Nevis, it''s this way, the only safe path! Have everyone attack together to destroy the traps!"


    "You found it?! Good job. 2nd squad, concentrated fire now!"


    " " "Roger!!" " "


    Kobrou somehow managed to find a safe sounding route as he pointed it out, bathing in cold sweat.


    Nevis swiftly passed his order while keeping the bullets from breaching their circle. 2nd squad followed the orders and broke through the traps one after another.


    "Prepare yourself! And now, onwards!"


    " " " "Haaaaa!!" " " "


    Nevis felt slightly better when he saw everyone had taken precaution, and after splitting a tiny force to stall down Machos, they broke out in a run.


    But the concealed gunners obviously wouldn''t let them pass so easily.


    That area was ss-1''s starting trap field, and had still left with undestroyed traps remaining. Shizu and Miyu''s task had been to ensare ss-15 in those traps.


    Thus began a relentless assault of traps. Up until now, the traps had been designed solely to scatter them around or catch them in bundle, but the traps starting there were more than just explosive traps, includingndmines; some got caught in beer traps, some was entangled into the, while some were even hoisted upside down by snares. Through the joint effort of theirrades, they barely managed to avoid deportation.


    Amidst the chaos and confusion, Nevis kept the team glued together with his leadership, utilising skills and magic to help one another. And finally, with great struggle they hadpletely breached the defence line.


    But this was far from a joyous moment. When Nevis finally had a proper look at his team, he was left aghast. They had started with 22 members, but now only half of their members had been left.


    What a cruel joke it was, Nevis though. Still, while he couldn''t help himself from perspiring, he willed himself to swallow the pain for now and remained on their run.


    "It will be all over once we take down ss-1''s base! We have breached their defense line, everyone! Now it will be our turn to hold them at gunpoint!"


    " " "We will spare no oneee!!" " "


    Their struggle wasn''t all over, but that hadn''t dampened their morale. —Yes, as long as they also joined up with ss-58, they can bruteforce the rest. Nevis concluded.


    ss-1 wasn''t omnipotent. They should have no chance against them when severely outnumbered. Meanwhile, ss-15 still had ss-58 to team up with.


    And finally, the news he had been waiting for reached his ears.


    "C-ss-1''s base...! Nevis, I have spotted their base! I can also see ss-58 in the south of base! It seems like they''re simrly nning to meet us in front of base!"


    Kobrou was a man of few words, but even he couldn''t suppress that rush of excitement as he excitedly informed Nevis.


    "This is it, everyone!! You did it, we did it! It''s a pincer attack now. ss-58 are marching from south, we''ll sandwich their ss-1 base from north!"


    Nevis clenched his fist tightly at the break of news.


    “(The timing is perfect. If we attack simultaneously, even the ss-1 shouldy helpless against us!)”


    Naives’ mind raced as it mapped out the path to victory. However, that vision of triumph was shattered into a million pieces at the next piece of information.


    “Huh?! The ss-58 is heading this way!? Are they nning to join us?!”


    Nevis turned stiff for a moment when heard Koburou''s words. He couldn''t instantly process what he had heard. Then, with a bright red face, he shouted.


    "What the hell are they doing? Have they lost their mind or what?! This should have been our chance to st out ss-1 in a pinsir!"


    "T-This...I can only see 9 of their members. I can''t find any sign of other members! Plus, they''re being chased it seems!"


    "The what? What the hell is happening?"


    Nevis also turned in the direction Koburou was pointing out.


    He caught sight of four massive swords of light appearing in the mid-air, followed by the rumble caused by two massive silhouettes of monsters. Momentster, a human-like silhouette was sent flying.


    “What on earth is that?!”


    “I-I don’t know. But...I can only sense 7 members of ss-58 now.”


    “I-Impossible…”


    In a split second, two of their allied force members were deported out. The information overloaded Nevis''s mind as he felt dizziness assailing his mind.


    Sure, they only had mid-ranking jobs, and taking precedence, they could also qualify for high-ranking sses, yet they were so easily decimated to their current number.


    The superiority of numbers he had been so convinced of was dusted to the ground so easily.


    “(Is the power of the ss-1; if so, there''s no way we can do anything to their bas—… No, not yet. This is just the beginning!)”


    Even if their forces were halved, Nevis remembered that taking down the ''1st Group''s'' base would end the game. They hade this far; there was no turning back now. It was time to give it their all.


    “Everyone, advance!! After joining up with our allies, we’ll bypass or subdue that monster, and we must take down the base no matter what!”


    “ “ “Rogerrrr!!” ” ”


    Nevis set his priority to merge with ss-58 first, who were currently making a beeline in their direction as well. He had to know—who was guarding that base?


    His decision was swift. He was going to ignore everything else except the key parts and raid the base immediately.