Chapter 18 Rescue the Prisoners part one (1/2)

The last trip to Lapu only required him to pick up 15 Manta.He brought them quickly back to Cyphix then made one last trip to the Lake Cavern to grab his turtles.

”Display Stable content.”

[19 Elite Black Sea Turtle, 1 Aviante Manta: Mount Type)

He had found only one white manta all day, of course, he kept that one.Soup didn't need to be stored in the stable to be summoned.

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”Why did you need our Aquatic Gear?”Ronnie was flying next to him.He decided to stick close to the Daybreaker Guild, even though Jun Li had invited him to stay with Salamander.

Nix checked the queue on the upgrades, still a bit left before it finished.”The Aquarion Badge we received for first clear, enabled me to increase our speed from +18 to +36.It doesn't sound like much, but any advantage we can get at this point.”

”That's fast, ” Sharl was on the other side of Ronnie and was listening in on the conversation.

They traveled due east for nearly four hours before Semmi gave the signal to stop.At this time Nix gave everyone back their Aquatic gear and then moved beneath the water.

The rest of the force had older, less evolved aquatics for underwater travel and definitely noticed that the Daybreakers had some advanced gear. The moment they submerged, Nix summoned Soup and got rid of the Manta.He sat comfortably on her shell while she easily kept up with the Manta mounts.

They dived nearly straight down for about a half-hour before leveling off.It was here that the group stopped and sent out scouts. The seaweed from the ocean floor was thick, enabling the force to hide quickly, Sharl and Nix were joined by Semmi, Ton and Jun Li.

”Tilde says we are very close, the scouts should have no problem finding them.” Semmi was staring hard at the Sea Turtle that Nix was sitting on.As a pet owner, she knew another spirit animal when she saw one.

June Li finally asked the question on everyone's mind.”How did you tame the Mantas?”

Nix didn't want it to seem like too big of a mystery so he came up with a plausible story.”I stole an artifact from the Aquarions at the Lapu Crater.”

Jun Li's dark eyes locked on him, ”getting into that colony is not easy.”

Nix nodded in agreement, ”took me half the day to kill my way in.Things got a bit scary when I entered their nesting grounds.”

Sharl smiled to herself, she knew exactly where the next Daybreaker raid would be. ”The Lapu Crater is a nesting ground?”

”Yes,one of their Mount Tamers spotted me and chased me into a water cave.I got the artifact from her.”

Ton scowled at the idea of Aquarion Mount Tamers.”That's how they get the mounts?I had assumed that it was some natural ability they had as Water Creatures.”

Nix shook his head, ”nope, it's just a device.Not sure how many they have or how they get them.”

Semmi moved closer to him and placed a hand on his pets shell.”Did you take this turtle from them too?”

”Yes... Her name is Soup.”

The pretty blonde didn't hide her smile when he said the name, ”she's beautiful, don't you dare eat her.”

Wind and a Salamander scout name Rival returned to the commanders together.Rival gave his report first.”They have established a camp a few minutes east of our position.The camp has about 30 guards, most of them are melee, but I counted a dozen casters.”

Jun Li considered her scout's words carefully. ”So we outnumber them three to one, that's good enough odds for us.”

Wind shook his head, ”there's more.There's a second group west of them, eight in all.Four Casters and four melees.”

Sharl cursed softly, ”we'll have to divide our forces.”

Juni Li glanced at her second in command, ”how many would we need to divert to handle eight Aquarions?”

Semmi frowned at the question, ”At least sixteen, but if you want to win that fight, then more like twenty-five.”

”Shit!”Ton's mailed fist slammed into his palm.”We have a hundred people, that sounds like a lot but it isn't when you consider that one Aquarion has no problem handling two of us.”

”Why fight the smaller group?”

Everyone looked at Nix when he asked the question.Only Sharl knew that he was a complete noob, but he was also quite smart.”They will most certainly join the fight if we leave them alone.”

Nix nodded, ”Of course, I'm not saying we should ignore them.”He patted Soup's shell.”She's faster than anything in the sea.”

”Distract them?”Semmi considered the idea, ”it might work for a while, but they'd turn around sooner or later.”