The Magician of Sound

Their eyebrows raised when they saw Kai looking at the door. Only a few people knew about Kai's hearing, and the fact that he was looking outside meant there was someone there. But the question was who?

With Kai's expression, Nathan suddenly remembered a person. The one who could make Kai flustered with just her presence. He started sweating profusely, confusing the others too, including Via and Yuki.

*Bam!* 

The door wasn't opened but slammed. A grey-haired woman slowly entered the room.

Kai closed his eyes, resigning to his fate. At the same time, he remembered what Ria said when they bid their goodbye.

'See you later.' 

These three words were never important enough for Kai, who was overjoyed by the medicine. Unfortunately, it also brought him to his doom as he never expected his teacher, Ria Ross, would come to this place. 

"Who are you?!" Colton, who asked the question to Kai, stood up and pointed his finger at Ria Ross.

"Oh…" Kai widened his eyes. 

"Colton, wait! She is-" Behind him, Alicia stretched her hand to Colton and tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Ria Ross smiled and snapped her finger. Seven swords quickly appeared from the ground and trapped him inside the sword formation. The first two swords locked his neck from the front and the back. The other four aimed at his hands and body, preventing him from moving. While the last one stopped right in front of his little brother.

Colton's body shook after this sudden attack. It might be possible to avoid this, but he just never expected that the person in front of him would suddenly attack like this. After all, if this woman were an enemy, Nathan would act first. 

As if he didn't see or hear Colton, Ria turned and narrowed her eyes, not at Kai, but Nathan. "Ya, old man. Have you written your will yet after sending the fake reports to me?"

"You know that I can't report everything to you?" Nathan sweatdropped and raised his hand, asking her to stay away.

"Heh. You need my permission to even give him a role in the army and you said you couldn't report everything? I really should kill you." Ria walked slowly at Nathan, like a boss concerning her subordinates. However, Nathan could only see her as a death reaper.

Before Nathan could say anything, Ria appeared right beside Nathan and sent a kick right on his face.

The others obviously stood up when they watched this. Nathan was their general in this operation, and if he were hit like this, it would also damage their self-esteem.

Out of everyone, there were three people who didn't stand up: Mano Yuki, Kate, and Alicia. Alicia even shouted, "Everyone should sit still. You should already know by now about that woman's identity."

"The woman who is loved by the sword." Yuki closed her eyes and smiled. 

"She hasn't participated in government activities since ten years ago, but she was indeed a hero of the era. Killing an S rank magical beast is easier said than done. If she actually comes back to the front line, the general position will naturally belong to her. We don't have enough rank to interfere with her actions." Kate added.

The others wanted to rebuke them, but couldn't. They looked at Nathan, who was blasted into the next room, taking the full brunt of Ria's anger.

Not long after, the swords that locked Colton finally disappeared and he could finally talk. "Damn… Is that really Ria Ross? I heard about her but never saw her in action."

"Why is such a person coming to this place? Is she going to participate in this mission?" 

"If she is, it will be reassuring."

Kai stood still, watching Ria beat Nathan black and blue.

After a few minutes, Ria Ross dragged Nathan back to the meeting room. His appearance was… horrible. Blood flowing from his mouth and a few other parts such as his left hand that bent in a weird way and bruises all over his body. 

"Medic…" Nathan called weakly. "Aren't you a bit too much? I still need to lead the operation after this?"

"A bit too much? I just punished you lightly. If we are in the simulation room, I will kill you one hundred thousand times until you feel death is better than living." Ria snorted. "You are going to continue the meeting in this state. I don't care if you call that Evan or some medics later, but you will continue in that state for this entire meeting."

"Ugh!" Nathan looked down.

"I heard someone is actually questioning my student's capability? Is that you, Muscle Idiot?" Ria Ross took a seat on Nathan's seat and forced him to stand despite his condition. 

"Ye-" Colton hesitated after looking at Nathan's condition, wondering if he would survive. In the end, he thought the 'punishment' would be more horrible if he lied. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Since you don't make an excuse and only question my student, you only need to stand in this entire meeting."

"Yes, Ma'am. Thank you." Colton nodded furiously before walking away from his seat and sat on the corner obediently. 

"Now, is there anyone who wants to question my student… or me?" Ria released her killing intent. "Don't say anything about military code or government. They mean nothing to me."

"No, Ma'am." The commanders saluted in unison.

"You may sit." Ria nodded before turning to Nathan. "You can start the meeting. That is if you want to heal yourself sooner." 

"Ugh." Nathan only gritted his teeth and endured the pain. "Alright. We are going to start the meeting. As she said earlier, Kai Carter is her student, and if I'm not wrong, he became her student a decade ago. So, you can somehow relate how she crammed the knowledge into him and have these ten years as an experience. That's why he did well in Prince Rupert and Cuba. Hence, I chose him to be the strategist in this war."

"Don't you worry. I will handle everything if needed." Nathan nodded before turning to Kai, "You can start telling your plan."

Kai nodded before going to the table, specifically the map. "I want to separate the army by their roles: Vanguard, Attacker, Defender and Reserve. Other than Vanguard and Attacker, they will have one thousand people each. 

"The Vanguard has one important job, which is to explore and secure the area ahead. In case they are having trouble in the front line, the Attacker group will move to the front. The Defender needs to make a rallying point in each tunnel, so when the Vanguard and Attacker had trouble, they could retreat to the previous area and have the Defender help them. Of course, the Defender will need to secure the path between the surface and the tunnel."

Kai explained. He purposely didn't continue about the Reserve as their job was obvious. "The entrance itself is situated in the north of this Underground Nest. We are going to fully control the place around the entrance before slowly going toward the south."

Via already knew about the plan, so she suddenly walked toward him and used her magic. The same map appeared but suddenly tweaked by her. It showed a glowing red color to show how they were going to invade the nest.

The red dot that was situated on the entrance slowly expanded. It spread only one hundred to the south, but all the way to the north. It even covered the level below them. In other words, Kai wanted to kill every monster in the north first before eventually coming to the south. This way, they wouldn't need to worry about their back.

"Timing is very important in this plan," Alicia commented while watching the simulation.

"Yes." Kai nodded. "I want-"

Yuki raised her hand, signaling him to stop. "Don't worry. We can brief the soldiers about it. They are not really stupid. We, the commanders, are enough to fill them the details about the timing. The soldiers on the scene will make the adjustment."

"But coordinating with them is a bit hard." Kai narrowed his eyes. 

"Yes. That's why we have your ears. You can oversee the general situation and send our reserve army or those Defender and Attacker groups to help the Vanguard meet the deadline. It's like we can't fight modern warfare because we are not allowed to use Radio. Hence, we are going with traditional warfare and sending a messenger." Yuki nodded, assuring him.

"Yes. That's my original plan. I will need to choose a hundred soldiers that have the fastest speed… But I will need to trouble someone for this." Kai looked at the commanders. 

"Colton and Faith might be the best for the Vanguard unit, Henry and I have the strongest power and our units are as good as us. As for the Defender, it will require a calm and decisive person, so it should be Alicia. As for the reserve, Kate will be the commander. Besides, General Nathan and Sherwin would also stay on the surface, right?" Yuki answered Kai with the role.

"Indeed. We need to secure the surface first to make sure you are not trapped underground." Nathan nodded.

"Sherwin must be registering the soldiers, so we can easily separate them and have the students blend with our groups. As expected, Alicia will need to deal with the soldiers' distribution." Yuki glanced.

"Sure. I can do it." Alicia nodded. "I will make sure the soldiers and the students have a balanced synergy. With Sherwin registering their traits, it won't take too long, I guess."

"We are done with the general situation and plan." Yuki nodded before returning the authority to Kai.

Kai nodded and asked Via to zoom in the map to explain the magical beasts distribution. "I'm going to tell you about the details now."