Chapter 159: Balls of fire
"Why?"
Atlan's first mission had more variety in their team's composition. They had one tank, one archer, one pugilist, a stun wizard, and a scout. He would have thought that a high-ranking team like them would be like that too.
"It's because we're fighting an Infection Canzer. Our main challenge in this mission is not to get overwhelmed by the number of Ifrit Canzers that come towards us.
A DPS is extremely unsuited for this kind of job. That's why none of them joined this mission. They can do tremendous amounts of damage, but only to a single target or a small group of them. They'll be useless against an Ifrit.
What we do need are Tanks and Mages. Mages might not have the greatest destruction power, but they can spread it out to a large area. That would work extremely well against Infection Canzers who are weak, but numerous. Tanks, on the other hand, can absorb the damage the Ifrits inflict on us and protect the backline.
Of course, we could have gotten stun wizards or other useful jobs, but HeadQuarters deemed our composition sufficient. All we needed was a proper Porter, and that is you."
Atlan didn't know job composition was so important. In hindsight, if they had any mage Saviors in the Pocket Remedium, they could have defeated a lot of Pseudo Canzers and saved a lot of people from death.
Atlan had a Mage LifeSkill, but its main use wasn't for dealing damage. It was for trapping and slowing down enemies while inflicting thorn damage.
"Are you all ready?"
They took deep breaths and responded with a resounding, "Yes!"
The soldiers activated the portal construct and a black shimmering liquid appeared from the edges. It infected the area enclosed in the circular construct, creating a Remedium portal.
"Hey boy! Thank you!"
"May Vulcan shine upon you and give you strength!"
The dwarves saluted him by closing their fists and tapping them on their chests two times. Atlan reciprocated the salute as he and the rest of Tarish's team stepped foot on the Remedium.
Atlan held the golden oil lamp with both hands. Even though he could handle it with only one, he didn't want to get careless.
His precaution turned out to be correct as they suddenly saw a huge ball of fire coming right towards them at extremely fast speeds.
They haven't even spent a second inside the Remedium yet there was already something trying to kill them.
Without even saying anything, Tarish and her team skillfully jumped to the top of a one-story house. They practiced this move countless times and saved them from missions even more.
DAGUSSHHHH
The ball of fire, the same size as a truck, exploded from where they once stood. It sent embers and molten cement flying everywhere.
Oh no. The porter!
They forgot that Atlan was part of their team now. He wouldn't know their team's evading procedure because they didn't have the time to teach him. Not to mention the fact that he was only in the 2nd stage, they should have helped him jump up to safety.
But when they looked back, they were surprised to see him standing right behind them.
He kept up with us?
They didn't have much time to ponder as more balls of fire, bigger and faster than the one before, rocketed towards their location and gave them no time to rest.
Tarish took the lead and jumped from roof to roof of the Masamune district. She used the large chimneys and oval workshops among the dwarven homes and used it as their shield for the incoming balls of fire.
The 6th stage Saviors barely had any time to think about other things, much more worry about the 2nd stage porter following behind them.
But they couldn't help but look back at Atlan. They worried that he'd be too far away from them if he tripped while jumping from roof to roof.
Imagine their surprise when they saw him right on their tails. And with every jump, Atlan surpassed the last one in their group.
He had to slow down to make sure he was behind them at all times, like a good porter!
They barely even dodged the fast balls of fire, but Atlan somehow evaded it while carrying thousands of kilograms in his hands. If they didn't know any better, they would have thought he replaced the Operator construct with a normal oil lamp.
The three men thanked Atlan in their hearts. If it weren't for him, they would have been the ones tasked to carry the oil lamp into the Remedium.
They won't be able to dodge those incoming fireballs, that's for sure.
While Atlan followed the group, he couldn't help but let his eyes wander around the Remedium. It was much different from the ones he'd been in, including his first mission.
The whole sky was replaced by a domed or tunnel ceiling lined with slick, mucous membranes. The whole Remedium was colored in a shade of green, making the membrane in the high ceiling even more nauseating.
Instead of seeing a horizon beyond the Masamune district, Atlan only saw enclosed walls similar to that of the ceiling.
These fleshy materials that enclosed the whole Remedium were subtly moving, spasming, contracting, and convulsing every second.
The buildings of the Masamune looked normal aside from being in a different shade of green.
However, these buildings weren't attached to the ground with their foundations. Atlan looked down and saw a slightly orangish substance that flooded the whole ground up to the first floor of every building!
And the worst part was that the orange liquid moved like a river and took the buildings with it forward!
Some buildings crashed into each other, causing one or both of them to submerge completely into the orange liquid.
This was bad news.
The fact that the buildings moved constantly meant that they could be put in a situation where they wouldn't be able to jump from one roof to another.
And just as Atlan thought that, Tarish stopped in place as she noticed that there was no building right next to them. They all drifted away, leaving them stranded like an island in the middle of an ocean.
A huge ball of fire curved out from the distance and headed straight for them at fast speeds.