Kalli was relaxing on the front steps of the Academy when a System Notification appeared in her vision.

{Emergency Quest Available} Easy Difficulty. Maximum 5 members. Rescue Rick and James from monsters. Time remaining 30 minutes. Tracking Available.

{Accept?} Cost: 1 System Point. Reward for successful completion: 3 Points

As Kalli accepted, the mission appeared to the other students.

"Five-person teams? Does only one get the reward?" Yara asked.

"I think so? It says it’s a rescue mission. So, either only one team gets it, or you’ll have to split the reward. But we can send multiple teams." Kalli suggested.

"Alright, teams. How do we do this?" Yara muttered.

"One tank type warrior, one healer, one mage, then two more people. I know that we’ve got too many warriors, but that’s the basic group composition in basically every group game, right? It should work the same here in real life," Kalli suggested.

"And you?"

"I will wait here for you all to finish, and help the cook. Who knows, perhaps he can get a quest to feed everyone, and we can get some easy points?"

Yara laughed, while Sergeant Sanchez grabbed a mage and a pair of Warriors from among the students. Derek and Reggie were forming their own group from the classmates, and Kalli could see that there was one other group considering the merits of going out to take the quest.

"Alright, we’ve got two shield type warriors, myself, plus a mage and healer. Should we head out?"

Yara nodded. "See you all soon. They’re only five blocks away, and it looks like they were coming this way before being surrounded. It’s best that we hurry, we’ve only got 28 minutes left, and it might want us to bring them back here before the timer is over."

They rushed out, followed by Derek’s team, who were still arguing over who should be included.

They took different routes, as the students had a different preferred route than the tactical route that the Sergeant had chosen.

Kalli could see the beacon in the quest status, and the teams were closing quickly. But then Reggie’s team simply stopped. They were in the middle of a street, and there was no obvious reason for it.

They must have encountered enemies, Kalli realized.

The team was still on the edge of the area that had just been cleared hours earlier. But that apparently wasn’t enough to ensure their safety.

Yara’s team was approaching the pair to be rescued at what had to be a steady jog.

If they were worried about the rescue time, they were way ahead of schedule.

"Do you think that they’re alright?" One of the healers, a blonde girl whose name Kalli didn’t know, pleaded with tears in her eyes, clearly afraid that someone who left wouldn’t come back.

"Don’t worry. Both teams are fine. I can see the quest information, and both teams are still five people, and they’re both moving toward the target beacon. In five minutes, the first of the two teams should be there, if they keep up this pace."

That made the girl relax a bit more, and brought some of the others over.

"You can see how they’re doing? Is that part of your class?"

Kalli nodded. "I can see a bit about ongoing quests in the area, and this one came with tracking. The others didn’t, so I couldn’t see what was going on. But this time, I can see where the team leaders are, and where the rescue target is.

So can the teams. They can at least see where the rescue targets are."

"That’s amazing. I didn’t know that was even a thing."

Kalli laughed. "None of us did until a few minutes ago. But when they get back, they should have some fresh points. Keeping up with these quests is going to give everyone a real shot at getting something great from the loot boxes."

Right, the loot boxes.

Everyone had been so focused on the points, as that was the topic of the morning, that they forgot every quest completion gave them a loot box.

Both were important, and while they already had some Common Grade gear, which was what they assumed this was going to give again, the items from the boxes could also be important survival supplies and food.

No matter what the winning team got, it would be valuable.

Now, the markers representing Yara’s team and the rescue targets were directly on top of each other, while the marker for Reggie’s team was retreating from the spot where they had been stopped toward the Academy, likely seeking a better way around.

Then, they came close enough to see the other group with the rescue target, and both groups began moving back to the Academy.

They were moving fast, and that seemed concerning.

"Everyone, to the front wall, I think that they’re bringing monsters back with them. The teams are a block away and approaching fast from the direction of the gates. Both teams," Kalli instructed.

The mages rushed for the walls, while most of the warriors lined up near the gate to block whatever was coming in behind the approaching teams.

Hundreds of rat demons, as they soon saw.

"Get behind us!" Kalli called, wielding her club as a backup between the warriors and the healers.

She might not be suited for the front lines like the warriors were, but she wouldn’t let anyone call her a coward or a slacker.

The teams rushed past, and Kalli caught the two new arrivals, who were staggering with exhaustion. They both had bows slung across their backs, but no sign of arrows. That was likely what had caused them to become trapped.

They had run out of arrows, run out of energy, and then been swarmed by rat demons.

"Welcome. Here, have something to eat. Catch your breath and tell me what you have seen since you left the Academy."

They were still wearing the tattered remains of their uniforms, so they had to be students. But their bows appeared to be modern. Whether they were from the System or a sporting goods store, she couldn’t say.

The two teams joined the other half of the students, and hit the rat demons with a volley of [Cleave] attacks that wiped out an entire wave of the diminutive monsters. The others simply stepped over their corpses, but the mages were ready.

Fireballs, lightning and earth spikes exploded among the demons, and the attack wave faltered.

Some at the back turned and fled, while the rest were quickly cut down by the ranged attacks of the students.

{Quest Complete} Rewards granted.