Kalli stared out the window at the night city.

Everything was dark, except a few spots where fires raged. With so little happening, every movement was obvious, and Kalli could spot the small shapes of rat demons scuttling between buildings.

Interestingly, they didn’t seem to be trying to enter or find shelter. They were scavenging what was left in the streets, sticks, cloth, long grass.

They were building nests.

So, they weren’t trying to break into houses and find survivors because they were building their own safe spaces here in the ruins of the city. They were going to have to do something about that eventually, or they would end up with a tide of rat demons that the class couldn’t handle.

Right now, they were a threat, but not a major one.

If there were thousands of them, they would be a true menace.

Kalli shouldered the rifle that was left by the window and used the scope to investigate the city, unaware of the silent Sergeant watching her every move instead of sleeping.

There were more small forms moving about down the hill, likely more rat demons.

But the pigs only appeared up the hill near the Academy. Down the hill, they were replaced by some sort of hard shelled monster with the basic outline of a large dog, but a scorpion’s tail and no fur.

It was hard to tell exactly what they were in the dark, but she saw them hunting the rat demons for food.

That was enough to tell her that the invaders were not a unified force.

If anything, it looked like they were battlefield scavengers, left over after whatever happened to their world. Now, they were here, and the world she had been reincarnated into was in collapse.

If only they had managed to keep a few more classes of students here.

If they had a hundred warriors with skills, they could easily keep watches, protect the whole area, and even send teams out to scavenge.

But at best they could send two or three teams at a time from what they had.

If they sent more, the Academy would be basically empty. If they sent them alone, they had no backup if things went wrong. But they couldn’t just search for survivors. If they didn’t have the power, they were just bait for the rat demons.

As the night went on, Kalli noticed a pattern.

The rats were growing in numbers and gathering into groups of five to ten. They were hiding in the shadows of buildings, as if they were going to ambush something. And the closer it got to dawn, the faster they worked.

They were clearly nocturnal, but they knew that both their prey and predators were active in the day.

So, they grouped up and waited away from the dens so that their numbers didn’t attract predators.

They weren’t particularly smart, as far as Kalli could tell. But they had predictable instincts, and they defended their nests by drawing attention away from them. That was valuable information.

"Find anything good?" Sanchez asked as he straightened his uniform and rolled out of bed.

"The rat demons are setting up nests and collecting materials for it at night. I think it’s in one of the buildings, but I don’t know what one. Just before dawn, they gathered in the shadows outside. It looks like they’re setting ambushes, but I think they’re actually trying to keep enemies away from the nest."

"Now that is valuable intel. Did you mark the locations?"

Kalli nodded and handed him the sketchpad she had been using. "It’s not perfect, apparently I’m a lousy mapmaker. But most of the groups are five to ten at a time, and rarely two on the same block."

"Alright. So the chances of a swarm attack are reasonably low.

Earlier last night, I noticed that the numbers are increasing, and suspected a nest, but couldn’t find any signs of it. I guess they just waited until later in the night to gather.

I wonder if there will be a quest to clear them? If the System gives us one, we might actually make some progress today. Both in clearing the area of threats and in getting rewards. But without one, it’s going to be impossible to get anyone to leave the safety of the walls."

"Well, you’re certainly right about that. With everything that’s happened, they’re going to start going into shock the moment that they have time to unwind and process everything.

Keeping everyone busy will likely be all you can do.

How about you start with a training session for the warriors, teach them how to use a blade. There are a few fencing students, and likely some martial arts experts in the group. Get them to help, and get the others comfortable with swinging a sword.

When the quest shows up, they’ll be ready and in the mood.

The quests seem to be geared toward helping us help ourselves, so I’m certain that something will come."

Sanchez nodded, and was getting ready to head down to the courtyard when another of the soldiers came up.

"I’ve got next watch. You two can head down for breakfast. We might not have the superpowers, but we’re still soldiers, we can take most of the watch duties."

Kalli patted the man on the shoulder, "Have faith, things will work out eventually. Not everyone in society needed to be a soldier before, and the same will be true with the awakened once we get past the fallout of the collapse.

Those with skills will matter as much as those with power."

It was a platitude, she knew. Over time, nearly everyone in society who didn’t have powers was likely to end up dead the first time that their shelters were breached. But they needed everyone that they could get, and she wasn’t going to demotivate a man who was already feeling down.

That was business 101. Keep your people happy and motivated, they will do better work.

Her old boss taught her that the first time he brought her to the shooting range.