There was a fuckload more Grimm then what showed up in the original 'canon' of the world. Hell, every few decades it wasn't uncommon for whole Grimm species to fade away and a new species that had an advantage in killing humanity and faunus kind to replace them.
No one bothered to come to my safe zone... They were all deep in hiding, dead, or constantly on the move to keep the roaming hordes of Grimm from overwhelming them.
But too the previous other topic... I needed to reinforce the safe zone heavily due to a fucking abomination I was hating with all my guts.
Deathleapers... Fucking terrible minivan-sized grasshopper-shaped Grimm that roamed in large packs of at least five dozen. And could leap and glide for more than three hundred meters somehow with a fuck load of bone armor on its front section.
And worse! When something hit the front of its armor plate/face. The Deathleaper would fucking explode sending glowing acid everywhere that melted through solid steel like it was styrofoam going through a white hot wire!
So I was being run ragged through the night via needing to have dozens of anti-air cannons and machine guns that had explosive rounds to keep the waves of Deathleapers from causing issues.
Though... I did find that I was getting used to running the guns in a meditative state in the back of my mind. It was like looking down at your phone to check your messages while you are still keeping an eye on the game you are playing.
So you can drive to the destination you are trying to get to without needing to give it your full attention.
But... The sun rose eventually once again with everyone besides the shipgirls looking a good bit tired due to the sounds of non-stop bombardment.
And now from the vantage point of my ships watch tower we were just waiting for Miss Goodwitch's supply signal to come around and while waiting we were having a good meal to bring up our energy and spirits.
'Also... It would really suck to be torn apart via Grimm and think, man... I wish I finished that last meal.' I mused as I ate some bomb-ass mac and cheese with hot dog pieces and washed it down with a DR. Pepper.
If I was going to die today again... I was going to die with some delicious food in my stomach.
"You ladies ready to go?" I asked after we finished eating.
Everyone nodded with Nora holding Ren's head jar against her chest. "Ok, so once again... Let me go over this. As soon as we see the signal. We rush towards it. As we certainly don't want to be left behind. If the Atlas Royal and her knight jump on the drill tank... Ignore them, if they demand to be let into the holding area, Prinz you get out and escort them in as fast as you can."
The top of the drill/tank was a platform that people could ride with the drill purposefully made to make sure debris didn't get thrown on top of the drill unit.
I gave Yang and Nora a look with Yang giving a wry smile and said. "I know, I will stay in the cargo hold. If something breaches the hold we are free to leave. I got it."
Nora who gave a firm nod of agreement so I exhaled and then I shook along with the building as a massive explosion rang off in the distance to the south.
"Thats the signal!" Alice spoke with some excitement and I nodded standing up with my arm-mounted cannons humming as I made sure they were properly loaded and ready to go.
"Alright let's move out!" I commanded as I ran out of the watch tower through the shell of the ship's body and then out onto the deck to get to the massive drill/tank.
And even as we were running outside to my tank with myself as quickly as possible got into the pilot's cabin in the side of the tank. I was also controlling all the anti-air guns on the ship to blast out the tide of Nevermore that flew into the air due to Miss Goodwitch's powerful spell that was leaking purple smoke into the air.
The girls got into the cargo hold of the tank and then I turned on the huge drills on the front and the grinders on the side of the tank that was meant to further break down the larger rocks that were collected for ore collection.
The seven hundred-ton machine roared to life and I could feel in my connection with the malformed ship its metal groaning as the massive drill rolled along its massive wheels as it rolled down the bridge and into the Emerald Forest.
And let me tell you... When seven hundred tons of machine going at thirty miles an hour hits some piddly trees. Those tree's didn't stand a fucking chance.
The roar of the engines powered by nuclear batteries broke through the bedlam of the forest that was at war with itself as thousands of Grimm themselves rushed directly towards where Miss Goodwitch had poured her power into blasting a large landing zone for the bullheads to pick up Beacons accepted students.
"Ursa." I muttered as we barreled into a grove and from the other side was a pack of half a dozen of the large bear-shaped Grimm that rushed with a roar and snarl at my drill unit.
But... Once again, seven hundred tons going thirty miles an hour seeing as there wasn't a rock wall in front of me. Equaled those Grimm becoming a splattered mess.
But then I felt with my connection some Nevermore throwing their bladed feathers onto the top of the tank making me frown as their large bladed feathers scratched the two-meter thick steel plate atop the drill.
"Time for countermeasures seeing as no one is on top." I spoke to myself with a grin and then some loud thumping noises rang out with a loud cracking noise followed by explosives ringing out as I used short ranged incendiary missiles I put on top of the drill to blow up above the drill.
While also activating the war crimes attachment I made sure to add to the drill's sides and back.
Dozens of high-powered flame throwers all shooting out, all the lovely napalm that was mixed with rocket fuel to burn even hotter
The missiles that had shot off then killed the flying Grimm around the tank with the force of the explosives, and then for an added benefit left a thick patch of lovely napalm behind the tank to block off the Grimm that were following us that the flame throwers weren't shooting far enough to deal with.
And in this case. We didn't run into any Grimm that was simply big, strong enough, or had mystical bullshit from eating human souls that could answer the drills... Drills chewing them up. Nor deal with the flame throwers.
"I am going on a trip... On my favorite rocket ship." I hummed a little ditty to myself as I drove the drill through the thick foliage of the forest towards the constant pillar of purple smoke in the distance.
I blinked as I saw on the camera's mounted on the top of the drill a large arch of ice shoot over the drill and then Jingliu fell onto the top platform with her catching who could only be Weiss Schnee wearing a more ornate than usual dress with better curves filling out the dress elegantly.
"Hello, again Jingliu, and Miss Schnee." I spoke through the drills outside the intercom system and as they said something I smiled wryly and said.
"I can only see through my machine's cameras and speak through its intercom. Do you want me to stop the drill so you both can get into the cargo hold? Or do you want the freedom on top of the drill?"
Jingliu and Weiss seemed to discuss the options before Weiss shook her head with her waving her hand glowing making a floating mist that froze into ice that clearly spelled out. [Outside]
So I shrugged and kept the drill moving with Weiss and Jingliu took charge of dealing with flying grimm as Weiss would seemingly lazily shoot icicles at blinding speeds into the air to shoot down the flying Grimm.
But a couple of minutes later, as we smashed through a particularly deep part of forestry I saw a group of three people running alongside the drill so I turned off that sides flame throwers and extended out the ladder attached to the top of the drill that was similar to the motorized ladders fire trucks could aim and extend.
I saw Weiss look over at the people who came up and climbed atop the drill unit as I kept on going with the drills speed kicking up. But whatever Weiss said thankfully didn't cause any drama or whatever as the three men just nodded and sat at the other side of the drill as they tried to recover.
And soon enough I was forced to make the drill go slower as more and more people converged on our direction as we got closer to extraction... But more and more Grimm was also appearing.
By that, I meant that I had more than fifty people on my drill unit... Fifty people! And the number of Grimm that were fucking around my drill?
Too damned many. But once again, mass equals force and a literal million plus pounds of force of fuck you heavy metal coming into you doesn't give the less supernatural Grimm a way to fuck with the people in and atop the drill.
"Jake, the top of the drill is becoming too full," Prinz said with a hint of something in her voice and saw some more people running as they followed the extended ladders to climb up. I realized she was right.
"Ladies and gentlemen. The top of the drill is becoming too full for people to be moving around. For future people, and the people with ranged abilities. Please all others sit down and tuck in to save space unless you see Grimm flying over your head or something."
I saw several people atop the drill frowning and some even yelling... But I just said frankly through the intercoms. "I have zero idea what you all are saying as if I had a microphone out on the drill... All I would be able to hear is the drill so just do what I say."
A couple of the people did what I said. And due to that we were able to pick up more people more easily with Weiss taking to the front of the drill to throw magical attacks at the larger grimm that came for the people that thought my drill was the easiest way out of the forest which it was.
As Miss Goodwitch didn't put the exfiltration anywhere near us... It was a good twenty-something damned miles away so at thirty miles an hour at full tilt. It was going to take my drill that could ignore all the obstacles for forty minutes to get there.
And it got ugly... Weiss and the other people with ranged attacks couldn't save or get everyone onto the drill with all the Grimm coming to my loud-as-hell drill and the sounds of the forest being destroyed.
People just getting bowled over by a rushing Grimm and then being torn apart. They were running without paying attention and they rushed into the same razor thread making Grimm that killed Ren.
That last one was... Alot more common than I liked with more than ten. thirteen fucking people running towards the tank and abruptly their limbs would leave their bodies and they would just fucking fall apart.
'The monsters are stronger than base humans not counting the mystic fucking bullshit when Grimm eat enough humans to gain their own magic. And they have so many damned way's to prey upon humanity as well.' I thought with a frown as I watched as we all jumped as the drill went through a Prairie Snatcher's nest.
Which was a Grimm that had the body of a large weasel without much armor besides their powerful claws which they would use to dig up the ground in a way that always sink holes that were notorious for destroying roads in the countryside when vehicles drove over them.
My drill however? It just tipped into the sink hole and then I controlled it to dig out of the sinkhole with the hole not even being deeper than my drill was tall anyway. However there was a bit of drama as the drill sunk low enough that some of the more agile Grimm were able to begin climbing onto the sides of the drill.
But with a hundred people armed to the teeth, they were quickly dealt with, via gun, or magic.
-
"That boy..." Glynda spoke with her face twitching as she watched through the scrying mirror as Jake summoned some abominable tank of a drill that was tearing its way through the forest through sheer mass of power with so many prospective students of all status's riding atop and within the drill.
"Well, he certainly has made an entrance. Reminds me of my own initiation in fact." Luxanna the master elementalist beamed with a chuckle escaping her.
Miss Goodwitch sighed with her looking at her once apprentice with a glare as she said flatly. "Using your light semblance and magic to burn a literal corridor through the entire forest and make a tunnel for people to travel through, isn't in the theme of training the best of humanity to become hunters."
To which Luxanna shrugged and replied evenly as she flicked a finger that sent a ray of light that flew through several dozen Grimm that entered the safe zone with the Grimm that were pierced exploding into ashes.
"Ehh. They survived their two nights in this damned forest. That's enough for me... And even then some people had it much easier than others."
With both Luxanna and Glynda Goodwitch looking towards Pyrrha Nikos and Ruby Rose who had made it to the safe zone first without any issue due to their personal power... And in part Ruby Rose who had the advantage of her cloak that screamed anti-Grimm properties.
However there were the outliers who were also just lucky to be around the randomly chosen pick-up zone like Cardin Winchester... And neither Miss Goodwitch nor Luxanna pitied him as Ozpin and the rest of the teachers were going to be remarking on all the students of note.
Which included himself as a prospect of 'note'.
And soon enough Jake's drill reached the safe zone with all its students with Bullheads having to leave the site as Jake's drill brought so many prospective students and retainers at once that they had trouble processing them.
"Soooo, think I can get Jake as my disciple?" Luxanna excitedly asked Miss Goodwitch raised an eyebrow at her once student before shrugging and saying calmly.
"That depends on his own will... And whether or not Jake is willing to be dragged into the political landscape as you being a member of the Crownsguard Duke family will bring even more of a spotlight onto him."
Although Miss Goodwitch had taught her disciple well, leading her to reach the A rank of Huntresses, along with having... With time to prepare, the power of an S-ranked Hunteress.
She still needed to have the legacy of having a student reach B rank with the clear potential to reach A rank. For herself to reach S rank.
And the reason Beacon was so successful in churning out Hunters was that the best of humanity wanted that final stretch of legacy to reach the vaunted status of an S-rank Hunter/Huntress.
Though... It wasn't like Jake wasn't going to have something of a spotlight on himself for his actions.
And for a moment Miss Goodwitch idly considered taking Jake as her own disciple... And then banished the thought as she was already S rank herself and after seeing the drama surrounding him with Nora and the other women she knew he was going to be in trouble.
Better to let the younger generation have their crack at him.
"So... What happens to his drill? Do we just leave it here?" Luxanna asked with a wry smile and Glynda's face twitched as she knew many factions would want to inspect the drill as it was without a doubt a piece of hardy hardware.
"I will bury it before we leave to preserve it... Keep watching for the Grimm though. You can make your case for taking Jake on as an apprentice during the welcoming ceremony when the Headmaster notes the students who did well."
-
Driving the drill into the huge clearing where a fleet of bullheads were was a quick and brutal affair. Everyone leaped off and ran into the bullheads for assured safety while rays of light shot over our heads to kill the grimm that followed us.
And after I got out of the drill I was surrounded by Prinz and New Jersey along with my retainers in Alice and Velvet before we threw ourselves into a cramped Bullhead with Prinz literally sitting on my lap with her being strapped onto said lap.
As we had reached hard max capacity due to the large mass of students I brought them all at once rather then them tricking in over the rest of the day.
Once we were flying in the air I had a male recorded voice speaking through the intercoms of the bullhead. "Students of Beacon Academy. Welcome to the most prestigious hunter academy in the world, once you arrive in Beacon you are to retrieve your baggage and you will be able to take a room to rest for the rest of the day with your retainers though if your group does not meet at least four members you will be assigned to a room with such numbers to save space."
The intercom continued to goon, about if we were injured we were to report to the infirmary where healers would be looking at us in more depth than the healers who were providing first aid here in the Bullhead.
But otherwise, the ride back to Beacon was uneventful with my head laying on Prinz's shoulder as I dozed fully at rest for the first time at not needing to keep the guns back at my ship going on.