Maxine was waiting in the cargo hold of the ship with the other mercenaries while wearing a veil on her face. Even though she spent most of her time cooped up in her room, she had gotten more than enough unwanted attention during the week long flight and she did not want anymore.

Thankfully, all of that isolation in her room gave her plenty of time to read several books on goblin biology to make a more effective poison for them. She had devised five different kinds of poisons during that time. Four types, which she made a lot of, were debilitating in nature, but she only made a single vial of the last one. It was a deadly masterpiece that she called Plaguebringer and like it's namesake, it creates a plague based off of the being in comes into contact with by causing their own natural bacteria to mutate into something lethal. Scarier still, it became deadlier the stronger the being that she poisoned it with, but it won't infect other races besides the one. It was so nasty that she couldn't believe what she had made and nearly destroyed it. Still, she kept it just in case everything got fucked beyond all recovery.

Maxine's attention was quickly brought to her surroundings when she slapped away another hand from trying to grab her ass. She was tempted to beat the culprit half to death as well as the previous two that tried the same thing, but restrained herself since those idiots might actually be useful in the upcoming fight. Even if they were useless, they would be a sufficient meat shield for someone else. This was especially important since they were being dropped directly to the frontlines. Even if there are fifty such idiots, it won't be a problem. There has to be thousands of mercenaries on this ship alone and from what I heard from the other mercenaries, there are hundreds of these ships enroute as well. This definitely increases my overall chance of survival. Goblins are not known for being competent fighters. Hell, they are mostly known for their cowardice and disgusting eating habits. Beyond that, their phsycal appearance isn't much to look at either. They are inbetween three and four feet tall, green, have long hooked noses, oversized pointed ears and tiny horns on their foreheads. At least their cowardice ensures that they will stay in one large group.

Idly, she glanced around the cargo hold and saw Patrick with his mercenaries a dozen feet to her left. She debated again if she should help them in some way. Even after everything he had done, she still viewed Patrick as a brother, albeit a brother she was angry with.

She took one deep breath and gave in to her desire to help them before walking towards them. As she walked up to them, she created a few constructs with a particular purpose, but sadly they wouldn't last as long as she would like.

"Take these and give them to your people," Maxine told Patrick as she held out a handful of silver crystaline shards. Patrick looked at her for a moment with confusion.

"What are those things?" Patrick asked suspiciously.

"Warp stones," Maxine replied calmly, "Break one and it will warp you back to the academy. And before you ask, it's the only place that I can safely sent you guys to." And with the way I made them and the amount of energy I put into them, they should last for a few months. Hopefully, this mission will be finished before then.

"Why though?" Patrick asked and she saw Meagan behind him with an expression that was asking the same thing.

"Because, no matter how furious I am with you, I don't want to see you dead," Maxine replied, "Now I need to go make my final preparations for the coming battle. So if you are going to take them, do it now."

"Thank you," Patrick said as he took the silver crystaline shards away from Maxine and began to hand them out ot his people.

"You're welcome," Maxine said before walking back to stand beside Horatio Quay.

"Good. That was an excellent way to gain an ally," Horatio Quay stated, "And a means to mend your relationship with that young man."

"I'm still angry with him," Maxine said coldly and looked up as a countdown timer of five minutes appeared over the cargo hold doors. She took this time to double check that she had enough of her specialized healing potions, food and drink for the following months. And when the countdown timer reached thirty seconds, she transformed into her battleform and retrieved both of her blades. She made sure her Shadow's Embrace armor covered her sufficiently before forming the mask of her essence armor over her veiled face.

As a result of her transformation, the surrounding mercenaries took a collective step away from her. She even saw the three men that had tried to grab her ass start to sweat nervously. However Maxine didn't pay them any mind since the countdown timer had just reached five seconds.

Maxine readied herself to launch out of the cargo hold doors as soon as they opened, but she had no intention of being among the first group to leave the ship. There were several dozens of such idiots eager to meet the goblins in battle. Thankfully, none of Patrick's mercenaries were that stupid. Most of them were hanging back in the middle of the gathered mercenaries.

As soon as the cargo doors opened, Maxine instantly heard heavy fighting and the more inexperienced mercenaries jumped out of the ship in rapid succession. Within moments, it was clear enough for Maxine to fly out of the ship. She only gazed at the battlefield for a moment to orient herself before charging at a group of silver stage fighters in the air that were in desperate need of reinforcement.

She rapidly unleashed a flurry of strikes to either maim or kill the goblins as she flew amongst them. A few of them managed to take notice of her before she struck them, but it didn't do them much good. She was much faster than them and they were incapable of dealing with her speed. Due to this, it only took her a handful of seconds to thin the goblins out enough so that this group of defenders were able to overwhelm the remaining goblins on their own. I'm so glad that I spent time to look up goblin physiology. It makes it much easier to land a deadly blow with minimal effort. Still, I can't help but wonder why none of these goblins are peak silver stage and I don't even sense the gold stage ones. Maybe goblins are more fearful than I thought. Or they are up to something. I just don't know what it is.

"Thank you," the leader of this group of defenders said gratefully. Maxine looked at the defenders and she noted that each of them were suffering from various injuries ranging from minor to severe. Three of which looked as if they had no right to be even capable of flight and needed immediate medical attention.

"Here have those three drink these," Maxine said as she shoved three of her normal healing potions into their leader's hands and scanned around for another group that needed help, "I would stick around, but it looks like other groups need assistance. You can thank me later." She didn't even give the man answer before she flew towards another group that looked like it was about to be overwhelmed.

Like before she swiftly dispatched the goblins and rendered any aide that she could to the most critically injured before moving on to the next group. When she ran out of potions, she used her energies to heal them just enough so they wouldn't die before being able to reach the medical tents. She continued to follow this routine for several hours before she recieved a broadcasted message via spiritual sense, [Fall back to the city and recover as soon as the relief troops arrive.] At this point, Maxine had nearly depleted her energies and was thinking about falling back anyways. Great timing. I don't imagine they will have me rest for more than a few hours before sending me and the others back out.

Maxine waited until a group of fresh soldiers arrived before she returned her weapons to her dimensional ring and flew behind the battle lines towards the command tent. Just as she landed, nearly all of the soldiers within five hundred feet hastily drew weapons. "I'm a mercenary under the employ of the Republic of Calistant," Maxine stated calmly and put her right hip before asking, "Do you boys and girls know where the food is served?"

She saw a few of the soldiers look at her uncertainly before someone stepped out of the tent and addressed her, "I'm colonel Price and I'm incharge of the mercenaries."

"Hello, colonel. If I'm not mistaken, you're the one that notified me to return to base," Maxine said calmly, "So if you would be so kind, can you tell me where I can get something to eat?"

"It should be that way," Colonel Price said as he pointed to his right, "You have three hours to recooperate and I expect you to return to the front lines at that time."

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Understood," Maxine said in affirmation before walking towards the food tent.

However before she could walk far, Colonel Price added, "Thank you for treating our wounded soldiers. Without your aide, only a handful of them would've been able to get to our healers in time to save them."

"Don't mention it," Maxine replied, "Afterall, if I didn't patch them up, there would be fewer people to watch my back. I'm not fond of fighting a large number of opponents by myself."

"I see," Colonel Price said, "By the way, how did you procure so many of those high quality potions? We've seen those particular potions on the market only a handful of times, but we've never managed to get more than a few dozen."

"I know the alchemist that makes them," Maxine replied.

"Oh? Can you arrange an introduction?" Colonel Price asked, "We desperately need that alchemist's potions for our elite soldiers."

"I'll see what she thinks about the whole thing, but no promises," Maxine replied. I have no intention of mass producing my potions. It would take up too much of my time to do it and I need a lot of my time for training. I only make potions for myself or to make a little extra money.

"Thank you," Colonel Price said.

Maxine nodded to him before she made her way to the food tent. What they had available made Maxine feel disappointed. They had a nutritional paste and a small selection of fruit. There wasn't a single piece of meat to be seen. Damn it. I guess it's a good thing that I bought so much meat in advance. I can't risk going feral amongst so many people. She shrugged as she grabbed a couple tubes of meat flavored paste and heaped on a bunch of fruit onto her plate.

She found a empty spot nearby at a small table and removed her essence armor mask before digging in. Halfway through, she felt a small vibration from her dimensional ring. With a flick of her wrist, her communication disk landed on the table and recieved the call. An image of a female alchemist appeared hovering over it.

"Alchemist Maxine, this is a follow up on a complaint towards the Stardust Acadmy teachers, specifically Marcus Quinn," the female alchemist said, "It was stated in the complaint that you were summarily forced to go on a highly dangerous mission when you defended yourself from being molested, correct?"

"That's right," Maxine replied. I don't recall filing a complaint. Even so, if someone complained, why did it take them so long to contact me? It's been a week.

"We've reviewed your case and found that Marcus Quinn has indeed violated two terms in our agreement with the Stardust Academy," the female alchemist explained, "First being that he didn't inform you of the alternative punishment in which you could simply provide the Academy with potions up to a certain value. Second, he sent you on a nearly suicidal mission. If we go by the precedent, he was only allowed to send you on a mission with no more than a 30% fatality rate. Because of this, you'll be paid in the full amount for taking on this contract due ot Marcus Quinn's misconduct and that's assuming that you don't cancel it."

"What's his punishment going to be for his misconduct?" Maxine asked.

"That's up to you. You are the injured party in this instance," the female alchemist said, "Although it is considered normal to demand a form of recompense for such actions."

"I want you to find out who forced him to do that," Maxine said calmly, "It's highly unlikely that a man of his stature and reputation would initiate something like this. I'm guessing he has a relative being held hostage and the peopel that took sed relative are forcing him to behave like this. When you find out who it is, inform me. I want it to be the real culprits to pay for this crime, not another victim."

"Understood," the female alchemist replied with an approving smile and her communication disk when silent.

Maxine continued to eat, and a young man from Patricks mercenary troop sat down infront of her. He had almost raven black hair and she saw a gentleness in his green eyes. She didn't see any weapons on him. However she spotted a small dimensional pouch at his hip that could easily store any weapons he carried.

"Hi there," he greeted Maxine, "I saw you fighting out there and I have to tell you that you are amazing. I've never seen anyone move that fast before. Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Jason. Jason Markham." He extended his hand out in greeting.

"Thank you. I would shake your hand, but I don't want to hurt you by accident," Maxine replied politely, and held up her clawed hand to show why she wouldn't shake his hand, "I'm Maxine by the way."

"I know. I heard Patrick call you that," Jason Markham said and he scratched the back of his head, "I just wanted to see if any of the stories about you were true."

"Stories? Such as?" Maxine asked.

"Well, a few stories depict you as a malicious monster of a person that tortures people for fun," Jason Markham explained, "Honestly I don't see where they got those stories from. I literately saw you save dozens of people out there and you killed those goblins so fast that I doubt they felt a thing."

"I'm not as good of a person as you think I am," Maxine admitted as her mind drifted towards the vile of Plaguebringer in her dimensional ring.

"Bullshit," Jason Markham said firmly, "I know what I saw."

"Believe what you want," Maxine said and she looked up from her meal to get a better look at him. She was half expecting him to be admiring her figure, but no. His gaze was on her face and she couldn't see any sign of lust or ulterior motives in his eyes either.

"Is there something on my face?" Jason Markham asked cautiously while his left hand reached up to check his face and Maxine realized that she was staring.

Maxine quickly divereted her gaze back to her food and said, "There is nothing on your face."

"Then why were you staring at me?" Jason Markham asked.

"I zoned out," Maxine lied as her tail twitched back and forth in irratation. How do I tell him that I was only staring because I wanted to see if he had any other intentions? It's obvious now that he doesn't. I've gotten used to everyone trying to screw me over in some way.

"If you say so," Jason Markham said offhandedly, "Well, I best head back to my troop and recooperate. We only have a few hours to rest before we are sent back out there."

"I'll be doing the same as soon as I finish eating," Maxine replied, "Farewell."

"See you later then," Jason Markham said.

Maxine finished up her meal before putting her essence mask back on and Horatio Quay appeared beside her as she started to look for the place designated for mercenaries to recooperate. It didn't take them long to find the area where the other mecenaries were recovering. Almost all of them were covered in small nicks and scrapes.

Unfortunately, it was so densely packed that she had to revert to her base form to avoid poisoning anyone by accident while she navigated through them. She eventually found a spot amongst some female mercenaries. Most of them looked pissed off. It only took Maxine a moment to figure out it was because the men around them kept offering them money for sex. Assholes. I'm sure the people in charge would happily find you some fucking prostitutes. Why the fuck do are you idiots pissing off people that might be watching your back later?

Maxine nodded to the female mercenaries and ignored the men propositioning her as she found an empty spot amongst these female mercenaries. A few of them scooted to the side to give her some room as she sat down to meditate. She was more or less left alone for nearly three hours until Colonel Price approached them. He didn't even need to speak before Maxine and the other Mercenaries got to their feet.

"I need all of you to reinforce the northeastern line," Colonel Price announced and he pointed directly at Maxine, "And you report to the command tent. You're being given a special assignment. Any questions that you have will have to be discussed with the general."

"Understood," Maxine said before she headed to the command tent.

Once she was there, an officer gestured for her to enter. She saw a few men and women discussing strategy. Maxine politely waited for them to finish. While she waited, seven others arrived one after the other and none of them were below gold rank 3. Maxine was the odd one out at silver rank 9, but unlike the others, she was the only one among them that had multiple cores. A few moments after the last one walked in, the older woman of the group turned to face Maxine and the others.

"So, you are the gifted mercenary that Colonel Price mentioned. I didn't expect you to be quite so young," the older woman said as she looked at Maxine and redirected her gaze at the others, "In fact all of you have shown exemplary capabilities in the short time you've been here. Which is also the reason that I've called all of you here. The eight of you will be performing a surgical strike against the leadership of the enemy force. From what I've been lead to believe, these creatures are cowardly and selfish by nature. Without their leadership pushing them to attack, I believe they will be much less inclined to attack us so aggressively until new leader takes charge." So this is the general. But why did she add that extra information at the end? Is she trying to give me an incentive to kill them?

"Where are our targets, ma'am?" a blonde haired soldier asked.

"Your target is a peak gold goblin. His last known sighting was near the rear of the goblin forces, but it's highly possible that he's moved locations since then. Your mission is both to locate him and find a way to kill him. Any updates on his whereabouts will be found on this datapad. Any questions before you head out?" the female general asked.

"No, ma'am," the blonde haired soldier replied almost immediately and he turned to the rest of them to yell, "Grab whatever gear you need. We are moving out ASAP!" He didn't even give anyone else a chance to say anything. I might as well see what our mission is.

Maxine checked the datapad using her spiritual sense as the blonde haired soldier started to read it over and she sighed in frustration. Their main target was riding on a tamed earth dragon with large dorsal plates protuding from it's back. To top it off, the goblin leader had a dozen bodyguards ranging from gold 6 to gold 8. It was a nightmarish scenario. Their only chance was a sneak attack.

She knew that she could pull it off if she was doing this mission alone, but with one glance at the rest of the group, she tossed that idea out. Their group leader looked as if he wanted all the credit for this mission for himself. There was no way he would let her perform this task alone and steal all of his glory. Well, shit. I just hope this idiot doesn't try something suicidal like a frontal assault. If he tries that, I'm going full stealth mode before he can begin his charge.