I’d already finished getting general supplies for the hunt like rations, and cloths and alcohol for bandaging, etc. Filling up my inventory space it didn’t feel like I was reaching any sort of limit so I ended up getting enough supplies to last me a month.
Probably a bit overkill but hey, never hurts to be prepared. Now, to visit a magic shop and see if they have anything that might be useful.
I quickly find what I assume to be the magic shop, a stone and marble building with glowing floating crystal balls by the door in place of a sign.
That’s one way to show what it is you sell inside.
I walk up to the door and inside the shop, the sound of a bell ringing as I open the door and am greeted by a voice.
“Welcome dear customer! And ah, an adventurer I see! Need something to help you on a quest?”
The shop inside had several display cases, all made of metal with glass that occasionally shimmered with a coloured light showcasing what was on display. At a counter to the side of the door was an old man, wearing padded robes and a monocle on one eye.
Magic being magic, I assume that shimmer is probably some kind of magical anti-theft measure.
“Yeah, I’m looking for anything that might help me with a monster hunt. I’m joining a hunting party that’s going after the woodland wolf.”
“Oh that magic beast that’s been causing trouble? A few of you adventurers have already come in here for supplies so I know just what you need. Just a moment.”
He walks around the shop, picking up a couple things before setting them down on the counter.
“Alright, so first up is the most common but widely useful item, a healing potion! A bit higher quality than the standard potion, can heal any injuries you have like gashes, stabs, or internal damage. And if you’re fast enough even re attach small severed body parts like hands! Just either drink it or pour directly on the injured area and press the detached limb to where it’s supposed to be.
And over here we have something that will really help you against that woodland wolf,, a fire enchantment scroll. Though only temporary, it will light your blade aflame or any arrows and musket balls as well. With the beasts weakness being fire this is a boon that anyone in the hunting party will need.”
A healing potion would definitely be good, my ability with healing magic isn’t exactly enough to save me from any threatening injuries so I should get a few. And the things weakness is fire? Sure would’ve been nice to have had some incendiary bullets.
“Alright then, I’ll definitely be getting some of these then. But I was also wondering if you had any basic books on learning magic? And maybe a book on monsters as well.”
“Ah yes, we have some ‘Magic For Beginners’ from the royal academy available, along with a general Monster Encyclopedia on common monsters and where to find them.”
“Sounds good. So I’d say 4 potions, 2 of those fire scrolls and one magic book and monster encyclopedia.”
“Very well then customer, that will come to a total of… 12 gold pieces.”
My eyes widen a bit at the price and I question him about it:
“12 gold pieces? That sounds rather expensive.”
“Well materials for magic items and alchemy potions and production for them are rather expensive. The potions being 50 silver a bottle, the scrolls 3 gold each, and books are always taxed rather highly so they have to be expensive to be worth it with the beginners magic and monster encyclopedia book being 2 gold each.”
Geeze, I thought the Duke had given me enough money to last me a life time. But these seem like ‘basic’ magic items. I cant imagine how much the top tier stuff would cost me.
A bit reluctantly I hand him the coins, opening a bag I’d purchased and using it to help put things in my magic inventory without being noticed. With a ‘Please come again!’ From the old man I make my way back onto the street. Sköll yawns from my shoulder and I pick him up, putting him in a larger ammo pouch on my clothes so he can sleep.
Well, I still have about two days until the hunt begins. Might as well check out the books I got.
Walking along the main street towards the Dukes home I find a large plaza with stalls set up in it. More merchants selling their wares and even a few food stalls here and there.
Huh, guess I was too focused on other things to notice this before. Well might as well have lunch and read here.
Walking around I get a few meat skewers, finding a nearby bench to sit on. Smelling the food Sköll wakes back up and I hand him a skewer to munch on as I open the encyclopedia. Looking through the index and flipping through a few pages I find the entry for woodland wolves.
This is a bit surprising though. It didn’t grab my attention at the guild but now that I look at this book I realize how odd it is that everything is in english. Well that’s not too important for now, need to see if there’s anything I can learn about the wolf.
[Woodland Wolves:A common monster found within large forested areas. They act very much like typical normal wolves, but twice the size with claws and teeth to match. With Wood like plates of armor covering the bodies of adults, they are more resistant to typical weaponry. Their weaknesses are axes and fire magic. When hunting them it is suggested to have at least one person wielding an axe, and a fire mage or someone with a fire enchanted weapon to exploit their weakness.For monster tamers, like many other monsters the young of this species can experience accelerated growth if fed the corpse of a magic beast. The mana in the flesh of such monsters allowing the young monster to grow at a visible rate.Magic Beast Variant: Like other magic beasts, a magic beast woodland wolf is rather rare. But any that do exist pose a much larger threat than their normal brethren.
With thicker and even more wooden armor, there is no visible fur to indicate weak spots making them increasingly more deadly. Their wood armor is tougher than typical woodland wolves, needing hotter flames to burn it, and needing heavier axes to cut it.Like all magic beasts it has a magic core inside it, granting it the ability to manipulate magic in the form of plant magic. I uses this magic to either trip up its prey or bind them to hold them still and leave them open to attack.Even if one goes properly equipped they may still find it difficult to kill it. Greater strength and enhanced speed, they prove to be difficult targets to even hit. If one ever needs to hunt one of these monsters, a full hunting party is highly recommended.]
Well, it certainly sounds a lot tougher than the one I encountered a few days ago. Especially it’s size, It’d probably be much larger than even the biggest horses back on earth. But thinking back to how my bullets just demolished its armor, despite this one being tougher I don’t suspect it will be able to hold up much better. The thing about the young growing faster though sounds interesting. Maybe I can do that and Sköll will be able to watch after himself and maybe even help in a fight.
Closing the book I take out ‘Magic For Beginners’ and get to studying.
[Magic For Beginners:Magic refers to the mystical arts of spell casting and rituals, using mana to enchant. This is all made possible by the mana that exists both within our bodies and in the world around us-]
Yeah yeah yeah, that’s cool and all but I wanna get to actually doing something.
Flipping through a few pages I find something on casting a simple candle spell.
[Hold out a hand and focus on the tip of your finger. Will your mana to gather on the finger tip, and quickly recite either a prayer or go through what knowledge and understanding of fire you have. If you have sufficient mana then a small flame will spark on your finger tip.]
I do what the book instructs, holding out a finger and focusing as I think over how a flame is created.
Alright, pretty basic knowledge back on earth. A flame is created from a source of heat that is made when molecules gain energy and move extremely quickly. For a flame to continue burning it needs a source of flammable fuel and oxygen to consume. So, a fuel source surrounded by oxygen in the air, and something like sparks as a heat source to ignite everything-
I go over the knowledge in my head and will what I believed to be my mana to gather in my hand. At the beginning of this there’s a brief flicker of flame. But as my mind goes more in depth into how a flame is made it starts to get bigger and brighter when-
“Yebena mat'!”
It suddenly bursts into a large ball of flame, the heat radiating off of it like an oven. I quickly cut off the flow of mana and looked around me, thankful that no one seemed to have noticed.
Blyad', I was not expecting that. And that was supposed to be a ‘simple’ candle spell? That was crazy, does my knowledge on it really make that much of a difference? If that’s the case then I should look into getting more magic books. The academy in the capital would definitely have plenty I can check out when I head there.
Putting the book away to read later I go to eat my skewers- only to find Sköll sitting on the bench eating the last of it.
“W-what the- Sköll what the heck!”
He just looks up at me with a smile, giving a *burp* as he wagged his tail. I sigh and put him back in the ammo pouch, standing to go get more food.
“I guess you must still be hungry. Fine I’ll get more but don’t eat my share this time!”
He gives a happy *bark* as I peruse the stalls again, making sure to get extra food. I don’t find anything too interesting, aside from some books being sold at one stall though not any that interested me. Looking up I see the sky darkening and the sun beginning to set over the horizon.
Need to find somewhere like an inn to sleep for the next two nights. Huh, I haven’t been to one yet. Heh, maybe it might be like what most in fantasy stories are and it’ll attract some interesting people.
Walking along the main street I spot a large 3 story stone building. Marble pillars and silver lined windows with crystal clear glass, something the other buildings lacked. And a large cast iron sign with tankards of booze hanging from a post.
Well, looks like a fancy place, probably expensive too. They even have what looks like a parking lot for carriages behind it judging by the fancy ones I see. Eh, why not go in, it’s only two nights, nothing wrong with treating myself.
Walking through the front door I find the inside to look just as extravagant as the outside. And seeing the people inside I immediately feel out of place.
Exotic foreign looking rugs, silver chandeliers with glowing crystals lighting the room and smooth and fine looking finished wood furniture and countertops.
The lobby had some chairs and couches, a few occupied by what looked to be nobles and their entourage. A few people that were probably Inn staff walked around carrying luggage and bringing food to people.
“Excuse me, did you need something or are you just here to be a bother?”
A voice from the counter draws my attention and I see a woman in the same clothes as the other staff standing there. Making my way over I reply:
“Oh, right, well I’m here to rent a room for 2 nights.”
She looks me up and down, seemingly unimpressed by what I was wearing.
“Really? You mean to say that you think you can actually afford a room here?”
I just sigh at this, realising what she was implying and decided I didn’t want to put up with this kind of attitude. I reach into my bag and pull out a couple gold coins, pushing them towards her on the counter as her eyes widen.
“Look, all I want is a room and some food for me and my furry friend here. Is this enough?”
“Wha- I-I mean yes! More than enough, enough for a whole week in fact! Right this way miss!”
She walks out from the counter and leads me up some stair and down a halfway to a room. Opening the door she bows as she gestures me inside.
“This is your room and the key to the door. The staff will come around at morning and dusk to bring breakfast and dinner. Should you need anything else feel free to ask any of us.”
She closes the door and leaves me to appreciate my room for the next two days.
Well damn, talk about fancy. Not as big of course but everything seems to be about the same quality as what was in the dukes mansion.
I hold Sköll and place him on the bed as he yawns, covering him with the blanket.
Well, I guess not much else to do other than relax and maybe train a bit at the guild. Hope they have some better training dummies, I want to try practicing with my sword a bit. Wish I could practice shooting though but thunderous automatic fire would draw a lot of unwanted eyes.
I sit at a chair and look out the window, planning out what to do for the next couple of days.
____________________________________________________________
I stretch in bed, giving Sköll a quick pat as he wakes up too. It had been 2 days and today was the day of the hunt. I’d gone down to the guild a couple times to practice with my saber and thankfully they did have stronger dummies so I was able to get some practice with it in. I found out they were normally used for enchanted or mythril weapons, and I suspected my blade was the former considering how it just went through wood like it wasn’t even there.
Getting dressed and ready for the hunt I pick up Sköll and make my way downstairs, thanking the staff as I head outside and down the street to the guild. Once there I head inside, finding a group of around 10 adventurers grouped together close to the counter with A man in a fancy suit standing in front of them.
That must be the hunting group. And the man at the front, is he the guild master? Most of them seem to be melee fighters of sorts, but I see two archers and a mage.
Walking over the man in the suit and pointy ears notices me and waves me over.
“Ah must be miss Mila, I’m glad you could join us. I’m Yorlan the guild master, this is the hunting party you will be working with to hunt the magic woodland wolf. Everyone, this is miss Mila, rank C adventurer.”
I give a wave to everyone, some talking and a few looking closely at me and what I was wearing. A man in heavy looking metal armor and a full helm, carrying a tower shield and mace spoke up:
“This is the final one we were waitin on? A damn rank C? Even if she is a gunmen how the hell would she be of any help?”
“I can assure you all that miss Mila here is capable enough of helping in the hunting party. As you all are aware the Dukes daughter was rescued from a band of Slavers by a single person yes? Well, that was miss Mila here.”
A few start talking again, some of their eyes looking at me with a hint of respect now.
“Now then, back on topic. I know you're all aware already but lets go over the magic beast one more time. A magic woodland wolf has been going around terrorizing nearby villages and killed several people, even ruining a few caravans. Last it was seen was to the northeast from the city in the forest. Normally we would have some A ranks joining the hunt but unfortunately they all happen to be out on quests right now so you all will have to do.
Though It’s not likely, I’d rather not take any chances on it possibly getting any closer to Forswall and am having you all track it down in the forest. Remember, though not the strongest of magic beasts it is still a threat with the potential to kill you all if you aren’t careful. Be careful, and may Haorin bless your hunt.”
The guild master Heads upstairs somewhere and the hunting party makes their way outside. Walking with them down the street, a brown haired boy in robes carrying a staff waves to me.
“Hey, sorry about Jarid back there, he tends to be a bit overly critical of people he hasn’t seen fighting.” He points towards the armored man from before, who just grunts in response. “I swear he’s nicer when you get to know him.”
“Ah it’s alright, I wasn't bothered by it. You already know but I’m Mila.” I hold out a hand to shake and he takes it.
“And I’m Darin, Rank B fire mage and the leader of my adventuring party. I take it this is your first hunt?”
“Yeah, never been on one before. Took it because I’m about to get from rank C to B and this fulfils the requirement.”
“Yeah I was a bit surprised when I heard about that. How are you only rank C? Hard to see someone who took on slavers and rescued the Duke's daughter single handedly being anything lower than B.”
“Well, I’d been living in a village with my family until recently. I was trained by my parents who were once adventurers and I’d only joined up just a few days ago and had taken a rank up test.”
“Rank C only a few days after leaving home and rescuing a high ranking noble? Amazing for a new adventurer, but that does explain your rank. Well, aside from that have you ever had any experience with woodland wolves?”
“Just once, with an adult but taking it down with my rifle was rather easy.”
“Really? Even for someone trained,, without any field experience its normally a bit of effort to kill one for someone new even with a gun-”
Sköll pops his head out of my pocket and looks around, catching Darins eyes.
“What the, a woodland pup?”
“Oh, this here is Sköll. I found him shortly after killing what I think was his parent.” Holding him up he looks at Darin, panting with a smile and licks his face.
Wiping the drool off he looks at him closely. “Amazing, you’re both a gunmen and have a tamed beast. Though he’s still a child, he will become a fierce companion when older and with proper training.”
An archer comes up next to us,, a blonde elf girl in leathers and green hooded cape.
“What’re you two talking about?”
“Oh hey Lia, we were just introducing ourselves to each other. Mila this is Lia, the leader of the other adventuring party and, as she claims ‘the best archer in all of Celaria’.” He says with a playful smirk.
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“That’s because I am! Are you doubting me??”
“No no, I’m not doubting your skill or anything!” He replies with a laugh trying to wave off her attempts to smack his head.
We make our way out the gate of the city and onto the plains outside, taking the road towards the forest.
“Alright everyone!” Darin speaks up with a yell to get everyone's attention. “Like the guild master said, the magic woodland wolf is to the north west in the forest. We’ll make our way there and track it down, and if possible set up a trap to ambush it.”
I reach into my bag and pull out my AK, a bit early since we’re a bit away from the forest but better to have it out and ready.
Alright, time for the hunt to begin!
____________________________________________________________
We’d been walking through the forest for a few hours now trying to find the wolf. Lia had just recently found large footprints she believed to belong to it and we were following it. I look at one of the many densely packed trees around us as we keep walking, noting the large claw marks on it.
Geeze, just from the marks alone I can tell the thing must be gigantic. Well hopefully that’ll make it easier to spot.
Darin and some of the others were talking when Lia suddenly held up a first for us to talk, everyone immediately quieting down.
“Quiet! Something isn’t right.”
I hold onto Sköll to quiet him as we all listen to our surroundings, the rest of us noticing what was wrong.
It’s quiet, too quiet. I can’t hear any birds or even any insects or anything at all. Normally something like that would only happen when there’s a predator arou- wait.. OH DER'MO-!
I hold up my AK to aim and look around but I didn’t react fast enough. There’s a howl from somewhere and whooshing air.
“GRAAAAH!”
There’s a yell and some screams from the front and I look to see Jarid knocking a woodland wolf back off of his shield, the other fighters around him fending off a pack of nearly a dozen more.
“Shit! Everyone, to arms!” Lia cries out and draws her bow, managing to get a lucky shot and immediately down a wolf that was about to pounce on someone.
With the others fighting and me safely in the back, I’m able to take a moment to aim and line up some shots.
BANG BANG BANG BANG
Four shots ring out and four wolves drop to the ground, either dead or on deaths door as blood seeped out from their wounds. With a third of their number suddenly gone the wolves are pushed to the defensive, the others finishing most of them off. A man in leathers breaks formation though,, confident that the battle was already over.
“Wait! Don’t break formation!” Darin yells out to them but one person doesn’t react fast enough having already moved. As soon as he got some steps away from the others there’s a brown and green blur coming from the trees. I look at the guy that stepped out only to nearly lose my lunch.
His legs fell to the ground, detached from the torso that now hung from the jaws of a military humvee sized woodland wolf. Just like the book said it was completely covered all over in a wooden armor, looking more like a walking tree shaped like a wolf.
“O Bozhe…”
“Tarin nooo!”
“It’s the magic woodland wolf!”
It swallows the mans upper body in one gulp, with the fighters still fending off the other wolves.
Awoooo!!
It lets out a loud howl, causing some of the fighters legs to shake and making Sköll whimper from my pocket. It looks at them and licks its lips, standing on its legs and leaping up-
BANG BANG BANG
Only to crash back down to the ground when I shoot at it. A bit wobbly it stands back up, glaring at me with fury visible in its eyes. The wooden armor on its chest had been blown to bits by the bullets, no longer offering any protection with some blood dripping out of a hole. But It looked like I had failed to hit anything vital.
Though I didn't know much about monsters, something looked off about it though. Underneath the shattered armor rather than seeing a green fur/hide, it was a deep crimson red, and it wasn't like that because of any blood. Suddenly it howled, it’s body bulking up a bit as it ran at the line of fighters. They all try to group up and form a wall but as they move, roots sprout out from the ground and wrap around their legs, causing them all to fall over as it charges at me.
“I wont let you!”
Darin yelled with rage. He pointed his staff at it and a ball of flame was launched from it, impacting the wolfs side in an explosion of fire as it was stopped in its tracks. It growled fiercely as it looked at him but then there was another shout.
“HAAAHHH!!”
Jarid slams into its side with his shield, a faint glow around it as the wolf is launched into a tree with a yelp.
“Mila you don’t need to reload your gun right? Shoot at it!” Darin shouts at me. I aim down the sights, and with the thing still dazed trying to stand up, I’m able to aim at its now unarmored underside.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG
Holding down the trigger I let loose a hail of automatic fire, tearing open its chest and blood splattering everywhere. It whines and howls at first but just a few shots after it goes still. With the magic woodland wolf down the other wolves seeing the death of it turn around and run off into the forest, finally giving us the chance to relax. Just to make sure it’s dead I walk up to its body and shove my gun against it’s head and go to fire.
As soon as the barrel touches it though suddenly my AK begins to glow along with a spot on the wolfs forehead.
“Chto za?!”
It briefly flashes and blinds me, then just as quickly the light fades away. Rubbing my eyes I look down at my AK and am surprised by what I see.
“What in the….”
Looking it over my AK had just changed. No longer was it just the basic rifle, but now attached to it was a silencer, a wooden forward grip, a flashlight/laser attachment under the barrel, and scope sitting on top.
What in the hell just happened?
“Mila! Are you alright?”
Darin and Lia run over to me, some dirt on their clothes but otherwise unharmed.
“Yeah, I’m alright, you two seem to be as well. But everyone else though…”
Though it wasn't for long, the magic woodland wolf knocking down the fighters and opened them up to be attacked by the other wolves. Thankfully no one else had died but I could see a few of them were nursing bleeding arms.
“Here.”
I pull out a healing potion and hand it to Darin.
“Use it to heal the others injuries, don’t want their wounds getting infected.”
He nods his thanks and runs off to help the others. Lia meanwhile takes out a knife and crouches near the beasts corpes and cuts into its head.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for its magic core. Damn thing killed one of our own so it better have a damned good quality one at least.”
With a lot of grunting and effort, she manages to cut its scalp open and expose its brain.
“What th- where is it?!”
“Whats the matter?”
“The damn core is supposed to be in its brain, but its not in here! What the hell kind of magic beast doesn’t have a magic core in it!?”
She kicks its body in frustration, clearly pissed at not being able to retrieve such a valuable item. “I’ll butcher the rest of it later, I’m going to check on the others.”
As she walks off Sköll pokes his head out. When he sees the dead wolf her starts howling, trying to climb out at pawing towards it.
“What is it buddy, something the matter?”
Putting him on the ground he immediately runs up to it. He pushes against its head with his paws, whimpering and what looked like tears coming from his eyes.
“Buddy why are you crying? Is it.. the wolf… aw shit.”
I mean I feel like this would be a bit of a jump in thinking to come to this conclusion, but the way Sköll is visibly crying over its body… blyad’, did I just kill his other parent? Dammit, I know I didn't have a choice now and back then, but the fact I killed both his parents still makes me feel like shit…
It’s some several more minutes before Dian and Lia finish checking on the others, by that time Sköll had tired himself out and fell asleep and was resting back in my pocket again. Coming over Lia started cutting off its hide and meat into pieces while Darin came up to me.
“Thank you for your potion, with it no one will have any lasting effect from their injuries. Everyone is healed and we have Tarins bo-, well, what’s left of him ready to take home. Once Lia is done harvesting its corpse we’ll all be heading out, though its a shame we couldn’t get its core. That alright with you?”
“Yeah, that works for me.”
Now that I think about it, It’s head did glow around where Lia looked for its core the same moment my gun did. Could that be connected? I’m not sure yet, but with my AK suddenly gaining these attachments and the core not being in the monster afterwards, I can’t help but think they’re related.
A little while later Lia stands up, having finished cutting and putting the parts of the wolf into bags. We all pick up our things and get moving, heading back to Forswall but then she approaches me.
“Mila, did you notice anything weird about the wolf when we were fighting it?”
“Uhh, I mean it’s fur was red instead of green but I’m sure you already saw that. And it’s body did suddenly get bigger when it howled but that’s about it. Why, did you find something?”
“Well, when I was cutting it up I found stitches across it’s chest. It looked like someone had cut it open and then sewed it shut. Not to mention its innards. It should still be familiar to normal woodland wolves but there were organs inside that I didn’t recognize.”
“Huh, that does make it seem rather odd if not a bit suspicious.”
“I’m not sure what’s up with it, we’ll need to report this to the guild master. Anyways come on, everyones ready to go.”
*sigh* We killed it but dammit, someone died. If I’d only had time to use the fire enchantment scroll, or if I was just a little fast- No! Don’t think like that Mila. You’re perfectly aware that you did the best you could. If I hadn’t been here then that damned thing probably would’ve killed more than just one person. We’re lucky that only person was killed.
What Lia said about the wolf though, someone had cut it open before and stitched it, and unknown organs inside? That almost makes it sound like someone was experimenting on it or something...
We walked onwards, happy to be done with the hunt though with a bit of a somber mood. I hadn’t noticed the sky darkening, the clouds overhead becoming gray and then beginning to rain.
Oh that’s just greaaat. Exactly what I needed right now when we’re about to walk through the plains, I love the idea of trudging through mud. *sigh* I just hope we can get back soon.
____________________________________________________________
We finally reach Forswall, walking through the gate and the rain stopping as soon as we do.
What the hell… guh,, would’ve been nice if woulda ended sooner.
We walked down the street into the guild, a clerk noticing as and running off to probably get the guild master. A moment later Yorlan walks out with a smile on his face.
“You have returned, and so soon at that! I assume you have killed the wolf?”
“Yeah, we did.” Darin says with a long face. “But the damn thing managed to kill Tarin.”
A sad look comes over Yorlans face as he puts a hand on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry to hear that. I’ll be sure that his share of the reward is given to his family.”
“Thank you.”
They talk for a bit more, going over what happened on the hunt. Then Yorlan goes behind the counter and comes out with a bag of coin, giving everyone their share of the hunts reward before coming up to me.
“Now miss Mila, Darin tells me that it was thanks to you that Tarin was the only one who died throughout all of that, and that without you more surely would have perished in the hunt.”
“I guess so, yeah. I just wish I could’ve saved him though.”
“I understand that, many have said the same when coming back and reporting a perished party member. It’s more important to focus on who you did save though not who you didn’t. Now I know you must want to get some rest, take your reward and go get some well earned sleep. Oh, and from here on you will officially be a B ranked adventurer, so people will know when they check your ID card.”
He hands me a stack of gold coins, 10 in total.
A live lost for 10 gold coins. This hardly feels worth it.
I say my good byes to Lia and Darin and some of the others, heading out the guild and towards the fancy Inn from before.
Well, I still have nearly a month before Kaila leaves for the capital with her father to attend the academy. I’ll just relax for a couple days before doing anything. Try to complete some quests and see if I can make any progress to getting close to A rank.
Behind me though where I cant see, one of the part members walks out the guild, looking around to see if anyone is watching before running down an alleyway.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
A few days later, in a deep underground ruin somewhere near the capital of Celaria.
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In a stone ruins, deep underground were people in black robes walking up and down its halls and large open caverns. Some of the rooms were lined with giant metal cages, monsters inside them bashing against the bars but to no avail. There were tables near them, with varying species of monsters tied to them with the robed people cutting them open.
Some had died but others were still twitching, barely clinging to life as strange fleshy pieces of oddly coloured organs were placed into their bodies.
In one of the many rooms a man can be seen sitting at a desk, with a more ornate robe lined gold. He was looking over reports on the results of their experiments on the monsters when there was a knock on his door.
“Come in.” He speaks in a low gravelly voice. The door opens and a man in dark leathers enters, bowing on one knee.
“Sir, I’ve come to report on the woodland wolf we released into the forest near Forswall.”
“That one? Hmm I didn’t expect news on it so soon. What, did it finally attack the city and get itself killed?”
“No sir. One of our spies was sent out on an adventuring party to hunt it down.
“Hmm, and I suspect they barely got out alive then. Well how did it fare in battle?”
“Well, that’s the thing sir. According to him, despite everyone being just B ranked adventurers, the wolf was killed rather quickly. Only a single person in the hunting party was killed.”
The robed man is shocked when he hears this.
Only one person died? How?! That shouldn’t be possible, even a single party of A ranked adventurers would need to be careful around a magic beast, not to mention we created that one to be stronger than a normal one!
“How? How is this possible?”
“According to the report it was due to the C rank adventurer that accompanied them. A gunmen with an odd rifle that didn’t need to reload and could fire continuously at a rapid speed unheard of from even the most trained shooter. Its bullets shattering its armor and piercing its hide like it was nothing.”
The man gripped the table, infuriated at this.
A single adventurer was the cause of an enhanced magic beasts downfall? That was absurd! And a C rank one at that! Such a thing shouldn’t have been able to happen, but yet it did.
If this gunmen was able to kill the magic woodland wolf with their gun then they could pose a potential problem in the future if left unchecked. Their rifle sounds interesting, but for now I need to prioritize getting rid of them.
“What is the name of this adventurer?”
“Their name is Mila.”