As the night progressed so did Leader and her mates, since they were already buffed, the party proceeded to reach the periphery of the next nest, this time they held off on the taunting skill, and went ahead a bit deeper into the nest territory, once they could attract more monsters "greater taunt" was used, while leader and fae rebuffed Dustan and Balin, as for Bai he started distributing potions to supplement the troop, while Lucian replaced him in the front, he looked like he was dancing around the monsters.
The supporting troop was rather useful this time around, they started shooting the arrows at the further monsters while the protection detail went ahead and kept the monsters from circling around leader and the others, although the "greater taunt" drew the monsters towards Dustan and Balin, the sheer number they provoked this time was much more than last time, and as such they could not kill all the monsters as soon as they came, unlike the last nest, where the number of monsters taunted could barely fully occupy them.
Thanks to the aid from the supporters the advance went smoother. the orc and the dwarf used the greater taunt again before reaching the heart of the nest, this was to lower the number of creatures around the boss and maybe the support troop can free up Dustan to wreck the boss.
Although the hunt went smoothly, the party used quite a sum of potions to prepare for the boss, even though the monster corpses would pay more than ten times the investment, having to restock was a pain for the party, and that is why they tried their best to save up mana and dodge all injuries possible, this eccentric group of 6 was by no means weak or stingy, they just never liked the idea of forcing the hand of nature, no matter how convenient it is for example they would rest to recover instead of taking a potion, they would prolong hunts to be in top shape, and with abilities and experience like theirs, they were quite adept at proficient acts.
When the boss showed itself, most of its minions were dead or dying which was even better than Leader predicted, thus the boss was dispatched faster with the help of the supporters. as soon as the boss was downed, there was fire going and a meat broth already cooking on it, a tent was set up, and a large basin full of hot water was placed in it. Leader and Fae went in to clean up first, although they might be in the back line, with how savage the front line was, there would be blood and viscera splashing in all direction, getting stained and dusty was inevitable.
After the ladies went in Bai and Lucian cleaned up then it was the turn of the dirtiest duo, by the time Dustan and Balin finished cleaning up, the broth was almost done, so the group sat around Leader and enjoyed a blessing from her, then they proceeded to eat and the sleep like they did earlier tonight, while the supporting troop kept their distance and waited for the cleaning group to show up and take care of this place, they were wondering how the group they followed could actually sleep in a place full of death and the stink of blood and flesh.
Back in the academy, leol was cursing at Yunan for waking him up and dragging him to the training field. "listen here, you fiend, i know i agreed to starting doing morning exercises with you, but there is 4 hours left till sunrise, that is 4 whole hours before the agreed upon time" said Leol while doing his best to nag Yunan out of this early morning workout, hopeful against all odds, but the answer Yunan gave would take away all hope. " only during weekends, during weekdays we only wake up one hour before sunrise, now start moving your feet, you have to earn your breakfast today" that made Leol stand still in fright.
"Are you trying to kill me? there is no way i can last till breakfast", " well this is nothing, just jogging and stretching, there is the sword training from breakfast to lunch and then you can rest in the afternoon" Yunan just went behind Leol and started pushing him forward.
a mournful "nooo!" full of grief almost woke up half the academy, if the dorms were any closer to the training field someone would think a tragedy had happened. although Yunan had gone easy on Leol, and let him rest often, by the time breakfast was being served, Leol was already out of energy. "according to my teacher, us meeting instructor Bai is either a blessing and we turn into powerful adventurers or we get used up too fast and never be great in this life" said Leol while they were eating breakfast "what do you think?" he asked Yunan.
"I really don't care" answers Yunan "whatever happens, i plan to learn all i can from him, as for getting strong or not, i will leave that till i get inside Tartarus, until then, i just gather as much knowledge a i can and get as prepared as possible" although Yunan was thinking about how Bai might affect him, he still chose to work hard and let the future solve its own problems. "What about you then?, did you decide to change classes?" Leol still had not told him about the result of his discussion with his teacher, so he wanted to know. "teacher said i have to ask instructor Bai first, if he is not willing to take me in, there will be some issues if i change on my own accord, so i will ask first, although i still hope he refuses, but if he agrees i will join you in damnation class" they laughed at the joke and continued chatting for a while.
On the other side of the city wall, Leader and friends were indulging themselves in the much deserved breakfast, although they eat, every time they rest, the amount of energy they use is tremendous, thus they eat at every occasion unless when they need to move quickly or are well rested and well fed. they decided to delay the next phase of the hunt and waited for the cleaning crew to be finished before starting again, that also allowed the tag along supporters to sleep a bit more and rest a bit longer.
Once the cleaning crew was finished a leader came with a ledger in hand and started talking figures with the group. " your share until this moment has been calculated, according to the guild rules, you have obtained 8 monster cores of the leader variety, all level 5, around 1000 monster cores of level 2, 600 of level 3 and 42 of level 4. next is the monster carcasses, a total of 2200 bodies have been delivered to the guild and you will receive monetary remuneration according to the state of the body and what can be used from it, we estimated a total of 5000 golden dragons, these figures are what is left after cutting taxes the support fee, and cleaning fee, the reward from cleaning the nests have yet to be added to the current balance as we recieved news you will attempt to clear out two more nests. lastly i would like to know if you want the monster cores or any specific parts of the body, so we do not include them in the trade, and if you are willing to sell the monster cores to the guild, we would buy at 10% higher rate as gratitude for the fast clearing of the quest you were issued" Leader just nodded and said " sell it all, and deposit the money in my account at the guild, same for the next two nests, no need to bother us over it again". with that the party stood up and Lucian took the lead towards the next hunt.
-------Naming Quest------
For all those who enjoy the novel i decided to creat a system of quests to reward you my dear readers with extra chapters, the first quest i will issue is simple, find out where i got the name from, every origin correctly guessed will result in an extra chapter published, all names used in the novel are fair game.
enjoy the novel