Behind them was my mount, a kirin, a subspecies of the celestial beast Qilin most of the ancient beasts retreated after the merge, though once they discovered that levels could essentially put them back on top of the food chain they had taken over a vast majority of star systems that no humanoid would want to be caught in or they would become monster chow.
The Kirin they bought for me looked similar to a stag, with a deer's head and dragon scales on its body, its legs were draconic in shape with sharp claws. The beautiful creature was pure white, its horns and claws were black like obsidian gems, I walked toward it. It looked down at me, I didn't see imperiousness in its eyes but a gentle solemnes, one of the wolves stepped forward with the reins.
One of my retainers stepped forward while I examined the beast."Master, I may have gone a little overboard with the purchase, but I felt this was the right purchase. The kirin was beautiful and you deserve such a mount but there was something else there was an egg as part of the deal and it is in a dying state as it was damaged when they caught the kirin, they didn't notice when they caught the kirin that the egg had a stronger bloodline than the kirin. I wouldn't suggest a Qilin but maybe a natural mutation in the bloodline."
Looking at my retainer, he had made a sound judgment and used the money wisely to invest in the future. "Good work, take the egg back to the manor, and do what you can to keep it alive. I don't know if my healing powers will have a great effect but I will do what I can when I get back." he nodded and went to help the other wolves add the ammunition and potions to the saddlebags.
I messaged Owen and Warren about how he had impressed, they sent a message back about knowing what to do. After that I leaped onto the large beast, looking down I ordered my puppets to come up as well, Mina came over and hesitated, I reached my hand down to help her up, her hands had gray gloves that matched her gray cloak, she placed her hand in mine and I pulled her up into the saddle behind me. The puppets were just behind the saddle, one would grip the saddle while the other wrapped its arms around the first, with their strength they wouldn't fall off even if we crashed.
The other mounts were a mix between horses and large lizards, though the earth mage had a rare mount, a large wolf was her mount which had a few of the horses on edge. We headed for the west gate and soon reached it, we presented our badges as a pass to avoid taxes and began our journey. I rode behind the mages and watched as we slowly went from the city to forested wilds.
I was on edge, I haven't been outside the city since the incident, I even had a few nightmares that if I left that the lizard would find me and finish the job. My hand was on my pistol as we moved along, Mina was an excellent traveling companion, quiet as a church mouse. We traveled for four hours before we reached the town, in another hour the sun would be going down so we stopped in the town to discuss if we should continue to the nest now or wait till dawn. After the vote, which didn't include the escortees, we had decided to stay in the town in case it was attacked again and set out at first light.
We stopped at an inn and got five rooms two for the men and three for the women, which I was still in the latter group. I decided to enjoy a meal while the others went to take baths and clean up. I sat alone close to the hearth, I had a bowl of stew and freshly baked bread with a very light ale to accompany the meal. I didn't need as much sleep between my heritage and cultivation, my wings were hidden as they were not just flesh and blood but also my conduit of power.
Most angelic families had their own way to hide their wings. Before the merge, it was fine to have your wings out and show off your heritage, but even now that seemed to have calmed down it could still get you captured and turned into a slave if someone didn't mind making an enemy out of my people but they would only flaunt such slaves in secret.
I may have been too risky as a target within the city but out here someone could easily take the risk. So it was best to be cautious lest I become a victim, of course, Owen and Warren would be able to find me so long as I didn't leave the planet.
Leaving my darker thoughts for later I dug into my meal which was quite delicious, as I was enjoying my food some of the others came down from their rooms and sat at my table, 'there went my peace and quiet', I may have developed a loner attitude during the academy, not everyone likes being in the same class as a know it all cherub, not a lot of subtly from the guys especially with my face and voice, the girls were nice though.
My father says it builds character, though I would disagree that it sucks being isolated by your peers. My party mates asked me a few questions, which I was polite enough to answer, mostly like things about what spells I could use and if I had any experience in a fight. There were a few attempts at flirting but answered that with silence, mostly not from knowing how to answer, the mages and the escortees came down from the rooms after a while to get their own dinner.
The guys filled them in on a few things when everyone got there and were enjoying themselves the warrior from earlier called our attention. "Alright so the plan tomorrow will be a simple scout and infiltration, if everything goes smoothly we should only take the next few days to wipe out the nest, the escortees will provide an extra layer of protection for the healer, even with the puppets there is a still a risk so if anything gets passed us then you will do what you can to either kill or distract the target, understood?" we all agreed.
Thankfully the girls weren't arrogant little princesses thinking that they were ready for a combat mission, everyone who attended an academy should be aware by now that if you went into a nest without a plan then you probably weren't walking out.
Not long after that speech I got up and headed to my room since Mina and I would share a room. I decided to take a quick bath, I had my puppets stand near the door unless she came back early. Sett had made a fine mess for me. Once I was finished with my bath and put on my long-sleeved robe and went to the bed, 'wait why do we only have one bed?' Mina came in soon after my realization. "Mina why is there only a single bed?"
She hasn't spoken to me and nor had I spoken with her so it must have caught her off guard. A moment later she responded in a quiet voice, "Um Travis said there was no need to waste money so the girls can double up."
"Fucking cheapskate."
Travis wasn't the leader but he was the second warrior and was sharing the room with the assassin, he was the other warrior who carried a shortsword. The fucker could heal himself tomorrow.
"Mina here is your first lesson as an adventurer." She looked over and nodded at me.
"Never piss off your healer."
It took her a few moments to realize that Travis had ruined any chance of getting medical attention during this mission if an accident occurred during the mission his career might end. She nodded furiously, her first lesson was one they taught in the academy too but she didn't realize a healer's mood could be flipped so quickly over a bed no less.
I got into the bed Mina followed soon after luckily we were both fully clothed otherwise I would probably be sleeping on the floor. I fell asleep quickly enough, though I decided to wake up early to cultivate before the mission began when I woke up from my nap Mina had lost her hood by accident. She was extremely cute, she was a drow, or commonly known as a dark elf. There was no true difference between a drow and any other elf other than their affinity for magic was usually in the earth, ice, or darkness with some fire or lightning on very rare occasions.
Getting up I sat at the end of the bed and practiced for a few hours, it was more difficult than usual as I left my wings hidden but I was ok with it. When the alarm went off Mina was starting to stir so I decided to have some fun. I got close to her exposed ear, "Mina sweetheart, it's time to wake up or you will be late for school."
She stirred a little more, "But mom, what about breakfast." she mumbled, I continued on with the banter until she finally realized the voice wasn't really her moms.
"Good morning, sweetie. You should get dressed, you wouldn't want to be late for your first mission, would you?" I teased again as I opened the door and headed downstairs. Today was off to a great start.
Once we all got downstairs we had a fast breakfast before leaving the town, we were on foot since the nest wasn't too far from the town and taking the mounts into the forest wasn't going to help us any. I had a total of five magazines, ten rounds each, I had twenty mana potions in my bag with more back at the inn. Along with water and rations, my bag wasn't too heavy plus my cane made a good walking stick.
We walked along the road for a few miles before cutting into the woods, the ranger and assassin went ahead to scout the surroundings and confirm the entrance to the nest and numbers. Luckily I wasn't some cannon fodder asset that got the most dangerous job, the first person to poke the hive of goblins, sure out here in the woods there would be wandering packs of the little creatures but down in the tunnels they had the home-field advantage.
As we approached the nest the assassin or ranger would come back every once and a while and give a report, this time was a more urgent report, two wandering packs of goblins were coming toward our position one from the and another from our left flank.
We decided to make a small trap, the flanking group had no ranged attacker and the front had a single goblin with a slingshot with sharpened pieces of metal as ammunition. Nothing like rusty metal lodged in your eye socket to make your adventuring days were over, or you get eaten by tiny green savages.
The assassin set the trap and we waited for the groups to arrive, five from the flank four from the front, when the goblins from the front finally appeared I was curious how the plan would play out, the group we were with was experienced while the girls from the academy were not and I could see the excitement on their faces. We were hidden behind some trees, watching it play out. When the goblins came within range the ranger stepped from out behind a tree and released an arrow, the arrow took the slingshot holding goblin in the chest and pulled it from its feet. One of the goblins holding a shoddy dagger screamed and ran towards the ranger who knocked another arrow, with three goblins now rushing towards him he still took his time making sure to aim properly.
As the goblins ran past a large tree the goblin in the back of their group was hauled off his feet, eyes bulging and unable to make a sound as the assassin strangled him with a garrote. Another arrow was released but the goblins jumped to either side and the arrow missed, the goblins pulled themselves up only to be beheaded by the warriors who had been waiting for them. The scream of the goblin from earlier had alerted the flanking goblins, I could see them running towards our position. Right through the small field of razor wire, they were cut into ribbons, only one died right away but the rest were heavily wounded.
The warriors walked over and killed the moaning goblins before they could try and call for more help. That was it, it was simple, no flashy moves, no calling out at your enemy as you attacked. Life and death was decided in mere moments, after cleaning their weapons and piling up the bodies we moved on.
The girls from the academy looked pale from the event, probably the first time they saw something so grizzly. The mages, on the other hand, looked fine while the priestess only showed sadness for the loss of life.
I had not gained a lot of experience as I hadn't taken part in the kill but being in the party granted me some. Half an hour later we came to the entrance, nearly a dozen goblins were guarding the entrance. We were about to discuss it when a hobgoblin came from the nest with another six goblins armed with crossbows and daggers, for a nest that was a pretty large number for the entryway.
We backed off from the entryway to make a new plan of attack, "Alright does anyone have a good idea to take out close to twenty goblins with one of us taking a hit from those bolts?" asked our party leader.
I spoke up "I can create a wind barrier to block the arrows, but it won't be able to stop them from rushing in, with six archers it can hold for one minute."
Next was the priestess, "I can bless the group before the battle, your stats will increase and spells will be more potent. The blessing will last for two hours but I won't be able to bless you again until tomorrow, not like that otherwise I can give you all minor blessings that give you a random increase in either a stat or something completely unrelated."
The mages conversed for a second before they gave their input, "We can take out the archer but we need to be protected from the melee fighters but it will take just beyond a minute to complete a spell that locks onto them." The fire mage went first. Next was the earth mage, "I can set up earthen barriers and pits to slow down the melee fighter but only within an 8-meter distance of myself."
The plan came together slowly the priestess would bless us with her most powerful blessing, the casters would stay in the back and launch their spells while the melee warriors would hold off the goblins at the earthen bulwarks. Once the archers were dead we would retreat into a boobie trapped area and lead the goblins into the traps before turning on them.
We picked the ambush point and set up the traps, from pitfalls to razor wire to simple spikes beneath the leaves. Once we were prepared we got into position, we received the blessing and the mages and our escortees' came out into view, the mages began their spell work, my wind barrier was already cast but I could activate it once the archers took notice.
Fifteen seconds was how long it took to notice us when the archers pointed the crossbows over I activated my barrier right beyond the first earthen bulwark, the first volley was deflected away. The goblins rushed towards our position and the ranger began to fire into the crowd of green creatures. The warriors rushed up to the bulwarks and cut down the first goblin that was climbing over, while they were fighting I checked my barrier. Still in good shape, the assassin just showed up behind a goblin and cut him down with a strike to the neck. No one was injured, the mages were closing in on the spells being finished, where did that hobgoblin go?
Looking behind me and our group there was no one other than my puppets, I rechecked the battlefield and there he was in the shadow of the ranger.