The rest of the teambuilding week went smoothly, as if, and the team was in high spirits.
"You little shits stop trying to be sneaky, you are so obvious that you are distracting get out of here." Augory's grating tone meant that Sillis and Azemo had failed, of course it was mostly Azemo's failure. The two of them had been practicing their stealth after sparring in the forest for a bit.
Sillis could manage to be very quiet by morphing her feet into the dull white smoke but it was also very eye catching. Azemo was just super clumsy and loud and impatient. The two of them had only successfully managed to sneak up on a rock in the forest.
As for the others Benthar was able to learn some strategy from Slithe and Noct but that was because the two of them were always ordering him around. Augory would have been good at his role but he hated wasting his magical scrolls, always complaining about how long it took him to make them. Tryst was sufficient enough in her role before their first day so she mostly avoided everyone. Spiren, well he never seemed to do anything but observing.
Today was no different and Sillis and Azemo saw Spiren waiting for them after the botched mission. Sillis used her best move, yawn, to make Azemo tell the tale of another failure.
Spiren seemed unsurprised, this had happened a lot after all. "I guess I will have to teach you something." He took Sillis' and Azemo's tomes and asked them to open them, no one but the owner could activate the books. After they were open Spiren began to write something in each, it was a new skill, Blend In.
Azemo was surprised as Master had always told him that it was incredibly difficult to simply transfer a skill into someone else's tome. Usually one had to physically teach the skill and only a really powerful demon could just casually put it in another's tome.
As for Blend In, it was an uncommon skill that allowed the user to cover themselves in shadows and fade into their surroundings. It's parameters were that under close scrutiny the user would be revealed.
After writing the skill in both tomes Spiren summoned the others to make an announcement. At first Spiren gave them all a look that clearly said, why do I have to explain everything to these idiots, before he finally opened his mouth.
"Tomorrow we have a real mission: we are going to the outlier human camp to gather information and kill the general. The humans are getting too close to our stronghold and it is our job to scare them off. We leave today to scout the camp so get ready for an overnight trip."
The atmosphere after that statement seemed unchanged for the most part as they had all killed people in their past lives. The exceptions were Azemo and Sillis. Sillis unconsciously faded out but Azemo could tell she had gotten paler, even though her scales were white as snow. This was weird because Sillis seemed to not care about anything besides how to get extra time for sleep.
As for Azemo he had only killed once and that memory still haunted him. However, Spiren did not give them time to complain and everyone else had already jumped into action.
The group dispersed and returned in ten minutes with various bags and weaponry. Then they moved out.
Spiren led them into the forest with a high paced jog. Everyone managed to keep up and after an hour they were past the trees. They continued onwards for another two hours before Spiren stopped them on a small hill. The sun had set and the moon was taking its turn in the sky. Spiren's voice somehow managed to ruin the beauty of the night.
"The camp is past this ridge, Sillis and Azemo go look at the guard detail." Sillis and Azemo both opened their tomes and used Blend In. The shadows came alive and soon both Azemo and Sillis were wrapped in them, disappearing into the night. Sillis took the lead and the two of them slowly moved towards the camp. Loud voices and bright lights were soon noticeable as they crept closer.
"Those damn demons are done for if we can separate them from their allies."
"The war will be done before winter."
"The bastards have nowhere else to go; we have already driven them to their last stronghold."
Sillis and Azemo could soon see that the arrogant voices belonged to a trio of men sitting at the edge of the camp with a fire. Azemo worried that they would be seen but Sillis moved on unconcerned. The guards were none the wiser as two demons walked straight past them.
Sillis and Azemo continued onwards finding no other humans, they were all tucked in their beds. Thinking of beds, Sillis' yawn seemed so loud that Azemo was ready for the alarm to be sounded. Of course nothing happened and the two continued to map out the camp until they found the general's tent.
It was the largest tent and it had two guards in full armor outside the door. Azemo heard Sillis' voice in his head and the two of them hurriedly left the camp.
They returned to their camp and reported what they had learned.
"Augory set up the invis spell, we camp here tonight and attack tomorrow night." Augory went through the motions for casting a spell and a thin translucent dome slowly covered the camping area. The other demons pulled out sleeping rolls while Spiren created a full sized bed. Azemo had decided to not use the bag Zaebos had given him and had a sleeping roll like the rest of his companions.
"No need for guards. I will wake up if anyone gets too close." Augory informed them before closing his eyes. Everyone else followed suit and soon the camp was filled with the sounds of sleep.
The next morning everyone stayed in camp preparing. They all had their own food and were relaxing waiting for the upcoming night. Sillis was as tired as usual and Azemo could not sense the nervousness from the day before. As for himself Azemo was worried about the upcoming mission but he had steeled himself. Being a demon meant he needed to be able to kill and this idea made it so he was able to somewhat prepare his mind.
The rest of the day went by without a hitch and soon the team began to move out. Slithe and Noct in the lead, with the rest following.