[Doherty POV]
'A fiery red portal, those magic fanatics could probably pull one or two things from the mana of this thing. Speaking of fanatics, where's...'
Looking behind the group, I didn't see his big cloak anywhere. After a few minutes of increasingly frustrating waiting, I finally see a spec slowly flying towards us.
"KRAST! You stinking potion maniac! What took you so long!?"
"I was brewing a few potions to save your dirty ass!!"
"Just catch up already!!"
Shaking my head at my old teammate's antics, I just walk into the portal. The portal itself worked just fine, it just made some weird noises as we got here. Without waiting for the rest of the team to come in, I walked into the Adventurer guild, I needed more information.
Past the front door, I'm greeted by the manager of this branch. A small fat man, who I don't bother remembering the name of. His constant rambles of how they'll save them and such really made me question the capabilities of the Adventurer guild's main branch for allowing such a person to run the show.
"Change the Guild Disk to show mana distribution instead of tasks. Open up the entire stock of items."
"I'll do that immediately. I can't stress it enough, thank you so much for being here."
With that, the annoying manager finally where to tell the receptionists what to do. I continue my way deeper into the building until I see a large disk floating in the air. The Guild Disk, one of the fundamental items required for the Adventurer guild, is usually used just to signal the general location of different tasks or missions available. It can also be used to show mana distributions and individuals, it will be key to locating Jaque and Arius.
On the wall near every Guild Disk, there is a small switch encased by a protective lid. It allows for the activation of the emergency action protocol. Shattering the case with a squeeze, I activate the switch and see a hole open under the Guild Disk before the disk itself sinks into the ground.
Walking outside, I see many different weapons already laid out on the ground. The Guild Disk has appeared in the center of the large open space. It showed a large cluster of mana not too far away as well as the location of any adventurer cards.
"Alright, you ten guards will go with Alfred to attempt to find the location of these adventurer cards, either save the person or confirm death."
After pointing at a group of ten-ish guards, they start to move, taking any necessary items and will Alfred's lead, get ready to leave. Looking back at the rest of the group, I'm thankful that most of them don't have the jitters.
"The rest will go out and confront the enemy, as well as serve as a distraction to allow Alfred's team to quickly slip past them."
.
[Lorrarine POV]
With Mr. Doherty's final command, the rest of the group starts to get to work. I myself feel as though I'm in the wrong group. Shouldn't I be helping to find Jaque, Arius and any other survivors?
Running up to Mr. Doherty, I ask that very question. In response, he simply gives me a smile and a pat on the head.
"It's honourable that you wish to go that far for your brothers but that mission is far more dangerous. Plus, since I'm the one that allowed you on this mission, I need to ensure your safety."
"But-"
"Come on, you should know your capabilities and your strong suits. Stealth work doesn't suit you. You might as well be useful instead of being a weight that drags against everyone."
With that brutal pep talk, Mr. Doherty simply leaves to talk to the other people on the team. I was just sitting there, all alone. He was right. I got too excited after he agreed to take me along. I"m dumb to think I'll be like the heroes from all those fairy tale books.
"You such look lonely sitting right here, Lorraine."
"Stella, what are you doing here?"
With a tap on the shoulder and a turn of the head, I see the smiling face Stella in my face.
"I'm the leader of the town remember, if there's a fight, I got to be there too."
"I guess, you don't exactly have the image of a leader."
"While I may not look it, my parents said that I was a genius in leadership! Sir Earnest, you have a way for me to be in constant contact with everybody, right?"
Looking at the pale, old man that Stella was talking to, he simply waved his hand as dozens of bats started flying out toward everyone. One lands on all of us before it bursts into a blob of mana that flows around each of us. Stella herself had a bat that stood on her shoulder ready to listen.
As Stella continued to talk through the bat, I see everyone quickly getting ready. I follow along, taking a few extra weapons as I passed by them.
Boom!!!
With a shake of the ground and an obvious mark on the blue barrier, I vaguely see the silhouette of a giant stone man. Are those what we're fighting?
Gripping the sheath on my waist, I patiently wait for the signal to appear. Taking deep breaths in the meantime. Who would've thought that after the goblin attack, I would be throwing myself into a brawl so soon? Lord, is this fate?
Soon, something grabs hold of my attention and stops my thoughts in their tracks. The barrier in front of me was slowly brightening. Eventually, bright enough that I needed to squint my eyes.
Wo Wo Wo wo wo wo w..
Then I hear a super loud sound that echoes throughout the caves as well as many rumbles on the ground. The people in front of me start moving forward, I guess the sound was what Stella was talking about.
Running together with the group, we quickly past the barrier as we hundred, if not thousands of monsters in front of us.
There was a surprisingly large amount of broken rocks all around the barrier, the giant monster itself had fallen on its back and was being smashed apart by Mr. Doherty.
As everyone began to spread out, I start looking for my first target. A small monster that was running at me with only two legs. Running to meet it, I unsheath my sword. A smile had grown on my face without knowing.
Shhhhhhliiing
A single stroke was all it took, and with the sword feeling as comfortable as my own hand, it cleanly sliced through the body of the stone monster. It felt frighteningly natural. Not wanting to stop, I eyed out my next prey. With a squeeze of my handle and the push of my legs, I flew towards another small monster.
As I jumped high up from the ground, I reverse my grip and, with both hands, drive my sword through the monster. Cutting in two.
HA hA ha ha
Stopping to take a breath, I look around to see how the others are down. Emma was slicing and dicing even more than me, even when against large stone monsters, she seemed to cut through them like butter. Seeing a bright light from above, I see a large swath of coloured projectiles falling from the sky. They smashed into the enemy causing giant explosions wherever they landed. At the same time, there was a large vibration as I see Mr. Doherty land in a giant area, killing everything.
"KRAST, WATCH WHERE YOU'RE SHOOTING."
"I KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHERE THEY'RE GOING, YOU GOTTA THINK WHERE YOU'RE LANDING, SOME OF THE DEBRIS ALMOST HIT ME."
"THAT'S JUST WHAT I WANTED."
Those two must be great friends, whenever they talk, they manage to make an argument about it. As I was thinking, I see four stone monsters running at me. I pull out a bunch of throwing knives and chuck them toward the monster. Most managed to slice off their limbs while a few just got stuck in them. Then, holding my sword with both hands, I get myself ready. I take a deep breath before performing a sweeping slash as soon as they came into range. All dead.
All in all, this seems pretty easy.
------------------------------------
[Arius POV]
Alright, after looking through one hundred and fifty-three pages of different recipes, I managed to find the right one. Now I just need to practice a few times and I'll be good.
'Ok, so I mix this red thing with this blue thing and...'
BOOOM!
ARCCK!! Ha aha ha
"What the heck, why did it explode? Maybe I just did something wrong one more time."
BOOOOOM!
"Why was it even bigger this time!!!?"
...
"Oh, wait, its the light blue fruit and I got to crush it too."
CRUSH BOOOOM!!
"What the heck!!!!? What does this book say? THERE'S A TECHNIQUE TO CRUSHING A FRUIT!!!!"
...