"Well... this is peculiar " Tina said while looking at the distance through the sight of her rifle. Team Cursed had arrived at the village of Rion and where hiding on a small hill about One kilometer away.The sun was setting behind them , painting the village in an orange glow and also discouraging any beast from looking in the team's direction.
Laura was also with them but she wanted the team to gain battle experience so she only served as backup in case the rank 2 leader appeared. The group had played a round of rock paper scissors in order to appoint the team captain for this mission, and much to his displeasure , Lex won. As team captain, Lex had to lead and order his team. He was responsible for everything they did and they depended on him. This greatly annoyed Lex but he had no choice.
"Tina explain what you mean." Lex tried his best to be authoritative.
"From this angle i see 4 lions standing in front of a large building, probably the village hall."
"What's so weird abou that ? "Adam expressed his confusion.
"They are not moving at all they have been standing there looking around like guards for the last 5 minutes" said Tina.
"I still don't understand " Adam groaned in frustration.
"Magical beasts in rank 1 live by instinct, they don't think. The only thing they think about is how to get their next meal. They spend every waking second of their lives hunting or trying to humt. Only rank 2 beasts can somehow control that urge."
Team Cursed was surprised to hear that information. Not that the info surprised them but the fact that Lex knew all that stuff.
Laura on the other hand was downright shocked. What Lex just said was not something first year students knew of , only the second year students could know that.
"How do you know all this stuff bro" Adam asked with a raised eyebrow.
That question caught Lex off guard as even he did not know where he got that information from. His thoughts were interuppted by Angela (his AI).
{Before you ask. You are part magical beast, that information comes naturally to you.}
That really surprised Lex. He did not expect his hybrid status to actually help him this soon. Lex could just think about any beast and information could just appear in his mind , he knew everything there was to know about every creature.
Lex thought about how he should answer Adam because just saying 'Oh i am actually part dragon' was not a good idea. After a few seconds he finally thought about a lie that could work.
"Oh i read about it in a book somewhere" Lex tried his best to sell his lie , and luckily the Cursed team bought it. Laura though was not a happy customer of Lex's lies.
'That was obviously a lie , i will have to interrogate him later on' she thought.
"Ok so if rank 1 magical beasts can't think how do you explain those guys guarding that building, Oh great captain ? " Michael asked sceptically.
"Watch how you speak to our captain Mike." Linda restrained Michael.
Lex felt a warm feeling in his chest when Linda did that for him , but he quickly suppressed whatever emotion that was as he was the Cursed captain on a mission. He could not afford to mess up.
"The behavior of these beasts means that there is a higher rank magical beast controlling the pack. What worries me though is that only a rank 3 or higher Earth lion can control other beasts of the same species."
This revelation greatly worried team Cursed. They could probably survive an encounter and escape from a rank 2 lion but they definitely had no chance against a rank 3 lion. All eyes instinctively turned to Laura , they did not need to speak for Laura to understand the meaning behind their gazes.
"I can hold a rank 3 beast for some time for you guys to escape if it comes to it. That won't be necessary though as i am pretty sure there is no rank 3 beast here. Your information is wrong this time, team captain" she said with a straight face while looking at Lex.
"Do you have any idea why the beasts seem to be intelligent?" Jennifer asked Laura , but she did not answer and just turned her head away from the group. That was to tell them that they had to figure out the rest on their own.
"I see movement!" Tina exclaimed and successfully claimed the attention of the whole group.
"A fifth lion appeared and just went into the building behind the four 'guards' " Tina started to report what she saw.
"It's coming back out.....and it's dragging a child of around 10 years old. It went behind another building i can't see it anymore" Tina reported.
There seemed to be tears threatening to come out of her one eye that was not looking into the scope , but she managed to maintain her poker face.
Lex now knew he had to act. The beasts had human prisoners and their lives where in his hands. He turned to look at his team and all eyes (except for Tina) where on him , they where awaiting orders. Lex took a deep breath before speaking.
"Our primary objective is to save as many lives as possible. It's pretty clear that there are people in that building so that is our first target.
Jennifer, Michael, Linda and Laura you guys head to that building and save those people. Break them out and bring them back here , deploy a diamond formation around them and make sure no one gets hurt. Im sure the pack leader will notice that something is off and will send the remaining army your way.
Tina, when the others have broken out those people, they are gonna need support while they head back here. Snipe from this position and and protect the rescue team.
Adam and I will scout the area in case there are any more prisoners elsewhere. We will also do this in order to kill as many beasts as possible so that when the 'guards' call for backup, minimal beasts come to their aid.
"Any questions ? " He asked and received no answer
"In that case , Adam let's go , rescue team you come in Five minutes after"
Adam and Lex then ran down the hill at breakneck speed. Dodging trees left and right.
"Do we split up captain?" Adam asked Lex as they where about 300 meters from the village.
"Yes , It's better that way , we need to cover as much ground as possible as fast as possible. You go East I will go West" Lex said in a serious voice.
Upon going their separate ways , before even running for 50 more meters, Lex found himself surounded by three lions.