"Just up ahead." David pointed over to the pool of lava, where the bright red geckos were gathered.
"One, two, three," Dean whispered to himself as he counted.
"Okay, I guess you're a decent scout. Just as many as you said there were." Dean grumbled approvingly, and he gave David the slightest of smiles.
"Thanks. All that aside, how do you guys usually bait beasts?" Instantly, Dean's smile turned to an expression of grief.
"That's the thing, we don't. You'll be the bait." Bubbly's voice was just as cheerful as before.
David turned, surely she was joking. But her face was emotionless.
He looked to the others.
Dean was looking away, avoiding eye contact, and Bron had an apologetic expression.
"Sorry kid, you should've known better." Bron shrugged.
David's hand moved towards his sword, but he stopped, his entire arm twitching, stabbing pain running all through it.
[User, please do not act rashly. I'm sure a better opportunity will present itself.]
'Shit. How could I have fallen for this. They probably do this all the time.' David was furious. He was angry first of all, at himself, for actually for for Bubbly's fake kind act.
On top of this, he was furious at the mutants, for taking advantage of others.
And most of all, he was angry at the system, not only had it not warned him against joining up with them, it was stopping him from defending himself.
"Guys. Please, he's actually a decent scout. Let's not do this." Dean pleaded with the other two. The body language of the group was totally different now.
It was clear to David that Dean wasn't the leader, but Bubbly. Apparently, their mana levels didn't mean as much as he had thought.
"Shut up Dean."
Bubbly's beady eyes looked down at David.
"Alright, you. Run over there and bait some geckos, if you bring any more than three, we'll leave you to take care of them yourself."
The change in Bubbly was like night and day, she had gone from a kind and happy stranger to a cold and calculating leader.
"And run straight back here, no matter what!"
"Fine." David spat. He walked towards the geckos.
"And don't even think about running away, we'll find you soon enough." Bron called out after David. Next to him, Dean was slumped on a rock, his head in his hands.
"Cheer up Dean, thanks to this kid, this trip will earn us more than enough for the kids." Bron patted Dean on the back.
[User, I recommend approaching these targets, from this route.]
The system highlighted a pair of five star geckos that were relaxing on a rock on the side of the lava pool closest to David.
'Why would I ever listen to you?'
David grumbled, but he knew that the system was right, he had been debating either approaching those geckos, or a single six star that was a bit further in.
Creeping towards the geckos, David picked up a few small rocks from the ground, the heat from them almost burning the skin off of his fingers.
David crept from large rock to rock, sliding along the ground like a snake, making sure none of his motions were too large or obvious.
crumble
He froze, a section of rock crumbled away to his right, falling down into the stream of lava.
Thankfully, the geckos paid it no attention, and he crept even closer.
Pausing behind a rock, David took a deep breath, if he messed this up, every single one of the Fire Geckos would be after him, with no one to help him.
Waiting until none of the nearby geckos were looking in his direction, David raised his arm and threw.
thunk
The rock smacked into one of the gecko's backs. There was a flare of light at flames rushed out from all over its body, and its swung its head to look behind it.
Now standing on top of the rock, David waved at the gecko. He couldn't help himself from poking out his tongue and making a rude gesture at it.
'Oh. Fuck.'
Unfortunately for David, the six star had been looking backwards just as the two five star geckos ran after David.
David sprinted back towards the mutants, the three geckos rapidly gaining ground on him, the distance between them shrinking.
"It only gets better, doesn't it." David shook his head, he had ran to right where he had left the group, but none of the mutants could be seen.
'What was the point of that? They brought me out here to just bait some geckos for no reason, then leave me to die? This is a whole other kind of sadism.'
But at that moment, there was a soft ding, the system bringing his attention to the CoreScanner.
Understanding what they had planned, David continued to sprint ahead.
The geckos were only a few meters behind him by now, and at their head, the six star was letting out bursts of flame that licked at that back of David's cloak.
"Now!" There was a loud yell.
Thwack
Dean's staff slammed into the head of the gecko that was in the lead. The rock underneath it crumbled, blood spouting from the side of its open mouth.
Crunch
With a swing of his hammer, Bron slammed another gecko in its side, its ribs cracking with the strength of the blow.
The remaining gecko let out a quiet, strangled hiss, Bubbly's whip was wrapped around its neck, holding it in place like a leash.
"Bron! How many times have we talked about this. If you hit them in the torso, then you'll cause their flame sacs to burst!"
Bubbly yelled out at Bron, who looked embarrassed, keeping the struggling gecko pinned to the ground with one large foot.
Thwack
Thwack
Dean smacked the two remaining geckos over the head, knocking them unconscious.
Behind the three mutants, David was slowly backing away, waiting for his chance to ran away.
After seeing their coordination and speed in taking out the geckos, he had lost confidence in being able to fight them.
Maybe he might've had a chance fighting them one on one, but fighting them all together would be suicide.
"Hey! Get over here!" Bron yelled out, and with a sigh, David walked back to them.
"Help me move these over to behind that rock." He pointed at the dead geckos.
"Aren't you going to harvest them and head back?" David was confused, usually one wouldn't keep hunting after killing a few targets, since the spilt blood would attract other Magical Beasts.
"Nope. These guys haven't spilt much blood. Besides, why would let a goldmine go. We're not leaving till we get all of those." Bron pointed to pool of lava with a grin on his face.
"You're not done yet, you're doing so well, why would we stop now." A cheerful voice came from behind David, and anger bubbled up in his chest. Every time Bubbly spoke, he couldn't help but get more and more angry.
[User! It is highly likely that you will be killed after all the Fire Geckos are dead.]
[Otherwise, this group would be quite infamous.]