Kalani Akamai was a rogue assassin, trained to kill since she was four. Her foot work was legendary, even amongst her seniors in the Family. The Family made her and even though she was Kahawaixs blood, she held no position in the Akamai hierarchy. She performed it this way.
Her movement above the trees and her eagle like eyesight made tracking all but simple, there was no escape for this single minded killer. Had she stayed within the family, she would have been a top ranked assassin, but instead, today she is hunting a different kind of prey.
"The tracks lead to a cavern mouth entrance, off the cost. The hunting parties have been dealt with and won't be coming to relay anything," she spoke over Max's personal communications device attached to her temple. It used mana to transmit voices from a distance but stood out as a small black dot.
The night approached and came as they assembled next to the cliff. Seven teens suited up in practice gear and an assortment of weapons discussed how to proceed into a dark and likely infested cavernous instance.
"Kalani has the best stealth of the team, she should recon as the rest of us prepare. I would send my babies, but these rocks are terrible for their signal. After that we can discuss further. If there's just a few Goblins, I'm sure we can handle them with my intelligence, it shouldn't be a problem."
"Right. Shouldn't we call the Association or UFG? These are ranked F monsters, but it requires a team of ranked D hunters to deal with them. They can multiply quickly as I remember. What seems like a small colony could be massive."
"Good point, Alexander. Unfortunately the Association nor the government won't arrive. This is Akamai land, which would make it the Black Knights territory. It would be considered inappropriate for them to deal with a minor problem like Goblins here."
"Then.." Alexand tried to comprehend before being interrupted.
"No, the black knights won't come either, and I'll not subjugate myself to ridicule by asking them to come here. Political scandle aside, I think this would make a great yest for our abilities. Yours especially. We know our roles so let's do this now, before more pour out of the Chaosbreak."
'I really hate that jerk.' He thought, ready to emphasize his near death.
"I'm back," Kalani interjected their discussion. "There's about thirty asleep in there. If we hurry, since they are nocturnal, we can carefully take care of them. They have traps set up around their camp, disabled by yours truly, but there could be more."
Under Alexanders protest, they marched forward. Swords and shields ready. Alexander felt unsure, but knew the teams abilities could handle it. He hoped.
The cavern was narrow, wide enough for two kids one adult. Kelani went first with Nakamura, the Kahawai, then the rest. Shoulder to shoulder as the moved quickly to let the rest in sooner.
Alexander took the rear and came into pure darkness that slowly brightened, the nanites adjusting his eyes, he could now see clearly in the dark cave. Even the drag marks and food prints of the Goblins taking their kills deeper became as clear as daylight.
'Interesting.'
The tunnel expanded into a large cave with barely any room to stretch your neck. The walls were just nearly two meters tall, with a width of six meters. Passageways throughout the cave spread deeply or ended in crevices to small to explore. Alexander knew these where not the way, as the dried blood and multiple trails indicated the way for him, he slightly suggested the way.
"There's more blood here, we should check this way. I see more drag marks this way. More here guys."
"I see grandpa taught you to see with mana." She said, light mana condensing in here eyes like golden circles. "I see some great potential for a tracker in you. We should train sometime, otherwise you would have noticed that we're following a trick path for predators. See how the trails doubled back on themselves? That means these guys made this deliberately to capture animals that tracked them."
The group smirked at his blunder but found the correct path that also had heavy traffic but no blood. Alexander questioned how they were getting food if they dragged everything that way. The winding tunnels opened once again to a plethora of wooden shacks set up in groups. Snoring and noises sounded throught the caver, while small fires burned throught the camp. Smoke rose into a large opening in the ceiling letting in starlight. Two Goblin guards stood watch in front of the entrance, both falling to Kalani's dagger blades.
Max set his drones to silent and sent them into the camp. "There seems to be around 30 in the camp, three more signatures are coming from the cave to the north, and the gate is on the right. We should take them out silently, Kai none of those explosions. Let's begin. I don't like the signatures coming from that room ahead of us so be cautious."
F ranked monsters had no protection from modern weapons or magic. Typically being taken out with weapons by ordinary citizens and protection forces. Their danger came with the multitude at which they could spawn themselves. 30 F ranked monsters could birth quickly under earth's influence and turn into 60 in a week or a thousand in a couple months, turning a nest into a standing army.
Goblins were especially a tricky kind of creature, having human like cunning and using deadly poison, the were perverse and could somehow breed with other species through rare magic, allowing them even more chances to become a problem.
The team split and went to each shack silently taking out the occupants. Alexander experimented with the silver substance that came out of his palms. He found that it only came out when he thought about the dead body and when there was plenty of shadows around to hide. It moved like a liquid but had a consistency like mercury, spreading over and inside the Goblins to more effectively dissolved them.
The Darkness he used to end them, bent with his will, allowing him to use the black flame like fire. He had never heard of a black flame before, as most darkspells resembled smoke or shadow. He could still use those forms but when he focused he could change the consistency of his darkness at a higher draw of mana. After a couple of black flame streams he was near depleted, untill the silver liquid returned and his mana filled exponentially.
The team regrouped after some time, most appearing bloody and haggard. Max was the strategists and stood away from the fighting near the exit to oversee everything, while relaying the movements of the Goblins.
"Good job everyone, even Kahawai couldn't mess this up. Let's deal with the final threat and see about the gate. Nakamura, Fox, and Kai will go in first then Akamai twins, followed by me and Alexander. He needs some rest and the creatures shouldn't be above. Any questions?" Max was effective in all things, both navigating scientific discovery and division of duties.
"Hey max, what's the deal? I can keep going."
Max continued tapping on his holographic tablet, as he spoke, "your sword hasn't been used, so I assume you used magic to defeat the Goblins. You spent ten minutes in that hut, which could mean hesitation, or exhaustion, when the others averaged about a five. So no Alexander, I will ask you, what's the deal? Can you do this? I cant have you hesitant about thus, not when my..I mean our lives are at risk."
Boom! Crumble!
Alexander was taken aback by that, but his voice told him Max was right. Was he ready for this? Only he could decided weather he could go on and continue an actual gate. All his experiences up untill now was always thrust apon him, but now he had a choice of fighting or running. And he was done running. He took his sword from the sheath and responded, "I got this Brainiac. I'm here."
"Don't call me that. Let's go before I change my mind. Stay close and watch how they move. If I have anymore doubt about you or your abilities, I'll send you to the darkmother myself."
A short nod of understanding and they joined the rest of the team. By the time they had converged in the northern chamber, three Goblins faced off against Nakamura and Kalani. Kahawai stood near the entrance with Kai's unconscious body.
"What the hell happened within the three minutes I left you? I swear you children can't do a simple task."
The three Goblins were unique, one was red, white, and dressed in Hunters gear.
The red goblin wore simple clothes with deadly looking daggers. It nursed a wound made by a sword slash, and glared at Nakamura ominously. It was pissed and fought its urge to streak out to fight him.
The white goblin sand harmonious with green light brightly glowing from its staff and eyes. Mana could be seen slightly outlining its body which was devoid of clothes except for a simple loincloth. Her power was simple but directed at the last goblin, dressed in black Hunters clothes, scavenged from some poor scout that stumbled upon the cave. It's body was severed in half from torso to lower abdomen, but with the Goblins green mana it stitched itself together and rose once again!
Alexander felt an uneasiness that this power was blasphemous, completly unlike the undead from before, which felt natural and scary.