After traveling through warp space, the Chimera emerges in front of a dark green planet covered in forest.
"Welcome to Rotol 85B. The 'Hunting Planet'."
The Chimera flies down to one of the few plains near the ocean where a city is located. This city is a lot less extravagant and vertical than the previous one, it's generous to call it a city. They land on the outskirts where several other ships are landed on a makeshift landing zone.
Stepping out of the ship, Mel breathes in the new planet air.
"Wow! The air here feels a lot better than back home!"
"The air is fresher here than in the city, also, it's a lot less artificial." Ark comments while carrying a crate down the Chimera's ramp.
"Here," He passes the crate over to Mel, "The guild is paying us to deliver supplies, it's more practical to pay adventurers to do errands like this than getting a dedicated supplier, especially since we're already going this way."
Ark goes back up and gets another crate before rejoining Mel.
They then walk down the dirt road between the other landed ships towards the city.
The city is surrounded by a wall built with stone bricks reminiscent of a medieval castle but, unlike a medieval castle, the wall was topped with high tech guns pointed out towards the forest.
Arriving at the wide front gate, they walk down the unpaved road alongside offroad cars and pickup trucks driving in and out of the city.
Positioned around are guards wearing full plate metal armour, equipped with rifles and spears. Passing by them, Ark and Mel stop at a reception desk embedded into the wall of the city gate. After putting the crate down, Ark gets out his guild card and places it onto the desk. Melissa, watching carefully, follows suit and puts the guild card she got earlier next to Ark's.
After checking their information, the officer managing the gate waves them along. The inside of the city is rustic with buildings made of wood, stone and brick with neat cobble paved roads. Adventurers and hunters are the most commonly seen residents walking around, with most of them living here permanently. In the centre of the city, a tall church can be seen, near to it is the Adventurer's Guild, not quite as magnificent as the headquarters, but it still stands out among the town.
Melissa and Ark enter the guild where they are met with the same rough and rowdy adventurers but here they are a lot dirtier and have cheaper equipment.
Dumping the crates on the floor, Ark greets the receptionist.
"Howdy, miss, we've got some supplies from HQ, and we're here for a quest."
He hands her his card And she puts it in a scanner.
Standing behind Ark, Mel looks around at the rural guild that is in stark contrast to the one they were at before.
A local adventurer's party idling in the guild spots her and decides to approach her, grinning creepily.
"Hi there, little girl, you look like a newbie, if you're looking for a group of experienced adventurers, then it'd be our pleasure." the leader says to her, his grinning making her feel uncomfortable.
"Uh,um…n- no… uh" Mel stammers out anxiously.
"Sorry folks," Ark butts in with a customer service smile, "She's already in a party."
"Tsk!" The leader hisses with a sour face.
Noticing this, Ark's face changes as he glares intensely, sending shivers down their spines before they quickly scurry away.
Tholl, Elsa and Harron, having just entered, walk past the scurrying party and greet Ark.
"Heya… Ark, buddy, scary face you got there. " Tholl comments with a nervous expression.
Ark, hearing him, changes back to a cheerful smile before saying hi.
The rest of the party place their crates next to the others. They then give their cards to the receptionist.
"Salutations, Chimera party, welcome to Rotol 85B. According to the network, you're here to subjugate wolves, could you confirm?" The receptionist says.
"I confirm." Tholl replies.
"Alright, here's a map of common wolf spots in the forest," She hands over the map before continuing, "Oh! That reminds me, there has been an increase in wolves, apparently an Earth Serpent has been spotted making the wolves flee, so be careful."
Chimera nods in acknowledgement before departing.
******
The group is walking through the street, towards the exit, when Ark notices something.
Staying to the back of the group while Mel socialises with the other members, he quickly turns the corner into a side street.
Stopping at a dead end, Ark turns around where he is met by a group of 5 adventurers, the party from before.
"Howdy guys, come to attack me?" Ark provokes them with a sly grin.
The men become agitated and draw their melee weapons.
"You bastard!" one of them shouts as he charges at Ark with a sword.
"Shouldn't have left your friends, you fool!" another cackles as he lunges his spear forward.
The sword swings down with force. Quickly, Ark channels mana into his right gauntlet and a blue glow envelopes his wrist. Sparks fly as the sword clashes with his gauntlet shield as he blocks it.
At the same time, the other guy's spear jabs at Ark's left side. Maneuvering his body out of its way, he grabs the end of the spear firmly.
Meanwhile, the swordsman is swinging his sword where it keeps getting blocked. Getting more angry, he plans to stab in, but, before he can do that, he gets barged into by the spearman who has been pulled forward by Ark.
Ark uses the spear to pull the spearman forward with an enhanced arm, then, in quick succession, Ark elbows the man in the face, the combined force knocking him out.
The swordsman is distracted, which allows Ark to duck down, pull his knife out, and slice through the man's side, causing him to collapse to the floor clutching his side.
Three left.
A giant on the left charges with a battle axe. Ark flips his knife up and throws it at the giant. The giant disregards the knife stuck in his shoulder, screams a battle cry and continues charging.
Ark, a little taken aback, barely dodges the heavy blade. But, before he can breathe, the giant lets go of the axe and instead punches Ark, sending him flying into the wall.
Bash!
Ark coughs up blood as he lies against a massive crack in the wall. If his armour shield hadn't automatically activated, it would have been a lot worse.
One of the three remaining assailants, a scout, takes the opportunity against a weakened opponent and jumps at Ark wielding a dagger.
The scout, being the weakest member of the party, doesn't stand a chance as Ark powers up his glove and blocks the incoming dagger, completely shattering it. His eyes widen as his weapon ceases to exist.
"No no no! Stop!" he tries to get away but Ark grabs his head and slams it into the ground.
Staggering, Ark stands up and steps over the scout's unconscious body. Facing the two enemies left, the giant with the axe and the leader, wielding twin swords.
"Alright… who's next?" Ark says, exhaustedly.
The leader snarls before leaping forward and slashing with both his swords.
Ark rolls to the side, dodging the attack. The leader then comes in for another attack which causes Ark to grab the sword left on the ground next to the bleeding swordsman and block.
Ark uses the sword with both hands to block both blades swiftly slicing at him in a flurry. The leader pushes Ark back with his constant attacks, not allowing him to find an opening.
Ark continues to block while frantically trying to find a way to fight back, when suddenly, the giant swings his axe down on Ark.
Avoiding it with a hurried backstep, he notices an opening in the leader who is flustered by the sudden attack from his comrade. Taking this limited opportunity, Ark jabs his sword in a flurry and manages to stab the leader multiple times while, this time, dodging the punch from the giant.
Grabbing an object from his jacket with his left hand, he activates it while jumping over the axe, and an intense burst of light flashes the giant, blinding and stunning the giant. This allows Ark to ignore the giant and instead take the offensive on the injured leader.
Slashing swords, the leader is now the one blocking and parrying as he flees backwards around the side street until he is pushed up against the dead end.
Panicking, as he has nowhere left to run, the leader tries to push back against Ark, but, being injured, he makes mistakes that allow Ark to parry past his swords and punch his stomach with the hilt. The leader then keels over, coughing, before a Thud! as Ark hits the back of his head with the pommel of the sword, knocking him out.
Ark then turns to face the giant, who is standing menacingly, axe in hand. Ark sighs as he leaps at the enemy. Unfortunately, Ark is tired, so the giant just slaps the sword out of his grip. As the sword clatters onto the floor and Ark starts to worry.
The giant brings his axe above his head, preparing to chop up the adventurer who incapacitated his four friends. With a grin, he brings down the axe. Except, the axe doesn't come down, in fact, it's no longer in his hands. Confused he turns around where another giant is standing behind him, axe in hand, smiling. The giant feels fear as he's clobbered with the hilt of his own axe.
As the giant is about to swing his axe down, Ark sees a familiar figure behind the giant, Captain Tholl. Tholl grabs the back of the axe, stopping the giant from swinging it and instead swinging it himself like a bat into the giant's skull.
After the giant's body crashes to the ground, Tholl just looks at Ark before saying,
"Ark, mate, these don't look like wolves."