For the remainder of the day, Hawk led them on a merry chase around the mission area, chasing groups of Ascended Monsters, and the occasional Commander Rank monster. As fast as the teams could kill them, Hawk would lead them off to another location.
It was getting so out of hand that they had to reassign Thor to pull the litter full of heads from the defeated high rank beasts, their solid evidence of the Base Commander’s incompetence.
Karl had offered to put them in Thor’s space, but the High Priest wouldn’t hear of it. The trophies going into a separate space introduced the possibility of tampering, and that was not up to church evidence standards.
[I think that’s all of them. But the humans look tired, we should go to the camp now.] Hawk suggested.
Karl sensed that the desire was not so much because of any empathy for the ones in the group without superhuman strength, but because he could see his nest above the fort from where he was patrolling, and he wanted to go to bed.
As the day had progressed, Thor had moved from Cerro Knight, to beast of burden, to noble pack steed, and now had not only the litter full of heads pulled behind him, but Lotus on his back, as well as both her and Tessa’s packs slung over his back.
The extra weight was no burden to the mighty Cerro, but it was funny seeing him all loaded up like a pack mule in the mines, when in reality he could rampage through three quarters of this military unit without any real resistance.
[Lotus doesn’t count as cargo, she knows all the best spots to scratch my scales.] Thor countered Karl’s line of thought.
The small nature cleric was essentially giving him a free massage as they walked, and earning herself envious looks from the average soldiers, who had been at a jog for most of the day trying to keep up with the number of attackers Hawk was finding.
The sight of the camp was a welcome relief to the unit, and as the outer patrols came into sight, Karl could hear the mages and rogues giving sighs of relief. The warriors had better stamina, but they had still been worked hard today, even if they were late to half of the fights because Hawk had been speed running them through the battles so they could eliminate all the major threats in one day while the Church Guard was with them.
“Unit, prepare to stand down and set camp for the evening. There will be formal questioning tomorrow, along with possible formal punishment announcements. You will be notified of the schedule as you are required.” The High Priest announced as they reached the patrols around the camp itself.
Alice looked toward the fort, and the Guard Commander followed her glance.
“Does your team have a camp built nearby?” The sandy haired Guard asked.
“Up in the tallest tree over there. It’s some distance from the ground, but perfect for long-distance scouting. We will be available by radio if you require our presence. As I understand it, this is a military matter being adjudicated by the Church for impartiality, so we might not be involved, as we are dispatched Elites, and not a military unit.” Alice replied.
The Guard Commander gave her a soft smile. “I doubt that you will get that lucky. As your team is the reason that most of the soldiers in the group are still alive, they are going to want you as material witnesses, and then they will want your team members to corroborate some of the information because when military brass hears a report that says a War Cleric was riding a Lightning Cerro into combat, there will be questions.
The hearings will be live cast back to the Department of Defence.”
Tessa laughed. “I am going to enjoy repeating that part of the day. The other Red Dragon Priests are going to be so jealous.
Would you like to follow us to the fort so that you can find it again in the morning when they call for us? Or is it fine if we just find our own way back once we are summoned?”
The Guard gestured for her to lead the way, but he fell in beside Alice, subtly flirting with the mage as they walked.
He looked up into the tree as Karl quickly scaled the ladder, only now realizing that there was a whole fort built up there, hidden in plain sight.
“That is quite the scout base. How did you even assemble that all the way out here? That looks like some sort of fishing net? Did you pack all that out here?” He asked, confused.
“It’s all spider silk, spun by Rae, the Bloodbath Spider you met today. The outer layer is sticky, but the insides are not, and they make a proper fort for us to rest in at night, with a waterproof roof and full visibility all the way around for evening scouting, since we have members with night vision.” Alice explained.
The Guard looked impressed. “Well, we can’t accuse you of slacking on your scouting duties. You’re not even technically on duty at night, but you’re still keeping tabs on the situation. We have your radio logs, and they will go in the report.”
He gave Alice a smart salute, and then turned to return to his unit while everyone climbed onto the ladder.
“We know that you can haul us all up at once, you knocked an Ogre off his feet with a sword strike, and the ladder isn’t going to break.” Sergeant Rita called up to Karl as they got in place, preventing him from splitting the group in two parts as he had last time.
“You know, we could have Thor throw you up here, and I could catch you as well.” He suggested.
Lotus laughed, but nobody else seemed to think that idea was amusing.
Lotus and Tessa got started on dinner, while the others started to clean their gear, and check everything for damage. They had been in a lot of combat lately, and gear wore out at the most unexpected moments if you didn’t keep up on it.
Karl found that was true of his belt, which was starting to wear through where his one-handed blade was hung from it.
That seemed like it was too early, but he set it aside for Lotus to patch up with her magic, and began inspecting his blades. Both of them appeared to be in perfect working order, with no damage to them, despite the crude construction of the less used single-handed blade.
His combat outfit was still in good shape, though it could use a good wash. If he had been thinking, he would have washed it with the shower water before he changed and let Alice dry it with wind magic.
The only issue was that you didn’t actually want freshly laundered clothes on patrol. Not only did you stand out, but the scent of laundry soap was so out of place that every monster for miles would pick out your presence and be ready for your approach long before you knew they were even present.
Not long after they started cooking, the scout patrols were adjusted so that they passed outside the tree, instead of stopping thirty metres before it. There might not have been an official announcement yet, but it was obvious that things were already being changed in how the base was operated.
