Everyone unloaded as the helicopter touched down, and a bearded blonde Royal Rank mage came forward to greet them.
“Good, you all made it, and you’ve had a chance to meet each other.” He paused to laugh at his own joke and the obvious tension between the two groups.
“I am Prince Corbin, and as you might already know, these four are Larry, Darrel, Darryl and Darrin, and finally, our ray of sunshine is Rosalind.” The Royal Rank Mage introduced himself and the Spellswords, with a teasing glint in his eye that dared the girl to speak out.
The fact she hated the name wasn’t a secret, everyone could see it, but it was just as obvious that she had done something to annoy the Royal Rank mage and make him use her full name.
Corbin was dressed as an Elite, so Prince would most likely be a power-related title, as Commander and Overlord were. Larry and Darrel were the Commander Ranked leaders, while the other Darryl and Darrin were the Awakened pair, making for a larger power gap than most groups, but if they had Prince Corbin with them, it was probably some Spellblade Clan related mission, as they were all from the same group.
“Now, I’m not going to ask you all to work together, that would be pushing my luck too far, but I will request that the two groups not attack each other if you see each other in the wilderness. My people have an assignment to hunt beasts above their rank, and the rest of you are here for whatever mission the Church had, so your goals shouldn’t overlap by too much.” Corbin finished, before nodding in satisfaction in a way that reminded Karl of his father when something went right.
Alice reached out and shook his hand. “Prince Corbin, good to see you again. For those who I haven’t met yet, I am Commander Alice, then we have Sister Tessa and Sister Lotus, Dana and Brother Karl.”
“Brother Karl?” Corbin asked, looking at Karl’s leather armour with the green tunic. That wasn’t Church Guard uniform, and he didn’t feel like a Priest.
“The Church summons him so often you’d think he was a Priest. He’s actually a Beast Master Class Elite, so if you see oddly tame monsters around, they might be his. I wouldn’t pick a fight with them, they’re stronger than they look.”
Rosalind scoffed, but Corbin looked excited.
“Perhaps we could have a little sparring match, as we have two clerics here to deal with any mishaps? It would help build recognition between the two groups.” He suggested.
“Sure, the young lady and Karl seem to have a companionable rivalry going on. Perhaps he could duel her without his beasts active, and they could get a taste for each other’s skills?” Alice offered.
Rosalind pulled her short black hair back away from her face and smirked. “You don’t think that I can handle one Elite with his gimmick pets?”
Alice gave her a vicious smile. “Why don’t you try him first and then see if you think you’re up to a four on one fight, a Rank above yourself?”
Everyone backed away, all confident in their contestant’s chances of winning, despite knowing very little about the opponent.
“I would like to make one condition if I win. Never call me Rosalind again.” The girl demanded of her Royal Rank mentor.
“I will consider calling you Muffin again if you win one on one against him. If you can take him and his pets, I will call you Rose.” Corbin countered.
That seemed to be as good as she was going to get, and Rose drew her blade, glaring at Karl, who took the two-handed blade out of stasis.
“As I thought, a big slow brute.” She laughed, then launched herself forward using a skill that nearly caught Karl off guard.
But he was both fast and strong, and his eyesight had picked up the faint flare of magic around her as the skill activated.
He brought up [Refreshing Lightning] along with [Flaming Body], which he focused on his hands and sword as he leapt to the side of the clearing, and then used a tree to launch himself back at the recovering Spellsword, who had skidded to a stop after missing her target.
She darted out of the way as the massive sword whistled through the spot she had been standing a split second earlier, leaving a trail of flames in its wake.
Her taunting look turned serious as Karl spun the blade and reversed its direction without shifting his feet, a manoeuvre that anyone with normal human strength would never manage with a weapon that large.
With the Spellsword off balance, he chased her back across the clearing with a flurry of attacks as she studied his fighting style.
She activated skill after skill, unable to use her more powerful spells now that they were so closely engaged, but with the melee range activation and her power disadvantage, none of the spells that she managed to activate could overcome the trail of fire left by [Flaming Body] to actually hit Karl.
She was by far the superior swordsman, but with a wall of flames in front of him, a reach advantage of over a metre and supernatural strength, it was not easy for her to get close enough to show it.
Rose couldn’t parry his strikes, they would knock the blade from her hands, but when Karl missed with a strike, she ducked underneath his blade’s flaming path and went for his open body.
Only, Karl simply took one hand off the blade and swatted her sword away, letting [Refreshing Lightning] take the damage as he charged into her with his shoulder, knocking the smaller fighter from her feet.
Once she was in the air, didn’t let her hit the ground and get away. The unarmed combat class had taught him better. Instead, he dismissed his sword and grabbed her by the robes to reverse her momentum and hurl her across the clearing.
Rose made a startled squeak as she found herself truly airborne, headed for the treetops at an alarming velocity.
Corbin caught her in a net of water magic and set the Spellsword back on the ground.
“That was dirty fighting.” Rose complained.
“He’s as strong as an Ascended Giant. It’s a good thing that I caught you, or you’d be stuck in the treetops right now. I know you can wind step to get down, but it is slower than his normal movement speed, thanks to that monstrous strength.
That’s why beating a solo monster a rank above you is the challenge I have set. They’re not as smart as a human, or as agile.” Corbin chastised her.
“I understand, instructor. I have lost.” She sighed.
“See, that’s my Muffin. You learn so fast.”
Karl wasn’t certain that was actually an improvement, but the way the others smiled made it seem like a term of endearment. Perhaps they were related? That might explain the teasing, but they didn’t look alike.
“I know his tricks now. I will win for certain next time.” She agreed.
“And that will have to wait until after the mission. I don’t want any of you challenging each other in the wilderness. Now, I have the maps for all four groups, and then we can all get going.”
The two Commanders moved to stand next to Darryl and Darrin, and Prince Corbin moved to stand next to Rose while he handed Alice the updated map of the area, with monster sightings and harvested resources.
Alice looked over the map and nodded. It hadn’t changed too much since yesterday when theirs was updated.
“Good luck, and if you need anything, look for us. We have two healers, and both can magically repair gear, so if you damage a blade or your armour in combat, we can get you going again.” Alice reminded them.
The Spellswords all raced off into the woods to get started on their mission, while Alice gestured toward the mountain northeast of them.
“That is our first target. There have been strange sightings around the base of the mountain, and it might mean that whatever we’re looking for has been hidden there.” She instructed the group.
Karl moved to the point position, and called out Hawk to begin reconnaissance.
[This place is busy. There are monsters everywhere. Furry ones, big furry ones, scaly ones, big scaly ones.] Hawk notarized his estimation of their threat level.
There was only one problem, he had no idea what any of these creatures were called. He had never seen them before, and he hadn’t seen them in the lesson books that Karl had gone through back at the Academy when they were studying monsters to help his growth rate.
“Well, there are officially monsters everywhere. If I knew what they were, I would tell you, but there are big scaly ones coming this way.” Karl informed the group.
“Alright, let’s move toward them. We don’t want to lead monsters to the assembly point.” Alice ordered.
