Chapter 38: Are We There Yet?

Once everyone was sorted, the Mages began their spell casting again in preparation to transport the group somewhere. This version seemed far more complex than the first time that Karl had seen it, and the effort was visibly draining on the two mages. That must mean they were going quite a bit further than the outskirts of the Academy, which had been a simple and effortless spell for just the elder teacher. But they appeared in the target location just as smoothly as they had the first time, and Karl found himself standing next to Dana in a ruined warehouse, still stocked with bags of dry goods and one slowly leaking barrel of honey that had attracted a huge number of bees. "We should move before we anger them. I don't fancy being stung by bees today." Karl whispered as Dana took in their surroundings. Hawk was eager to get out and see what was going on, but until they knew what sort of danger level they were facing, Karl didn't want to send him up blindly. Dana gestured toward a large hole in the wall that seemed to lead out to a main road, and the duo began to move, making their way out into a ruined village. "This just happened. I can still smell fresh blood and gunpowder." Karl whispered. Both smells were unpleasantly familiar after a childhood of helping at the mines, and with his enhanced senses, courtesy of Hawk, he could pick them out much more clearly than ever. "What do you mean?" Dana replied softly. "This village was attacked in the last day or two. That's probably why we are here, to help clean out the monsters that have tried to move in. I will send up Hawk now, so we know what we're up against, and then we can come up with a plan. It's a good thing that you have been working on your mana control because I think that you're going to need Magic Missile far more than the fog today." This would be a brutal crash course for the first year students, even if they were the handpicked best of the batch. They had only been at the Academy for a few weeks, and they were mostly working with one or two abilities that were still at the Common Grade. That should mean that the threat level here wasn't too high, but if it were just Common Grade monsters, the townsfolk should have been able to chase them off. Perhaps the response hadn't come quickly enough and the elites had dealt with the stronger monsters too late, leaving just the dangerous local wildlife for the students to clean out. [There are angry pigs. We're killing them, right? Then eat them?] Hawk reported. [Tell me exactly where they are in relation to me, and how many. I also need to know how strong each is, or how many of them are Awakened or higher.] Karl replied, training the Hawk how he wanted the scouting reports to be structured. [Nine pigs, all injured. One with awakened power. Two hundred metres in my direction from the building. Oh, there are more monsters south. If you go that way, there are six Goblins, none awakened. They're lazy, making a campfire.] [You know the routine, work first and then eat. Lead us to the Goblins and keep an eye out for more monsters. The book said that Goblins travel in large bands, so there are likely more of them around.] Karl replied. "There are some wild pigs that Hawk wants to eat, but there are Goblins on the south side of town. That would explain why things went so badly here. Even if they're weak, they're smarter than most wild magical beasts, and they come in large numbers. We are going to have to clear out the six that are left here first, and then we can look for more stragglers and anything else." Anything else, meaning survivors, but it would be uncouth to say that out loud so early into their mission. Dana nodded grimly, not really ready to see a true monster in person and in the wild with just one other student beside her, but she knew that this was the training mission, and they had been sent here specifically to take care of this threat. Hawk circled the town, looking for movement and anything else that the other two might find. Work first, and then eat, so the faster he helped them get all the work done, the better. That meant that he couldn't miss any of the targets. [I found more Goblins. In a house, four doors up from you and across the street. I can see two of them from my perch.] Karl relayed the message to Dana in a whisper, and then kept walking. "What are you doing?" She hissed. "If they know that we have seen them, they will call for assistance instead of trying to ambush. Hawk has his eyes on them, he won't let them actually ambush us, just stay close to me and when they rush, you cast Magic Missile." Karl whispered back as he walked. Karl crossed the street, watching the building that Hawk had marked with his enhanced peripheral vision without turning his head. The Goblins didn't have great eyesight, so they would assume that if he wasn't looking at them, he hadn't seen them, and sure enough, as soon as he passed, they charged out with a battle cry. It was just three wounded Common Grade Goblins, and two of them fell to Hawk's [Rend] before either Karl or Dana could respond. Karl took the last with a flex of his fingers, and the town fell silent again. [Hawk, keep searching, that cry might have alerted the others.] Karl directed. The Hawk flew away, and Dana gave it a look of admiration. "He's got great reflexes." She muttered. "He's definitely a good friend to have on a day like this. He's gone to scout for more Goblins, in case something heard and responded to that battle cry."