Mage And Wolf
Chapter 108

Chapter 108: Chapter 108

The rest of the group is downstairs in the restaurant that serves as both a dining hall and meeting area for loose group members within the Guild Hall.

"Sleep well everyone?" I ask, flagging down the waitress to order breakfast.

"Maybe too well. Most of the good reports were gone by the time we got down to find a mission for the day." Paul complains.

"We did find something though" Vinnie adds. "A repeat quest, with a bonus reward"

"Repeat as in came back, or first effort failed?" Hui’Jin asks.

"Failure. 2 teams went missing trying to complete it"

That does sound like fun, so I grab the mission posting and look it over. 30 miles from the city, and on this side of town, that’s convenient. No vehicle access due to terrain, according to the report, so we will be hiking it in.

The Guild clerk hands us brown bag lunches on our way out. "Service for high performing teams" she insists with a professional smile.

The terrain really isn’t vehicle friendly. It’s soft sand that seems to have no bottom. I get the Toyota past the first dune and out of sight of the road with some difficulty before parking on a large rocky area.

"Looks like we’re walking. I can smell the fish odor like yesterday’s targets already"

Hui’Jin nods agreement and scrunches up her face, closing her nostrils, but the rest seem surprised.

"You’ve got good senses" Vinnie says. "I use a sensory skill and still don’t detect anything."

"So do I, but my sense of smell was a hundred times more sensitive to begin with. It’s nearly torture some days."

Two dunes of soft, deep sand later we’re all sweating in the heat and glad that the targets are finally in sight.

"Do you feel that?" Kel’Mira asks "There’s a magical dead zone at the cave in the valley ahead."

"More urgently" I point at a fin moving through the sand "I think I know how the other team went missing. Something like a shark is moving through this sand like water"

"Back to solid ground?" Vinnie asks

"Yeah, There’s a scrub grass area to our right. Get there with the softest footsteps possible"

Kel’Mira looks a bit panicked, she’s not a martial artist and has been practically crawling just to get through the sand.

"On second thought, Paul take Kel’Mira on your back, I’ll carry Hui’Jin. Go now, they’re getting close."

"They’re not getting close to the grassy area. I don’t think that sand is natural." Kel’Mira whispers when we make it to safety.

"Gentlemen can you please kill one of them to see what we’re up against?"

Two lightning arrows streak out, leaving one of the finned beasts scorched and mangled. I hop over to grab the corpse and return. It’s a shark. Category 2 magical beast, and looks like one of Earth’s Sand Sharks.

"What do you know? Sand Shark!" Hui’Jin laughs.

"Well, I’ve got an idea now." I grin "I’m going fishing, you spear the targets"

I grab the bloody body, pulling the core free and throwing it to Hui’Jin in case she needs mana later. Then I stomp off through the sand, leaving a bloody trail behind me. In a matter of seconds a swarm of fins is visible.

Hui’Jin’s newly enhanced Flaming Swords are incredible. Single slices are cleaving sharks apart. The lightning arrows mostly get 2 hit kills, the ground absorbing much of their energy trying to kill underground targets.

One finally gets close enough to attack me, leaping through the air. I drop my bait and cleave it apart with a claw, careful to stay clear of the blood spray.

A quick twist pulls the core free and I’ve got fresh bait, still pouring blood. Hopefully it will be enough to draw the 4 large targets I can still see circling the cave that marks the middle of the magical dead zone as Kel’Mira called it.

No more sharks are showing up, it’s time we get to business.

"Stack the bodies, we will clean up later" I suggest, throwing the nearest ones to me towards the grass.

They’re quickly piled and we’re wondering what to do about those 4 class 3 beasts that are so focused on the cave.

"Fire a barrage of fireballs and some arrows that way maybe, see what happens?" Kel’Mira thinks out loud.

The barrage dissipates and the arrows fizzle out roughly 20 meters from the cave, just a few meters see away from hitting the class 3 monsters. They must know where the limit is.

"We should find out what’s inside that cave. It’s solid rock, so they can’t just swim in, they’ll have to stand up if they can."

"But how? Mana and Qi based attacks both dissipate." Paul wonders.

"I’ve got an idea. Hui’Jin, use your Flaming Sword spell. I think the flames will protect it for a bit." I was right, the three Flaming Swords plunge deeply into the beasts back, making it shriek in pain and flee to the far side of the zone.

"Be right back" I call, dashing through the opening to enter the cave.

The cave is long and winding, running deep into the ground. It smells like humans in here, but I can’t feel any cultivation power. Maybe it’s suppressed by whatever is blocking the mana?

Cautiously creeping around the corner, wishing I could make myself invisible, I find the source of the human scent. 7 ragged looking adventurers are huddled in a corner, next to a glowing purple statue.

"Hello friendly humans, your friendly neighborhood Priestess is here!" I call, getting strange looks from them all.

"Are you the last survivor of your group?" One asks.

"Last survivor? No, my group is fine. I came in to see what was blocking our abilities."

"Then you’re a fool. Those monsters won’t let anyone out. Between our groups we were 30 members to begin with. These 7 are all that remain, every attempt to escape has failed."

"Why not get rid of the interference first?" I ask confused.

"How? The cave isn’t big enough to get out of its range and we can’t destroy it, especially without magic. Covering it doesn’t work either, at least not with anything we have."

Oh, they don’t have any storage items, and may not know that such a thing exists. Some knowledge doesn’t spread quickly I guess.

"You just have to say the magic word!"

I laugh, looking forward to pranking these adventures. Maybe that makes me a bad person, but the looks on their faces are going to be hilarious.

"Magic word?" The first one asks as I walk up close.

"YOINK"

I call out as the statue vanishes into my storage and the effect disappears. I’m leaving that thing in a spare ring I gained from the dead acolytes, just in case it messes up the storage spell given time.

They’re all staring at me like they’ve just seen an alien for the first time.

"How did you do that? What did you do? Hey, I can use magic again!" They all shout at once after they get past the initial shock.

"So, can we kill those things now? I want to go home." I say, turning to walk towards the entrance.

My assistance wasn’t needed. The whole area is covered in melted sand from Sword strikes and scorch marks from Lightning Arrows by the time we get topside. All 4 beasts are dead and the guys have taken their cores.

"Well, pleasure to meet you all. The city is that way, watch out for sharks" I wave at the rescued cultivators.

"They’ve been through a lot, let me at least heal them first, and maybe they can ride back in the truck" Kel’Mira suggests.

"You’ve got a point. Would you like a ride? We’ve brought extra food and water as well."

I should work on my hospitality. Drat that Elder Song, I swear it’s his twisted personality seeping through his memories that has warped my sense of propriety.

Over dinner we find out that the first team caught in the cave has been there over a week. They were passing the area on another mission and got trapped in the dead zone. The sharks herded the others in with them, at least the survivors of their groups.

It’s a bumpy ride home with 7 extra passengers, but more than worth it. The Guild was offering an extra reward for signs of the missing teams, and we’ve got them in the truck.

"Now, when we get there, no running away. There’s a reward out for your whereabouts" Paul laughs shaking his finger at the other teams like he’s lecturing misbehaving children.

The counter clerk waves to me when I enter with our bag of trophies. left fins this time, since they didn’t have ears to collect.

"Sharks today. 4 big ones and a bunch of little ones" I tell her and she motions to the sealed room.

"Oh, and we brought the survivors of the 3 missing teams back." She looks so relieved she might collapse, so I put an arm around her to steady her legs.

"How many? How many survivors?"

"7 total, a bit of a mixed bag between the groups"

She calls in the assistant to count, running outside to hug a young woman among the survivors.

"4 grade 3, 56 grade 2 corpses. That will be tonight’s high score again" The assistant states in his dry tone.

"Maybe you really are trying to run us broke" The clerk laughs, tears still in her eyes from the reunion.

"That’s 20 silver for the class 3 monsters and 28 for the class 2 monsters. Will you be trading in any cores today?" The assistant informs us on her behalf.

I look at the party "Do we need to trade in stones? Or are we just splitting them up again?"

"Might as well split them. Nearly 9 silver each is enough for a day’s work"

The Guild clerk launches into a tale of our team’s return yesterday, making us sound much more valiant and impressive than I’m sure we felt, but deeply impressing everyone in the Guild Hall.

"You buying drinks then?" One of the Adventurers in the lounge asks.

It was time for dinner anyhow "To the survivors! Let’s celebrate, first round is on me"