-The Lament of the Last Kings

  The guild was congested and loud as usual as I jogged to collect my vaultboard. Medea dutifully followed me while shrunken down to the size of a small cat. Minidea! Minidea could be carried like a small pet even by me now that I had stats that resembled what a normal person might have but I let it walk itself. I had received the one time I carried it.

  The vaultboard guy, whose name I still didn't know, was present as usual but there was something different about him. He looked a lot more aware and interested in his surroundings than usual instead of his usual “sulky child in detention” vibe. And besides him stood a guy in greenish armor that definitely did not look like a guild issue. It was in the Dellish style of also being a wide sleeved robe. The map of the labyrinth was gone as well. Interesting. Some of the other contractors seemed to know what this was about and the buzz of excited chatter rose steadily as the room filled up.

  He cleared his throat once the influx of contractors slowed down to a trickle. A map of New Delport and the neighbouring forest appeared where the labyrinth map had been. A large white circle was the only unusual features of it.

  “Good morning contractors, I'm guild journeyman Berang as you all know. We received a potential contract for you. Once again I'll remind you that external contracts are accepted at your own risk. Know that the guild will not aid you or attempt to rescue you if you accept this contract. Even though we verify that no contract is written with the ulterior motive of killing or capturing a contractor, there will likely be danger that we don't know about and won't until it is too late.” He paused before continuing in a less bored voice.

  “There's no penalty for not taking on this contract but you will be handsomely rewarded if you successfully complete it. 450 crystals each.”

  I had never seen a contract that wasn't just culling slimes come in during my admittedly short stint as a contractor before. I wasn't sure what I expected, maybe something far more subdued. But certainly not what looked like a public debriefing by vaultboard gu— Berang. I corrected myself.

  “This contract comes from the Hunting Guild, concerning an infestation in the Great Forests.” That sounded suspiciously familiar. I glanced at Medea for a moment before returning my gaze to Berang as he continued speaking. “Now, as a representative of the Hunting Guild, Neevom will explain the situation”

  The man in the green armor stepped forward.

  “Recently we had discovered a large-scale spider-scorpion migration that the hunting guild handled. It however turns out that the migration was being driven by a separate organism breeding and expanding aggressively. Retchroot.” Someone in the room audibly groaned.

  I could relate. Retchroot were not dangerous to us humans directly but they wrecked vegetation. The rodent was also absurdly fast breeding. Retchroot were annoying, not a problem but very annoying. They gave garbage experience on top. They usually overbred and died from starvation until another boom cycle but in that period, they destroyed ecosystems.

  \\Fauna Archive is now level 7!

  Yes. Thank you system.

  Neevom continued unfazed. “Our standard operating procedure is to kill enough of them until they move on elsewhere. This has worked often but not this time. This time something is keeping them here and they are breeding faster than usual but they are not expanding either. On the map you can see a rough estimation of where we believe the center of this swarm is. Your job is to provide backup as we try to isolate and retrieve whatever it is that is keeping them here.”

  Someone raised a hand. A slightly overweight guy with two massive hammers that hung off his waist. “Why not just have a high level classer kill them all from above?”

  “Because we don’t want to destroy it if it is something like a natural ambrosial spring or life tree. Same reason we are not poisoning them. Any other questions?” Quiraion's flaming tomb, I hoped it wasn't the Godtouched newborn I had killed. I had a sinking feeling that it was and I was going to learn why leaving Godtouched stuff lying around was a terrible idea.

  “When are we departing? And for how long?” I asked. Maybe if I could avoid Fim for a bit then he wouldn't be so angry at me for humiliating him before Hinaria ? As it stood right now, I was afraid that he would raise the price for his ‘protection’.

  “Tomorrow. Might take a few days. Expect at least a week or two. Pack accordingly but we will be travelling light.” Right, Dellish weeks. 9 days. Hmm, it was definitely better than slime killing for the same period of time but the difference was not massive. 4 or 5 extra days would make up for it but whatever, money is money.

  Some of my peers had other questions such as about food (the hunting guild would provide rations) but the debriefing didn't take long after that. At the end Berang had those of us that wanted to accept the contract to channel a point of mana into another of those devices with aetherite crystals in them.

  Afterwards I just popped into the forensics department to tell them that I would be out but no one was there. I scribbled a note and left it there. And then I should have gone to my apartment but instead decided to go to the New Delport Regency Hotel to see if Nerry was free. She wasn't. It was just my past speaking but I was terrified of whatever little friends I had disappearing, Nerry, Fahria, maybe my coworkers. Back in the caravan, it was not unheard of to have people just… die.

  Ahem. So I finally went home to go prepare for the expedition.

  The next day, every contractor had gathered at the old city gate from which I had first entered the city. There was a different guard in Navidson’s spot now and he seemed a lot jumpier than him. Neevom was also there with a woman in similar armor without the wide open sleeves. A truly massive bow was slung across her back. We were not the only ones there, I could see others that I guessed were grunts from the Hunting Guild and possibly even elsewhere.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  I sidled up next to Fahria as the woman with the bow clapped her hands and began speaking.

  “Good morning, I'm Fourth Guildmistress Ulgina of the Hunting Guild. Neevom has explained the purpose of this expedition to you but I'll remind you again that these retchroots are normal. They are aggressive and seen to have offensive mutations. Your job is to kill them . If you rush off and get overwhelmed, don't expect rescue. Now I want those who have wards, barriers, shields and repelling auras to come stand to my right.”

  Some of the others moved to her right. That group was to be our actual frontline. Then the close combat fighters. They would be right behind the shielders and would work to keep the rats away from them while exterminating stragglers that slip past the barriers. That was where I was because of Medea. And then the artillery mages and other ranged attackers would work on killing retchroot en masse from the backlines. Healers and buffers would be between the earlier two group. Simple enough and it made sense, I guess.

  And then we were off. We walked slowly with Ulgina at the head of the procession and Neevom watching the rear. I supposed I should have taken the opportunity to introduce myself to some of my other close quarter compatriots but my general aversion to that kind of stuff and my skill together combined made that too daunting a task. Or maybe I was being lazy. And regardless, I was far more interested in the fact that I could mess around with my mana while walking without worrying about the presence of Aetherite slimes fucking up mana flow. It took me an embarrassingly long time to get that they distorted mana around them and that was why seeing their attacks made me so viscerally uncomfortable. Mana Direction

  Unfortunately someone else had a different idea. A couple consisting of two men, or maybe boys, likely twins and a girl who the same age as me approached me. The first to speak was one of the two brothers.

  “Hoy miss. We'll all be fighting next to one another so I think introductions are in order so that we can complement one another. I'm Gres, just Gres. I specialize in wind based swordsmanship. My brother here is Tres and he focuses on the same. What about you miss?” Ow! I wasn't going to stare silently, an elbow to my side was totally unwarranted. Wait, who did that? Medea? No, then who. Fahria was with the backliners and I don't think I knew anyone else enough for that. Could it be just that someone had accidentally pushed me?

  “Y-yeah, I'm Anya Hartford. I am mostly support, some healing, some divination and some attack spells. This here is Medea, it is my familiar and really the actual combatant. I don't have the stats or the skills to be very useful in direct combat.” I cringed internally, what a way to introduce myself. ‘Hi I'm Anya and I'm a liability if things go south.’

  Gres nodded and then the girl introduced herself. Lilim was an earth elementalist who could surrounded herself in a large construct of rock and earth. Right. She was a fucking mecha pilot in all but name. I wanted one. No wait, I was doing the exact kind of haphazard dabbling that Rev had warned me about. But it was a magical mecha. I just tried to not be rude and ignored the occasional flaring hyperfocus on vulnerabilities. Thankfully the two brothers talked enough for all of us and I only had to occasionally pipe in to not seem rude.

  Maybe it was an hour or after into our expedition (I didn't check the time) that we encountered the first wave of retchroots. A lone retchroot munching on some plants screeched really before scurrying away. Or at least trying before a sharp rock killed it. I examined the creature with interest. It looked like a really hairy rat with extra large front claws for digging and fighting. Someone had killed it but the call had been sent by then. And it was answered by several, no, several of cries from all around us.

  The rats came like a flood. Numerous tiny footfalls turning into seismic tremors due to sheer quantity. The very ground shook beneath us as the forest came alive.

  “BARRIERS UP! BUFFS UP!” Ulgina roared.

  “Hasten Swarm Enlarge Tamed Beastsomething and the ground turned into slurry that crawled all over her body until a giant humanoid made of rock stood. I could see holes in its round head that I presumed were for sight and breathing. I tried to watch the way her mana flowed into the ground and then back up but there were so many strands of mana that intertwined and danced that I only got a mild headache. The two brothers wielded giant polearms that sent my hair flying with each experimental swing. I just moved a bit inwards to join the healers and other tamer types, as Medea joined the front.

  And then the barriers came up. Bubbles, circular disks, dome, projected shields and more all formed and overlapped into an impenetrable layered bulwark that covered our front and most of the sides. Well, we had to turn leftwards a bit as that was where the horde was coming from.

  It didn't come in trickles. First the thundering footsteps increased in intensity and then the sounds of falling trees broke through the din. And then both sounds started becoming louder until the dam broke.

  And so did all hell.

  The tide of brown near instantly slammed into the barrier and the compound barrier was a few inches. I could smell cooked meat, almost pork like. I turned off the droning buzz that my notifications had turned into. The retchroot tried to climb over their halted kind to try to get to us. They too fell as the barrier zapped, froze, repelled and more. I could see rat like faces twisted into pain and rabid hunger trying to forcibly gnaw and burrow through straining barriers that flickered like old lights. One was chewing an unfortunate sibling that happened to be stuck between it and us. The smarter ones went around the semi circles like a tide parting into two and attacked from the sides. And that was our cue. Medea leapt into the fray with the rest while I scanned the battlefield and occasionally cast coagulate

  Lilim was fighting like an angry gorilla with slams and stomps with oversized limbs. Wherever her fists fell, the creatures went flying. The two brothers were like grinders that carved out whole sections into the horde. A guy was punching and kicking the air but every blow of his created a shockwave that blew retchroot away. And then the spells came. Fireball, lightning nets, spikes of earth and ice and more sailed through the air and crashed into the teeming mass of life that stood had been trying to clamber over the barriers. A cloud of smoke and dust erupted as they made landfall. When it cleared, there were not even enough intact pieces to tell that these were once retchroot.

  Holy shit.

  I may have been too distracted by the spectacle to notice that Medea was being overwhelmed and that retchroot were crawling over it and tearing chunks out of its shell if not for Cold BloodedSummon Eidolon

  A sickly yellow portal that warped and spun violently appeared in the air before me and a long spider leg stabbed out of it and then another and in a moment, Medea fell to the ground with a couple of the rodents still clinging to it. Those were easily dispatched and it didn't take me long until someone was kind enough to drop it a heal. After a moment of rest, my pet reentered combat.

  The massive artillery strike had taken care of the bulk of the retchroots and it was only a matter of time until all the stragglers were eliminated. We had made it through the first engagement without any casualties. And then it was time to check the stream of notifications that I had been ignoring.

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