Chương 156: Limitless Path Chapter One Hundred Eighty-One

They informed the counter staff they were ready for stage nineteen and that they wanted it private, same as they always did. They were redirected to the Warder closest to them, who directed them through the next portal they were in line for immediately. A brief sense of disorientation and moment of time later, they were looking around at the setting for stage nineteen.

They found themselves in something that Beth halfway recognized, mainly from her gaming background, as a ready room for a military squad or fighting unit. The room was about twenty feet wide and forty feet long with a handful of tables in the center covered in maps and documents. There were three different maps on the walls around the perimeter of the room, and there were bits and pieces of gear and equipment scattered about.

It really had the lived-in feel of a room used by a team to prepare for missions and assignments, with the scattered papers strewn about telling a tale of a messy but efficient operation. Beth and Blood were not alone in the room, nor the only ones wearing armor. There was what Beth assumed to be a team gearing up for some kind of mission, all equipped in a random assortment of armor, though it all looked to be of high quality.

There were also several people present in "regular" clothes, Beth assuming that at least some of them were support staff or personnel not actively engaging in whatever mission was happening. A woman stepped over to them, dressed in regular clothes of a clean, well-made cut and looking entirely human except for a set of antlers that grew from her head. She spoke to them after giving them a quick once over, saying, "Good that you've finally shown up.

And good that it looks like they haven't sent someone totally useless to help the team out with this purge."

"And what purge is that?" Beth asked with a raised brow, a slight bit of heat in her voice at the implied insult in the woman's words.

"Apologies," said the woman, holding up her hand.

"I started that wrong; we've been under a lot of pressure lately and I snapped at you a little when I shouldn't have. I'm Vella, and this is Team Dream Snake. We're preparing for a mission to purge a dangerous gathering of monsters outside the city, and we've had a series of…not failures, but difficulties in working with outside help."

"It's fine," Beth replied with a shake of her head.

"We're here to help."

"Excellent," Vella replied with a small smile, gone just as quickly as it came.

"Now, let's move on and get you briefed. I'll also introduce you to the team and let you figure out where you can slot in with them." Vella stepped over to the large central table and rapped on it quite firmly with her knuckles, producing a resonant knocking sound. That seemed to be a pre-determined signal, as the room quieted down and gathered around the table, looking to Vella for further instruction.

Beth and Blood slotted into a place at the foot of the table next to the armored members of the present company before Vella began speaking.

"Alright, we've had enough time for chitchat, let's actually get this shit started," Vella said, punctuating her words with a swift, sharp clap. The last mumbling sound of conversation died down at the words and noise, and everyone focused up on her.

"Now, we have an outside duo working with Dream Snake for the duration of this purge mission, so let's go through introduction first. We'll start with the newcomers." Beth nodded to the room before saying, "I'm Elizbeth Bell, but you can just call me 'Beth.' Still haven't hit my first rebirth, but I'm over one hundred now and have some experience already with my Presence. I use a mix of swords and fists and don't really have any ranged options, so I'm fairly good as a frontline, but not a lot else currently."

There were nods around the room once she was finished, the group then waiting politely on Blood. She spoke after only a second and was rather brief, saying, "I'm Blood Bell; just go by Blood. I'm fast and have a talent for scouting. I also have one ranged attack so far, but it's melee for me as well otherwise."

"Good to formally meet both of you," Vella said.

"Let me introduce the team before going over the mission. First to your left is Trish, who occupies more of a support role. Next around from her is Dean, who is a heavy tank and Dream Snake's main frontline. Around from him is Thomas, or Thom, who is a ranger. To Blood's right is Natalie, our healer and medic. To her right is Elizabeth, though she goes by Liz, who is our main caster and ranged magical damage.

We have three other main combat members, but they are on a secondary mission right now and won't be available for this.

"Blood, you'll share scout and hunting duty with Thom. Beth, work with Dean as the frontline, supporting him to keep enemies occupied. I see that you both have mana steel armor, and rather high-quality sets at that; that's good, it'll mean even Blood is right up there with Dean in terms of durability. I don't expect you, or anyone on the team, for that matter, to put themselves in harm's way unnecessarily, but this is a dangerous job, and we need to be prepared for injuries.

Covering Natalie is priority one, beyond even going at a steady, measured pace. If she's alive, and your heart's still beating, the situation is salvageable; if she goes down, you're in serious trouble. Any questions so far?"

"I'll go," Dean said.

"First, nice to have you on the team. Second, how much experience do you have in frontline work, Miss Beth?"

"The 'Miss' really isn't necessary," Beth replied with a grin, which faded as she continued.

"In terms of frontline experience… all of it? When I first started my Path, it was just me, and even after Blood joined me a little bit later, I fought at the front. I've never fought with anybody but Blood at my side, at least, not seriously. I've fought with my sisters and a small team, but I've always been much stronger than them every time I've helped them, so it was more like I was training them. I'm used to being alone in the thick of it, only Blood backing me up.

We've done multiple beast tides at this point, including one we basically soloed. I'm not really sure exactly what you're looking for." This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. There had been some muttering at her explanation, and several wide-eyed reactions of surprise as she described not just participating in beast tides already, but even soloing one.

Thom had started a whispered conversation with a support personnel, shooting glances their way, while Natalie and Liz were elbowing each other and exchanging looks. Several of the other support personnel seemed rather surprised by Beth's little explanation, discussing it amongst themselves in rapid whispered conversations.

"That's…a lot more than experience than I was expecting," Dean replied, trying to regain control of himself, if his facial contortions were any indication.

"No offense meant, but you both seem rather…young. I was expecting a lot less in the way of battle experience."

"None taken," Beth said with a shrug.

"But, if that's done with, let's get on with the mission."

"A strictly business type, huh?" asked Trish.

"It's not bad having some of those on the team." She gave Dean a pointed look after she finished speaking, one that he ignored.

"Right," Vella said with a clap, bringing the room back to focus.

"Here's the long and the short of it. We've been contracted by the city government as there has been a monster incursion nearby. Whether they've moved in from somewhere else, they spawned here, or the system has created a Monster Hunt, we're not one hundred percent sure yet. It doesn't really matter anyway that it's gotten done, the general mission is the same. Find all the monsters in the wilderness and kill them.

"The area around the city for about ten miles outside the walls is fully developed, and the area for another two to four miles is considered partially developed, which includes areas like logging camps and two dungeons. None of that really concerns us, it's just good to know the lay-of-the-land; what we're more concerned about is the surrounding wilderness. There aren't any other towns or cities in the area for almost forty miles.

Yes, yes, I know, it's the ass-end of nowhere, but we take the risky, high-paying jobs, which aren't in the heart of Galdon." Beth didn't know what or where Galdon was, something for her to look up after the stage to see if it was a real place, but it certainly drew some laughs from the team and personnel about the room. Vella let them carry on for a few moments before bringing the room back to order.

She continued her explanation, "The reports we have indicate a thick forest to the north is the center of the problem. There's some logging on the very fringe of the forest about a dozen miles out from the city walls, and this is where the first reports came from. A monster stalking the camp in the evening, not waiting 'til night, but attacking loggers as the light was just starting to fade.

"From the reports, both out of the logging camp and a team of guards that looked into it, it looks like we're dealing with Phykes," Vella paused a moment to let a series of groans roll through the room before continuing, nodding to Beth as she saw her opening her mouth to ask.

"Phykes are somewhat like kobolds, though they are generally taller, thicker of limb, and have several rows of serrated teeth. They have some more bear-like characteristics in terms of looks and how they generally act, including long claws very much the shape of a bear's as well as the thick fur and heavy muscles of a bear. They're thorough monsters, through and through, so this isn't a case of them being corrupted beasts or animals.

"We have two goals here, though you could argue they're both components of one goal, which is to take care of the monsters. We need to identify the source which, as I said before, could be a number of things including an event generated by the Path. Once we know what's going on, we need to stop it. Our end goal is zero monsters remaining in the area, nothing more, nothing less. Questions?"

"What about beasts in the area?" Thom asked.

"Usual forest variety; bears, wolves, boars, wood elementals, dryads, and a few insect types. For those unaware, phykes will, like many monsters, voraciously consume local wildlife and beasts alike, so we are likely looking at sparse opposition in terms of beasts. Don't hesitate to wipe out anything you encounter; we're not being paid to be sparing with their resources," Vella answered.

"What's our timeframe?" asked Dean.

"Two weeks total time, but better to get it done in less than one," Vella said.

"Anything we should know it terms of camp setup?" Blood asked.

"Camp?" asked Natalie with a slight hitch in her voice.

"Yeah, tent setup, watch rotation, those kinds of things," Blood answered, tilting her head with her left ear flicking.

"How much of that do you do?" Liz asked, elbowing Natalie as she opened her mouth to protest.

"We spend most of our time in the wild, now that I'm thinking about it," Beth replied, tapping her chin.

"We've spent a huge amount of the last two months living out of our tents, so it's something we're definitely used to at this point…unfortunately…"

"Yeah, we don't do that," Natalie immediately said, grunting as Liz elbowed her again.

"We're back to the city every night to rest. We don't do that whole 'camping' thing." Beth and Blood shared a quick look, which immediately had Liz laughing wildly, much to Natalie's chagrin, before Beth said, "Sure. The city every night sounds nice."

"Not to directly counteract other members, but we will stay out if we deem it absolutely necessary. However, having said that, I don't think it will be necessary on this mission," Dean interjected.

"With how little sleep we usually need, we take a two-shift rotation when camping. The higher END fighters stay up first while the lower END members sleep, then we switch off for the remainder of the night. At least, until the rest of the team is rested."

"Got it," Blood said.

"Any other questions?" Vella asked the room.

"We're ready," Beth replied, speaking for herself and Blood.

"I think we're good for now," Dean said for the rest of the team.

"Not like we'll be out for an extended period with no contact."

"Right. Good luck out there, Dream Snake," Vella said before the team left the room. Beth and Blood followed behind the rest as they left the building and navigated through the city to the northern gate. This city was a little bit larger than the one they had participated in the crafting stage in, though the walls were much higher than the city from the crafting stage. The other unusual thing that Beth and Blood noted was the gates were made of some type of dark crystal instead of stone, wood, or metal.

"Never seen the gates before?" asked Trish conversationally, the warrior labeled as a supporter walking just behind the girls.

"We've seen some impressive gates in the last few months, but I've never seen something like those," Beth replied as they passed through the wall, glancing back at the huge crystal gates.

"They're made of mana crystal," Trish said. Seeing the blank looks Beth and Blood were giving her, she continued, "Mana crystal is quite rare and valuable, as it's a physical manifestation of mana without any other underlying substrate. It's crazy expensive, but it's really durable, even before it's enchanted, and it absorbs enchantment really well. Not really surprising, considering the runes used are the essence of magic itself, or our attempt to understand magic at the deepest level."

"How much would something like that cost?" Beth asked, giving the gates another glance as the team picked up the pace, starting to chew through the distance as they made for the undeveloped areas.

"Gates like that, ah, maybe fifty diamond coins? Each? Oh, and that's un-enchanted, just the gates themselves, so a mithril coin for the gates. And then, I don't know, maybe another eight or ten mithril coins for the enchanting work, depending on what they had done," Trish explained.

"So, those gates could cost ten or more mithril coins, which is a thousand diamonds, or one hundred thousand platinums, or ten million golds?" Beth asked, eyes wide as the price came into focus.

"Yeah, something like that. I wouldn't be surprised if it were more; like I said, mana crystal is rare and valuable, and it's better to get it as a full unit. Trying to find a chunk of mana crystal the size of one of those gates, while not impossible, would be crazy difficult."