Runeblade-Chapter 236 - B2 233: King of the Jungle

Grave-eye watched the team enter the guildhall.

His room was utterly inadequate—who the hell used pine for flooring? Was the owner born in a barn? Unfortunately, it was the only place available on short notice that had a view of the guildhall from its window.

Like every day, they entered shortly after the morning bell—and like every day, he expected he wouldn't see them leaving until dusk.

It was…unbelievably suspicious. They had to think him a fool.

Having his time wasted like this burned. There were much better uses of his time than sitting by a blasted window in a mouldering room. Running his business. Visiting the ever worsening theatre. Buying vintages. Anything.

The simple cost of renting an apartment next to the guild? Having his hound cart up a selection of his best wines and favoured books? The blasted fools had to be spitting at him on purpose for how much they were costing him.

That is, that's what he would think if there was any chance of those delvers catching on to his sublime machinations. No, they were doing something there all day. No one spent that much time in the guild, not without good reason.

Throw in the fact that neither he, nor any of his assets, could analyse them? Including their warbeast? It painted a picture, especially because even advanced analyse skills designed to punch through Masks without a trace had been rebuffed with ease—without his marks knowing.

They had powerful artefacts shielding them, they had to. No matter how skilled they clearly were—the Guild was obviously investing in them, so they had to be good—no two bit prodigy would be able to best him with raw Will.

No doubt they'd be leaving soon—it was closing in on a month since their last mission.

He already had someone in mind to tail them. Too much rode on this.

Oh yes, there would be no second chances with the consummate professionals he was hoping to contact. He needed something good. Something that would finally prove how worthy he was.

He could already taste it. The fine wine, the respect, the fear. If those two…children turned out to be the real deal, they were his ticket to real prospects.

A seat at the high table. The authority that he was owed would finally be his.

…

Rieker's office was becoming a familiar sight.

While they didn't come here every day, it was seemingly the guildmaster's venue of choice for any sort of official discussion.

Considering they were about to receive their next mission—one that promised to be far better suited to their skills than the bogglings had been—this fit the bill.

With his team at his side, Kaius waited for the guildmaster to speak. Normally, it would have been unneeded. It was impossible to avoid building up a rapport with someone that you spent so much time with, especially one as driven and capable as Rieker. He was surprisingly easy going, and had often invited them to speak up when they had questions, or wanted to make simple conversation.

This was not one of those times. Rieker the man was absent, and sitting in his place was the guildmaster, Wardog of Deadacre.

Even the ever fiery Ro was acting as her station demanded, standing to Rieker's right, her arms held behind her waist.

It was impressive watching him don his mantle—the way his spine straightened, and gravitas oozed from his very pores.

"You've done well, all of you," Rieker said, breaking the silence.

"Kaius," the guildmaster turned his head just a hair, eyes boring into him. "You're on the verge of your next spell for Drakthar, and your other skills are not too much further behind."

Rieker turned to Ianmus next.

"You too, have done well—an impressive development across the board. Your metamagic is more potent than ever, and you managed to reach the point of Sunbeam casting a second ray. An important achievement, that will make you far more effective at hampering your foes." the guildmaster continued, before his eyes settled on the last member of their team.

"Porkchop. You've done the best—with Corporus backing you, you managed to seize not one, but two developments to your armour skill. The strain you put yourself under would have killed most lesser folk—and you shouldered it with ease. Well done. "

His eyes roved over them all. "I mean it, all of you have done brilliantly."

A warm smile broke on Rieker's face, his pride and satisfaction at their progress making Kaius set his shoulders just a little squarer. The guildmaster was many things, but he was not a man that dolled out praise without it being earned.

The change in his demeanour also signalled the end of his stoic facade. Ro stepped forwards, taking a seat next to him.

Fizzing excitement welled up within him—almost bubbling over as he anxiously waited to learn more about their upcoming mission.

"I know you're eager to get out of the city, and I'm happy to say that we've found something good for you," Rieker said, an infectious grin on his face.

Ro jumped in. "We had something come in a few days ago—something special, that will be a tough challenge even for you."

Something special? That caught Kaius's attention—there was such a variety of threats roving the countryside since the phase shift that it had to be something truly stand-out for Ro and Rieker to treat it as special. He could only hope that it would be something fun—a fight against something big and tough, that would push and stress their capabilities.

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Even if such a thing had been Rieker and Ro's plan for them, if something unexpected had cropped up that would provide them a valuable learning experience, Kaius had no doubt that they'd end up on another mission that would force them to adapt.

It seemed Porkchop felt similarly. Beside him, his brother leaned in, tilting his head in curiosity.

"Is it challenging because it's a tough fight, that we're well suited for, or because we'll be out of our element?" his brother asked.

Rieker laughed, shaking his head. "No, nothing like the last one—I think you learned your lesson there. It'll be a tough fight—tough enough that you'll have to fight smart—but one I think you'll enjoy. I'll let Ro tell you more.

Ro nodded. "We got reports of a large reptilian beast settling down into a forest east of Deadacre—just above the Hanset woods. Without any concrete information, I checked it out myself."

Kaius's eyes sharpened—there was no way that Ro would have gone herself to investigate mere rumours unless they had reason to think that the beast could have been a threat that only her or Rieker could have dealt with. For it to be fostered onto them after its identity had been confirmed? It had to be something that they had to analyse directly to ascertain its strength—a beast with a high capacity for growth.

Oh, sure, it could have just been a case of mistaken identity—but why would they call it special if that was the case?

A slow smile spread over Ro's face as she watched him.

"I confirmed it as a lesser drake, it either appeared with the phase change, and was missed before it grew to its current size, or it snuck in from the mountains under our noses."

Kaius hissed through his teeth, the rest of his team reeling much the same at the reveal.

A drake, even a lesser one, was a potent threat. Pseudo-draconic—not closely related to the most fearsome of all greater beasts, but one that was a far distant cousin nonetheless. They lacked the breath attacks of true draconids, but still had a ghost of their strength and magical potency.

Even a ghost of a dragon was enough to put most delvers six strides under.

Smelling the challenge on the horizon, his bloodsong woke within him and crooned with desire.

A lesser drake…that would be a fight to remember.

"Its level?" Ianmus cut in, his eyes sharp and focused.

Kaius could tell the mage felt at least a shard of the anticipation that was growing in his chest. The growing flush creeping up the back of Ianmus's pale neck was a dead give away.

"One-oh-four," Ro responded, giving Ianmus a nod of respect for jumping to the most pertinent information. "Though it might be a smidge higher by the time you arrive."

"It's not an elite, but it doesn't need to be," Rieker added. "It's not the largest level jump that you've ever fought, but this thing is tough, strong, and less of a perfect match up than the assassin spider. With its earth affinity, it'll be tossing boulders around with ease, and its scales will leave it heavily armoured almost everywhere."

Kaius nodded. He didn't know all that much about lesser drakes, but all pseudo-draconic beasts were supposed to be consummate users of their element—no doubt it would wield the earth as well as its own limbs. The armour was a bit of a worry, but they'd learned from their mistakes with the bogglings.

They'd check the archives for weaknesses before they left.

"The two of you are strong," Rieker continued, looking at him and Porkchop. "Strong enough that I wouldn't be surprised if you match, or exceed its total stats. However, it's a drake. The thing's almost as big as a house—twelve strides at the shoulder—and will be meaner than a direboar. That raw physicality is a tough thing to equal, and you should expect it to survive wounds that would slay a lesser creature."

"On the other hand, this will be fantastic experience for all of you," Ro said, jumping it. "Plus, it's relatively close to a village, so the rewards for slaying it will be higher than if it was in the middle of nowhere. If you decide to accept, the reward will be ten platinum."

If the hunger in his belly for a good fight wasn't enough, the sudden lurch at the size of the reward sealed the deal. They were taking this—no two ways about it. That much coin would do much for the greatly needed upgrades to their artefacts that they were working towards.

"What of the body?" Ianmus asked. "I know the price of beast remains has fallen through the floor, but I doubt that pseudo-draconids have become so common they've lost all of their old value. I'd hate to leave it there to rot, but we have no way of handling a corpse of that size."

A great question, one that Kaius wouldn't have thought to ask—he'd been too lost in thought of glory and riches to remember that the beast itself would be valuable in its own right. Scale and bone would be valuable to many an artificer, the blood and bile to alchemists and inscriptionists. Even the meat would be a cut above the fare usually found in the markets, packed with energy that the right classer would be able to turn into a particularly vitalising meal.

Rieker reached into his pocket, drawing out a thin steel token with a dense inscription on its centre. He placed it on his desk and slid it over.

"We'll give you this—if you channel mana into it, we'll be alerted. Use it once the drake is dead, and Ro will come with spatial artefacts to collect the corpse."

Kaius nodded at the guildmaster in gratitude, sweeping up the minor artefact and pocketing it. Though, he was surprised that Ro would go through the effort. Even if the remains were valuable, so was Ro's time.

More evidence of the favour they had managed to curry, he supposed. freewebnøvel.com

"It'll take me about eight hours to get there, so just hold tight and make camp. We'll have to take a cut, since I'll be working officially, but what's left should still be enough to increase your rewards—and the artefacts we use the funds to take out of the vault—significantly."

Ro then jumped into an explanation of what they could expect to receive upon their return, a turn in the conversation that filled Kaius with delight. The unexpected windfall of such a mission would do much for them.

He himself could look forward to not just the mass of Elder Blood, but also a full set of Rare scale armour. It was an upgrade that would mean setting aside his Vambraces of Varkhossian Deflection, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. While the enhancement to his attacks was useful, it was no longer the deciding factor of his engagements.

It was simple, really; the enchantment didn't scale. He'd gotten stronger, and his enemies tougher, so with each fight the impact the bracers had was growing smaller and smaller. In the end, finally having a complete set of armour would serve him far better—and keep him safer as well.

Ianmus would be getting a new set of robes, and a wellstone—some sort of floating crystal he would be able to use as mana storage. It sounded rather mundane to him, but judging by the way the man's face had lit up, it was considerably valuable.

Porkchop was perhaps the most excited with his future rewards. He'd be getting a mobile shield—a niche defensive artefact that would float through the air according to his will. Surprisingly, that had only gotten a nod from his brother—it was learning he'd also be getting an artefact that would give him a spectral hand that had him really excited. Ro had treated it almost as an afterthought, considering it was weak enough to have almost no use in combat.

Still, the prospect of no longer being hampered by his lack of thumbs was clearly thought of as the more significant boon.

With their future rewards laid out, Rieker cleared his throat, grabbing the room's attention.

"There will be no additional missions this time—we've managed to circumvent the usual channels, so there will be little need to obscure your movements. I wish you good luck—but I hope you won't need it." the guildmaster finished, giving them a slight smile.

Kaius beamed back at the man.

Recognising the dismissal for what it was, they stood up and thanked Rieker and Ro for their time.

Filing out of the room, Kaius shared excited looks with his team.

It was time to hit the archives, plan, and purchase anything they thought necessary for the mission ahead.

They had a drake to kill.