I was completely blown away when I entered the Guild's rendezvous chamber, instantly I knew people who were in the room were no ordinary slayers, their presence overwhelmed me, the aura they emitted intimidated my spirit. I shrunk in their presence, I knew there were all Masters slayers and Grandmaster slayers. I wasn't even a slayer to begin with, I felt totally out of the place, the old lady with white hair and plain black robe, I guessed her to be the Lady Tashrani they talked about, there was also another interesting old man sitting in the corner alone and he was holding onto something with care. A handsome young man in full plate knight armor, he must be from Order of Echona and a very beautiful lady in an exuberant attire, she stood out the most from the group, I reckoned she must not be a slayer. Her gaze was like that of an executioner staring at guilty criminals. It sent down chills to my spine, I stood behind grandmaster Arilyne, hid my puny existence behind her glorious presence and like a secretary, I followed her, she took her seat and I simply stood behind her with my arms crossed behind my back. They didn't offer me a seat, which was good, I don't want to embarass myself here, I'm already out of place, to sit on the same seat with these legends, my pride won't allow it.
" Let me first introduce all of you here since we are going to stick until the end of this mission, " said Guild Master Orshen.
" First we have Lady Tashrani, one of Divine Conquisators of previous generation, Grandmaster Hensord, as you all know the Grim Doctor, Grandmaster Jenny and the Royal Inquisitor from Sanctuary's Guild, Grandmaster Arilyne the Blood Empress, Grandmaster Leeben Hestra from Wolferian academy, Feibei the Serpentine Queen, Knight Rhendy, one of the Lancers from Order of Echona, Leon the White Claws, Gheno and Dheno the brothers known as the Dual Fangs, Cyril a junior slayer and finally myself as guild master Orshen." Orshen introduced one by one by pointing each of them out when he uttered their names.
" Including Lady Tashrani, we have five grandmasters but Lady Tashrani won't be in the vanguard force, she will remain as backup so there are only four in vanguard force including the rest of five master level and Cyril will be our guide." Declared Master Orshen.
" Royal Inquisitor, will you be joining the vanguard?," asked Master Orshen.
" No, I'll only step in when it's necessary," she replied sharply with no hesitation.
" Okay, I'll now do a quick debrief of this hunt," announced Master Orshen.
" Two days ago, I sent out a team lead by Master Mayher along with Cyril and Drao to investigate the rumor of an unusual varae attacking slayers in Demon mouth cave, some people said it was an evolved Nightcrawler, some even dared suggested it was a Nightcrawler Lord, they were just exaggerating when they said it but any ordinary nightcrawler can't defeat a team of slayers. However Master Mayher and his team when they investigated deep into Decay strata, they found out that the rumor was true, there was indeed a Nightcrawler, as Cyril reported to me, He ran away from the cave to rely the news to me while Master Mayher and Drao stayed behind to buy time. I believe Master Mayher and Drao are no more. As Cyril described, it was nearly seven feet tall, had human-like anatomy, composed muscles, and two horns sprouting from its head upwards and most frighteningly it spoke, which confirms the descriptions from the legends. It was once mentioned that in ancient archive that Nightcrawler Lord appears every hundred years or so and that it possessed incredible strength, maybe even more than dragons, their abilities are phenomenal and they have human-like intelligence, which makes all the difference, any varae we have hunt so far are just animals with strange abilities, if a varae is able to think like human, this will be no mere varae hunt. We have to assume that it can think or act like any slayers here. If it has already escaped from the tunnel then we have no time to lose here, any villages or towns could be in danger, with the help of Grandmaster Hensord, we have a way to track it. So I want everyone here to dispatch as soon as possible today and hunt it down." Said Guild Master Orshen.
" So how do we track it? Grandmaster Hensord," asked grandmaster Jenny.
" Hohoho- don't worry this precious creature will do the job," he put the glass container on top of the table. Everyone looked at it curiously and most of them didn't know what it was.
" What is it?," asked White Claws.
" It's a rare insect found on Mt Jehhu capable of tracking magic residue." replied Grandmaster Hensord.
" Hooo, very fascinating. Will it work?," said Leeben Hestra.
" Hohoho, let's find out," answered Grandmaster Hensord.
" Everyone, let's head out right away if you are ready, it's almost night time so we better hurry." said Lady Tashrani.
Everyone agreed to move out and one by one left the chamber leaving only me, grandmaster Arilyne and guild master Orshen. The chamber was emptied in a few minutes.
" Dragon Horn academy will send more grandmasters once they come back," said grandmaster Arilyne to Orshen.
"That's good to hear, I'll direct them to you if they arrive," replied Orshen.
Grandmaster Arilyne nodded and turned to me, " lets go" I followed her without a word but I stopped before going out of the chamber. " Am I also coming?", I asked.
" of course!" Replied Grandmaster Arilyne.
" Then I need a weapon? Preferably a bow," I demanded.
She looked at me like I was some sort of a spoiled kid and sighed, " Orshen,I might need a bow,"
Orshen looked up from the map that was laid out on the table, he looked confused and said, "Bow? Why would you need a bow? "
" Not for me but for this kid," she said.
I was so embarrassed with the way she put the words.
" Well, I do have a hunting bow but why a bow?," he walked to the back of the room and he picked up an old dusty bow, a very simple craft. He blew the dust off from the bow, checked the strings and handed it to me, " I haven't used it in a while," he said and hurried back to the corner to fetch something again.
" Here, take this too," he said and handed me a quiver of Iron arrows, perfect, I said to myself.
" Thank you so much, guild master" I said and bowed in appreciation.
" Good Luck to you guys, I'll stay behind to look after the town." He said.
We nodded and left the chamber following the rest of the team.
With my bow and quiver equipped, I was ready to head out.
The rest of the team were waiting for us outside the town gates. We joined them and others gave me curious glances, why was I there? But nobody dared ask questions.
" Alright people, we will head out to Demon mouth cave first and quickly investigate the cave, and as we suspected if it had already left the cave, we follow its track using Grandmaster Hensord's creature. If we come into contact with the beast, first we will hit it with magic spells and gauge its strength and then we will attack," declared grandmaster Jenny.
" Understood, " replied White Claws.
" Feibei, would play as a booster? Are you capable of Grand earth bind and Salamander paralysis spells?,"asked grandmaster Jenny.
" I can, grandmaster Jenny. " Replied Serpentine Queen.
" Good, then Dual fangs you guys are with me, we will be the unit one of the vanguard force, White claws and Knight Rhendy you join Grandmaster Arilyne, you guys will be the unit 2. Grandmaster Leeben and grandmaster Hensord will act as our support unit. Cyril, you will lead us to the cave. " grandmaster Jenny said.
" Alright, Grandmaster " agreed Cyril.
Everyone nodded and was about to dispatch when grandmaster Jenny approached us and said, " Arilyne, what is he doing here? , "
" Well, I can't leave him behind either. Don't worry he will stay at the rear and he won't join the fight, ". Replied grandmaster Arilyne.
" I know but don't you think it's dangerous for a kid to be in a hunt as big as this? Afterall we don't even know what sort of varae we are about to face," said Jenny, being disappointed.
" I understand your concern, grandmaster Jenny but he will be fine, he is tougher than he looks. " Arilyne smiled.
" Uh haa! I won't take responsibility if anything happens to him, " she commented and looked at me curiously. " and what's up with the bow? " She laughed and went away.
Knight Rhendy and White Claws approached us and greeted Grandmaster Arilyne, " we will be in your service, grandmaster" said Knight Rhendy.
Arilyne nodded and spoke, " haven't seen you in a while, Leon,"
" I'm doing great, I have been following your advice since that day and look where am I? A Master finally!," said Leon. Knight Rhendy stood behind him and was giving me curious stares.
" Haha, it's good to see that my juniors are all grown up. You even earned yourself a name, White claws? Ha." said grandmaster Arilyne.
" Haha- you jest, grandmaster. It's not as famous as your name. Everyone has been talking about you everywhere in guilds ever since that incident and I heard recently you even defeated an Alpha Red Hound," said Leon with excitement.
" Yes, It was an unexpected encounter, I nearly lost my life." replied Arilyne.
" But you still won, I haven't even seen what is an Alpha Red hound in my life." said Leon.
" Yes, for a lower division, Alpha Red Hound was a ferocious varae, it was as strong as any classified division varae." remarked grandmaster Arilyne.
" I see, by the way who is that boy? Is he a student ?," said Leon looking over me.
" Yes, he is one of my students from the academy, he just got caught up in this somehow."
" Greetings, I'm Lan Gwen Ethren." I introduced myself. I didn't get caught up, she brought me here, what is she saying?, I thought to myself.
" Hello Lan, I'm Leon and he is Knight Rhendy from Order of Echona." Leon said.
" Hello," and I bowed respectfully.
" Knight Rhendy, How is Sir Sergius doing?," asked grandmaster Arilyne.
" Master is doing fine, he has recovered from his illness." replied Rhendy.
His voice was emotionless but resonated a deep sense of loyalty and obedience.
" I see, that's good to hear." said Arilyne.
" Alright, Slayers! We will go at full speed with Dragon steps spell." Declared Jenny and one by one everyone activated their spells except for me.