Jasmine

Exiting Kaspian's office in the Wall, I made my way towards where the rest of the Twin Horns were waiting for me. During the walk I thought about the mission Kaspian assigned our group, scouting a possible Alacryan base in the southern coast of the beast glades.

What concerned me the most was that it was located in the same area where a group of mana beats that could use decay type spells like the Vritra were seen roaming in the past month. Thankfully they were a group of E and D rank beasts like snarlers and not something like the wyvern princess Tessia fought a little while ago.

Perhaps this will be a good opportunity to increase my proficiency with Fang and Molar, the weapons I received from The Archivist some time ago now. I have already figured out their special function and still remember vividly Adam begging me to use them when he saw making use of that function. I can't really blame him though, the ability to absorb mana and kinetic energy - according to Arthur when I described the capabilities of the shortswords to him - storing said energy and mana and then discharging it at will is incredibly powerful and useful.

I have become quite familiar with the blades since getting them, but I could tell my usage of them was still inefficient and a bit uncreative. The years I spent honing my skills were now impeding me from making full use of Fang and Molar, something that didn't sit well with me.

But those are thoughts for later, as I've arrived at the resting spot my party was at. I explained to them the details of the mission Kaspian gave us and after we planned how to tackle it and decided what would be needed in terms of supplies, we all moved to get what was decided upon.

It took about an hour before we were traveling through the glades towards the coast. We made small talk during the day to pass the time and when night arrived we set up camp on a clearing next to a pond. Adam as usual wanted to spar a bit before dinner and Helen was the one to entertain him this time. Angela was on cooking duty and Durden decided to practice some new offensive spells he learned recently.

When morning arrived we continued our journey until early afternoon when we spotted a good place to set up camp and a base of operations. It was close enough to the area we were supposed to scout and investigate but not so much that our camp would be spotted by Alacyan troops in case there were any patrolling the area.

Helen and Durden were the first to begin scouting while Adam, Angela and me stayed to defend the camp just in case. The two returned around sundown with our map full of markers and routes from what I could see.

"Alright everyone, come get a look at this." Helen said as she laid out the map on a flat rock we could use as a table. "Durden and I have some good news and bad news. The good being we already found the enemy camp and figured out their patrol routes."

"And the bad news?" Adam asked.

"The camp is a lot bigger than we thought. It's closer to a full blown military base than a camp so we will need to stay here a couple of days to get a full picture of what they are doing here and what kind of risk they pose." Durden explained.

"Great, just what we needed. How did they even build a military base down here anyways? I thought Alacrya didn't have a way to transport large numbers and resources." Adam asked what we were all thinking out loud.

"Hopefully we'll figure out that part while scouting out the place." Angela said to keep a more positive atmosphere.

"What about the mana beasts we heard about roaming these parts? Any signs of them?" I asked, though I already have some suspicion about where they are.

"We found nothing to indicate they were nearby, but I think we all know where they could be." Helen answered me.

"In the godmanned base. These fuckres have been messing with the mana beasts and using them against us since day one of the war. Where else would those mutants we keep hearing about be." Adam said with clear anger and irritation in his voice.

"So what's the plan moving forward?" Angela asked.

"Tomorrow morning we confirm the patrol routes we found and in the afternoons we begin observation of the base. The goal will be to figure out their numbers and what exactly they are doing here. Once we have that information we return to the wall as fast as possible, my gut feeling is that this place needs to be dealt with fast." Helen outlined the plan for the mission and we all agreed.

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It was the third day of the scouting mission. During this time we were able to determine there were somewhere in between eighty and ninety five soldiers stationed in this small base alongside two Vritra blooded commanders. As for the purpose of the base, it was as we initially suspected, this was where the new mutant beasts were not only being kept but also made. Thankfully the only ones that were being turned into mutants were only B rank and lower, anything stronger than that had a team sent out to do the task.

After compiling all the information we gathered, Helen decided we were returning back to the Wall during the night to avoid catching the attention of any of the patrols. I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get the chance to further master my unique weapons, but was ultimately glad there were no setbacks to our mission.

Once Adam and I finished observing for the day we went back to camp and started preparing for the return trip. It was a fast process as we were travelling lightly in the case we needed to retreat at a moment's notice.

When night fell we began the journey back, but there was something wrong in the air so everyone was on alert in case something happened. As the night progressed the feeling never went away making me extremely uncomfortable.

Deciding to follow my instinct I unsheathed Fang and focused on letting it absorb mana. Usually it only does so when a spell is fully formed, so imagine my shock when it started working.

"Prepare for combat!" I shouted to alert the rest of my party while frantically looking around. It didn't take long to find the source of the spell Fang was absorbing.

Behind us was the sight of dissipating smoke and from that smoke was the form of one the Vritra blooded commanders of the base we were scouting.

"That was faster than what I was expecting. Perhaps you lessers won't be as boring to fight after all." The enemy said while she stopped suppressing her mana.

All six of us got ready for the fight that was about to begin.