194 Dragon Kin Victory
It took them another hour to kill all the Wolves of the Night. According to the compendium, the quest would only register as finished after the last of the enemy kobolds died. It was a good thing that they wouldn't try to run away or hide, but it still took quite some time to kill them all. When the last canine kobold drew its final breath, a large banner with the Dragon Kin flag appeared in the sky. It was the same marker indicating where they could pick up their dungeon quest, and it seemed to be in the exact same position. Hera and the girls headed towards the banner, arriving at the command tent with Zudra already waiting outside.
"Friends! Mighty One! We thank for the help. Without you, we lose war! Many thanks from all us!"
After the general finished speaking, the entire remaining army cheered, thanking the group.
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You have completed the General's request
The Dragon Kin army emerged victorious from the attack
You will receive a reward based on your completion rate
Number of quests completed: 9/15
Number of extra events completed: 3
Morale: 324/500
Remaining Kobolds: 456/500
Final Grade: B
First completion rewards:
15 000 gold, Random Kobold Supplies(B)
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"Wow, we managed to save quite a lot of them, right?" Alex asked.
"Yeah, I honestly thought we would lose half of the army," Hera nodded.
"I think your speech and the dragon show made the difference, and we killed the chieftain pretty soon too," Bonnie said.
"And what about those kobold supplies, any ideas what they might be?" Alex mumbled.
Bonnie thought for a moment, "No clue, we can check them before leaving, but if they are big, it would be an issue."
"What do you mean big?" Alex turned to Bonnie.
"I mean, what does the system consider as supplies? Food and water? Armor and weapons? Casks of booze? A catapult?"
"Oh, I see your point… I don't think it would be a catapult, but a cask of something, maybe."
"Even you, Bonnie?" Hera sighed and pulled her tablet. She looked for the chest icon and read the description of the reward.
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Random Kobold Supplies(B)
Use this to receive a random piece of gear or an item from the kobold army. You can acquire weapons, armor, accessories, gadgets, and blueprints.
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"We can read what it says, people. Just like we can inspect things. You guys really need to remember that," Hera said.
"Oh, right. So I guess we can open it now," Bonnie pulled her tablet.
"Can we do it later? I want to check on Tom," Blue stopped her.
"Yeah, that's a good idea," Hera nodded.
Even though they were still in the camp, now it had lost all its life. The kobolds were just staring at them like statues, not even blinking. It gave an eerie feeling, making Hera want to leave there soon. It took just half an hour to arrive back at the entrance of the dungeon. The entire battlefield had been reset and now looked like the grassland that existed when they first entered the area. There wasn't a single drop of blood or a lonely trap anywhere. It was as if the war that just occurred never took place.
Before crossing the gate leading back outside the dungeon, Hera took one look back at the plains. She wasn't able to see Galva, the ones she trained, or the kobold who helped her take care of the army's equipment. Even though they were just simulations, she wanted to at least say goodbye.
As they left the dungeon, there was a small group in front of the entrance. They had the guild uniform and were setting up a perimeter around the gate with the silver wolf banner.
"What's going on?" Alex asked one of the clerks.
"We are setting up the battlefield."
"The what?"
"Battlefield. Never saw one before?"
"Not really, I remember something about that in class, but I've never seen one in person."
"Oh, ok. It's kind of the hard mode of this dungeon. The two dungeons will meld into one, and we can participate in a large-scale fight. Instead of just 2 thousand against five hundred, it will be 20 thousand Wolves of the Night against 5 thousand Dragon Kin. The number of explorers there changes too. We'll have about 50 people each doing their own tasks. The battle lasts about a week, but the conditions are very similar. We are not supposed to do much in the actual fighting. Our job is to reinforce the faction we are helping and sabotage the enemies. There are only a couple moments when we will be active during the large battles. This month we will be joining the Wolves of the Night. To do that, we need to complete a certain number of runs in the Dragon Kin dungeon while no one helps the Wolves. The reset starts tomorrow, so we will have a week to trigger the battlefield. Until then, no one is allowed to do the Wolves side of the dungeon. If you guys have any time-sensitive quests, put a request with the guild. Depending on the situation, you might get special permission to do this side."
"Wouldn't that make you guys miss a week?" Alex asked.
"Not quite, but it would increase the number of runs needed to trigger the battlefield. We need 35 runs in a week now. If someone has to do the Wolves, the Dragon Kin quest must be completed an extra 50 times for the battlefield to trigger. We have about 25 parties doing this dungeon regularly, so that's 50 to 75 runs in a week. If we push it a bit, we can still make it."
"I see, don't worry. I was just curious. We don't have any quests inside that dungeon right now," Alex replied.
"No worries. If you want to participate in the battlefield, we have a signup sheet back in the guild. It's mostly to split the groups with the right amount of people. The dungeon can be tricky if you don't have a certain number of people in the group."
"We'll talk later and sign up if we decide to join. Thanks!" Alex smiled and rushed to the group that was already heading towards the guild. She explained what the battlefield was and what they were doing there. Bonnie got really interested in the idea of participating in such a large event.
On the other hand, Hera was unsure if she wanted to aid the Wolves of the Night. Besides, she already knew how it was like to fight in a large battle. In her mind, a battlefield would be no different from a rampage. Not to mention, they had no idea how Tom's wounds were and if he would be up for a dungeon like that in just a week. Asking the clerk in charge, they quickly figure out where Runir and Tom were. This room wasn't very crowded, but since it had a battlefield, there could be a large influx of wounded people. That was the reason for a large number of beds, even private rooms in the infirmary.
Tom was in the second room on the left, with Runir waiting on a chair outside.
"Hey, how is he looking?" Alex asked.
"Not great, but he's not in danger. The healers here are doing the best they can, and he woke up long enough to ask for a high-level healer to come to take care of him. He's spending a big chunk of his savings to pay for someone to make sure he doesn't have any scars and that he can function as normal," Runir explained without looking up.
"Is he up now?" Hera asked.
"Not anymore. He was up for just a few minutes, then they put him under a sleep spell again. The healer is supposed to arrive in a couple of hours. I'm going to stay here to explain what happened," Runir clenched his fists, "We couldn't even take off his armor. If we force it, it would be like skinning him alive."
"I'm so sorry," Blue said.
"You should be! This is all your fault!" Runir snapped.
"Wow, calm down. Blue messed up, yes, but she wasn't the one who hurt Tom," Bonnie stepped between them.
"Of course she was! If she wasn't brain dead and read the compendium, the boss wouldn't have used that skill."
Hera pushed Blue back, standing in front of Runir, "If Tom wouldn't keep up knight crap, maybe, just maybe, he would have a proper armor instead of a damn toaster."
"You are going to blame the sick now?" Runir yelled.
"Since you are tossing blame around, I might as well!" Hera yelled back.
One of the healers came from a room in the back of the hallway, "Get out, all of you! We might have only two patients now, but that doesn't mean you can keep yelling and disrupting their rest."
"But I'm waiting for someone," Runir protested.
"Wait somewhere else. Out, now!"
The healer kicked the group out of the hallway, making them stay in the guild's lounge. Runir instantly turned to Hera, "Look what you've done!"
"You are the one who started yelling. Besides, Tom will be fine. You said so yourself," Hera yelled back.
"He could have died in that fight!"
"So could any of us! It's part of the job! Why are you that worked up? Alex was in a worse shape when I stabbed her by accident."
"Because I don't care about that. I care about Tom!" Runir yelled back.
Hera stared at him for a moment, "So it's like that? Screw us, as long as you and Tom are ok, you are fine?"
Runir scratched his head, "I didn't mean it like that."
"You said enough. Tell Tom I hope he feels better soon," Hera stormed off from the guild.
Bonnie rushed after her right away, leaving Blue and Alex behind.
"I'm really sorry about all this. I never meant any of that to happen," Blue said, still looking down.
"It doesn't matter what you meant," Runir refused to look at them, making the controller leave after Hera.
Alex took a deep breath before looking at the healer, "I don't know what happened for you to be so worried about him, but I expected more after the months we spent working as a team. I never expected you not to play favorites, which you do. Tom is always getting buffs and heals before anyone else," Runir kept his gaze towards the infirmary hallway, "And you don't care. That's fine. Good luck."
Alex walked off towards Hera and the rest. They were already heading to the doorway, but it didn't take long for the group to get together.
"Don't you think that was a bit much?" Blue asked.
"Not at all," Hera replied bluntly.
"But it is my fault."
"I know, and I still want to scold you for it, but let me calm down first. I don't want to overdo it," Hera explained.
"Oh, ok…" Blue still felt terrible for the entire situation, but at the same time, she felt relieved that no one would blame her right now.
"So if you guys want to start, be my guest. I'll take the last round," Hera looked at Bonnie and Alex.
Blue saw their angry gazes and shuddered, just thinking about what they could do to punish her mistake. A couple hours later, they arrived at their home. It felt like a week since they left. Because of the hour, the group stopped to eat something before heading back. To Blue's dismay, this was the first part of her punishment. One week on a strict vegetarian diet with no hot food, only salads, and room temperature wraps. For any of the others, that wouldn't be much of an issue, but for Blue, who never had a meal without some sort of meat, it was torture.
Arriving at the house, Helena welcomed the group, asking about how the dungeon went. They told her everything, including what Runir said and what happened to Tom.
"I mean, you can't exactly blame him. Not to say he wasn't in the wrong at that last part, but they've known each other for years. Tom even waited around for him before going deeper into the MAZE. It is expected for him to be more worried about him than you guys," Helena said.
"I know, it just hurt," Hera said.
Helena pushed on, and after some discussion, they all agreed to call Runir and apologize later. It wasn't worth it to break the party up just for this. Even if they had to address his favoritism at some point.
"Lena, can I ask you one thing?" Hera asked.
"Sure."
"Why is that picture framed?" Hera pointed toward a picture on the wall where she had a halo around her head and several mushrooms in the background.
"You looked so pretty. I wanted to show you off," Helena replied with a mischievous smile.
"Take that down. Now," Hera stared her down.
"We are a democracy. So what does everyone say? Should we take it off?" Helena asked the rest of the group.
"No."
"Nope."
"Not a chance."
"Why am I the one being punished!" Hera gasped, knowing it was a losing battle.
