Chapter_38 Mission start

"Our target is a couple of toxic spiders. They have been terrorising a small village at the edge of the safe zone for a couple of weeks." David said.

Zane, Chris and the trio of hunters were sitting in a small room in Willow city. This was apparently their briefing room. Only David talked to the Guild captain so only he knew the details of their mission.

"Do we know their strength?" Clara asked.

"Both are grade one beasts in the initial stage" Adam answered.

"Umm where is the rest of the team" Zane suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?, we are all here" David said.

"But the last time there were more if you than this" Zane said, thinking back to the time he and Chris had met the hunters outside the wall.

"Nope this is all of us" Adam sighed.

"You are going to kill two mana beasts in your own?" Zane asked slightly surprised.

"Yes" Clara nonchalantly said.

"I guess these spider beasts aren't that strong then" Zane mumbled to himself. The team heard him but didn't answer, he would see them in action soon enough anyway.

"On another note, Zane can you remove poison?" David asked.

Zane scratched his stubble in thought before answering

"I have never tried before but it shouldn't be hard" 

"Well I am not taking any chances here, read this" David threw a piece of paper toward Zane who easily caught it.

"Uhhhh David---"

"I know, this parchment works like a storage ring, just inject your mana and it will slowly transmit all its information to your mind" David explained.

Zane was really surprised at how advanced magic was. It was like a programming language which could affect the laws of...well everything.

"Isn't something like this very expensive?" Zane said.

"Yes it is, but nothing will happen to it after you get the information so you will just give it back to me" David said and Zane nodded before injecting the paper with his mana.

As soon as Zane put his mana into the paper he felt a rush of information enter his mind and just a minute later, he knew everything there was to know about healing mana.

It was a strange feeling for Zane, he felt that if someone asked him a question about healing right now he wouldn't know much. However he was sure that if it came to it he wouldn't fail to heal anyone of any ailment.

It was like he had the knowledge but he couldn't access it. He knew it but didn't know it at the same time.

"I see you are done" David said with his outstretched hand.

Zane threw the paper back to him "Yes I am done, thank you" he said.

"Bear in mind that I did this for my team. Not for you" David said before he clapped his hand once "Okay let's head out" 

Zane and Chris followed the hunters as everyone walked to the city gate. It was still very early in the morning so the city was very quiet… just like Chris for some reason.

"Something wrong?" Zane asked 

Chris sighed "Well it's just that I don't know what my position is with the team" 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean what is my job here ?, I offer nothing. I can't help at all" Chris said.

Zane furrowed his brows in confusion "So what?"

Chris's eyes shot open in surprise "You are right! So what !? I am still getting paid to do absolutely nothing!" he laughed "I didn't know you were so good at advice Zane"

Zane looked at Chris with a blank face. Advice? The only thing Zane said was 'So what', but apparently that was valuable advice. Zane shook his head in defeat as the team left Willow.

A few hours of walking through the forest later, the group saw a small village in the distance. This was the village that had hired the hunting guild after pooling together all their money.

Two men stood at the edge of the village to greet the team. "Welcome to our village of Kiot" The older man said as he shook everyone's hand.

"My name is Krine and this is my son, Krone. I am the village chief" the man introduced himself and the other man.

"Greetings Krine, can we find somewhere to rest our feet while we talk" David said. The hunters where not even close to being tired but apparently it was common courtesy to discuss business over a cup of tea.

Krine led the Five hunters to the largest building in the village.

"Let's get straight to the point" David said. "We received reports that you are under attack by spiders. Can you tell us more about that" he said

David and the team already knew all they needed to know about the mission, however their information was about three days old and a lot could happen in three days.

"That is correct we have been under the mercy of these beasts for the last two weeks. The first day they came and plundered all our food. The second day they took little children and the fourth day they were attacking women."

"We tried to fight them but we stood no chance, our weapons can't even leave scratches on their hard carapace."

"Wait they aren't killing on the spot? " David asked in surprise. This was new information.

"Yes they never killed anyone, they just take them away. Obviously to eat them elsewhere" Krine said. He was trying to be calm but anyone could tell he was devastated.

"How many are they?" Clara asked

"We have only seen two of them" Krine replied "Our village had 150 people before the spiders. We are now down to only 60" A tear escaped his eye.

"We will save your village Krine. No one else will die I promise you that" David said "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

Krine shook his head and David thanked him before asking to talk to his team in private.

"What do you think" he asked the others.

"I think we need more of this bread, it's delicious!" Chris said as he stuffed his face.

No one paid attention to Chris though as they discussed the new information they had just received.

"The fact that the beasts aren't eating people but just kidnapping them means that there is a stronger beast calling the shots" Adam said.

"My best guess is that their leader, the queen, is a peak grade one spider at the very least" Clara said.

"That's also what I thought, which means we have to move out and kill it as soon as possible" David spoke.

"Why ?" Zane suddenly asked and the hunters looked at him with a 'Why what?' look.

"Why do we have to kill the spider queen as soon as possible?" Zane rephrased.

"Because if the spider is a peak grade one it may evolve anytime. And with all the food it's getting from this village, that may happen sooner rather than later. We aren't prepared to fight a grade two beast at the moment" Clara explained with a sigh.

Suddenly, everyone heard a loud knock and a panicked Krone opened the door "Im sorry to disturb but my father sent me to call for you. The spiders have arrived"