Listening to the adults didn't affect any of their decisions but it felt like they kept looking at me when mentioning certain ideas. The professors were involved in the discussion and Ghaston finally interjected and took over the meeting as he was by far the most powerful beast master present. I hadn't noticed it before but he would dominate the room when he spoke as if his presence would radiate his power to get everyone to pay attention to him.
"I have a group of elite beast masters in my charge that will be the spearhead of this going forward. The cavern you say that has all of the beasts coming out of it will be our focal point. Sounds like it might even be a beast nest that can be converted into a training dungeon meaning this village will become a major hub going forward. Our students are on a quest to get as many beast cores as possible so they can do so.
The groups will go out as planned. The only difference is that I won't be available as I will be leading my group of elite students to the cavern. When we get back we can talk about how we are going to ensure that this dungeon is utilized to the best of its ability. Make sure to have plenty of core counters ready for us when we get back, I am going to guess my group will keep a couple busy for a few hours when we return." Ghaston explained the next couple days to the group.
The students that were collecting beast cores had swept the whole area outside of the village walls and returned back to get instructions for the quest. The professors had called them back so even if there were any left the students had to return. Once everyone was accounted for Ghaston stepped forward and announced to the students the plan for the quest.
"First of all congratulations to each of you for helping defend the village from the onslaught of frost beasts. These were iron ranked beasts as I am sure those that collected the beast cores have now realized. They were all the weakest and thus forced out of the base and told to attack us. This wave we just witnessed means that there is a beast nest to be found and turned into a training dungeon.
You are to continue as if this wave has never happened and continue to attack the surrounding villages that will have most likely only bronze and the few iron we didn't clean out today. The professors will be responding to distress calls and remember there is a return crystal given to each of you, do not hesitate to use it.
If you happen to see me with six individuals in obsidian armor do not follow, for starters there will be nothing for you to kill and collect. They will not be participating in the quest as it won't be fair to count our total versus any or all of yours." The wording at the end caught our attention as none of us had any idea what he was talking about.
Ghaston turned towards Adam as he was the tallest out of us and the easiest to spot. He signalled to him to come to him then made eye contact with me and did the same. The rest of us all figured it out as he did mention that if they saw six individuals in obsidian armor which was us. The groups of students were all gathering together and planning on which direction to go once they were outside of the village.
Once all seven of us were together Ghaston pulled us towards an area that was void of beings. We gathered in a circle eagerly waiting to hear from Ghaston what the plan was and he kept it simple. "We are going to be fighting silver if not platinum beasts, if we come across a gold boss we might have to abandon this mission. Once we determine who the boss is and if it's silver we will for sure attack it, if it's platinum I will test it, if it's gold we will retreat. Is that understood?"
"Sir yes sir!" We responded in unison.
A smile came across his face as we responded with an enthusiasm that shook the area. Most of the students had been busy gathering their things and heading out but our response caused those that we left inside of the village walls to look at us. The seven of us departed making a hole in the groups of students as some were waiting for us to leave so they could go the opposite way expecting there to be little our way.
I had never felt more powerful than that moment in my life thus far. The comments didn't escape my ears, most were comical as a bunch of them wanted to go where we were going. If they knew we were, they were going to be fighting significantly harder beasts than the bronze they would run into, they probably would change their tune.
Gaston's eagle was flying high above us guiding us to the beast nest, or at least what we were hoping was the beast nest. There seemed to be a lot of activity coming from a particular cave near a river that somehow the river was flowing despite the frozen surroundings. It appeared that it was a mile or so away and there were multiple villages that were on the way that we decided to leave for the rest of the school.
There were a few scuffles that didn't last long as Adam used blink and then arcane flame to melt the beasts quickly before they could do anything. It was mostly solo beasts that we came across as Ghaston's eagle had us take multiple turns that seemed to be weird till I realized that we were avoiding larger groups so that we could move quicker to the cavern not knowing how far we would have to go.
We were by ourselves and Joey casted panda tribe so that we could communicate silently. Ghaston started telling us to take a few different routes to make it easier and quicker for us to get to the cavern. The other reason for us to go in multiple directions was for us to attack the entrance as there were multiple beasts at the entrance. Adam and myself were on opposite sides while Abby and Ghaston were up the middle. Travis and Joey were to strictly defend Maddy and help whenever possible.
The entrance had a dozen golems and five giants meandering around the entrance. They were larger than the few random ones we had come across so far and the distinction between iron and bronze was apparent with these beasts. Ghaston informed us he was going to call out flash and if we heard him say it, close our eyes for a moment.
The group closest to Abby was six golems that never understood what was happening as Abby and Lacy did their new weapon technique as all six golems were destroyed in mere seconds. Flash was called out by Ghaston right in the middle of Abby's attack but they weren't affected by it. Adam blinked into a group of three giants that tried arcane explosion while standing in the center of them. The giants all screamed in pain as their skin was completely melted off their bodies leaving only muscle and bone. The three fell over in agony and died from their injuries.
I unloaded a fireball at max power from my bow that took out two golems while Ghaston's lion took out two and he took out two with his spear. The last two giants who were basically standing guard to the cavern entrance also looked to be larger. They were blinded by Ghaston and on the five second count we heard another flash.
I wasn't even looking in that direction so it didn't bother me but Travis said he wasn't expecting the second one and couldn't see the battle didn't really happen as the two guards were completely blinded for ten seconds. I had fired a chain lightning to help as Ghaston's lion and Dante were both rushing at the guards. The two guards were grabbing their eyes unsure what was going on when they lost their lives.
The lion had swiped right through the center of the giant while Dante had melted the other with his arcane flame. The two pets met at the center of the cavern and they faced the cavern ready to attack anything that might come out. Nothing came out but it was cool to see the wyvern and lion guarding the entrance the way they did.
The seven of us proceeded slowly as we entered the large cavern inside there were more giants and yetis but no golems. The twenty or so frost beings weren't paying attention to us as we entered and we didn't make much noise as we could talk through our minds. We first had to clear out the beasts but there were four paths after that to follow. We were discussing what we wanted to do when Adam was frustrated and blinked into the center of a group of ten of them together and did his arcane explosion attack.
The majority of them were killed by the explosion; those that weren't were quickly melted by arcane flames that Adam shot out of both of his hands as he spun in a circle clearing out those that weren't taken care by the explosion. The rest that weren't in the initial group that was attacked saw Adam and charged at him. He charged right back and as he came in distance he would shoot out a flame from his right hand that would melt the giant or yeti that it touched.
He was a freight train going through a glass house. The arcane flame was a silver ranked attack for Adam and the bronze frost beasts were highly susceptible to high temperatures and had no chance against him.
'I was getting sick of waiting and I think there are more powerful beings below.' Adam informed us through the link. Then he headed back to the far left to take that pathway as Abby took the next, then Ghaston to the center right, and I took the far right. Travis, Joey and Maddy, our collectors and protectors, walked around and collected the beast cores and checked to see if there was any equipment or treasures lying around in this first area of the cavern.
'You killed a couple silver beasts in that group. The cores are quite different at silver rank and you can feel the power coming from it just by being near it.' Maddy told us through the link.
'I am sensing the power of a platinum beast below, most likely the guardian of the beast nest. If any of you come across a much larger beast do not engage till all of us are together. Do you copy?' Ghaston inquired. He seemed a bit harsh with his request but I was guessing it was based on how Adam just blinked into the fight before we could all act as one.