"If you doubt me then you doubt me. If I remembered correctly, it was under the Adventurer's Association jurisdiction if I could be here or not. It's still up to the Association if the students are pulled out or not." Lee Seng tried his best to not let his anger out at the Commander. He was one of many people who would be against Lee Seng and find <strong>any </strong>and <strong>every </strong>reason to get him ousted. He watched as the Commander's fist bundled up and slammed on the arm of the chair.
"You dare talk to me like I don't know?!?" The Commander shouted.
"Anyways," Lee Seng removed his stare from the Commander and back to the three. "I haven't finished briefing you, so I'd appreciate it if everyone could listen to it. I think it would benefit whatever strategies and information you need for the upcoming battles."
"You little rat bastard!" The Commander stood up.
"Chang is correct." Director Fulgrum interjected. He turned to look at the Commander. "This isn't the time to bring personal feelings into a war zone. We need as much information as possible to strengthen our strategy."
"Try your best not to stir anymore ill feelings against you, Chang." Police Chief Hong added. "Your reputation already works against you. Do your best to control yourself."
"Continue your briefing," Head Captain Sylv waved. Lee Seng nodded and cleared his throat.
"After we were commanded to run away, we stopped when I couldn't hear the fighting. That's when I heard Sir Xavier's group. They were protective because Miss Rose was injured and his teammates pointed their weapons at me because of the way I look." Lee Seng continued the briefing. His tail swung slowly back and forth.
"We found out they were being chased by five black veined goblins and a small group of regular goblins, shortly after we chatted. We were forced into battle with the five black veined goblins and managed to easily clear out the regular goblins. With the help of Miss Rose and Sir Xavier, we managed to clear all five black veined goblins. I would like to add that two black veined goblins were smart enough to stealthily ambush us. I didn't hear them until they were really close." Lee Seng finished explaining.
"Three black veined goblins were chasing you from which direction?" Head captain Sylv asked.
"Behind."
"And what of the two other black veined goblins?"
"One flanked us from the left and the other almost got us with its black liquid tendrils from the right."
"The reports do match up with what we've heard then," Director Fulgrum spoke. He turned to look at the other three leaders. "There are some black veined goblins who act like normal goblins. They don't have an grasp on using the black liquid to their will while others can manipulate it like the fifth black veined goblin Sir Xavier and the students ran into."
"So what would the black veined goblins and hobgoblins even be considered then? There must be some sort of change that occurred to get them to a mere F-rank and C-rank bumped up to a C-rank and B-rank." Police Chief Hong questioned.
"This black liquid is what we need more physical evidence on." Commander Reeves slammed the arm of the chair. The door flew open and Lee Seng and the students' attention went behind them. They watched as a bruised and cut Akali walked in with two huge bags in her left hand. She was pulling a small pouch out of her satchel.
"Ah, this is where my kids are." Akali spoke. Lee Seng let out a sigh of relief and watched as Akali easily passed the guards and made her way to the middle. "Director, Head Captain, Police Chief, and Commander Reeves... It's been awhile since I've seen all of your faces. Are you doing well?" She moved to stand next to her students and smiled.
"L-Lady Akali, you're back!" Commander Reeves stuttered.
"The response team said they couldn't find you anywhere near the survivors." Head Captain Sylv spoke. "Where did you go?" Akali lifted up the two huge bags and raised them up into the air. The bags were somewhat bloodied and she threw them towards the leaders and watched as the bags landed on the ground and a shifter's blue head popped out.
"W-what is the mea-meaning of this, L-Lady Akali?!?" Commander Reeves asked. Akali chuckled and turned to look at her students.
"I'm glad you made it back okay. It seems you met Sir Xavier, too." Akali waved at Sir Xavier. Sir Xavier bowed and smiled.
"It was a pleasure to meet the youth under your care. They did well." Sir Xavier complimented. Akali nodded and turned back. Commander Reeves seemed immediately uncomfortable with the situation and Lee Seng wondered if he was scared of Akali.
"You found shifters? Where did you go, Number 9?" Director Fulgrum asked.
"I went to SW point 4. It was only a couple of minutes from the ping I sent out." Akali answered. "I found shifters acting like adventurers. They were guarding a huge hole at the point. I pinged to see if any teams were around and only got a couple of responses. One of those pings came from the shifters."
Akali stuck her hand in her pocket and pulled out a small device. She held it up for the leaders to look at and Police Chief Hong stood up to grab it. Akali reluctantly gave it to him, allowing him to study it. He showed the others and shook his head.
"Where did they get our tech?" Police Chief Hong asked. He waved the small device in his hand and sighed. "Shifters are that capable of something like this?"
"They're B-ranks for a reason then." Director Fulgrum chuckled. "I'm surprised you handled them with the least amount of injuries."
"C'mon, Fulgrum," Akali shook her head. "You could take on five of these guys and still look just as nice." She pointed at Fulgrum who chuckled and nodded.
"She seems to know the leaders, well." Felicia whispered. Lee Seng stepped back to the group and nodded.
"Doesn't surprise me," Ritsuka whispered. "The Numbers were the start of everything. It wouldn't surprise me if she trained and founded a lot of the things we know about now."
"Mmm, Director Fulgrum did mention he was under Akali at one point." Lee Seng whispered. He turned to look at the group's response and turned back to half-listen to the leaders and Akali talk.
"Did you find anything else useful?" Head Captain Sylv asked. Akali shook her head.
"The shifters were guarding a dug up hole. I believe that's how more goblins and different varieties of monsters are getting so close to the city." Akali explained. She pointed at the dead shifters heads before lifting up the small bag with her right hand. "Also, I got your some hobgoblin eyes to examine. It's slowly filling with black liquid and its irises retained the red color after I carved the eyes out."
"Take these to the lab." Head Captain Sylv motioned. A guard from behind the leaders walked out and moved over to grab the heads and stuff them back into the bags. The guard held them tightly and took the small bag of hobgoblin eyes from Akali. Akali nodded at the guard who gave a small nod before leaving.
"Anything else, Lady Akali?" Police Chief Hong asked. Akali turned to look at the students for awhile before turning back to look at the four leaders.
"I think I'll take my team of students back onto site. We need to secure the hole and have eyes down there." Akali told the leaders. Lee Seng's eyes scanned the leaders. Director Fulgrum, Head Captain Sylv and Police Chief Hong held great poker faces in comparison to Commander Reeves. Lee Seng watched Commander Reeves' face turn bright red.
"Why would you want to bring the students back out and risk their lives? They barely made it back. If it weren't for the fact they bumped into Sir Xavier's team, I fear they would've been lost or hurt." Police Chief Hong spoke. Akali held a neutral face as she shrugged.
"They would've found their way back even if they got lost for awhile." Akali defended. Her eyes slowly glossed over to Commander Reeves. "I know you're thinking about the safety of the students, but there's multiple teams out there today. They must learn the severity of a mission. One wrong move and you're seriously hurt... or dead.
"These are things you can't teach future adventurers, police officers and soldiers in a classroom. They need <strong>experience.</strong> You all should know the hell we've faced when this all started. Some of you were mere teenagers and now you're in the spots you're in because of those experiences. We don't want the new world to destroy humanity, so we must train our students to understand the severity of the new world." Akali's eyes moved to the students.
"These four students are here because of their hard work. Some do have high people in high places to make it easier to get into the exam, but the exam is all up to their abilities. The Academy has recognized that and the Adventurer's Association wouldn't have allowed them here if they didn't think these students could handle situations that could get them killed."