Chapter 229 Prince Corbin

Chapter 229 Prince Corbin

Everyone unloaded as the helicopter touched down, and a bearded blonde Royal Rank mage came forward to greet them.

"Good, you all made it, and you've had a chance to meet each other." He paused to laugh at his own joke and the obvious tension between the two groups.

"I am Prince Corbin, and as you might already know, these four are Larry, Darrel, Darryl and Darrin, and finally, our ray of sunshine is Rosalind." The Royal Rank Mage introduced himself and the Spellswords, with a teasing glint in his eye that dared the girl to speak out.

The fact she hated the name wasn't a secret, everyone could see it, but it was just as obvious that she had done something to annoy the Royal Rank mage and make him use her full name.

Corbin was dressed as an Elite, so Prince would most likely be a power-related title, as Commander and Overlord were. Larry and Darrel were the Commander Ranked leaders, while the other Darryl and Darrin were the Awakened pair, making for a larger power gap than most groups, but if they had Prince Corbin with them, it was probably some Spellblade Clan related mission, as they were all from the same group.

"Now, I'm not going to ask you all to work together, that would be pushing my luck too far, but I will request that the two groups not attack each other if you see each other in the wilderness. My people have an assignment to hunt beasts above their rank, and the rest of you are here for whatever mission the Church had, so your goals shouldn't overlap by too much." Corbin finished, before nodding in satisfaction in a way that reminded Karl of his father when something went right.

Alice reached out and shook his hand. "Prince Corbin, good to see you again. For those who I haven't met yet, I am Commander Alice, then we have Sister Tessa and Sister Lotus, Dana and Brother Karl."

"Brother Karl?" Corbin asked, looking at Karl's leather armour with the green tunic. That wasn't Church Guard uniform, and he didn't feel like a Priest.

"The Church summons him so often you'd think he was a Priest. He's actually a Beast Master Class Elite, so if you see oddly tame monsters around, they might be his. I wouldn't pick a fight with them, they're stronger than they look."

Rosalind scoffed, but Corbin looked excited.

"Perhaps we could have a little sparring match, as we have two clerics here to deal with any mishaps? It would help build recognition between the two groups." He suggested.

"Sure, the young lady and Karl seem to have a companionable rivalry going on. Perhaps he could duel her without his beasts active, and they could get a taste for each other's skills?" Alice offered.

Rosalind pulled her short black hair back away from her face and smirked. "You don't think that I can handle one Elite with his gimmick pets?"

Alice gave her a vicious smile. "Why don't you try him first and then see if you think you're up to a four on one fight, a Rank above yourself?" Follow the latest novels at novelhall.com

Everyone backed away, all confident in their contestant's chances of winning, despite knowing very little about the opponent.

"I would like to make one condition if I win. Never call me Rosalind again." The girl demanded of her Royal Rank mentor.

That's why beating a solo monster a rank above you is the challenge I have set. They're not as smart as a human, or as agile." Corbin chastised her.

"I understand, instructor. I have lost." She sighed.

"See, that's my Muffin. You learn so fast."

Karl wasn't certain that was actually an improvement, but the way the others smiled made it seem like a term of endearment. Perhaps they were related? That might explain the teasing, but they didn't look alike.

"I know his tricks now. I will win for certain next time." She agreed.

"And that will have to wait until after the mission. I don't want any of you challenging each other in the wilderness. Now, I have the maps for all four groups, and then we can all get going."

The two Commanders moved to stand next to Darryl and Darrin, and Prince Corbin moved to stand next to Rose while he handed Alice the updated map of the area, with monster sightings and harvested resources.

Alice looked over the map and nodded. It hadn't changed too much since yesterday when theirs was updated.

"Good luck, and if you need anything, look for us. We have two healers, and both can magically repair gear, so if you damage a blade or your armour in combat, we can get you going again." Alice reminded them.

The Spellswords all raced off into the woods to get started on their mission, while Alice gestured toward the mountain northeast of them.

"That is our first target. There have been strange sightings around the base of the mountain, and it might mean that whatever we're looking for has been hidden there." She instructed the group.

Karl moved to the point position, and called out Hawk to begin reconnaissance.

[This place is busy. There are monsters everywhere. Furry ones, big furry ones, scaly ones, big scaly ones.] Hawk notarized his estimation of their threat level.

There was only one problem, he had no idea what any of these creatures were called. He had never seen them before, and he hadn't seen them in the lesson books that Karl had gone through back at the Academy when they were studying monsters to help his growth rate.

"Well, there are officially monsters everywhere. If I knew what they were, I would tell you, but there are big scaly ones coming this way." Karl informed the group.

"Alright, let's move toward them. We don't want to lead monsters to the assembly point." Alice ordered.