Chapter 164: Odd Alliances

The fight wound down as the last of the Lizardmen was killed by the concerted efforts of the warriors, and the second team collapsed onto the ground in relief.

"You have no idea how thankful we are you showed up when you did. The attack seemed to go on forever, they just kept coming." The team leader thanked Bob with a tired smile.

"No problem. It's right at the edge of our territory for the search, and we heard the fight. There are more, unless you killed some ogres before we arrived. Our scout spotted at least ten ogres this morning around our zone, and there are only three here." He replied.

This battle still left them with plenty of questions, like if Hawk's description of big green things were all Lizardmen, or a mix of them and Hobgoblins. The fact that the lizardmen had pressured the Goblins into working for them wasn't too surprising, but allying with the ogres was.

The two were both powerful in their own right, and they were notorious for not sharing well.

Seeing them in the same spot was unusual, but if they had all arrived last night, then they hadn't had time to stake their territories yet, and there would be some level of power struggle between the species as they worked to establish themselves.

Doug brought over a water skin for the others, and motioned for them to stay seated.

"Catch your breath, maybe get a bite to eat before you move out again. We've got to keep going and search our zone, but we will wait here until you've recovered a bit." The cleric assured them.

"We will call in the incident. If things got that bad for us, then the other groups need to be warned as well. With two groups working together it was easy enough, but solo, they could be in trouble, and I heard that we're not the only ones who have a student with us." The other team leader informed them.

Doug nodded and gestured toward Karl. "We have one with us as well. The Beast Master, whose Cerro thinks that lizardmen are lawn darts."

Karl chuckled and Thor looked embarrassed. The warriors weren't too worried about it, and they patted him on the side in assurance that they weren't upset.

But when Rae returned to stand behind Karl, the others were visibly concerned.

"This is Rae. She's the ambush attacker of the team. Effective, isn't it?" Karl asked.

"Beyond effective. One scratch and that lizardman warrior nearly bled out. Is that [Lacerate]?" The mage from the new group wondered.

"Indeed it is. I hadn't thought that it would be so effective, but I have underestimated her skills many times in the past." Karl agreed.

Bob nodded. "We all do. The bloodbath spiders are a force to be reckoned with, and Rae is talented well beyond the average. She even made us a safe fort last night so that nothing could sneak up on us."

The student cleric looked like he might cry at that bit of news. "Safe places to sleep? That's unfair. We were attacked five times last night."

If you counted every monster that was caught in the nets, Karl's team had likely seen more attacks last night, but none of them got close enough to bother them until the last one in the morning.

"The appearance was a few hours before dawn this time, so if you clear the area around your camp well, then you should have it fairly easy for the first part of the night." Bob suggested, running a hand through his short black hair in concern as he thought of ways to make a secure camp.

"Thanks. I think that we will move tonight. There is a nice cave in our area, and that only has one entrance, which should be easy enough to block off. From experience, the monsters usually don't appear right on top of anything else that's living."

The second group leader ate a protein bar in a few mouthfuls and got his team back on their feet.

"Good luck out there. We have handhelds, set to channel six if you need to contact us on the shortwave radio." He reminded Bob, who nodded and took a small radio out of his pocket to change the channel.

"We will monitor channel six as well. Stay safe."

The two groups went their separate ways, and Hawk began to scout the route ahead, looking for monsters that might be near their route, but not quite on it. Now that Rae was awake, she joined him, rushing off into the trees to see what she could find, but only after using the leather vest of a lizardman to clean the blood off her legs.

Karl's group left all the possible loot to the other group, partially because it was in their area, but mostly because they would need something to pick up their spirits after having a close call in the wilderness.

Once they were well away from the other group, Doug stepped back to walk beside Karl.

"I hope you're not all rattled by the situation back there. Things like that sometimes happen, and it doesn't always have the best outcome. You know how it is, we might be Elites, but when it comes to taking care of monster threats, we're still the low men on the scrotum pole." The Cleric explained.

Karl gave him a curious look at the unfamiliar phrase, and the mages laughed.

"What he means is we don't have the power or the seniority, so we get screwed. If it were a more valuable group out here, they would have sent artillery and conventional troops with us. You know, keep us safe.

But we're not famous or particularly wealthy, and power makes the world go round." One of the twins explained.

Bob cleared his throat. "Come on now, no need to scare the newbie. Besides, give him another year, and he will likely be up with the Commanders, drinking fine whisky and choosing the teams to go with."

Doug shrugged. "It's just part of life. The strong rule the weak. But we're all civilized, so it's not as obvious as it is with the animals. If you want to find out how benevolent the world really is, try to directly say no to one of their requests."

Karl smiled and patted the priest on the shoulder. "I seem to recall playing a similar game with the foreman at the mines. He would promise something in exchange for added productivity, usually a time and a quarter pay bonus for the day, and we would do just enough to get it done.

But Dragons help you if you failed because they would dock you for every imagined infraction that month."

The Cleric smirked back. "The Green Dragons always like it when people understand how things work. Perhaps you're more in tune with nature because of your class? Or perhaps your class is because you understand how things work a bit better than the average? I have a theory that the markings are actually perfectly suited to everyone who gets them, and that some people just can't accept that aspect of themselves."

"That's an interesting way of looking at it. But you might be right. I think the hard part is telling the ones who aren't all that good at their class that they likely wouldn't be better at another.

You're all Ascended Rank, I believe, so you're not at the very bottom, but there are seniors at the Academy who have barely broken into Awakened Rank. They wouldn't take it well."

The mages smiled at him. "That's why we're hoping to push for Commander after this mission. If we can get a decent resource or two, maybe something that helps with growth, we should be able to make it past the test.

There aren't nearly as many Commanders as there are Ascended Elites, and they get a lot more respect. They also get the better resources. There is a whole collection of Commander Rank resources that are nearly impossible to get for anyone else."

Karl nodded in understanding. "Well then, I hope that we come across something beneficial. It's always good to have friends in high places."

Their joking was interrupted by Rae returning silently and spinning a web across the trees in the direction that she arrived from.

[There are more Ogres coming. They will be here in a few seconds.] She warned.

[They saw you?] Karl asked.

[No, Hawk threw a tree monkey at them.]