Yel was making his way back to the crew, when he heard commotion from the distance
"!? That sounds like trouble, I better pick up the pace"
He dashed onward, heading back to the group
Meanwhile back to the group
The Redclaw was approaching and the team stood on the ready to face it.
They awaited orders from the tactician Stella
"(A redclaw may be more perceptive than the redhorns, but they're all guilty of charging head-on...in that case)" Stella calculated risk, then raised her hand up
"Commence as before, Mages on terrain, assault, hold the line, Archers cover fire! GO!"
She commanded as the party were more confident in replicating their feat for a second time
"GRRHAAA!" The redclaw halted and lets out a howl as the redhorns took charge ahead of it, buffing them with its battecry.
"!? Speed buff!?"
The redhorns speed buff got them through the muddy terrain way faster than before as the assault team were getting overwhelmed
"Crap! We're surrounded!" Klein shouted out as him and his teammate were struggling to hold their own from the relentless assault of the redhorns
"Klein!!!" Luche cried out as she went full aggressive with her arrows in order to reduce the tension on him.
"Aarrrgh!! Triple Shot"
With exquisite technique she unleashed volleys of triple shots on the redhorns, taking 3 on at a time.
This created room for the assault team to pull away from the pincer attack.
"Al back her up! Mages supporting lightning bolts, Clerics resistance spells! Now!"
Stella ordered as the team reacted urgently.
The redhorns were being contained by the tactics.
The redclaw saw this and decided to rejoin its pack for support
"Assault team, pull back when room opens! Don't get caught up by the redclaw!"
Stella said staring at the redclaw that was almost catching up
"(Tsk, they won't be able to make it...I need to do something)" she was weighing her options
Then a voice spoke from the distance
"PULL BACK!"
Following that was a smoke bomb, thrown on the path of the redclaw and the redhorns.
It exploded, creating a large area of smoke that slow down the enemy.
The assault team manage to pull back as a result
"That's!" Luche turned around and saw Yel approaching the rest of the team, more smoke bombs in hand.
"YEL!" she said, running to him
He caught up with the rest of the team much to the relief of everyone as they all managed to regroup.
"we were so worried about you!" Luche said, a small tear in her eyes
"are you alright my friend?" Klein asked as he tried to catch his breath from all the retreat.
"I'm alright. Thought I should assist, with you guys getting your hands full and all" Yel said
"hah, perhaps we do But now you're here, I would demand you make use of your craft, Yel Arki"
Stella said as the smoke was almost settling down
"We've still got a redhorn pack and it's leader to take down after all" she continued
"Grrrrr" the Redclaw growls, getting ready to reinitiate the offense
"So Miss Stella, what's the plan?" Luche asked
"...hmmm, divide and conquer" Stella said with a grin
While at Merika's carriage
Merika was staring ahead, slightly concerned about the safety of her protectors
"Sounds like a lot is going on ahead...I hope everyone is safe."
"You need not worry lady Merika. There's no one better at coordinating parties and large raids than Stella" said Leon
"But...is a Siren Priestess truly capable of such? I know they're more of support" Merika asked
"Right you are, but Stella is special, even among other A rankers. A Siren Priestess that is also tactically adept, her talent of always figuring out the best way forward to any adversity; is what makes Stella such an invaluable member of our team" said Leon
Back at the battle
This proved to be the case as the team was just about dealing with the remainder of the redhorns.
They seemed to have succeeded in their divide and conquer tactics somehow, as each group had dead bodies of redhorns on the ground.
The last of them was just slained, this time by Klein's sword.
"huh huh, ooff, that's the last of them" Klein said. "you hanging in there partner?" he said to Luche.
"You were slow, the other teams were already done with their part"
"Hey, You're the one who said the 2 of us could handle it?" Klein protested
"And handled it we did, only, again, you were slow" she repeated
"huhhh, you're a hard one to please" Klein said, adjusting his grip on his sword. "I wonder how they're holding up"
"yeah... I know she asked us not to interfere when done but..." Luche said
"You're tempted to help?" asked Klein
Luche stood silent
"I hear you, but going against Stella's orders will probably not be the best idea. Besides, her orders have gone so well till now I don't see any reason to start doubting them" Klein continued
"You're right...I just hope they get through this"
Luche said, as they stared up ahead, watching Al, Yel and Stella facing the redclaw.
It was the only threat left.
"Well well well, I've had about enough of the road; what say we wrap this up, boys?" Stella said
"hmph, with pleasure" said Al, as he reached for his quiver, grabbing 4 arrows
"Grrrr" the redclaw is about to jump on them
"Yel, you know what to do" said Stella, Yel nodded
"Scout skill - Stealth, activate!" he activated stealth in response, appearing almost transparent by concealing his presence, the redclaw lost track of him
"Grh!?" the redclaw is looking around trying to find Yel
Then as if trying to take advantage of the opening, Al released a shot at the redclaw's ankle
"Trip-Shot!"
It was a precise trigger, but the redclaw reacted quick enough and leapt forward towards Al
"GRAAAH!"
He unleashed a leap and claw strike at Al, but Al rolled out of the area, evading the attack and arming his next shot at the same time.
Then turning around with skill, he released another shot, this time at the redclaw's eyes
The redclaw deflects the arrow with its claw then begun the chase on Al, it was intense as Al could only manage to run around, evading any claw attacks from the chase.
The redclaw managed to close in the distance at some point but was promptly slowed down by a spike trap, it was placed by Yel.
Al managed to pull clear and readied his next shot
Stella on the other hand was silently reciting a magic spell, as a gold light was illuminating her staff
The battle took this trend with Al evading and pulling out arrow shots, Yel slowing down the redclaw's movements with timely traps and Stella chanting.
The rest of the team was watching Al drawing the attention of, and standing his ground against the redclaw visibly on his own.
"Wow...that Al guy...is amazing isn't he!?" Klein said.
"Yeah, I can't believe he's standing his ground against a redclaw alone, while managing to draw its attention away from Stella" Luche said, strengthening her grip on her bow
"To be fair, that much is expected of a party like Grimstone's banner. The redclaw may be a class Yellow threat, but I'm willing to bet they've handle far worse"
"Well it is said before they became 5th, they manage to fell a class Black enemy" said Luche
"class BLACK!!?" Klein uttered as the rest of the team were also in awe of the fact.
Luche nodded then continued.
"The only other parties that have managed this feat are the current 1st and 2nd in the revered 10"
"heh...hahaha..." Klein laughing ironically
"Even the Holy Inquisition need squadrons lead by a saint to engage a class Black enemy...who on Leithel are they?"
He was finding it hard to believe, they were all finding it hard to believe
Meanwhile at the battle, Al had just released the last of the 4 arrows he took out.
"Stella!" he shouted and escaped the latest redclaw attack with a well timed back flip
"Right on time!" Stella flicks her staff as it oscillated rapidly in mid-air, then bringing her hands together as if in prayer, activated her cast.
"High Holy magic - Divine Chains!!!"
Light magical chains materialized from the rear end of the arrows that were pinned to the ground in a square around the redclaw
"Gurgh!!" the redclaw found itself trapped by these magical chains as its claws and feets were binded
It struggled in vain, but could not move as a light vibrating magical glyph forms on the ground around it, with the arrows being the boundaries
"Yel, finish it off!" Stella ordered
"Haarhh!" Yel leaves stealth mode and with a swift move, slit the redclaw's unguarded throat with a dash dagger attack
The redclaw perished on the spot as Stella called off the chains and Al stashed his steel bow.
"huh huh we...we did it" Yel was amazed by the feat
"hmph, Not bad...for a scout" Al remarked, heading back to Merika's carriage for his report
The rest of the team cheered their victory as they regrouped around Yel and Stella
"Wow that was amazing"
"you guys were awesome"
"What was that magic, holy magic!?"
The chatter among the group continued for a while then Luche asked
"Miss Stella I have a question. Why did you opted for a divide and conquer, despite telling us a short while before it's best to take out redhorns in groups?"
The group fell silent, it was a good question
"The redclaw my dear. That is the long and short of it. For you see, there's nothing more dangerous, than controlled chaos"
"Controlled chaos?" Luche asked confused, then Yel interjected
"With the redhorns relentlessness and ferocity, they boost a dangerous raw power. Bring that together with a pack leader, they can direct that power to wherever is most efficient. So by cutting off that line of command, the raw power has no particular outlet"
"Hohhh a-and that's when we swooped in and picked them out one by one"
Klein said as Yel nodded
"Exactly"
The team was amazed by the brilliance of the tactics they had executed, all the while Stella watched Yel with a delighted smile on her face.
"(hm, I have a feeling...this one would've been our 4th member, had we been acquainted 2 or so years ago)" she thought, turning her attention to the dead redclaw
"(He managed to keep up with the redclaw's movements and coordinated his traps to Al's actions and situation, despite this being our first mission together, I was right to pick him for the task)"
"(but...something is weird...I get the redhorns and redclaws sometimes inhabit the Malign forests...but one reason we chose to depart at said time was because they'd be asleep at this time of the day, so chances of encountering them on the road should've been close to non-existent...)" Stella frowned, not entirely satisfied with how the situaution is panning out.
"(could the shadow walkers have incited this somehow...)"
Lost in her thoughts she couldn't hear Yel's voice until he gave her a light shove on the arm
"Stella! are you alright?" he asked, concerned
"Ah, Yel? sorry hahaha, I was lost in thought for a moment there."
".....I think you're wanted that way" Yel said, pointing towards Merika's carriage.
It was Al, he tilted his head towards the carriage, indicating to Stella she's been requested
"Oh...I suppose I should return. Good work everyone! your display was worthy of the adventurers. Let's keep up the good work okay?"
The team agreed as she made her way towards the carriage.
Yel stared at her for a moment, pondering what could be bugging her
"...it's hard to tie the knots together...but could what I discovered earlier be related to what happened here, if so...is it the same line of thought that occupied Stella's mind as well?"
"hey friend, you coming?" Klein called out from behind
"yeah, you should be done with the scouting no?" said Luche
Yel nodded. "Yes, I'll join you shortly, the redclaw could have some things we can salvage"
"ew... just leave it! the rewards are huge for this mission, we don't need to bother about junk" Luche protested promptly against the idea, with a look of disgust
"Besides, if you want to get hands on something, I have a feeling you'll like what I...have to offer" Luche said, seductively licking her lips
"He-hey!" Klein tried to talk her out of it
Yel smiled. "I'll consider...i..t.."
Trailing off, Yel noticed blood on his lips once more, as his hand reached for his nose once more
He stared at it, it was blood, thicker than last time.
Suddenly, his mind went blank as his vision blurred, his feet went weak as he couldn't keep still
He lost balance and fell down, drawing the full atention of his friends
"Yel!? YEL!! YEELL!!!"
He could barely hear Luche's and Klein's cries as they rushed to him
"(what...what's going...on...I...am losing...)"
Yel lost consciousness...