TBATE - Lightseeker

We had finally reached the town at the base of the Great Mountain Range and the Dwarven adviser would be here in just a few hours. We were holed up in a hotel waiting for the adviser to arrive. He and his guard escort are going to be staying in the same hotel just a few doors down from us. "Hey Ada, wanna go explore the town with me?" We all had nothing to do besides wait, so I asked Ada to join me in the town.

"Sure." She replied and we left the hotel. The town wasn't very large but was bigger than most towns in the Glades as it was funded by both the Dwarven and Human Royal families to serve as a final rest stop for Dwarven and Human officials before exiting the Glades and returning home. Ada and I walked around the main shopping district and observed the shops and stands selling various items and foods. A large commotion caught our attention, and we rushed over to the other side of the town where a large group stood watching two adventurers duel.

"I think it's a tournament of sorts. Two people duel and the winner stays in and duels the next in line. Wanna go try?" Ada asked next to me. "Sure. I don't see why not."

We walked around to the end of the line and watched the two adventurers duel. A roughed-up human male of average build and a neater-looking dwarf with higher-quality armour were standing roughly 7 meters from each other. "Neither of them look very special." Ada judged the two men and saw nothing impressive. "They are probably low-class adventurers. The human is probably D, maybe C, and the Dwarf is probably either C or B. The other guys here all look around the same level. This should be easy for us, but don't go too hard. No flashy techniques like blink. I won't use my light either - it's too unique."

My turn came around and I was pitted against a fire augmenter in his early thirties who wielded a straight sword. We stood at opposite ends of the makeshift duelling ring and stood our stances. I'll act as a conjurer for this one. I conjured small birds of compressed white fire and sent them barreling for the adventurer. He responded with a sword of blazing red flames and attempted to cut them down, but they exploded upon contact and melted his sword and gloves leaving burn scars on his hands. I closed the distance in an instant, far faster than any low-rank adventurer could see, let alone react to, and punched him in the jaw, putting my whole body behind the swing. He flew out of the arena, unconscious. "Who's next?" I asked, unbothered by the fact I just broke a man's jaw. Another adventurer stepped up, still confident even after what he just witnesses. "You're pretty strong, for a conjurer that is. I'll show you the strength of a real augmented." Uh-huh. 

He took his stance and I walked back to my side of the ring. A lady from the line counted us down and the new challenger launched at me when she hit 0. He's quite slow. He sprinted towards me, wind swirling around his two daggers. I put my hands in my pockets and leisurely walked toward him. His first dagger swung for the side of my head and I rotated my body to avoid it. The second drove toward my side, and I stepped behind him, far faster than anyone in the crowd could see. "What the!?" 

I twisted my body and brought my knee into my stomach before kicking him in the back sending him flying into the dirt about 3 meters away. I held back a lot and he still got sent flying. Just how weak is this guy? "Uhh... Who's next?" I asked with my hands still in my pocket. No one seemed to want to step up. As I was walking to sit down, Ada called out to me and I walked over. I saw Cobra's small holographic figure hovering on top of the ring, "He's here. Come back." We nodded at each other in agreement before we ran back to the hotel. She blinked over each few stands and I changed the state of my body and moved with the light, reappearing over every few buildings. We soon reached the hotel and Ada and I saw the luxurious carriage parked outside the hotel, a short and round Dwarven man stepped out, and 6 heavily armed guards with beautiful shining silver armour walked around him. Ada and I followed behind them acting like curious children looking for their parent's room. As expected, they entered a room just a few doors down from ours. We entered our room and we all began discussing the plan for the hold-up.

...

The next morning, we woke up early, left the hotel and walked over to our destination. At the floor of the large mountain road incline, we hid amongst the bushes and waited for our target to approach, our uniforms and hats could barely be noticed.

...

Roughly an hour and a half later, two horses mounted by Dwarven Royal Guards trotted past where we were hiding, followed by a large red and gold carriage. Lucy formed a net around our location and tied the two horsemen up with a long metal rod wrapping around their wastes and trapping their arms, giving the signal for attack. "Sh*t, it's the New Dawn!" Ada and I jumped out from our bush and dashed over to the two guards at the rear of the carriage, taking one each. I formed a few birds of fire and a sword of light, pointing the tip at his throat. "Don't move." The guard didn't listen and reached for his own sword and I cut off his arm. "Listen, and I won't kill you." I seethed. The guard bit down on his lip so he wouldn't scream. Ada had subdued her target, and he was left shaking convulsing on the ground from the electric shock. Cobra manipulated the sand on the mountain trail and formed a spike of hardened sand to pierce the leg of the soldier on the right side of the carriage, and punched the guard on the left behind the ear, knocking him unconscious. The Dwarven adviser cried out for help as Lucy dragged him from his carriage subdued by small metal rods wrapping around his body. "Shut up or I'll squeeze the rods!" The Dwarf visibly paled at Lucy's threat and immediately stopped talking. The guard I had threatened lept from his horse, sword in hand, and charged for my back. Sh*t! I spun around and turned my abdomen into light, his sword phasing right through me as Lucy bashed him over the head with a small metal pole. "Watch out, Solis. You need to knock them out before turning your attention away from them." She educated me on my mistake and we took the hostage away to somewhere people wouldn't find us. 

...

We entered the D-class dungeon and cleared the first four floors. "We will stay here for a bit and then meet up with the others. Jack and Badger will help us with escorting the hostage back to base. They should have just finished their mission and will meet us halfway." Cobra gave us the rundown on our next objective. "Why do we need to meet up with them? Can't we just run back to the main headquarters as soon as possible?" I questioned, unsure of the need for two more.

"Good question. Escorting an important hostage is harder than you'd think. Important figures - like an adviser - need to check in with the Royal Guards' information and border control branch every 12 hours or so. It will take us a lot longer than 12 hours to get back, and by then all off-duty Royal Guards in the Glades will be on high alert, and the active Royal Guard Search and Rescue division will be on our asses. They aren't to be underestimated. Badger's information gathering shouldn't be underestimated. Many people in poor towns owe him money, and will gladly sell out any Royal Guards in exchange for having their debt reduced, and Jack's illusions will be invaluable. Fighting off the Royal Guard won't be all that hard, but it will draw a lot of attention to us, and we don't want the whole of Dicathen knowing the New Dawn kidnapped a seemingly innocent Royal adviser." Cobra answered me, not angry about my lack of experience. We set up a small camp on the dungeon floor and tried to find something else to do before going to sleep and meeting up with Jack and Badger tomorrow.

"Hey Solis, wanna go explore the dungeon?" Ada asked enthusiastically

"Sure! It's only a D-class, but it should still be fun."

...

As we approached the sixth floor, we saw a vast lake with water-type creatures swimming around in it. A group of the creatures jumped out of the water and stood on the lake's surface, giving a small choreographed dance in an attempt to scare us. The two of us burst out laughing at the adorable dolphin's attempt at scaring us, falling onto the floor, and holding our stomachs. 

"Hahahaha!! They're so cute!!" Ada could barely talk she was laughing so hard. This only seemed to anger the small water creatures, and they swam towards us. I conjured three daggers of light, and they stabbed the poor mana beasts, dying the lake red.

We walked around the lake, still struggling not to laugh, and walked down to the seventh floor. 

We were met with two large doors, and we pushed them open with ease. "I wonder what the boss of a D-rank dungeon will be," Ada spoke as we entered the room. We saw a large snake swimming around in a large pool of water. "Oh, it's just a Sea Serpent..." Ada said, clearly disappointed. "They're like the little brothers of Ice Serpents, a B-class mana beast with an Ice deviant." She dipped her hand into the water, attracting the attention of the serpent, and lightning arced down her arm, jumping into the water. The lightning immediately raced through the body of water, frying the defenceless serpent and killing it instantly. "Boring," I said, annoyed we didn't find anything strong. It is only a D-rank after all. At least the weird dancing beasts from before were entertaining."

"Mm. Let's head back, it must almost be time for dinner." After Ada said this, we both turned around and walked back through the large doors, ignoring the useless core.

...

The seven of us sat in a tea shop, still wearing our uniforms and our hats still on our heads. No one batted an eye at the six figures dressed in the outfits of the most feared organisation on the face of the continent, nor did anyone recognise the Dwarf covered in metal rods with a cloth wrapped around his mouth. After we all finished our tea, Badger asked us, "Everyone ready? Good. Let's leave." We exited the tea shop and walked past a group of three Dwarven Search and Rescue division members, dressed in sleek black armour only covering their vital points, arms and hands. They all had different full-face masks in the design of various mana beasts to hide their identity. Thanks to Jack's illusion, they didn't notice us even though we were just next to them.

....