Chapter 168: Golden Lions, Storm Chasers, and Monarchs of Unity
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The Storm Chasers, led by a majestic Crane-kin beast-man, entered the room.
Each member seemed like a majestic angel, and released an aura of great superiority and authority, that even Frank felt.
Bird-kin beast-men had the appearances of a human, however, their ears were long like elves and covered in plumage, they had wings behind their backs alongside normal arms, and their feet were like those of a normal human as well.
Their bodies were covered in a beautiful cape of colorful plumage that depended on their race, and their wings were their honor and pride, always taking care of them to not be damaged.
There was a misconception between bird-kin beast-men and Harpy being the same, but this could not be farther from the truth, as Bird-kin beast-men were separate from Harpies, the same way Snake-kin were of Lamia, different races with different physiologies, born from the same God.
All of them, despite being agile fliers, were wearing beautiful shining armor, although the armor was specifically made for flying races, and was as light as leather, very hard as well, protecting the weak and hollow bones of bird-kin.
"Ah, welcome, Grandwing-san!" said Clishya.
"Ah, Clishya-san, as energetic as ever… It seems that we are late at the meeting, our apologies," said the crane-kin beast-man, a beautiful pale, white-skinned man, with a slim figure yet a tall body, shining golden eyes and enormous white wings, he seemed to wield a rapier and had an aura similar to the wind attribute.
"Don't worry, please join in, there are many seats for everyone," said Clishya, as the Storm Chasers made their way to their seats, each member was a colorful subspecies of bird-kin, making Frank and his group stare at them with awe, as bird-kin were rare within this town.
"You must be the new group that has gotten quite popular lately, is it? Frank, right? I am Grandwing Windforte, it is a pleasure to met you," said the crane-kin man, way more polite than Rabrudion.
"A-Ah, it is also a pleasure to meet veteran adventures such as you…" said Frank, as the rest of his party nodded.
"That's right, I've heard a few things about the Storm Chasers, you're a group of adventurers that go around the nation, right?" asked Gwendolyn.
"That's right, we go around the nation looking for adventures and challenges," said the Hummingbird-kin beast-woman at the side of Grandwing, named Melodia, her plumage was a beautiful combination of azure, clear blue, and white, and her aura seemed to release a cold presence, Frank immediately realized that she could be a rare Ice Attribute Magician.
"Tch and you're not greeting me, bird?" asked Rabrudion rather annoyed by being ignored.
"My bad, Rabrudion, it is also nice to meet you!" laughed Grandwing, as the rest of the party glared at the lion with annoyed expressions, it seemed that Rabrudion was not popular not even with his fellow peers.
"You birds are always so high and mighty, you think that you're better than us because you go around the nation? Even if you adventure so much and all, you're still stuck at Rank 2!" said Rabrudion.
"I don't see the issue with that, what we do or not is of your concern, Rabrudion," said Grandwing.
"Oh yeah?" asked Rabrudion as he smiled, he seemed to be trying to provoke the calm Grandwing.
"(It seems that the tension here is pretty big… Especially between these two! Are they rivals? Also, Grandwing and his party did not seem discriminative towards my race… could they be more accepting of humans, or is just Rabrudion the asshole in here?)" wondered Frank in silence.
"Enough, Rabrudion, you are here to work, not to start fights without even a point. I am getting tired of your hypocrisy, behave well if you don't want a beating by these fits," said Adrian, the Guild Master, as he released a dark and overwhelming aura from his body, the true power of a Rank 3 Magus!
Rabrudion gnashed his teeth as he averted his gaze from Adrian, cold sweat began to drip from his neck by just feeling the pressure of this man's strength.
"Tch!"
"Hmph… Now, we will start our meeting for the extermination of the two dangerous monsters that have appeared within the Goblin Dungeon… The Goblin Champion and the Goblin King," said Adrian, as Clishya at his side activated a magic artifact, which reflected light into the white wall before him, showing a screen with the illustrations of these monsters from the Beast and Monsters Encyclopedia.
"Ohh, that's an amazing magic artifact, I've never seen such a thing before!" said Annabelle.
"Amazing…" said Asterion.
"That's certainly impressive," said Hilvera.
"So such thing can exist in this world…" said Kamei.
"Oi, shut up the kindergarten you're carrying with you!" said Rabrudion.
"What did you say?!" roared Gwendolyn in anger.
"Why are you even bringing kids to here?! They might be strong, but they are just a bunch of toddlers! Do you take our job as a joke?" asked Rabrudion.
"Rabrudion, I already told you once, this is the second time… There will not be a third time!" said Adrian, making Rabrudion shut up.
"A-As Adrian-sama said, these are the Goblin Champion and Goblin King. As you can see, the Goblin Champion has a stronger and muscular build, even surpassing the size of an Ogre, reaching over four meters. Their bodies are shrouded in muscles and their skin is as hard as a rock, they also possess great agility alongside their strength and natural defenses, and also are well versed in magic, usually Dark Magic, alongside this, they are good with large weapons, and can be a total threat if not faced by many coordinately," said Clishya.
"We have never fought a Goblin Champion before, so this might be a good experience," said Melodia.
"Indeed," said Grandwing.
Rabrudion and his gang glanced at Melodia and Grandwing rather hatefully, they seemed to resent them for some reason, which Frank could not figure out.
"Depending in which stage of its Rank 2 Cultivation it is, its power can greatly vary… However, even at Peak Stage, if all of your work together, it should not be too hard to defeat. Targeting weak points such as the eyes, mouth, or throat will be essential to achieve victory," said Clishya.
Then, Clishya moved to the other illustration, a smaller being, but not less dangerous.
"This is… the Goblin King, although it might seem smaller than the Champion at a size similar to a conventional Goblin Warrior, what's truly dangerous about it is its high intellect and the ability to order any goblin to do its bidding, without any way for the goblin to resist. When a Goblin King emerges, goblins lose fear as they are ordered to fight relentlessly, becoming more dangerous and vicious, alongside this, they can unleash tactics and other methods to fend off invaders… a lot of tactfulness and thought will be needed to deal with such a being. And even if fighting it alone, don't forget that it is a Rank 2 Monster, and its magic can be deadly if it were to hit a dangerous spot! …However, its body is generally weaker than a Goblin Champion, make sure to use such information to your advantage," said Clishya.
Frank glanced at the illustration of the Goblin King, its vicious smile, and the crown it wore made it grow wary, this being seemed cunning and as intelligent as a person… it could come out with very scummy tricks, and he would have to be very wary of it.
"Hm, we need to be prepared and look out for traps," said Grandwing.
"Indeed, let's be careful everyone," said Melodia, as the other two members of the Storm Chasers nodded in agreement.
"We won't even need your help, we'll rip them apart easily with our claws and weapons. We'll get all the bounty and buy a ton of booze and whores to celebrate!" laughed Rabrudion, as his party members cheered.
"I-I think we should be more cooperative if possible…" said Frank.
"We can be more cooperative, as long as you don't get in the way of our movements and attacks, as we often use explosive and wide-range magic," said Melodia.
"O-Oh, I see," said Frank.
"Don't worry, we will make sure to let you attack as well, but it could be dangerous for the children, so we will not let the monsters reach you," said Grandwing with a confident nod.
Although Frank felt grateful to have such reliable people with him, he could not help but find as if they were being a bit… too high and mighty?
It was just as Rabrudion had said, they were not thinking of Frank's party as a complete strength, and were more confident in their own strength as a party without including that of the Monarchs of Unity or the Golden Lions.
Meanwhile, the Golden Lions were being just as selfish and even intended to get rid of the monsters and get all the bounty for themselves.
Adrian sighed, he could not do much with someone like Rabrudion, and only hoped for the best.
Although he was a Rank 3 Magus, he had the task of protecting the Guild building and also the entire town, going out of it to kill the monsters might endanger the life of the townspeople if the Goblin King were to plan a raid to the town while the strong adventurers are fighting the champion and his other army inside the dungeon.
However, if things were to not go according to plan and if… by any chance, these three parties were to get on too many hardships or have too many casualties, he would have to step in.
The parties began to quickly pack their things, walking out of the Guild as they made their way to the Goblin Dungeon.
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