Risen World

Chapter 143: A look into Jayce's Groups First Guild Expedition

Jayce had been looking forward to their first time going on an expedition with a guild. He had thoroughly enjoyed his time adventuring with Joshua the last time he went out, but for the most part they didn't fight together and kept their groups separate when it came to fighting. This time around though they were going to get to fight alongside legitimate guild members. Most of the people that had come with them were people they had trained with when they were learning under Adam.

In total there were ten people on this expedition. There were the five people of Jayce's group, Amy who was the leader of the expedition, Adam who was the second in command, and three other members from the phoenix Guild who were all at least level forty. This put Jayce's group behind the eight ball compared to the others, but that's why they had come in the first place. They wanted to learn how to fight like guild members without holding Joshua back. They knew that sometime in the near future that they would be joining whatever guild Joshua created and they wanted to be full-fledged members that could be depended on. This was the first step to being able to reach that goal and they were all prepared to prove to themselves that they were up for the challenge.

The group had appeared outside of what looked sort of like a dried plain. The place was extremely hot, but it didn't have the terrain of a dessert or anything along those lines. It did had some rather dry looking hills that kept them from being able to see too far off into the area. Jayce could already feel that the temperature was going to grate on his nerves with the amount armor he had on and how heavy it was. Luckily his soul beast made things easier on him, but he felt bad for other tanks having to deal with places like this. He could hear the sounds of beast off in the distance calling to each other and communicating which proved this area was fairly lively in comparison to other areas they had been to. He was sure that if he had walked around one of those hills he'd probably run into some kind of monster within moments.

"Alright guys listen up!" Amy said excitedly with a bright grin on her face as she turned to look towards the group she would be leading. "This zone is a level forty zone so it's just about right for your level. It may be a bit tough for your group Jayce, but I'm sure my brother would have probably put you in a similar situation anyways."

With just those words alone Jayce realized how much Amy was like her older brother outside of just looks. Their attitude to training was very similar and based off the fact that Joshua took only one person along with him to take on a level thirty-five dungeon when he was only level thirty-one he could tell that both siblings liked to push themselves to an extreme degree. Amy seemed a bit more excitable and hyper in comparison to Joshua who was calm and calculating while fighting. Amy just seemed more like the brash type, but he'd have to see how she handled fighting going forward.

"Anyways we will be venturing into the dungeon at the base of the hill up ahead. It's one that was already cleared by the guild so guild members will get bonus experience while inside, sorry that doesn't include you guys." Amy said towards Jayce.

"No problem we're here to learn how to handle these situations, leveling is just a bonus." Julia said getting a nod from the rest of her group.

"Alright then, while inside the tanks will take the front, Allen and I will take mid-range while the rest will attack from the back. Adam you're pulling up the rear to protect us from any surprise attacks from behind. This is my first time through the dungeon so I don't know where all the traps are. I'll leave that up to you Marcus to scout them out before we trigger them. I'm sure Adam probably knows this dungeon down to the smallest detail by this point, but he won't intervene with any traps or monsters that we're dealing with unless someone is in mortal danger. We're going to run this dungeon a couple of times so let's go guys!" She said before leading them over to the dungeon entrance.

When they stood outside of a stairwell that lead down into what looked like a dark abyss, Jayce and the other tank both took the lead as they started to make their way down. The rest of the group then followed inside in the way that Amy had decided before both Jayce and the other tank took out torches so they could get a better view of what was ahead of them. Marcus was making sure to map out the area as though this was the first time the guild had ever gone into the dungeon and he also kept an eye out for traps even though it was highly unlikely that they'd run into any traps this early on.

After making it down the stairs and past the first hallway Jayce was certain this was a world created dungeon instead of a system created one. It was far too natural and authentic looking to be a system created dungeon. Just about every single system dungeon that Jayce had gone through was far too simplistic with basic structure and basic enemies for this dungeon to be put into the same category. Already the place had unique patterns along the walls with a rustic fill to it since even the stone stairs had wear and tear on it like it had been around for centuries. System created dungeons almost felt like they were exploring a virtual space in comparison with computer generated opponents that followed a protocol. It might change in the future, but at the moment Jayce highly doubted it.

Soon they came into an open room that was more than big enough for them to move around in and Marcus immediately started to search the area for any signs of traps. When he gave them the go ahead they started to move further inside the room and finally came across the first group of enemies in the dungeon. The creatures honestly surprised Jayce a little since they looked sort of like over grown coyote's that were looking at them like they were a delicious meal. One of them was about the size of a full grown horse and their fur seemed extremely thick which would probably be a good defensive measures against most forms of attack.

The moment they saw their enemies both Jayce and the other tank took the front and held off the four charging coyote's that tried to rush over. Both of them were knights so they were able to use the shield wall ability and stop the charge of all four coyote's while only being pushed back a little. Jayce was a bit surprised by the fact that the other tank had slid back even further than him. That's when he realized how much of a difference his soul beast had on his barrier abilities. Even though the other tank was six levels higher than him, his capabilities in this situation were definitely lacking in comparison. Jayce immediately took a few steps back so that their two shield walls would line up and keep the coyotes from being able sneak through the gap.

Amy smiled at Jayce for figuring that out so quickly before signaling the rest to start their assault. Allen immediately came up from behind the two tanks and started stabbing the giant beast from a distance. He made sure to aim for their eyes to inflict as much damage as possible without having to go past the shield wall. After a few seconds he had already blinded two of the coyotes which had backed off because of the pain. In the next moment a few arrows came soaring in blinding the other two coyotes. This was from the archer that had been a part of the group.

The last barrage of attacks came from Julia and the other mage who both charged spells to attack a pair of coyotes each. The other mage used a lightening spell that immediately shocked a couple of coyotes and stunned them in place. This allowed Allen to charge over and behead the both of them before they could get their bearings back. Their fur was thick so he had to use ability to sharpen his spear even more and extend the aura blade at the end of it to slice clean through. He quickly leaped back behind the barricade after pulling this off and watched as Julia's spell came flying over the shield wall and crashed into the still standing pair of coyotes. Unlike the other mage whose attack was designed to paralyze her opponents, Julia's spell was there to straight up kill the other pair of coyotes. Her large flame ball exploded on impact of the two creatures blowing off chunks of their body. She then controlled the flames to burn out their insides quickly and kill them off.

With the four coyotes down the group checked the area out a bit more before finally calming down and walking over to check on their spoils from the fight. Adam quickly put the carcasses of the coyotes away into his inventory to sell later. Jayce and his group already knew they were going to get a share of the cut so they weren't worried about it. That's when Amy stopped the group from continuing so that she could explain a few things.

"Alright that was a fairly decent first battle for us, but I have few things to point out before we go further into the dungeon. First off good thinking Jayce. I'm glad you noticed the flaw in the shield wall early before the coyotes could try to burst through past you two. Make sure to keep lock and step with each other in those situations. We also now know that Jayce will be the main tank going forward since he will have more survivability with that shield wall of his." She explained getting a nod from Jayce and the other tank. Jayce couldn't really see the guys reaction since his helmet covered his face entirely, but he didn't seem surprised by the decision.

"Next, good job going for the eyes Allen, but some creatures we come across might not rely on their eyes to sense our presence. In those case it would be better for you to try to cut off a limb if possible." Amy said getting a simple nod from Allen in reply. "Lastly for the mages, paralyzing the coyotes was good thinking, but if you're going to use that tactic it would be best for you to hit all of them instead of splitting up between the two of you. If the other pair of coyotes were able to react in time then Allen wouldn't have been able to kill the paralyzed ones as a follow up. It would be best if you paralyze all of them and let Julia do the damage since her spell takes longer to charge and has more power behind it. All in all good job guys!"

The group nodded at her advice and even Adam seemed happy with how well she had analyzed the situation. After the short talk they moved on to the next area and ran into another pair of coyotes, but this time Amy told them to wait before charging in herself. She danced around the pair of coyotes avoiding their bites and attempts to latch on to her. The moment she saw an opening the pressure she gave off completely changed. It reminded Jayce of Joshua so much that his body tensed up a bit in response. Her punch not only penetrated straight through the tough hide of the coyote, but even though it looked like she had only thrown one punch the coyote suddenly had three large holes punched into its side. It fell over and whined painfully as it slowly died.

Amy made quick work of the remaining coyote before coming back to the group with an exhilarated look on her face. Adam just shook his head at her antics before she pouted at the look he gave her. Although Amy was clearly far more hyper and jovial than her older brother they both gave off the exact same feeling when fighting. You couldn't really tell who the real monster in the fight was.