Who Needs Magic in a Fantasy World Anyway?

Chapter 100: Into the Nest

"Gather into your groups and prepare to enter the nest!" Dedrick Keppler, the guild master at Goldgate's adventurer's guildhall, ordered as he stood beside Conner at the front of the large group of adventurers that had gathered. And while she'd known that they would be getting reinforcements after rescuing the trapped adventurers from before, Koko hadn't realized at the time that it was such a large emergency seeing as they seemed to have brought all of the adventurers in the city to the nest on an emergency quest. Though she didn't care about that seeing as, since the second-years at the academy were involved as well, she still wasn't allowed to go back to the dorms so that she could take a shower.

"Hey Austin, why is everyone getting so excited over a bug nest?" Koko asked her instructor. "Is it really that big of a deal that spiders and hydra-centipedes were found in a giant ant's nest?"

"Yes, it's a big deal." Austin replied immediately. "If it were just ants, then while their nest might go deep underground, they wouldn't spread that far to the sides. However, seeing as there are other insects involved, there's a good chance that the tunnel network could spread for miles around. In other words, an opening might appear in Goldgate should the insects dig far enough."

"And this requires all of the adventurers in the city?" Koko asked. "Shouldn't the guards or the army be helping us?"

"That's what we've been waiting for." Austin replied. "A division of the army is coming here to guard the entrances while we go inside with the other adventurers. After all, fighting monsters is our specialty and keeping order and fighting other people is the army's."

"Wait, so we have to go inside too?" Koko asked with a shiver. "Weren't we just supposed to sit back and guard the entrances?"

"Koko, there will be so many tunnels in this nest that, even with this many people, it may take days to fully explore." Austin replied. "So yes, the second years are being divided into already formed groups of adventurers so that you can assist them."

"Aww man." Koko complained to herself. "I wanted to take a shower..."

"You were already covered in bug blood, so you shouldn't have any problems with getting covered in more of it." Austin snickered at her slightly. "Come on, where's that reckless behavior that's gotten you into so much trouble so far?"

"Undead, slimes and bugs aren't my thing." Koko replied with a sigh. "Isn't there a fortress full of minotaur or something that we can go assault instead?"

"No... there isn't." Austin sighed as he looked at her. "I can't believe that you would prefer fighting minotaur over a few bugs... you really are crazy."

"I'm just the only one here who has her priorities in order." Koko defended herself, though after resigning herself to her fate, she guessed that it wouldn't hurt to be any more dirty then she already felt. And seeing as she wasn't going to get to shower any time soon, she figured that she could at least have some fun in fighting more monsters in the meantime.

"Koko Cryner?" She suddenly had to turn around as a young man with short black hair dressed in leather armor spoke beside her. "My name is Ander Whitfield, and I'm the leader of our group."

"Go on then. And stop complaining, otherwise everyone in your group will hate you." Austin ushered her forward, and Koko gave him one last light glare before she started walking towards the man. "And I'd better not hear anything about you causing any more collapses!"

"Again! The monster did that, not me!" Koko defended herself as she walked away. And seeing as both Christina and Richard had already been chosen for their groups, she was left to walk alone with her new team member before he led her to a pair of adventurers who stood away from everyone else.

"This here is Rose Beck and Ethrion Alantar, and they're the two other members of our temporary team." Ander introduced them. "Rose is a priestess and Ethrion a ranger."

"So this is the famous Koko that I've been hearing about all around Goldgate." Rose smiled warmly at Koko after being introduced. "You should be quite strong if any of the rumors are true, so we'll be counting on you in there."

"Just don't get a big head and rush ahead of everyone." Ethrion stated grumpily directly afterwards. "And definitely don't do anything that might cause a collapse of the tunnel network. Otherwise we'll have to wait for another team with a mage in it before we can continue."

"Another Austin..." Koko sighed at her misfortune, though despite her grumpy new team member and the prospect of fighting more bugs, Koko couldn't help but become excited as Rose, a woman with her red hair tied in a bun and Ethrion, a blonde elven man whose bright-green eyes seemed to almost shine in the sunlight, seemed to be interesting teammates. And thankfully even Ander seemed friendly, so she supposed that she could've been stuck with much worse people to clear the nest with before Ander started speaking again.

"Alright, so I'm to understand that you're a melee class?" He suddenly asked towards Koko. "Where's your equipment?"

"The second-year students didn't take anything as far as food and water with us seeing as we were never supposed to be out here this long." Koko laughed sheepishly as she explained. "But as for combat equipment, the fighting style and skills that I use depend solely on my hands and feet, so I'm always armed."

"R-really? And you can beat monsters like that?" Ander asked in concern. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like a sword or something? I'm sure that someone can spare-"

"Ander, haven't you heard about her?" Rose asked questioningly. "This little girl here is said to defeat boss monsters with nothing but a few punches and kicks. Plus, there's a lot of people who say that she likes to rip monsters in half with her brute strength alone."

"I've never done that and I don't plan to!" Koko defended herself. "But while the rumors did get some things wrong, I'm specialized in fighting with my hands and feet and I have faced boss monsters before, so there's no need to worry."

"Oh, there's plenty reason to worry." Ethrion intruded on the conversation. "If you haven't realized, Koko, you're one of the only two melee members that we have. And seeing as Ander here is a rogue and likes to turn invisible so that he can attack enemies from behind, that means that you'll be fighting on the front line by yourself without a shield."

"As long as Rose puts up a barrier to protect you guys from any ranged attacks, there's no problem." Koko gave the man a thumbs-up to reassure him.

"I can definitely do that." Rose agreed right afterwards with a smile.

"Then I'm glad we have that settled." Ander said happily before everyone's attention was turned back towards Dedrick.

"Alright, now that we're all ready, I'll remind everyone of the quest!" Dedrick announced. "This ant nest isn't an ant nest at all, but rather a gathering of insect monsters that pose the risk of burrowing into Goldgate. And so, before they threaten the lives of the inhabitants, we're going to eradicate it."

"Due to how massive this nest is bound to be, we're reinforcing our numbers with the academy's second-year students!" Dedrick continued. "Some of them may be inexperienced, but put them in positions of support if need-be and progress down your designated routes. And also, should your group run into any bosses or mini-bosses, send a runner back to the entrance here where the army will provide reinforcements. And now that that's out of the way, everyone get ready! We leave as soon as the troops arrive!"

"We'll try to take on the majority of the fighting, so just fulfill your role in making sure that nothing gets past you and we'll take care of the rest." Ander laid a reassuring hand on Koko's shoulder.

"Huh? What fun would that be?" Koko asked, making all three of her new teammates look at her in confusion. "I'm getting to go into a monster-infested nest and you guys want to take all of the fun? I don't think so!"

"Fun?" All three of them asked at the same time while giving her blank looks before the first of the army soldiers appeared and the reinforcements finally arrived.

"Alright, you all know what to do, so let's go!" Dedrick shouted one last time before everyone started walking towards the entrance to the nest. "Good luck and kill any monsters you find! And while I probably don't need to remind you, any loot that you find is yours to keep!"

"Yeah!" Koko yelled out in excitement along with most of the other adventurers before they entered the darkness of the nest.