Alice and Dax followed the guild receptionist out the backdoor of the guild where a series of large dirt plots where several teams of hunters where training in ether one versus one duals or engaged in group battles where mages hurled rocks at frontline swordsmen and s.h.i.+ledbarres while being protected by their own frontliners"that kind of formation seems ineffective"
"it"s a formation for hunting larger or stronger enemies, it"s not meant to seem effective against a smaller force"
"so kind of a anti armor drone squad, makes sense"
kind of like one kind of tool can"t fit every situation without being needlessly complex or expensive, modern formations and weapons in Dax"s world are somewhat highly specialized for a specific role, anti personal, anti armor and so on. and that seemed to be the case in this foreign world too. while some of the hunters weapons looked like they were made for anti personnel roles, several of them looked to be specialized to kill some sort of monster and where therefore not very effective against other hunters in battle Dax was pretty sure that would not be the case if they were used against the monsters they were made to combat.
"like a what?"
"it"s nothing, so what are we doing here?"
"the guild needs to evaluate your combat potential to make sure that you meet the required rank to become a contracted hunter, i need to evaluate your combat powers, so the guild prepared a challenge for you"
the receptionist stopped at a area that was almost entirely empty of people, only 3 hunters sat a few meters from where the receptionist stopped. the group of hunters stood up when they noticed Dax and Alice with the receptionist. two of them looked like frontliners with a single mage, the first frontliner was a large demi-human with brown hair and eyes, almost as tall as Dax he wore metal armor and wielded a large sword and a heavy tower s.h.i.+eld that was almost as tall as himself. the other frontliner appeared to be swordsman, he wielded a single longsword and his light leather armor appeared to prioritise speed over protection. the last member appeared to be a mage, as characterised by her overly large hat, light leather armor and wooden staff, with a blue gem, and her sleepy blue eyes and the way she uninterested played with her white hair told Dax that she would rather be anywhere else.
"this is the golden ranked party blue phoenix, please pick one to fight against"
"i"ll fight them all, i"ve been needing some exercise for a while"
as soon as the swordsman heard that he immediately flared
"exercise!? what the f.u.c.k do you think we are demon!?"
"now now Eduard i"m sure he didn"t mean it like that"
"i guess that you are the ones hired by the guild to evaluate me in combat? my name is Dax, Eduard i"m sorry if i said anything to offend you"
"ah it"s okay my name is Eduard"
Eduard didn"t seem to expect Dax to bow deeply when he shouted at him and was quite startled
"how do you do Dax my name is Redmond, please let me shake your hand!"
after shaking hands with the large bearlike guardian Redmond, Dax"s ationsion turned to the small female mage, which responded by yawning and completely ignoring him
"ah this is Laura, she"s a bit, well quiet"
"can i pat her head?"
"not if want your hand burned off"
"okay then, what"s next miss receptionist?"
"Blue Phoenix will fight against Dax, the match will end when i determine that one side is unable to fight. but lethal, maiming or otherwise disabling force is not allowed and will be punished greatly so be warned"
"well let"s crack some heads"
"did you just hear what i said?"
"it"s just a expression, and it"s not like that"s is lethal"
"it is."
"no it"s not, ask Alice, she got her spine shattered and her heart pierced a few days ago"
"ugh, please don"t remind me that hurt a lot!"
"yeah yeah, please hold this i won"t need it"
after giving the complaining Alice his pistol in its holster and his mask Dax went out on the dirt field with his newly acquired sword
"did that really happen to you?"
the guardian Redmond being highly concerned asked Alice if what she said was true
"yes it did, and a word of warning: don"t hold back"
"have you fought him before?"
"yeah and wiped the floor with me and a high ranked mage"
"please make your way to the arena"
"come on Redmond let"s go"
"yeah.."
also making their way out to the combat area was the gold ranked party Blue Phoenix adopted a formation with Redmond in front with his ma.s.sive towers.h.i.+eld with Eduard imeitaly to the left standing a bit behind him swinging his sword, and Laura about a meter behind them readying her staff. about 10 meters from them stood Dax with his two handed sword in a single hand reverse grip, not even bothering to take a stance.
"can we start yet?"
"are both parties ready?"
"can we start yet?"
"Blue Phoenix is ready"
"okay then.. begin!"
in a few seconds Dax closed the range while keeping Redmond in between him and Laura how had readyed several small rocks that floated in the air around her ready for a target. after closing the range between him and Redmond Dax planted a open palm strike in the center of Redmond"s towers.h.i.+eld, causing him to take a few steps back
"that s.h.i.+eld is surprisingly st.u.r.dy, what"s it made of?"
"guh, Eduard now!"
"on it!"
immediately after Dax"s strike landed on Redmond"s s.h.i.+eld Eduard rushed around the side and tried to land a strike with his sword, but it was blocked by Dax
"got you now!"
"do you now?"
while Dax was occupied with Eduard"s sword strike Redmond pulled his s.h.i.+eld to the side and moved to hit Dax with his own sword. Dax responded by kicking Redmond"s s.h.i.+eld, knocking him off balance and in the same breath he locked the guard of his own sword with Eduard"s and used it to pull him closer before hitting him in the chest with a open fist, sending him flying
"that"s one"
after sending Eduard flying Dax started a barrage of strikes with his fist and sword on Redmond"s towers.h.i.+eld, keeping him busy and slowly forcing him back towards Laura while hiding from Laura"s ranged attack behind Eduard
"Redmond..move"
"i"m trying but he wont let me!"
"don"t worry miss Laura i"ll be with you in a bit! this s.h.i.+eld really is solid, and you don"t seem to lose your balance a bit Redmond. i"m impressed!"
while continuing his relentless a.s.sault on Redmond"s ma.s.sive s.h.i.+eld Dax complimenting Redmond without seeming even a bit out of breath
"thanks. for. the. compliment! are you ever gonna get tired of hitting my s.h.i.+eld!?"
"this is getting a bit repet.i.tive yeah, ICI did you finish calculating node #13?"
[CALCULATION OF PHYSICS NODE #13 COMPLETE, SYNCHRONIZATION COMPLETE READY TO EXECUTE.]
"SECRET MOVE:"
stopping his barrage of attacks and pulling back a meter, Dax suddenly seemed a lot more serious. as he adopted a stace for the first time in the fight and shouted something about a secret move, before tossing his sword away harmlessly.
"wh!"
"you"re wide open!"
again closing the distance between him and Redmond, the now swordless Dax once more punched Redmond"s s.h.i.+eld with a open fist, only this time it was with his artificial arm
"magnetize!"
only this time Dax also pulled Redmond"s s.h.i.+eld, backing his balance.
"fuc-"
"too slow"
finally getting behind Redmond"s s.h.i.+eld, Dax quickly grabbed him by the collar and briefly lifted him in the air, before slamming him into the ground.
"that"s two, time for you miss Laura~"
"stay. away!"
the second after Redmond hit the ground Laura started to pelt the whole field with rocks trying to hit Dax that ran in a zigzag pattern while staying low to the ground while trying to get closer to Laura
"stay…..still.."
"and why would i do that?"
"so...i..can….kill..i.mean….hit..you"
"okay i"m gonna stand still in a bit~"
"please don"t lose intentionally just because you think she"s adorable!!"
"what do you take me for Alice!?"
"a living incarnation of war that likes adorable things way too much!!!"
"while that is accurate to a scary degree, it"s also hurtful!"
still running around and dodging Laura"s spells without a care in the world, Laura suddenly stopped sending rocks after Dax
"i….surrender….out..of..mana"
sitting down with a exhausted look on her face, Laura declared her surrender
"Dax wins!"
"ugh.. congratulations Dax, that was a really good trow"
"Redmond are you still conscious? i was sure i knocked you out?"
"yeah you did, i just woke up a second ago, can i get a hand?"
"sure"
after helping Redmond back on his feet and picking Eduard out the dirt, the guild receptionist made her way over with Alice following
"congratulations Mr. Dax you are now a platinum ranked monster hunter, here"s your guild tag"
while congratulating Dax in the most monotone way possible, the guild receptionist gave Dax a black dog tag like thing
"can you try to say that again but this time in even more of a monotone, also why is it black?"
"t-that is! are you a contracted hunter Dax!?"
"yeah, or like it"s more like i just became one Eduard, that"s what this evaluation was. by the way where did the guild receptionist go?"
at some point after giving Dax his tag the guild receptionist had completely disappeared from the arena, leaving no trace
"well that"s not ominuns in any way at all, have any of you guys seen her before?"
"the receptionist? no i don"t think so. what about you Redmond?"
"not before today no, do you know her Laura?"
"....no.."
"so you guys also haven"t seen her before today?"
"no we were just offered a really great request this morning that said to just wait around here until a guild receptionist meet us and then we should help in evaluating someone"
"yeah and we got paid up front too, so the plan was just to laze around here until our appointment with the recon corps captain a bit later"
"a..bit….later..is...now"
"oh s.h.i.+t it is! Redmond we need to run now gap Laura, see you later Dax!"
quickly picking Laura up like a toddler, to her great disapproval, Redmond started running after Eduard, only to stop a few meters away form Dax and Alice to give a quick bow and starting to run again afterwards.
"off they go"
"they did indeed, wait didn"t they say they were meeting the recon captain?"
"that they did...wait they"re meeting Russell?"
"you really are slow sometimes Alice"
"shut up! let"s follow them"
"i"ll follow you a bit"
"okay let"s meet in the reception area"
after waiting for Alice to leave, Dax spoke in a way more serious voice
"ICI run trace"
[TARGET NOT FOUND]
"run debug"
[NO ISSUES FOUND]
"so you can"t find her, and there"s no issue with your sensors, please explain"
[TARGET DISAPPEARED, THERE"S NO TRACE OF ANY GRAVITATIONAL DISTURBANCE OR ANY KIND OF KNOWN TELEPORTING.]
"what about magic?"
[LOW LEVEL MAGIC DISTURBANCE DETECTED.]
"seriously…ICI map any and all environmental information for a.n.a.lysis, i don"t want a teleporting a.s.sa.s.sin sneaking up on me again"
[CONFIRMED. MAPPING ALL ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION, STANDBY]
with nothing else to do, Dax sat down on the ground and started to think about the strange receptionist. large chunks of Dax"s memories where still missing but he still remembered a part of his officer training. part of the course was a.s.sa.s.sination identification and countermeasures or A.I.C training, that basically outlined a series of red flags to look out for when identifying a a.s.sa.s.sin. of course the course was not very effective, but it served a base for oneself to build up experience in the field, and Dax was convinced with every fiber of his being that the mysterious receptionist definitely was if not trained in a.s.sa.s.sination then some sort of wetwork, like Dax, and not to be trusted, in fact he almost drew his pistol and killed her the second she had appeared way to close to Dax without himself, or ICI, noticing her. the way she blended in the background, her constand mask-like expression and the way she just appeared and diapered without explanation.
[a.n.a.lYSIS COMPLETE. 1 EARLY WARNING SIGN DETECTED]
"only 1? wait that"s just the data on her"
[NOT ENOUGH DATA]
"s.h.i.+t. oh well, let"s go find Alice"