Phew

"Well, let's begin"

Jason casually took a sip of water out of a mug, looking around at the group of people surrounding him, as he sat on a fallen log looking at all of the people gathered in front of him.

The wolves sat in the front, around a hundred strong. Most of them were grey wolves lead by the alpha wolf who currently sat in the front, next to the alpha wolf was an ember wolf, its fur seemed to be a light orange-red, with its colors constantly shifting and small bits of flame bursting from its paws. A group of grey wolves sat behind him.

They were no longer the super friendly wolves everyone knew them as in the silver wings house. They looked like beasts ready to be let out of their cage.

Right next to the wolves were the young guild members. Each and every one of them had become proficient hunters, most of them were around level 30 around this point each of them able to take on several goblins by themselves at this point. Perseus had always tried his best to place them in a safe hunting environment, and with the wolves' help, they were able to level up even faster than a normal player.

The young guild members were armed with all sorts of weapons from small daggers to long spears, they didn't stand in order like the wolves making them look much more disorganized and weaker but Jason had seen how fearsome some of them could be working in tandem with the wolves. In total including a few new members from the freed slaves, they numbered around 48.

Finally behind the young bandits, was a small party of players, unlike the restraint, the wolves had trying to hold in their unbridled rage or the almost casual manner of the young guild members, the Parthenon party seemed to be completely bridled with excitement chatting with each other and giggling the entire time they made the trip there. In total, they were 6.

Jason stood up and paced around, copying what he had seen many army generals had done before there was a fight.

"as you all know, we are here to take down a goblin nest, these goblins number in the hundreds, and according to how frequently we have been encountering the goblin patrols, we should be about 2 hours or so away from it. That means that in about two hours, some of you may be fighting for your lives. If you do not want to fight leave now."

Jason surveyed the group and found nobody budging. Not even the young guild members.

"Alright, this goblin nest if left alone will endanger our guild and our lives, our time to strike is now! wolves and guild members you will launch a surprise attack on the goblin nest, your goal is to take out as many as possible, but do not over extend or exert yourself, while the nest is distracted by you, I and the Parthenon Party will launch a flanking attack, hopefully driving into the heart of the nest and eliminating the boss. Once the boss is taken out, the rest should be easy heapings"

Jason turned to the group of wolves NPCs and players

"makes sense?"

With a loud roar, each of them responded.

"Good, let's kick some ass"

Saying that Jason turned around, fastening his amour and letting a familiar rosy aura surround him once more. The group behind him immediately moved out, the wolves without a single sound as if they were moments away from capturing their prey while the young guild members now influenced by the wolves quietly followed.

The Parthenon party watched the back of the group ready for any sudden goblin ambushes.

Jason consulted the map Boops had brought up to his vision. According to the maps that he had compiled, the direction of the forest that they were moving in, was much further inland, they were passing the rose knight territory and were going in a completely different direction from the city of Muno and where the final rose knight trial was.

The forest, which had felt like such a serene and peaceful place before, felt ominous and dark, though it was still daytime, not a single bird could be heard signing its tune, and even the whistle of wind seemed to be stiffed. No rustle of leaves, no shake of bushes, just Jason, and the group behind him walking through the forest.

Jason wished he could have been confident in this attack, but truthfully he wasn't. But from what Boops had gathered about goblin nests, they needed to attack it as soon as they could, or else it could grow. Maybe it could turn into a fortress and then maybe even a territory. If so it would be impossible for them to pass through the forest safely.

Jason wasn't confident, but then again he had fought against goblins with wolves, he had seen how ferocious they could be and also how protective they could be over their own kind.

A small grin covered his face. He was sure that the young guild members were going to be safe. He knew the wolves would never allow one of the "young hoomans" as they called them to be injured.

A sudden word from Boops made Jason pause, and along with Jason everyone else, he was leading.

Thanks to the thicket of trees Jason couldn't see anything, but Boops's map saw numerous red dots just 500 feet away from them. The wolves sniffed the air, and immediately many reacted with furious growling.

Juno and the Alpha wolf sneaked over to Jason.

"500 feet east, it's in a clearing mostly situated in a valley from what I can tell on my map, this seems like a really lush part of the forest, its a shame that the goblins live here, it's a good defensible location too, they will be able to see any type of sneak attack we make because we literally need to descend down cliffs."

Juno looked at Jason with a confused expression

"How are we supposed to flank them then?"

Jason grinned and pressed an item into her hand.

Juno opened her hand and looked at the item. It was a round black object, with a fuse on top. She immediately looked back at Jason who gave her a wide grin.

Juno sighed and let her silver hair fall down on her shoulders. She tossed the bomb in the air and caught it against in her smooth hand.

"alright Arch, we will do our job, you better do yours"

Jason grinned pulling out his sword, the regular steel sword glowed with unfamiliar fiery red light. He pulled down his visor and an illusion of a red flame burst onto his left eye.

He raised his hand, which was covered in an armored black gauntlet, and tapped his metal chest plate which had been inscribed with a single rose, and smiled

"Yeah, I'll manage"

Jason then turned to the alpha wolf and spoke to him in wolf language

"the goblin nest is in the valley, you need to charge in and try and take care of them, we will jump in and try and take out the leader first."

The alpha wolf fell silent for a few seconds, then looking back at Jason, it said in a somewhat sorrowful tone.

"This place, it is my clan's final resting ground"

Jason stood up in pure disbelief looking around at the rest of the wolves who stood there with disturbed and conflicted faces. Even the ember wolf showed conflict its eyes darting to and fro the forest.

"This is where the last remnants of my clan died," The alpha wolf said in a sorrowful voice

"This is the place where we lost our home and our last hope,"

"do you not want to fight?"

The alpha wolf shook his head

"no, this is simply a place to remember, but if I could have one request"

Jason leaned his head in as the alpha wolf narrowed its eyes, a sudden fire burning in its eyes that Jason had never seen before and a vicious growl that seemed to chill the surroundings

"let us take care of the boss"

Jason nodded and stood up, and so did the alpha wolf. The alpha wolf looked at the pack, looking into each and everyone one of them. The alpha wolf didn't say anything, in fact, it didn't even need to say anything, here they were on their homeland. With plans to take it back, a cheap speech on motivation wouldn't do much. All their words were commuted by a single look.

And so the wolves stood up pawing the ground and letting their claws out.

Jason signaled to the young bandits, and they two got ready. The Parthenon party was already moving out, ready to move in on Jason's signal.

Jason lifted his hand, and with a steely look thrust his hand forward.

It had begun.