Gravel inadvertently led the rag-tag group of unlisted hunters in Calli’s absence, each keeping pace with the hunter next to them as they readied their various weaponry for what Calli said would be a potentially difficult battle.

  “She just up and left us,” Kenan said, fastening his gauntlet on his left arm, axe held in the right.

  Panting lightly, Gravel responded, “We’re getting paid big for this one. She has a right to do as she sees fit so long as we keep to our code and do our jobs.” For a tall, somewhat burly man, Gravel was actually quite an honorable hunter. Rules didn’t apply as strictly in the underground, where there were no Auditors to regulate their actions.

  As they exited the mouth of the cavern, they stood on top of a high rocky edge. In the distance, under the light of the caverns peeking from the openings in the ceiling, they witnessed sparks flying below.

  “It’s a Johrei clash. Olivia, what do you see?” Gravel shouted in his rigid tone.

  A young woman, purple of hair and with a demeanor or perpetual exhaustion, leaned down, squinting. Donning light armor and a pair of goggles from a recent hunt of a Standard-Grade Enthipid horde which had managed to surprise her crew in the caverns, taking a few of them out before she and two of her fellow hunters finished the horde off, she had been an asset in some of Gravel’s recent team-ups.

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  Enhancing her perception, she spotted a familiar pair in the distance.

  “That’s them alright. They seem to be fighting against someone who looks like the woman you mentioned to Calli before, though it's hard to tell from here.” Vines of a strange nature were obstructing Olivia’s view of the battlefield.

  “What do we do?” Olivia asked Gravel, who thought upon the matter.

  “It’s just one hunter. No matter how skilled she is, six people is more than enough to take down a single hunter. For now, I need our main sniper to perched here. Do not take action unless you see the signal from me. Keep your eye out for subterranean Enthipid attacks and warn us if you see anything. Use this.”

  Gravel handed the sniper Jin a communicator which worked based on distance, not connection with communication lines, like most modern communicators were. The popularity of these older devices has waned in the surface over the years, but they have remained popular with the underground.

  “Olivia, I need you and Kenan to scout forward. Circle around to the other side, nearer to the village. We’ll flank the hunt from both sides,” Gravel ordered.

  “Roger,” Kenan said.

  “Whatever,” Olivia responded, eyes still tired. The pair began sliding down the rocky slope, beginning to move.

  “Make those shots count,” Gravel said, and slid down as well, ready to join the fray.