Before they were sent out to squash some bugs, the guards and volunteers were given some time to prepare. Squashing those bugs was bound to be a two-day campaign, so apart from everyone needing to wear a suit of armor, they also had to pack their bags with food and supplies. Preparation was mandatory if they were to be successful, that's what the trainers said!

  Tim and Ortana were already wearing armor, so they just had to stuff their backpacks with food, and a couple of boo. They were given an hour to prepare, but they got ready in ten minutes.

  This was good, because the two of them had these separate, personal tasks in mind that they wao get to. Tim was worried about the dragons, he didn’t want to leave them alone in the open fields for two days, so he snuck away from the training yard, and beamed out of the city with all the speed that he could muster! Tim paired his Fming Fins ability, with his Freezing Blood ability, which together allowed him to move really fast!

  Although he wasn’t a superhero, he still mao run up to a top speed of 24 km/h! Though that didn’t sound like a lot itself, it was surely a great momentum for a little goblin such as himself, and he ractically leaving a dust cloud behind him! Tim got to the dragons and back, in uen minutes, and he had darted through the hills so effectively, that he even found them a great hiding spot for the week. He led them to a little ke that was very much covered by the surrounding trees, so they’d be as safe there as they would be in any cave.

  “We’ll be gone for a few days, but we'll be back for you.” Tim expio the dragons, “There are fish in the ke, so you have plenty of food to go around. Try not to get spotted by anyone, but if you do get spotted, just eat the goblins, I couldn’t care less.”

  The dragons were very cooperative, so he left them with a clear s him, and got back to the training yard rather quickly. He was so fast, that it was almost like he wasn’t go all, so the five-thousand mana points that he spent were very much worth it. He was not savvy.

  Whe back, he noticed that Ortana was experimenting with her powers. This was the personal matter that she was attending to, she was honing her abilities in a way that evaded on training, and although that sounded bad, experimenting was often tied with det results!

  “That looks new,” Tim approached her, as he these big, manly, phantom hands that were floating near Ortana.

  “The Shaman’s Grip ability? Oh, no, it’s not new, I just haven’t gotten around to using it, with you guys doing the killing and stuff. I’m guessing that it’ll be very effective if I want to sp a bunch of bugs, and it’s also useful for other things.” She expined.

  “Looks like you’re already practig the ‘other things’, so how about you give me a little show?” He enced her, and as she agreed, she then asked him to back away for a few feet.

  The Shaman's Grip ability was really literal. She could summon up to five, three-foot long phantom hands, and move them upon her will. Now this ability wasn't particurly useful, because it was both expeo cast and had a short reach, so it was hardly an offensive ability, but when paired with her new ability, it had a certain charm!

  Ortana led by example. She summoned four phantom hands, and then she summoned four spears, ahem with the help of the phantom hands! Dual casting was expensive, but the pairs of hands she summoned may as well make the expenses worthwhile.

  Ortana grabbed the spears, and then tossed all four of them against one of the stoargets! The spears whistled with speed, and sidering that she was only thirty meters away from the target, her accuraded up being truly remarkable!

  Not only did she destroy the targets, but the spears also sunk into the thick, stone wall which was built behind the target! This quadruple spear attack was very effective.

  “That was fug amazing!” Tim celebrated more than her, and he also enced her. “That'll kill the bugs!”

  “Yes, it should.” She agreed, and she was calmer in parison, mildly ed even. “Dual casting is very expehough. It costs me 120 mana points the sed I toss a spear with my phantom hands, so I'm hoping not to use this triless we get absolutely swarmed.”

  “Hah, you worry too much. I just spent 5,000 points to visit our little flying pals.” He ughed, though inwardly he started to realize how much those points actually were. He was ughing, but his heart was strained.

  Anyway, everyo ready to depart afterwards. There was a bit of a journey in front of them, and they expected it to be tiresome, and surely a pain-in-the-bum for some, more than others. It was only a matter of who would have the worst luck.

  Timothy noticed that the other volunteers were all of different races, her of them were Fal Goblins, her of them were residents of the city. sidering the overall racism in this universe, he very much believed that the Fal Goblins saw every other race as cattle, it was very possible. With that sidered, he suspected that this bug squashing task, was more of a suicide mission!

  This clusion didn't sound crazy, but then he remembered that they also had a big dragon to sy, which was a task that they had to get to sooner or ter. If they were going to participate in a suicide mission, then going after Iron Cw the Wicked sounded like a better use of manpower. He rexed a bit, though he was still paranoid.

  “Volunteers my ass, everyone came here out of desperation, not willpower. Let's hope these bastards actually want to keep us alive, a's hope their exaggerated preparedness isn't just for show.” Tim thought, and then, they departed.