Gideon was walking side by side with the security guard captain, Jaanav and his personal bodyguard, Raam followed by the 5 security guards who were given strict instructions to keep the Tier-1 adventurers who were around 20 in the group safe and protect them as much as they could after the battle begins.
Even though there were Tier-1 adventurers present in the group, all of them were at least at level-3 while Gideon was the only one at level-1 which made him a bit anxious, but seeing the over protection he is being provided by the security guards, his mind finally found peace.
He also kept his hands over his chest where there is a pocket stitched inside the armor. This is where he had kept the 6 syringes, 2 of each Medical, Constitution and Spirit Energy syringes he got from Jaanav that would have cost him 450 to 480 dallans, but got it for free, without spending a single dallan for these.
Jaice was flying above them about a kilometer ahead scouting for the monsters that were in their path and to find where the Swift Tail Monkey troop is currently so the adventurers could divert their path if needed to reach them and hunt them down.
Jaice didn't agree with this at first. She knew the dangers there are in the wild if she goes out alone and didn't want to. But after being pleaded by Gideon and was promised by Jaanav for a wild treat, she agreed to do this, but Gideon made sure she would stay only a kilometer or two away from their group.
Jaice would regularly relay information to Gideon through their bond about monsters that are roaming ahead of them which he would inform Jaanav who would in turn send a small team to hunt them before they could reach that place.
This fighting group may be a mixture of various adventurers that came from different places to band together in a hurry, but there are adventurers who are already part of the team bringing their teams along with them, which gives them an advantage to hunt small groups of monsters that are being spotted by Jaice.
Gideon also noticed that Jaanav was good at leading as he sent the people who were in the same team to fight the monsters that were roaming around. The only problem Gideon noticed is that he wasn't sending the Tier-1 adventurers to fight the monsters, but was using them for logistics purposes only, helping the higher Tier adventurers to harvest their kills.
He was relieved that he integrated with a Breeze Crow which gave him an edge to stay with the Jaanav instead of helping others to harvest their kills which he felt is not something any adventurer would do unless they have no other option.
After trekking into the forest that was around the mountain for an hour, Jaice sent him her recent discovery which made Gideon shudder in fear.
Noticing a sudden change in his scout's expression, Jaanav immediately asked the reason for him to be afraid while Raam next to him looked at him with concern.
"Jaice just found a Swift Tail Monkey troop we are looking for." Gideon replied looking at Jaanav who raised an eyebrow wondering why it made the kid fear as it was what he signed up for, to hunt them down.
Looking at his questioning expression, Gideon continued to explain. "There are not just 100 or 200 gathered, but almost 500. They are just a kilometer away from our current position."
This came as a surprise to Jaanav as the scouts in the Hanjaan market mentioned that there were only about 100 to 200 Swift Tail Monkeys had gathered even at this morning and now more than double the intel he got, which means only one thing, there is a higher Tier Swift Tail Monkey that is gathering its kin to form a horde.
This was bad news for the market and its benefactors.
Jaanav immediately took out a flare gun that he holstered in his hip and fired a red flare in the air.
He then looked at Gideon with a smile and said "You don't have to be scared of this kid. Reinforcements will come soon. We'll wait here for them. Ask your monster partner to keep an eye on the troop's movement and keep me informed." To which Gideon just nodded.
The entire group was surprised to hear this as they never expected this to happen.
Luckily, for them, Jaanav halted their advancement towards their target temporarily till the reinforcements arrived, which would probably be the security guards stationed in the market leaving behind only a handful to guard it.
To Gideon's and other adventurers' surprise, their reinforcement containing 50 security guards arrived within 30 minutes and they started to move again towards the Swift Tail Monkeys which hadn't moved from their location.
Gideon, who was walking at the front, moved to the rear with two of the security guards when they were less than 500 meters from the Swift Tail Monkey. Jaice also came back and sat on his left shoulder getting a gentle pat from him.
He unsheathed his short sword and gripped it tightly with both hands taking a few deep breaths to calm his raging mind which was full of fear.
After a few minutes of trekking, their group of over 200 humans and their monster partners came to a halt.
Gideon peaked through the adventurers standing before him and saw the Swift Tail Monkeys standing less than 50 meters from their group with one standing at the front, which should be the powerful monster that had gathered this troop.
"Ooh-ah-ooh-ooh-ah"
"Ooh-ah-ooh-ooh-ah … ooh-ah-ooh-ooh-ah"
The leader of the Swift Tail Monkey troop started to chatter which acted like igniting a cracker in their midst as all Swift Tail Monkeys did the same and rushed towards their battle group frantically throwing small sticks, stones and other things they found on the ground.
The security guards standing as the front line of the battle group immediately used their shields to form a wall of shields blocking the various projectiles thrown at them while a few started to shoot arrows at the advancing monsters from their cross bows, long bows and short bows taking down a few Swift Tail Monkeys before they could reach 10 meters close to their formation.
Gideon immediately shook his left arm and Jaice flew high in the air, reaching about 500 meters high and started to circle around the battlefield.
This is something they already discussed, to keep a watch from above to report if any other monster groups get attracted by the sound of the battle and come to join the fray.
Gideon agreed to it so Jaice, being a Breeze Crow having less attack and defence power would be safe from the wild monsters they would fight. Jaice, agreed to it reluctantly after being promised by Jaanav that he would always have a security guard close to Gideon to keep him safe, which he did.
The security guard assigned to protect Gideon was at Tier-2, level-3 with a Steel Panda as his monster partner and a short sword with a huge shield as his weapon of choice, a better choice for defence than offence. The security guard was ordered to stay close to him and keep him safe till they return to the safety of the market.
TING … TING … SLURCH … TUD
Within seconds, the Swift Tail Monkeys clashed with the front line and the close combat started with many shields bashing towards the monkeys while a few jumped over them to fight the humans behind the solid shield wall.
The security guards and adventurers at the front, started to create distance between each other so no one would be caught in other's fight or interrupt their attacks or defence by mistake which led the Swift Tail Monkeys to cover the entire battlefield even reaching to Gideon who was at the very end of their formation.
Gideon gritted his teeth seeing a Swift Tail Monkey coming towards him and leaned slightly to his right to dodge a stick that was thrown at him.
Getting close to him, the monkey immediately started to swing its arms at him that had sharp nails that would definitely leave a deep wound if he was hit by it.
He realized why these monkeys got the name Swift Tail Monkeys within a minute into the fight.
These monkeys not only used their hands and legs that had sharp nails to fight, but also occasionally used their tails to swiftly grab their enemies arms, legs or their weapons with a firm grip giving them an opening to wound them severely.
The monkey Gideon fought was only attacking him with its two hands and a leg for the first few seconds which he dodged and blocked using the flat side of his short sword, but it swept its tail at his leg making him fall on his back and climbed on top of him and swiped its nails at his face.
The monkey sat on his chest making it hard for him to breath and pinned his right hand holding the sword with its one hand and tail.
For a moment, Gideon felt like the time slowed down as he could see the sharp nails of the Swift Tail Monkey was closing towards his face slowly which he couldn't defend or dodge.