Kiba

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What seemed like a triumph against the vulcan by Adelyn and Kiba’s combined efforts was short-lived in the wake of the Lightning Beast’s assault. He could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, a pit growing in his stomach that was only exasperated by the fragmented communications of Munroe. A warning and order to retreat. When the lightning began to crash around him, Kiba’s first instinct was to close the distance between himself and Adelyn. Once at her side, the swordsman aimed to grab her wrist and make a run for it, but a surge of static electricity leapt out to jolt his fingertips and give him pause. The energy amassing within Adelyn, who had seemingly withdrawn inside herself, was intense. Kiba stepped back a few feet, glancing between Adelyn and the oncoming assault of the enraged creature. The vulcan had the good sense to flee, but it seemed they were not so fortunate.

“I SAID SHUT UP!” Adelyn’s bellows ignited the air with a crack of thunder, a searing bolt unleashed at the beast with such force that Kiba had to brace himself from the shockwave. When the dust settled, Kiba couldn’t be sure if the attack had caused any significant harm, but he was sure that the young lightning mage would be almost spent from such a spell. He stepped forward to Adelyn, offering himself as support if needed.
“Not safe. Regroup with Mark.” He directed, short and succinct as usual. Kiba was debating the merit of carrying Adelyn out of there, hoping it wouldn’t impact his speed if the beast gave chase, when Mark appeared from the shadows and enveloped their team in a dark mass of tendrils. The cold emptiness of his abyss seemed to sap both light and life from Kiba’s body, a chill dread seeping through to his bones before the warmth of the forest’s light thawed him out. Now back at the horses, Kiba could hear Munroe’s communications more clearly.

So that was that. A mission cut short from external interferences. Something about it didn’t sit right with Kiba, and although Mark’s trained composure betrayed little, the swordsman could tell the dark haired mage shared the sentiment. Kiba tapped the device fixed to his ear, his voice holding a quiet firmness.
“Permission to track the beast to its lair?” Kiba asked, brow furrowed. The persistent threat of the Lightning Beast couldn’t be ignored, but its appearance offered one fortuitous advantage - they could conduct some reconnaissance and attempt to find its den, if it had one. Kiba knew that this creature would be difficult to subdue when they were simply wandering about hoping to find it, but now it was engaged with the creature they had initially come to capture, and its trail of destruction could guide them back to its home, where it would be at its most vulnerable.

Calling the mission? While it was the smart thing - the easy thing - it meant they were abandoning a perfect opportunity to observe and understand the relationship dynamic between the two beasts. After all, the claimed reason for needing a sniper overwatch was to keep an eye out for if the lightning beast showed up. It was illogical - neigh, cowardly - to retreat just because the circumstances changed from handling just the one beast to also contending with the known threat as well. It was too...standard military operating procedure for him. Especially when the original job they accepted was the understand this very situation.

Actually, the more he focused on that - the quieter his world became. It was such a gradual thing that he barely noticed nature was no longer deafening. There was no longer that swell of pressure making even his heartbeat sound like a beating drum. All the easier to focus.

Of course the lightning beast would show. It proved it was a beast by doing so, made this all the more logical and important to study. There was unfamiliar energy - scents - in its territory. Any predator would investigate another predatory intrusion such that they posed. No, they couldn't just surrender this opportunity. It was all laid so properly at their feet. Except that just reinforced that retreat was the correct call. Adelyn was - well he wasn't actually sure what to classify her as at the moment, but he was certain she was not mentally up for the task he had doubted her physically capable of just half hour before. He had no intentions of needing to explain to Jenna how a lightning mage was killed by a lightning beast even if it was her own sheer stubbornness that befell her.

No, he had to accept the mission was a bust. There would be another time, another chance, even if he had to make it without a job.

Markovis was about to voice as much into the VOX until Kiba spoke up. The quiet swordsman would not make the request to track the lightning beast on a whim. While he wasn't sure what Kiba's skill at tracking was, he was confident in his survival skills. He was confident he could operate quietly and safely enough to do it alone. Because he had to. Adelyn's assistance with it would ruin the mission and that was more abhorrent than calling it off completely.

"Perhaps instead of calling the mission completely, altering it is better. If you have visual on the creatures, it will give us the opportunity to observe the dynamic. If the town is unaware of where the lightning beast dens, Kiba heading out to track the path it traveled to arrive here while it is preoccupied will provide invaluable information. If the VOX range is great enough to communicate if the beast disengages, that is." They had to give it a try to salvage the mission. Unfortunately, he wasn't in charge. If Sergeant demanded the return, then he had little room to push back; really, the little he was negotiating here was already a bit more effort than he really wanted to put in. They'd just head back, collect whatever they'd get for the job completed to the guardsman's instruction, and he'd take Kiba back out afterward. It would just be such a burden to make the travel out here twice.

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"I suppose you would call that fun," Ria laughed softly. "Truth be told, I was hoping that was the job still available. But oh well. I'm sure we'll hear that we ended up having more fun!" Despite how taxing it was for her, she did enjoy this job a bit more than she assumed she'd like monster hunting. Well, unless it was monster hunting near the water but then an ash mage probably wouldn't like that too much. No, this was the best mix for them. She'd just tell herself that until it was true.

On the topic of rest, she had turned her attention to the guard and opened her mouth to turn the offer down, except Nolan got to the answer first. Resting if the others were ready to head back to Rembrandt seemed like it was an unnecessary burden on the guards. Surely they were interested in getting back to their original post to rest. Staying at the outpost wasn't exactly rest. Both had their minds made up that she needed to rest. They were right, but - why were men always so certain on what women should do? It was done out of concern. They were just trying to look out for her wellbeing. Someone needed to, and she had been ready to not be concerned about it at all.

Another smile accompanied a shrug. "Okay, yeah. Resting sounds like a good idea. Just a little bit. Okay? I'm sure everyone wants to get back on the road."