The next morning’s watch shift started out with pouring rain, but as the breakfast cooked, the sky cleared, and by the time that the sun was up, a vibrant rainbow crossed a clear sky.

"The grass is green, the sun is shining, it’s a wonderful day for a hunt." Amie joked as she joined Dominic in the kitchen.

The adventurers laughed at her enthusiasm for finding more monsters. They had already made a small fortune off the monster cores, and they hadn’t even sorted through what they had gotten from the mages.

If they had some decent items, it might work out very well for them.

But they wouldn’t turn down another day of hunting while they placed the last few beacons. That was their primary goal now that the rain was ending. Get the beacons placed, and then hunt the monsters until the army came and overtook their position.

"How far out should we go? If we stay two kilometres from where we expect the army to be, we won’t get much of a fight, but we should be able to place the beacons quickly. On the other hand, a couple more fights will be easy on the pockets.

I haven’t forgotten that I owe the Duke a rather large amount of money." One of the gunslingers joked.

Bella laughed, and looked at the two Rare pistols that Dominic had lent her for the last battle. If she wanted to buy them, she was going to need to get some very impressive drops. It would be painful to give them back at the end of the trip, but for now she wouldn’t say anything, and keep using them through the day, until they were back in Wistover.

"Why don’t we let the others use scrying? That should give us a balance of making good time to the target, and a chance to make some money. I seem to recall them saying that there were Minotaurs nearby, and that means there is a chance we might get some magic weapons." Amie suggested.

The older mages nodded, and Dominic shrugged. "I don’t see it hurting anything. Let’s go hit the Minotaurs on our way to another manor to set a beacon. All we need are two more beacons set around the far side of the army.

But we should try to stop near something good. A goblin camp won’t make us much money."

Bella smiled. "You have a point, we need to pick our finishing point well. We can’t be wasting half a day on the lowest value targets when the army is coming. Let them do it, since they’re not going to be making much off them anyhow.

You said they’re going to be moonlighting as mercenaries, but I’m assuming the commanders will still be taking the largest share of their loot."

Dominic shrugged. "I left it up to them. It’s not really my problem, as long as the attack goes through and nobody accuses them of waging a proxy war on behalf of Cygnia."

As soon as they were packed up again after breakfast, Dominic led the group out into the fields, headed for the area where the mages thought that there should be Minotaurs.

The giant monsters weren’t hard to find. They were loud, aggressive, and three metres tall.

Unfortunately, there were also a lot of them.

"Alright, how do we work this? Bella asked after she caught sight of their camp.

Amie took out a small notebook and began drawing on it.

"The gunslingers can spread out on this pattern along the edge of the tree line, with the mages right where we are, serving as the centre of the formation.

The warriors will cluster in front of the mages and draw the Minotaurs in so that the gunslingers can attack mostly from the sides. You will have to be accurate. Because if they turn away from the main attack to take you out, you’ll be on your own. But if you don’t let them charge you, we will be able to herd them into the trap relatively easily." She suggested.

Bella frowned, "I can see it working, but also going horribly wrong. There are simply too many of them."

Dominic sighed. She wasn’t wrong. His quick count made out two hundred of them, all somewhere around level ten monsters. That wouldn’t be an easy fight for the warriors, and they were above the levels of the weapons that most of the team had.

The mages, Bella, Wiz’s new sword, and Dominic would be the only ones with a power advantage.

That was not encouraging. But with even a few of them and some area damage, they could thin the herd before it got to the point of overwhelming the warriors.

"Any objections?" Dominic asked.

Nobody raised an opinion, so he started to move into position. The formation had Bella on the far right, while he took the far left, with Amie on his right. The other gunslingers picked spots, and Dominic gestured for Wiz to pick a fight.

Logically, the mages could do it, as they had the range. But Wiz had a new sword, and he hadn’t gotten a chance to really use it yet.

The big berserker stepped out in to the open, and an arc of ice flew from his sword to the Minotaurs, tearing apart tents in their camp and knocking over cook pots.

That was the way to do it.

A few deaths would make them mad, but wrecking their camp and spoiling their breakfast was far more effective.

The Minotaurs hefted their weapons and roared as they charged toward the berserker. Everyone held their ground as the trees trembled with their approach. Then, Dominic lifted his pistol and imbued his first shot with [Fireball].

The shot exploded in the horde, signalling for the other gunslingers to join the fight.

Chain Lightning from the mages joined the explosions, and a flurry of shots rang through the woods, dropping Minotaurs from the edge of the herd and focusing the charge in the middle, where they would collide with the warriors.

It was all going exactly to plan.

Until it wasn’t.