Jessy gripped her staff in her hand with trembling fingers. That old fear that she had felt on her first fights was coming back again. She squashed it as best she could, but couldn't really stop it. She was in good company. Almost everyone in the hall looked nervous. Well, aside from the old man next to her.
"The world boss was first sighted in the Town of Woodrow." The man in front of the hall stated loudly. "We're assuming that the town no longer exists at this moment. All fast travel methods are being used so we can't confirm."
"Lucky that we even know about the thing right now." The man next to Jessy stated lowly.
"Lucky?" Jessy whispered.
"You likely weren't alive for the last one. First thing anyone figured out about it was when it decided that a city looked like a tasty snack." The old man replied back with a snort.
"The plan at the moment is to focus on identifying where the monster is and then arranging for several raiding guilds to destroy it." The man in the front continued, likely not even hearing the byplay.
The old man snorted again and got to his feet.
The man in front paused from his explanation. "Excuse me sir? Is there a reason you're leaving?"
"Arranging for several raiding guilds to destroy it." The old man replied back sarcastically. "Do you really think that the boss will wait in place? Why do you think they're called world bosses?!"
"We know they move. We're working on getting someone tailing it and will predict it." The man in front replied back with a calm and reasonable tone.
"Then you sent that person to their death." The old man spat out without a care for his words. "If you can see the world boss, it can likely see you. It will hunt down everyone it can. It will move towards cities and dungeons, and then eat."
"The baron has hired some of the best scouts and trackers. We will be able to track it perfectly fine." The man continued with the same tone he had been. "World bosses can be killed. It just requires careful and deliberate actions."
The old man scoffed loudly and began to leave. The man in front didn't stop him at this point.
Frowning, Jessy looked back and forth and then followed after the old man. She had learned a fair bit about world bosses herself, and the person in front sounded more like he was dealing a casual fire or something else. All calm tones and no real plans of actions for the gathered adventurers.
"What are you doing girl?" The old man called back as she followed.
"I was wondering. You seem like you've dealt with world bosses before." Jessy replied tentatively as she clutched her fluffy robe.
"Aye. Fought it even." The man grumbled and cracked his back. He gestured down the street. "Let's go ahead and head towards my place. Not getting any younger here."
Jessy nodded and then blinked as his statement registered. "You fought a world boss?"
"Oh yes. The Hydra. A nasty thing that had eight heads that each spat a different sort of elemental attack." The man paused in remembrance as he spoke, then shook his head and kept moving. "Took almost a full year pin it down and kill it."
A chill crawled down Jessy's spine. "A year?" She couldn't even envision a monster raging across the country that long.
"I know what you're thinking. It wasn't killing people all that time. They tend to disappear after a good meal or two." The old man barked a laugh. "That's why that idiot's plan was stupid. World bosses are terrifyingly good at hiding."
The summoner gulped in reply. She had come to the city to take a vacation, not to wonder if everyone was going to die. "What can we do then?"
"I need to get my maps." The old man muttered. "You can typically get a good idea of good targets at least. The way we got the last one was making it work for a meal long enough to get a few elites in and then swarmed it." He paused again in remembrance.
"I can't imagine that worked that well." Jessy shuddered at the thought. Normal bosses weren't easy, and a lot of them had some brutal area attacks. She couldn't imagine world bosses being different.
The arrived at a manor before the man replied again. He waved the girl in and ignored the servants as they took his coat and arranged a small snack for the two inside a lovely looking room. Jessy looked around the place with a hint of embarrassment. It was a richer looking house than she was really comfortable with. Something she had dreamed of owning when she was younger.
"Ah, I did forget something. I'm Grand, the Swordmaster." The man introduced himself as he sat.
"I'm Jessy, the Summoner." The girl replied reflexively as she sat and then blinked. Swordmaster? That wasn't a trivial title.
"Ah, another summoner? My wife would love to see what the new generation is doing there." Grand grinned widely as he gestured to a few paintings of various people in the distance. "None of our children went into the magical arts, so she's been feeling a bit disappointed. Though between you and me, she hasn't been able to declare as a summoner for years." Grand whispered the last part with a wink.
Jessy smiled tentatively but it didn't last. "So, about the world boss."
"Ah, me getting distracted." The man clapped his hands. "I need the good maps!" He called out to the servants nearby.
A few moments later, several large rolls of paper were in front of Grand. The man traced a few areas and sighed.
"Town of Woodrow was here." The swordmaster tapped at a place to the southeast of them. "Now, world bosses don't have maps, but they do sense somehow. They go straight lines until they're full and the disappear. Best guess is it will hit this town. It's closest." The swordmaster tapped at another town right next to Woodrow. "If we had actual plans instead of incompetence, then that would be where we'd hit it next. Instead if we're lucky they've evacuated. It will eat the buildings and likely disappear."
Jessy nodded rapidly. That made sense she supposed.
"Now, we'll get get from a few days to almost a month before it will come back. I'd have to know it's travel time, but worst case." Grand drew a circled around the second town he had identified.
The summoner felt her blood chill. Practically the entire province was circled now. "How would we stop it if it could hit all of that?"
"We need a survivors testimony, and a few predictions cast." Grand stated with a grim tone. "Without both, the prediction would be off. Fortunately, we have competent people on that." Grand shrugged and leaned back in his chair.
"Who?" Jessy asked quickly.
"Girl if you don't know about clans, then you've been living under a rock." Grand chuckled at the look on Jessy's face.
Smoothing her face out, the girl nodded. "I'm with the Steelguard. They do this?"
Grand shrugged again. "All clans do. Admittedly I'm a bit out of the loop on which ones are active. Ours is mostly retired, so I couldn't help you there. I do know this is ultimately why they're encouraged."
Jessy frowned and then slowly nodded. Then got to her feet. "Thank you then Grand. I think I should contact them about this."
"That would be best. Though first have a few cookies." The man gestured to the snack. "Wife would kill me if I didn't give a guest some refreshment."
The summoner laughed a moment and sat down again. "All right."