(From MC's Perspective)
Insect forest--City of Iron Post,
One hour later,
I venture deep into the forest after dealing with that scumbag. The influence of bandits can be seen by looking at that wretched fellow. I don't know. How much secret information did he tip off to those bandits? This is disturbing. It's not even safe to trust fellow warriors. Then I thought about something, "Maybe the iron hammer team suffered backhands from these backstabbers." I muttered to myself.
Then, dispelling my thoughts, I used my perception to look for monsters. I don't have to worry about anything. Mr. Jonathan assured me that nothing would happen. I have no idea about Mr. Jonathan's strength, but I've got this vague feeling in my heart that it won't be any problem for him to take care of Bandit Boss.
Just as I was pondering, I spotted several red dots ahead of me. After finding that I halted my footsteps, "Red Dots! "It's either a monster or a hostile human," I said. But nonetheless, the dots were the enemy, so I walked forward with caution.
A small open field came into view a few minutes later. The area is not a natural one; someone removed the vegetation for camping here. Seeing that, I used my perception to check for the number of red dots in this area.
In my view, I spotted two large tents opposite to each other, and there was a small campfire built in the middle. I realized that maybe these groups were taking a rest inside. Finally, I confirmed the number of warriors staying inside the tent. There were a total of ten warriors here, divided into two camps. I doubt these ten warriors belong to one bandit hunting team.
There is one more troubling thing. It's not wise to head there all of a sudden. Though I'm in the middle of the special trainee base, facing off against ten hostile warriors is no joke. I need to figure out the situation in the camp before making some decisions.
After gaining some clarity, I chose some safe spots to hide and monitor them.
Shield Team-Inside the 1st camp,
Five warriors sit in a circle, all of them seriously discussing something.
A warrior named Ron asked his leader, "Leader, Black Fist team is up to no good." We should go back to the city before dawn. "
Apart from their leader, the other three also echoed the same words as Ron.
The shield team leader, Victor Brown, was displeased to hear that. He immediately replied, "Are you looking for death? "Keep your voice down."
Everyone suddenly realized it's not wise to say anything now. The Black Fist team might be looking for an opportunity to annoy them.Everyone became quiet after that, but still their faces were filled with concern.
Victor Brown calmed his nerves after scolding them. Like them, he was too flustered by the Black Fist team's sudden appearance. But surprisingly, they didn't start to attack right away. The Black Fist team hurriedly set up their tent and went inside to take a rest.
He wasn't able to figure out their intentions by observing their actions. One thing is certain, they are not obviously here for loot. Otherwise, he and his team would have been long dead. "What are they up to?" he asked, touching his forehead in contemplation.
Victor Brown was also aware of the rumors. The Black Fist team slaughtered many other weak teams in succession. Even though it's a rumor, many warriors choose to believe it. He believes those words as well.The City Lord's inaction also caused them to move boldly.
The things surrounding the bandit hunting team are too much for a warrior like him.
The reason he is staying here is because he didn't want to cause some misunderstanding. If he moves away from this place too abruptly with his team, it will give them an opportunity to point a gun at us.
Even at this time, Victor's heart is not at ease. Just as he was pondering, he heard loud footsteps from outside. Hearing that, the other four members immediately stood up from the ground. Everyone looked at each other's faces in despair.
The leader, Victor Brown's, face turned solemn. He gripped the huge long sword with both hands tightly. Next, he signaled to his members to equip quickly. Everyone grabbed their weapons and held them in their hands to face the enemy.
Slowly, Victor walked out of his tent, followed by his team members one by one. When five of them stepped outside, they were immediately greeted by the Black Fist team.
"He... He... He... He..."
"Look at their ugly faces. Everyone is scared shit right now, "Benny Sutton, the leader of the Black Fist team, said with laughter.
The four teammates beside his team had wide grins on their faces.
I'm not sure.How many kills have they made successfully? " Benny Sutton's right-hand man, Rob, said with expectations.
Hearing that, Benny Sutton smiled and directly glanced at everyone. Next, his gaze is set on Victor Brown, who is sweating heavily. Because Benny Sutton's base is at Initial Trainee Warrior, while Victor Brown's is only at the level of Peak Special Trainee.
It's also the same for team members on both sides. Everyone's base is at the Special Trainee Level. The shield team has no chance of retaliation. This is also the reason why the Black Fist team took their time to mess with them.
Benny Sutton saw the shield badge on their armor. Then he opened his mouth to say, "Are you guys from the shield team?"
Victor Brown nodded his head in agreement.
At this moment, Victor Brown knew these guys would slaughter everyone. A thought struck his mind: rumors are indeed true. The Black Fist team finally revealed their cruel nature. Victor made up his mind in order to let his team members escape. He needs to stall Benny Sutton. Then his team members will take care of the rest.
"Ron, escape with others and tell the city about the Black Fist team's betrayal." After saying that, Victor swung his long sword at the black-fist team leader.
The atmosphere changed drastically.
"Harrumph, I won't give you any chance for that." Benny Sutton gets infuriated. After uttering, he immediately used the essence technique.
"Earth Wall"
Benny Sutton used his earth element technique to raise the earth wall. The earth elements gathered together in a blink of an eye and the strong earth wall formed at the height of 6 ft.
At the same time, Victor's sword blade collided with the earth's wall.
"Boom," a small deafening sound, resonated in the area.
The aftermath swept small rocks and vegetation around them. When the dust settled down, Victor found his blade was only able to cause a few cracks on the earth wall. The earth wall is still strong and extremely thick. Seeing that, Victor utters, "Trainee Warrior!" while gnashing his teeth in anger.
The elemental essence of a trainee warrior is extremely pure compared to that of a special trainee. Victor understood that using the essence technique alone would not be enough to defeat him.But from the start, he didn't aim to win; he hoped that his team members would find some chance to slip away.
While the leaders of the two teams started their confrontation, Ron and others from the shield team immediately fled from the place. They didn't even think about supporting their leader, Victor, for a bit. Seeing them fleeing, the black fist warriors quickly followed them from behind.
All of this didn't go unnoticed by a certain person hiding behind the tree.
Seeing that Shield team members left their team leader alone, it completely pissed me off.
Earlier, I thought these groups belonged to one team. But looking at the current situation, I certainly do not. But one thing felt strange to me. It also made me not move forward and help them. In my perception, my ability showed everyone in a red dot. Which means everyone here is my enemy.
How does one's perception rate one as hostile or friendly to me?Certainly, this ability comes from inheritance. I'm just evolving it further by practicing. Then my gaze was drawn to the scene in front of him: should I go or should I not?If this goes on, that guy will surely die.
But my expression changed drastically.
"You can drop your righteous act, Victor, it's really disgusting to see," Benny Sutton said, with a wide grin on his face.
"Oh! What are you blabbering about? " Victor Brown replied back in confusion.
Benny Sutton said in disdain, "All the remaining bandit hunting teams joined under the top 5 teams. So at this point in time, there is no independent bandit hunting team in Iron Post City. "
The expression of Victor Brown turned ugly. He didn't expect Benny Sutton to bring up this topic now. Benny Sutton uttered some truth, but there are slight changes in it. Victor Brown was recruited by the 5th strongest team, but they rejected his remaining team members. Victor Brown filled the last slot, so he was ordered to disband the teams within a month.
This is also one of the reasons why Victor wanted his team members to escape.