(From MC's Perspective)
Insect Forest,
The warriors begin to lose their strength gradually due to poison. They weren't able to exert their maximum strength. In desperation, some even decided to flee.
But it was quickly noticed by their group leader. So having no choice everyone continued their fight.
Seeing their desperation, I sighed internally. Everyone knows the inner area of the insect forest is no joke. You may come across a do or die situation very frequently.
Having known all of this, the Fire Sword Team decided to send them here. "Tck, these guys didn't realise they were nothing but cannon fodders." I mumbled under my breath.
Then I patiently waited for this terrible scene to end. I have not changed my mind about getting into the inner area. Before that, I need to clear out this hurdle.
10 minutes later,
The warriors lost all of their strength. Their last bit of struggle was crushed by the plant monster. It immediately swallowed those who fell first. Within a few minutes, there was no trace of them left on the ground.
My expression is a little bit tense. I'm still unclear about the plant monster's strength. It's surely class-3, but I couldn't tell whether it's a mid-one or a peak one.
Then I thought about an idea. Why do I need to fight this monster? My goal is to enter the inner area. As long as I went past the monster, everything would be fine.
In other ways, it's also helpful for me if another group doesn't follow the path because of the monster. This Class 3 monster is a strong deterrent to others.
This idea seems really feasible to me. Then, without further thinking, I decided to use the lightning phantom technique to move ahead at extreme speed.
A purple mist covered my legs. Then I disappeared from my spot and dashed towards the destination.
When I enter the area of plant monsters, It got alerted quickly. Numerous vines came towards me, but my speed is fast enough to dodge all of these attacks.
My lightning technique helped me greatly in this situation to escape easily from the monster. After getting past it, I continued to move forward.
Only after reaching a further distance did I halt my movements. "Hmph, the narrow road path came to an end. Hereafter, I can only rely on myself, "I said to myself."
Fortunately, I didn't get delayed by any monsters. Then I looked around to see if there was anywhere I could rest.
While looking around, I also kept my perception in check. There is no sign of any red dots in my surroundings.
Alternatively,
Mr. Jonathan was standing at the top of a nearby tree. He watched the entire situation that happened before.
In the past few days, he has come to know about many situations. especially the identity of the person behind the Fire Sword Team.
Mr. Jonathan already took care of those corpses. He knows a large number of warriors looking for their trails. But he didn't care about it.
His interest was piqued after knowing the name of the Fire Sword Team leader. Mr. Jonathan said in his heart, "Mateo Roth."
He knew something was fishy about bandit hunting teams. But he didn't expect someone from Tier-7 City to come here.
"What is the person from the Roth family doing here?" A doubt rose in his heart.
Mr. Jonathan knew the history of Bandit Boss Soren and the City Lord. Roth's child is the leader of the bandit hunting team, but his actions are not in line with the trend.
Their actions are more favourable to bandit Boss Soren. From time to time, if he had any new information, Mr. Jonathan directly sent it to his master.
Somewhere in his heart, he really wants to dive into this matter. But since he took up the responsibility as a guardian, He needs to do it earnestly.
A look of appreciation flashes in his eyes after witnessing Zack's quick decision. Mr. Jonathan can easily see through the monster's strength. He knew that the plant monster was a Class 3-Peak one.
Mr. Jonathan knew that if Zack were to fight that monster, he would have been slowed down by the toxic pollen. When it happens, it's impossible to get treated here.
So it was a wise decision made by Zack to not fight the monster. Now, looking at him searching for a safe spot, Mr. Jonathan smiled.
EastWood Company,
Old man Tucker Nelson bought the bandit hunting mission details after paying a hefty sum of money.
This time he paid more than last time. Dispelling the thoughts, he sat back leisurely in his seat.
Opposite to him, his grandson, Lewis, is looking at him with eagerness.
"Grandfather, give me the list. I will find those warriors in no time," Lewis Nelson said with a smile.
From the beginning, his grandfather warned him not to get too involved in bandit hunting missions. Yet he went with his team ahead.
But after learning about the actions of top teams, he backed away from the mission immediately. Like his grandfather told him, the people behind those teams are not simple.
Right now, the situation is different. Some people disrupted the trend of the strongest team in this city. When he came to know about that, he asked his grandfather.
Unfortunately, at that time, he didn't have any clue. But he has a chance right now to find those warriors.
Old Man Tucker twitched. He warned him not to think about it. But right now, he has decided to befriend the Fire Sword Team.
As a result, his grandson may become the spokesperson for their EastWood Company.
So he gave him the file. Lewis immediately went to his cabin to look at the file alone.
The old man, Tucker, recalled his conversation with Manager Lawrence.
While conversing, he tried to collect information about the City Lord. But Manager Lawrence refused to talk about anything related to the City Lord Mansion.
At that time, he even asked what they were going to do about the economic condition of their city. But he didn't see any sort of emotion in his eyes.
Old Man Tucker felt very bad about his silence. The manager, Lawrence, is reacting as if everything is under their control. And whatever was happening inside the city was not at all surprising to them.
Dispelling the thoughts, he glanced at Lewis's cabin's directions. He plans to shut his eyes for a while. In the meantime, he hopes Lewis will find an answer.
Alternatively,
Lewis comfortably sat in his chair to analyse the file. In front of him were two files. One of them was an old file about the bandit hunting mission.
He didn't take a look at the old file. Because that information already registered in his mind. So Lewis opened the new file to look at the new teams that recently joined the bandit hunting missions.
Because there is currently no independent bandit hunting team in their city. So he wants to see whether any new names are left out.
15 minutes later,
After skimming through the details, he didn't come across any unknown teams. He even checked the list of those destroyed teams. Because Lewis believed, if not the new team, then the survivors from the old teams must have retaliated.
Because everyone is aware of the Fire Sword Team's activities. More than hunting bandits, they were involved in more killings and looting of the other teams.
So it's not surprising to find someone has a grudge against them. But still, even after looking at the old details, He couldn't come across any concrete points. Most of the old teams were either completely destroyed or disbanded later.
Even the survivors were either crippled or retired from their adventurer careers.So there are no suitable available warriors to form a team.
Lewis fell into contemplation. Earlier, he thought it was easy to find the culprits. But there is no new team that joined recently, and not even an old team is responsible for this. Then how could it be possible to destroy the black fist team?
Not even the body of the black fist team's leader has been recovered. Then suddenly, a slight glint flashes in his eyes. Apart from the Fire Sword Team, there are the other four teams.
"Could it be those teams?" Lewis said to himself.
Because other than that, he couldn't think of any other possibility. Only the members of the other four teams were strong and daring enough to challenge the Fire Sword Team.
If his assumption is true, then it's bad for their iron post city. If there is infighting among bandit hunting teams, then who will kill those bandits?
The number of bandits was already astounding. If things go on like this, it would be difficult to handle this bandit group.
Lewis also knows about the current state of their city. Due to the worsening economic situation, some broke warriors secretly joined the bandit groups.
This story was kept confidential; it is not allowed to circulate in the media. He strongly feels if this goes on, even reputed organisations may choose to relocate to other stable cities.