Syl and Finn headed out as a pair this time. With the Elders there, there were obviously a lot of things going on that the guilds had to investigate in the danger zone, so Finn didn’t call on a team to accompany him.
They were also busy with the construction of the guild. Since he didn’t have extra building types he could buy, the buildings were manually done.
Marcus’ team was also in the extension now, too, so they could just meet there.
Besides, he quite liked going out alone with Syl. It was like they were having a date, even if that date was just them skewering monsters to death.
At this point, Finn had gotten more and more used to his new weapon. He usually limited it to one or two transformations for now, as changing forms too often consumed mana.
Anyway, the more he leveled up, the weapon did as well, adding another layer to what ’growth type weapon’ meant. It seemed like it would also increase its penetration and effects whenever he himself upgraded.
He also noticed how many of his skills seemed to last a bit longer if it was the weapon he was using, which was a welcome effect.
Like this, the couple—both of whom had to rush their growth—went straight to Level 2.
...
Meanwhile, about a kilometer away from the extension, a group of refugees was staggering forward.
And it wasn’t by choice.
At this time, they were running from a number of fortified level monsters that were trying to eat them alive!
They were the flying kind, too, so if they ended up running to the wrong place and got pulled up, they might as well say goodbye to land and say hello to the nest and get eaten.
One of the haggard people running was a man advanced in age, and he was slapping a younger man’s back. "You’re going to get us killed!"
"OW! Ow! Master OW!" the man with curly light brown twitched, eyes watery and pitiful, though anyone who knew them knew he was overreacting. "I’m sorry, Master! I thought you were hungry!"
He was being sincere. This was a total accident, okay!?
The old man showed weakness while they were traveling, and the man went up to get some edible fruits. Who’d have known there were perched beast birds up there?!
"Don’t get mad, focus on running master," he said, turning away and pushing himself to run faster. "No wonder you have so many wrinkles!"
"This bastard!" the old man yelled, unconsciously running faster as well. Sadly, the monsters were really agile and ended up in front of them.
"Duck!" The young man, Quin, yelled, though not without slashing away another monster that got too close.
They had no choice but to run within the dense forests to avoid the strong monsters above, but the thing was...there were also plenty of monsters on the ground!
They were originally just at the borders level 2, but hopefully they did not go deeper! They certainly had no chance to check where they were!
Pacco sneered as he ran forward, trying to lead the way with his compass. "Where did you say you found the Inko fruit?"
The Inko Fruit was one of the alleged treatments for the old man’s poison.
Lenok, the old man, was the leader of their mercenary team and was dying from an unknown disease. Just that the cure was in the danger zone, and it was the type that would rot if taken away from the tree, so the old man had to go with them.
Pacco looked at Quin. "Didn’t you find this lead? Aren’t you leading yet?"
"Of course," Quin said, taking the compass and rushing forward, hoping to redeem himself.
To be honest, this mission was very risky. He had gained from credible sources that the Inko fruit was found some hundred kilometers East of their Town, which was in the safe zones west of the danger zone, and that it was the cure for the old man’s disease.
They even showed one of the victims before, who showed marks of the same rashes, and how healthy he was at present. How could Quin, the filial apprentice, miss the chance to heal his stubborn-as-a-hoovensore master?
Their group not only took a number of their old mercenary teammates, but they also hired a large mercenary team for added force.
However, none of them remained at their side until now. Some disappeared early on, while some died due to the unexpectedly strong mobs they encountered.
They were using beasthorses prior to this, but sadly after several attacks, they lost them as well. The remaining one, in fact, even ran away for some reason in the middle of the night.
Accidents like that happened all the time in the danger zone, so no one thought too much of it. But now it felt too much like a coincidence, but what could they do?
It was fortunate that the old man’s two companions, his apprentice and his son, were already at the toughened and fortified stages, respectively. Otherwise, things would’ve been tragic for the small group of three.
By this time, they were dead tired, and the trio could only run and not engage with the monsters, because doing so was certain death for all of them.
They had already consumed all the potions and buff potions they could consume, and their focus was to leave the Level 2 danger zone safe and ideally with all their appendages.
Other than these, their equipment was all very good, at least D-class and several C-Class, and they were the only reason why they still had all their legs. So far.
Things got worse when the night descended. Humans were far less adept in the dark than monsters. They could feel the number of wounds in their bodies increase, but they could only push themselves.
ROAAARR
"AHH!"
"PACCO!" Lenok screamed as he grabbed his son’s arm, pushing him forward. His young apprentice, Quin, quickly went behind them.
SLASH!
The lad gasped as a deep gash appeared on his back, his equipment breaking at the last minute.
The old man was forced to use his remaining mana to kill the rest of the fortified monsters, which took a toll.
He coughed blood, but they knew this was not the place to rest.
The two grabbed an arm each and they continued to run. As they did so, Pacco looked complicated at his father’s apprentice, who was still pulling his own weight despite having a deep gash on his back.
Their relationship had never been the best. "Quin, you..."
"I’m...fine..." he said, not talking anymore. He was in too much pain.
They felt more despair every step they took, and it was not just the blood they leave behind. They could feel their life draining, and they knew that if they encountered another monster, they were really dead.
Their hearts palpitated when they felt the ground vibrate, and they knew they attracted new monsters.
Things changed when a flicker appeared within their sight, a few hundred meters away. Even when they realized what it was, they did not know what to make of it.
Unexpectedly...in the middle of nowhere...there was light?
And...was that... a house ???