Things started out relatively well. They had plenty of people in fortified rank and above, and the scale of the joint mission was actually quite impressive, so a normal sized mob even at Level 2 should be manageable, especially when they camped right at the borders.
The camping site smack in the middle of level 1 and level 2 was one of the more established camping areas known to many. It was a nice small valley that had rocky hills as backing so there were fewer areas they had to guard. The other opening was also in Level 1, so only awakened monsters would be attacking from there.
This was called The Greyline. It was a bit further East, though, so they had to detour a bit.
It had been one of the places of conflicts between non-allied forces—like adventurers and mercenaries, for instance—particularly when they were in the vicinity at the same time.
Speaking of adventurers, they overheard the mercenaries talking about them, too. They apparently had a similar mass mission—still with another town further north—and they’d be attacking the danger zones nearer the northmost dungeon, Zarethil.
It was the least explored area and had the creepiest monsters, but the Level 1 region in that area was much richer, so even being on the border of Level 1 and 2 was very lucrative, even with a large team.
"Rumor has it that they’d try getting closer to the portals."
"Heh. Those adventurers are stupid as always."
"Heard nobles were also with them."
"Well, then, let’s perform much better so we can show them."
"YEAH!!"
The usual strategy was to attract monsters to specific spots so the humans were in an advantageous position as a group, and then they’d kill them together.
At least one or two sides were covered, so there was less effort to defend, at least to a degree. As for the loot, there was a pre-signed oath to determine it.
The awakened level folk like them were basically useless at this stage, so they had logistics duty. They would be the porters, the night watch, the butchers, the cooks, the cleaners, and so on. The humans did the relatively lighter jobs, while the goblins did all the unsavory ones.
For the first day, it went like this, and at night, there were also people who’d absorb a core or two, which was admirable in this situation.
They didn’t know how or when it started, but it was just suddenly...chaos. It happened in the middle of the second day.
It might be that the reconnaissance team had miscalculated the number of monsters nearby, or that they were just unlucky, a large monster mob was passing by, but their large team was overwhelmed. They were surrounded by insectoid monsters—all at toughened and fortified levels.
Not only that, they were even outnumbered!
No human could handle a monster of the same level alone without sustaining injuries! One-is-to-one was already dangerous, let alone one where there were more monsters than humans. Not to mention, a portion of their side was awakened-level!
Those in the front lines were attacked immediately, some bitten whole, causing this to be a bloody mess. Loose appendages and internal organs started to scatter around. There were some of beasts’, but most were of humans and goblins’.
The powerhouses focused on saving themselves (or maybe their close team members, at best), while the rest of them were on their own.
What could the poor awakened folk do when the average level of the monsters was an entire rank above them? They could only run! And run for their lives, they did.
Aaron’s jaw clenched as he looked at the people from his family. He wasn’t an important part of the family—some would even call him superfluous—but he didn’t expect them to leave him behind. When he realized it, they, along with their guards and dozens of mercenaries, were already so far away, with various fights and massacres happening in between them.
"Tsk. To think they’d abandon me like this...."
The people and the goblins scattered around into their respective teams, but the awakened could only tag along, doing their best to join in because no one would have the energy to care for them.
It so happened that when the chaos started, Ren and Zachary were near the rocky areas because they were preparing sleeping gear for their team.
They were quick to their feet and gathered the weapons and equipment they could get—many of them were spares anyway.
After taking one or two pieces of equipment for themselves, the duo threw the rest to their remaining humans (who happened to be mercenaries from the other team) as their last bit of kindness. It was also to give their side a fighting chance before they tried to find an opening while they escaped on their own.
In the wild, it was each one for themselves. These weren’t their team members, so they knew there wouldn’t be any gain in joining up with them. It was likelier that a strong monster would appear at the side, capture them whole before they could even go to them.
And even if they did get to them, they would only be useless due to the level differences.
The other people might find some ’other use’ for them, however.
Squelch!
Speaking of ’Other Uses’, they saw one porter from the other team run to the stronger mercenaries, thinking he could be protected. They also watched as the mercenary pushed him forward, instead, and they took care of the beasts while they feasted on the poor man.
They froze, with Zachary gritting his teeth and almost yelling profanities at the bastards, but Ren held him back.
He then looked around to see the main forces of their own team. They were too far away, defending against a fortified-level monster on top of a few toughened level ones.
Skills were thrown, and magic spells were thrown around. Each team had decent teamwork, with the short-ranged fighters and tanks guarding their mages and their archers. They formed a defensive circle, slowly moving back, no doubt to the level 1 area where the stronger monsters had little interest in going.
They were struggling but, overall, they had it under control. This would make it less likely for them to be desperate enough to throw themselves into giant bugs’ mouths.
Anyway, their teammates were moving farther away from them, and this meant their chances of survival were also slipping away.
How...could they go all the way there without getting eaten?