*Rustle*Rustle*
The sound of rustling bushes rang out in a forest, but it was drowned out by a multitude of other sounds.
The cause of this constant rustling was a party of twenty-six.
This was naturally Cabrera's party and Fredrick's slaves. They had entered the forest not too long ago and were heading to the place they were looking for.
After reaching a suitable distance, Fredrick stopped and Cabrera inspected the area, before taking out his spatial ring. From it ca dozens of bronze-rank armor for the boys, who had only taken their swords with them from Whittown.
Fredrick had already ard the slaves with peak quality bronze wears, which were dark blue in colour, and weapons, white swords with black hilts.
"Alright boys, pick a set. You have a minute to gear up!"
Most of the boys looked speechlessly while so face pald. It took a few seconds to register the aning of those actions, but when he did, his face suddenly turned red with embarrassnt.
He had told everyone to keep silent, yet he went ahead and shouted.
They didn't reply, but hastily moved to pick a set, trying to be as quiet as possible, not because they were disrespectful, but because they were trying to be discreet.
Cabrera also used this ti to put on his armor. A white suit of armor made its appearance at this mont with a gray coloured gauntlet, both of them at silver-rank.
At the helm of the party was Fredrick with casual wear…peak quality casual wear. He was a Master at the mid stage, which was at least A-rank. In a den of D and C-rank beasts, what exactly was he supposed to be afraid of?
It took a few minutes for the boys to put on their black armor sets and white swords, after which, Fredrick brought one of the slaves to the front. It was a young man with gray hair and a tall but slim stature. He began speaking incomprehensible words and, not long after, a snake that was three ters long and covered in black scales approached the party, who imdiately unsheathed their swords.
"Wait!" said Fredrick as we see the snake move up to the man chanting and coil around him slowly, letting the man pet its skin.
If they hadn't seen the snake co from within the forest, they would have thought it was his lost long pet. Since they had seen it, then there could only be one explanation…a Beast Tar!
Cabrera looked around and, apart from the slaves who didn't have much of a reaction, most likely because they had known beforehand, the rest seed to have arrived at similar conclusions.
This while the man and snake duo conversed with one another, which answered another one of their questions as it was a trait exclusive to Shapeshifters, sothing rarely found in Niton or even Lexon. And while most of his origins were unconfird, one thing was sure though, he must have cost a pretty penny.
At this mont, the snake uncoiled itself before moving in another direction.
"So? How should we move?" Fredrick asked.
This was the thod he had used over the past few days to find the place they were looking for, as well as to map out the path and the beasts they might encounter along the way, while still concealing his presence.
"It's the sa as yesterday, but a tree snake has nested near one of the paths" the gray haired man replied.
"Good job" Fredrick praised as he hit the man's back, before suddenly asking a flurry of questions…
"Did you leave any path or trace for soone or sothing to follow?"
"No"
"Did you map out the best possible path for us to take?"
"Yes"
"Did you plant a trap in any way?"
"No"
"Did you inform anyone apart from those in this party, either openly or secretly, about the plan?"
"No"
"Did the cave you found have all that I described in it?"
"Yes"
"Do you hate ?"
"No, because you took more care of than any other other person I've known"
Fredrick exhaled after hearing the answers, before turning to the party and giving instructions.
"Line up in pairs. We will be advancing into the farthest end of the forest. You will stick together as a single line at all tis or you will die, because deviating from the group will imdiately have you killed"
He paused for a few seconds to peruse their expressions and, unsurprisingly, it wasn't good. Of course, the fact that no one was whining or complaining was comndable, but Fredrick wasn't going to give them a chance to object.
"No sound except those of your feet should be heard, or else you risk beasts swarming our location" he said and gestured to Cabrera, who imdiately began distributing two vials containing a transparent liquid to each mber. The mont he was done, Fredrick continued.
"What you have just been handed is called the Blood Boiling Potion. To use it, you will pour the contents on the surface of your blade after you have made a sizable wound in whatever beast we might face. After striking the wound with the blade, well the rest is history. But be careful as its effects don't last long, only two minutes at most. Do not, and I repeat, do not, let it touch your skin, especially if you have a wound. If you do, the consequences are beyond dire. And now that that's done, we move" Fredrick turned around and imdiately began marching with the beast tar leading the way, but Cabrera quickly gave so additional advice.
"This is it boys, what we practiced for. Don't let fear cloud your judgnt. You have all grown ntally and physically, so be proud. The ti has co for you to show the fruits of your training, do not disappoint , and more importantly, do not disappoint yourself. You have toiled with your blood and sweat, not because of anything else, but because you strive for a better tomorrow. We shall sail through the ranks to shock the world. To reach that goal, this is the first challenge. Will you, after practicing till your hands grew numb, cower in fear? Or will you show these vermin called beasts who the real predators are?"
At this point, all forms of hesitation had been wiped away, because it hit them deeply. And then, one spoke up. It was Carl.
"I don't know about you brothers, but I did not get my ass handed to by a bunch of spoiled brats for over a month only to head back empty handed. Who's with ?"
"We are" they said in a low tone.
As he heard the last statent, Cabrera's head spun with ideas and he spoke…
"You will stay in line and you will fight in pairs. The pair who performs best will get a weapon of dark gold-rank or sothing of equivalent value"
If all the speeches till now had ignited a burning fire inside them, this announcent caused an explosion big enough to burn a forest in their minds.
They were visualizing how they would kill any beast that ca their way.
Cabrera nodded, before saying…
"Now go, or you might get left behind"
The boys nodded and hastily followed the slaves who were already a distance away, because Fredrick hadn't stopped for even a second after he was done talking.
Cabrera took his position at the end of the line, watching over the boys as they made their way across the forest.
The beast tar had snakes search a large part of the forest for a cave containing items worth more than Cabrera's loan. After that, he made them scout several routes that led there for the one with the least amount of monsters.
Their goal was to get to the cave as fast as possible, so monsters were to be avoided.
But this was where the terrifying trait about the beasts in this forest ca into play.
It was a forest filled with a myriad of snakes, and most snakes didn't have good eyesight or hearing in the first place, rather, they tasted the air to catch the whiff of prey.
What do you think would happen when more than a dozen heat signatures passed them by?
That answer would be the current scene, as snakes up to six ters long numbering up to fifteen moved side by side towards the congregated prey, and this was from just one side of the forest.
But then, it wasn't just snakes that were tagging along.
At the outskirts of the forest was the familiar group of five muscular n, but this ti, they all wore blue suits of armor with an ax and shield strapped to their backs, while Baldur held his trusty saber and a shield.
"You saw him go through here?"
Bondoc, the leader of the group, asked the adventurer in front of him.
"Y-Yes, I did. They went in about an hour ago with lots of other guys. They were, let's see-"
He said as he muttered numbers while looking at his fingers, before giving an answer.
"-about thirty. Yes, that should be right"
"Hmm, well, this could get troubleso" Baldur muttered. After all, they had no way of knowing if they were just temporary party mbers, or a team.
"So, what do we do?" Baldur asked Bondoc.
"Go and report to the boss, but hurry, I don't want them to get far" Bondoc replied, and Baldur hurried to the boss, while hoping the boss won't be in too much of a bad mood.
anwhile, on a building slightly taller than the outpost gate, a man could be seen looking through a blue telescope with runic carvings on it.
This man was Arvin.
"Well?" and beside him was ldor.
"They went to bring more mbers. Probably to threaten the group so they don't interfere, or kill them all if they do" Arvin replied as his forehead creased a little.
"But didn't you say we couldn't let the guy die?"
"Yeah, we can't, so ask the guild master to borrow us thirteen guys"
"Just to save a recruit? No, a potential recruit?!" ldor asked, not hiding the shock in his voice.
"If we save him, then he has to join us, else we can do Red Wolf a favor and cripple him ourselves"
"But why are you willing to go so far?" ldor asked.
"I don't know, but there's sothing special about him, my instincts are telling so"
*sigh*
"If you say so, then I guess I have no choice"
Normally, ldor wouldn't even consider such a farce, but if it was Arvin, soone who had already discovered a lot of talents in the past, who was saying this. It seems the man was really special.
—-----------------------------------
Sowhere nearby, a group of three n covered in black clothing were tailing Fredrick's party. More specifically, they arrived here while tailing Carl, who cut off one of their mbers' hands.
Yes, they were indeed mbers of Nightshade.
—------------------------------------
In another part of the forest was an adventure party of ten, three female, seven male, all with different armors and weapons.
And at this mont, one of their party mbers, a girl with green clothes hanging on a tree with a bow and arrow, spotted a line of people who moved like a snake across the forest, dodging multiple habitats of predators along the way.
"Hey guys, look there" she said to the others on the ground.
A mont later, they also saw the large group moving through the gaps of so sleeping predators, an anomaly for sure.
And so the girl asked…
"Should we follow them?"
"Let's see where their heading" the leader in white armor replied without hesitation.
And so they tagged along.
—---------------------------------
The strings of fate were moving in a funny manner, as all these elents moved independently, but would give rise to a fantastical weave of events that would send the empire into a crescendo of chaos.
And all this while the Mastermind was dozens of kiloters away.
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