"We won't?" Bowler asked with bewildernt. "Bro, I know you are strong, but don't take us as useless. Not everything you can do by yourself, we can also help."
"You misunderstand . If everything went according to plan, I also don't need to fight," Jack said.
Bowler was getting more puzzled. "What are you talking about? Are we going to have a negotiation with the bandit?"
Jack grinned at him instead of answering. "If you want to co, co then! Summon your mounts."
"Wait, we don't have one!" Bowler uttered. Before they used the Town Return scroll and left the expedition, Commander Quintus had gone and collected the mount whistles from them except for Jack's one.
"Are you kidding ? Go and buy one! I will leave you if you are late," Jack exclaid.
Luckily there was a stable that sold or rented the mounts nearby. With the coins they had gotten from the expedition, the mount's price was affordable even with the inflation.
After everyone got a proper mount, they left. A group of over fifty people riding out into the wilderness drew so attention, but the onlookers didn't give it much thought. These days where guilds were already growing in size, many large groups like this ca and went every day. However, there was a small group of people who went in the sa direction not long after, keeping a distance of at least four hundred ters from Jack's group.
With mounts, they arrived in the area nearby the bandit outpost in a bit over three hours. Jack could have gotten there sooner because his mount was faster, but he kept his pace with the other.
The structure of the looming bandit outpost soon appeared before everyone's vision.
"We are going to attack that?" Bowler exclaid with a gasp.
"Keep your voice down! We don't want to alert any sentry before the ti. There could be patrols from that outpost going around here," Jack warned.
"Before the ti, we are not attacking now?"
"Not yet," Jack looked at the position of the sun to tell the ti. "Around half an hour more."
"What are we waiting for?"
"You will see."
Seeing that Jack did not intend to give any answer, Bowler gave up on the question.
"That outpost sure looks big, are you sure your plan can take it down?" Jeanny asked. A hint of worry in her voice.
"It was not this big when I encountered it the first ti," Jack inford. "It was categorized as small-sized that ti, now it has grown to a normal-sized outpost."
"That was normal-sized?" Bowler exclaid. "There are bigger ones?"
"There are large-sized and town-sized which are much bigger than this one," Peniel explained.
"Haha. Though our foes appeared formidable, we will not cower! Comrades, an epic battle is ahead of us!" The Man exclaid.
Jack gave him a side-eye, "I told you already, we are not fighting! You will just kill yourself if you go in with your level. Those outlaws inside have an average of level 40!"
The first ti when Jack encountered the outpost, the average level of the outlaws was at 30. Now that the outpost had increased in rank, its occupants apparently had also undergone an upgrade.
"So what do we do?" The Man asked.
"Just stay still, be quiet, and wait!" Jack told him.
Far away from there, the small group that had been following Jack's group hid behind rows of trees and watched. Jack's group was just small figures in the distance, they can't make out anything just watching from there.
"How about I go in and eavesdrop on what they are saying? I'm confident in my sneaking ability, combined with my Silent Step skill, they won't know I am there." A rogue in the group offered.
Earmouth, who was the leader of this group, shook his head. "No, Scarface warned that this Storm Wind guy has sothing that can detect others' positions. He had confird that it was still safe with this distance, but he was not sure how far is that guy's tool's area of coverage. So we have to maintain this range."
"What are they doing anyway? Are they planning to attack that large structure over there?" Another asked.
"If they are, they are looking to die. We have so people passed through this area already. They reported that the structure is populated by human-type monsters. They average at level 40. Our mbers who went over to check on things end up getting massacred as the denizens inside sward out."
"I doubt they ca here for no reason. Are you sure that Storm Wind ca around here every day?" Earmouth asked.
Another rogue, who was being asked, replied, "It isn't exactly this spot, but he did go around at different places not far from here."
Earmouth had been sending people to spy on Jack and his newly ford guild, Everlasting Heavenly Legends. Urgh, he still shivered every ti that na ca up in his mind. How the heck did those people co up with such an absurd na for a guild?
Scarface had given him the permission to utilize the mbers of the guild for this purpose. Scarface was also wary after hearing about Jack forming a guild.
During these few days, the mbers of that newly ford guild were doing what a new guild normally did, actively doing guild quests to increase reputation. Only Jack was doing all sorts of random things.
"Can that be the bandit outpost they ntioned before?" Earmouth mumbled, then turned to another of his people. "Have there been any reports from the people who search for info in the library about the bandit outpost?"
"Nothing new yet. The last info they found is only saying that it was a place where outlaws gathered. If one successfully raids this outpost, which is by destroying the outpost's core, the reward will be abundant, though no indication of how this abundant is referring to. Also, it was said that there are different sizes of an outpost. However, no indication as well on these sizes interpretation, so we can't really asure what size category that one is."
"A bunch of uncertainty then," Earmouth pondered. "What I don't understand is, why these people are so interested in it. Are they simply targeting that abundant reward?"
"Let see them try then. If they sohow managed to get to the Outpost Core, we can ambush them. Then we can break the core ourselves and get the reward," the rogue who offered to sneak ahead suggested.
Earmouth turned to that rogue and said, "you obviously were not there during the battle of the Crestfall Plain, were you?"
"I did hear about this Storm Wind's terrifying power, but going against those bunches of level 40 Outlaws, I doubt that even he will get out of this unscathed. He should have exhausted all his trump cards during the fight, we only need to capitalize on it. It will be a great contribution if we manage to get the outpost's rewards and taking that Storm Wind out at the sa ti."
Hearing the rogue's reasoning, Earmouth thought it did make sense. He said, "I will ask for so more backup."
"Is it ti yet?"
"You have been asking that for the third ti now. Even if boss Storm did not mind your pestering, I am getting irritated by it," The Man berated Bowler
Jack did not show annoyance. Instead, he said, "It's ti."
Jack then took out a rectangle piece of Jade. It was the Themisphere Beacon Stone. He had been saving this thing for a long ti. He could finally make use of it for sothing important.
"What's that?" Jeanny asked.
"It's sothing that can call over the soldiers in Themisphere in a radius of 300 kiloters who will protect
for three hours."
"Wow, isn't that super powerful? So you are going to use these soldiers to deal with those outlaws in the outpost."
John who heard the description said, "I see, so the last three days you have used it to check on the patrolling soldiers' routes."
"Yes. Even though the radius of this item's effect was very large, it only lasts three hours. If the soldiers are too far and take too long to arrive. The effect will expire before the outpost is completely raided. From my previous roaming, I have found two powerful patrolling troops who are passing by not far from here around this ti. It should only take them a few minutes to arrive."
Jack crashed the jade in his hand. A torrent of energy shot out into the sky before they exploded into a firework of multitude colors. The effect was similar when he used the beacon gave by Duke Alfredo near the Temple of Divine Squall.
They didn't have to wait long before rumblings were heard. From its sound, it was not a small force. Soon, they saw figures appearing, everyone was uniformly armored. From the size, they estimated the force could be closed to one thousand strong.
Before that first force arrived, soone called out and they turned in the opposite direction. Another similar force was seen coming over.
"Damn, I guess we really won't have the chance to fight," The Man uttered.
Reviews
All reviews (0)