The newcors were all walking on foot with various levels of injuries on their bodies. No one seed unhard, and so of them were practically half-naked and bleeding from all the damage.
With bleeding ant mobs, and there was an endless stream of mobs coming at them. Even if they recovered a bit or used potions, the bit of blood would attract monsters, which in turn would injure them further. It was a vicious cycle.
The fortunate part was that they were not weak, and most of them were at least toughened level, which was why they were still alive, considering everything.
However, they had been dragging their feet for quite so ti, separated from their companions by a beast mob that ended up being larger than they thought.
"Damn, where are we?" one of the n mumbled as he looked out. He looked at their leader, Evo, who was cursing while leading the way. His large sword was out and ready to deal with monsters that ca in his way.
"That monster mob had too many toughened monsters!" Vara, one of the rchants and their employer, yelled, annoyed that he had to walk so much. "Did soone fail to do their research?!"
"Mobs like that are rare but not abnormal," another one of the rcenaries, Clen, said with his low voice. "There were probably adventurers who went near the Western dungeons and ran away, luring stronger monsters and mobs with them."
He was relatively calr than the others, but because of the large scar on his face, he looked terrifying. It shut the rchant up from complaining too much.
"Yeah, I heard that a fortified level monster from the West dungeon led a huge mob not long ago. It cut so supplies to the west. But I heard teams had been sent to subjugate it even before we left."
The rchants frowned. "I thought that was just a scare tactic to get people to buy things."
It wasn’t the first ti businesses and Lords took advantage of fear to sell out lower-quality weapons and equipnt for a high price.
Anyway, they obviously missed a lot of things, ultimately causing a number of losses on their end.
News could travel quickly enough with the right tools, but generally, the transference of information did take ti because said tools were very expensive. Not to ntion, those who might know the latest news might not have it.
An event that was happening in the danger zone travelled especially slowly, with an update only sent out when the parties involved had returned to civilization—assuming they survived, that was.
"So you heard about it? Then this is your fault!" Vara said, looking at the rcenaries. Even if it was not confird, it was a concern that should’ve been said in advance!
(That said, even if the rcenaries did ntion it, the rchants would’ve dismissed it regardless, but they needed soone to bla.)
The rcenaries did not like their tone. "What did you say?!"
Clen saw the increasing tensions among the injured n and stepped forward with an annoyed expression on his scarred face. "Calm down. We can’t afford to fight right now! How much mana do you have, huh!?"
"We lost so many of our goods!" one of the rchants said, and the others nodded.
"We are left with a few bags and that thing," Vara said, pointing at the scantily clad woman with hairy ears and a long, slightly fluffy tail. She was limping, a bit more injured than the rest of them.
Her petal-shaped eyes were reddish with tears, ears drooping, and looking around as if waiting, hoping for a change that was not happening.
It could’ve attracted so n, but they were in too much pain and in the middle of danger to feel horny right now.
Their caravan took a shortcut from the Southern beastkin sector to the human area in the West and Northwest, which had to happen because many of their goods—special crops from the Northwest—could only last for so long even with so preservation tools.
Not to ntion, slavery was kind of taboo and so territories along the way (if they took the safe route) could get a bit...uptight.
Of course, the rcenaries asked for twice their pay in exchange to getting them faster to their destination, which the rchant group paid for.
Sadly, they encountered a monster mob they could not handle—damned rcenaries—and ended up being separated, losing a lot of their goods in the process.
They lost their maps, their food, and many teammates. They were, to be frank, at the end of the rope, and it would not take long before they started killing each other.
They were also famished, and all they had were fruits and tasteless at. However, they could not stop for too long because their injuries would never stop attracting monsters to them.
So every ti they put sothing on their stomach, their energies would be flushed out by the fight that would co right after.
Even if they were just awakened monsters, if they ca in droves and gave them little ti to rest, they could still be taken down!
It was exhausting. Worse, they didn’t know where they were!
The best way was to get farther from the danger zone, to the edge of level 1 and level 0, at least! Even if there were monsters, at least they’d be much more manageable.
But how would they get there in ti? Their stamina was already dangerously low!
Fortunately, they soon found the main road and they all heaved a breath of relief. It was not completely safe, but encountering carriages and therefore, assistance, was more likely here than anywhere else.
However, after walking along it for a while, they had yet to encounter anyone. "Is this normal?"
"It was probably because of the news of the mobs," Clen said. "It should recover so activity soon, but we..."
More ti passed, and all they encountered were monsters, not fellow humans. They felt more nervous and angry, and they were becoming nervous wrecks.
"What are we going to do?"
They were feeling more hopeless as ti passed, worse when the weaker ones (mostly the rchants’ party) stats had decreased to the single digits!
Clen, who was now leading the party, stopped at so point.
"What is it?" Evo asked, and Clen pointed at a wooden plank with writings. "What is that?"
It was a signage and they gathered around to read its contents.
They could read it, but understanding and believing were quite different things.
"Inn this way? 3 kiloters away?"
Huh? What kind of trap is this?
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