The expedition carried on as usual after the small incident involving two incorrigible idiots was taken care of. Even so, Draken and Casanova were still hanging around together at the back of the group as they resumed the conversation they were having before things got out of hand.
"So, Nova, what were you going to talk to me about?"
"Correction: The name's Casanova."
"There's no way in hell that I'm going to call you that, idiot!"
"Hmph! You just won't admit to the truth that I am indeed the reincarnation of the great lover of women!"
"You…!"
Draken inevitably popped a vein listening to this egotistic fool's false assertion. He almost couldn't control himself and was just about to start another fight, but then, he acutely felt a cold glare locking on to them from the front.
'This annoying horse…!' Draken grumbled inwardly.
He didn't have to look to know that it was the grumpy Tikbalang who stopped them earlier that was keeping a close eye on their every action.
"What is it, huh? You've got something to say to me, you pale white and blood horny mother******?!"
Casanova didn't seem to realize that they were being monitored by the guys at the front, as he kept on inciting and taunting him incessantly—for lack of a better description, he was acting like a real Karen right now who enjoyed harassing people for fun.
"Tch. Fine, whatever. I'll call you Casanova, alright? So just shut up already." Draken clicked his tongue and finally assented.
"Wow, really~? Can you say my name three more times so I can make sure I didn't hear you wrong?"
"Casanova, Casanova, Casanova…"
"See? Now was it really that hard to say my complete name? I'm assuming it's not very hard, is it? I mean, how would you feel if I started calling you Ken, the same name as that boyfriend doll from Barbie instead of your cool, badass Draken name? You would surely feel uncomfortable, won't you? So really, what I'm asking from you is not that unreasonable here."
The fox character had an expression of triumph on his bestial face as he patted the shoulder of a vexed vampire. Meanwhile, the vampire character was glaring hatefully at the joyous fox, harboring wrathful thoughts as he did so.
'For now, I'm choosing to save our skins dumbass. But once we're out of these woods, let's see how I'll deal with you.'
Unbeknownst to the self-satisfied Casanova, who was happily grinning that he won their heated argument, his close friend Draken was busy cursing up a storm because of him while also making a sullen vow that he would get some payback later.
"Anyhow, you were asking what I wanted to talk about ten minutes ago, right?"
"Yes…" Draken tried to calm himself and managed to eke out a meek reply.
"Well, what I wanted to say was that I'm kinda regretting our choice of picking the Demon Continent as our starting point."
"Really, now? Please, by all means tell me more."
"Although the System made it out to be such a fantastic place when describing it to us, and even seeing it for ourselves while hovering in the sky; now that I'm actually here, all I can say is that this continent is the exact definition of gloom and obscure."
"You mean the constant mist and fog covering the entire realm, right?"
"Yeah. From up above the clouds, you would certainly think that it looks novel and unique. But in hindsight, it's such a drag when you're out traveling to new areas. You practically can't see anything if you don't have a strong light source with you, hence you can get easily lost."
"I agree. But from what I've gathered, improving your perception attribute can greatly enhance your vision, and would thus make the fog negligible."
"So, what? You would want to waste your precious AP or attribute points on a useless thing called perception?"
"Looking at our current circumstances, it seems like the only way for us to move smoothly in the Demon Continent unhindered."
"And that's why I'm sorely regretting it! Man, I wish we could have picked a better continent."
"If that were the case, then which continent would you have gone to?"
"Hmm… The Exceed Continent probably. Yep, the races living there would have definitely been better suited for my preferences. Besides, just look at our companions in this expedition, man."
Casanova furtively pointed both of his index fingers to the front while wiggling them in a comical way. As such, Draken shifted his gaze out of reflex and stared at the inhuman backs of their expedition members.
"First off, we got Ed, Edd n' Eddy over here: The three horsemen of the apocalypse. Wait, what're their real names again?"
"Actually, there were four horsemen of the apocalypse. And their names are Gaius, Nixon, and Tunok."
"What was the last one's name?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Well, you just said that there were four horsemen, right? You only gave three names. What was the fourth one's name, then?"
"…Are you really an idiot? I was obviously referring to the names of those three Tikbalangs over there!"
"Oh! Sorry, sorry, my bad man." Casanova chuckled lightheartedly while scratching his head.
"Anyway, the Tikbalang who always yells at us and threw the axe during our quarrel was Tunok. If I'm guessing correctly, he should be the right-hand man of their leader."
"And who is their leader?"
"Gaius is the leader of their three-man party. See that intimidating one over there that has an unapproachable vibe to him?"
Draken gestured to a muscular and buff Tikbalang carrying a giant axe on his shoulder. Unlike the other two beside him, he was stacked up and well-equipped.
The Tikbalang named Gaius had on a full set of brown leather armor from his boots all the way up to his shoulder guards. In addition, he wore a medieval steel helmet over his large head while his two-horse ears were sticking out sharply. In fact, out of the five players in this expedition team, Gaius was the only one that was completely decked out in equipment.
"Oh, yeah~ So he's the leader, huh. He apparently does fit that character trope—the stoic and solemn bossman of a dangerous gang. By the way, what level is he at?"
"Gaius is level 7!"
"Hot damn~! That's four levels higher than us! How did he manage to get to that level so fast? Like, really, because I actually want to know!? I mean, the game's server just opened three hours ago. That's some insane leveling speed."
"Mm. I agree. But, if you opened the whole server's level leaderboard, you can see that the top number one player is already level 12."
"WHAT?! THOSE DAMN MONSTERS! ACTUAL DAMN MONSTERS!"
When he heard this absurdly shocking revelation, it was like a bomb set off inside his head as his brain wires got fried. Upon taking a closer look, you could see literal smoke coming out of Casanova's dainty orange fox ears as they twitched sporadically.