Goras approached his boss. "What is our tradition again?"
Balmar smiled. "We shoot before we introduce ourselves to the enemy."
Goras smiled and nodded. "In that case." He fired his rifle towards the cultivators.
TRATATATAT!
A few cultivators fell.
"The boss has introduced our group, but I would like to introduce myself. My name is Goras, Second in Chief of the Man Hunter."
Goras looked at the pitiful state of his enemies. "I would like to give you some time to rest, but our friends would like to introduce themselves too. Isn't that right, boys?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah! Let them remember our names!"
"I want them to have nightmares whenever they heard our names!"
Balmar grinned. "Well, what are you waiting for. Introduce yourselves."
The reinforcement squad aimed their weapons and fired.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
TRATATATATT! TRATATATAT! TRATATATAT!
"My name is Ruith. Make sure you remember that!"
"I'm Darfin. Make sure you call my name before you sleep!"
The Man Hunter rained the enemy with bullets. Dozens of them fell with bloody holes on their bodies.
"Run!"
"Save Elaith!" A second-stage cultivator ran towards Elaith and picked him up before two bullets pierced his shoulder. The pain stung him like a sword, but he held it with gritted teeth.
He must not let Elaith die. Elder Tasar said that he would become the future sect master.
He leaped towards a tree. The leaves hid him from the shooters' sight. But That didn't stop them from shooting.
A few went past his face as he leaped from tree to tree. With Elaith on his back, he roared and used all his energy to dodge and escape.
"Kill as many of them as you can," Balmar said. "But don't chase them."
He then turned towards Nesterin and the rest of the Black Wolves.
"I'm Balmar." He reached out his hand. "It's nice to meet you."
Nesterin smiled and shook the hand. "I would say the same thing, but the situation isn't appropriate."
"You are saved now. We will accompany you to Ashbourne before we leave."
"Just bring me to Barmwich."
"What?"
"You've met him, right? I want to see him. I want to see the man who could change our fate."
Balmar put a hand on his shoulder. "Then you better prepare. Hax seems to be a man with a high standard. If you don't show your worth, he wouldn't trust you."
Nesterin smiled. "I would be disappointed if he has a low standard."
"Haha! I think he will like your confidence."
"Is he the one who send you?"
Balmar nodded. "Yes."
"Then I really should come to him to say my thanks."
The reinforcement squad approached the surviving Black Wolves and treat their wounds. Using plants, berries, wood, and vines, the Man Hunter fixed the wounds like a professional.
"You guys are hunters?" Nesterin asked.
"You can tell?"
"Not just anyone can treat a wound that easily. Unless you're a doctor, but I doubt a doctor would come to the forest."
Balmar laughed. "We'll take care of your men. Come on, let's get to know each other while we return to Barmwich."
"What about transportation?"
"We have dozens of carriages waiting outside the forest. You might not know this, but Hax has received a lot of help from a lot of norms."
"I'm glad the majority of our kind isn't a coward."
"Me too."
The Man Hunter and the Black Wolves walked through the forest. They chatted with each other on the journey. When the sky was dark, they hunted for food and camped for the night. The former hunters made bigger and better tents than the one Nesterin made. Their food tastes better too. And they could extract water out of plants. Lives become much more comfortable with them around.
"We have been hunting in the forest, jungle, rivers, hills, mountains, basins, and any other places for years. We know which plant we can eat, which animal to avoid, and how to survive in places where there are no people.
Nesterin looked around at the crowd. "Hunters don't usually hunt with this many people."
"We're not hunting animals today, my friend." Balmar smiled. "We're hunting immortals, and I think we should bring as many people as possible to be safe."
"You can stop calling them immortals, now. They bleed and die like us. Calling them immortals is unfitting."
Balmar laughed. "It's all because of this." He showed the pistol. This one was bigger than Nesterin had.
"Hax made a lot of new weapons," Nesterin said. "Good with this we have a better chance at fighting against them."
"Yes. And it's all because of you. We all know that you fought the cultivators to stall them. You know from the start that Hax will make stronger weapons, right?"
"I have my faith in him. And it all paid off. A lot of my men died these last few days. But they didn't die for nothing. Our ambition will be realized as long as Hax is still alive."
"Well said. To be honest I admire you, Black Wolves. Not just anyone can go to a volcano to have a fight against cultivators. And I see the eyes of your men, they don't have regret. Even when only less than a dozen of you survive, all of you can still stand strong."
"It's our culture," Nesterin said. "The pack must stand strong no matter how many dies."
"They have children and families."
"They are also part of the pack. We are one big family. We take care of each through thick and thin."
Balmar blinked. "I don't expect that from you."
"In your eyes, we are thugs. But that's the persona that we give out. Only when you become one of us will you understand that we are just a big family that wants to protect each other."
"Did anybody say, family?" A young hunter dragged a bunch of boars with vines. "Because I have a bunch of boar here. I don't know which one is the sister or the brother, though. But I know they taste good."
Balmar tapped Nesterin's shoulder. "Let's have dinner."
The two groups enjoyed the night with tasty food and cheerful song. The moonlight seemed so warm tonight, as they finished their food. After the Black Wolves finished hearing the hunter boasting their experience, they returned to their tents and slept.
After three days, the Black Wolves and the Man Hunter finally exited the forest. More than a dozen carriages waited for them. They brought supplies such as food, weapons, water, medical plants, and even blanket.
"You guys are so prepared for this," Nesterin said.
"It's not that we are so prepared. It's just that going to war without bringing supplies is… too daring."
"Right. I was foolish. I should have prepared more. All of my men brought is ammunition. That wasn't bad, though. Because we never ran out of ammunition when we fight."
"Well, you're right on that part," Balmar said. "We have actually prepared for days of operation, but you already wrecked them good."
Nesterin smiled. "Come on. I want to see the man."
Balmar liked the enthusiasm and brought the Black Wolves to their attended carriage. There were food, water bed, blanket, and a hunter proficient in treating wounds accompanying them.
Nesterin lied down. "Finally a proper bed."
Light entered the carriage from the window. The scenery moved up and down as hills, trees, birds, and clouds appeared one after another. There was a small opening at the front. A man was driving the carriage with two giant bulls. Those were expensive. Generally, only merchants or traders used them since they had to travel from city to city.
"This is what the norms could achieve when they centered their resources at a single point."
He was sure that Barmwich would change by a lot. Just by looking at the carriages, supplies, and preparation, a single squad make already told a lot about their circumstances. The norms had so many resources to spare. Now that they gave it all to Hax, the man could do anything with it.
This was a good development. The more resources in Hax's hand, the easier the challenge would be.
Tears fell from Nesterin's eyes. "I have not disappointed them. They really don't die in vain."
"Are you okay, mister Nesterin?" the hunter asked.
"I'm fine. In fact, I feel great. It's never been better before."
"Are you nervous about meeting Hax?"
"Nervous? No. I'm excited."
…
Hax studied the enormous 3D printer on the blueprint panel. He sat on his workshop all alone. With nothing but his metal table and tools around him, Hax felt suffocated. He wanted to get some fresh air, but his men would break a sweat every time he didn't stay inside his workshop making more weapons for them to use.
"It feels like I'm becoming a slave. Sure I can order the norms whatever I want, but I also have to fulfill their expectation of me. It's quite a burden."
This was why he wanted nothing to do with the norms' ambition. But the system's mission of making a kingdom-wide rebellion could not be ignored. He wanted that power suit so bad. If he could reverse-engineer the suit and learn something from it, he could make more variants and sell them. He could have a good peaceful life, a high amount of resources, and an environment where he could try to think of a way to return to his old universe.
Now he was enslaved by the masses' ambition.
Hax sighed. He couldn't complain to anyone. What would they say if they hear his thought?
The great savior Hax was actually just a selfish man that did not care about the well-being of the masses. People wouldn't hesitate to turn the weapons he gave them towards him.
"I should avoid that possibility as much as possible."
The best thing to do was to help the norms get what they want while he use them to further his agenda. If he needed resources, manpower, talents, lands, or anything, he could just say it. That was the biggest advantage of having authority.
"No one would say no if I ask them for any resources." Hax eyed the blueprint again. The required amount of resources needed to create it was huge. Tons of iron, copper, nickel, titanium and other mixed alloys had to be created from a number of metallic elements.
Though he could not use it to make a power suit right away. But the function within the 3D printer was much more than the manufacturing bot. He could make mechanical arms, or pseudo power armor as practice. Hax also planned to use the simulation option that the system provided to save on time and resources.
"The faster I can give what the norms want, the faster I can start progressing on my goal."