*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 came dozens of bronze-rank armor for the boys, who had only taken their swords with them from Whittown.
Fredrick had already armed 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 some face palmed. It took a few seconds to register the meaning of those actions, but when he did, his face suddenly turned red with embarrassment.
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 time to put on his armor. A white suit of armor made its appearance at this moment 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 meters long and covered in black scales approached the party, who immediately 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 come 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 Tamer!
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 seemed 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, something rarely found in Niton or even Lexon. And while most of his origins were unconfirmed, one thing was sure though, he must have cost a pretty penny.
At this moment, the snake uncoiled itself before moving in another direction.
"So? How should we move?" Fredrick asked.
This was the method 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 same 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 someone or something 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 me?"
"No, because you took more care of me 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 times or you will die, because deviating from the group will immediately 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 commendable, 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 immediately began distributing two vials containing a transparent liquid to each member. The moment 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 immediately began marching with the beast tamer leading the way, but Cabrera quickly gave some additional advice.
"This is it boys, what we practiced for. Don't let fear cloud your judgment. You have all grown mentally and physically, so be proud. The time has come for you to show the fruits of your training, do not disappoint me, 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 me by a bunch of spoiled brats for over a month only to head back empty handed. Who's with me?"
"We are" they said in a low tone.
As he heard the last statement, 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 something of equivalent value"
If all the speeches till now had ignited a burning fire inside them, this announcement caused an explosion big enough to burn a forest in their minds.
They were visualizing how they would kill any beast that came 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 tamer 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 came 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 meters 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 men, but this time, 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 troublesome" Baldur muttered. After all, they had no way of knowing if they were just temporary party members, 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.
Meanwhile, 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 Meldor.
"They went to bring more members. 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?!" Meldor 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?" Meldor asked.
"I don't know, but there's something special about him, my instincts are telling me so"
*sigh*
"If you say so, then I guess I have no choice"
Normally, Meldor wouldn't even consider such a farce, but if it was Arvin, someone who had already discovered a lot of talents in the past, who was saying this. It seems the man was really special.
—-----------------------------------
Somewhere nearby, a group of three men covered in black clothing were tailing Fredrick's party. More specifically, they arrived here while tailing Carl, who cut off one of their members' hands.
Yes, they were indeed members 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 moment, one of their party members, 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 moment later, they also saw the large group moving through the gaps of some 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 elements 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 kilometers away.