Task

"What did you find?!"

"Nothing much from this angle,"

"sigh... so useless,"

"I heard that,"

Among the towering trees, an individual could be seen standing tall on one branch with his sight spanning at the distance. As he said, there is nothing much he could see from here except for the green landscape stretching beyond his point of view.

"This is pointless," says a bulky female among the group. She is Claudex by name.

"Hold on a sec," Diesel mumbled.

"What did you see?" Baron could sense something wrong... At least, due to Diesel's behavior.

Allyn's battle with the giant spider caught Diesel's attention. It's too bad the others could not witness that scene.

"You saw something," said Cassius the moment Diesel landed on the ground.

"Yes indeed, I saw something quite interesting,"

"It had better be something good,"

"That depends on how you define good," says Diesel in reply to Claudex.

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"Thank you for your time,"

Those were Allyn's last words to the Merchants before moving onward to his destination.

His expression is pale. What he had learned from the Merchant is the exact reason he is in this state.

"I'll have to discard this quest, it's too much to handle," he said to himself.

The quest's aim is displaying in his interface, and the longer he stares at it, the higher his urge to delete it.

*sigh!*

Unable to bring himself to do it, Allyn continued onward, but not with the earlier enthusiasm as his steps lag.

Meanwhile...

"hahaha, what a nice catch we have here," Diesel enthusiastically ran towards the dead spider and rips its head open with his knife.

"You can at least share it with us," says Baron. "We all found it together after all," he added.

"Wrong! I found it first," Diesel objected. "And besides, there is only one of this,"

He lifted a gleaming crystal in his possession. This is something he had ripped out of the dead creature.

"You're safe with me," he said to himself while keeping his findings in his bag.

"We should find whoever did this,"

"Why exactly do we need to do that?"

"Our mission is quite problematic. The more hands we have, the better," says Baron in reply.

"Speaking of the devil," using a binocular, Cassius found a disguised individual walking like a zombie just ahead of them.

"Did you find him?"

"Yeah... that should be him." Before Cassius could make a move, Diesel dashed like hell towards Allyn's rough direction.

"Does he have a problem or something?"

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"OI!"

A loud and somewhat happy voice called out from a distance, and it was enough to resound through Allyn's ears.

"Hmm?"

"Long time no see," says Diesel once he got close enough.

Allyn recognized him. He is a member of a group he had met a while ago. However, 'Long Time No See?' what does he mean by that? Allyn had no memories of this dude.

"Do I know you?" he asked.

"Of course not," says Diesel while tapping on Allyn's shoulder, "But who said we can't get acquitted with each other,"

At this moment, the other guys could be seen from a distance as they walk in his direction.

"Let's talk," Diesel puts his arm around Allyn's neck. He acting like a buddy which, honestly, Allyn wasn't comfortable with.

"You're quite the formidable guy," he said.

"We need your help if you know what I mean,"

"It is as he said," Baron's voice resounded right behind them. "We can benefit each other,"

"Nah, I'm good," Allyn shook himself off Diesel's arm.

"Okay then, just so you know, the Skycruel Clan are assholes and they will make sure you go broke," Baron added.

His words caught Allyn's attention, and as much as he didn't want to, he stopped on his track. It seems these guys are up to something.

"Why waste your fund when you can just steal from them?"

"What did you say? Steal from them?"

"Yeah, and with your help, we will be successful."

"It's impossible,"

"Says who?... Their territory is far bigger than you can imagine, and trust me, they cannot be everywhere at all times, and yes, we came prepared."

"So help us," Claudex chipped in.

"What's the plan?"

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Among the trees, five individuals are carefully keeping themselves hidden in the shadows. Their attention is focused on a certain area, or more precisely, certain creatures.

"They are huge!" Allyn commented upon the sight of several bird-like creatures in the sky.

"Those are members of the Skycruel Clans," Cassius commented.

"So the Skycruel Clan are literally birds?"

"Mighty birds with alarming intelligence,"

"How do we get past them?" Allyn asked.

"Let's talk about that?" said Baron.

Leaping back to the ground, Baron pulled out a map and places it on the floor…

"This map is all we have as we, unfortunately, do not possess a digital version of it," Baron said, "So you do well to cram it all the best way you can,"

"Not a problem," Allyn nonchalantly replied. In an instant, his system map had registered the new area even in a more detailed form. In contrast, he doesn't need their so-called map anymore.

"Our team's objective is to retrieve an energy crystal known as the Diamond-Blue,"

"Diamond_Blue?"

As you must have guessed, this is the first time he's heard of this... whatever it may be.

"Yes, Diamond_Blue," replied Baron in confirmation.

"Here, this is what it looks like," says Cassius as he clicks on his wrist. As a result, a sample image of the Diamond_Blue levitates just outside the tech.

As the name goes, Diamond_Blue looks like a crystal glowing in blue colors. Allyn was understandably captivated by it.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" says Cassius.

"So what's your goal and how can we help you?" Baron questioned.

"I am after a creature called the Mutant Fowl,"

"The Mutant Fowl!" the group spontaneously exclaimed.

"Those are a little troublesome to capture," Claudex commented.

"They are tough, aren't they?"

"It's not the creature itself but the Skycruel Clan who put more emphasis on watching these creatures,"

"Which makes it a very hard mission to complete. Unlike the Diamond_Blue, the Clan seems to value their fellow Ave counterparts even though they are of a higher ground compared to the Mutant Fowl,"

"That sounds stupid," says Diesel.

"You can go tell that to them,"

"So, what exactly does this mean for me?"

"Of course we'll help, do not be alarmed," Baron reassured, "But first, we will head to Diamond_Blue's location as it is relatively easier."

"The Mutant_Fowl's location isn't very further away from our goal, so if it all goes well, we'll make it back in a blink," this is Cassius's comments.

"A low level is all I need," says Allyn

"That makes it even better," Baron said. "Now this is how we will handle the Skycruels…"

Baron's narration goes as follows; The Skycruel Clan are slightly blind, or more like, compared to the sight of a human, they do not match up to us. This is indeed a strange disability for an Ave to possess. However, along with this disability comes an outstanding ability that should not be ignored. This is the sense of hearing that captures almost the slightest sounds, and that is indeed quite problematic.

The safest route to their destination is dangerous as it has quite the number of predators in the area, but with no other choice, this is the best place to cross if they are to keep a low profile.

"As for the Skycruel clan, as long as we keep our voices as low as possible and avoid making any unnecessary sound, we should be fine," Baron concluded. "Is that understood?"

"Got it!"