Chapter Twenty Two

"This is the camp." Krck pointed at a calm with no walls. There were lots of tents everywhere and many campfires, but that was it. Unlike the many camps Alem had seen before, Krck's was by far the worst.

"Alright, I'll handle this then. Salea, join me." Alem smiled at his student. "I want to see how many you will kill. Want to compete?" He knew the camp had a total of thirty members. Plus, none used any long ranged weapons. Krck had already informed him of this information.

"Alright boss." Spinning her spear, Salea narrowed her eyes.

Alem suddenly tossed all the weapons on his body, leaving only a large sword. "I'll use this for this fight. If you can kill ten on your own, I will help you learn a few spear moves."

Hearing his words, Salea got excited. "I will kill ten!"

"Alright, go!" With that, the two rushed in like maniacs.

Soon enough, screams reverberated in the camps.

"This guy is crazy." Samir sighed.

"Hopefully he comes out unscathed." Krck and Renis were both now dependent on Alem, so they only wished he was uninjured.

"Nothing will happen to him." Eli snorted from the side.

"Why are you still acting this way?" Samir said with a frown. "Nor and Alem are chill, so get over it. Plus, he said sorry and even offered to make up for it."

"How I feel is none of your business." A little irked by him, Eli spoke coldly.

"Whatever. You act this way only because you like him yet he doesn't like you back. Get a grip." Samir was also annoyed by her. If Alem did like her he wouldn't say a thing, but Alem didn't. Plus, Alem made it very clear. So, seeing her constantly act the way she was, it was irritating.

"What did you say?" Hearing his words, she couldn't help but growl.

"You heard me right." Samir wasn't scared of anyone, he had Alem to back him up.

"You know, I've noticed that you seem to have some sort of problem with me. Every second you have something to say. What, are you mad that I don't like you?" Eli was sick of Samir constantly picking on her.

"Me, like you?" He laughed a little. "Sure, you're hot, but that's it. Not like I haven't slept with hot girls before." Unlike Alem, Samir spoke his mind. He didn't need to hide his previous deeds. Why would he? Not like it was a sin to find a woman attractive.

"Samir, calm it." Kir frowned from the side.

"You guys just don't get it, do you?" Samir shook his head. He then looked at Nor. "You know, I think you're a great girl and honestly, I like you more than the thick chick."

Nor also frowned. "Do you not know how to speak?"

"Just listen." Simar ignored her words and began to speak. "Alem essentially friend zoned Eli, which is alright. Yet, she keeps bothering him with her annoying attitude, controlling behaviour and so on. She is acting like his girlfriend. Kir, tell me yourself, do you not see it too?"

"What's you point?" Eli interjected before Kir could say a thing.

"My point remains the same as before. Stop pestering Alem with your toxic behaviour. From where I come from, you would be considered very annoying, rather than caring." Simar never liked Eli. He felt she was always trying to get too close to Alem when the latter didn't want it that way. Sure, Alem was open and wanted to be close friends, yet despite telling her it was just friendship, she continued to act like a girlfriend. This pissed him off.

"Simar, I think you shouldn't say anything about this, after all this is between Alem and Eli." Nor felt angry on Eli's behalf.

"Don't you think so as well, Nor? Don't lie. She fights you for a stranger that doesn't even like her back. Like, that is weird." Despite speaking the truth, everyone could tell that Simar was mostly trying to piss Eli off. No one knew why.

'This guy's got a sharp tongue.' This was the thought going through everyones mind.

"Screw you Simar. If you weren't Alem's cousin, I would have killed you. Don't forget, you're just a nuisance, the most useless of the group." Eli lost it and couldn't help but speak harshly as well. "Honestly, why don't you pick on others? Why me? Do you think I'm obsessed with Alem? He's my friend. Like, just because I care for him doesn't mean I like him."

"Yeah ok. Anyways, I just wanted to point this out. FYI, Alem notices this as well." With that, Samir shut up.

Eli felt her face become red because of anger.

"Look, they're already done." Kir, wanting to diffuse the awkward situation, pointed at the approaching Alem and Salea. "That was too fast."

"It's Alem after all." Nor said.

The two arrived, covered in red. "That was relieving." Alem sighed as he finally released a bit of his pent of stress. "Salea I'm surprised you killed twelve. I'll teach you a spear technique in a bit then."

"Thank you boss." She spoke seriously.

Alem wiped his face and noticed Eli's face red. "Hey, what happened?" He asked with confusion.

"Ask your cousin." Eli said before walking away.

Frowning, Alem looked at his cousin. "Samir, what happened?"

"Nothing, I just said a few things." Samir didn't say much and left it at that.

"Nor, Kir, tell me what this idiot said." Alem had finally calmed down through killing, but because of that, his bloodlust was quite high.

"Well…" Nor went on to explain the events, making Alem frown slowly.

"Simar, why do you keep picking on Eli? I've been noticing this as well." Despite trying to keep a distance from Eli, Alem still liked her as a friend. He only kept the distance since he didn't want her to fall for him as it wasn't mutual. Aside from that, he still respected her a lot. She was the one who cared for him more than others.

"Did I say anything wrong?" Simar said with a snort.

"You've always been like this. This is why Jabil disliked you." Snorting, Alem chased after Eli.

"I may not know Alem all that well, but it seems he only bears you because of the blood tie." Nor looked at Samir calmly before walking away. The rest did the same.

"Eli, wait." Alem finally caught up to Eli.

"What is it?" She pushed his hand away and glared at him. "Are you going to insult me like Simar as well?"

"Don't listen to that idiot. You should already notice that he isn't a good person. Honestly, if it wasn't because of my parents and his older brother, I would not have cared about him at all." Alem sighed when he noticed the tears on Eli's face. The cuteness he was used to seeing was not smudged by anger and sadness.

"Alem, things have become different. They were great in the past, but so suddenly everything changed. You ignore me more too and even Nor and Kir don't speak to me much." Eli felt isolated.

"You're wrong." Alem shook his head. "Nor defends you more than you think. She is a little upset with you, but that's it."

"And you? Why have you been ignoring me? Aren't we friends?" She was more upset about this. It was a loss she didn't like whatsoever.

"Eli, I haven't been ignoring you." Alem became a little bitter. "First think of this. You were mad at me, so we barely spoke because of that. And then we got caught up in other things so of course we would speak less."

"That's just an excuse. Whenever I would get mad before, you always tried to speak to me, but now? You don't seem to care." They had stayed together for almost two years. She understood Alem well and began to like him even, so the sudden distance was hard for her to manage. "Tell me, do you not like me anymore?"

"That isn't the case Eli. You should know that you are the most important person to me in this group." Alem walked over and patted her head. "Listen, you're my friend and that won't change. We may fight, but in the end it's a fight. Would a single fight ruin our friendship? Should it?"

"No." She shook her head cutely, her eyes still filled with tears.

"Exactly. Just ignore that idiot." Alem frowned a little. "He has always been causing problems. I'm surprised he hasn't done more damage." Looking down, he smiled at her. "I'll tell him to stop bugging you, alright?"

Nodding her head, she suddenly gave Alem a hug. "Thanks Alem."

"No problem." Seeing her wasn't letting go, Alem sighed.

Alem and his group made their way to the last stop.

"Alem, my faction is filled with lots of sect members. They focus mostly on swords and daggers, a few even using poison." Renis spoke quickly, explaining the situation.

"Don't worry. Follow me and I'll let you see how I kill." With that, Alem walking into the camp with his large sword and Renis behind him. Salea didn't join this time.

"Renis?" As they entered, a man approached them. "This is?"

"No one important." Alem spoke with a smile before swinging his sword.

"Ah!" The man shouted once before he couldn't anymore. His head fell to the ground, separated from his body.

"Let's move on." Soon enough, Alem began his massacre. From house to house. Campfire to campfire, he began to soak the inside of the walls with red.

"No! Stop!" People screamed and wailed as the silver sword swung non-stop.

"Renis! You traitor!" Women and men alike cursed Renis as they began to slowly perish.

'This is… too violent.' Renis watched everything in shock. She had heard of Alem and had even seen him kill a beast king, but that was from a distance. Seeing him fight, this was the first time.

"Is that everyone?" Alem stood with blood covering his whole body. Surrounding him were bodies of humans and other races. A smirk laid on his face, making the scene even creepier.

"Y-yes." She nodded her head, swallowing nervously. "Collect all of the pellets, that should be enough for us to rank in the top, right?" Renis nodded and quickly gathered all of the pellets before handing them to the now shirtless Alem. The latter was wiping his face and body with he inside of his shirt, which did get rid of some of the blood, but it wasn't enough. "H-here." She passed him more than forty pellets. After all, they killed a few beast kings themselves, so they had lots.

"Great, with these pellets and the ones from Krck's camp, we have more than enough."

{Time Till End: 998 years, 4 months, 8 days!

Leaderboard: [First Place – George f (111 Points)]

[Second Place — Alem f (103 Points)

[Third Place — Linsal f (86 Points)

[Fourth Place — Tirax f (80 Points)

…

[Fiftieth Place – Tom f (16 Points)}

Alem looked at the leaderboard and smiled. "We made it to second place. What a nice jump." Despite that, Alem was shocked by George's progression. 'How are these guys so fast? Aren't they just regular Earth criminals?' He was certain that George was from Earth. Who else would have that name other than someone from Earth?

Renis stood beside him quietly. She was also looking at the leaderboard and became a little shocked. 'Who knew a group of barely ten people are competing with factions that have dozens maybe even hundreds.' Of course, she knew that it was Alem's doing, no one else.

"Let's see. Linsal got a pretty good haul from the other camp. Flor should be finishing up there so I should go to Linsal's camp for now." Alem made a few mental notes before looking at Renis. "Let's head out then."

"Yes. Also, thank you." She did a quick bow, but Alem just waved it off causally.

"Don't worry about it. This isn't a difficult task. Anyways, I hope that we can be friends since you will be sticking me for a long while." He found her to be very attractive, but that was it.

She nodded her head and quickly followed Alem out of the camp.

"That was fast." The one greeting them was Nor.

Shrugging his shoulders, Alem didn't really comment. "Let's head to Linsal's camp. We can meet up with Flor, get the map, and then begin our exploration again!" Alem was excited to see the world.

"No problem. Did you notice our factions ranking?" She asked.

"Yeah. Not bad." Alem tossed his shirt on the ground, not bothering to use it. It was soaked after all.

"Your wound is healing well." Nor commented. It was scarred over, though still looking quite ugly.

"Luckily it's healing." Alem looked around in confusion. "Where is everyone else?"

"They already decided to head back to Linsal's camp." Nor looked at Renis right after saying that. "Renis, right? I've never heard of you before. Maybe you don't know me, but…"

"Nor, the Little Princess of the Nillian clan, right?" Renis interrupted and threw out basic information about Nor. "You're one of the genius' of the main cultivation world.

"So you do me." Hearing her words, Nor nodded her head. "Well, that makes things easier. It will be easier for us to work together since this is the case. Just let me know what your skills are related to and I can arrange for you more easily."

"Oh?" Taken aback by Nor's statement, Renis looked at Alem in confusion, Afterall, he was the person she decided to seek protection from.

"Nor is the brains of our group. She kind of decides what goes on and how it happens." Though Alem did lose it before, he still depended on Nor to organize the group and make strategic plans. It wasn't his strong suit. "Just follow what she says as her word is equivalent to my own."

Seeing Alem actually say what he did aloud, Nor was slightly surprised.

"Got it." Renis didn't mind and just agreed to it.

"Why did the rest leave so fast?" Alem was confused by this.

"I told them to go back and restock on food and water for the trip." Alem didn't mind if that was the case. "Also, we needed a few animals for traveling, so Kir is seeing which animals he could borrow from Linsal for that."

He did a small nod before sighing a little. "Eli is fine with me now, but Kir still seems angry."

"Why wouldn't he be mad? You choked his sister." Nor replied without caring for Alem's guilt.

"Yeah, that was a dumb move." Sighing, Alem didn't have a good idea on how to amend the relationship with Kir. "Is there a way for him to get over it? Like can I do something?"

"I don't think so." She knew her brother well, he was hot headed and also very stubborn. "He will likely carry this memory for a while."

"Fuck, that's gonna make things so awkward." He led the two girls with Renis being behind even Nor.

"Well, it's not just you and Kir. Even Eli and Samir won't turn normal. They hate each other. If it wasn't for you, Samir might have been killed by Eli already." It was the harsh truth that Alem couldn't ignore. "You need to control that cousin of yours."

"How?" There wasn't a solution to this. Beating him into submission wouldn't work. Samir would only be obedient for a little while and then he would be back to his antics. There was a reason he was the most disliked child of the family.

Even Nor didn't really have a solution. She didn't know Samir so she couldn't decide something like that. "There is one thing we can do."

"What?" Alem asked with a bit of expectation. Samir was a thorn on his side, yet it wasn't something he could get rid of.

"We have to overhaul our faction's current state and turn it into reward and punishment system." It was a basic system that most factions used to distribute loot and food.

"How would that work for us though? We're basically traveling for the most part." Rubbing his chin, Alem couldn't think of anything.

"Even for our current state, there is a way to make it work." Nor stopped walking and picked up a pebble from the ground and began to draw. "Essentially, we need to put people into small organized groups, that doesn't include you. A group for hunting, cooking, cleaning, water gathering, etc." Creating various circles and connecting them, Nor began to create a basic faction outline. "You wouldn't be included too much since your job is to mostly protect the group. Aside from you, we have a total of eight people in our faction. Kir and Salea are great for hunting, Eli and Krck would be the best for scouting and water collection." Looking back, Nor stared at Renis.

"My skills lie in alchemy in the outside world." Understanding what was being asked, Renis answered promptly.

"Since that's the case, you can be the one cooking and also focus on medicine creating. We will need it. Alem also has a fair bit of medical knowledge which is different from alchemy, so you can learn things from him as well." Nor didn't forget Alem's medical knowledge. She knew he was very good at it and had a lot of knowledge on the topic.

"Ok." She didn't reject.

"Flor said he was a blacksmith." Alem added.

"He can be in charge of repairing, improving, and conditioning our weapons." Alem watched at Nor was easily able to get the organization done. "As for Samir, he will put together with Kir and Salea. Unlike the formers, Samir will collect and clean the kills. He will also learn from Kir on how to care for the animals that we do decide to keep."

"What about you and me? Sure I can protect the group, but I can be of some other use." He felt it would wrong to just to let everyone else do all the work.

"If you really want to do something, you can handle feeding and caring for the animals with Samir. After all, unlike all of us, you seem to have some sort of skill with animals. You can also try and convince other animals to join us to make the trip easier." She placed Alem in a small position. "Aside from that, just focus on teaching Salea and Kir how to fight since they will be the main fighters. You can train the rest of us as well, but focus on Kir and Salea."

"Fine." Alem knew that he wasn't supposed to do much since his presence was always needed, plus there were better people for each position. He couldn't match Eli in scouting, nor Kir in animal knowledge. "And you? Are you just going to manage? Haha."

"Yes." Nor nodded her head. "I'll manage the faction, be in charge of the reward system, the punishment system, I'll help with cooking and hunting once in a while. I'll even create maps for area's we have explored."

"Woah woah, you don't have to do all that." Alem was taken aback by her responsibilities.

"It's fine. I'm confident I can do this easily." Seeing her resolute expression, Alem shrugged.

"Any news on the Nillians?" On top of a large mountain was a camp similar to Linsal's. It had high walls made of strong wood, gates on three sides, and many study houses. Archer towers sat along the front of the gates, with animal farms located in various locations. There were even a few gardens within the town. Unlike Linsal's faction, this faction had more than two hundred members, running in and out of the gates without a worry. It looked nothing like a place that was established in two years.

"Nothing yet leader." A young man stood on the top of a watch tower, behind him were a few men kneeling. "We have search and even visited Linsal for any news, but nothing so far."

"What locations have been searched?" He asked.

"So far, the mountain regions, the snowy world, swamp, and a bit of the danger world." The hidden man continued to report with a monotone voice. "Lots of men were lost when scouting the danger region."

"Have you explored the desert and the forest after it?" Ignoring the report about deaths, the young man asked his own question.

"That is our next step." The hidden man answered.

"Alright, go and bring me back good news." With that, the hidden men went down the tower, leaving the young man alone. "Nor, I'll find you and make sure you're safe in this world." A frown sat on his face as he looking into the misty distance.

"This map is pretty detailed, huh?" Alem's faction travelled on multiple goats. In the lead was Alem, with Nor right behind him as she was the one pointing where to go based on the maps.

"It has a few main places marked." Nor nodded. "The mountains you wish to see are past the snow, while a swamp is also nearby."

"Swamp? Probably rare delicacies there." Alem was very excited. "Let's head to the swamp first." They packed enough clothes to get through the snowy land. Something Linsal prepared for them.

"Alright, take a right and just head straight." Turning the goats head, Alem began to rush towards the direction mentioned.