Warmongers

11:55 PM

Orochi's party just sat cross-legged in silence as they waited for the appearance of the elusive mountain in Dylan's mouth.

Kenjaku's heart began to speed up as he was really looking forward to it. 'Bastard, if this mountain isn't real we would have waited for nothing.'

He couldn't do anything with Dylan now. He speculated that the bastard was probably stronger than him, Kevin and Hank combined. It was his intuition that gave him this feeling. The good thing is, his intuition didn't give him a feeling that Dylan was stronger than Orochi. This means that although Dylan grew stronger, his combat prowess hasn't reached Orochi yet.

The five minutes for the group felt like an eternity as if the time deliberately ticked slowly.

"Finally!" Kevin cheered up as the digital clock on his wrist turned to 12:00 pm. He impatiently looked at the distance.

'This is it. If this world is really consistent with the game. It's time for the mountain to show up.'

And it didn't disappoint Dylan. The shadows around the area danced. The mist spun like a vortex and the ground began to tremble.

Everyone watched the supernatural phenomena in front of them. Orochi's eyes grew serious as time passed.

Orochi felt unsettled inside as he could feel a familiar aura. It was vague and a little weak but it gave him a feeling of palpitations. 'There is a trace aura of God in that space! How is this possible? Did a god descend here in the past and stay a long time? It seems I need to work hard to unseal my memories so I wouldn't be as clueless now.'

Dylan noticed the slight change in Orochi's expression and took note of it. He wasn't surprised if there would be something in the Midnight Shadow Mountain that could attract his attention.

Just like that, the trembling of the ground further intensified. Weirdly, the nearby town couldn't sense the abnormality. Only those within 50 meters could. This magical scene made the group amazed. There was a supernatural power at play here. So they thought.

A mountain gradually rose from the ground. First, the peak revealed itself, covered with dense fog and snow. It was like a dragon that wanted to pierce the sky. Second, the body of the mountain was finally presented in front of everyone. It gave the onlookers a majestic feeling and inspired awe. Compared to the mountain, they were like ants.

In the end, the height of the mountain had reached an astonishing 3000 meters. They couldn't see the peak anymore, and they were now inside the mountain even without moving an inch.

Everyone looked around. There were a lot of tombstones and ruins with murals that gave an aura of antiquity.

Kevin looked at such one of the murals. With texts that he couldn't understand along with drawings of nine humans with wings above thousands of people. Just from the drawing gave Kevin the impression that the nine humans were the leaders of their generation. They are at the top of their game.

One wields a sword, one doesn't have a weapon, one has a standard mage staff, and another one has a bow and arrow. Kevin couldn't determine their gender.

Kevin felt his head ache so he could only stop himself from looking at ancient murals around.

Dylan, on the other hand, pretended to show interest in the mural. He even deliberately got closer to one and caressed it like it was a treasure. After all, he still needs to maintain his passionate explorer persona with them.

"I don't know what this feeling is that this place gives me. It gives me a creep as if we're being watched."

"Me too. It gives me chills, to be honest."

Hank and Kevin tried to find the source of the sense of peeking, but they couldn't pinpoint it. When they pay attention around, it immediately disappears, but when they don't, it returns. This left the group unsettled.

Dylan clenched his fist tightly. 'What a bad luck! It's actually those warmongers!'

In the game, Warmongers are known as a menace in the Midnight Shadow Mountain. At the initial phase of discovery, many parties were massacred at the hands of the Warmongers.

Dylan took a sharp breath and his eyes became murderous. The situation was dire, and he couldn't afford to become careless now that they were being targeted by those groups of monsters.

Even Orochi, who was usually composed had a frown on his face. It's no secret that he has spatial talent to locate and even perceive opponents in the distance which makes it hard for anyone to ambush him. At this time, he found it hard to even locate the vague direction of the sense of peeping. It feels to him as if they weren't there but also everywhere.

"Dylan, you're the one that knows things about this place. Care to explain so I can devise a countermeasure." With a calm and collected demeanor, Kenjaku readied his daggers just in case something jumped them suddenly.

Dylan simply gave Kenjaku a nod. Kevin, Hank, and Orochi looked at the fading murals as they walked past them. Unbeknownst to them, a temple suddenly appeared behind them.

"The sense of peeping that you feel are from creatures called Warmongers. They were mammals that originated from cold regions and then migrated to dark places in their early evolution phase due to the scarce resources in cold regions. They're unable to adapt to the cold but instantly adapt to dark places. One such place is this Midnight Shadow Mountain."

Everyone listened intently and let Dylan explain without the intention to interrupt.

"Due to this, their bodies evolved to become better suited to dark areas. They are heavily reliant on dark places and only operate at night. That's why this mountain that only reveals itself at noon was a perfect place to be their kind."

"Warmongers are natural born assassins of the dark. Cold-blooded like snakes, cunning than even foxes, and had the patience of wolves. They're very hard to deal with because they avoid direct confrontation and mostly murder their prey with the art of assassination. They rely on their innate stealth skill to subdue their targets!"