Chapter 26 - The Camp

POV - Frank

'Well damn.' He thought, staying hidden in the distance, deep within the forest.

Looking at the tall wooden fences serving as walls, the hundred small thatched houses and the certainly active camp, Frank felt a chill spread through his body.

Not only was the other group actively exploring this world, they had also created a large base for such a small world. Looking at the various flags at the top of the houses, he could confirm at least six different factions in the opposite camp, most likely explorer groups like the customers of his boss and master.

'I wonder what level the gate is.' He thought with a frown as the higher the gate level, the harder it would be to destroy it, the larger its 'territory' and the more boosts one could grant to its users.

Despite gates being used to transfer people from one planet to another, they had yet another use and that was to grant certain boosts to its users. While minimal, passive boosts automatically granted by the gate were always useful.

While the boosts could be as small as granting a passive resistance to beatings to granting a boost in professionalism energy collection speed, each boost was useful.

At level one, one could receive a single boost, at the second gate level, they could gain two boosts.

'I guess the master simply didn't bother to get boosts for his customers. After all, they cost a lot of resources to set up and it's not worth it for small planets unless there are many people.' He nodded his head, habitually thinking of his boss as his master after spending so long under one.

As he was thinking, two people left the camp in high spirit, bags and what looked like a map in hand.

'Should I?' He asked himself with hesitation before grinning savagely. 'I should.' He decided.

Leaving his small hiding place, he followed the duo from a distance and before either of them had the time to notice him, they were both killed, their body falling heavily on the dirt ground which absorbed the thumping sound.

Taking the bags and confirming a few items were stored in, he collected their maps and immediately left his current location. Monsters would help him take the blame, attracted by the smell of blood.

Making his way back to the portal, making sure to hide his traces and keep the terrain as undisturbed as possible, he finally arrived at the gate.

"Jack. Have you found anything?" He asked after noticing one of them had already made his way back.

"Yes. I found the location of a gate. It's currently closed but I saw obvious human traces in the surroundings." He said with a nod of his head while showing a small map he had drawn himself. "What about you?" He asked as he noticed the bloodstains on his clothes.

"Met two unfortunate ones from a small camp up north. Got their map." He replied as his compatriot nodded, the two of them eventually hiding waiting for their remaining fellow guards.

Half an hour later, Bob came back followed by Allan a few moments later.

"How was your side?" Asked Frank, the de facto leader of their small group.

"Made a small map and found two more monster species." Replied Bob as he handed over his map to Frank who compared it to the one he and Jack had collected.

"Not bad, this should help the boss a lot." He said with a nod as he looked at the information collected by Allan as well who both showed a happy grin.

"Now, we just wait for Larry and Peter." Said Frank as they all shook their heads positively, waiting in silence, spread out all around to kill anyone who got too close to the gate.

Five minutes…

Ten minutes…

Half an hour…

An hour…

Two hours…

As time went on, the four men gradually frowned. While they hadn't selected the time to come back, they all knew to come back sooner rather than later as they needed to report information to their boss.

"Could something have happened to them?" Asked Bob with a concerned look on his face as they grouped up, trying to select what to do next.

"Shouldn't be. They aren't weak and they should have at least the ability to escape danger unless they encountered an enemy a lot stronger than they are." Replied Frank who despite his confident words showed a slight worried look on his face.

"We'll wait another half hour. If they come back, everything will be good. However, if they don't come back, we'll report to the boss, hoping that he allows us to go and search for them." Declared Frank who received nods of acknowledgement at his words before they once again all moved out.

As they waited, a rustling sound came from the bushes in the distance.

With all of their eyes facing the sound's direction, tension filling the air, they finally saw two bloodied figures rushing to the gate, followed by a group of seven enemies.

'Fuck.' Cursed Frank as he saw the situation. Wasting no time, he rushed out of the bushes.

{Warrior skill - Taunt}

Using his skill, one of the following enemies seemed distracted as he directly switched targets, unable to continue the pursuit.

Hearing the taunting sound all around, Frank knew that just like him, the others had chosen to engage the enemies to give a reprieve to their two partners.

"Arghhh!" With a shout from Peter who lived up to his family name, he let go of Larry who slowly made his way through the portal with heavy injuries as he turned around, using his taunting skill as he himself rushed savagely into battle.

—

POV - Back to normal

"Boss, Larry is heavily injured." Shouted Miranda as she rapidly approached the man and tended to his injuries as best as she could.

While the man was now safe after coming back from the portal, his heavy injuries posed a great problem.

'Let's see.' Thought Lux who immediately thought of the best way to solve all problems. Money, or in this case credits.

'Show me healing potions.' Called Lux in his mind as the system panel appeared in front of his eyes.

[Basic healing potion: 5 credits. (Able to deal with basic injuries.)]

[Intermediate healing potion: 100 credits. (Able to deal with any injuries except for illnesses and loss of limbs.)]

'I'll buy an intermediate healing potion.' Said Lux to the system as the credits were directly deduced from his remaining balance, lowering him to 4316 credits.

"Give him this and he'll be fine." He said to Miranda as she immediately took the potion before forcefully making him drink it.

"What is happening on the other side?" He wondered, worried that something might be going wrong. He couldn't have managed to come back by himself with these injuries and it meant that the others had been nearby. If they hadn't brought him on the other side by themselves, it meant that there were enemies nearby.

"Viola, head to Proteus and release an urgent task amongst the explorers. The reward is twenty thousand per head brought back, lasting until the others manage to come back." Said Lux as he released a small breath of relief seeing that Larry was out of danger. However, the others were certainly not out of danger either.

"Yes." She replied, almost running into the portal that stood next to the Poria portal.

It didn't take long, barely a few minutes had passed by before droves of explorers rushed out of the portal and entered into the newly opened one.

—

POV - Poria

As the battle continued, more and more enemies approached as the sound of the battle resonated around, Frank and the others were pushed on the defensive. The enemies have more than tripled.

As many as thirty enemies stood against them, all intent on killing them, not even leaving them the space to escape through the portal, most likely to keep the news concealed as much as possible.

Just as the tip of the battle was about to fall into an almost one hundred percent chance of defeat, the portal rippled as explorers rushed into the new celestial body.

With their weapons out, killing intent on their faces and greed fully displayed, their eyes seemingly lit up seeing the enemies standing in front of them.

"Kill!"

With the first call, countless more resounded, taking the enemies by surprise as the portal which barely had the time to calm down continued to ripple as more and more explorers rushed in.

What started as a small scale hunt of seven men against two enemy explorers had increased to a full scale battle of over thirty enemies on both sides with more constantly emerging.