Chương 67: Start of the trial
Meanwhile, after leaving Iron Shark, Achi went straight to the Shaman's tent. "Father, you were right! They indeed had more food with them than we asked for. It is highly possible that they were thinking of trading with the other tribes."
The Shaman turned his attention to Achi, "This is to be expected. We cannot be the sole beneficiary of this trade. Sooner or later, the other tribes will also know about it and at that time, it might strain our relationship with them if we don't tell them about that. But I believe that we can still make about two full trades with them before having to reveal it to the other tribes."
"Wouldn't that be hard? I did as you asked and kept the [Cloth of the Night] but for the next trade, they will definitely bring enough food and resources to trade for everything. At that time, they will have enough to go to the other tribes," said Achi.
"Don't worry about that, I will just craft one more item... I haven't used that spectral goo yet and I know precisely what to make with them!"
Achi naturally knew he was speaking about the item dropped by the Spectral Hounds, but never would he have thought that it could also be useful. In his eyes, the bluish goo was just garbage. "It is hard for you, father. Crafting all these items... I hoped I could have helped..."
"Don't worry about it. Although I am old, this body is still strong. During this week, I will select a disciple to learn my craft, this will make it easier for me. You don't have to worry about me... Focus more on those guys, make sure they don't do anything reckless at the dungeon. If we lose a team now, it will be disastrous... Don't rush to the next floor yet," calmly said the old man.
"Yes father... I'll make sure they don't let success get to their head!"
...
A few hours later, a large group of barbarians was making their way back to the tribe.
"Brother Achi... I am sorry, the catch today is only these few rabbits... I don't understand what is happening, there were absolutely no traces of any beasts..." said Baltra with an apologetic expression.
After Toba passed away, he naturally became the new leader of the hunting team. Everything was fine at first, he made great catches every day and the whole team respected him but that was until two days ago. Since then, he always came back empty handed. No matter how hard he looked, he did not find any traces of beasts and it was the same for the other hunters.
This repeated itself for two days and finally, to avoid embarrassment, they could only turn to the rabbits in the upper forest which was usually left behind for the children to train themselves.
"Don't worry, Baltra. It is normal to make bad catches sometimes... Take it easy now that we have food from the townsmen. I am sure that tomorrow, you'll make a killing!"
...
At the same time, in another part of the tribe.
Iron Shark was quietly resting while looking at all the items he obtained from the trade. Although some unexpected things popped up, it was not detrimental to Blue Lagoon. If he was able to continue bringing so many items back to the guild, his status there would definitely rise!
Suddenly, a group of players stormed into the tent. "Boss!"
"Boss, we might have found something," said one of the players.
Iron Shark quickly got himself together, "What did you find?"
"I was staying at the entrance of the tribe when I saw a huge group of barbarians coming back. There was at least 50 of them but the interesting part was that they were all carrying bags full of stuff. I did not ask any question, but they seemed to be coming from the river. If I am not wrong, the men would rarely go there and only women would do their chores by the river. In my opinion, this is definitely suspicious!"
"The river? Did any of you find anything else?" asked Iron Shark but to his disappointment, the players all stayed silent.
"Alright! Pack up! We are leaving now..."
Without waiting for an answer, Iron Shark quickly left the tent. He was deep in thoughts as he made his way to the center of the tribe. There, Achi was speaking to the hunters when he saw Iron Shark.
Iron Shark quickly displayed a casual expression, "Chief! Unfortunately, an emergency happened in my guild. We will need to leave as soon as possible. I hope you can excuse me for not toasting with you tonight!"
"An emergency? Well... If something happened, then no need to waste time here, brother. Solve your issues quickly but I hope our deal still holds."
"Of course, chief! The emergency has nothing to do with our deal. It is just that some idiots went to look for trouble and now, I have to deal with it," answered Iron Shark while acting like a furious man.
"Sure, to next time then!"
...
The group of players left the tribe as the sun was setting. The night cycle was about to start which made monsters more powerful than normal, but they did not seem to care.
They took the direction of the closest town and rode their horses for a whole hour before suddenly changing direction.
"It should be fine. Even if the barbarians sent people to follow us, they should have given up by now!" said Iron Shark.
Hearing their leader, all the players commanded their horses to turn, "Everyone! Head to the forest!"
To avoid raising the suspicion of the barbarians, the players voluntarily took a longer route and slowly, they entered the forest.
It was already 21:00 by the time they stopped in front of a slim stream of water.
"Good! Now, let's walk our way up the source!" ordered Iron Shark.
The forest around the players was extremely quiet. It was abnormal for there to be no monsters during the night cycle; it was normally the period where they were the most active.
Slowly, the players followed the stream and even after 5 minutes, they did not encounter any monster yet.
"Ahh I am so hungry! Can't we eat our fill before looking for the barbarians' secret? We even skipped dinner!" said one of the girls with a pitiful expression. She tried to look charming and coquettish to Iron Shark, but the latter's face did not even twitch.
"Fine... Let's continue!" said the girl with an annoyed tone.
Everyone was hungry, but no one wanted to be the one to contest Iron Shark's order. They knew that now was a critical time and even if it seemed unreasonable to not have dinner, they also did not want to set a camp in the middle of this forest full of beasts.
The stream of water was slowly getting larger, but the players knew they were still very far from the barbarians' village. After all, the forest was vast, so vast that several tribes were actually relying on it to feed themselves while never clashing with each other.
Iron Shark was leading the group of players who were quietly chatting with each other. When suddenly, he felt that something was wrong. He immediately stopped his horse and drew his sword.
"Huh? What is happening, boss?" asked one of the players.
Iron Shark ignored the player and surveyed the area. He turned his horse to look at the players but did not find anything standing out of the ordinary. "Strange... Did I make a mistake?" thought Iron Shark.
The player who previously spoke looked at his boss. He was about to speak when suddenly, his vision became blurry, he felt an intense pain on his neck as he suddenly saw the trees moving at an insane speed in front of him. The next second, his vision turned dark as he received a system prompt announcing his death.
Iron Shark clearly saw the scene and was horrified. He stared at the now headless body of the player still sitting straight on the horse. When he was about to sheath back his sword, he suddenly saw a shadow jump out of nowhere and strike the player at his neck before running away with the head.
Iron Shark panicked. He was about to shout an order when he suddenly saw the other players' expression. They were all looking at him with a horrified expression, then he realized that they were not looking at him but just above his head. He twitched as his eyes involuntarily saw that a huge shadow was covering his own!
But before he could turn around, his vision suddenly went dark as he received the system prompt informing him of his death.
...
A few hours later, 3 slender figures flew out of the cave near the waterfall. They quickly flew under the cover of the night and followed the cliff for a few minutes before finally landing in front of a cloaked figure.
"We are here!" joyfully exclaimed Alice.
The cloaked figure smiled, "Angela, you look even prettier today!"
With a timid voice, the silver-haired harpy answered, "How is that possible? Didn't we just see each other yesterday? How can I change so much in just one day?"
"You are cute... Didn't you just level up? Be more at ease!"
After chatting for a while, Ariel asked, "What are we doing tonight? Are we practicing the secret skill again?"
The cloaked figure was about to answer when suddenly, a gentle breeze blew over the cliff. "Mmm, not tonight! You need to go back to the dungeon!"
"What? Why?" asked Alice with a stunned expression.
"Because they are here... The trial you talked about... It is starting!"
"You are saying enemies are coming? But what will you do? It will be safer to all go to the dungeon!" said Ariel.
The cloaked figure shook his head, "No... I will go and divert their attention!"
"Then... Can you tell us who are these enemies? At least, it will help master," asked Angela with a shy expression.
The cloaked figure slowly started to float in front of the cliff, "I need to go now, or it will be too late! Go back to the dungeon. You never faced them, so you probably never heard anything about them but if it can help... Tell him... The four Beast Kings of this part of the forest are coming!"
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