Unusual Scavengers!

Assorted plants of unknown species intrigued Liam as they continued to march on.

"Yoooo, Captain!"

It did not surprise Liam to find Aaron Williams grinning beside him all of a sudden.

The boy has a lively spirit.

He could at least give him that.

If Liam was going to be honest, he was beginning to be a pain in the ass.

"I am quite curious, Captain." Aaron made sure to drop his voice in a hushed tone.

"I am curious as to why the Earth's greatest international hero was here in the Mighty Tower. Hmm... Wait... Brah! Did you get enticed by the ciphered invitation's prize, too?" The teen asked him curiously.

"No," Liam quickly replied stoically, without even looking at him.

"Whatchu mean 'No'?" The teen asked in confusion, which was noticeable on his face complexion.

"You are an intelligent individual, kid. What you did to recruit members to our squad was commendable. I highly appreciate you. But I would expect that you won't stick your nose on other people's business from this day onwards. And let's call each other in our code names as well. Can you at least do that much for me?" Liam stared directly at the teen's eyes and answered in a serious expression to brush him off.

"Uh... Yeah, sorry."

Although Liam expressed himself with etiquette, the teenager was intelligent enough to realize that his idol was beginning to feel annoyed because of him, making him feel bad about himself.

Seeing the teenager's frowning expression, Liam changed the topic of their conversation to divert his attention to something else.

"Hmm... What's your battle trait, Rui?"

Aaron's eyes sparkled like a little kid as he responded, "I am a Spell Caster! How about you, Captain? I mean… if that's okay to ask."

'The system bestowed a Spell Caster trait to an African-American teen? The system was certainly not stereotyping when it thoroughly scanned each player,' thought Liam.

Rustle, rustle, rustle!

"!!!!!!?"

Liam's face crumpled in an instant as his soft footsteps halted.

"Shush!"

Liam gestured for Aaron to stop at the moment and so as his entire knights.

Crunch… Crunch… Crunch…

'... I can sense multiple powerful presences.'

Liam was certain he heard it right, placing his index finger on his lips to silence his entire squad as soon as he detected something close to them.

He kind of gut this really strong feeling that, in order to make this fake mission believable, he had to drag his squad towards the <Red Zones>.

From the <Pre-Trial>, Liam remembered what happened when he had stepped foot into the <Yellow Zone> and now he was heading towards a far more dangerous one called <Red Zone> where despicable monsters far more fearsome than Mana Beasts individually were lurking.

The experience left him a lesson and Liam did not want to get caught off guard even once.

"Damn it! Formation D!!! Quickly, activate your battle traits! Brawlers, don't distance yourselves too much from our formation. You have your brains at your disposal and don't be cocky. We can't afford to break the formation for any of you. Tanks, safeguard the Damage Dealers at all costs! Healers, please be quick to aid our brawlers and tankers. Spell Casters, prepare your incantations. And Marksmen, follow my lead!" Liam growled in frustration.

"Brawler Mode Activate!!!"

"Tank Mode Activate!!!"

"Spell Caster Mode Activate!!!"

"Marksman Mode Activate!!!"

"Healer Mode Activate!!!"

Everyone was a few seconds late to detect the monsters' multiple presences as they also impeded their feet from moving forward, looking side by side to accurately track where the multiple presences were coming from.

They have yet to reach the <Red Zone> and yet; it appeared that they would be caught in a battle with some unnamed creatures that Liam hadn't yet to see.

It was then.

A red humongous eye from afar between the branches of the towering otherworldly trees came to their view.

"Prepare for combat! They might attack any minute now!"

"Captain! They are called Inugamin Winged Ravennas," Aaron Williams whispered beside Liam.

In that split second, Liam recalled that Aaron arrived on the <First Floor> way earlier than him.

In light of the fact that he only came to the Light Kingdom a few days ago, he didn't have the time to study all the present monsters on the <First Floor>.

He glanced at the teen and gestured to continue his explanation.

"First of all, those winged monsters look horrible. The people here highly regarded them for their impressive communication skills with other monsters on the first floor. With their intelligent minds, nimble movements, and excellent visual recognition, they will mostly stalk players unnoticed despite their humongous sizes and alert other monsters about the players' specific place. Many bounded people from this floor called Indigenous Creatures believed that those horrendous monsters could plan organized assaults based on the players' numbers and positions, exploiting the squad formation's weaknesses," Aaron paused and cleared his throat, lowering his voice even further, "However, Captain, they were rarely seen attacking with just their flock so there is limited information on how to counter them. Eating carrions from carcasses should be enough for their appetite, that's what's written in the Monster's Book. I know you only have a week or two to accomplish your task. But I think it is best to withdraw for now."

Gulp.

Liam swallowed his dry saliva after Aaron's lengthy explanation.

"I am thanking you for those pieces of information, Rui. I want to withdraw as well but I think that's what others who died from those creatures' hands did before, that's why there is limited information about them even after thousands of years. Now get back on your designated position," mumbled Liam.

Despite their current predicament, Aaron couldn't himself but feel amazed how Liam easily deduced their situation and trusted him to make the right call for everyone's sake.

He immediately nodded before he came back to his designated position in their formation.

The same as on Earth, not everything on the <First Floor> was fully explored yet.

"Everyone, remain in position. We are being surrounded. Attacks will come from different angles. Prepare yourselves and let's beat these monsters once and for all!" Liam commanded to boost his squad's morale.

Screeeee! Screeeee! Screeeee!

The sound of the creatures squawking echoed from above, their shadows passing by Liam and his Paragon Knights.

'Marksman mode activate,' Liam thought-commanded, needing to locate the lurking beasts with his improved perception before it attacks them.

'Heh,' Liam added in his thoughts as he cracked a grin.

It has been a while since he had blasted some bullets.

This was good practice for him once more.

Whoosh!

A gust of wind made the surrounding leaves around Liam and his knights sway violently as the creatures with enormous black wings revealed themselves, their claws preparing to directly attack Liam, who was in front of the squad's formation.

Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

BANG!

[Death Shot!!!]

Together with the screeching sound from the enormous scavengers, the sound of the bullet being released echoed through the suddenly silent forest.

THUD!

A loud crashing noise followed it as one of the Inugamin Winged Ravennas lashed the ground after Liam accurately shot a specific spot on one of its wings to prevent it from flying.