23 Suspicions

Despite being spent and gory, all the men and women still rushed over to the new supplies. This was the first time Stanis was seeing all the supplies intact since he had been away both previous times. Within an instant, he could tell that there was more than enough equipment and food for everyone here, but that wasn't the reason why they had rushed here. Instead, it was to see if there were any rarities that they could obtain before the others could.

Despite his desire to do so, Juan had no way of controlling this situation. Instead, it quickly became a free-for-all as men and women ravaged through the pristine supplies, searching for valuables. However, this craze died as fast as it had been born, since a quick run through showed that there was in fact nothing special within the supplies. After this, the situation became a lot more orderly.

Stanis had the darkness superimposing over his arms, and partially visible darkness over the rest of his body. If one focused their eyes, they would quickly realise that underneath the darkness, Stanis's clothes were all tattered and ripped. So it was Stanis's lucky chance as he eagerly hopped from one area to another, picking up armour after armour.

He replaced all of his clothes, from top to bottom, from underwear to armour. He had not only taken a leather cuirass like he had last time, but also various other bits such as leather gloves, and a thick set of trousers. He chose not to get any shoes as he was now comfortable without them.

After scavenging his essentials, Stanis then began searching for luxuries. He soon found one very such item as he saw a box with chocolate bars in, hidden away from the others. He stole himself a few bars, which he then snacked on as he watched the others go about their business.

Other than the essentials and a few luxuries such as chocolates and cigarettes, Stanis noted that the only other notable thing were these small, glass bottles with red liquid in. One of the people there soon linked the liquid with the HP pots found inside games. What followed was a person downing the whole bottle in front of everyone. He had a gaping flesh wound across his arm, one deep enough that you could see the bone.

Within seconds of drinking the Health potion, jaws fell as people saw muscle tissue grow over the bones. The effect ended two minutes later, by which the gaping wound had turned into light cut… Completely won over, the distribution of the health pots soon commenced. It ended with everyone getting two pots.

Seeing as everyone was already gathered around the supplies, Juan decided to hold the meeting then and there.

"What happened today should not have, and will no longer happen. But in order to do that, we need more information about the very enemies that we are fighting. The questions I have are:

How did the enemies manage to counter our formation, considering the fact that not a single one of them had left with their lives last time?

Is it possible to kill all these monsters off, and reclaim Earth?"

Juan ended with two deep questions, neither of which got a response. Seeing the lack of contribution, Juan decided to start up the discussion.

"Stanis, did you see what shot that ball of fire at you? I think that may hold the key to how the enemies knew how we would act."

Soon all pairs of eyes turned to the young man shrouded in darkness, sitting on a crate. In the past, Stanis would have been unnerved by this amount of attention, but that was no longer the case after courting death countless times.

His voice was slow and filled with power, although the effect was somewhat limited due to his young age.

"It was a Goblin, but not a midget. It was at least my height and slim. Not at all to be underestimated, I think you all saw the power of the fire-bolt it sent flying my way. I'm also certain that it had been there since the start of the battle."

He barely said anything, but what he did say gave a lot of insight into the question.

Egor, the Russian man jumped into the discussion,

"Well if it is strong enough to shoot out a blasted attack like that, I reckon it's also quite an intelligent monster. Considering that it was there from the beginning, I think we can also presume that it was there during the last battle. If that's true, that would explain how those monsters managed to break the strategy"

The discussion continued onwards as more people spoke up. It was during this time that Juan picked up a scroll that was beneath all the supplies. He opened it up, to which a notification suddenly popped in front of everyone.

Missions have been unlocked. Check your missions' tab.

Stanis sat there in half surprise-half confusion as he saw everyone around him suddenly stare into the air in front of them. They were reading through the mission they had from the Hu, which Stanis had already unlocked and seen before.

Eventually, Juan broke the silence: "Well I think we can all put one and one together. The mission asks to create a village, to which we have to first kill a tier-one monster. I'm almost certain that the Goblin that's been watching us is that very tier-one monster."

After a bit of thought, Juan then walked into the centre of the rough circle.

"Guys, we can no longer be the hunted. We are Humans, we were once the apex predators. Now we turtle ourselves here like sitting ducks, and the Goblins clearly thrive due to that. We now have a mission to murder that son of a bitch, I think we need to now organise a full-scale attack on the Goblin's Camp.

I think we have all noticed how the Goblins have only gotten stronger over time, and something tells me they won't just stop now. We have to use this chance now to take the head of their leader and gain ourselves some loot while at that.

Let's commence the raid tomorrow. I know that everyone is tired from today's fight, but please, know that if we succeed that the goblins will be no more and we will not have to tolerate their attacks anymore. I hope all of you have a good night's rest today, for tomorrow is war!."

His speech was met with a bit of enthusiasm as some clapped, while others just kept lying there. Some were already so exhausted that they were sleeping on the spot, and were beyond delighted as they realised the meeting was over.

Now finished with the meeting, Stanis walked over to Jayesh, who he talked to for a length of time. Afterwards, he said his farewells, before trekking towards his cave by the sea. He could have just slept in the Camp like the others did, especially now considering that he had become one of the bigger men within the Camp. However, he still felt more comfortable in his little cave.

The sky was bright orange, with a sunset soon due as he arrived at his cave. He was about to take off his equipment as he walked in, when he saw plumes of smoke coming from his cave. Now on edge, Stanis tensed his body as he leaned across the entrance, only to be met with another puff of smoke to his face. Inside stood Anatoly, casually smoking a cigarette…

Surprised and now a bit more relaxed, Stanis was confused why the top dog within the Camp was by his door. Anatoly barely seemed to acknowledge his existence as he remained standing in his cave, before walking out and stubbing out the butt. He then smiled a menacing grin at Stanis, causing Stanis to shiver more than relax.

"You have another allegiance, don't you?"

Stanis felt a shock travel through his body as his eyes squinted and the grip over his spear grew. The only way Anatoly would know about allegiances was if he himself had another one. After all, the system only unlocked it for him after aligning himself with the Zelaro.

Anatoly was fully unarmed, but Stanis wasn't foolish enough to underestimate him. A tiger was still a tiger, even if you took away its claws. Stanis took a step back while holding eye-contact. Anatoly seemed in no hurry at all to stop him as he continued casually standing there, his ominous grin growing wider.

Stanis then heard light-footsteps haunting his behind, to which he turned around. Behind him stood Orena, dry blood pasted across her face in a war-paint fashion, and a sinister spear spinning within her hands. He could also hear another set of footsteps in the distance, one that was slowly but surely getting closer.

No wonder Anatoly had come unarmed. Stanis rotated his head back to Anatoly, who shrugged his shoulders before repeating his question.

"You have another allegiance, don't you?"…