Chapter 160 - Soldiers and Gunfire

As Oliver stood and watched the creatures marathon towards a single direction, something rather prevalent in the rodent's behavior boggled his mind.

'There's probably something attracting them.'

Commanding Strider, Oliver took the wolf and headed back from whence they came. Oliver wanted to stay behind and kill them all. But, with the rodents acting the way they were...

It wasn't a stretch to assume that there was something bigger going on. And, Oliver made the conscious decision to find out what.

"Hey! You alright over there?"

Arriving at where they had landed, Oliver stood atop a tree branch overlooking Jack. The man was surrounded by a swarm of rodents that ignored him all the same.

"Yeah," Jack answered as he continuously shot with his gun and swung with his sword. "Just a little overrun, I guess. Wait. What the hell are you doing up there?!"

Jack had been hard at work as soon as Oliver ran off. He continuously attacked the rodents that came his way. However, he didn't seem to notice that none of them fought back.

"Ignore them and get up here!" Oliver commanded as he looked over the direction the Mutated Rodents were heading.

Under the thick foliage of the trees, Oliver couldn't see much. But, judging by the direction the rodents were heading, it appeared that the creatures were headed towards the city itself.

Hearing the rather direct order, Jack immediately jumped from where he was standing. None of the rodents clung to him, luckily, as he made his way on another nearby tree branch.

"What's going on?" Jack casually greeted Oliver, who had a serious look on his face.

"Something's going down," Oliver offered his thoughts on the situation, "From my experience, monsters don't all normally move in one direction, especially not the small ones. Nor do they move around like an army with a destination."

"Yeah, I got that," Jack said as he finally got a clearer view from a vantage point, "What do you think that's going on here?"

Neither of them had any clue about what was going on.

Monsters tend to act on their own. Regular-sized creatures usually focused on either finding prey or protecting their territory. The small ones, however, were a lot simpler to analyze.

Smaller monsters often acted on pure survival instincts. These creatures tend to be rather weaker than most as they often find themselves running away from their prey. They would only become hostile when they group or when attacked.

So, moving around in a singular direction with purpose was a rather unusual sight. Moreover, these creatures didn't seem to be running in a panic either.

"Whatever it is, let's go check it out," Oliver said as a black veil started to coat his feet, "Catch up."

With a smirk, Oliver disappeared, leaving Jack astounded. Strider, on the other hand, followed Oliver as soon as he left.

As Oliver maneuvered his way through the thick trees, he soon arrived at a nearby clearing.

It didn't seem to be anything special at first glance. But, with a second look. Oliver realized that there was something that sunk in the middle of the clearing.

Naturally, Oliver knew better than to jump inside the thing and check what had sunk. The trees, much like the other monsters in the nearby vicinity, could pose harm to himself as well.

By the look of things, though, the thing that sunk in the middle of the clearing appeared to be the front end of a car. From what Oliver could make out, the vehicle resembled something he had only seen the military used.

'Weird.'

Not paying it any more thought than he had already had, Oliver then continued his pursuit. His speed now increased, Oliver managed to close the distance between the head of the swarm and his original position. With each second that passed, Oliver got closer and closer.

Until...

The sound of gunshots rang overhead — something that Oliver hadn't heard for quite some time.

'Idiots.'

Perched up in a nearby tree that overlooked the battle, Oliver couldn't help but ridicule the people who were fighting. And fighting poorly at that.

He had finally caught up to the head of the swarm and was immediately greeted with a battle. The swarm of Mutated Rodents seemed to have targeted this specific party of soldiers. Oliver clicked his tongue in utter disappointment.

Before getting here, Oliver managed to think up possible scenarios. Since none of the rodents attacked their small party of three during the initial encounter, Oliver thought that these creatures' target was something else entirely.

However, once he got here, Oliver was disappointed. But, it wasn't because he had been wrong.

No, it was because he wanted to fight something stronger. Clearly, these people, who are using guns instead of magic, weren't what he expected.

Still, Oliver wasn't above helping some people in need.

'Let's see...'

Maintaining his silence, Oliver wanted to watch as the situation panned out. The gunfire from their assault rifles overtook whatever they were saying. But, Oliver could see the anxiety in their expressions.

Things were clearly not going to plan for these soldiers.

Following this, Oliver proceeded to watch as they shot down the Mutated Rodents one after another. It seems that the soldiers were standing their ground, but it was still undetermined for how long.

Their ammo was limited. The Mutated Rodents had no fear of losing their lives as they charged the small group. The question that was in Oliver's head right now was why.

Why were these things attacking this specific group of soldiers after they ignored Oliver?

As his eyes dotted around the thick forest which served as the battlefield, Oliver soon found his answer. In fact, it was one bit of a weird one.

'Is that a cage?'

In the middle of the soldiers, there was a cage about the same size as a Mutated Rodent. And, from what Oliver could tell, there was something inside it.

'These idiots.'

Not only did these soldiers choose to fight with rather unideal equipment, but they also managed to make things worse by caging that specific Mutated Rodent. Doing so ensued this exact situation.

Even if Oliver didn't know what was so special about the captured Mutated Rodent, he clearly wasn't dumb enough to capture it alive. Besides, he couldn't comprehend what possible reason these people would have to do such a thing.

'Maybe I should leave them be.'

Tempted to leave, Oliver frustratedly sighed. He didn't want to expose himself to a bunch of greenhorns that knew nothing better. Furthermore, his specific skill set doesn't fit the situation at hand.

Oliver's skills were useful in single-target situations. Clearing a bunch of Mutated Rodents would prove to be more effort than it's worth.

The cons severely outweighed the benefits.

"What's going on over here, huh?"

Jack crept up from behind Oliver as he whispered in his ear. However, Oliver wasn't one to be easily surprised as he looked at Jack dead in the eye.

"Get your own tree branch, man."

Disappointed, Jack jumped and landed on the top of a nearby tree. Its growth had been cut short by the look of things as he sat down on it.

"Again, what is going on?"

"Beats me," Oliver expressed his views on what was happening. "The people down there are in trouble because of something they did. Tsk. People should really learn how to stop screwing themselves over."

"We should go save them."

With a blank expression, Jack jumped down and started slaughtering the Mutated Rodents. As impulsive as Jack may be, Oliver knew that Jack, unfortunately, was right.

'Damn it. This guy...'

Quickly following Jack, Oliver jumped down as well and started his own onslaught. His method of killing the damned things wasn't faster than Jack's, but it certainly did a number on the Mutated Rodents.

Despite their efforts, however, the number of Mutated Rodents didn't seem to reduce. More and more of them made their way here with each kill that they did.

Knowing this, Oliver immediately knew what he had to do.

With Dark Equip: Shadowing Tread up, Oliver made his way towards the soldiers with great speed. He was so fast that he had startled the soldiers as soon as he showed up.

A nearby soldier panicked and aimed his rifle at Oliver.

Unimpressed, Oliver swatted away the barrel of the gun with a quick slap. He clearly was not someone to mess with.

"If you want to live, let go of that damned thing."

Pointing at the captured Mutated Rodent, Oliver was serious. Letting that creature go and running away would be the only way to get out of this situation alive.

"Our prize? No way! I'd blast you where you stand!" a large burly man answered in response.

Oliver, extremely confident, answered, "You want to waste the rest of your bullets trying to kill me? Sure. Go ahead and try. Fair warning, though."

Pausing midway through a sentence, he disappeared from the man's sight. Confused as to where Oliver had gone, he suddenly felt a chill touch his neck.

"After I'm done with you," Oliver whispered as he appeared from behind the man, "You're gonna wish that the rats had gotten to you first."

A second and minimum effort.

That was all it took for Oliver to threaten a person near to death. In fact, it took a lot more self-control to stop himself from killing the guy.

However, Oliver stopped himself from any unnecessary bloodshed. Killing one of the soldiers defeats the whole purpose of rescue, after all.

As Oliver threatened the burly man, the other soldiers were too preoccupied dealing with the Mutated Rodents.

"Boss," one of the other soldiers said as he fired his rifle, "Whoever this guy is... He's not alone."

The other soldiers that kept an eye on the swarm of Mutated Rodents spotted Jack. Jack had been fighting so obviously that it was impossible to miss at this point.

Oliver then heard an audible gulp coming from the man he had so brazenly threatened.

"My friend and I aren't here to fight, alright?" Oliver explained as he held his dagger closely to the man's neck. "Trust us, and we'll get you, idiots, out of here. Alive."

As soon as Oliver let go, he pushed the man to the ground. With his Strenght Attribute being the way it was, doing so barely took any effort.

Casually turning towards the cage, Oliver broke it with a quick and precise slice at its lock. When he a closer look at the creature, Oliver could tell that it had been injured by a significant degree. At its current condition, the rodent was barely breathing.

"You people really went and did it, huh?"

As Oliver turned around, he saw the burly man glaring at him. It was understandable, considering how he humiliated him with relative ease.

"You just came here for our bounty, didn't you?"

'Man, this guy is stubborn.'

Oliver proceeded to ignore him as he instructed the other soldiers on what to do. After which, he then shouted at Jack to wrap things up and whistled to summon Strider.

"How's it going?"

Jack said as he approached Oliver with blood splurts all over his clothes. Without even being prompted to, Jack clearly gave his all in fighting the rodents. Strider, on the other hand, was busy munching down on a disfigured rodent corpse.

"The three of us will be blocking their escape. Once we're done, we catch up with them."

It was the most sensible plan that Oliver could think of right now. Fortunately, with the Mutated Rodents being the way they are, it shouldn't prove to be that much of a chore to accomplish.

So long as the soldiers actually stick to the plan and escape, that is.

Holding both daggers in reverse grip once more, Oliver crouched down as he readied himself the very moment the shooting stopped.

"And... go."

The soldiers immediately started to run away and head towards the city on foot. All the while, Oliver, Strider, and Jack held the Mutated Rodents back.