The start of the night raid.

The nearest ten rings base, roughly 120 kilometers from here, was my next stop. Although I had other priorities right now.

First, checking the entirety of the base, I managed to procure some more water for myself. With that, I wasn't worried about dehydration at all.

...Although my body seemed to be very resistant to both hot and cold climates according to the system, as I hadn't even started to sweat that much from running until this camp. Well, that worked as a massive advantage for me, as not having to worry about freezing in the mountains areas or melting in the deserts was great.

I also managed to find some some cans of food which would be a good source of food for a while, with 5 cans of beans and and 2 cans of meat. Throwing all of those into my backpack, it still seemed to have a little bit of space, yet I decided against throwing anything else in there.

Instead, I managed to find myself a sack, and started throwing in magazines and ammo for my new and shiny rifle. All in all, I had more than 4 box mags, 20 rounds each, with another three dozen bullets spare. 

The battle rifle had a leather sling, so I could simply throw it on myself, and while I did want to tie the sack somehow to my backpack I didn't really have any way to do it conveniently, so I tied it around my hand for easy transporting, not having to grip it all the while.

Sadly, my sunglasses were gona due to the shots that hit my face, but at least it was going to be a night raid on the next camp so I didn't really worry about the glare of the sun smiting my eyes.

All in all, I felt great from this little expedition.

Checking my xp bar, that said I had 768/2100, I then considered what I would do for my next level up. Besides dumping stats into strength, as usual, i was considering getting one of the systems shotguns.

In particular the one that auto reloaded itself on kills seemed really interesting.

<Either of the shotguns is a good investment, although for what it's worth dyna sticks are also pretty fun thing you to invest point in, considering that right now they have lot more oompf than average hand grenade.>

"I see. I'll cross that bridge when I get there I guess."

Checking the time right now, it was 8:35 in the evening. Looking at the darkening skies, I got ready with some final mental preparation for the long trip until the next base.

...although just in case, I had ripped off the map of the table and brought it with me. I used the blood of the commander to mark the spots with the ten rings hideouts, so hunting them down wouldn't be too much of a hassle, or at least I hoped it wouldn't be.

The only thing I kind of regret is that both of the humvees were blown up due to me not being that smart, so I had to once again run there on foot.

Oh right, I should send a message to the kids that I am fine, or even give them a call as it was the middle of the day for them. 

Smiling while thinking about that, I grabbed my back pocket and pulled out the scraps of the phone. Looking at the broken phone that had been destroyed when I was shot in the ass, I was speechless. 

...

<PFFFFT HAHAHAHAHAHAHA.>

"I..."

<HAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. HAAaaaa... hahaha... Okay I'm done. Carry on.>

"Well... Okay I guess, I can't really contact them like this with just a random number from a terrorists phone if I seize one. Damn it all. Whatever, I guess I just need to focus on my work for the next two months or less."

Not dawdling anymore, I ran out of the cave, and after orienting myself and managing to determine the direction I needed to go, I started running up the mountain. 

The other base was between two mountains in a well hidden spot, yet it wasn't just a cave, it was a full on bunker that would have countless armed men waiting for me there. All in all the map hinted at there being at least more than a hundred men there, with it only being a medium sized base. As for what exactly awaited me there, I had a feeling it wouldn't be just one or two rocket launchers, so for once I had to take a tactical approach and start shooting down bastards one by one, before I'd even dare to consider running in there. 

Well, the running wasn't too bad, even if it was up and down a variety of mountainous slopes, with the rocks occasionally making me slip due to my high speed, although I managed to not fall down once during my three hour long journey, even with the darkness of the night obscuring my vision. 

I will admit though, running in the dark in the absolute middle of nowhere was kind of unsettling, with many different shapes warping and twisting at the edges of my vision, not unlike my old hallucinations. 

... Although those were far worse than just what turned out to be a dried up tree shaking around due to the wind. 

Approaching what I assumed to be the mountain next to the base, I started ascending a very annoying climb that lasted a whole hour and tired me more than the entirety of the previous running.

As I gradually approached the peak of the mountain, I finally spotted the camp... No, the fortifications by the ten rings.

...I started rethinking my plan by this point, as this entire thing seemed to suddenly be a lot scarier than what I imagined.

Not only did I, at a glance, count more than a dozen machine gun nests, all of unknown calibers, meaning even just one shot from them could be fatal... No, i also saw 4 different snipers lookouts positioned at the corners of the camp.

The metal fence with a barbed wire on top seemed to be electrified.

... There were also more than four tanks parked outside of the base, with a few armored personnel carriers and trucks to the north of it. On the east, a stockpile of sorts for unknown goods with countless crates strewn around. And on the west side of it I saw multiple fortified concrete bunkers, probably the living space of the base staff. 

... There also was a halicopter on the fortified building that seemed to be armed with missiles and gatling guns.

I... I think I need to rethink my plan... 

<That's an American military base you dipshit, I was trying to tell that but weren't paying attention. As usual your Int stat is useless.>

"Oh that's great! So where do I need to go then?" 

<... Turn around>

Doing as told, I turned around and started looking at the landscape before me. 

<See 150 the mountain in distance that is halfway covered with snow one next to it being almost round? Yeah, you're whole kilometers off 'nearest base' you wanted go to, dipshit! Absolute brainlet. Moron.>

Not saying anything in response, I started running in the direction of the mountain. 

After yet another two and a half hours of running, I was finally looking down at the actual base of the ten rings. 

Honestly, other than seeing two pillbox like structures on the sides of the 4 meter or so wide cave entrance, it's very hard to spot this hideout compared to the previous one. 

Not wasting any time, I pulled out the ARX and went prone. From here until the cave entrance there was more than 200 meters, so them detecting me wouldn't easily happen until I shot. Especially because I was still mostly charred and painted black, making me very hard to spot in the darkness of the night. 

As I was trying to align the shot, I tried to remember how you're supposed to shoot for long range engagements, as I did know the basics of this at least. 

...Although this would be my first time trying it in practice. Well, whatever happens, happens. 

 Having made up my mind, I readjusted the aim one final time, started holding my breath and finally pulled the trigger as I slowed down time using <Focus >. 

The bullet, like a streak of lightning, left the barrel of the ARX, and flew further and further away from me. 

Much to my surprise, the shot actually did score me a kill, yet instead of the guard on the left it had killed the guard on the right. Readjusting my aim before the man could react properly, I fired off another bullet. 

Sadly enough, this one didn't hit and instead seemed to have grazed the man's arm. Well, I say grazed, but the entirety of the arm was blown off by the bullet, and I saw the man collapse in pain. 

Turning off <Focus >, in the distance I heard a vague scream resounding, signalling the start of the night raid, knowing that i had alerted the entire enemy camp due to failing to score a kill.