Chapter 2183: Alterrans Outside

While some Alterrans were busy defending against foreign enemies, some Alterrans were going around being foreigners themselves.

The movements had an increasing trend since Althea and Garan left. After all, even the Ministers themselves went on adventures, how could they not?

As such, when Ansel formed his circus, it was not a surprise that dozens of performers, extroverts, and adventurers-at-heart went to ’audition’.

These auditions were very fun. They were not held in public, but there were many audiences among the ’government employees’ and those in-the-know.

The auditioners had complete control of what they wanted to perform. They were just given a certain amount of time, which would be strictly cut off after the time limit.

It was then that people found out that there was so much performative talent in Alterra.

Ansel, who went Southwest, wasn’t the only one who led groups far, far outwards. It could be said that there were local caravans that headed all over.

Other Alterrans had also gone around a lot, and they were going farther and farther away. One reason was that the market in nearer areas was becoming more occupied and somewhat saturated by Alterran merchants or other big caravans with a lot of funds.

While saturated wasn’t the accurate term because the demand was strong and there would never be a lack of it, it was much more profitable to go farther away, where there was less competition and they could widen the profit margins.

There was also something particularly glamorous about selling rare products that no one else was selling in that area. This feeling was much more prominent farther away from Alterra. They could also get other benefits.

It was said that a caravan funded by Baron received a nice house in a town just North of Flaret Town. It pretty much served as the base of operations of that team, which wasn’t common to see in commercial companies than in mercenary companies.

It had also doubled as a guest house for the Alterrans who went in that side, though they were mostly mercenaries.

Another one of the Terran groups who were particularly adventurous was none other than the Crow Trio’s group. They also had some company. For example, there was Yeshiya, who was now Crow’s girlfriend as well as other like-minded friends ranging from level 16 to 20s.

Not long ago, Crow’s group had returned from an excursion from the Undead territory and had spiked in levels. Now, they headed in the opposite direction, the western regions.

They also hired a mercenary team to guard them, the Suns, which was Helios and Hugo’s mercenary team.

They knew that the two Ministers headed in this direction so they went here. It wasn’t that they were expecting to encounter them nor were they expecting a route to be there.

It was more like ’a path worth taking’ situation. They didn’t care where they were heading, as long as they could venture to new places.

And venture to new places, indeed.

At some point during their trip, they got...lost.

There were vast forests between territories. In their maps, even if they purchased the updated ones, there were still gaps in between territories.

These distances were a matter of tens or hundreds of kilometers; it wasn’t like their people could step on every spot there to fill in the gaps in their maps.

It was somewhere here that they encountered a particularly difficult town-level mob. They were supposed to be heading to a level 3 Town some hundred or two kilometers west of Basset Town, but encountered the monsters that the town attracted.

It was a mob of a hundred or so monsters, and a quarter of which were town-level monsters above level 15. Even with Helios and Hugo there, it was a struggle. They didn’t bring a super powerhouse with them, after all, not that those were easy to mobilize and hire at all.

The struggle was that after defeating two-thirds of the monsters, a new batch was attracted by the blood, and by this time, their group had already been spent.

Their beast-repelling potions had also been used up during the first half of their trip. They just hadn’t expected to encounter town-level monsters when they were roaming around villages on their way back home.

They had underestimated the charm of a group of elementalists to monsters. Even if the town was far away, they might just go beyond the town’s area of influence if they smelled prey that were particularly delicious.

They needed a bit more time to recover. They didn’t even have much time to drink potions before. A single moment of distraction could literally get them killed.

"Hurry! Hurry!"

"AHHHHH!"

"My leg! My leg is bitten! HELP!"

"Gogogo!"

"Help a companion! Carry them if you have to!"

"Damn it! Run over there!"

"I see a cave! Go there!"

"Watch out for what’s inside! Choose a small one!"

The group of a few dozen people rushed over a rocky mountainside, jumping over rocks, many of which were protruding and unfixed, so several people almost lost their balance.

Fortunately, everyone in the party was not too far below level 20 so they all had decent reflexes. Had this been encountered by the version of them back in Terran, someone would’ve definitely broken their heads after a fall.

Crow and the others managed to squeeze through the opening, with Dog lifting his flashlight to check the interiors of the cave. He gripped his weapon well, ready to fight.

He was half-expecting a jump scare. Fortunately, the cave was empty. It wasn’t small in terms of total volume, but the tunnel itself was not big so threats wouldn’t have been able to fit inside.

The others entered along with him and checked the other paths. It was only when they confirmed it was safe that they dared to let go, their knees buckling, and their hands shakily taking out a potion.

Unfortunately, although no one was dead in their group, everyone had different degrees of serious injuries. The trail of blood they left had attracted mobs and soon they found themselves stuck by the cave, with people taking turns in attacking the monsters trying to get in.

After a few hours of this, people’s bodies felt heavy, with some even finding it too painful to move. If there was someone about to be defeated, someone from the other teams would pull them back, possibly taking his or her place as defender. It was already impressive that they managed to hold on for so long.

At some point, they got too weak, and Crow himself was grabbed by a bipedal monster’s palm.

"CROW!"

They screamed about to follow him, but they were pulled back by the others. Jumping over was akin to throwing themselves straight to the mouth of monsters. They watched in despair as the bipedal monster lifted Crow’s body, about to eat at least half of his body.

His girlfriend cried while his friends wailed. They wanted to close their eyes, but they dared not do so.

However, the gruesome scene did not happen.

The next thing they knew, a vine had wrapped around Crow’s waist, and an overbearing yellow flower appeared in front of their eyes, looking rather intimidating.

A giant sunflower!?