Chapter 81 - 63: Wilderness Exploration
Chapter 81: Chapter 63: Wilderness Exploration
"Lin Kong, what’s your relationship with the Lord?"
"You could say we’re brothers. The kind who know everything about each other, thick as thieves."
"Then why haven’t I seen you before?"
"I only just arrived in the territory a short while ago, so it’s perfectly normal that you haven’t seen me."
"But... I heard from the older generation that the Lord was the only human in the territory before. So how did you get here?"
"Hahaha, maybe I’m just a special case. As for the details, that’s a secret."
...
East of the territory, a group of people was walking through a forest. They were one of the squads sent out from Lin Yu’s territory to search for a Catastrophe Camp.
Perhaps because of Lin Kong’s presence, the squad’s lineup was quite stacked.
The captain was the level 18 Legendary Monkey Race hero, Yuan Xiaobo. The vice-captain was the level 16 rhino Legendary Hero, Niu Armor. There were also four excellent-grade Demon Race heroes, one excellent-grade fairy Mirus, one Legendary-grade elf Lin Yan, one Death Devourer Rose, and finally, the Junior-tier Druid, Lin Kong.
A total of ten people formed this formidable exploration squad.
At that moment, the fairy in the group, Mirus, was pestering Lin Kong with all sorts of questions.
Lin Kong was happy to have someone to talk to on the boring journey, so he answered casually.
In the sky above, an eagle circled endlessly.
It was the team’s excellent-grade Eagle Race hero. After changing his class to a Druid, he had mainly studied shapeshifting and Wind Magic.
He primarily served as the squad’s scout. However, because they were in a forest, his view from high in the sky was obstructed. Thus, two other Demon Race members had transformed into animals to scout ahead of the main group.
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Before the exploration squads departed, the territory had already dispatched a large number of birds to scout the surrounding areas.
They discovered that to the north lay a vast grassland, but flying across it led to a spatial barrier. Beyond the barrier was only a void.
Clearly, Lin Yu’s territory was not in a good spot; it was likely situated on the northernmost edge of the continent.
To the east of the territory was a massive forest stretching for over a thousand kilometers. Beyond the forest was a region of hills, where the territories of a few other lords could be seen scattered about.
To the west lay a range of rolling mountains with dense vegetation. Faint outlines of some buildings were visible on a mountaintop several hundred kilometers away, but it was unclear if they belonged to a lord’s territory or a Catastrophe Camp.
To the south was the battlefield from the previous war with the Skeleton Corps. Beyond the battlefield lay a vast wasteland dotted with various skeleton Recruitment Offices, which had now become a leveling ground for the Death Devourers and the territory’s new recruits.
Behind the wasteland was a large swamp, which also contained a few scattered lord territories. Since the vegetation there wasn’t very dense, the birds were able to scout it thoroughly. They found no buildings with large numbers of guards that might be a Catastrophe Camp.
Ultimately, the territory dispatched over 100 exploration squads to scout the east and west.
Due to the dense vegetation in these two directions, the avian scouts couldn’t survey every location.
As for using ordinary birds for reconnaissance, the territory had tried it before. However, the low intelligence of ordinary birds often led to miscommunication, which actually reduced scouting efficiency.
Therefore, they had to rely on ground troops for exploration.
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"Captain Yuan, does our squad have a clear objective? Are we just going to wander around aimlessly like this?" Lin Kong was already getting a little bored, and they hadn’t even been gone for half a day.
"There’s no need to call me Captain. You’re the Lord’s brother, you can just call me Xiaoyuan!" Yuan Xiaobo said, waving his hands in a flustered, flattered manner.
"How could I do that? I’m a member of this squad now, just another soldier under your command. If I don’t call you Captain, what should I call you? Brother Yuan? Teacher Yuan?"
"No, no, no, just call me Captain Yuan! Please don’t use those other names." Yuan Xiaobo was startled by Lin Kong’s words. ’If I act like a brother to the Lord’s brother, wouldn’t that be taking advantage of the Lord’s status?’
"Then, what should I call you?"
"Just call me by my name, Lin Kong."
"I don’t know about that..."
"If not, how about Brother Lin? Or Younger Brother Lin?..."
"No! Lin Kong, I’ll just call you Lin Kong."
"Lin Kong, this is just how exploration squads work. It’s precisely because there’s no target that they need us. If a target were already found, the Druid Corps or the Newborn Corps would be sent out. In that case, we would just provide support and prevent any accidents."
"Besides, we aren’t just searching randomly. All the squads are advancing in a straight line in one direction, not far from each other. This basically ensures a grid-like search pattern."
"Then what about us now?" Lin Kong was confused. Why wasn’t their group scouting the surrounding area? Instead, they were just walking in a straight line, as if they were on a stroll in the park.
"Uh... well, you see, a typical exploration squad only has four people: two ground scouts on the flanks, one aerial scout, and the captain in the middle. That’s usually enough to cover the designated search area."
"As for why we have so many people, hehehe..." Yuan Xiaobo scratched his head and gave a sheepish laugh.
Lin Kong understood. The exploration squad he was in was overstaffed, and he was probably the reason why.
’To ensure nothing happened to the Lord’s brother, and since Meiying couldn’t just tag along so obviously, they had assigned a lot of experts to this team.’
Right now, there was a ground scout on both the left and right flanks ahead, the Eagle Race hero was watching from the sky, and his group was walking in the middle, perfectly covering the area their squad was responsible for.
"Alright, I get it. Let’s keep moving then!"
...
Not long after lunch that afternoon, a report came from the front: they had discovered a building with many guards.
The squad members were all excited to hear the news. Even though everyone besides Lin Kong was quite accustomed to tedious work, making a discovery was always a cause for celebration.
The group hurried to the location of the suspected target.
The suspicious structure was a den, and it was extremely well-hidden. If the scout hadn’t passed right by it and triggered its alert, causing a large group of guards to pour out, they would have likely missed the building entirely.
These guards were short, green-skinned, and ugly, with pointed ears and sharp teeth. They were clad in animal hides and wielded a mishmash of weapons; quite a few were just carrying clubs.
Upon seeing Lin Kong and the others, they immediately bared their fangs and let out a series of shrieks, as if trying to scare the group away.
"Captain Yuan, don’t they look a little weak?"
Lin Kong couldn’t help but ask as he looked at the ugly guards, whose weapons and equipment made them look like beggars.
"Lin Kong, don’t just judge by appearances. There are a lot of strange creatures on this continent."
"Last month, those skeletons looked even weaker. All they had were Bone Blades, not even any flesh on their bones. When fighting them, the Druid Corps underestimated the strength of the Energy Gathering Skeletons and nearly suffered a humiliating defeat."
"Mirus, go test their mettle."
The fairy stepped forward on command. With a wave of his hands, a green light landed on the ground. A vine shot out from the earth and snaked toward the group of guards.