At this time, some hundreds of kilometers Southeast of Ferrol Town, a team under Rolan Mercenary Team was finally getting back to civilization after completing their mission.
Their mission was to get the Rush flower. It was a rare plant that could only be found in Cape Rushless.
It took them a long time to find it in such a huge place and they even lost someone. They ultimately found it after weeks of searching a tall cliff, with all their supplies gone—no more healing potions, no more of those expensive beast repellants, none of the previous sauces they got from Garan.
Rather, they had been to longer missions before, but they didn't have a taste of good food back then, making the absence of it all the more torturous.
Horrible, it was horrible.
However, getting this mission done was still worth it. With this, their upgrade to B Level was finally in reach!
"Finally heading back!" Bart said, stretching his arms. With this mission, his section would be among the top of the mercenary team, and it would elevate more when they moved to a city!
Generally speaking, Mercenary Teams that could do decently in cities were Class B and above. They had settled in towns—albeit powerful ones—so they could focus on their growth. Now, they could venture in cities and still do well!
"Finally!! Our barbecue sauce had run out long ago," one of the younger members of his team, Bulgogi, mumbled. "My tongue is going numb from the tasteless meat!"
This earned him a knock on the head, "Stop being a sissy, you could even eat charred meat before."
Bulgogi shrugged. "There's no way—they spoiled our taste buds!"
The imagery of the food they were missing passed by their heads, making them sigh.
They didn't disagree, even the strict Eloi, whose high hairline went even higher at this time.
They walked, alert, and paused somewhere.
Sipa, the Rolan Mercenary Team's scout and archer, leaned down to look at the floor. "This is unusual."
"Footprints of animals… but they are far apart…" he mumbled, thinking. When a theory came to mind, he whipped his head towards Bart. "It seems like it's a two-legged beast?"
Bart narrowed his eyes. "Two legged beasts? There should be few in this area."
However, they didn't put much thought on this especially since it started to rain.
It was a bit of a drizzle at first but then it poured, making them curse out. What luck!
"Ah darnit, what a strong rain!"
This also made them miss some of the markings and scents nearby, which were indicators to all trespassers to leave and that this was someone's territory.
At this time, they just focused on avoiding getting hit by the rain.
Although Xeno bodies were naturally strong and wouldn't catch a cold easily, prolonged exposure to strong rains wasn't recommended either.
Strong rains in Xeno was a way for the land to 'cleanse'. The rain calmed down any excess or turbulent aethers with what was called anti-aether—a vague concept— letting it be absorbed by the ground.
Being exposed to this for a long time would literally lower a person's health and would take longer to recover than usual.
Of course, this applied to all creatures so unless the prey was right in front of them, a lot of monsters would actually avoid getting into fights during the rain.
Anyway, being in a weakened state could mean life or death in the wild, and this was why they were running away from it so desperately.
Sepa immediately looked around for signs of a cave, with the rest of the small party following him.
Soon, they found a well-hidden cave located in dense vegetation. Before they could open though, they immediately scattered around as a sudden figure appeared with sharp claws, aiming right at them.
Bart shakily shielded himself with his sword, realizing the attacker had sharp paws. Bart's face turned red as he tried to push back on the sharp claws that were getting too near his face.
It was fortunate they always had their weapons out or else his heart might've been pulled out.
His team went to his aid as soon as they gathered themselves. They swung the sword at the monster, studying what they were up against at the same time.
It was a much taller creature a few heads above them. It had humanoid features but large white ears and a strong tail ready to assist in its maneuvres. It also had white striped fur extending down the hairline to his back, all the way to the back of his hand.
What's more? The more orc features a half-orc had, the stronger it usually was!
The team was alarmed, not daring to prolong the battle. Orcs and half-orcs had far greater stamina! The longer the battle lasted, the more at a disadvantage they would fall!
The creature maneuvered itself flexibly, avoiding all their blades. It jumped up, using gravity as its additional force. They all raised their blades to block his attack, but they were all pushed back.
"It's so strong!" Bulgogi yelled, raising his spear again in an attempt to poke it.
Its tail wrapped on his handle, pulling him towards it. Bulgogi gasped as he was unable to let go of his weapon in time, so now his momentum caused his body to head to the half-orc, straight to its sharpened claw.
"Ah!" he squealed almost seeing his life pass by.
Bart lunged forward, barely managing to save his life, but the weapon's already limited durability after so long was lowered even more.
Their hearts beat so loudly they could hear it. Combined with the heavy patter of the rain falling on them and the forest, their own heartbeats added tension to the battle.
It was only a half-orc, but it was a fighter type. Its size alone was testament enough for that, let alone how it dealt with Bart, a level 30 mercenary with ease!
The half-orc didn't seem intimidated by being surrounded by a dozen humans. Instead, he increased his force towards Bart. Bart struggled to defend himself, but the force still pushed him back.
His team tried to get up, and lunged towards the critter, releasing their weapons to deal with him together, but he waved his tail and made some lose their balance, and he raised his hands to slap and kick them towards the trees.
It was only in this short pause that they had noticed the monster had a slight limp but otherwise, he was OK.
In contrast, there were about a dozen humans with an average level of 25, but they were having a hard time dealing with this one half-orc!
Could they really win? Even if they did, how many of them would be lost?!
At this, some of the younger ones couldn't help but curse out. They were already heading home after torturous weeks in the middle of nowhere. They had already imagined their own homes, good food, and just getting enough sleep without fearing the mobs!
Now, they encountered this kind of problem? One that could very well mean some people would die when they were already so near civilization!
What did they do to deserve this!?!