He was riding through a barren wasteland, not quite a desert. The ground was hard, there were some trees and vegetation, but scant. The monsters populating this place were mostly ox-like creatures that attacked by charging their enemy using their horned heads. The monsters were around level 30 and were called Hulking Oxbeast.
This monster was not on his hunting list but he made time to kill at least one simply to collect its data into his Monster Book.
As he continued on this wasteland, he suddenly noticed a blue dot on his radar. A player?
"Peniel, you mentioned there is a large city nearby where we are going, right? Are we close already?"
"No, we are still around three days from our destination. That city is another two days away after that. Why?"
He was very surprised, that's why. Another player other than him so far away from main cities? Apart from his higher level and dual-class advantage, the reason he could roam like this in the wilderness was that he got Peniel who guide him through lower-level areas. Did this lone player had such an advantage in the knowledge of this world's geography as well?
"Can it be that World Maker group?" Peniel asked when she also noticed the blue dot.
"Probably, let's go check it out. That dot is alone. If it is one of that World Maker people, it's a perfect chance to capture him or her for interrogation."
"You bring a rope?"
"Of course!" Jack said as he revealed a rope with power runes etched on its surface. It was similar to the one Scarface had used on Bowler and the others when they were kidnapped. Jack did not know where Scarface got those ropes. The one he held was bought from the Magic Association shop the last time he was there. Peniel was flying around browsing other things when Jack saw this rope and bought it.
"I see you are prepared, let's go!" Peniel exclaimed.
"And I see you are awfully excited. Do you have a thing about tying people up?" Jack asked. Peniel ignored his joke question as she flew higher to get a better view.
Jack also went toward that lone blue dot. He unsummoned his steed when he got closer and crouched as he moved, trying to be stealthy going from one cover to the next.
The blue dot itself was not exactly lonely, there was actually a cluster of red dots not far away. Jack was rather puzzled by why those red dots were not attacking the blue one. They were rather close to each other to be within those monsters' area of perception. Was the player in hiding?
That should be the case, but then, how should he go about capturing the person without alerting that group of red dots?
Jack didn't stop moving as he had his thoughts. The place where the blue dot was hiding was in sight already. It was behind a pile of logs. There was also a shack not far away. That should be the place where the red dots were gathering if according to his radar.
There were also other scattered red dots moving around in the area. Jack hid when two such red dots passed through near him. After they passed through, he peeked out and saw two humans were walking away.
Outlaws?
"That is a hideout," Jack heard Peniel's voice. She had flown back down to his side again after making her survey.
"Hideout? The one you said like a miniature Bandit Outpost?" Jack asked.
"Yes."
"So there is a hideout core and a hideout boss inside?"
"Yes."
"If I destroy the hideout core without killing the boss. It will get sent to the jail in our guild headquarter?"
Peniel eyed him intensely. "Do you know that it is more difficult to destroy the core without killing the boss? You can do that last time because you have the manpower. Now you are alone. How do you suggest you can do that while the boss is attacking you?"
"Hm. Anyway, these outlaws' level is around what I can tolerate. Their numbers are also not so big. I should be able to take this hideout on. We will see later once I see how strong the boss is."
"Did you forget already about the player? What are you going to do about it?" Peniel asked.
"Did you manage to get a glimpse on that player while you are up there?" Jack inquired back.
"No, there were shrubs there. The person must be hiding inside that shrubs."
Jack thought for a bit before saying, "let's deal with the player first. This hideout won't go anywhere. The player, on the other hand, can run away if he or she saw me fighting the outlaws. Not to mention he might ambush me while I'm dealing with the outlaws."
After making sure that no red dot patrols coming in the vicinity, Jack crossed over to where the pile of logs was. By the layout, he bet that lone player was observing the shack where the hideout boss was at. So he approached from the opposite direction to avoid detection.
He slowed down his pace as he got closer to the shrubbery. He was not a Ranger who got the Silent Step skill. So he needed to manually ensure that he made no sound as he sneaked on his target.
When he could touch the shrubbery already, he waited until the patrolling red dots were further away. The blue dot was still not in motion inside the shrubs, which meant that it still did not register Jack's approach.
When he saw that the area was clear, he dashed into the shrubbery and parted the leaves away. He readied his Storm Breaker as the back of a crouching figure appeared in front of him. This figure turned around, and Jack saw the ugliest face he had ever seen.
The face was of a man, but his skin was green, rough. His mouth and nose were especially large, with two tusks coming up from his bottom jaw. Jack was so taken aback he yelped and fell backward. The ugly dude in front of him was even more panicky, he shrieked at the top of his lungs as he fell on his butt as well.
"Wa–wait…! You… you… you are an orc!" Jack exclaimed. He then looked again at his radar, making sure the blue dot was indeed the person right in front of him.
"Are you a player?" Jack finally asked.
The orc's frightened eyes suddenly changed upon Jack's last question. "Yo… you are a player as well? A human player…?"
At this time, the door to the shack opened. "Who is there?!" The outlaw inside called out. The orc's shriek was too loud that it alerted the outlaws inside the shack.
"Run!" Jack said to the orc.
"Run…? Aren't they human players as well?" The orc asked.
"Player? What the hell are you babbling about? They are outlaws."
"Outlaws?" The orc asked in bewilderment as he looked back at the shack. There were already four outlaws coming out from the shack, they were looking over to the shrubbery where the two were at.
"Monsters! They are monsters in human shapes. Now run!" Jack couldn't fight the outlaws while being curious about this orc player, so he decided to get him away first.
The orc finally reacted. Jack took the lead as the orc followed. The outlaws finally noticed them once they started running. Two of them took out a crossbow and shot at them. They continued to run as the bolts wheezing through.
"They are chasing!" The orcs informed.
"No shit!" Jack replied. "Just keep on running! They will turn back once we are far enough from that shack."
Jack turned to Peniel who flew beside him and asked, "Am I right?"
"Yes, the rule between monster settlement, bandit outpost, and hideout is similar," she answered.
True to their roles, the outlaws stopped chasing after a while and returned to where they came from. Jack and the orc stopped running then.
The orc was still panting while Jack observed him. He used Inspect on the orc.
Life Runner (Rogue, level: 24)
HP: 780/780
'Really a player,' Jack thought.
"Why can't I read your data? Are you really a player?" Life Runner asked. He must have just used his Inspect on Jack as well.
"I have an equipment that blocked other players' Inspect. My name is Storm Wind. Are you really an orc? Or are you using some kind of disguise?" Jack asked as his hand went to Life Runner's cheek and tried to pinch the face off.
"Hey! That hurts!" Life Runner exclaimed as he smacked Jack's hand away.
"Sorry. I just never saw an orc player before," Jack said.
"Same here. You are the first human player I met," Life Runner replied.
"The first? What do you mean? There are plenty of human players around. Where are you from?"
"I am from a city called Larabar."
"Larabar?" Jack had no idea where that was.
"It is one of the cities in Verremor Nation," Peniel informed.
