A few days later.
Noel finally returned to their camp. Everything had changed drastically since the last time he was here.
There was a huge area that had been covered with wooden walls. There were even two layers of ditches that had been filled up with water by using the people who had Water Spirit.
Each huge trunk that was used as the wall had been enhanced by the Harden Rune. Unless there was a powerful Advanced Level Demon that concentrated their attacks on the wall, the wooden wall wouldn't break that easily.
There were a few towers as well. They would place a lot of people who focused on using their barriers to intercept the incoming attacks from the demons.
The fort might not be as sturdy as other forts, but this was only a temporary fort. It should be enough to serve its purpose.
After observing this fort, Noel finally returned to his teammates, wondering if they had prepared for everything.
Clara knew about some of Noel's plans. So, the moment she heard about Noel's return, she immediately summoned him.
"So, how is it?" Clara asked with a serious expression.
Noel nodded. "You don't have to worry. I can't guarantee that everyone will be safe, but I can say that our survival has increased by another twenty percent."
"So, how high is our chance of survival in your head?"
"Hmm, I'm not being overconfident… So, seventy percent?"
"Seventy percent, huh… It's not that good, but not that bad either." Clara closed her eyes. In the past, half of the zero squads died or retired. This time, Noel thought there was a seventy percent chance that everyone would survive. It was bigger than she expected, considering there was a possible spy among them.
"That's, of course, my prediction without completely understanding your ability, Captain Clara. After all, this is the first time we fought together."
"…" Clara pinched the bridge of her nose and asked another question. "Is there any other way to increase our survival?"
Noel shook his head. "I have been thinking about it this whole time, but I don't think it's possible. After all, I'm still fearing the unknown."
"The unknown, huh…" Clara paused for a moment. "In that case, do you want to look at the mysterious facility from afar?"
"Is it possible? Isn't it dangerous since we might end up alerting the enemies?"
"Septa has created the perimeter. And I have reserved a good spot to observe that building."
"If that's the case, then I would like to go." Noel nodded.
"Then follow me."
Clara rose from her seat and immediately left the tent. Noel followed her without hesitation.
They were not far away from the volcano, so the land was extremely fertile. There were a lot of trees and a slope that could hide their presence and body. It was perfect for scouting.
However, this kind of environment was also good for demons. They could see a few trees had fallen and even been destroyed. There was some blood splattered on the ground.
It was clear that Septa and Shale's groups had been killing all the demons in the area to make it a bit safer.
They arrived at a small hill not far from the area. Clara jumped onto the tree and waved her hand to Noel, telling him to catch up.
When Noel arrived at the top of the tree, the vision was cleared a bit, but he still had a hard time looking at the building.
It was then Clara grabbed a cylinder that had been attached to the tree. It seemed they had been using this spot a lot to observe the building.
Noel frowned, trying to see the building without it.
The building was gigantic. The length was more than three hundred meters and the width wasn't that different. The height reached as high as twenty meters.
"There are a total of five floors inside that building. It's not tall, but it's certainly huge. There will surely be a lot of monsters inside and we might be able to find a lot of new things." Clara explained.
"Hmm?" Noel frowned. "Although I can see that there will be a lot of demons residing inside that building, I can picture thousands of them staying in that place…"
"Of course. The demons usually take advantage of the terrain and create an underground tunnel. The Superior Demon is smart enough to order the lower level demons to do that. In other words, we might have to expect an area a few times bigger than the building we see right now underground."
"…" Noel was speechless after hearing that explanation. Though, he still frowned, thinking it shouldn't be the extent of it. Even though it would cause a huge outbreak, it wasn't enough to completely decimate their people.
Seeing Noel's expression, Clara pointed at a tall building not far from the gigantic building. "Look at the tower not far from the building."
"Hmm?" Noel turned around.
"There are a lot of buildings in this area. There are even houses in the vicinity. If you add the demons hiding in this slope and the area near it, you should be able to see the extent of the danger, right?"
"I see…" Noel nodded in understanding. "Still, our objective is that giant building, not the tower, right?"
"Well, we'll go there eventually. We have recognized that tower since it's similar to what has been found in the past. So, what we want right now is to enter something no one has entered before and map the building. After all, we can kind of expect what we will get from the tower."
"I understand." Noel looked down for a moment, contemplating. He wanted to figure out a few things to see if there was a new way to increase their survival.
Suddenly, Clara tapped his shoulder and presented the cylinder to him. "Put your eyes in front of this and try to look at them. This is one of the items found in the past. The Tower Association manages to recreate it with our own technology. According to the record, this thing is called Telescope. It allows us to see something from afar."
