World Online

"So then, what do we do next?" Lone Wolf, Lucius, Phoenix and Jake were all standing in a circle, looking at each other. 

"It took while, but finally, everyone of my men came back from the forest. We were able to make a proper estimation of who returned and who died." Jake nodded. 

"We lost quite a few. But all of them were in the first tier. Only three of the second tier died. And they should be back in a few hours." Jake said. 

"Likewise. Most of the ones who died should return in a few hours, at the latest. Maybe we should rest till then." Lone Wolf suggested. 

"No. I need to chase after them. That boss that I was fighting was a gold mine. Someone that strong is bound to drop a few Epic Items. You might not want them, but I do." Jake shook his head immediately. 

"We cannot chase after them. Who would want to fight them almost immediately? You have to understand what the others think as well. We already lost a lot of morale in this fight." Phoenix sighed and shook her head. 

"Damn it. This was a fight that we were about to win. How the hell did it end like this?" Jake cursed.

"Technically, we did win. The monsters retreated. That is a good thing. That means that at the end of the day, we were the stronger ones." Lone Wolf shook his head and said.

"If any other boss monsters like that one there appears, then one or two people should be able to battle that thing. Do you think you can do that? It took all of my concentration and stamina to be able to stand up to that thing." Jake said.

"Do you think I can\'t do what you did?" Lone Wolf raised his eyebrow.

"Fine. Next time there\'s a boss monster, why don\'t you go and try your luck?" Jake said menacingly. 

"Fine. Next time, its mine. I\'ll show you how its done." Lone Wolf said, looking away. 

"Now that that\'s out of the way, let us talk about an actual course of action. Where do we go next? Straight? Or another path?" Lucius asked. 

"Straight? Why would we go straight when we know where the enemy is?" Jake laughed. 

How would you know where the enemy is?" Lone Wolf raised his eyebrows again.

"Because we saw the enemy come here through that ravine. We couldn\'t send a message because of the damned pink mist. And we couldn\'t intercept them there because we were a total of four people." Jake said. 

"Then we know how they came here. If we follow that path, we can enter their lair." Lone Wolf nodded. 

"They are probably protecting the first checkpoint. Remember. All we need to do is get to the first checkpoint, for now." Jake said. 

"Indeed. But for now, we must rest. That is not debatable. Too many men are tired for now. We cannot let them ride out immediately." Phoenix said, shaking her head. 

"This is a game, for gods sakes. They should be able to fight for a week straight. How are they tired after just two or three fights?" Jake cursed. 

"Not everyone can stay in the game for a week." Phoenix shook her head. 

"Fine. We wait for a few hours. But after that, we need to follow after that path. Get all of the healers to heal everyone to maximum HP. And we also need to collect the loot that fell. This time, the loot should be a little better than before." Jake said.

"Whatever." Lone Wolf snorted as he turned around to walk away. 

Jake sighed as he also walked back to his camp. As he did, suddenly a small thought appeared in his mind. 

He shook his head, maintaining a normal expression until he got back to Kierch and Myriad Arrows. 

"Follow me." He told Myriad Arrows as he walked past him and into the forest beyond them.

Myriad Arrows wasn\'t sure what was happening, but he knew it was better to ask questions later. 

Both of them entered the quite sparse forest, where Jake stopped. 

"You guys fought the other monsters, didn\'t you? The ones with the snake tails." Jake said. 

"Yeah. We took care of all of them." Myriad Arrows nodded. 

"And I am guessing one of them had a leader of their own?" 

"Yup. Some Depraved Siren Queen or something." Myriad Arrows nodded once again. 

"That means that this was a stronger monster, at least in grade, to the wolves. The loot that they dropped, did you guys collect it?" Jake asked.

"The loot!" Suddenly Myriad Arrows\' eyes sparkled. But they dimmed down immediately. 

"You mean the loot that me and Kierch earned?" He said with a low tone.

"You both can go back and take all the loot for yourself. Do what you see fit with that loot. But there is bound to be at least one epic item among them. Make sure that you don\'t miss it. It would be a pity if we lose that epic item." Jake smiled. 

"Don\'t worry. We already took that one. Kierch has it. Cause I got the other epic item today." Myriad Arrows shrugged. 

"Good. That\'s good." Jake nodded.

"This is the one part of an alliance I pretty much hate. When the others think they are entitled to the same share even though they don\'t want to lift a finger. I\'ll head back, but I guess you might want to take that loot" Jake asked.

"Yup. I know where it is. But it\'ll take a while. There was a lot of it." Myriad Arrows said. 

"You have a few hours. Don\'t worry about that. And if you see something out of the ordinary, then message me. We can\'t afford to have another ambush now." Jake said. 

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