It really had been. He wasn't so sure who'd have won out between him and the chief rat if it'd stayed to see the fight through. High defense against a high attack. It could've gone either way, but Nathan felt like he would've found a way to kill the chief rat anyway.

Level 13.

Nathan turned as a smile lit his face. Slowly but surely, he was climbing up the metaphorical ladder, and a little part of him wondered what he'd see at the top. Drawing in a deep breath, he exhaled, letting his idle thoughts leave with the exhaled breath.

With his self-assigned quest for the day done, Nathan had two choices: return to Blood Rock or do some more exploring. He decided on the latter. Glancing at his shredded sneakers with a sigh, he took off the darned thing. At this point, it had paid its dues and definitely wouldn't be useful anymore.

Shore.

It seemed like it'd be a good place to go, at least that was where he'd got his first meal from before letting it burn to ashes in the clearing. The damned incident had not been one of Nathan's greatest moments, but maybe today he'd get a chance to get another bird or a fish.

Fish sounded good, especially since he was stuck on an island with bodies of water surrounding him. He was pretty sure that he'd be able to catch a couple. With a direction in mind, he started walking, making sure to keep an eye on his surroundings. An act he'd seemingly started to get better at with each passing day.

More because of his situation than choice, but if the unofficial skill saved him, then he wouldn't complain that much. The walk to the shore was pretty much uneventful, that was until Nathan began seeing dried corpses—corpses of different animals that had turned to husks. Like the liquid content of their bodies had been sucked out of them.

It wasn't his first time seeing this, though. The Imps had exhibited the same type of degradation as these corpses, turning into husks after a couple of hours. Probably the system's way of making the place habitable for other creatures. Nathan said that because the corpses themselves didn't smell. No doubt they probably had hours ago, but now they were just husks.

There were six corpses littered around the area where Nathan stood, each the size of a bull. The creatures were so far degraded that he couldn't tell what they were. Heck, he wasn't sure he would've been able to identify them if they were still fresh. The six corpses probably belonged to creatures that weren't even from Earth.

Using his sword, Nathan prodded at the closest corpse. The minimal contact with the corpse caused the skin around the area to flake off, indicating the level of desiccation the creatures had undergone.

Huh, I'll have to be more careful then.

"I wonder what did these," Nathan muttered, crouching to get a better look at the closest corpse.

It had a couple of cuts around it, but the killing blow was probably the one that had left a prism-like hole in the creature's chest, making him wonder what weapon exactly had made the wound.

From the shape, there were limited options, and the only one Nathan could think of on the spot was that it was probably a spear that had done that. He stood up and glanced at the other five corpses scattered around him. Sure enough, two more corpses sported prism-like wounds, while the remaining three seemed to have died from contact with a blunt and hefty weapon.

That has to be a hammer or mallet at the very least.

The sight of the last three corpses caused Nathan to grimace. It wasn't a pretty sight in the slightest. Where the former three sported multiple slashes with the eventually killing blow, these ones looked like their skulls and different parts of their bodies were caved in. Not all had their skulls caved in—one seemed to have avoided that fate. Its back had been on the receiving end of a similar attack, though.

Even with their bodies becoming husks, the damage the wielder of whatever blunt weapon that was had done was a sight to behold. The single creature that had managed to avoid being killed on the spot had probably died slowly with the impact that seemed to have broken its spine.

Uggh.

"...arion, that cheeky bastard."

Nathan almost cursed at the voices. Taking his time to find an appropriate hiding place, he rushed towards the closest he saw, a small underbush that wouldn't fully cover him but at the very least it'd be better than nothing.

"I'm telling you, Talas, the bastard has us patrolling the grounds in hopes that some random monster on a baby world is going to kill us."

Nathan carefully peeked at who'd spoken from the underbush. The thing was green with wrinkled leathery-like skin. Kinda like the Grinch if you ask him, but shorter and bulkier with a way uglier face. It wasn't alone, though. A second followed him, and it looked quite human, even if it was just a bit shorter, with a comical hammer that looked like it weighed more than the bearded shorty wielding it.

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No way.

"Bahhh, that sleazy bastard can try, but it ain't goin' to amount to nothing," the shorty with the Warhammer rather seemed to say through his beard that hid his lips.

Curious and curiouser, Nathan analyzed the one who'd just spoken.

[ Dwarf

Level: 15

]

Shit but Cooollll.

He couldn't believe that he was face to face—well, in the presence—of one of the most popular mythical creatures. He was a little confused, though. Weren't dwarves supposed to be like blacksmiths? What was this one doing out?

Irrelevant.

Bringing back his mind to the present, Nathan analyzed the second creature. The one with the green leathery skin and pointed ears.

[ Gremlin

Level: 17]

Nathan's eyes widened at the level of the gremlin. Level 17? It made absolutely no sense how a monster this strong was being sent out to do patrols. If it was out here doing patrols, then what was the level of the chief or commander of these guys?

"So you say, Talas, but wild cards alw—" the gremlin paused mid-speech before pointing his weapon at one of the corpses. "I think something messed with that corpse. It's got broken skin."

Nathan winced at the observation. The pair was already close to his hiding spot, a little farther from the corpses he'd inspected. Finally getting a good look at the gremlin's weapon, he was able to identify it now. It was a pickaxe, the kind miners used in, well, mining.

"So, it's probably just the system doing its thing with the bodies," Talas grunted, the dwarf disinterested in the matter.

"Then why don't the other corpses have skin falling off them?"

"Look here, yer little shit, I'm already tired of this damned patrolling. I could have been in there mining and getting myself some Tora for free, but I'm out here playing guard in a fucking forest," the dwarf said, his pitch rising with every sentence. "Let's just go back to camp. Our shift is almost over anyway."

If Nathan hadn't analyzed the pair earlier, he would've assumed that the dwarf was the stronger of the two. And while that could certainly be the case going by the levels, the gremlin was two up.

"And whose fault is it that we aren't allowed in on mining Tora right about now, huh? Who got caught trying to smuggle Tora into his private stash, and who also ratted me out when he didn't have to?" The gremlin growled with a pointed glare at the dwarf, who had his hands up in mock surrender.

"I've already apologized for that. Ratting you and the two other dumb dumbs that trusted me to keep a secret like that is the only reason I'm working patrol and not six feet under by now."

The gremlin continued to glare at the dwarf for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning away from Nathan's direction, walking away as he muttered.

"Shittiest apology I've ever heard."

The dwarf let out a triumphant smile at the back of the gremlin before carefully scanning the area, his eyes stopping at where Nathan hid.

"You coming, rat?" The gremlin called out, already putting distance between the pair as it kept on walking.

"Yes, yer lout!" The dwarf uttered, still staring in Nathan's direction before turning and hurrying to meet the gremlin, muttering something under his breath.

Well, that was close.

Nathan let out a silent sigh of relief at the retreating forms of the pair. It'd been a close one, but luck had been on his side. He wanted to mull over the information he'd just heard, but it definitely wasn't much to go by, and he was more distracted by the fact that he'd finally seen creatures that could speak properly.

He just had to figure out if they were friends or foes, and the chance to do that was currently slipping away from him. Blood Rock would have to wait for the time being.

Nathan got up on his feet and began creeping up behind the pair, making sure to keep enough distance between him and them in case they spotted him. The hope was that even if they did manage to spot him, he'd be able to outrun the pair, considering they were both short with stocky legs built for holding ground rather than running.

The pair talked as they continued to walk, and he managed to catch a few words like 'sarion', 'Tora', and something that sounded suspiciously like 'ale', but Nathan couldn't be too sure.

As he continued to follow them, Nathan started to think about the things the pair had been talking about. Apparently, they were part of a mining crew that had been mining something called Tora. Nathan had no idea if they'd been mining it on the current island or if they'd been mining on their home world before they were caught stealing and were sent out to patrol the area.

With each layer he tried to piece together, the more the little he'd heard started to make sense to him. The fact that the pair were currently out on punishment meant that the normal patrols probably wouldn't be as high-leveled as the pair, which relieved Nathan a bit.

He'd loathe to have to fight more creatures like this. As it was, Nathan was struggling with fighting bunnies and rats. How would he fare against creatures that could actually think? He had a very hard time believing that even the alpha or master Imps, as smart as they were, could measure up to the cleverness behind the eyes of the pair.

Definitely a step up.

It was, it really was. If the rest at wherever the creatures were staying were as high-leveled as the pair, Nathan might as well jump off a cliff. With a snort, he dislodged the thought. His seemingly minuscule action seemed to cause the pair to stop, with the gremlin looking back at where Nathan previously stood.

The Berserker had wisely decided to hide as soon as the pair paused in their tracks. The gremlin scanned the surrounding area before muttering something to the dwarf, who just shrugged. Nathan had to stop himself from letting out a sigh of relief when the pair continued their walk probably deciding not to pursue the source of the sound.

With two close calls, he didn't need a scholar to tell him that if he messed up again, he'd probably be caught. The third time's a charm and all that. Getting up from his hiding spot, he began to follow the pair, making sure to add distance between them.

When Nathan raised his eyes to glance ahead of where the pair were walking, he stifled a gasp. There seemed to be an entire civilization there, with gremlins and dwarves alike seeming to be moving in and out of a cave.

Miners!

[ Incursionist Camp discovered.

New quest are available.

1. Destroy Incursionist portal (0/1)

Portal?