Roberion took a look around the warehouse, and as the Cerulean Baroness said, there wasn't anything worthwhile there—just mundane objects, desks, machines—nothing that mattered. Feeling that he was safe, he activated the dice. Percival was summoned on the first try.
"Hello Sir. What happened?", the capybara knight was in a defensive position, rapier in hand, already looking around for threats.
"We are safe, let me explain…", Roberion gave Percival all the details of the battle after the knight got cleaved by the greatsword, explaining how incredible the [Hellish Plasma Cannon] was and how he and Shining Crown ran away.
Percival heard how wondrous the roothorn was. Not containing himself, he saluted the roothorn. Shining Crown was sleeping near the [Glowing Mushroom], as the fiznault couple said, the beast fed on energy; the more powerful and magical, the better. Roberion wasn't sure if the glowing purple runes were better or if the dimly lit purple runes around the warehouse could feed the plantbeast.
Roberion remembered about the orc and how Percival seemed to know about it, "Percival, what is an orc?"
"Orcs are creatures, similar to humans; some say they have low intelligence, but as far as I know, that is a prejudice that some orcs make use of. They weren't as industrious as the other humanoid races, but they seemed to not be the stupid creatures they were told to be. Sir, I don't know if they are the same here, but for sure that orc had some tactical intelligence; the way he changed the direction as we tried to foil his attempt proves that", Percival said seriously.
"Yes. Thank you for defending me, Percival. We need to be careful with our enemies, even now that small doll-like creatures make me anxious. You really don't know what they are?"
"No, sir, the problem is that there are so many myths about small creatures, and even real small creatures that I remember seeing. They could be any. I don't remember one specific small being that used bombs. My [Sacret Bomber Kit], was made by goblins, but these creatures didn't seem like goblins. At least the ones I heard off", Percival answered pensatively.
"From where does this knowledge come from anyway, Percival?", Roberion was more and more curious about what the capybara knight truly knew.
"I don't know, sir; it's a weird sensation, like the knowledge was always there, like it was mine, but it isn't. And it's so restrictive; the things that I remember most are creatures, knight codes, and fighting. Anything else, as for example, myself and my history, is hidden in the depths of my mind", Percival looked sadly at Roberion.
The null thought it was better to give some time to the knight. I need a way to survive and lessen, as much as I can, the risk of dying. Yes, they are basically the same thing; what I mean is to lower my risk and get the hell out of here.
In some way, I felt where the safehouse was, like there was a change in the spellwork of the runes all around this area. I don't know if that is something everyone can see or only myself. It is different from seeing the lines in some way, like how the fell worm improved its eggs. It was more like the glimpse I had when I looked at the Celtic Flame; that was the name, right? Or a small portion of that magical fire.
That's beside the point; it doesn't matter how. It matters that I can do it, so my best strategy would be to use it as many times as I can. Maybe there is a limit on how many safehouses I can use; I just wish the Cerulean Baroness could give me some information about it.
Roberion looked at Percival; it was time to make some plans. "Percival I was thinking of trying to find more safehouses, but I don't know the limit of how many we could use, how not to make the Cerulean Baroness angry that we aren't playing her game, or if we should take a more offensive position in this selection. I'm honestly sure we could hunt the participants down, but that orc made me see it in a new light; before we were stomping on them, and just because of one participant and his spell, we were almost killed. If that wasn't enough, that drug changed the battle in his favor in seconds."
Percival thought for a few seconds before answering, "I'm honestly not sure, sir. If the fight wasn't so dire at the end, as you said, hunting participants would help us understand how many spells, abilities, and species there are. The strategy of trying to find another safehouse would be the best way of ensuring that we could live longer. This one gave us six hours, and as time passes, the benefits of the safehouses will diminish. As people will need to find the few participants in this city, being in a safehouse could become a problem as we wouldn't have contact with the current situation, and with few participants, we would be sitting ducks as the other participants could move freely."
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Roberion digested the information,and a glint in his eyes could be seem, "Your idea indeed has merit; the benefit of the safehouses will diminish, and if that is something only I have an easier way to encounter, then I need to use as much as I can. But yes, the baroness wouldn't accept me running around like a rat trying to find a hole to hide. So we will try to find a safehouse, but in the meantime, we will kill any participant that shows up; if they are too strong, we will run away and try to find a new one. If we can't before finding the safehouse, we will try to scout the area; if we don't find any, we will use the safehouse and be prepared for the reprisal of the Ceruelean Barones."
Percival nodded, "Thats true, sir. An excellent strategy for all the information we gathered. But what will we do now in these few hours of safety?"
"Right, we don't have enough time to train for something, especially spells. Let's look at the windows and try to find something interesting, or at least get a feel for the area."
Roberion and Percival agreed to move in a rotational way around the place, each looking in the inverse direction of the other; if the null looked left, the capybara would look right. Their vigil was, in a way, tedious, but it didn't take long before they witnessed the fights between other participants, but not only participants, but the undead too.
The undead seemed to be used by the Cerulean Baroness if one participant stayed in a place for too long. For example, one man kept waiting in a wall near the warehouse, and after one hour passed, a group of undead just showed up, dashing in his direction. Even as strong as the man seemed, he didn't seem to know any spells or have any magical equipment. The poor sod met a grisly end.
Some fights between participants showed up from time to time, too. Some used magical spells, like one that created a venomous mist that made his victims lose the ability to breathe, and he finished them off with a dagger. Another participant could summon a crocodile; the beast wasn't strong, but it was really interesting the way his summoner used it, always trying to summon the creature above the target, using the creature's own weight as a weapon.
Little by little, Percival and Roberion learned more about the other participants. They seemed to be divided into groups: fodder, the weakest individuals; they didn't have any spells, special characteristics, or magical equipment that assured their survival. True participants: each had at least one of the previously mentioned benefits, which assured that they could fight other participants and could become a treat to Roberion if the situation wasn't great. Rivals: the most powerful of the participants, like the orc that could wield one sword and use another one like a floating weapon.
He found one similarly powerful as the orc just when they spent more than three hours in it. One woman wielded a light spear—at least that was what it looked like—until she threw it against a giant human that looked to use the stone like a second skin, enveloping his body.
The electric lance hit the being without any difficulty, penetrating his chest and eletrifing his insides. The electric current expanded his flesh until his body couldn't endure any more, exploding itself, stone, and gore flying out; the only thing intact was his lower body, his legs falling to the ground like a broken doll.
The woman just took a quick glance at the fallen giant before summoning a new lance from nothing. Waiting just a few seconds before running in the other direction, leaving the area nearby with a lance of lightning in hand, it seemed she found another target.
As the hours went by, similar situations kept happening, and as dangerous as they were, they were sure if they played their cards right, they would survive. That was until the hologram of Cerulean Baroness showed up, with almost only one hour left of safety in this warehouse.
"Hello, lucky participants that are hidden like cowards. I have a proposal for all of you. Two participants are disrupting the fairness of this selection, and I have to say I had an idea it would happen and that you would take care of that for me. But sadly, you are so weak and poorly organized that I have to step in.", as the baroness said, a crystaline screen is spawned from the wall, and in there a fight is playing.
It seemed not like a recording from a camera; it was like they were in a drone or something that could change the direction at will, always taking the best pov to display. In the recording, two armored individuals could be seen. They look like just the guys that were fighting the behemoth; that is just great. These two armored individuals were using different weapons from what Roberion remembered the other warriors using. One of them uses a missile launcher and a rifle, his sword sheathed, and a standard gun in his holster. The other was armed with a machine gun, and he also had a gun and sword fixed in his power armor.
These weapons seemed mundane in appearance. But as they hit the running participants that they seemed to be hunting, things couldn't look worse. They exploded, penetrated, and pierced anything on their path with wanton abandon, like two gods of war. The participants tried to fight, casting spells; there were even the most courageous that tried to fight on melee; both cases were met with failure. As a small dome protected the area where the power armor would be hit, it looked strange, having a purple glow, similar to the runes in this place.
The recording kept displaying the massacre until the screen changed. What showed up made Roberion's hair stand on end; it was a behemoth, but different from the other creatures; his eyes had a glimpse of counciouness; the being was in a dark box, barely any illumination inside. He was fully clothed in a leather jacket and leather pants, wearing a pair of boots. Weirdly enough, he had a pork pie hat that was also like all his clothes, in black.
"Meet the being I call The Gentlemen; he will help you deal with these two wild variants. And you know how I am; if you think that is a suggestion and not an order, you are severely wrong. For those who don't try to fight them, I will personally use my time to eliminate you. But if you kill any participant in the way, that is still your right.", the baroness finished with a smile, the hologram vanishing.