[Gremlin Nests][Hordes]
Notifications from the system appeared in front of Tang Gon. Just as he was about to question the system, several gremlins jumped down from the treetop holding nothing but pointed sticks.
At the same time, more gremlins popped out from his side. They were very similar in build to the goblins, except for the occasional few being covered in fur or leaves.
This being the first battle, Tang Gon quickly sent out his monsters.
[Amazonian Death Tiger]
[Frigid Ice Shadow Demon]
[Pyro Snake]
As the Flaming Swordsman was still on restriction, Tang Gon was only able to send out three of the four monsters he had.
Fearing the worst of what was to come, Tang Gon shouted for them to quickly finish it off while imagining it to be a simple victory.
A flash of light and the three monsters in his head quickly appeared in front of him, protecting him from the advances of the gremlins. The gremlins almost in shock at the sudden appearance of new unfamiliars screeched out in outrage.
The Amazonian Death Tiger upon seeing the steady circling of gremlins, quickly lept out, tackling a random gremlin in the process of doing so. Seeing the sight of his Amazonian Death Tiger tearing the gremlin directly in half made Tang Gon relieved.
ADT as Tang Gon would call it, directly pounced on the gremlins one after another. It made use of all its current tools to tear, rip, and shred the gremlins apart.
The Frigid Ice Shadow Demon and the Pyro Snake, however, kept close to Tang Gon and made no efforts of straying far from him. The Frigid Ice Shadow Demon acted as a guard, taking the majority of the hits aimed at them. The Pyro Snake from time to time would spit out flames, directly incinerating one or two gremlins in the surroundings.
As they strived to clean up the remaining Gremlins in the surrounding area, Tang Gon soon realized that more and more were appearing around them. The screeches of one Gremlin made Tang Gon realize that he was traveling deeper and deeper into their nests.
Fearing for the worst and remembering the destructive flame he purchased the night prior, Tang Gon quickly aimed at the one gremlin as a way to prevent further attention. The flame covered one of the gremlins, making it screech in pain. And almost as if by making an example of one, the rest soon retreated in a hurry.
Tang Gon glanced at the system. Dead gremlins littered the ground near him. Looking up into the sky, Tang Gon frowned and disappeared from the area, leaving the carca.s.ses on the ground.
A few moments later, the bodies had also disappeared, leaving the green blood as the only indication of what happened there.
After Tang Gon left, the man on top of the nearby hill, secretly recording everything came out. The system deemed him as no threat whatsoever as there was simply too great of a distance between Tang Gon and the hill that he was on top of.
The man on top of the hilltop, shrouded in greenery, was known as Hailer. He was part of the Ore Scout Party that was recently sent out by the Gear Empire to explore and keep a watch on the comings and goings inside the Gremlin Forest.
And it was only by chance that he had spotted Tang Gon strolling around, while he himself was out patrolling the areas nearby.
From there, he started following Tang Gon around, believing him to be a suspicious and dangerous character. He made sure to keep a wide enough distance between him and Tang Gon. Even then, Hailer made sure that he would be able to quickly escape if he was sighted.
It truly wasn"t Tang Gon"s fault of being mistaken as an evil-doer, but to Hailer, it was strange and equally suspicious that someone was just calmly taking a stroll in such a dangerous place.
Especially right now, considering that things have been tense between the Hart Empire and Gear Empire.
But luckily there was still the Gremlin Forest, directly situated between the two nations, acting as a natural barrier separating the two from war.
But while the forest prevented each of them from attacking each other, they still had many other dangers to deal with. Specifically the gremlins and other monsters that would come out to attack. Hence, the unspoken alliance between the two nations protecting the edges of the forest.
Many were stationed around the edges of the forest, making sure no gremlins would sneak past and wreak chaos in the towns and villages.
Hailer, however, was a part of the group who were stationed inside the forest, keeping a track of the major events happening inside, like the birth of a new monster that could affect the future of the empire or an old beast awakening from its long slumber. These were just a few of the many things that the Ore Scouts were in charge of inside the Gremlin forest.
The other things inside were better left unsaid and unknown.
But what even the common people know is that there are many dangerous things inside, more dangerous than the gremlins. Some, thousands of times more dangerous and capable of wreaking havoc than the gremlins.
But for the most part, these strong monsters wouldn"t bother anyone as long as nothing bothers it. Generally, it was these small gremlins that caused the most problems. They were like goblins, parasites, constantly sp.a.w.ning more and more when conditions were met.
With spring coming around, humidity would be higher, causing more rainfall, and that would lead to gremlins breeding from being in contact with the rain, hence the increase of guards around the place.
Not to mention that the two empires were preparing the annual sweeping campaign in the forest to keep the gremlins from overpopulating.
Hailer was one of the many elites sent out into the forest ahead of time to scout. But even then, it was truly shocking to see anyone daring enough to walk out in the open. Let alone, how somehow being this deep into the forest could stay so clean.
One shouldn"t compare oneself. Hailer had to hide and cover himself as he patrolled, jumping into the nearest bushes every time he heard a growl or grunt. His clothes were a mess. And he had just washed them the night before.
But what Hailer didn"t know was that Tang Gon had transmigrated over yesterday. And for the most part, he was in the system, away from the outdoors.
From the moment, he first spotted Tang Gon, he had secretly recorded everything from the start with the recording crystal that each scout was a.s.signed to use for important events.
Only their unit were given crystals, as crystals were scarce and limited. It was only because they needed to have a way to record important information, that they were given such rare commodities.
At first, Hailer only followed Tang Gon believing that he was a spy sent out from one of the other powerful nations. But the way Tang Gon carried himself quickly made him change his mind, re-evaluating Tang Gon as a crazy person.
He didn"t take any action, instead, Hailer continued to follow Tang Gon, carefully paying attention to his every movement, watching exactly what he was doing. For all he knew, Tang Gon might have been an eccentric expert.
But even then, Hailer still believed Tang Gon to be suspicious and dangerous. Who in their right mind would be out in the open in such a dangerous place?
But what pushed Hailer over the edge was when he saw Tang Gon repeatedly tap the air in from of him, at times the left, at the right.
From there Tang Gon was then marked as a crazy person by Hailer, a completely unstable person.
But once again, these things truly wasn"t his fault. There was nothing Tang Gon could do, the system was only visible to him, and when he was going through the systems interface, it had genuinely looked like he was repeatedly tapping the air.
...
After the final gremlin was slain, and Tang Gon disappeared from the spot, Hailer believing that his time was up, stealthy sped away.
He took his time as he made his way back to the main camp, but even with Hailer taking his time avoiding all the creatures that he met, it still took him a good half an hour.
He was quite skillful in making sure that no-one was following him, at times taking detours through open grounds and through rapid waters to evade anyone following him. These were just some of the steps ingrained to him when he was trained, making sure that no-one was following him when returning.
Completely dirty and drenched, Hailer finally made his way back to camp.