Back at our base, Santos’ and his group quickly gathered Johann, Nico and the other team leaders so we could give a report on what we have found. Johann seemed much calmer, but also colder, as he joined us in a relatively private corner of the first floor. John started by explaining his findings and what he inferred from the situation. Basically what he had told me, but more detailed and long winded. After he was done, I took reins of the conversation before it devolved in an unproductive back and forth. I had a good guess of what was happening.

“I believe Maccurach is the one responsible for kidnapping Carlos and his team.” I explained. “He is the obvious suspect, and I think most of you already, if not all of you, already suspected him.”

A few heads nodded at that, not Johann though.

“I have a guess as to what his motives are, although I don’t expect knowing it to be much helpful.” I continued. “I had a suspicion since the first wave that the number of creatures we face is directly related to the number of people we have in the group.”

“How so?” Nico asked.

“The monsters always know how to find us, right?” I pointed out. “I think they can sense us, through some exoteric means.”

“You mean magic?” Santos spoke up.

“Why assume it’s magic?” Some guy I wasn’t familiar with questioned. “We know animals can have much better senses than us. We are not exactly hiding or anything.”

“No, we aren’t hiding,” I said. “But these aren’t exactly animals. If we are to assume that they spawn, or are released when the wave starts, it would be a hell of a sensory acuity to let them know where we were so damn fast.”

I held up a hand before someone else could interrupt me.

“Most of you probably don’t know this, but I fought the first wave alone.” I said. “It wasn’t by choice, but circumstances and a lack of proper foresight put me in a situation where I had to hide from the creatures in an abandoned building. As a number of the creatures passed by, a portion of them decided to stay behind. Despite me hiding well enough out of view, they closed in on me fairly quickly. I had to fight them, and I was almost overwhelmed, but that’s not the point.”

I raised a hand up.

“The point is,” I emphasized. “They knew I was there even with the door and windows closed, as they ran together with over a hundred of their numbers. Only a fraction of them stayed behind. If they could smell me, hear me or see me, why not all of them? I doubt these creatures have the mental ability to be strategic. I think the power that brings them here, also guides them towards each of us. A number of them for each person.”

“Are you saying that hiding is impossible?” Roman asked in surprise.

“That’s what I assume, yes.”

“You don’t know that for sure.” The man with salt pepper hair spoke. “For all we know, you were sloppy and the creatures merely found through smell or noise. Anyway, this is all conjecture. There is no evidence to anything that you are saying. And I don’t see how any of this relates to our situation. Are we here to figure out what happened to Carlos or to discuss the nature of animals?”

I shook my head. 

‘Seems like this man hasn’t accepted the new reality yet. I can see how it can be annoying to work with a denier.’

“I agree with Leo’s understanding of the monster’s behavior.” John spoke before I continued. “This is something that Chen has brought up before as well.”

“Assuming what I said is correct,” I said as I nodded to John. “We can have a pretty good idea of the motive behind Carlos and his team’s kidnapping.”

“Which is?” Nico said, a little impatient.

“He wants to increase the number of creatures that he can face in every wave.”

That raised a few murmurs among the gathered people. Johann seemed to have lost track of our conversation halfway, frowning and looking down as he thought about something. If John was surprised he didn’t show.

“Why would he want that?” Nico asked, his voice a little louder to drown the background noise. “Why would anyone want that?”

“Even with the little contact I had with the man, he was quite clear that killing creatures, and people, “I grimaced at the memory. “Were some form of reward for him. He seemed to feel some visceral pleasure in increasing his power, and I think that is his core motivation. To experience a power increase.”

“From what I heard about the people who used to be in his group,” I continued. “He seemed to try and kill all the creatures in the wave. His group was only allowed to kill whatever got past him.”

“Isn’t that stupidly reckless?” Santos contributed. “He is eventually going to die if he goes on like this. These creatures are no joke.”

“I agree, but with high risk comes high reward. He will shoot up in strength if he manages to pull it off.” I said as I crossed my arms. “I have been experiencing a significant increase in my personal power because of the same conditions. It can be… exhilarating.”

“Right…” Santos mused.

“In any case, I don’t think we should be so optimistic and expect him to just die without us doing anything.” I said to the group in general, most of them had quieted down and were listening to my conversation with Nico and Santos. “Besides the fact that it would also mean that Carlos and his team would die, I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon. If anything, we are getting stronger than the relative power increase of the waves. The last one was… hardly challenging.”

“For you, maybe.” The salt pepper haired man said.

“What is your name, by the way?” I asked him.

My question seemed to take him by surprise as he looked around the group. Some people looked away when his eyes’ meet theirs, but there were a couple of snickers going around as well.

“It’s hardly fair that you know my name, but I don’t know yours.” I said calmly.

“His name is George.” Santos’ helpfully supplied.

“I am perfectly capable of providing my own name, Santos.” George said as he irritatedly pointed a finger to Santos. The man just shrugged. “George Walker, I apologize for assuming we were beyond niceties in this place.”

“Leonardo Schmidt.” I said as I shook the hand he had offered. “Don’t worry. I think we all have more important things in our heads most of the time.”

“Indeed, we do.” Nico said. “Can we get back on track now?”

George seemed offended by Nico’s remark but didn’t say anything. I smiled at Nico’s unflappable attitude.

“What is the plan, then?” John joined in. “Any ideas on how to get them back?”

“I was expecting you to provide a solution for that.” I said. “The logical thing that I can think of is to find their hideout, bring our numbers to bear and get our guys out.”

“Sounds like a solid plan,” John said with a hint of sarcasm. “There is only one hiccup. How do you plan to find them?”

“You are the detective, you tell me.”

“Being a detective is not having superpowers to track down people. We have a network of information and resources at our disposal that makes it possible, which I have none in here.” John was surprisingly patient in his explanation, if a little condescending.

“I don’t have any other suggestion on how to find them.” I shrugged. “I was merely a recent graduate before all... this. I have no idea on how to track people. Any idea on where they might be hiding, Johann?”

Johann looked up from his pensive state at the call of his name. He seemed startled, or maybe confused, but recovered fairly quickly.

“No, no.” He said with a frown. “The people that joined said they were often changing places, not sticking to one spot.”

We all fell silent, with a couple people whispering among themselves. Nico was the one to break it after a few moments.

“They can’t be far, right? We have stumbled on them before, we can look for them. We have the numbers.”

“What do you mean we stumbled on them before?” John asked.

“Remember when we found a section that was already looted?” Nico said. “Apparently, that was them.”

John nodded after a moment of clear mental effort.

“Do you think it would be wise to search for this guy?” Roman said. “I mean, he is a strong fighter. We all saw him killing one of that bear monster alone. Even Leo here couldn’t do that. No offense, Leo.”

“None taken.” I said amused. “You do have a point there. He is dangerous.”

‘Why would I take offense to that? What do they think I am? Some egomaniac?’

“What do you suggest we do then?” Nico said between gritted teeth. “We can’t just ignore the problem. He will just keep kidnapping us, if what Leo said is true.”

“How is our food situation?” I asked.

“Not good.” Nico said. “Two days, maybe three, and that is including the tax we are all paying.”

“Hm.” I frowned as I thought about how to best approach this. “It should be enough.”

“Enough? What are you talking about?” Nico questioned with a frown of his own.

“Do you know something we don’t?” John spoke with a raised eyebrow.

“I have an idea, but I don’t think you will like it.” I ignored their questioning looks and continued. “Suspend the supply runs and I will lead a group of our most capable fighters in an effort to flush Maccurach out.”

“Suspend the supply run?” Nico almost shouted. “This is ridiculous. What are we going to do when there is no more food?”

“We will still have points, besides,” I pointed out. “It’s that or we will keep losing people. I don’t think you can safely and efficiently perform your supply runs without giving Maccurach plenty of opportunity to kidnap more of us. If you can’t do it efficiently, might as well not do it and we find him.”

“Good luck convince people to give up their points to get food.” Santos scoffed.

“Santos has a point, Leo.” John said. “I have been told that even the tax has been problematic.”

“I don’t see another solution to this.” I shrugged. “To be honest, I don’t really think we can find him if he doesn’t want to be found. I am betting on the fact that he won’t be patient enough to sit around and do nothing.”

Everyone went quiet again.

‘I know the situation isn’t good. Maccurach feels pressed against the wall, so he has got plenty of bite and we got a lot to lose as a group. I admit I might be pushing a solution that let me face him, but I can’t shake off Ani’s words. I need to deal with him as soon as possible. I am more worried about if I am really capable of killing him when the time comes. To be honest, I am just hoping adrenaline will keep pushing me.’

“It won’t do us any good to stand around and brood over this thing.” John broke the silence after a while. “We need to gather the group and explain the situation. Maybe paint it a little more positively to avoid any general panic, but I think Leo’s suggestion is the best chance we have at the moment.”

“Johann? Can you do that?” John turned and asked the still distracted Johann.

“Yeah, yeah. I can, don’t worry about it.” Johann said offhandedly as he stood up and left.

I frowned as I watched him leave us to organize the meeting.

‘What is up with him? Was he really that shaken by me siding with John?’