The pale light was as harsh as I'd expected, and I had to blink a few times to get accustomed to it.

A normal person would be blinded if they tried to stare at a searchlight head-on like this even while squinting, but I just needed to focus a few strands of Force Aura into my eyes. I did it with precision so no signs appeared on my face; I couldn't afford any mistakes right now.

I could barely make out a few shapes atop the wall, and I vaguely saw them moving closer. I couldn't see them as well as I'd like from below which just added to the smothering aura of the outpost pressing down on me, making me anxious as I licked my dry lips.

But it wasn't like I wasn't prepared for conflict.

My lance had been strapped to my back to make me seem more harmless but my right hand was tensed in case I had to wield it, and though it would be quite taxing on my heart, I still had a good, carefully-cultivated long-range technique I could use to retreat if necessary.

'I could barely use it when I was an E-Rank, I hope it's easier now.'

Someone had reached the part of the wall directly across from me, and I cut my thoughts short.

"What's your business here, traveler?"

It was a harsh voice carrying authority and experience, with a heavy rumble hidden beneath it.

There was a giant frame leaning over the battlement, and even through the blinding brilliance of the lights above me I could still make out many of the previously patrolling silhouettes keeping a respectful distance. It must've been someone of importance.

'Maybe someone in charge of security?'

I cleared my throat loudly and steeled my nerves.

"I want to rest up for a few days and stock up on previsions so I can settle down somewhere else."

"Quite a reckless one, eh? And maybe a stupid one, too."

Oh wow, I was already getting offended half-a-second into the conversation.

"It isn't very smart to wander the No Man's Land like that, not even with a group. Can be even more dangerous with one, actually."

"Well, it's not like I would've been any safer in my previous shelter."

"And just where were you living before? Tell me why did you leave too, while we're at it."

"I'm from another outpost close-by, from that general direction,"

Hoping for the best, I pointed vaguely behind me before continuing my answer.

"And I left because of some personal conflicts, really common affairs."

The heavy silence after my answer irritated my nerves and for a few brief seconds I thought that I'd fucked up — maybe there weren't any other outposts in this city, or they were too far away for me to walk here, or maybe they weren't in that direction at all...

'Calm down.'

I forced my heart to beat slower with Aura and a dull ache came, refreshing me further as I breathed through clammy skin.

"What kind of affairs? Look, you have to understand, it isn't uncommon for people to be exiled because of things like stealing rations, or just generally being too ambitious for their own good. You feel like the type of person who gets a big head easily."

Rude, but surprisingly accurate.

Our exchanges were pretty quick and short, but even then I could still feel the blatant suspicion and antipathy coloring his words.

"Thanks for the compliment, I guess, but it wasn't that. One persistent officer kept bothering me, so I had to up and leave."

I deliberately forced out an awkward laugh to seem uncomfortable, and it was so surprisingly realistic that I felt proud of myself.

This other Earth was going through an apocalyptic event after all, so crimes like sexual assault and rape should be pretty common now due to lack of accountability. It felt a bit vile to use that to make my story seem more realistic, but being respectful wouldn't help me.

'Now, everything will be fine as long as they don't ask for the name of the outpost or something like that.'

My plan was quite poorly-made since I only learned the name of this country literally a few hours ago, never mind the names of the local neighborhoods, but I hoped that'd slip past them. I'd also made sure to specify that I was just passing by instead of staying here:

The world was undoubtedly going through some troubled times with the appearance of Avatars, monsters, Gods, and everything else, so people should've already learned to be much more suspicious of others by now. The fact that I would just stay here for a few days and then part ways without causing trouble from their perspective would help me with disarming that stubborn caution.

'Hey, I'm just an innocent lady looking for asylum, nothing suspicious here.'

As my thoughts raced to try and create a potential road for this conversation, he slowly spoke up again.

"Do you hail from Outpost Chimera? I hear such things are a big problem there due to all the corruption, quite the scourge."

"That's right. Yes, it's honestly quite bad there, so I gathered my things and left in the dead middle of the night after not being able to handle it anymore. Then I encountered some bandits and lost all my belongings in the fight, so... Here I am."

"I told you, really common affairs."

"Well, I wouldn't call it exactly a common chain of occurrences, but that would explain all the wounds and blood, indeed."

At his words, I quickly realized with a blank expression that I was still covered in arguably fresh blood. I'd tried to make them believe I was harmless and trustworthy, but even then I could still feel the uncomfortable mix of blood and sweat on me and the warmth from all my injuries. Most weren't that bad, but the ones on my arm and leg were different:

The wound on my thigh had enough strength behind it to reach my muscles and would've severed my tendons if not for my naturally reinforced, Force Aura-soaked muscles, while my arm looked burnt into a crisp like a piece of charcoal.

From what I'd seen until now, it didn't seem like normal Avatars had the specs to pull themselves back from such grievous wounds, meaning that it was at the very least suspicious that I was still standing. After clicking my tongue quietly, I flashed him aa wry smile.

"Oh, I just learned how to fight a bit from some old friends. I wouldn't have managed to get here otherwise."

"The journey here is dangerous for everyone alike, indeed. You're a damn lucky fella."

His voice loosened a little bit, like he was feeling some sympathy for me.

"I know it may not look like it, but here all of us know how hard getting through the No Man's Land is. We aren't trying to diminish your efforts to get here by acting suspicious or cautious, I'm sure you know how dangerous people can be right now."

"And though I can't take you in without proper recommendation from your previous camp..."

His words wavered a little like he wanted to say something, but stopped himself short.

'What? Don't just cut yourself off mid-sentence like that.'

After he started to speak again, his voice seemed much more amiable and softer to the ears. It looked like he'd reacted positively to that first line about 'old friends', so I kept the fact that he may have lost some people in mind for any future conversations.

"Outpost Chimera never properly does things by the book, so I can use that as an argument to let your stay 2 weeks max."

"Thank you, sir. I'm truly sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you."

"Don't worry about that, it's the military's duty to aid the people and the state. Well, the capable ones, at least."

'...What?'

It wasn't really the content of his words that bothered me, but the things left unsaid instead.

His words implied that there were some who weren't being helped, but it didn't sound like he was talking about the officers. Before I could ask any further, his voice came from above again, this time with the same cold and suffocating pressure from earlier.

"Be warned though, if you start acting up after I give you permission to enter, I'll personally make sure you can't ever do it again."

"Ah... No, don't worry about that."

I gulped, pretending like I'd been affected by his sudden momentum.

"Never would I even dream of starting trouble in a place like this."

"That's good, very good. Please try not to forget this promise later on."

He stepped back from the barbed wire, the shapes gathered around him dispersing mechanically.

The deafening sound of gears turning and ancient machinery whirring to life blindsided me, and I winced while covering my ears. The shape in front of me was indeed a door, demonstrating itself to be as antiquated and stubborn as it was massive from the noises and the slow way that it opened in two. I couldn't help but wonder about how quickly they built this entire thing.

Sure, the entire outpost didn't look to be in the best conditions, but they'd still erected a massive walled camp with a fully functional – even though not very cutting-edge, to say the least – door that opened automatically in only 3 months.

They'd probably started even later, actually, since they needed to regroup first to start operating like this again. Either this country was more militarized than my old world's country, or the Slayer's Legacy had gotten it wrong with the timing.

'But it couldn't be that, right?'

The Slayer's Legacy was capable of taking me to whole different worlds so I couldn't see it getting base information like that wrong, and it didn't have any incentives to lie to me. Besides, there were other signs that each of the Main Quests had indeed lasted a month:

On the 3rd Main Quest window, the maximum days to complete the objective was an entire month.

'Then, maybe Avatars with terraforming and construction Skills?'

There were people with equipment production Skills, so it wasn't too unbelievable for something like that to exist too.

While I was thinking about that though, the gates had finally stopped open to reveal the insides of the camp. At first sight I was surprised, since instead of a military base with some stranded refugees, an entire small village had appeared in front of me. There were fully-equipped Avatars walking around, vendors shouting out their wares to nearby people, and even entire civilian buildings.

Granted, they did look like unstable emergency relief structures normally looked like, but some details gave them away as being built by Avatars — they had dark and thick bone-like foundations beneath the walls, similar to a skeleton inside a body.

It looked strangely... organic and alive, almost beating with unseen hearts.

Before I could continue this train of thought, 5 men came from walked over from inside the walls in a triangle formation, with someone who looked to be in his mid-20s like me and wearing glasses at the lead. His nape-length, bright and wavy chestnut hair matched well with his light skin and fell over his black-framed glasses, almost hiding a pair of sharp and fierce violet eyes.

They were all scarred and radiated a thick sense of danger, but other than that all their weapons and armour differed slightly. The leader also had a gnarled scar trailing from his upper right eyebrow down to his nose in a diagonal path, showing his experience in combat.

"Please state your name and age for the record, traveler."

His voice was cold as he rested his hand on the pommel of his short sword, the pale steel blade unhidden by the simple garter sheath of leather around his waist. He then produced a slab of dark stone seemingly from thin air, with an alabaster rose embossed on the back.

I decided not to question that and just answer.

"My name is Misha Sol Callahvan, I'm 27."

His eyes didn't leave me for a single second as he opened his mouth again.

"Please repeat that again."

"Hm? Why?"

"I don't like repeating myself, traveler. It's a necessary procedure."

The irritation swelling in his voice quickly became apparent.

'Well, that's suspicious as hell, isn't it...'

After a few seconds of silently staring each other down, I decided it wasn't worth it and backed down while clearing my throat.

"Misha Sol Callahvan, 27-years-old."

When I finished repeating myself, the tablet emitted a bright yellow haze of light and the stylized ivory rose on the back transformed into a vibrant golden flower. His eyes flicked about the slab as if something was written on it, his gaze sharpening with each section finished.

"C'mon, follow behind us. We'll show a bit of the outpost."

"Thank you for the hospitality, then."

I pretended to smile warmly at them, meeting his eyes that'd become even more unfriendly head-on.

'What amazing hospitality indeed, they look like they want to stab me.'

My gaze was more focused on the item in his possession though, and I couldn't help but wonder about just what type of Artifact that could possibly be. I felt covetousness and greed sprouting like a poisonous weed in my heart, and I indulged in the sensation for a bit.

The onyx stone reflected the rays of the growing moon past the wall-mounted lights beautifully, while the yellow effigy on the back of the item shimmered and twinkled like precious jewelry or molten gold, the color of flowing avarice.

But there was something off with it.

Well, I forgot it quickly and pushed it to the back of my mind, focusing on the camp ahead.

Outpost Gheist seemed to be really acting as a refugee camp, housing everything from Avatars who looked like they could pull their own weight without trouble to people with amputated limbs and poorly-bandaged grievous wounds crowing around small clinics. Well, those "clinics" in question were more like military barracks, with a cone top and semi-solid walls made out of a cloth base.

I also felt a... gaze of sorts fixed on my back, but it was so faint that I brushed it off as my imagination.

 

Scratching the buzzed sides of my short, spiky crimson hair with one of my toned hands, I stared intently at the traveler who'd just passed through. I bent myself over the barbed railing, my tanned muscular frame hiding the weariness of my age under a youthful body.

I felt curiosity swirling inside me as I looked at her, and I scratched my well-trimmed scarlet stubble.

"Sir, was it wise to let her in like this?"

The one who spoke to me was a nervous rookie, a poor enlisted bastard who'd joined the military just before the game started.

My heavy gaze settled on her for a moment as I spoke:

"Don't worry about that too much, I have my plans."

"But, sir, why would you let in such an obviously suspicious person...?"

I chuckled, but didn't entertain that line of questioning any further.

The girl was right, a perceptive one. From the second that traveler had reached the wall, all her actions had been false — well-faked, yes, but still only artificial. She was like a strung bow ready to release, hiding behind a mask to obscure her real emotions and thoughts.

It was an unnatural thing, a predator that pretended to be prey.

'Maybe it's because she knew she wasn't that high in the food chain.'

Even ferrets and weasels were considered predators, weren't they? Just because she was a predator separated from her helpless prey, it didn't mean she was all that either. She just had the bare minimal qualifications to be a hunter.

'It feels like the quality of them are decreasing...'

When the capable Avatars banded together to try and halt the new General's revolution, only cannon fodder came to refill the ranks.

I looked back to the recruit again after thinking a bit.

"You look like you have something else to ask."

"Well, sir, it's about that Outpost Chimera you mentioned."

She'd gotten the hint and moved on to another question, so I decided to reward her for being able to read between the lines.

"Oh, that's an outpost that doesn't really exist."

"...Sorry?"

"The only closest fortress is Outpost Manticore."

In the city of Carolinia, there were only 4 camps — Outpost Gheist, our current standing point; Outpost Manticore, a plagued pit of corruption and crime, making its relation with other outposts difficult; Outpost Gorgon, the one who dealt with distribution of resources due to being the closest to the military's headquarters in the city of Atlanta; and Outpost Fenlys, the deepest one in No Man's Land.

But there was no Outpost Chimera. Not here, or in any nearby city.

"May I ask why you did that, Major Newt, sir?"

Hmm... Well, she was perceptive indeed, but not really that smart.

I locked my arms over my chest, humming softly.

"If she was really running away from a military camp like she claimed it was, then she would've just corrected me by saying it was Outpost Manticore. She didn't even know such basic knowledge like Outpost Chimera being fake, so now we're 100% certain she was lying."

"Then--?"

She cut herself short and stared at me in silence for a bit.

It looked like it'd circled back to this anyways. No point in avoiding it, I guess.

"Why did I let her inside?"

"Yes, sir."

"There was nothing to gain from denying her entrance outright, while there was the chance of learning something important by taking her in. And besides, aren't you curious about her at all?"

"...Yes. Even small-fry bandits and raiders know that there's only 4 camps in Carolinia, so it's very intriguing."

"See, now you're getting it. We can get some good information if we get our hands on her and interrogate her later on. Maybe she's allied with those fuckers from the Masked Vermillion Church, or those filthy Scavengers, too... or even with those new Challengers."

She probably wouldn't know about outsider forces like the Scavengers, but the other 2 names carried weight.

"Shouldn't we call General Powell to help us deal with her, then?"

General Roderick Powell.

His position was that of a simple Avatar like all other incoming refugees, but unlike them, he demonstrated promise and rapidly rose among the unofficial ranks while gathering the respect and recognition of other key figures. Whether it was hunting powerful monsters prowling around the nearby areas or almost single-handedly repelling waves of marauding bandits, he did everything effortlessly.

No matter where the problem was, he always seemed to already know it beforehand and always dealt with things before they got out of control. This, of course, attracted the ire and jealousy of the officers who tried to put an end to him, but he didn't take it lying down:

His retaliation was swift and effective, and some would even call it exceptionally brutal.

'[The Last Wish Of The Sylph].'

Though I had absolutely no idea about just what kind of Artifact it was or how it looked like, the violent twisters of sharpened blue and green wind gutted every enemy and shredded every Skill around him, easily turning the tides of battle. That hurricane was a sight to behold.

In resumed form, there was no way I'd call him over such simple matters.

'I can't make myself out to be such a useless subordinate.'

So the only choice left was to contract the next best person for the task at hand, since the military couldn't just walk around capturing and kidnapping other Avatars without a care. No, that would cause a riot, and the General wouldn't like that all.

"There's no need to bother him. We already have someone perfect for the job, don't we?"

I smiled at her, and she seemed to be thinking hard for a moment.

'Someone perfect for the job.'

After a few seconds her eyes widened into plates and her skin paled, and then she turned to me with an anxious and ashen face that looked more like a porcelain mask. Well, that was to be expected, thinking about the type of person we'd be calling over.

"w-We... We're going to get someone like that? The crazy Beast King?"

"Yes, we're going to call--."

 

The tour they were giving me was more shitty than I expected.

It consisted of walking me in a straight line towards the back end of the camp without ever turning to the right or to the left sections of the outpost, but at least it brought something to light. The crude and shabby buildings seemed to be universal throughout the entire place, and soldiers wearing mix-matched armour and tactical gear with medieval or modern weaponry stood around every corner.

The last bit particularly caught my eye, since I assumed that the men leading me were soldiers, but they clearly weren't.

'Maybe they're affiliated mercenaries that the military is outsourcing to, like privateers? They don't seem to be anything like a special unit, so they're probably just hired muscle bought by the officers to help in the current situation.'

The 2nd most prominent buildings were those hospital tents I'd first seen, though these ones were submerged below mountains of sick and wounded. While most injuries didn't look infected or rotten, some had viscous, sticky dark sludge was leaking out from them.

All of the ones with similar wounds were suffering through pain and exhaustion, moaning and whimpering quietly.

'Just what is that? Poison, maybe?'

I creased my eyebrows, smelling the putrid and nasty stench coming from all the way over there clearly. It was like the smell of all those corpses from the place I'd first found myself in was concentrated in that brackish tar staining their skin and clothes.

The boss of the squadron seemed to be thinking about that topic as well.

"Hey, were some of those injuries of yours done by monsters? If so, get them checked out quickly."

"Eh?"

"It's common sense. If you don't get it treated or even amputate the infected limb, you contract a nasty case of armour Syndrome."

That stiffened my spine a little bit.

"...armour Syndrome? What is that?"

"Well, the same thing that almost all the wounded here have. I'm baffled you don't know already."

Even while saying that his face was still as blank as ever.

He pointed at a collapsed man to the side that was crumpled like paper, and I followed his hand. The middle-aged man was discharging that same slimy tar from a bandaged wound on his stomach, and even some from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth while gasping weakly.

Furthermore, he was sweating profusely, and it seemed to have a strangely brackish and filthy color, while his skin also gained an unusual metallic grey tinge. His entire body looked stiff like a statue's, his joints refusing to work properly as they weighed him down.

'I really need to get treated quickly.'

I didn't need to know much to figure out he probably wouldn't survive that, and I didn't want to have to cut off anything just yet.