Everyone gathered, their attention focused on Lucas as he prepared to make an announcement. Standing by his side were four individuals: Amaya, Julia, a woman with long blonde hair named Leora, and a buff man named Tyrone.
"We have created a plan to succeed in our mission," Lucas declared.
His statement sent a small wave of tension through the crowd fully capturing the attention of everyone present.
"We have a theory that the beings responsible for our predicament did not trap us here to kill us. Given what we've seen and what they've done to us, it's reasonable to conclude they could kill us easily at any time, yet they haven't…"
Given you rule out they are not just toying with us… But I digress.
"This suggests that we're not here to die," Lucas declared. "There must be a way for us to complete this mission, and I believe these camps hold the key to our survival. Inside this one, we have found tools, and it can be surmised that larger camps will have more valuable tools to claim. We plan to gradually gather supplies and tools by seizing control of these camps. After much scrutiny of the information we have, I have concluded that as we venture further north, we will encounter better-equipped goblins and larger numbers. If I were to also guess where the castle would be, I'd say it's to the north as well. While it seems daunting that we'll have to face stronger opponents, we must not despair, for unity and adherence to the strategy will ensure our survival."
I wondered what plan he had devised to achieve our victory—if such a thing could even be achieved.
"Our plan entails taking over as many camps as possible before launching an assault on the castle," Lucas began. "This will enable us to improve our equipment and secure essential supplies. To begin, we will need to scout the area once again. It should be a priority to confirm if my hunch that the north is more dangerous is right and if the castle is also to the north."
Lucas cleared his throat, then shouted, "The idiots who didn't listen and fought goblins already will explore the north."
Lucas's eyes darted around, passing over all who had fought a goblin on day one, including me.
Lucas continued, "Those who have not fought goblins will venture east, west, and south. Some will remain here to defend the base in case the goblins attempt to reclaim it. As for the four standing beside me, they will assist in leadership roles. I will lead the northern expedition."
Then, Lucas began pointing to each person as he assigned their roles.
"Amaya will lead the western expedition, Julia will safeguard this camp, Tyrone will head the southern expedition, and Leora will guide the eastern expedition."
Unsurprisingly, I had seen each of these people talking together in a circle with him earlier.
"Come to me, and I will inform you of your assigned group," Lucas shouted. "Once everyone is ready, we will set out. You should return by hour 17:00, which is 691 hours remaining on the task. Remember, your lives are irreplaceable, unlike the weapons. If you have to run, don't be afraid to drop your weapon. Survival takes precedence over claiming bases for now. Today's objective is once again reconnaissance, do not raid camps, as we should have enough resources here in this base to last two more days; three if we are conservative. If any have suggestions or complaints, feel free to voice them. If none, then create a line."
A sense of nostalgia washed over me as I observed the orderly line forming, reminiscent of our initial summoning. Just like a bunch of toddlers, each person patiently waited for Lucas to allocate their groups. He proceeded down the line, assigning each person to a group, including me.
"Axel, you're with me exploring the north."
Lucas did as I expected and sent me north with him.
"I have a few more words to say then I will take any questions," Lucas said after he gave the last person their role.
"Ahem," Lucas cleared his throat, "If you come across goblins I'm no longer forbidding fighting as we'll all have to accumulate experience somehow. However, if you come across an unknown beast, retreat and inform everyone…. Most importantly, I beg of you all to not get injured let alone die."
At his words, nobody cheered or celebrated, but the looks on people's faces were undeniably different than before. Instead of their faces just being full of fear and uncertainty, they seemed to hold trust and hope nesting alongside that fear. My face probably looked like theirs as well.
"Any questions?" he smiled and asked us all.
Some fiddled with their hands while others shyly avoided his gaze.
"None? Ok, then. Now that you all have your assignments, get to know the members of your group and strategize what you'll be doing. One last time, the goal is to learn the lay of the land and the location of our enemies. I wish good fortune upon us all and you may all proceed at your own pace," Lucas concluded, and then walked over and beckoned for us to come.
After a few minutes, everyone shuffled around creating four distinct groups, each in their deliberation. Since we numbered forty-three, the division was not entirely equal. I looked around at the northern team—my team. The team consisted of Lucas, Ryon, Connor, Cory, Claire, Zayn, and me. The best swords were distributed among us, except for Connor, who preferred an axe. We deliberated for a couple of minutes and then began our journey.
We walked steadily northward, our pace unyielding until we happened upon a goblin camp. Taking caution and with the only goal being to observe, we watched for a little bit and tried to gather intelligence. Gradually, a few goblins emerged, armed with weapons similar to ours but in better condition. Having seen enough of that camp, Lucas led us further and we found a small stream.
We decided to rest and catch our breath there, and I took the opportunity to clean my wound. I untied the jacket and laid my bloodstained arm in the water. After thirty seconds, I lifted my arm and dried it, then studied the injury once again. Now that it was clean, the letters had become clearer and easier to read. Coupled with the fact that it was now daytime, I tried to make sense of this injury again.
K i l l, T, E, V, L, &, Z, N.
There was no other way to splice it—this truly was a message, and a message being a request to kill someone or something at that. But, what? Assuming they were supposed to be names, they seemed to be in fragments. I didn't know who T, E, V, L could be, nor had I met anyone who met the criteria. However…
I glanced over my shoulder at Zayn.
Z and N. He was the only one it could pertain to that I knew of right now. This message really could be about him. But… was I really going to just distrust Zayn because of this cryptic message in my flesh? I knew he was weird, but he'd done nothing worthy of deserving to die. I'd keep my eye on him, but even considering the thought of having to kill him felt like going too far.
"We're going now, hurry up!" Lucas gingerly called to me.
"Ah, sorry." I quickly hid the ominous message by tying the jacket around my arm. I didn't think I needed to cover the wound at this point, but revealing this message to people would probably cause them to be wary of me. Especially when I didn't even know how to explain its origin.
We wandered around for a few more hours, making mental maps of the land before we returned to the camp. Once there, the group leaders consolidated their findings and everyone was allowed to do whatever they wanted. Then, night came, putting an end to our second day.
To begin the third day, I checked the time.
"Task."
(Time remaining: 676:52:45 hours)
I slowly did the math in my head, still assuming the first day started at noon.
720, Minus twelve, minus twenty-four, 684… So it's 7:08, is it?
Lucas called us all together and briefed us on the day's objectives once again. He had set his sights on actually raiding camps today. Knowing that too many people could be disadvantageous and not wanting to force people anyway, he asked for volunteers.
After those who wanted to raised their hands, the total came out to thirty-six of us—a surprising amount. From there, we were split into three teams of twelve, all dedicated to taking over different camps. One team was led by Leora, another by Tyrone, and the third by Lucas. I was in Lucas's group and, excluding Leora and Tyrone, the eleven of us selected to join him had been deemed the strongest. The reason we decided to stack this group was because we had been tasked with raiding a camp to the north.
After splitting into groups, Lucas gave us a hint of the strategy before we disembarked for the camp. Once the camp came into view, he stopped us and informed us of the rest of his strategy. He explained that we'd split into two groups that would approach from either side of the gate. The goal was to close in on either side of the gate while alerting the goblins as late as possible. The perfect scenario was where we got to open the gate before the goblins noticed us and forced them into a bottleneck, whittling them down one by one.
However, factors always existed that might divert the plan.
For one, if we were noticed early and the goblins opened the gate before we could properly take control of it, we would link up and form a semi-circle. Then, we'd slowly take care of the charging goblins while trying not to let any get behind us and break our formation.
In the event that we opened the gate and saw they had some ranged weapon, we would hide behind their walls and kill the goblins as they ran out of the entrance. With the two groups and six on each side, the goal would be for one person to stay close to the entrance, ready to take care of any ranged attackers when they revealed themselves, while the other five drew the attention of any goblins that came out.
Finally, in the unfortunate circumstance that they noticed us first and had a ranged weapon, then we'd have to go on the offensive. If we retreated, then they would be aware of our presence and remain vigilant, making any future attack leagues harder. So, we'd use whatever ground we gained by sneaking up and charging the goblins with a focus on taking care of whatever posed the most danger in priority.
When the time came, six of us began sneaking up to the camp from the west side while the rest snuck up from the east. Thankfully, we got to the walls before the goblins noticed us, but once we made our presence known, they screeched. I spotted them running toward the gate through the gaps in the wall. Lucas didn't let them open the gate—instead, he kicked open the entrance himself.
Lucas immediately dove to the side and hid behind the wall with the rest of us.
"I see a goblin holding a bow!" Lucas screamed. "Do not run into the open! From what I saw there can be only twenty goblins at most!"
The battle did not last long. The idiotic goblins rushed out and headed for the nearest moving thing they saw. This made my given job of attracting their attention easier.
In the end, we didn't struggle too much with taking out the goblins, but Connor did take an arrow to the shoulder.
We rested for a bit and patched his wound before heading back to the main camp. We spent the rest of the day relocating resources to the northern camp—our new main camp. When we finished, I meandered around for a bit before going to sleep with a smile on a makeshift bed of torn tents.