Chương 83: Chapter 82: The Strongest Team-Up

When Harlan arrived at the entrance to the rear district with the rest of his party, Rayne was standing nearby talking with Tyren and the others. Hearing their footsteps, Rayne looked up, then waved to them.

"You're here." Rayne stepped past Tyren and walked up to Harlan, extending his right hand.

"I'm glad you accepted our offer to work together." Harlan's expression remained stiff as he awkwardly shook Rayne's hand. So these were the strongest adventurers in Blackstone right now? He had heard that Rayne had successfully advanced to Low Silver rank. Among the younger adventurers around Blackstone Town, Rayne was probably the strongest of them all.

Harlan had been fairly satisfied with his own strength at High Bronze rank, but now that he was actually standing in front of Rayne, he could not help feeling a certain amount of pressure.

"We're more than happy to work with you. But why invite us all of a sudden?" Harlan rose slightly onto his toes and looked past Rayne toward the streets behind him.

"We heard you've already explored most of the area up front. We mainly wanted to find another party of comparable strength to explore the rear district together." Rayne folded his arms across his chest, the smile on his face gradually fading. He raised a hand and pointed toward the streets behind him.

"There are too many monsters in there. Our party doesn't have enough people to handle all of them comfortably." Rayne lowered his hand and looked back at Harlan.

"So we need help, and right now, yours is the only party that meets the requirements." Harlan rubbed his chin and slowly turned to look at his companions. When everyone nodded, the last of his hesitation disappeared. Still, he could not help glancing at Rayne's teammates again. Three High Black Iron-rank adventurers and one Low Bronze-rank adventurer. A thin sheen of sweat slowly appeared on Harlan's forehead. Gods above. Rayne had only advanced to Silver rank recently.

In other words, when they challenged the Whisperer, their party might have had only one Bronze-rank adventurer, while everyone else was still Black Iron rank. Harlan could not even begin to imagine how they had managed to defeat the Whisperer. His own party had gone in with six Bronze-rank adventurers, had two members go down during the fight, and still barely managed to bring that thing down. Were all the members of Rayne's party geniuses or something?

How else could anyone explain why their actual combat ability seemed so completely out of proportion to their ranks? But that was beside the point. What mattered now was learning as much as possible about the rear district so his party could work out a proper plan for what came next.

"Can you tell us more about it? The more we know, the easier it'll be for us to work together once we go in, right?" Rayne nodded.

"Of course. Come on. There's a house over there with a few chairs left inside. It'll be easier to talk sitting down." Harlan did not hesitate and immediately led his companions after Rayne's group. Inside the small house, Mirelle lit the candles while everyone found somewhere to sit. There were not nearly enough chairs, however, so some people simply found a corner and settled down there. Barton did not sit at all. He stood behind Rayne, holding his massive shield one-handed as he stared expressionlessly at Harlan.

Harlan swallowed without realizing it. What the hell was with that shield? Its surface was dented and battered, so it clearly was not in great condition, but the thing was as tall as a person! He had even sneaked a look at it from the side earlier. And there was no mistaking how thick it was. Who the hell knew how the man standing in front of him could hold the thing up with one hand? It was not until Rayne began explaining the rear district that Harlan hurriedly pulled his attention back and listened seriously.

Before long, however, his face slowly began to pale. Gods help us. What did Rayne mean by a sea of Black Iron- and Bronze-level goblins, with massive Silver-level ones carrying giant hammers mixed in among them? Were the front and rear halves of Graywood Town really part of the same place? Just listening to Rayne describe it made Harlan feel as though the rear district belonged to a completely different world.

After Rayne finished explaining everything they knew about the rear district, Harlan thought in silence for a while before asking for some time to discuss it with his companions. He led the others outside for the moment.

"So? Do we work with them?" Harlan looked around at the others, his expression serious. At the end of the day, he had only been pushed into the role of captain temporarily. For a decision that could affect the safety of their entire party, Harlan still felt that everyone should have a say.

"Haha, sounds pretty interesting." Colvin stroked the sparse hairs on his chin and narrowed his eyes with a grin.

"I think we'll have a lot of fun." Mirelle, standing nearby, nodded immediately.

"Harlan, you can have a little more confidence in yourself. We've all seen how much you've improved lately." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Tessa stepped forward as well and patted him on the back.

"That's right, kid. Trust your own judgment!" Dane said nothing and merely gave a quiet nod. Doro, standing beside him, murmured her agreement as well. Warmth suddenly welled up inside Harlan. For a moment, it almost felt as though he had gone back to the days when he led his old party. Though, if he was being honest, back when he had been captain, he had mostly relied on his strength and charged straight through everything.

After spending this much time working with Mirelle and the others, he had gradually realized that there were still plenty of things he needed to improve. It seemed that risking his life to cover everyone's retreat back then really had changed the way they saw him. All right! Come on, Harlan! You can definitely become a proper captain!

"Okay! I'll go tell Rayne." Without even waiting for anyone to answer, Harlan turned and prepared to run back into the house. Just then, Tessa let out a soft laugh behind him. Harlan turned around in confusion. Everyone else was wearing faint smiles too. Their expressions somehow made him feel a little awkward, but he could not sense any malice in them. Harlan could only scratch his cheek, pretend he had not noticed anything, and duck back into the house.

Once both parties had agreed to work together, they made some quick preparations and got ready to explore the rear district together. According to Rayne, their goal this time was to see whether they could find Paladin Basque somewhere in the rear district. When Harlan first heard the name, he had blanked for a moment and wondered who that was. It took him quite a while to finally remember. Wasn't Basque the person they were supposed to find for that quest from the traveling merchant in the ruined church?

They had simply been so busy lately, either searching all over town for treasure chests or helping the refugees with various requests, that the whole thing had completely slipped their minds. Come to think of it, was this Basque guy even still alive? Hopefully they would not end up finding nothing but some scattered remains. That would make it rather difficult to report back. After stepping into the rear district, Harlan quickly realized that it was considerably darker than it had looked from outside.

The narrow alleys already blocked most of their view, and the wooden obstacles piled everywhere made it impossible to see what might be hiding ahead. It constantly felt as though something was lurking in the shadows, watching them.

"Speaking of which, where are the goblins? How come we still haven't seen any?"

"Don't let your guard down. We thought the same thing last time." Rayne slowly drew the longsword at his waist, his lips pressed into a thin line as he watched the buildings on either side of the road.

"Then, not long afterward, a huge swarm of goblins surrounded us." Just then, Harlan noticed a collapsed house farther ahead. The area around it was strangely clean. There wasn't even half a goblin corpse in sight.

"This is where the goblins attacked us last time. Be careful." Harlan's expression immediately grew serious. He drew his longsword, then looked back and gave Doro a thumbs-up. Doro let out a quiet hum. She immediately understood. Pulling a coil of steel wire and several small bells from her waist pouch, she quietly slipped away toward the rear of the group by herself. Tyren watched her leave with curiosity. After glancing in her direction a few times, he could not resist moving closer to Harlan.

"What's she doing back there? Isn't it dangerous for her to go off by herself?"

"Heh. She's setting up warning bells." Harlan sounded slightly proud.

"That way, if anything tries sneaking up on us from behind, we'll know ahead of time." Tyren's eyes widened, practically lighting up. He quickly thanked Harlan, then darted over to Serin and whispered something to her. A moment later, Harlan saw Serin glance around before casually handing Tyren a small cloth pouch. Tyren immediately broke into a grin like a child who had just gotten his favorite toy. Seeing him like that, Harlan could not help chuckling too. Crack.

A sharp snapping sound suddenly came from the second floor of a building on their right. Harlan immediately looked up. A purple-skinned goblin was crouched beside the eaves, gripping a poisoned dagger as it stared down at them.

"Enemy! Second floor, right side, by the eaves!" Harlan had barely finished shouting when an arrow punched straight through the goblin's head. He paused and turned. Tessa held her bow in one hand while making a smug little gesture at him with the other.

"Nice call, kid! Keep it up." Before long, countless footsteps and goblin roars began echoing through the nearby streets. Rayne's expression changed.

"Inside the building on the right! We'll hold a defensive position again!" Harlan could already see goblins beginning to pour across the nearby rooftops and out of the street entrances. His heart tightened. One goblin by itself was no threat to them. Even ten or so at once would only be mildly troublesome. But this many... Harlan finally understood exactly what Rayne had meant by "a sea of goblins."

"Follow Captain Rayne's lead for now! Inside!" Colvin drew his dagger and was the first to rush into the building. Only a few seconds later, a goblin's scream came from inside. Everyone else filed in after him until only Rayne and Barton remained outside.

"Barton, you go in too this time. We'll leave the doorway to Harlan and the archer from his party." Rayne retreated into the building with him while quickly giving instructions.

"You brought that hammer, right? We'll break through the wall into the building next door. More space will make this easier to defend."

"Of course." Barton pulled the one-handed hammer wedged against the grip of his shield and gave it two powerful swings. Whoosh. Whoosh. The heavy rush of displaced air echoed through the room. Not far away, Harlan's mouth twitched.

"Harlan! You good?"

"Of course." Harlan stood alone at the doorway. His longsword came crashing down, splitting a goblin that was about to charge inside cleanly in two.

"Dane! Tessa! Cover me!" Barton wasted no time. He temporarily handed his shield to Rayne, raised the hammer overhead with both hands, and smashed it into the wall beside him. Bang! The wall caved inward as chunks of stone and clouds of dust sprayed everywhere. Meanwhile, Tyren immediately called to Colvin and Doro. The three of them rushed upstairs together to intercept the goblins trying to climb in through the openings above. Before long, Barton had smashed a huge hole through the wall.

Once he confirmed that it was large enough, he set the hammer aside, took his shield back from Rayne, and squeezed through the opening into the neighboring building. Once inside, Barton began moving the tables and cabinets in the room one by one, piling them in front of the door to completely block the entrance on the other side. When that was done, he still did not stop. He ran upstairs in the neighboring building.

Before the goblins could react, he dragged a heavy cabinet across the room and firmly blocked the second-floor opening facing the street. Just then, Rayne came running upstairs with the hammer Barton had left behind. He reached the wall connecting the two buildings, swung the hammer, and began smashing away again. Bang! Bang! Bang! A hole quickly opened in the wall. Through the cloud of dust, Rayne happened to see Tyren release his bowstring, sending a single arrow through two goblins.

"Tyren! You two as well! Back away from the wall!" No one answered, but all three immediately moved aside and gave Rayne plenty of room. Rayne wasted no more time. He swung the hammer into the wall again and again. Before long, the two buildings had been connected on both the first and second floors. Now all they had to do was wait for that giant hammer-wielding goblin to come find them! ◆ ◆ ◆ Owen really had not expected Rayne's reputation to have grown this much.

Harlan and the others had barely hesitated before agreeing to work with Rayne's party. Ever since Owen expanded Sinner's Canyon, different adventuring parties would occasionally team up temporarily. The last time, he had even seen a ten-person group go challenge the Whisperer together. They had still gotten completely wrecked. After watching situations like that a few times, Owen had gradually realized that some so-called adventuring parties were really just a few people who had gotten together.

They had practically no sense of teamwork at all. Then again, maybe meeting Rayne's party so early had simply spoiled him.

"This won't do." Owen sighed helplessly.

"Looks like I should design a few challenges that can help adventurers build better teamwork." A disorganized mess like that was exactly the kind of group most likely to fall apart when real danger appeared. As for Harlan's party, they had still been somewhat awkward with one another when Harlan first teamed up with Mirelle and the others. Recently, however, they had clearly improved a great deal.

And besides regularly working with his current companions, Harlan would occasionally go back and spend time training his old party, teaching them the things he had learned lately. That made Owen think even more highly of him. The other members would occasionally go back to see their former companions too, though none of them were nearly as proactive as Harlan. Especially Colvin. That guy had basically gone back to see his old party once, and that had been it.

"Hmm... There's something kind of weird about that guy." Especially when he fought. He always looked as though he was having the time of his life, yet the moment even a little blood got on him, his face would immediately twist in disgust. The more Owen watched him, the more convinced he became that Colvin really was a strange one. Just then, the situation on the light screen suddenly changed.

As more and more goblins continued pouring toward the building occupied by the two parties, the ground nearby began shaking violently.

"Hmm. Looks like bringing this many people in at once triggered the difficulty boost." Owen guessed that Rayne probably had not expected that either.

"But with their current lineup, they should still be able to clear this pretty comfortably. Hehehe." Another violent tremor shook the area. The rear wall of the building suddenly burst apart. Owen clearly saw a flash of shock and panic cross Rayne's face. But it lasted only an instant. Rayne forced the panic back down, turned around, and immediately began shouting orders to the teammates around him.

"That's right, that's right! That's exactly how you stay calm under pressure!" Owen bobbed excitedly up and down.

"Let me see just how far you two parties can get together!"