Deep within Swamp Forest, far from the thunder of cannon fire, two figures stood silently like withered trees melted into the shadows.
One of them twitched an ear slightly and said in a low voice, "The probe failed. The commotion was far greater than expected."
The other gave a soft snort.
"The intervals between those cannon blasts are abnormally short, and the frequency is wrong too. It's nothing like the intelligence report said, and the people inside reacted quickly."
The first person nodded, pulled a crude leather-bound notebook and a charcoal pencil from his clothes, and quickly wrote down his observations.
"East Swamp forces: danger assessment raised. Possesses high-powered weapons, suspected of having tamed bee-type Demonic Beasts, capable of rapid response. Recommend raising threat level from B-rank to A-rank."
After writing that down, he slipped out of the tree's shadow and headed away from the fortress.
"Let's go. Those three unlucky bastards definitely aren't coming back. At least they served some purpose—they helped us determine this force's threat level."
The other man chuckled, his tone dripping with mockery. "Our Black Fang Mercenary Group's deposit isn't so easy to earn. Those people who want money more than life itself really dare to take any job."
He cast one last glance toward the fortress, then left as well.
Outside the Fortress Wall, three adventurers were driven along by a swarm of Stinger Bees with their heads hanging low, escorted to a relatively open construction site.
After some "friendly exchanges," Chen Yu, hiding behind the scenes, finally figured out where these people had come from.
To be fair, the three-man "Skullcrusher" squad had a certain reputation in the lawless land around Outpost Ruins—an infamous one, of course.
Their captain, Barr, had once been a somewhat capable mercenary. Later, he began taking exclusively