In the open ground ahead, military tents of every color stood densely packed in neat rows, occupying more than half the mountainside. This was the temporary underground-rift camp built by the Ability Management Bureau.
The investigators who had cleared out exotic beasts in the rift the night before dragged their exhausted bodies out of it.
After briefly tending to their wounds, applying healing ointment, and bandaging their cuts, everyone crawled into their tents to rest.
The morning sun slowly climbed into the sky, piercing the thin mist as its warm light spilled across the entire camp.
Once daylight had fully broken, the investigators in the tents began emerging one after another, lifting the flaps aside.
After quickly finishing breakfast and packing up their weapons and equipment, they prepared to enter the dangerous rift once more and continue exterminating the exotic beasts lurking within.
Guards had been stationed beneath the large trees around the camp's perimeter.
A young investigator holding a longsword leaned against a thick tree trunk, his blade slung diagonally across his body as he gazed into the distance at the rolling hills ahead.
A trace of fatigue lingered in his eyes. Scenes of yesterday's slaughter deep within the rift kept replaying in his mind—the endless waves of exotic beasts still left his heart pounding with fear.
He muttered helplessly under his breath, "There are simply too many exotic beasts in the rift. Kill one wave, and another comes right after. We can't kill them all."
"With the few people we have right now, it'll be far too difficult to deal with those exotic beasts. We applied for reinforcements ages ago, but who knows when they'll finally arrive."
The surroundings were unusually quiet. The morning breeze was faint, and the weeds and shrubs beside the road hung still, their