Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 292: Night after Night

Chapter 292: Night after Night

The group earned victory after victory. Injuries became lesser and lesser. The group became tighter and tighter in coordination. Emma and Remmy were able to hunt down the Booas without a single injury by the end of the second night. Kibiwott asked to join the front-lines. Kazi accept, though to their surprise, did not substitute himself for Kibiwott.

Even without the swordsmen, the defenders of the villagers were fine. Kibiwott, it appeared, was lagging behind in terms of contribution. Whether it was defending or ambushing the stone partridges, he didn’t get the results he wanted. In the end though, everyone had levelled up. Pauline in particular had jumped from Level 19 to 22. Her contribution was undeniably minimal due to how little damage she dished out. Nevertheless, the System was giving her something.

"One of ’em got him in the shoulder," Jackson said, gesturing at Kibiwott. Nodding, Kazi went over and healed him.

The players returned to their temporary base. The fire was already waiting as were the African elves. Food was served.

"Phew!" Sylvia received the bottles of alcohol she so desperately wanted.

"You are going to poison yourself," Jackson said.

"Already did. It’s how I died."

"Just stop drinking," Remmy said.

Sylvia stopped drinking to glare at him. "Shut the fuck up. Just stop drinking..." She shook her head. "What an amazing solution. Everyone, give him applause!"

The only one who clapped their hands was Kazi. "Attention, please." Although his little clap was to stop the brewing argument in its tracks. Even though the group was growing in chemistry, Sylvia still was a ticking time bomb. Anything she said could blow things out of proportion and destroy their progress. "Before we head to sleep, I wanted to outline tomorrow’s plan," Kazi said.

"Huh? What’s to change?" Sylvia asked. "We’ve been killing them super easily."

"Remmy," Kazi called out. "Remember what we saw on our first day together?"

"The monkeys?" The archer’s half-confused remark caused a stir. "Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask about that. They attacked us, well...not attacked, but approached us peacefully and asked what was happening. They wanted to help," Remmy explained to the players and Yumboes. "But out of nowhere, an arrow killed their leader and they thought we were responsible. We killed some and left the others to run away."

"The Fating’ho?" Coumba glanced between Kazi and Remmy. "You fought them? They are very strong, foreigners."

"They were peaceful creatures," Kazi continued. "They were so good at sign language that it felt like I was talking to another person. They wanted to help until their leader died, or rather, was murdered."

"An arrow...was it another player?" Kibiwott asked.

"I don’t think so. The sign language they were taught was for the French language. In Fating’ho folklore, there are stories regarding a hunter that mated with a Fating’ho. It’s possible that the archer is either the hunter, the daughter Na Fancani or her descendants. A player has no reason to kill a Fating’ho or threaten us."

Even Jack the Ripper. In the Ripper’s case, if at full power, he likely would have been able to kill Kazi and everyone else here. No point in playing coy with arrows. From his psychological profile too, killing via arrows was not the way for the Ripper to go. Jack was confrontational when provoked or interested. Jack stayed anonymous solely because it made future killings easier. He hid but not in the way the killer of the Fating’ho would. Jack was loud about his killings and proud of it. He wanted them to see his work.

A simple arrow? Jack would never stoop to such a pathetic kill.

"Either way," Kazi continued, "the archer is going to be someone we’ll face very soon. The monsters don’t endlessly spawn. The archer was agitated when we communicated with the Fating’ho. Whatever it wants, it doesn’t like us winning."

"We’ve been venturing the forest and planting traps for days now," Emma said. "I’m surprised we haven’t encountered it. Then again, this is a massive area."

"Think of it as the Gate 1 forest. It’s so massive that encountering other players, even in the tens of thousands, is going to be hard."

"So about seventy gums worth of chewing," Emma said.

Tentatively, Pauline cleared her throat. "There is also the possibility that the archer is watching us. Since the archer is a native here, they could keep a distance without us noticing."

"Good point," Kazi said, nodding at her. "I remember trying to sense its energy and failing. Its range has to be over a kilometre."

Kazi already figured as much. During the night when he encountered the Kikiyaon, when he travelled nearly a hundred kilometers, he did not encounter the archer. In all likelihood, the archer could see up to four kilometers. Enough to keep distance and render Kazi’s superior speed useless.

’It’s either that it’s keeping distance or it’s underground. I don’t think I’ve ever been able to sense things underground.’

"So tracking it down is out of the question?" Pauline asked.

Kazi thought about it. "Yes and no. If I sit down and focus, I think I could overextend my sensing and locate it." Underground or otherwise. "But...I won’t be able to move."

"So someone else is going to have to track it down and kill it," Kibiwott muttered.

’It’s a fifty-fifty. If I sit down, locate it, then blast toward it at full speed, I might be able to locate it. Key word is might since I have no idea how fast the archer is or if it’s underground. However...’ He eyed Pauline who was in turn watching him and learning from him. No, not just her, everyone was waiting for him to give the order.

"I have a pretty good understanding of everyone’s abilities at this point. To take care of an archer of that calibre..." Kazi directed a hand. "Kibiwott, you said you wanted to be on the front-lines. This mission is going to require you to be far, far away from us. Can you do it?"

The shine in his eyes was visible. Kibiwott didn’t need to move to say that he was rising to the occasion. "I’ll do it."

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