That’s when a group of five large birds dove toward the unsuspecting group. Their brown feathers were glossy, their talons sharp, and their beaks instruments of death.

They were targeting the ass of an innocent little wolf, the wagging tail beaconing them! They were right in the party’s blind spot!

— Swoosh!!—

But just as they were about to tear the poor wolf apart, it suddenly rolled over sideways, completely dodging them!

Not only was there no fear in the little wolf’s eyes, but there was even expectation as it was already salivating. That’s when the trap closed on them.

Pickaxes, sword, acid, and even a skeletal chicken all landed on the feathery group with unbelievably great timing. The monsters died confused…where had they gone wrong?!

Derek shivered by the side as he realized how great this fighting tactic was.

Had they seen the monsters? Nope

Had they heard them? Neither

Had they felt them? Not even

Jack had taught them how to bait the feathery beings to their death. The trick was to show the perfect opening, one they couldn’t resist swooping in.

Had anyone observed the party’s lips while the creature dove, they would have seen them move as they silently counted. One, one, one, OP wolf dodge!!

Then would come the sweet reward. Bird meat was so tender and delicious. It was as if the warmth of the sun itself was contained in the creatures’ flesh! It had the wolf woo in joy.

”Woo!” (Food’s here!)

Moon Moon simply loved this place! One could play with funny boulders that would move by themselves and eat delicious Rock-Peckers. Sadly, even that wasn’t enough to stop its master from frowning.

Jack had been guiding them in the Canyon for a while. Frankly, as long as one was extremely careful, this place wasn’t too dangerous, by his standards anyway.

Unlike the Eternal Mines, there was plenty of room to maneuverer. What slowed them down was that the monsters still couldn’t be evaded, especially the flying ones.

There were many players on their tail, belonging to multiple factions. This was easy to notice by how they were traveling apart.

They had to be wincing as their numbers slowly dwindled over time. But even then, they did not shout nor complain, probably to avoid being detected.

But even that was not a big issue. Nope, the problem was actually finding the path. They would encounter dead ends from time to time: the path blocked with large, heavy rocks.

They were currently in the first part of the Canyon. The way toward the Tier 2 area was completely sealed. Was this to protect the creatures inside or the humans from them?

”Master, it’s another dead-end. Shall we try getting closer?”

”Any Red-Winged Rock-Peckers?”

The party spent the next minutes playing where’s Birdie, looking for red and white. They always remained in half-sight, half-hidden but visible.

”There’s one there!”

”Woo!” (On that rock!)

”Cluck! Shriek!” (In the sky!)

There were six of them in total. Every single one meant a goblin group watching over the area. They’d need something like total invisibility to fool the sentries.

”This place isn’t good either. No way in hell will we be able to pass through. We’ll have to keep going and hope there’s a vulnerable entry point….” Jack shook his head, sighing.

Yep, for some reason, the goblins were gatekeeping the entire place. It wouldn’t have been too bad if they didn’t have scouts absolutely everywhere!

How many times had they seen Red-Winged fly away from fake rocks to deliver the news of their “invasion”? The goblins’ intelligence system made them a force to reckon with.

It was easy to kill any number of enemies by sneak-attacking them or dividing them into smaller groups. Sadly, this wasn’t an option at all.

”Master, what if everywhere is the same? If there are as many goblins as you say there are, then I fear we’ll need an army to breakthrough.” Derek remarked.

An army, was it?

”Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps we’ll need one, but perhaps we can actually get one too….” Jack mused.

”The militia? No, we both know it will take too long. Are you thinking of enlisting the Braves? How about we start rumors of a legendary treasure to bait some cannon fodder?” Derek proposed.

Jack gave an approving nod. He sure was learning! To think that not long ago he was only a naive sword fanatic.

”Greed is a great motivation, but greed alone won’t be enough. A few will be wary, and they will take too long to come over. We need to add a sense of urgency.”

Jack pondered a few seconds, his grin becoming larger and larger. Not only did he know how to proceed, but he couldn’t help but look forward to it….

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

”I hate those birds so damn much!” They complained while glaring at the skies.

They had thought the boulders to be a pain: they took a while to kill, were the bane of sharp weapons, and would sometimes be hard to notice amidst the regular rocks.

Oh, if only they knew! The birds were actually far worse. Back at the Canyon’s entrance, there had only been a few aerial attacks occasionally, but now it was relentless!

But there was one creature that they hated even more than the birds: the Demon King. He was the reason they were here in the first place, trailing his wolf.

What had started as a simple kidnapping plan had long since evolved. It was now apparent that they weren’t just here for a leisure walk. They had an objective.

It finally seemed that they had reached it. After being in the middle of nowhere for so long, they had finally disappeared inside a fissure.

”Are you all ready? We’ll follow soon!” The party leader instructed them. They didn’t want to reveal themselves, but neither did they want to lose their tracks.

But as they waited, other groups made their apparition. All had been following the same target. For an instant, the air was tense, a fight about to start…

”Who are you guys?!”

”Can’t you see the Epoch book? Anyway, let’s make a truce. We grab the wolf first and let our respective leaders handle the actual negotiations, alright?”

Just like that, they bonded over their common enemy. They were only a dozen, but they were the strongest, the weaklings dead after Rock-Peckers sneak-attacks!

”Let’s get this over.” With a solemn murmur, they invaded the cave.

They had expected their targets to be resting, or even to be gone somehow…but what the hell was this?!

There were tons of glyphs forming a magical circle on one of the walls. The whole thing glowed an enchanting blue light and was definitely related to a fantastic quest!

”Beat them up! Ah, but don’t destroy the magic circle!” One shouted.

That’s when Derek’s face twisted in panic. It was clear that he hadn’t been prepared for their attack. But he somehow managed to calm his nerves, grabbing his sword.

The fight that ensued was extremely ridiculous. Both sides held back not to damage the place.

— Slash! Slash! Slash! —

— Smash! Smash! —

— Block! —

At first, the invaders thought they had everything under control, but after a few minutes, some of them lay dead on the floor, their necks sliced like apples.

In the past, they had lost to Derek… in a fair duel of equal strength. Not only had he recently improved, but he was now going all out.

He alone managed to turn the tides of the battle while the pets and the Pickaxe Thrower barely managed to survive.

”Goddammit! He’s a complete monster! Was he always so powerful?!”

”As long as we isolate the swordsman from the others, victory will be ours!”

”Retreat and regroup!” The invaders finally decided to give up when less than ten of them were alive.

They expected this maneuver to go smoothly, but they obviously expected wrong. Jack and Moon Moon suddenly followed without even missing a beat, erupting with their full power!

They didn’t have to restrain themselves outside of the cave, not worried about inadvertently destroying the magic circle anymore.

”Woo!” (It’s time for some Barbecue!!)

It’s only now that they realized with horror that the Pickaxe Guy was as strong as the rumors said and that Moon Moon had grown stronger too!

As the fire burned their flesh and pickaxes opened their bellies, they suddenly regretted coming out of the cave and regretted even more entering it in the first place.

One after the other, they perished. Some tried to run only to have their legs blown up. Resistance was utterly useless.

That one pickaxe guy suddenly approached one of the men helplessly lying on the floor. He gleefully added insult to injury.

”You guys sure are weak. If the Demon King was here, he’d handle you all by himself easily….” He was obviously gloating.

But suddenly, the fallen foe started cackling, seemingly watching his chat window.

”Hehe, it’s over for you. They’ve already surrounded the entire area. This time there won’t be anywhere to run.”

”Pfft— Hahaha! You guys are hilarious. Do you know what that was behind me? The sole portal leading deeper into the Canyon. Goblin armies guard all other entrances.”

”?!?”

”It will be impossible for you all to follow no matter what. We’ll have all the time in the world to grab what lies inside. Oh, and once we do, we’ll be unstoppable. Anyway, sleep tight!”

On that note, Jack crushed the head of every survivor, butchering them in the process. On the side, Moon Moon was panting and salivating with expectation.

”Alright, you can eat it now.”

This time, the little wolf had no interest in the human meat. Nope, it instantly rushed inside, licking the magical circle until it disappeared. Lunar Blossoms were delicious!

”What now, Master?” Derek calmly approached.

”Now we hide.” Jack chuckled as he glanced at the horizon. They would come…