(A.N.: Sorry I was unable to upload two Chapters yesterday... I will make up for it whenever I can... Same goes to any Chapter I miss.

Thank you all for you continued support.

Enjoy. )

Roden briefly glanced at her before nodding. "Feel free to leave."

The woman paused for a secont before she slowly backed away, still facing Roden.

She wanted to see if she would be attacked. If so, she hoped to survive it.

Once she got far enough and no attack came, she got on her bike and took off.

Seeing that nothing happened to her, several more people took off after her, but that was only the minority.

Having heard Roden and Talia’s discussion, none of the remaining people wanted to leave.

A chance to gain resources for free was something most would never give up.

Moreover most of the ones who left were actually going to report back to their bosses in town.

Roden turned back to the waiting crowd.

"Set up your camp... For now, you will be provided protection until we decide what to do." He pointed at a landmark a little farther away. "Keep your camp away from the entrance and if you are staying, do not move beyond that boundary. Do not try to enter the main camp unauthorized, or you die."

He paused.

"Any questions?"

One of the group leaders stepped forward. "If we are staying, is there a way to purchase supplies from you?"

Roden fell silent for a few seconds. "Yes."

The mercenaries and criminals looked at each other and nodded.

The orders seemed reasonable enough, but the glint in the eyes of some of the criminals showed they would most likely break them.

Roden did not bother convincing them... They would have to learn the hard way.

He turned around and walked back to the camp with Elda and the Herald Guard.

While Elda and Roden both continued deeper into the camp, the Level 3 waited at the entrance.

The criminals and mercenaries glanced at each other before moving away to set up camp.

While they were not very prepared for said camping most still had enough to survive for a few days.

***

That night, just as Roden expected, several assassins snuck into the camp.

One such assassin was Dunn.

Dunn stood on top of a tree, staring directly at the camp.

He was a Level 2 assassin who had awakened the Elemental Path to the Shadow Branch and he was one of the independent assassins working in the town.

He took a final glance at the scattered mini-camps created by the mercenaries and criminals.

From his vantage point, he could see one man get jumped by three others.

They beat him half to death before stealing his belongings and leaving him to bleed out on the ground.

Only when his blood was soaked into the dirt and his fingers barely twitching did they stopped.

This wasn’t an isolated incident.

Seeing the chaos slowly erupting, Dunn could not tell if this was the main camp owner’s plan in the first place.

He thought of a story his grandfather used to tell him.

The tale of the cannibal rat.

A homeowner captured ten to twenty large, healthy rats alive.

The rats were thrown into a deep, smooth-sided container like a barrel, iron pot, or well from which they could not escape.

The caretaker would then deprive them of all food and water. Out of extreme hunger, the rats turned on each other, fighting to the death and eating the losers.

Eventually, only one exceptionally large, vicious, and traumatized rat remained alive.

The creator released this sole survivor back into the house’s walls because the survivor now viewed other rats as a food source, it relentlessly hunted down and cleared out the entire remaining rodent population.

This situation was not completely the same but it followed a similar concept.

The idea of keeping such chaotic groups of people in one place would lead to the same result.

Not because of hunger or starvation, but because of greed.

Even though Dunn was certain that most of the leaders had come to the same realization, they did not stop it.

The larger groups had simply reached an agreement not to go against each other for the time being instead they decided to prey on the weaker ones turning them into something akin to a fair game.

And that was a slippery slope.

Eventually, one of the larger groups might get hit or simply not grow as strong as the others... They would be considered weak and it would be all downhill from there.

’Either way, this is not my problem,’ Dunn thought.

He refocused on the main camp.

Unlike the scattered camps of the mercenaries, the main camp was quiet.

It was organized and clean... It was so nice it reached the standard of a wealthy neighbourhood.

But that was not his focus... His focus was on the Level 3 man standing at the gate.

So far, he had not seemed to move a muscle from his position... He had been standing there all evening.

Dunn found it odd, but he did not think too much about it.

In his profession, waiting in similar position for hours was not unusual.

’Now I have to find a vantage point to locate the second Level 3,’ Dunn thought.

He looked around searching, until his eyes settled on the top part of the mountain.

Being in a mountain range had its advantages.

Most high ground was typically left unguarded due to lack of manpower and the main camp was obviously facing that issue.

He took off toward his chosen location.

To avoid attracting the attention of any beasts, he had to move stealthily and even employ the use of his stealth skill.

While no beast seemed to wander close to the camp the same couldn’t be said for the surrounding.

He had to take several detours to avoid some beast increasing the duration of the journey.

Finally, he reached the position he wanted.

He glanced down at the camp and it did not take long to locate the second Level 3.

Unlike the first, this one was patrolling the camp, moving from one end to another in a steady and predictable manner.

Dunn spent most of the night watching their routines, memorizing them.

Once he was certain, he made his way down.

He considered simply jumping from the height but he soon decided against it.

He was not certain he could survive such a fall after all he had not awakened the Body Path.

And even if he could survive, there was a higher chance of being discovered.

His plan was simple.

Use the other assassins and sneaking criminals as a distraction.

While they drew the guards attention, he would slip into the camp and kidnap the woman who seemed to be in charge of the operation.

With her in his hands, he could demand compensation or even steal from her outright if she held the group’s wealth since that was often the case for such operations.

He moved closer and the shadow wrapped around him like a second skin as he made his way down to the camp below.

And somewhere in the shadows, others were closing in too.