Chapter 111 - Quingol Menace (2/2)

”I can see only one, but there is a good chance that they might have others too. We don't know what are present at the side where we left Brick and others on guard,” said Shadow reminding Slaine that they only checked in the direction to the left of the gate.

”Forget that for the moment. Can you get closer and confirm that there are no other such apparatus in the vicinity,” asked Slaine. ”It would be very useful if we can use. It is going to simply attacking the bandits by a significant margin.”

”Stealth doesn't make me invisible and intangible. I will try but I might get detected,” replied Shadow.

”Really?! I never knew,” said Slaine sarcastically. ”Just try it. It looks like retreating is in our best interests right now. I just want to make sure that we don't waste an opportunity without even making proper reconnaissance,” he continued in a serious tone.

”Ok. I just want you to understand that if I am detected, the bandits might immediately start their attempt to get back control of the area that we took. So, you best be prepared for a quick retreat in that case,” said Shadow as he went behind a tent.

Shadow decided that he should use the disguise that he used in the lake when he completed the quest from the Merman prince. Using the disguise skill, would have him using rags similar to the style of the Quingol bandits. In stealth, he hoped that even if some bandit noticed him, it might not look twice or suspect him of being a human in that disguise.

Sadly, he was horribly wrong, and he forgot something extremely important. After all, they didn't find a quingol bandit able to use stealth. That skill was not one of the monsters' skills. The bandits were all either berserker or rangers type occupation. Else they would have tried to use stealth to attack the players and with his enhanced perception, it would be hard for him to miss something like that. So, if one of the bandits found someone in stealth, it would immediately raise alarm.

Though Shadow overlooked this fact, his disguise was just in case a bandit noticed him, and he knew that there is a good chance for the bandit to be not fooled by the disguise. So, he had no plans to go into their midst directly, he went closer to the lake and moved into it. He had decided to move underwater and check along the bank first.

It was good decision as he saw that there were more fixed mounted guns along the bank than it was during his last attempt and they were manned by bandits. It was clear that the bandits were fortifying the area in their control before they make their attack.

There were also a number of spots he couldn't see and there is a good chance that the bandits are using the tents to hide more of the new apparatus. Anyways, he knew that the present manpower that Slaine had can no longer get to the transportable mounted gun. The bandits could easily move the transportable gun in range of other mounted guns on the banks of the lake and then it would be a massacre of the players.

He had no further intentions to get deeper into the bandit camp and informed Slaine about the things that he had observed. He also advised them to get back and abandon the camp. Suddenly, an alarm sounded out in the bandit camp.

”Run. They are attacking,” said Shadow as he swam in a hurry in a direction away from the mounted guns which the bandits were using. It was lucky that he was underwater, and he didn't find any bandits in the water.

”What happened?” asked Slaine in the team chat.

”It is Foedus Rex. It is the Boris Blade. He stealthed into camp and was caught by the bandits. They somehow learnt of us going through the bandit camp and had come here,” said a player in the team chat. Boris Blade was the assassin star player of Foedus Rex. In fact, he was the player that had Shadow's unique weapons in Balthazar's previous life.

The player who reported in the team chat was also an assassin who had a good view of Boris running from the bandits. A moment later Roll also commented on it in the team chat cursing at Boris Blade for mucking up their plans.

”Let us retreat. Shadow also sent pictures of the remaining bandits. We don't have much chance against them,” said Slaine in the team chat as he gave everyone the order to retreat of the bandit camp.

Blackrock Town announcement: The quingols in the area around the Canterbury lake are trying to occupy the Canterbury plains.

Mass quest, Quingol Menace started. Kill the Quingols to protect the lands from falling into the Quingols banditry and prevent their attempts of conquest over the Blackrock Town.

The town announcement immediately caused a lot of commotion among the players. A bunch of thread opened up on the forums in discussion of it. It was the first mass quest. A quest that was given to all the players in a region. There were instances of such quests before in other games, but never so early after the game was released.