Chapter 148 - The Camp (4) (1/2)

Twenty minutes later...

At a small river, aka creek, with the shape of a ribbon-like body of water flowing downhill from a high mountain in the far distance. The creek was not too deep as a person could wade across with some effort.

It looked like the small river was very clean as there were many small animals within the surrounding areas, including some fish swimming freely within the clean water.

The creek was situated roughly half a hundred meters away from the green forest. The distance away from the forest was far enough to give whoever desired to camp here an appropriate time to prepare themself for a possible ambush from the enemy.

Right now, a group of eleven people was spotted along the riverbank, with some filled up their bottles of water, some went fishing, some rested and tended their wounds, whereas some went hunting for small animals in the surrounding area.

After turning his head around the creek's periphery and seeing everyone was doing their own jobs, Morgan turned his head back to the two people before him and said,

”Alright, for the two of you, Kurt and Jessy, you guys will scout for any anomaly or possible ambush around this area.”

Having heard Morgan's order, the two nodded their heads before going their own ways to scout the surrounding areas.

When the two were gone, Morgan turned to look at the middle-aged man, whom had stood beside him all along, and said,

”Now, let us talk...”

”Alright,” replied Jeremy as he sat down on a big rock.

After Morgan sat down in front of Jeremy, the former opened his mouth to talk first,

”First of all, before talking about the camp or other things, can you tell me where were you teleported to after finishing the first stage?”

”Inside this forest, of course,” answered Jeremy while raising one of his eyebrows in skepticism as if asking 'why do you even ask me this question?'

”Emm... I mean, where was it 'specifically'?” Morgan asked Jeremy again.

Upon hearing Morgan's question this time, Jeremy's facial expressions went 'Oh!' before replying,

”I see; in fact, I didn't know about the exact location as everywhere around me was all green with tall trees and vegetation. After being teleported there, I've been roaming randomly around this forest for more than three days, I think.”

Morgan frowned slightly after hearing Jeremy's words as he mumbled audibly,

”Strange, all of us had been teleported to a specific location nearby the camp without exception.”

Shaking his head slightly, Morgan continued the conversation,

”You know, you were very fortunate not to encounter our enemy's scout team or the fearsome beasts inside this forest. Anyway... Back then, was there anyone from the first stage teleported there with you?”

”From my first stage? Sadly, none...” replied Jeremy with a somewhat downcast expression on his face.

”None?”

*Sigh...*

Jeremy sighed with a sad expression before answering 'truthfully',

”Well, they were all dead; only me had survived...”

”What!? How is that even possible? Can you tell me what happened in the first stage?”

'I will have to keep it short to reduce any plotholes,' thought Jeremy before speaking,

”It's just that we had decided to challenge the tenth horde, and all of my twenty-four comrades were all killed by it. At last, only me has survived.”

Upon hearing such an outrageous statement, Morgan's eyes went widened as he spoke,

”Twenty-four? Wait, including you, that means you guys have twenty-five people to fight with the tenth wave of monsters...”

”Yes, that's right,” said Jeremy.

”That's a huge number. You guys seem to be very, very capable of surviving that far. By the way, if you guys had managed to survive till the tenth wave, all of you should have finished many missions by the time. So, why didn't you and your companions choose to teleport out?”

'This guy has pointed out one of the four inconsistencies in my story...'

Jeremy thought briefly as he had already prepared for such a question as he replied with a dejected expression,

”We... we were too arrogant. We've agreed not to leave anyone behind and to survive the tutorial together. Afterward, upon seeing the rewards we've received for the past nine hordes, we thought that the last wave would give us even more SP to buy skills, but...”

Shaking his head crestfallenly, Jeremy continued with a reminisced expression,