Chapter 950
"Was that a good enough showing?" Mrazivy asked, turning to look at the other parties of the expedition squad.
They had not participated in the battle and left the emperor bloodworms to those from the Northern Quadrant in order to gauge their abilities. Marcus, Mrazivy, and Miguel were all new faces and it made sense to test them before continuing deeper into the dangerous unexplored region.
"I certainly did not see any problems. You five handled it like pros. Your teamwork is a bit uncoordinated right now, but that will fix itself with time." Fianna said, holding her right hand with a thumbs up.
"Yes, it was an impressive display of your prowess. Those beasts were not weak foes by any means, but you dealt with them handedly. My party is more than happy to know we have such capable allies." Evette said.
"Yeah, you all will do. You're at least better than the others that have come out of the Northern Quadrant. Just don't let this one easy victory go to your heads. Any of us could have finished that fight faster and more seamlessly." Cassius responded.
Mrazivy nodded with satisfaction, before leading the disassembly of the emperor bloodworm's bodies.
They made sure to take samples of the venom and poisonous mucus and each of the beast's cores.
"That should do for these. What do the rest of you think, should we continue along the beach, or head farther inland?" Fianna asked once the emperor bloodworms had been broken down.
"Obviously we head inland. The first scouting party explored this area the most and found nothing but weak beasts and monsters. The real treasures are deeper in." Cassius said.
"I would have to agree. Exploring this area is not likely to be worth the effort. We should travel for the day and find a place where we can set up a base of operations to explore from." Evette replied.
Mrazivy simply nodded her head in agreement as well. Perhaps there were hidden treasures that they might find if they circled the island and stuck to the beach, but that would be a waste of their time.
They were an elite group gathered to find out what sort of valuable resources were on the island. The beach area was already confirmed to be the least dangerous in comparison to the interior of the island and could be thoroughly explored later by a less specialized force. It made far more sense for them to move deeper in, past where the first scouting party had been forced to flee.
With their direction chosen, the expedition squad got back into formation and moved past the shore and into eh thick fog that obscured anything beyond three hundred meters.
'We were attacked so quickly when we first arrived that I thought we would be ending up in violent encounters every few minutes, but things have been eerily quiet since we left the beach.' Marcus thought as they walked away from the shore.
He had figured that every creature would be like the sonic needlefish of emperor bloodworms and attack aggressively, but that had not been the case.
On multiple occasions multiple entities would appear just at the edge of their senses before vanishing back into the fog.
It was honestly more nerve wracking to not be attacked and have to always wonder if they were being stalked by innumerable creatures that were just waiting to pounce on them.
'I never even considered the amount of mental fortitude that would be needed just to move about in this place. Not being able to tell what anything is beyond a certain distance is unnerving.'
Marcus was more than used to looking out for danger, but the unique fog on this island made it feel like there was always something waiting around the corner to jump out and attack when their guard was down. He could easily imagine someone stuck here alone going insane from the constant pressure.
Nevertheless. Even with the harsh conditions around them, the expeditionary force trudged on and made note of any discoveries that they came across.
"Wow, there really is an exposed vein of adamantine ore." Ashton, the obsidian skinned man that was part of Fianna's party said.
His race had a deep affinity with the ground and was able to tell what minerals were in any rocks that he touched.
"It goes on farther than I can tell with my powers. I would say that this could become a very valuable mine. Just the earnings from this would probably be enough to warrant this expedition."
Everyone looked incredibly enthused to hear the good news about the exposed adamantine vein. What was on the surface was clearly not all there was to be had, and the fact that they had only traveled a couple dozen miles inland so far meant that there were likely to be greater treasures deeper within.
"Well, we have managed to confirm all of the major findings that the first scouting party had. I would say that this is as good a time as any to set up camp." Mrazivy suggested.
The other leaders talked amongst each other for a few moments before agreeing with Mrazivy.
Despite the fog blocking their ability to perceive past a certain distance, they could tell that the day was almost over.
Even if all of them had a means to see at night, it was almost always true that more dangerous beasts and monsters came out with the setting of the sun. It was only their first day and there was no need to push themselves to continue exploring into the night.
"I am going to set up a barrier to ward off and detect any intruders. Does anyone else have any fortifications they wish to apply? Evette said.
"Sure, I have a spell that should provide us with some protection." Marcus said.
Miguel also stepped forward though he said nothing. Everyone else seemed to be confident in Evette's abilities and did not come forward even if they had magic that could create a wide range zone of protection. These types of spells did drain a great deal of mana and too many used at once could cause them to interfere with each other.
"Okay, let us make sure that we can all have a peaceful rest tonight." Evette said as she prepared to cast her magic.
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