Looking out over the marshes, I felt a chill crawl down my spine. There were a bunch of monsters swimming toward our position, each of them a twelve-meter-long crocodile covered from head to tail in armored scales.

It was only my first s.h.i.+ft and already I was confronted with the fact that monsters had come to attack. Even with the barrier generated over the dig site by the spirit formation arrays, the flimsy screen wasn't going to stop monsters of that size and numbers. It looked like I had to find a way to eliminate them.

Oh, right. I should go back a few hours. After the Silver Wolves had constructed the spirit formation arrays around the dig site, we were a.s.signed to patrol the area in pairs. Each of us were given a specific sector to handle, and naturally I was paired with Anastasia.

Since both Anastasia and I did the most in repelling the Spirit Devouring Bees, Brent had allowed us to rest first. Each pair would patrol for four hours before the next pair took over. Fortunately, in addition to the ten mercenaries who made up the core command staff (which included Brent, Redfield and Anastasia for some reason – I was surprised how quickly she climbed the ranks of the Silver Wolves mercenaries), the hovercraft also carried a battalion-sized contingent of lower-ranked mercenaries armed with rifles. That translated to about three hundred soldiers, including the ten officers that comprised the command staff and logistics elements, who were even now organizing crates of food and equipment. Normally, they would be handling ammunition as well, but the best thing about modern rifles was that they relied on the mana of the soldiers, and thus didn't need actual ammunition. That saved us a lot of trouble regarding logistics and resupply.

After the first four hours, Anastasia and I took over a pair of soldiers. Despite her supposedly being on the command staff, Anastasia was still a.s.signed sentry duty. I wasn't sure what to make of that, other than to surmise that she hadn't reached that high of a rank that I thought she did. Or perhaps the Silver Wolves still didn't trust her because of her past as an a.s.sa.s.sin, and therefore she was treated the same way as the common soldiery.

Not that I was going to ask her about that. In any case, I couldn't, because of the emergence of the crocodile monsters.

"Marsh Alligators," Anastasia muttered. I did a double take and peered closer adjusting my lenses to magnify the image.

"Oh, you're right. I thought they were Marsh Crocodiles."

"Nope." Anastasia pointed at them. "Crocodiles have a more pointed snout, whereas alligators such as these have wider snouts. You can also tell by their teeth – crocodiles are unable to hide their teeth when their mouths are closed, but alligators can conceal their teeth when their jaws are shut. See? Those Marsh Alligators over there, with their mouths closed, don't show any teeth."

I nodded. "Yeah, I know. But I was thinking that these are monsters, not the same type of alligators and crocodiles that existed on Earth in the past…before the Emergence events. I know they aren't the same species, they are monster versions that come from another dimension."

"Now that's an interesting thought." Anastasia pondered for moment. "I wonder if the monsters in the other dimension originally had different forms, but when they crossed over and emerge into our world, they a.s.sume the shapes and characteristics of the native organisms in order to better adapt to inhabiting our dimension."

"Wow…" my jaw dropped. "I never thought of that. You could be right! That explains why so many monsters bear such a great resemblance to preexisting animals from the past. Their original forms in their home dimension are probably very different, and perhaps they are influenced by this dimension when they tear their way through the fabric of time-s.p.a.ce to emerge here!"

I was suddenly reminded of how spirits were without form or shape in their dimension – so far as forms that humans couldn't perceive, anyway. At least Dad told me about that during his flashback arc. It stood to reason that monsters also existed in a similar state back in their home dimension, their shapes unperceivable by humans until they manifest in our world. And in order to manifest physically in our dimension, they had to adapt by taking on the forms and shapes of organisms that already existed in our world. Perhaps even to replace them.

That was quite the sobering thought. The monsters weren't just terraforming our world. There was some sort of compromise where they were adapting to become more like the organisms populating our world. Something between terraforming and adaptation. They weren't just foreign, alien organisms that sought to invade our territory and completely destroy and uproot the environment here. They were meeting us partway by taking on our characteristics.

I shuddered. Would there be human type monsters in future? Or perhaps they already existed, but had chosen not to show themselves to the mages yet?

"There's no need to think too much," Anastasia a.s.sured me cheerfully, spinning a poisoned dagger on the tip of her finger. Hey, that was dangerous. If you cut yourself, wouldn't you die? Then again, perhaps that was Anastasia's way of honing her skills. "Even if it's true, it's not like it will change anything. They're still our enemies. If we want to survive, we can only kill them. Like those Marsh Alligators approaching our position."

"Yup." I nodded, and then tilted my head inquisitively. "You know a lot about the monsters in this swamp."

"I have to." Anastasia smiled. "I was trained here. As part of the Veneneum Sect's curriculum, I was brought up in a place where the most venomous monsters known to men existed. We had to learn how to extract toxins from the monsters." She looked up at the dark sky wistfully. "Out of a cohort of a hundred, only seven of us survived the training here."

"Uh…" While I appreciated hearing about Anastasia's past, I suddenly realized something. "What if the a.s.sa.s.sins Guild and the Veneneum Sect are still training here? Wouldn't we be in trouble?"

"Who knows?" Anastasia shrugged mischievously. "If they try to attack, we'll just drive them off. They have no reason to attack us, though. Not unless someone ordered a hit on Professor Porter or someone in his team."

"Or the Silver Wolves," I added. Anastasia nodded.

"Yeah, or the Silver Wolves. But they are strong, you know? The a.s.sa.s.sins are going to find it difficult to break through their defenses. And I say this as a former a.s.sa.s.sin myself. Besides, we have the advantage because I'm here." She giggled and tapped her head. "I know all their tricks and tactics. It'll be easy for me to organize a countermeasure against them."

"…right."

The Marsh Alligators were within range now. Taking a deep breath, I finished the casting of my spell and summoned Orion. Since I had been casting this entire time, I didn't need to wait a few minutes before I could unleash one of Orion's techniques.

"Betelgeuse."

A volley of arrows hurtled upward before arcing downward and bombarding the Marsh Alligators. Even though their tough armored scales prevented the meteoric arrows from penetrating any further into their vitals, the powerful projectiles still embedded themselves deeply and dealt a lot of damage. Crimson blood spread out and mingled with the murky, gray bog. Several of the Marsh Alligators were felled by lucky shots, but the volume of my bombardment was such that statistically I was bound to score a critical hit, such as an arrow finding its way into a Marsh Alligator's eye, or driving its way through a c.h.i.n.k in another's armored scales to pierce its vital organs.

Realizing that their prey were more trouble than they were worth, the remaining Marsh Alligators turned tail and fled, leaving huge splashes in their wake as they dove deep into the swamp to seek cover. I had only taken out a small fraction of them, but I was just one person out of several hundred. The rest, such as Anastasia, hadn't made their move yet.

Therefore the Marsh Alligators instinctively understood that they were outmatched and swiftly retreated before they could sustain any more losses.

"We are lucky," Anastasia remarked as she watched the Marsh Alligators withdraw. "Their King isn't here."

"…king?" I repeated incredulously. The green-haired ex-a.s.sa.s.sin nodded solemnly.

"The alpha of a pack. Normally a large herd of Marsh Alligators such as that one is ruled over by a single Alligator King. That guy will be troublesome. He's only rank D, but his armored scales are so tough that they can withstand a tank sh.e.l.l."

Yeah, considering that rank E Marsh Alligators mostly survived the bombardment of my arrows, each of which packed quite a punch, I could believe it. Again, ranks weren't that clear cut. Just because I couldn't kill rank D monster easily didn't mean I was weak or some bulls.h.i.+t like that. It was just that each monster had its own unique characteristics. The Marsh Alligators lacked ranged spells and couldn't wield elemental magic, which prevented them from reaching rank C, but they were protected by st.u.r.dy armor that could resist all but the most powerful spells.

Of course, it would be so much easier if I could nuke the whole lot of them with a spell of ma.s.s destruction, but that would be an incredibly reckless move. For one thing, I would be drawing attention to our location, and if a powerful rank B or even rank A monster decided to check it out, I would already have spent my trump card for the day on some insignificant monsters that didn't pose much of a threat. Just because you could nuke hordes of monsters at once didn't mean you should. One had to be responsible and strategic in using them and not unleash them at every opportunity you get.

I knew there was an influx of power-hungry G.o.d-like protagonists in cultivation novels that wouldn't hesitate to use their invincible power to raze entire sects and abuse their strength, but those were just wish fulfilment novels that didn't consider the repercussions or recklessness of such actions. Great power came with great responsibility – even though I stole that line from Uncle Ben, I just couldn't emphasize that enough. Just because you could destroy the world, doesn't mean you should. Otherwise where is everyone else going to live? Where are you going to live after you destroy the world? In the cold vacuum of s.p.a.ce? Just because you can raze a sect, doesn't mean you should. If you become a tyrant who mercilessly slaughtered and ma.s.sacred entire sects just for offending or threatening you, then a day would come when you met a sect or a cultivator much more powerful than yourself. Of course these protagonists had plot armor and author's favoritism to protect them from such repercussions, but reality never worked that way. You could act all arrogant and oppress people all you want as long as you were a protagonist of some sick story that advocated murder and rape as justified as long as it was the protagonist who did it, but do that in real life and you would find that…there would be dire consequences for your irresponsible behavior.

If only some readers would understand that. If only they would comprehend that brute force and violence wasn't the solution to everything. There were checks and balances in the world, and you couldn't just do whatever you want simply because you were "strong." The survival of the fittest thing was pure bulls.h.i.+t. People needed each other to survive, and different talents were required to build a functioning society. A world couldn't exist with only soldiers and warriors alone. Farmers, artisans, businessmen, industrialists, educators, politicians (as much as everyone hated them), parents, blacksmiths, chefs, etc. Everyone had a role to play in society, and just because you were physically weaker didn't mean you were any less important or should have less rights than a soldier. Hold your head high up and be proud of your vocation, and ignore those cultivation novelists' bulls.h.i.+t about strong eat the weak and survival of the fittest! Such Social Darwinism had no place in reality and often brought about serious repercussions (just look at n.a.z.i Germany and their promotion of the "superior" Aryan race and the ma.s.sacre of Jews just because they could).

"Hey, don't go off ranting to the existences beyond the fourth wall." Anastasia waved a hand in front of my face. "We're still on duty here."

"Oh, right. Sorry about that." I nodded and rubbed at my eyes, feeling a little exhausted. While I did so, I noticed something strange. To confirm what I had seen, I adjusted my lenses and magnified the image, sharpening it by several times. "Is it just me or is there a bunch of…people wading through the swamp toward us?"

There was what looked like a parade of people casually wading through the marsh toward the tomb. That didn't make sense. Were they human type monsters that I was just wondering about? They certainly couldn't be normal humans or they would be dead by now, eaten up by the Marsh Alligators or the myriad of monsters that populated the Black Underworld Swamp. At the very least they would be poisoned to death.

Plus their movements looked odd. They seemed to be staggering and splas.h.i.+ng clumsily, almost as if they were drunk. How the f.u.c.k did they get drunk on the noxious fumes of the marsh, I had no idea. Again, I suspected that they weren't humans. They must be…

"Bog Ghouls," Anastasia suddenly said, once she spotted them. Unlike me, she didn't have visual aids or equipment to enhance her vision. Only when they drew closer was she able to spot them. She grimaced. "Rank F monsters, but unlike the Marsh Alligators, they are too stupid to retreat. They will keep throwing themselves at our barrier until they are wiped out." She raised a hand to stop me from aiming with Orion. "Save your mana. They won't be able to get through the barrier that we set up. They'll just kill themselves by dumbly running into it."

"Good point. But…" I frowned as I refocused my gla.s.ses at the solitary figure that was leading the procession of Bog Ghouls. "Is that guy at the front a Bog Ghoul too?"

Anastasia's expression turned so pale I almost mistook her for a ghost. She took a step back, trembling for a moment, and slowly shook her head.

"No," she whispered, her voice filled with dread. "That's…Xue Tu."