Chapter 115: Scout

Eren immediately charged forwards, along with Abe, Henry, and the rest of the able-bodied fighters in their group.

"You know what to do," he told them all.

They all nodded at his words, before separating into the forest of trees around them. And unsuspecting of anything, the twenty or so invaders immediately went off towards Eren’s group with bloodlust in their eyes.

Meanwhile, Sierra and the others immediately poured a bucket of water towards their own campfire, putting out flames immediately.

Darkness encompassed the entirety of the cavern.

Meanwhile, Eren shot off into his own direction. He saw three people immediately run after him, having been attracted by the flags barely hidden in his pockets. They saw him even before the fire was put out.

One of them has a knife. The other two are unarmed, but they do have armor on their bodies.

It didn’t take long before they surrounded him from all sides and slowly approached him.

"Surrender your lootbox, and we will leave without getting your flags," the lanky man with the knife said as he broke a stem of a sunspore, allowing him to have light.

Hearing his words, Eren lunged towards him, using a Primal Strike. The lanky man responded with a swift knife strike of his own. Both Reinforced strikes clashed.

Knife versus an unarmed simple punch, the outcome should have been obvious. However, the lanky man found his knife trembling against the punch, before its tip slid off against the indestructible red hazy aura protecting Eren’s fist.

"Tsk," the lanky man clicked his tongue. He retracted his knife, assuming a different stance. Then, his arms and legs began to glow a hazy red aura.

Eren precognitively dodged to the left as an unseen knife arced towards his left collarbone.

Then, still in the middle of his dodge, he Reinforced his chest with a protective layer as the knife awkwardly curved downwards even more.

Blade clashed with R?zoň, to which R?zoň held steady just enough for Eren to take a few steps back.

[Viper’s Slithering Knife]

It was a Martial Manual that was famed for its long reach of the knife, almost making it look like a snake extending out of the cultivator’s hands.

At this moment, Eren felt the other two invaders come at him from behind. He Reinforced his back without looking. Their punches didn’t come. Instead, they grappled him from the side and kept him from moving.

The lanky man lunged with his knife, his arm twisting into an S-shape as it accurately headed towards his chest.

Eren let it hit his Reinforced torso. He felt his protective R?zoň begin to crack and shatter as it took the full brunt of the knife.

He immediately writhed against the two holding him. Once with enough leeway, he lifted his feet and kicked up using a tree from his side.

With Negative Reinforcement in his soles, he began stepping up from the tree. The two other invaders were caught off-guard and were forced to let go of their grip on his arms.

"Damn!"

"Go after him!"

They blindly jumped after him, grabbing at the tree’s trunks to scale up it. At this moment, the tree began to move. It bent its branches and took ahold of the two invaders, not letting them go.

"WHAT?!"

"THE TREE! IT’S MOVING!"

One of the tree’s roots snaked through the underground before wrapping around the lanky man’s ankle. Surprised, he looked down and cut off the root with his knife.

Eren jumped off from the branch into the lanky man. He grabbed him from behind, taking his hands and bending it.

"KURGH!"

The lanky man tried to look at his hands, but Eren took the sunspore in his hands and swatted it far away.

With no light, meant no vision. And with no vision, meant no Reinforcement.

Frowning, the lanky man changed his grip on his knife, turning it upside down. Then, he lunged his knife backwards, towards Eren’s ribs.

Reinforcement came immediately from Eren, stopping the knife from cutting him. The lanky man continued to stab at him, hoping the Reinforcement would run out. But it never did.

"WHAT?!"

Eren, on the other hand, unleashed a Primal Strike behind the lanky man, hitting him straight in his spine. Then, he unleashed another. And another. And another.

It was an unrelenting barrage on the unprotected body of the lanky man until he fell unconscious.

He was getting a lot better with the Primal Strike.

He was able to unleash a powerful punch, even when he was so close to his target. Some would say it was similar to the ’one-inch’ punch that was so famous before.

Once he had neutralized his opponent, he looked towards the rest of his group and realized that they too were just about done with their opponents.

It wasn’t long before Sierra and the others lit up the campfire once again, allowing light to return to the cavern.

The entire forest was filled with the trees bearing human fruits. Their defensive systems had worked perfectly, and they restricted the invaders from doing anything.

Henry, Paul, and the others didn’t even have to do anything. They only had to lead the invaders to the trees, and the trees did everything. It definitely helped that everything was dark and it was hard to see anything.

Eventually, they all gathered the invaders in one spot, tying them up with twine rope.

Eren noticed that Celeste had dealt with four opponents by herself. She saw him staring at him, and she gave him a thumbs up with a wink.

"Who are they?" Sierra asked.

Eren squatted down and observed the group. "None of them are the leader of the group. Which means, they’re part of a much larger group."

"So there’s a high chance of them coming towards us again," Celeste said, immediately understanding Eren’s words.

"What?" Sierra was worried already.

"This is just the vanguard group. A scout, if you will," said Eren. "They’ll attack with a lot more people next time."